Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. As a part of Adolf Hitler’s campaign to create the “ideal” German race, the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party sought to exterminate many communities that they deemed “unfit” to live in their envisioned new Germany. Based on your prior knowledge, who were these groups of people? Why did Hitler believe they were “unfit” communities to live under the Third Reich? What was the connection between Hitler’s quest for the “ideal” German race and World War II (WWII)?

Teaching Suggestion: This question situates students in the context of Hitler’s vision of the “Aryan race” as a motivation for both his invasion of surrounding European countries as well as extermination of so-called “non-Aryan” communities during the late-1930s to mid-1940s. Students should be able to make the link between the start of WWII with the expansionist nature of Hitler’s policies, where Hitler invaded surrounding countries including Poland in order to establish the Volksgemeinschaft, or the racially unified community that was centered on Aryan dominance. Additionally, this question is an opportunity to introduce/review the term “holocaust,” which links to both the second Short Answer question and the theme of The Dehumanization of the Jewish People.