NAZI CAMPS

NOW NEXT BEYOND

DEVELOPING AN INQUIRY

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to…

  • Formulate a question to guide investigations into Nazi camps during the Holocaust
  • Use the Social Studies inquiry process to design a significant question related to Nazi camps during the Holocaust
  • Apply elements of the Social Studies inquiry process to investigate the many Nazi camps during the Holocaust
TEACHER PREPARATION
Provide access to digital copies of Activity Sheet: The Inquiry Cycle or Activity Sheet: Asking Powerful Questions. Alternately, reproduce copies of the materials to distribute to students in small groups.

STUDENT INSTRUCTION

DEVELOPING AN INQUIRY: CAMPS
Using the Activity Sheet: The Inquiry Cycle as a guide, and incorporating the recommended testimony as a source, design a powerful question related to the topic of Nazi camps during the Holocaust.

Possible topics:

  • Prisoners were forced to perform slave labour by the Nazis, particularly toward the end of the Second World War. Research this phenomenon.
  • Research what Jews knew about the camps before they were transported to them. How did the Nazis keep their plans and actions a secret?
  • Research acts of armed resistance in the camps. Options include:
    • Treblinka, August 1943;
    • Sobibor, October 1943;
    • Auschwitz, October 1944;

  • What were the obstacles to armed resistance in Nazi camps? What led to the acts of armed resistance? What were the consequences?