Voices of Change: Ireland and the Wider World · 6th Year

Active learning ideas

The Rise of Nazism and Antisemitism

Active learning transforms this complex historical topic into a hands-on experience. Students engage with primary sources, role-play decisions, and analyze visual propaganda, making abstract ideas like economic collapse and propaganda concrete. When they connect these elements through collaborative activities, the rise of Nazism becomes more than dates and names, it becomes a series of human choices with consequences.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Eras of change and conflict
• NCCA: Primary - Politics, conflict and society

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

Activity 01

• Jigsaw
• 45 min · Small Groups

Jigsaw: Factors Enabling Nazi Power

Divide class into expert groups on economic crisis, Treaty resentment, propaganda, and violence. Each group studies sources for 10 minutes, then reforms into mixed jigsaws to share and sequence factors on a class chart. Conclude with whole-class vote on most influential factor.

Analyze the factors that allowed the Nazi party to gain power in Germany.

Facilitation Tip

During the Debate, assign one student in each group to be the 'devil's advocate' to ensure counterarguments are fully explored before the class vote on international responses.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Beyond economic hardship, what other factors enabled the Nazi Party's rise to power?' Facilitate a class discussion where students must cite specific examples from the lesson, such as Hitler's oratory skills or existing societal prejudices.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Case Study Analysis
• 50 min · Small Groups

Propaganda Stations: Analyze and Respond

Set up stations with Nazi posters, Goebbels speeches, and newsreels. Groups spend 8 minutes per station noting techniques like repetition and emotional appeals, then create counter-posters promoting tolerance. Debrief identifies common manipulation patterns.

Explain how propaganda was used to promote antisemitism and hatred.

What to look for

Present students with three short statements about Nazi propaganda. For each statement, ask them to write 'True' or 'False' and provide one piece of evidence from the lesson to justify their answer. For example: 'Nazi propaganda solely focused on economic recovery.' (False, it also targeted specific groups).

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Formal Debate
• 40 min · Pairs

Formal Debate: International Responses to Nazis

Assign pairs roles as Britain, France, USA, or League of Nations delegates. Provide briefings on events like Rhineland remilitarization. Pairs prepare 2-minute arguments for action or appeasement, then debate in a simulated council with structured rebuttals.

Critique the early responses of international communities to Nazi policies.

What to look for

Ask students to write two sentences explaining how propaganda was used to promote antisemitism and one sentence describing a specific international response (or lack thereof) to early Nazi policies.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Case Study Analysis
• 35 min · Small Groups

Timeline Build: Road to Dictatorship

Provide event cards from 1919 to 1934. Small groups sequence them on murals, adding cause-effect arrows and source quotes. Groups present one pivotal event, justifying its role in Nazi rise.

Analyze the factors that allowed the Nazi party to gain power in Germany.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Beyond economic hardship, what other factors enabled the Nazi Party's rise to power?' Facilitate a class discussion where students must cite specific examples from the lesson, such as Hitler's oratory skills or existing societal prejudices.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers often rush to the Holocaust when teaching Nazism, but avoiding the lead-up to 1933 risks oversimplifying causation. Instead, focus on the Weimar Republic’s fragility as a system of competing parties and weak coalitions. Use research that shows how economic trauma primes populations for scapegoating, and avoid framing German society as uniformly antisemitic, which obscures the courage of resisters like the White Rose. Ground every claim in primary or legal sources to prevent myth-making.

By the end of these activities, students should be able to trace the three-to-four causal steps between economic crisis and dictatorship, identify the function of propaganda in targeting specific groups, and explain how institutions like the Enabling Act dismantled democracy. Look for students citing specific laws, speeches, or economic events as evidence in their discussions and written work.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Timeline Build activity, watch for students assuming Hitler became dictator through a single vote or coup.

  Direct groups to label each step with who had the power (e.g., 'Hindenburg appoints Hitler as chancellor' next to 'Reichstag passes Enabling Act') and what laws or events changed that power, forcing them to see the incremental erosion of democracy.

• During the Jigsaw activity, watch for students generalizing that 'all Germans' supported the Nazis.

  Require each group to present one primary account from a region or class (e.g., a communist worker’s diary, a Jewish merchant’s letter) and ask the class to categorize support, resistance, or fear in a shared chart on the board.

• During the Propaganda Stations activity, watch for students believing antisemitism began with the Nazis.

  Provide a timeline strip with medieval blood libel accusations or 19th-century racial pseudoscience excerpts at one station, then ask students to compare Nazi-era posters to these earlier examples in a two-column reflection.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Jigsaw
• Case Study Analysis
• Formal Debate