Year 8 History : June 22nd-July 13th 2020

For the next 3 weeks you are going to continue learning about life for
people living under the rule of Nazi Germany. You have 3 weeks to
complete a series of tasks and activities that cover the treatment of Jews,
both in Germany itself and in countries that the Germans invaded and
controlled. Your learning will focus on the following key questions:
1 – Persecution - How were Jews treated between 1933-39?
2 – What happened to Jews during the Holocaust?
3 – How should we remember the Holocaust?
• You must submit your work to SMHW by Friday 10th July. You can
complete your tasks on a computer or on paper and then take a photo
of your work to submit it.
• The following PowerPoint slides will explain the instructions that you
need to follow along with a choice of tasks that cover each key question.
• There are also information slides and links to websites and film clips to
help complete your work.
 Introduction
Once he came to power, Hitler was determined to crush anyone who didn’t fully support him.
However, most of Hitler’s hatred was based on race. He believed that humans were divided into
races and some races were better or superior to others. Hitler said that the master race of pure
Germans – known as Aryans – had the right to rule Europe and the right to dominate other
‘inferior’ races. There were many groups who were targeted for persecution, including Slavs
(Eastern Europeans), gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled - but none more so than the Jews.
Historians disagree about why Hitler hated the Jews. He was brought up at a time when anti-
Semitism (prejudice against Jews) was common in Europe. Millions believed the racist stereotype
that Jews were selfish and only interested in making money. When Hitler was a young boy, a Jewish
doctor treated his mother for cancer, but she was not cured and died - some have argued that this
event led to Hitler’s views. What is certain is that, by the time Hitler had become an adult, he
believed Jews were an inferior race that had no interest in helping make Germany a great country
again. He thought they were part of a conspiracy to take over the world and he blamed them for
Germany’s defeat in the First World War.
By mid-1933 Hitler had become the undisputed dictator of Germany. Using his total power over
the country he quickly began to introduce measures that reflected his racist prejudices. These
affected the lives of Jews in increasingly horrific ways, the result of which was the Holocaust.
 Key question 1: How were Jews treated between 1933-39?
Start off by watching the video clip that outlines how German Jews were persecuted between 1933
and 1939. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpdJhA5aJkA
Then complete task 1
1. Write a paragraph to describe how Jews living in Germany were discriminated against between
1933-39. Try to refer to specific laws and use some of the key terms highlighted in bold on slide 4,
in your description. Use slide 4 to help you with this task as it clearly explains what the laws were.
Challenge – Include an opinion. Which law do you think had the biggest impact on the lives of German
Jews? Which law do you find most shocking? Explain reasons for your views.
Finally, complete task 2 OR task 3 from the list below
2. Watch the film clip about Kristallnacht and write a diary entry for the character in it. In your
diary explain what happened on Kristallnacht and the events that followed, explain how the
character might have felt at the time. (Use slide 5 and the bitesize video to help).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/ztyhyrd
3. Create a fact file about Kindertransport that covers the 5 Ws. What was Kindertransport? Why
was Kindertransport necessary? When did the Kindertransport take place? Who was rescued by
the Kindertransport? Where did Kindertransport children go? (Use slide 6 and the BBC
newsround video to help). https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46877532
 How were Jews living in Germany persecuted between 1933-39?
1933
• Nazis organised a boycott of Jewish
businesses.
• Books by Jewish authors were publicly burnt.
• All Jews who worked for the government or
who were lawyers, judges or teachers were
sacked.
• Science lessons teaching that Jews were sub-
human were introduced.
• All Jews were banned from sports clubs
1936
• Jews were not allowed to own any electrical
equipment, (including cameras), bicycles,
typewriters or music records
• Jews were banned from using swimming
pools
By the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, German Jews belonged to no country, their employment options in Germany were severely
1934 1935
All Jewish shops were marked with a yellow Star of David – a symbol of The Nuremberg Laws turned anti-Semitic ideas
the Jewish religion, Nazi soldiers stood outside the shops to turn people into the law of Nazi Germany:
away • Jews were stripped of their rights as
German citizens
• Marriage and sexual relations between Jews
and Germans was forbidden
• Jews lost all their civil and political rights,
they were not allowed to vote
1938 1939
• Jewish doctors were sacked • Jews were forbidden to own a business, or
• Jews had to add the name Israel (men) or Sarah (women) to their even a radio
name. • Jews could be evicted from their homes for
• Jewish children were banned from German schools and they were no reason
forbidden from playing with non-Jewish children • Jews were not allowed out of their homes
Kristallnacht - 9 November. The SS organised attacks on Jewish homes, between 8pm and 6am
businesses and synagogues in retaliation for the assassination of the
German ambassador to France by a Jew.
(Many Jews saw the events of Kristallnacht as a turning point. Up until
then their rights had been gradually taken away, but Jews had not been
physically threatened or attacked. When their businesses and homes
were destroyed and their synagogues were burnt down, many
concluded that their time in Germany was up. Those who were able to
fled and a scheme to evacuate Jewish children to Britain, called the
Kindertransport, began.)
restricted and they feared for their safety.
An interview with a student about his experience of Kristallnacht

