The Holocaust, Antisemitism, and Genocide | Holocaust Literature Introductory Lesson 1

About This Lesson

For many students, reading a work of Holocaust literature in an ELA classroom is their first formal encounter with the Holocaust or with the concept of genocide. This lesson invites students to build the historical and conceptual foundation they will need before reading a work of Holocaust literature. Students begin by engaging with a summary of the Holocaust and the long history of antisemitism. They then consider Raphael Lemkin’s 1944 coinage of the term genocide, discussing why this moral and legal term was created and how group identity plays an integral role in genocidal crimes. Both activities invite students to reflect through writing and discussion as they acknowledge reactions, surface questions, and connect prior knowledge to new knowledge. 

This lesson is intended as the first step in a longer process of developing a schema for engaging more deeply with Holocaust history, the concept of genocide, and the roots and impact of antisemitism in history and today. It is designed primarily to surface and stimulate questions rather than answer them.

Guiding Questions

• What are the origins and meanings of the terms Holocaust, genocide, and antisemitism?
• How are the Holocaust, antisemitism, and the concept of genocide related to one another? 

Learning Objectives

• Examine how societies have distinguished between who can be a member and who remains an outsider, and the significance of those distinctions at different moments in history.
• Examine how diverse groups of people influenced the course of history, their motivations, and contemporary resonances of their actions.
• Examine how social identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, and class can influence the experiences of individuals and the outcomes of their choices.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1 : Define Key Terms

Project the slideshow A Brief Introduction to the Holocaust & Antisemitism and encourage students to take notes as you present this introduction. The talking notes for the presentation are provided below in parallel to the student-facing language on the slides.  

Present Slides 3–4:

• Begin by explaining to students that they are about to read and study a work of Holocaust literature; however, before exploring the text, there will be a series of activities to deepen their understanding of the context in which the book was written. 
• Students will learn more about the Holocaust before beginning the book, but for now it is important to know that the Holocaust was “the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.” ¹
• During this time period, the Nazi regime also persecuted and murdered millions of other people identified as undesirable, inferior, or incompatible with Nazi ideology for reasons of race, biology, politics, and/or ideology. These victims—some of whom were also Jewish—included political opponents, Roma and Sinti people, men accused of homosexuality, and individuals with disabilities.
• Explain that the origin of the term “Holocaust” comes from the Greek word holokauston, meaning a burnt sacrifice, reflecting the horrific reality that many victims’ bodies were consumed in crematoria or open fires. Emphasize that, despite this word’s origin, the Holocaust was by no means a meaningful or willing “sacrifice,” and some choose to refer to the Holocaust instead as “the Shoah,” a Hebrew word for “catastrophe.” ²  

Pause to unpack these definitions and answer student questions as needed, particularly if students need support in understanding words used in the definition, such as “systematic” and “persecution.” 

Present Slides 5–7:

• Take a moment to explain that hatred and violence against Jews did not begin in the 1930s, nor did it end in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated. Unfortunately, antisemitism—anti-Jewish prejudice, discrimination, hatred, hostility, violence, and oppression—has a centuries-long history and continues to this day. 
• Let students know that antisemitism has been largely propagated by the false narrative, originating in the 1400s, that Jews are a distinct “race” of people who have fixed traits that make them a threat to white, Christian people. This form of racialized antisemitism was central to the Nazi worldview that fueled the Holocaust and continues to fuel white supremacist ideology and antisemitic conspiracy theories today. Despite the falsehood of these harmful claims, antisemitic conspiracy theories are still spread through widely shared ideas, stereotypes, phrases, images, and stories.

OPTIONAL: As you display Slide 8, this may also be an opportunity to address any recent reports of antisemitic incidents arising locally, nationally, or worldwide and raise student awareness of conspiracy theories and antisemitic tropes, which are often seen and perpetuated in unregulated digital spaces, such as social media platforms. However, if you have not yet established a classroom contract, it may be better to save this conversation for later in the unit when supportive classroom norms are in place. See Teaching Note 2 in this lesson and the teaching notes in Lesson 3: The Diversity of Jewish Identity for additional resources to support discussions of contemporary antisemitism. 

Once you have provided this brief overview, give students time to process individually in their journals. Project the journal prompts from Slide 9:

• What emotions or reactions came up for you while hearing about the Holocaust or the long history of antisemitism? Why do you think you had this response?
• If this is your first time learning about the Holocaust or antisemitism, what immediate questions or thoughts do you have?
• If this is not your first time, how and when did you first learn about these topics? What new insights or questions are arising now?

Encourage students to hold onto their questions for now for further exploration in subsequent lessons.

Activity 2: Define Genocide and Its Connection to Identity  

Explain to students that when learning about the Holocaust, it is important to name it as a genocide. Explain that the term genocide was coined in 1944 by lawyer and activist Raphael Lemkin. 

Using Slides 10–11 of the A Brief Introduction to the Holocaust & Antisemitism slideshow, display this explanation of genocide and review it verbally with the class: 

Lemkin defined genocide as “the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group.” He built the word, he said, “from the ancient Greek word genos (race, kind) and the Latin cide (killing).” He wrote, “Genocide is directed against the national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the national group.” ³ This was an important element of the definition of genocide: people are killed or excluded not because they do or say or believe anything in particular, but simply because they are identified as members of a particular group.

Further explain that Lemkin created this word because in international law at the time, there was technically no law broken when people were killed for their group membership, and there were almost no laws dictating how one country treated its own citizens. 

Display Slide 12 and explain that the UN later defined genocide legally, declaring that genocide is characterized by the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.” This enabled international courts to try to convict Nazi leaders after World War II. 

After providing this overview of the term genocide, have students reflect in their journals using the S-I-T strategy. Afterward, ask students to share their responses in pairs, including:

• S: One surprising fact, idea, or insight
• I: One interesting fact, idea, or insight
• T: One troubling fact, idea, or insight

Activity 3: Big Paper Closing Discussion

Facilitate a whole-class discussion using the Big Paper strategy to get students up and moving while providing the opportunity to reflect on today’s lesson and voice any lingering questions or thoughts.

Divide students into three groups. If you have a large class, you may want to divide students into six groups and have two sets of posters. Each group starts at a different poster to read the prompt and silently add their comments, thoughts, or questions. You may set a timer for each poster or have students rotate to each poster at their own pace. Encourage students to silently read their peers’ comments and add new ideas or connections to their responses. After all three rotations are complete, give students a moment to circle back to the first poster to see how the conversation grew.

Big Paper prompts: 

• What feelings, thoughts, questions, or concerns are sticking with you after today’s lesson?
• What are you hoping to learn more about as we start reading a book about the Holocaust? 
• If you could share one big idea from today’s lesson with someone outside of this class, what would it be, and why do you think it matters?

Debrief the activity by inviting students to volunteer insights, common threads, or themes that arose during the silent discussion. Then open up the conversation for any final questions or thoughts.

Extension Activity

Extension 1: What Is Genocide? Explainer

If you have additional time, consider reading and discussing the Facing History explainer What Is Genocide? with students. This resource unpacks the legal definition of genocide, distinguishes genocide from other international crimes, and describes how laws about genocide and other international crimes are enforced. 

Students can read the explainer section by section and pause to discuss the embedded discussion questions after each section. Depending on the reading levels and independence of your students, this can be done in small groups or as a whole class.

• 1“Introduction to the Holocaust: What was the Holocaust?,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
• 2 Ibid.
• 3Raphael Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress, 2nd ed. (Clark, NJ: Lawbook Exchange, 2008), 79.