History · Year 11

Active learning ideas

Hindenburg, Papen, and Schleicher

Political instability thrives on uncertainty, and this topic’s focus on backroom deals and shifting loyalties makes abstract concepts tangible. Active learning lets students step into roles and trace decisions, turning the chaos of Weimar’s final years into something students can analyze and debate.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• GCSE: History - Weimar and Nazi Germany

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Simulation Game
• 50 min · Small Groups

Role-Play: Backstairs Intrigue Summit

Assign roles to Hindenburg, Papen, Schleicher, and Hitler. Groups prepare positions using source extracts, then negotiate in a 20-minute summit. Debrief with class vote on outcomes and historical accuracy.

Explain why Hindenburg initially resisted appointing Hitler as Chancellor.

Facilitation Tip

During the Role-Play: Backstairs Intrigue Summit, assign students roles with hidden agendas—this forces them to negotiate based on character constraints rather than personal beliefs.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are a journalist in 1933 Berlin. Write a short news report (150 words) detailing the secret meetings between Hindenburg, Papen, and Schleicher. What are the potential consequences of these 'backstairs intrigues' for Germany?'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Simulation Game
• 45 min · Pairs

Timeline Debate: Key Decisions

Pairs construct a shared timeline of appointments from 1932-1933. Debate at checkpoints whether each event facilitated Hitler's rise, using evidence cards. Class compiles a final annotated version.

Analyze the motivations of von Papen and von Schleicher in their political intrigues.

Facilitation Tip

For the Timeline Debate: Key Decisions, provide only partial dates (e.g., January 1933) to push students to justify sequencing based on evidence rather than assumption.

What to look for

Provide students with a list of key figures (Hindenburg, Papen, Schleicher, Hitler) and a list of motivations (e.g., preserving conservative order, regaining political influence, gaining power). Ask students to draw lines connecting each figure to their primary motivation(s) and briefly justify one connection.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Simulation Game
• 40 min · Small Groups

Source Stations: Motivations Analysis

Set up stations for Hindenburg, Papen, and Schleicher with document excerpts. Small groups rotate, noting motives and reliability. Regroup to present findings on a class chart.

Evaluate the extent to which these political 'backstairs intrigues' facilitated Hitler's rise.

Facilitation Tip

In the Source Stations: Motivations Analysis, include one deliberately misleading excerpt so students practice evaluating credibility and intent, not just extracting facts.

What to look for

On an index card, students should write one sentence explaining why Hindenburg was hesitant to appoint Hitler, and one sentence explaining the main goal of either Papen or Schleicher in their political maneuvering.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Simulation Game
• 35 min · Individual

Intrigue Mapping: Causal Web

Individuals draw a web linking intrigues to Hitler's appointment. Pairs merge maps, adding evidence. Whole class discusses strongest links in a structured vote.

Explain why Hindenburg initially resisted appointing Hitler as Chancellor.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are a journalist in 1933 Berlin. Write a short news report (150 words) detailing the secret meetings between Hindenburg, Papen, and Schleicher. What are the potential consequences of these 'backstairs intrigues' for Germany?'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with the misconceptions: many students assume Hitler’s rise was inevitable, so build skepticism by asking them to defend counterfactuals. Use the causal web to show how events like Papen’s gamble to control Hitler created feedback loops. Avoid oversimplifying agency—Hindenburg’s conservatism, Papen’s ambition, and Schleicher’s desperation all mattered, and students should see each figure’s limits.

Students will move from memorizing names to weighing motivations, consequences, and agency through structured interaction. By the end, they should explain why Hindenburg, Papen, and Schleicher made choices that ultimately cleared Hitler’s path to power.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role-Play: Backstairs Intrigue Summit, watch for students who assume Hindenburg’s resistance stemmed from personal dislike of Hitler rather than his distrust of extremism and electoral weakness.

  Use the role sheets to direct students to cite conservative nationalist principles or Papen’s assurances in their arguments, forcing them to ground Hindenburg’s hesitation in documented concerns.

• During Source Stations: Motivations Analysis, watch for students who dismiss Papen and Schleicher as mere tools of Hindenburg.

  Have students compare Papen’s private letters with Schleicher’s policy memos, highlighting where each pursues independent goals, and ask them to find textual evidence of ambition beyond loyalty.

• During Timeline Debate: Key Decisions, watch for students who overstate the role of backstairs intrigues in Hitler’s rise.

  Prompt groups to rank the Depression, Nazi electoral gains, and backstairs intrigues by impact, then defend their ranking with evidence from the timeline and source stations.

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Methods used in this brief

• Simulation Game