Images of
Kristallnacht

A short film about Kristallnacht

https
://www.britannica.com/video/180224
/Overview-Kristallnacht-10-1938
Kindertranspo
rt
Visit the webpage below,
read the information and
watch the 2 film clips to
find out more about
kindertransport
https
://www.bbc.co.uk/newsro
und/46877532
• Kindertransport was the name given to the mission which took thousands of children to safety ahead of
World War Two (1939-1945).
• It helped 10,000 children to escape from Adolf Hitler's reign of terror in parts of Europe controlled by 
the Nazis. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16690175
• It is called this as kinder means 'children' in German.
• It was an extremely difficult experience for these children as they were told that they would need to leave
their family and friends behind - and there was a chance they might never see them again. Their parents were
not allowed to go with them.
 Key question 2: What happened to Jews during the
Holocaust?
Read the information on slide 8. Then watch the video clip that explains what happened to Jews
during the Holocaust and what we understand by the term ‘Final Solution’.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46932775

Complete task 1
1. Complete the key words and definition matching activity shown on slide 9. Either print out
slide 9 and draw lines or use colour to show the matches, or write out the key word/term with
its matching definition
Now complete task 2 OR task 3 from the list below
2. Write a letter explaining what conditions in the ghettos were like. Read the information
on slides 10 and 11 and use the film clip to help you. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/ztyhyrd
3. Create a mind-map to explain what conditions in concentration camps were like. You can
use the template on slide 12 to help you decide on the categories to include, but you could
add more categories of your own if you would like to. Read the information on slides 13-18,
and use the film clip to help you complete your work. https
://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks3-gcse-what-were-conditions-like-at-a
uschwitz/z7mkgwx
 The 4 phases of the Holocaust
Phase 1 – Increasing persecution for Jewish people living in Germany
The outbreak of World War Two spelt disaster for those Jews who had remained in Germany and it also extended the Nazis’ persecution to those Jews
living in territories invaded and occupied by the German army and its European allies. The eventual extermination of up to 6 million European Jews by
the Nazis continued with 3 more phases.

