Download Lesson Plan

Aim (central question): How did fascist propaganda degrade its targets and other recipients?
Objectives:
1.
2.
Students will be able to analyze the efficacy of visual representations when accompanied by
narratives.
Students will be able to present and defend an argument that describes three ways in which
messages issued by the state (particularly the Nazi regime of 1930s and '40s Germany) can
degrade their recipients.
Rationale:
To help ensure that the memory of the Holocaust remains in the consciousness of the youngest
generations of Americans.
This lesson will push students to see greater complexity in—and close relationships among—
propaganda, technique, and ideology.
Duration: 4 days
Sunshine State Standards:
(Grades 9 - 12)
LA.A.2.4.1, 2.4.5, 2.4.8
SS.A.1.4.3, 3.4.9, 5.4.5
SS.C.1.4.1, 2.4.3
Materials/Procedures
Sketch pads
Cornell-style notes from previous lecture/discussion on Holocaust
Lesson Context:
The lesson appears at the end of a unit on World War II. It comes after a short sequence of lessons in a
unit on the Holocaust. Background knowledge of the Holocaust for which lessons have already been
given and on which students have already been quizzed:
-overview of Holocaust, via inquiry-based lecture/discussion
-anti-Semitism in Europe (and the U.S.) prior to the 1930s (pogroms, Protocols of the
Elders of Zion, Pale of Settlement, etc.)
-National Socialism in Germany, Mein Kampf, Krystallnacht, ghettos, concentration
camps
Day One
Nazi Propaganda Illustrations
In groups, read and discuss the primary sources given on the web page. Record your answers for all of
the following items:
1. What are the main colors used in the poster?
2. What symbols (if any) are used in the poster?
3. If a symbol is used, is it
clear (easy to interpret)?
memorable?
dramatic?
4. For each source, are the messages in the source primarily visual, verbal, or both?
5. Who do you think is the intended audience for each source?
6. Consider the tabloid by Julius Streicher, "Der Stürmer," in which a medieval illustration depicts
ritualistic murder of children, a medieval antisemitic myth. What irony can you identify?
7. What does the Nazi Government hope the audience will do?
8. What Nazi purpose(s) is served by the tabloid?
9. Go to the antisemitic cartoon by Seppla (Josef Plank) - an octopus with a Star of David over its head
has its tentacles encompassing the globe. Compare this imagery with the song - "He's Got the
Whole World in His Hands." Is there a correlation?
10. The most effective posters use symbols that are unusual, simple, and direct. Is this an effective
poster?
Day Two
Discussion
1. Consider the Stürmer footer “Die Juden Sind Unser Unglück!” (“The Jews are our misfortune!”).
Whose misfortune is referenced? In other words, who are “we” in this statement? Whom would the
“our” include and whom would it exclude?
2. Now do the same exercise as you did in number 5 as you consider the headline “Die Geissel Gottes”
(“The Scourge of God”).
3. Suppose you are a person who did not support the Nazi cause before the 1930s but who came to
support the Nazis by the beginning of WW2. Describe the ways in which your thoughts about yourself
as a German have changed. Imagine why they changed. Use events from your notes and the primary
sources on this page to explain the change (this part can be done either in the first person or third
person).
4. Review your work from yesterday and today. Revise any answers that you think need to change—
particularly item 5 from yesterday and all of the above items for today. Be as specific and descriptive
as possible.
5. For each item below, imagine that you are a member of the group indicated. Then suppose, for each
item, that you are reading one of the headlines translated above when it was first published. Using your
understanding of German/European events in the 1930s and 1940s, including those about ghettos and
concentration camps, what is your reaction from each perspective? Is it the same or does it change
from group to group?
A. Nazi party
B. Roma (gypsies)
C. Communists
D. homosexuals
E. German Jews
6. In what ways does the Stürmer footer “Die Juden Sind Unser Unglück!” (“The Jews are our
misfortune!”) dehumanize or degrade Jewish people? In what ways does it degrade or dehumanize
people in general?
7. What might be the difference between the “target” of propaganda and the “recipient” of propaganda?
(How might this be represented with a venn diagram, e.g.?)
Day Three
Discuss questions and possible responses from Day 2 (in groups, then as a class)
(Alternatively or supplementally:)
Create a cartoon or the front page of a tabloid depicting a message of propaganda relating to current
events.
Create a second item combining a current event which parallels [to some degree] with the Holocaust.
Day Four (if alternative/supplemental assignment is used):
Have students share their items with the class
Have each student defend his or her use of
their particular imagery
color
subject matter
composition
HOMEWORK AND DAY FIVE:
Assessment:
Write a five-paragraph essay that answers the aim.
PROMPT: Present and defend an argument that describes three ways in which messages issued by the
state (particularly the Nazi regime of 1930s and '40s Germany) can degrade their recipients.
See link to rubric on web page.