How did Antisemitism escalate in Nazi Germany

A GCSE Lesson on how Antisemitism escalated between the years 1933-41 in Nazi Germany using the incredible diaries of Victor Klemperer to exemplify what happened.

Students start the lesson looking at different propaganda pieces targeting different minority groups, which leads to a discussion of why the Nazis persecuted specific minorities in the first place. Their focus is then directed specifically onto how Jews are increasingly persecuted throughout 1933-41.

Students then have to try to match up the diary extracts to the year they think they were from and theorise about the nature and progression of Antisemitism and persecution in Nazi Germany.

This is then finalised by creating their own chronology of Klemperer’s life, with lots of discussion along the way about what the extracts show us about persecution in Nazi Germany and what the key years and turning points are in the treatment of the Jews.