Phase 2 – The Polish ghettos

The German conquest of Poland in autumn 1939 brought three million more Jews under Nazi control. Polish Jews were confined to ghettos in terrible
conditions, where hundreds of thousands died of starvation and disease. Hitler is believed to have given the order to begin the attempted
extermination of Europe’s 11 million Jews in 1941. This so-called ‘Final Solution’ to the question of what to do with Europe’s Jews led to phase 3.
Phase 3 - mass killings begin
During the German invasion of the USSR (June 1941), groups of specially created soldiers called Einsatzgruppen followed behind the German army.
Their task was to round up Jews and execute them. The victims were taken to the edge of towns and villages, forced to dig mass graves and then shot
and buried in huge numbers. By the end of 1941, 500,000 Jews had been killed in this way. These mass killings were expensive and time consuming.
The need to make the extermination process more efficient led to phase 4.
Phase 4 - extermination camps
In January 1942, the Wannsee Conference was held where it was agreed that all Jews under German occupation would be brought to Poland, where
those fit enough would be worked to death and the rest exterminated. This led to the horror of the Nazi death camps, six of which were built
specifically to murder those brought to them. The biggest and most notorious camp was Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 2.5 million Jews were murdered.
Jews arrived at the camps on trains, where they were separated into two groups: those fit enough to work and those to be killed immediately – usually
women, children and the elderly. The latter group were ushered into what they thought were showers, where they were gassed to death using pellets
of cyanide known as Zyklon B.
 Match the key word or term to its correct definition.
Fancy a challenge: choose 5 key words/terms and write sentences with them in
Key word/term Definition

Jew a process which rescued trainloads of Jewish children from Nazi Germany and transported them to safety in Britain
persecution also called death camps, these were set up specifically to kill Jews in huge numbers, usually by gassing them to death
discrimination a sealed room which was filled with poisonous gas in order to kill prisoners in concentration or death camps
Anti-Semitism the regular mistreatment of one group by another
Holocaust laws introduced in Germany in 1935 that deprived Jewish people of many of their rights
Genocide a small, restricted area of a town where Jewish people were forced to live in terrible conditions by the Nazis
Nuremburg Laws a name for the Nazis’ attempt to wipe out the Jewish race
Kristallnacht the Nazi idea that the Jewish people should be taken to extermination camps and gassed to death
Kindertransport a follower of the religion of Judaism, the Nazis also included people who had Jewish ancestors in their definition
Ghetto the deliberate killing of a large group of people, usually because of their nationality or race
Concentration camp the Night of the Broken Glass – a night of terrible violence against Jewish people
Extermination camp language or behaviour that displays a dislike towards Jewish people
Gas chamber when a person is treated unfairly because of who they are or characteristics that they have, e.g. religion, race, gender
Final solution a prison for persecuted minorities; they were hugely overcrowded and unsanitary and there was a high risk of death
What were conditions like in the Ghettos?
In 1939, Germany invaded Poland and 3.5
million Polish Jewish people came under
Hitler’s rule. The Nazis quickly extended
their anti-Semitic policies to cover their
newly conquered lands. Ghettos were
established, these were areas of cities
where only Jewish people could live, this
meant that they were separated and shut
off from the rest of society. The Ghettos
A map showing the Warsaw
were walled off, and any Jewish person Ghetto, over 400,000 Children scale a wall to smuggle food into the
A line of people wait to get a drink of water.
found leaving was shot. Living conditions were miserable; insufficient Jewish people were ghetto. Conditions were so extreme that they
Life in the ghettos was miserable. People food and water, unsanitary conditions, and imprisoned here in an area tried this even though they knew that the
overcrowding led to starvation and rampant of less than 1.3 miles punishment, if they were caught, would be death.
were forced to live in overcrowded squared Anyone who was caught trying to leave the ghetto
disease.
conditions and there was a desperate would also have been shot.
shortage of food and medicine. As a result,
ghettos were places of death and disease.
People did try to carry on with normal life if
they could. Children went to school and the
sick were cared for in make-shift hospitals,
but the Nazis rules had to be obeyed at all
times otherwise harsh punishments were
handed out. For example, many, including
children, were shot for attempting to A typical room in a ghetto which would This market place set up in a ghetto shows
smuggle food or medicine into the ghettos. have been shared by several families, how some people tried to sell personal Homeless children .
overcrowding was a huge problem . belongings for a little extra money.
What were conditions like in the
Ghettos?
As the Germans took control of most of Europe, millions more
Jews found themselves under Nazi control. Many Jews were
sent to the ghettos in Poland, but the Nazis never intended that
the ghettos be permanent. From 1942 onwards the Nazis closed
them down. This was known as ‘liquidation’.
The photograph below was taken in Krakow in Poland in 1943 by
a German soldier. It shows Jewish people’s belongings that have
been dropped in the streets as the ghetto was brutally shut
down.
The Jewish people that had been forced from their own homes
to live in the ghettos were forced to move again. They were sent
to concentration camps, where most were murdered. Their
belongings were stolen and used for the German war effort.

