Lesson: Nazi Racism
Racism fueled Nazi ideology and politics. To critically analyze actions taken by Nazi Germany and its collaborators requires an understanding of the concept of racism in general and Nazi racial antisemitism in particular.
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US Holocaust Memorial Museum educators and historians created these lesson plans for use in secondary classrooms. Click on a lesson plan to see its recommended grade level, subjects covered, and time required to complete. To explore lessons organized by theme, visit Teaching Materials by Topic.
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Understanding Nazi Symbols
By focusing on the history and meaning of the swastika, the lesson provides a model for teachers to use when examining the origins of symbols, terms, and ideology from Nazi Germany and Holocaust-era fascist movements that students are seeing in contemporary American culture, promoting critical historical thinking and analysis.
Black Press Newspaper Coverage of the Holocaust (History Unfolded)
By completing this lesson, students will gain a better understanding of the Black Press and the conditions in the United States that shaped opinion and reporting in the Black press related to Americans’ responses to the Holocaust. Students will analyze primary sources and identify concerns Black Americans had in the 1930s and 1940s.
Spanish-Language Newspaper Coverage of the Holocaust (History Unfolded)
By focusing on how Spanish-language newspapers in Texas, California, and Puerto Rico reported on the voyage of the St. Louis, students will connect Holocaust history to American history and develop primary and secondary source reading and analysis skills in Spanish.
Youth Responses to News of the Holocaust (History Unfolded)
Through a case study of American news coverage of the Nazi persecution of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, students will learn what information some college and university newspapers at the time reported about the Nazi persecution of Jews, as well as some ways students responded to news of the Holocaust.
The Refugee Crisis
Produced in partnership with Facing History and Ourselves, this unit shifts students’ study of World War II and Nazism to the other side of the Atlantic. The three-lesson unit deeply explores the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism and the humanitarian refugee crisis it provoked during the 1930s and 1940s. By examining primary sources that range from public opinion polls to personal narratives to radio plays, students will explore why widespread American sympathy for the plight of Jewish refugees never translated into widespread support for prioritizing their rescue. The unit also highlights the stories of individual Americans who did take tremendous risks to rescue Jews, as well as the questions this history raises for taking action in the context of contemporary refugee crises.
Isolation or Intervention? A Case Study on the Lend-Lease Act
In this lesson, students will identify multiple economic, social, and geopolitical factors that influenced Americans’ attitudes about the United States’ role in the world from 1939–1941, when people in the United States were deeply divided about what actions, if any, America should take in defense of countries threatened by German military conquest. Through an examination of primary source documents, students will identify and evaluate arguments that different Americans made for the provision of military materiel to Britain in 1940. Ultimately, students will reflect on questions that this lesson raises about America’s role in the world today.
Immigration and Refugees, A Case Study on the Wagner-Rogers Bill
By examining the Wagner-Rogers Bill of 1939, students learn how Americans debated the country’s role as a haven for refugees, identifying economic, social, and geopolitical factors that influenced Americans’ attitudes about the United States’ role in the world during the critical years 1938–1941.
Interpreting News of World Events 1933–1938
By examining news coverage around three key events related to the early warning signs of the Holocaust, students will learn that information about the Nazi persecution of European Jews was available to the public. They will also consider the question of what other issues or events were competing for Americans’ attention and concern at the same time. Despite the many issues that were on their minds during the period 1933–1938, some Americans took actions to help persecuted Jews abroad, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
US Newspapers and the Holocaust (History Unfolded)
Students investigate what information about the Holocaust was available in their communities by doing original research using historic newspapers found online or in a local library. Through an analysis of their discoveries, they better understand American responses to the Holocaust within the socio-economic and political context of the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.
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Teaching Materials by Topic
Explore lesson plans and training materials organized by theme to use in your classroom.