What factors contributed to the rise of the Nazi party in Germany?

Discuss the progression of anti-Semitism in Nazi-era Germany, from the early days of the party through Kristallnacht.

1. Prior to the establishment of the ghettos, what regulations were put into place to reduce Jewish rights?

2. What did the Einsatzgruppen do in Poland?

3. What were the responsibilities of the Judenrate in the ghettos?

4. How did outsiders help Jews within the ghetto?

5. What was the Nazi response to deaths within the ghetto?

Critical Thinking Questions

1. How do you think the ghettos facilitated the eventual extermination of the Jews?

2. Why might ghettos have been an entirely Eastern phenomenon, not built in Germany or other Nazicontrolled areas?

3. How did Jews maintain hope within the ghetto?

4. How did the invasion of the Soviet Union differ from that of Poland?

5. How did Operation Barbarossa pave the way for the Final Solution?

Never Forget to Lie, Lilian Boraks-Nemetz: My Holocaust Survival

1. What were the ZOB and the Jewish Military Union and why were they formed?

2. Explain how the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began.

3. Explain why Lilian’s father tells her to suddenly run through a gate. Where does Lilian’s family go from there and why do they want to stay in the ghetto?

4. Based on what you have learned about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and from Lilian’s account, in what ways do you think the uprising was a success or a failure?

Why did the management of the “Jewish question” vary in the East and West?