Nazi Germany

Echoes & Reflections is dedicated to reshaping the way that teachers and students understand, process and navigate the world through the events of the Holocaust. They partner with educators to help them introduce students to the complex themes of the Holocaust and to understand its lasting effect on the world.

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School

COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening

The purpose of this unit is for students to learn about the Weimar Republic’s fragile democracy between 1918 and 1933 and to examine historical events that allowed for the complete breakdown of democracy in Germany between 1933 and 1939, which led to the unfolding of anti-Jewish policies. Students will investigate primary source materials in order to understand how legislation, terror, and propaganda isolated German Jewry from German society. Students will also consider the role and responsibility of the individual in interrupting hate and the escalation of violence.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the Weimar Republic and its fragile democracy, and reasons for the rise of Nazism.
• Explain features of democracy and the role of the individual and government in sustaining democratic practices.
• Identify Nazi policies and practices between 1933 and 1939 that intensified antisemitism and isolated Jewish people.
• Interpret primary source materials—including visual history testimony—that represent a range of Jewish experiences and responses to Nazi-German state policies.
• Summarize the causes and effects of the Kristallnacht Pogrom based on analysis of primary and secondary source materials.
• Analyze our responsibility to interrupt the escalation of hate and violence, as individuals and members of societal groups and organizations.