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Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

1933-1939: Indoctrination and Discrimination

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Between 1933 and 1939, Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler's leadership, transformed into a totalitarian state. After coming to power in 1933, the Nazis quickly eliminated political opposition, suppressed civil liberties, and established a one-party dictatorship. The 1933 Book Burnings and the 1936 Olympics illustrate the influence of Nazi propaganda Policies of state-sponsored indoctrination and discrimination, through education and youth organizations and the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, stripped Jews of their rights and laid the foundation for widespread antisemitic persecution. During this period, the regime also promoted aggressive nationalism, rearmed the military in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, and expanded its territory with actions like the annexation of Austria in 1938 and the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. The November pogroms or Kristallnacht in 1938 marks the turning point and sets the stage for the Holocaust.

Learning Activities
Flames of Intolerance:
The 1933 Book Burnings and the Fight for Intellectual Freedom
Athletes Inquiry
Jesse Owens
The Poisonous Mushroom and the Indoctrination of Youth
The Nuremberg Laws
Evian Conference
Political Cartoons
Hitler Youth Poster Analysis
Affidavit of an American Educator in Germany
Readings
Boycott of Jewish Businesses
Citizens No More:
The Nuremberg Laws
and the Fall of Rights
Book Burnings
1936 Berlin Olympics
Racial Pseudoscience
and State Power: 
Nazi Germany, Jim Crow and the Challenge of Jesse Owens
Gymnast Agi Keleti
Violence in Lichtenfels
Kristallnacht
Education as a
Means of Indoctrination
During the Third Reich
The Poisonous Mushroom:
An Examination of Antisemitic Propaganda in Nazi Germany
Education of Jews
Youth on the Margins
The Reichstag Fire and the
Enabling Act
Protestant Churches and the Nazi State
Propaganda at the Movies
Polenaktion: The Karp Letter
 The Evian Conference of 1938
Case Studies
Thirteen Drivers' Licenses:
Discriminiation in Daily Life
Rudy Appel:
Education of Jews

 

Film: Testimony
of the Human Spirit
Chapter 1: Indoctrination and Discrimination