Understanding the Holocaust

Topics

What is the Holocaust?
Power and Authority – The Rise of Nazism
Significance of the Holocaust

KEy information

Students will learn the cycle of the Holocaust starting with the beginnings of Nazism in the 1920’s, through the rise of Hitler in the 1930s, all in relation to classical and new antisemitism. During the presentation, students will be exposed to how the Nazis used legal means to discriminate against Jews, Roma/Sinti, Communists, and other groups deemed “undesirable” and the ultimate significance of the events throughout 1939 – 1945.

duration

2 hours; optional 30-minute presentation on Judaism and tour of synagogue

Cost

$8.50 +GST per student for programme in the centre

curriculum links

Level 6 Social Studies: Understand how individuals, groups, and institutions work to promote social justice and human rights.
Level 6 History: Understand how the causes and consequences of past events that are of significance to New Zealanders shape the lives of people and society.
Level 6 Economics: Understand how, as a result of scarcity, consumers, producers, and government make choices that affect New Zealand society.
Level 7 Social Studies: Understand how conflicts can arise from different cultural beliefs and ideas and be addressed in different ways with differing outcomes.
Level 8 Social Studies: Understand how ideologies shape society and that individuals and groups respond differently to these beliefs.
Level 8 Geography: Understand how people’s diverse values and perceptions influence the environmental, social, and economic decisions and responses that they make.

about programme

This programme is designed to give students a thorough understanding on the machinations behind the Holocaust. Throughout time spent at the Centre, students will be learning how events related to the end of World War I, the economic collapse of 1929, and the beginnings of the Nazi regime in Germany. The goal is for students to make connections between mitigating events, use of scapegoating, and the subsequent persecution carried out by the Germans during the Holocaust. Students will be able to identify the stages of persecution that are required in order to carry out the Holocaust & Final Solution

Stage 1: Definition of the “other” or “undesirable”
Stage 2: Isolation; remove the undesirable from mainstream society
Stage 3: Emigration; encourage the undesirable section of the population to leave on their own accord through application of race laws and economic sanctions
Stage 4: Ghettoization; forcibly remove undesirables to segregated sections of cities
Stage 5: Deportation; transport from ghettos to concentration/death camps
Stage 6: Mass murder