Warm up task: Inferring & Interpreting historical photos
Inquiry Question: How did the Nazis persecute the Jews?
* By the end of this week, you should be able to describe/remember how the Nazis persecuted the Jews, categorise evidence from primary sources to support your arguments, and apply your knowledge to a creative task (more on that lower down the page).
Task 1: Sources
- Describe the two sources on the left above (the one with the really skinny guy and the one on the centre).
- Below is a textbook from a school in Nazi Germany. This was given to school children in Nazi Germany. Have a look at the page provided and answer the questions below.
- Quickly, as mentioned above this is a primary source. It WAS DISTRIBUTED TO STUDENTS (YOUNGER THAN YOU GUYS) during the 1930's and 1940's. As you can imagine and knowing what you know, it is really racist. We need to demonstrate maturity in dealing with this necessary piece of history.
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- What do Jews apparently look like?
- How does the ‘best scholar’ (best pupil) describe Jews?
- Who else is the story racist about?
- Describe the effect this story would have on a young child? What will they think about Jewish people?
Why did the Nazis hate the Jews so much?
- Jews in Germany often had money and were concentrated in certain professions – many Germans were jealous of this
- Jews tended to marry Jews – they were accused of ‘not fitting in’
- Jews had been hated for years – in the 14th century Jews were blamed for the plague, 100,000 were killed in Germany
- Before World War I the German Kaiser said that the Jews were the ‘curse of my country’
- In short, The Nazis message was not new, Jews had been hated by some in Germany for a long time
Task 2: Hitler's actions and hate speech against the Jews.
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Hitler's 'final solution'
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Task: Describe the death camps from primary sources!
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Final task: Apply your learning.
In the Band of Brothers episode, ‘Why We Fight’, one of the soldiers alludes that the Jews in the concentration camps are like Zombies (it’s later in the episode he describes them as ‘the walking dead’).
- Your task is to become a cartoon artist. Draw a comic strip (think Kirkman’s ‘The Walking Dead’ for inspiration! The bit where Rick Grimes wakes up and doesn't know what's going on) that does the following:
- Describes what the soldiers found,
- Explains how they reacted,
- Explains how and why they made local German people deal with it.
- Describes what the soldiers found,
- Do extra research if necessary.
- Only have SIX panes in your comic strip!