Alabama Social Studies SS24.WH.11a

Social Studies9th GradeInterwar Years and World War II

The Standard

SS24.WH.11: Explain the Holocaust as the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and mass murder of Europe’s Jews and other minorities by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945.

Describe how the Nazis built upon historical antisemitism to dehumanize Jewish people and frame them as the enemy of the German people.

2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify older anti-Jewish lies that Nazi propaganda reused. They explain how the Nazis added false claims about race and blamed Jewish people for Germany's problems.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given an older accusation and a Nazi message, a student can point to the false idea they share. They can explain how Nazi racial claims portrayed Jewish Germans as a permanent threat.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think the Nazis invented antisemitism. They may mistake Nazi claims about Jewish control for facts or assume Jewish Germans were foreigners. Some think conversion to Christianity made people safe, though Nazi rules classified them by ancestry.
How to Assess It: Give students two short source summaries, one about medieval accusations blaming Jews for plague and one about Nazi claims that Jewish ancestry threatened Germany. Ask, "What false idea did the Nazis reuse, and what did they add?"

Lesson moves

Give pairs two source cards, a medieval plague accusation and a Nazi poster description, and have them highlight the claims that blame Jewish people.
Ask, "Why might blaming Jewish neighbors for a crisis appeal to some people?" Have students support their answer with the source cards.
Use a card sort: students match older accusations to Nazi claims, then write how Nazi racial language changed the message.
Show a mock social media post falsely blaming Jewish people for rising prices; have students mark the unsupported claim and its historical echo.

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