Kristallnacht and the Wannsee Conference

Holocaust Bundle

I have created these set of resources for the History Key Stage 3 National Curriculum ‘challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day. These lessons are also useful if you are studying Germany at GCSE, where never enough time can be devoted to the holocaust in depth and which students find so fascinating. The central question throughout these nine lessons is to find out who is to blame for the holocaust. They are closely linked together and students continually plot their ideas around a lightbulb, which can be referred back to each lesson (either dated or colour coded) to show progress throughout. Pupils will learn the significance and impact of the holocaust on the wider world and be able to see the causes and consequences of the systematic attacks on Jewish communities throughout Europe since the Middle Ages. They will learn key historical terms such as discrimination, persecution and genocide and understand the differences between concentration and extermination camps. They will be given sources to analyse such as the evidence from Anne Frank’s diary or an anti-Semitism tax return from Norwich in the Middle Ages and make historical inferences from them. Furthermore they will be able to write structured accounts and narratives of who was to blame from the Camp Guards or the SS, to Josef Mengele and the Einsatszgruppen units. The 10 lessons are broken down into the following: L1 An introduction to the holocaust L2 Anti-Semitism in Britain L3 Anti-Semitism in Europe L4 Extremism to Extermination L5 How was it organised? L6 Who was to blame? L7 Jewish Resistance L8 Liberation of the extermination camps L9 Diary of Anne Frank L10 Nuremberg Trials L11 The hunt for Josef Mengele Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and ideas used by current history teachers. The lessons are fully adaptable in Powerpoint format and can be changed to suit. I have included a couple of free lessons to give an idea of what is being offered. I strongly recommend using GCSE style questions from your chosen exam board and markschemes to assess the pupils at the end of this unit, which are always available on line.