1. How Did the Nazis Persecute
the Jews?
Lesson Objective:
To describe how the Nazis persecuted Jews
in Germany between 1933-45

3. Task 1
• Read the story from Nazi Germany as a class. This
story was given to school children in Nazi Germany
• Answer the questions below once you have read the
story
• 1. What do Jews apparently look like?
• 2. How does the ‘best scholar’ (best pupil) describe
Jews?
• 3. Who else is the story racist about?
• 4. Describe the effect this story would have on a
young child? What will they think about Jewish

4. Why did the Nazis hate the Jews?
• 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

5. Jews were forced to wear the star of David so
people knew that they were Jews

6. Jewish shops had signs telling people not to shop
there. In 1938 the Nazis told people to go around and
smash up Jewish shops. This was called Kristallnacht
(Crystal Night) The night of broken glass)

7. “
Hitler’s views on minorities
and the disabled
Hitler’s Laws against the Jews
By 1939 many anti-Jewish laws had
been introduced, for example Jews
couldn’t marry non-Jews, many were
sacked from jobs and could not be out
their home between 8pm and 6am
He who is not bodily and
mentally sound must not
be allowed to have
children. All they will do
is pass bad genes into
their children. We must
get rid of these people.
Task: Write what
Hitler and the
Nazis say about
different groups
and what laws
they introduced
onto your A4
sheet.
See the example
here for
guidance

8. The ‘Final Solution’
• Lesson Objective: To explain what the
‘Final Solution’ was and describe the
conditions in death camps.

9. In a series of meetings
between 1941-2
leading Nazis met and
decided the ‘Jewish
problem’ needed to be
solved.
They decided that
every Jew in Europe
should be killed,
around 11 million
people.
Meeting chaired
by Reinhard
Heydrich. His
nick-name was the
‘Blond Butcher’

10. Jews were taken from
their homes and
forced to live in
concentration camps.
Killing took place by
shooting them
Later this changed as
Nazis decided that
shooting was ‘too
stressful’ for the
Nazi soldiers

11. At first the Nazis put Jews
into a small room and pumped
carbon dioxide from lorry
exhausts into the room
Later gas chambers were
developed. Jews were told
they were going for a shower
and then gassed
This was called the Holocaust:
the extermination of the
Jews

12. Some people who were not killed in the gas
chambers were used for medical
experiments, for example testing the
human body to see at what low
temperature the body dies (source ii) or
raising the volume and seeing at what
volume the ear drums burst. The overall
aim was to help the German army in combat
situations.
One doctor called Joseph Mengele enjoyed
testing on twins who he found ‘interesting’.
After the war he escaped and lived in South
America until 1979
i
ii
iii

13. Treatment of Children What Nazis said about
the ‘Final Solution’
Violence and punishments Work and living conditions
Divide your page as above. Look at your source sheet and write
what happened into the four categories. If what you have
written fits into more than one category write in one box then
draw a neat line to another

14. • View the video clip. The images that you see
will show you how persecution of the Jews
turned into genocide. You will see shocking
images but to understand the full horrors of
what happened do not look away.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaCdKwFcHnw
• In pairs discuss what you have seen. How did it
make you feel? What was the most shocking
thing you saw? What did the Americans make
the local population do? Why do you think they
did this?

15. Final Task:
The government say that we must learn about
the Holocaust. It is a legal requirement. Write
a paragraph explaining why you think the
government require this. Why is what
happened so important for us to know?