Lesson Study
“Chronology of the Holocaust”
Road to Auschwitz:
(1933-1942)
“The road to Auschwitz
was built by hate, but
paved by indifference.”
– Ian Kershaw
PRE-ACTIVITY:
The Questions & the Timeline
• Please get out your copy of the
timeline (p. 2-3) given yesterday as well
as the questions (p. 4) you completed
for homework. Have only that and a
pen or pencil on your desk.
• Read the laws at your desk so you are
ready to discuss them with your group.
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, Part I:
The Laws
• In your small groups,
 read & discuss all the laws in your packet;
 agree on ONE law that might have had the
most impact on you & your peers;
 share your group’s law with the whole class;
 tape it & the remaining laws on the class
timeline.
(p.6)
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, Part I:
The Laws
• Go for a “Class Timeline Gallery Walk”
looking at ALL the laws now posted.
•Individually, complete PART 1,
QUESTION 1 in your packets (p. 5).
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, Part II:
Photograph Analysis
Photograph #: 50978
Date: Sep 1939 - Oct 1939
Locale: Tomaszow Mazowiecki, [Lodz] Poland
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Instytut Pamieci Narodowej
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, Part II:
Photograph Analysis
What do you see?
Caption
Look at this last! Don’t cheat!
• A group of German soldiers and
civilians look on as a Jewish man is
forced to cut the beard of another in
Tomaszow Mazowiecki.
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, Part II:
Photograph Analysis
• As a group, complete the rest of
the packet (p. 7-8):
– discuss the photos
– fill in the worksheets
• When finished…
1. tape the caption onto the photo.
2. tape the photo onto the timeline.
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, PART III:
Discussion (p. 9)
Putting it all together…
• During which years were there fewer
events? Why do you think that? More
events? Why?
• What was the most common expression of
the bystanders in the photographs?
Perpetrators? Victims?
• What role do you think that the laws
played in determining the behavior of
the people you saw in the
photographs today?
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY, PART III:
Discussion (p. 9)
Back to the Quote…
• “The road to Auschwitz was built by hate,
but paved by indifference.” – Ian Kershaw
• Look at the class timeline, what one or
two images would you look to in order
to explain this quote?
• What responsibilities does knowing
this history place on all of us
today?
OR… if you don’t have time for an
in-class discussion…
POST-ACTIVITY, PART III:
Think it Through (p. 10)
• Individually, complete the follow-up
questions in short essay form.
Teaching Alternatives
 One - three+ days
 Pick and choose laws according to your
students.
 Pick and choose pictures accordingly.
 Use as introductory lesson, lesson on
bystanders, primary source analysis, etc.
 Use related testimonies.
 Change the timeline as you see fit - write on
it, add or delete information.
“There are many
persons ready to do
what is right
because in their
hearts they know it
is right. But they
hesitate, waiting for
the other fellow to
make the first move
– and he, in turn,
waits for you.”
-Marian Anderson