HistoryBritain, Europe and the wider world, 1901–present40 min★★★ difficulty

Lesson 4: The Holocaust: persecution to genocide

The Holocaust was a process: invasion, ghettoisation, mass shootings, deportation and killing centres escalated under Nazi rule.

Part of your national curriculum

Challenges 1901 to the present: Understand challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day, including the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust
Historical enquiry: Understand the challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world, including the Holocaust and the role of ideology, and how these are represented and interpreted
Historical enquiry: Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources, and how and why historians have interpreted the past in different ways

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day, including the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust

Key learning points

• Escalation
• Evidence and language
• Specificity and connection

This lesson at a glance

40 minutes
19 parts to scroll through
3 quick checks
Marked quiz at the end
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

challengesbritaineuropepresentsecond

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Lesson 4: The Holocaust: persecution to genocide

An English teaching video on this topic from Learn with Skillsets Connect . Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day, including the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know that Nazi persecution developed in stages during the 1930s, and that Germany invaded much of Europe from 1939.

Recap: Lesson 3: Democracy under pressure

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Genocide: The deliberate attempt to destroy a people.
Ghetto: An area where Jewish people were forcibly confined under Nazi rule.
Euphemism: A mild word used to hide the truth of what is being described.
Testimony: A survivor's own account of what happened to them.

Your lesson plan

Part 4 of 19

Lesson brief

How did mass murder become systematic?

By the end, you will be able to

• Build an accurate twentieth-century chronology
• Connect British, European and global developments
• Use official records and testimony ethically and critically

Resources

• The Holocaust Explained: testimony and evidence (1933–1945)
• Lesson notes and marked knowledge check

4 minRecall the chronology and frame the enquiry

16 minRead the textbook explanation and build the argument

12 minInterrogate the archive evidence in context

8 minAnswer the checks and write a supported conclusion

Learning cycle

Part 5 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

How genocide escalated

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Escalation

After invasion of the Soviet Union, mobile killing units murdered Jewish communities in mass shootings. Deportations then linked occupied Europe to killing centres.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

The Holocaust was…

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Why pair records with testimony?

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Evidence, language and other victims

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Evidence and language

Perpetrator documents often use euphemism; survivor testimony restores experiences those records obscure. Six million Jewish people were murdered.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Specificity and connection

Nazi Germany also persecuted and murdered Roma and Sinti, disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war and others. Their histories should be studied accurately without collapsing distinct policies into one story.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

What does escalation mean?

Investigate evidence

Part 14 of 19

Evidence 1 of 1

primary

The Holocaust Explained: testimony and evidence

Jewish victims, survivors and Nazi bureaucracy, 1933–1945

Personal testimony, photographs and official records document persecution escalating from exclusion to systematic mass murder.

This specialist collection distinguishes evidence, context and later interpretation. Individual testimony should be read as a person's experience, never as a puzzle or simulation.

Think like a historian

How do personal testimony and perpetrator records answer different historical questions?

Source: The Wiener Holocaust Library, The Holocaust Explained

View the archive record ↗

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

People often think the Holocaust was one single decision. It escalated through invasion, ghettoisation, mass shootings and killing centres.
People often rely only on perpetrator documents. Those records hide reality behind euphemism; survivor testimony is essential.

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Deportations then linked occupied ____ to killing centres.

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Lesson 4: The Holocaust: persecution to genocide

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

1. The Holocaust is best described as…
2. How many Jewish people were murdered?
3. Mobile killing units carried out mass shootings after the invasion of…
4. Why pair perpetrator records with survivor testimony?
5. Escalation means…
6. Nazi Germany also persecuted and murdered…

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

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Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

The Holocaust Explained: testimony and evidence

primary

Jewish victims, survivors and Nazi bureaucracy, 1933–1945

Personal testimony, photographs and official records document persecution escalating from exclusion to systematic mass murder.

This specialist collection distinguishes evidence, context and later interpretation. Individual testimony should be read as a person's experience, never as a puzzle or simulation.

Source: The Wiener Holocaust Library, The Holocaust Explained

View the original record ↗

Source work
Reading
Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.
2 paragraphs
Essay answer
Writing
Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.
300–400 words
Timeline
Diagram
Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.
6–8 events

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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How this is going

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Understand challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day, including the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust
Not looked at yet
Understand the challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world, including the Holocaust and the role of ideology, and how these are represented and interpreted
Not looked at yet
Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources, and how and why historians have interpreted the past in different ways