Why did the Nazis liquidise the ghettos?

In January 1942, Nazi leaders met at the Wannsee Conference to discuss what they called the ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish
problem’. This was the final stage in the Holocaust. At this meeting it was agreed that all Jews under German occupation
would be put into concentration camps. They would be brought to Poland, where those fit enough would be worked to
death in work camps. The rest would be exterminated. This led to the horror of the Nazi death camps, six of which were
built specifically to murder those brought to them.
During 1944, Stutthof (near Danzig) became a camp for prisoners that had been moved from other
concentration camps. Inmate numbers quickly rose from around 7,500 (spring 1944) to over 60,000 (late
summer 1944). The effects of overcrowding were devastating, as the young Polish Jew Ludwika Lady (who
survived the later evacuation of Stutthof) described in her own words in 1947.

We were brought to Stutthof [in summer 1944]. When we climbed out of the carriages we saw the sign
“Forest Camp”; the camp was surrounded with barbed wire. We were taken to a block. There weren’t any
bunks. We lay on the floor. 150 people in one room. The camp elder was a Czech Jewess and two Czechs were
block elders: they beat us. During the first three days we got nothing to eat or drink.

The Poles and Jews in the male blocks opposite threw us food packets. That happened quite often. We didn’t
work in Stutthof. […] We sat on the floor for days on end. We got 150g of bread each day and soup once a day.
There was a huge death rate from hunger. I was saved because I knew the person responsible for sharing out
the soup. She gave me extra soup, which I swapped for bread. […] In October typhus broke out. I too got
typhus. Nobody looked after the sick. Those who were very sick were transferred to Block 30 [the infirmary],
from where the only way out was to the gas chamber. Many people died of typhus. There were piles of
corpses in front of every block. The corpses were taken away in a cart.

Stutthof was evacuated in January 1945. We were marched towards Danzig on foot. Only the sick were left
behind. On the way I couldn’t go any further (I had been ill). They left me and a group behind 4 km from
Stutthof and a Gestapo man phoned the camp to say that a few Jews had been left behind in the village of
Steegen and that they would have to be brought back to the camp to be dealt with (i.e. to be killed). I
managed to get to the house of a German and she brought me to her sister, who took me in with two Jews.
The German women knew that we were Jews from Stutthof. We stayed with these kind Germans until
liberation on 9 May when Soviet units arrived. The Germans looked after us very well. The German woman
asked me to stay with her. She also asked me to put in a good word for her with the Soviet authorities.
Written by a Polish teenager called Ludwika Lady, she is talking about her experiences in Stutthof in 1944–5
Auschwitz Birkenau

The arrival platform, known as the

‘ramp’.
The photos
on the left
show
arrivals
waiting for
the selection
process to
take place –
this was
known as
the
‘Selektion’.

The photos
on the right
show the
selection
process
being
carried out.
The Jewish arrivals were deemed either ‘fit’ or ‘unfit’ for work. Those who
were found ‘unfit’ were sent almost immediately to the gas chambers. 
The 3 photos on the right show people waiting outside Crematorium IV
before they were to be gassed. At this point, they would have been
exhausted and in a state of shock from the horrors of the journey and the
selection process that they had just endured. Most had no idea what was
about to happen to them.
 Personal belongings
were all taken away.
They were sorted out in
a special section of the
camp
known as "Canada."

