Handout
Decision-Making in Times of Fear and Crisis
Help students analyze a reading about the choices made by a person or group during Kristallnacht.
How to Cite This Handout
Facing History & Ourselves, “Decision-Making in Times of Fear and Crisis”, last updated March 12, 2018.
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Students consider the choices and reasoning of individual Germans who stayed quiet or spoke up during the first few years of Nazi rule.
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Students analyze images and film that convey the richness of Jewish life across Europe at the time of the Nazis’ ascension to power.
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Students identify the social and cultural factors that help shape our identities by analyzing firsthand reflections and creating personal identity charts.
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Students are introduced to the enormity of the crimes committed during the Holocaust and look closely at stories of a few individuals who were targeted by Nazi brutality.
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Students both respond to and design Holocaust memorials as they consider the impact that memorials and monuments have on the way we think about history.
Introducing The Unit
Students develop a contract establishing a reflective classroom community in preparation for their exploration of this unit's historical case study.
The Holocaust: The Range of Responses
Students deepen their examination of human behavior during the Holocaust by analyzing and discussing the range of choices available to individuals, groups, and nations.
Kristallnacht
Students learn about the violent pogroms of Kristallnacht by watching a short documentary and then reflecting on eyewitness testimonies.
Laws and the National Community
Students are introduced to the Nazis’ idea of a “national community” and examine how the Nazis used the Nuremberg Laws to define who belonged.
The Power of Propaganda
Students analyze several examples of Nazi propaganda and consider how the Nazis used media to influence the thoughts, feelings, and actions of individual Germans.
Using the strategies from Facing History is almost like an awakening.
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Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif
