“Othering”
Antisemitism
Authoritarianism
Complicity
Concentration
Displacement/refuge
Eugenics
Fascism
Forced labor
Homophobia
Justice
Mass incarceration
Misogyny
Perseverance
Racism
Resistance and rebellion
Sex trafficking
Subjugation/brutality
Trauma & recovery
War Crimes
White supremacy
Xenophobia
1. How did films, posters, and other Nazi propaganda influence hatred towards Jews and other targeted groups in pre-war Germany? Reflect and compare this with contemporary instances of “othering."
2. How did Hitler’s desire and ability to foment racism and hatred of stated enemies compare to that of modern political leaders?
3. How were Germans of partial Jewish ancestry designated and treated in Nazi Germany? Are there similar modern or historical instances of this?
4. What role did concentrating prisoners play in the Nazi effort to dominate Europe? Can you identify other examples of governments or leaders using this tactic?
5. Why were all major extermination camps located in Nazi-occupied Poland? Reflect on the logistics of genocide.
6. What role did the labor camps play in the Nazi war effort?
7. How did the Nazi’s symbolic use of the swastika differ from other cultures in history?
8. Reflect on how the symbolic categorization of prisoners using colors, numbers, and badges in Nazi concentration camps helped exacerbate the dehumanization of prisoners.
9. Why do you think that Nazis kept such accurate records of prisoners and their war crimes in certain concentration camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau? How does this compare with Nazi efforts to hide evidence of their atrocities such as during the death marches?
10. Should the pharmaceutical corporation Bayer be held accountable for its role/participation in the medical experiments that were conducted on concentration camp prisoners? What about other German companies, such as Siemens and BMW, that profited from the Nazi war effort?
11. Why do you think so many scholars and scientists aligned with Adolf Hitler and participated in Nazi brutality even though they were knowledgeable about tyrannical leaders of the past?
12. What differences, if any, existed in the way Nazis viewed and treated their enemies (Jews, Poles, Soviet POWs, homosexuals, Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, Muslims, and political prisoners, to name a few)?
13. How does the definition of “ghetto” in the context of the Holocaust compare to that of the urban American (or other) contexts?
14. Reflect on the role of Kapos (prisoners who were tasked with overseeing and leading the subjugation of their fellow prisoners). Did they have a choice? Why do you think Nazis chose prisoners to help manage the concentration and abuse of other prisoners?
15. Compare the sexual terrorism that women endured in Nazi concentration camps to that of other wars or governmental regimes.
16. Reflect on the many instances of prisoner resistance and rebellion in the ghettos and concentration camps. How are these acts of resistance similar or different to protests such as the Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter protests in recent years?
17. Draw some comparisons between the concentration of Japanese-Americans in United States internment camps during World War II with the Nazi concentration of European Jews.
18. How important were Displaced Persons camps (DP camps) in re-humanizing Holocaust survivors? Are there organizations that are doing similar work with refugees and victims of mass atrocity today?
19. Despite their old age, Nazi officers are still being prosecuted for war crimes. Do you think this is a just thing to do? What other efforts should be made to seek justice for Nazi war crimes?
20. Reflect on reparations payments made by the German government to Holocaust survivors and other victims of Nazi brutality. Are reparations payments sufficient justice? Are each group of Nazi victims entitled to reparations?