Men & women fit for work were given uniforms to wear and
their heads were shaved to remove lice
 From 1944 onwards, British, American and Soviet troops advanced across Europe and it started
to become clear that Germany would lose WW2. These allied soldiers liberated the camps and
were horrified by what they saw. One American Colonel said they found ‘sights, sounds, and
stenches horrible beyond belief, cruelties so enormous as to be incomprehensible to the normal
mind.’ These images show some of what they saw.

A warehouse full of shoes and clothing confiscated Sacks of human hair packed for dispatch to
from the prisoners and deportees gassed upon Germany.
their arrival.
Jewish children,
kept alive in the
Auschwitz
concentration
camp, pose in
concentration
camp uniforms
between two
rows of barbed
wire fencing Sign erected at Bergen-Belsen camp
after liberation One of the warehouses in Auschwitz, where 10,000 bodies waiting to be buried
stuffed to overflowing with clothes were found, within days 13,000 more
confiscated from prisoners. people died of disease
 Key question 3: How should we remember the Holocaust?
Read slide 20 and then complete 1 of the 3 tasks below. You can use information on slides 21 and 22 to help you with this.
1. You have been asked to put together an exhibition called ‘Images of the Holocaust’. It will be made up of photographs
that tell the story of what happened to Jewish people in Europe between 1933 and 1945 – exactly what you have
been learning about over the past couple of weeks. For each photograph you choose, write a caption to go with it
that explains what the image shows and how it helps people understand what happened during the Holocaust. You
should choose at least 5 photographs, you can use any of photographs from this PowerPoint or find ones yourself. Try
to make sure your photos show:
• the persecution of Jews in Germany 1933-39
• life in the ghettos
• the ‘final solution’ and conditions in the concentration camps

2. Many Jewish people were saved by acts of bravery and compassion carried out by Jewish and non-Jewish people
alike, e.g. Oskar Schindler. Research Oskar Schindler and produce a Wikipedia page about his life and achievements.

3. Create a Newsround presentation that could be shown on television on Holocaust Memorial Day. You could film
yourself making the presentation or write a script of what could be said and shown. In your presentation make sure
you explain:
• what you think viewers need to know about the events of the Holocaust
• why you think it is important to remember the events of the Holocaust
Consequences of the Holocaust
Jewish people call the Holocaust the 'Shoah', which means 'destruction' or 'catastrophe'.
It's estimated that 6 million Jewish people died. The Nazis also
• exterminated half a million Roma gypsies,
• put a quarter of a million mentally ill and disabled people to death
• sterilised deaf people so they were unable to have children
• imprisoned homosexuals
• considered that Slavic people were sub-human
• intended to starve up to 30 million Soviet civilians and prisoners of war

Jewish people reacted in different ways:

• in some places, the Jewish people fought back against the Nazis, e.g. the Warsaw Uprising of 1943
• some of them fled from Germany and other countries such as Poland.
• some put their children on Kindertransport trains, which took them to Great Britain, where they were fostered
• some hid
• in some places, the Jewish people accepted their fate and even cooperated with the Nazis
• some survived the concentration camps, often against all odds

Many Jewish people were saved by acts of bravery and compassion carried out by Jewish and non-Jewish people alike, e.g. Oskar
Schindler. Schindler was an ethnic German and credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews, despite being a member of the Nazi
party. His moving story was made into the film, Schindler's List in 1993.

After the war, Nazi leaders were put on trial at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials (1945‒1946). Many were sentenced to death.
War criminals continued to be found and put on trial, including high profile cases such as Adolf Eichmann in 1960 and Klaus
Barbie who was put on trial in 1987. It is universally believed that such a genocide must never be allowed to happen again.

In 1948, the nation of Israel was established as a state for Jewish people.

27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). The date was chosen as the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Holocaust Memorial Day is an international day of remembrance – not only for the Jewish Holocaust, but for subsequent
genocides in places like Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda. All over the world, people honour the survivors and reflect on the
consequences.
Images of the Holocaust