The Rise of the Nazi Party

Activities

Activity 1: Reflect on Societal Values

As students transition from learning about various aspects of German society during the years of the Weimar Republic to tracing the rise of the Nazi Party during those same years, it can be helpful to pause for a moment to reflect on how the values of a society are shaped. Ask students to spend a few minutes responding in their journals to the following prompt:

• Who or what shapes the values of a society? What roles do political and business leaders, the media, artists, and education play? What roles do individual citizens play?

After students have had a few minutes to write, let them share their thinking in a brief discussion. 

Activity 2: Analyze Key Events in the Nazis’ Rise to Power

Explain to students that they are now going to learn about the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, and throughout this unit they will observe how the Nazis shaped the values of German society.  

The video Hitler’s Rise to Power, 1918–1933 (09:30) provides an overview of the beginning of the Nazi Party in the early years of the Weimar Republic and the party’s growth in relation and reaction to key events in Germany in the 1920s. Explain to students that as they watch this video, they will recognize events that they learned about in the previous two class periods about the Weimar Republic, but now they will focus on how those events affected the growth of the Nazi Party in Germany.

Before beginning the video, write the full name of the Nazi Party, in both English and German, on the board:

• The National Socialist German Workers’ Party
• Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei  

Students can then see how “Nazi” is an abbreviation of the first word of the party’s name in German. Tell students that they may see and hear a variety of related names for the Nazis in resources throughout this unit, including National Socialists and the initials NSDAP.  

Pass out the handout Hitler’s Rise to Power, 1918–1933 Viewing Guide and instruct students to respond to the questions with information from the video as they watch. To help students prepare to answer, have them read the questions before watching.

Show the video Hitler’s Rise to Power, 1918–1933 to the class. You might choose to pause the video so students can add to their notes or, if time permits, consider showing the video twice in a row.

Debrief the video by reviewing the questions on the viewing guide and discussing the information students recorded, helping them fill in important ideas they may have missed. You might have students debrief in groups of three or four, or you might go over the viewing guide as a whole group.

As you discuss the video with students, emphasize the choices that individuals, other than Hitler, made during this time period that contributed to the Nazis’ rise to popularity and power. You might ask students to underline on the viewing guide evidence of where individuals and groups made such choices and record a list of these key moments on the board.

Activity 3: Analyze the Nazi Party Platform

Pass out the reading National Socialist German Workers’ Party Platform.

Explain that a political platform is an official statement by a party of its beliefs and positions on important issues. Read aloud with students the platform of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party from the handout.  

To help students comprehend the Nazi Party’s platform, ask them to label each bullet point with a word or phrase that captures the promise of each provision. For example, students might write “citizenship” or “education” or “insurance” or “jobs.” When you have finished the reading, you might ask students to share what they notice about their lists.

• Do any categories appear multiple times or seem to get more or less attention?
• What might the list of provisions suggest about the message the Nazis wanted to convey to German voters?

Pass out the handout What Did the Nazis Believe? and instruct students to answer the true/false statements using evidence from the Nazi platform. It is important for students, as they progress through this unit, to have a firm basic understanding of the Nazis’ core beliefs, and this activity will allow students to examine the Nazi platform more closely. You might ask students to underline where in the platform they found evidence to support each of their true/false choices.

Use the Think, Pair, Share strategy to have students share and discuss their responses to the handout What Did the Nazis Believe? As students share their answers, make sure that they also cite the part of the platform that helped them determine each answer.

Finally, ask students to use the evidence they have so far to illustrate what the Nazis believe should be Germany’s universe of obligation. They can draw concentric circles (similar to the handout they used in Lesson 4) in their journals to help illustrate the Nazi universe of obligation visually.

Activity 4: Discuss the Appointment of Hitler as Chancellor

It is important for students to end the lesson with the understanding that, while Hitler was never elected president (and the Nazis never won a majority of the Reichstag seats), he was appointed chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg as a result of the popularity of the Nazi Party and other political circumstances. If necessary, review the branches of government in the Weimar Republic in order to help students understand the relationship between the president and chancellor.

The reading Hitler in Power explains how Hitler’s appointment came about. You might either read aloud this handout with the class or use it to create a mini-lecture if you don’t have time for students to complete the reading in class.

Activity 5: Revisit the “Bubbling Cauldron” Metaphor

After discussing Hitler’s appointment, return to the handout The Bubbling Cauldron from Lesson 9. Students completed the graphic organizer on this handout before learning about the rise of the Nazi Party during the years of the Weimar Republic. Now that they have learned about the Nazis’ rise, ask them to revisit their work. What would they add now? Is there anything they would erase or change?  

Give students a few minutes to complete the handout, and then lead a class discussion about how what students learned in this lesson has affected their understanding of the Weimar Republic.