New
New
Year 9

Victims and perpetrators

I can assess different experiences of and responses to the Holocaust.

New
New
Year 9

Victims and perpetrators

I can assess different experiences of and responses to the Holocaust.

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Six million Jews from many different backgrounds were murdered during the Holocaust.
  2. Many people acted as perpetrators during the Holocaust.
  3. Many more people knew about the Holocaust but did not intervene.
  4. There were Holocaust perpetrators and collaborators across Europe.

Keywords

  • Collaborator - a person or group who works together with others for a particular purpose

  • Perpetrator - someone who has committed a crime or a violent or harmful act

  • Bystander - in the context of the Holocaust, a person who did not intervene to help Jews or resist their persecution

Common misconception

Only German Nazis were involved in the Holocaust.

Examples such as the Vel' d'Hiv Raid in France, carried out in 1942, show that other Europeans collaborated and helped to perpetrate the Holocaust.

Tell students that it was not until 1995 that the French government accepted responsibility and apologised for the Vel' d'Hiv Raid. Ask whether they find this surprising and why they think it took the French so long to do so.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of serious crime
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

6 Questions

Q1.
What name did the Nazis give to their plans to murder all European Jews?
Correct Answer: 'Final Solution', the 'Final Solution', the Final Solution, Final Solution
Q2.
Write the missing word. Gas chambers were constructed in camps like Belzec.
Correct Answer: extermination
Q3.
What happened to the number of Jewish people living under Nazi rule during the first two years of World War Two (WW2)?
Correct answer: increased
remained the same
decreased
Q4.
How many factories did the Nazis set up in Lodz ghetto?
Correct Answer: 96, ninety six
Q5.
Roughly how many Holocaust victims were murdered outside of gas chambers?
25%
Correct answer: 50%
75%
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - Nazis gained power in Germany
2 - Nuremberg Laws introduced
3 - Outbreak of WW2
4 - First ghettos set up
5 - First extermination camps established

6 Questions

Q1.
Which word best describes a guard involved in shooting or gassing Jews at extermination camps during the Holocaust?
bystander
collaborator
Correct answer: perpetrator
Q2.
The Holocaust murdered Jews of what age?
working age Jews
Jewish children
elderly Jews
Correct answer: Jews of all ages
Q3.
Which country did the Vel' d'Hiv Raid take place in?
Belgium
Correct answer: France
Germany
Poland
Q4.
Which statement about Rudolf Höss is most accurate?
He carried out his job only because he feared being punished.
Many people described him as mentally unwell.
Correct answer: He accepted the Nazi belief that there was an international Jewish conspiracy.
Q5.
Identify the most appropriate example of a Schreibtischtäter.
Rudolf Höss
Auschwitz guards
Correct answer: IG Farben bosses
Théophile Larue
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - Nazis rose to power in Germany.
2 - Jewish emigration from Germany to France increased.
3 - Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany.
4 - France was -defeated and partially occupied by Germany.
5 - Vel' d'Hiv Raid

Additional material

Download additional material
We're sorry, but preview is not currently available. Download to see additional material.