New
New
Lesson 27 of 27
  • Year 11
  • Edexcel

The persecution of Jews

I can describe how the Nazis' persecution of Jews changed between 1933 and 1939.

Lesson 27 of 27
New
New
  • Year 11
  • Edexcel

The persecution of Jews

I can describe how the Nazis' persecution of Jews changed between 1933 and 1939.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Nazi persecution of Jews escalated gradually.
  2. The 1933 boycott marked the first state-backed antisemitic action by the Nazi regime.
  3. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 legally stripped Jews of citizenship and rights in Germany.
  4. Kristallnacht in 1938 was a state-orchestrated pogrom falsely presented as public outrage.
  5. By 1939, Nazi persecution intensified amid fears of war and the drive to remove Jews from German life.

Keywords

  • Conspiracy - a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful

  • Boycott - a situation in which people refuse to buy, use or do something because they do not approve of it

  • Antisemitism - hate directed at Jewish people, or cruel or unfair treatment of people because they are Jewish

  • Citizenship - the status of being a legal member of a country and having rights and responsibilities because of it

  • Pogrom - an act of organised cruel behaviour or killing that is done to a large group of people because of their race or religion

Common misconception

Hitler invented antisemitism.

Antisemitism had deep roots across Europe and the wider world long before Hitler. The Nazis built on these longstanding prejudices, turning them into official state policy and using them to justify persecution.


To help you plan your year 11 history lesson on: The persecution of Jews, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Give pupils a set of Nazi actions (e.g. 1933 boycott, Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, dismissal of Jewish teachers, red ‘J’ passport stamps). In pairs, they rate each 1–10 for severity and justify. Then reorder them to show how persecution escalated.
Teacher tip

Equipment

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 (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What was the main goal of Nazi racial ideology?

Correct answer: to build a racially pure national community
to create a multi-racial society
to maintain political alliances

Q2.
Match each Nazi belief to its correct description.

Correct Answer:eugenics,to improve society through selective reproduction based on genetics

to improve society through selective reproduction based on genetics

Correct Answer:racial hygiene,to improve the population through selective reproduction based on race

to improve the population through selective reproduction based on race

Correct Answer:sterilisation,a medical operation to make it impossible to have children

a medical operation to make it impossible to have children

Q3.
The Nazis believed that were racially inferior and only fit to be used as enslaved people for Germans.

Correct Answer: Slavs, Slavic people

Q4.
Which of the following statements reflect Nazi racial beliefs as described by Hitler and the Nazi Party?

Homosexuals were seen as racially inferior members of the sub-human class.
Correct answer: Humanity was divided into a racial hierarchy with sub-humans at the bottom.
Correct answer: Nazis believed that Germans were facing a deadly threat to their racial health.

Q5.
The Nazis sent Roma and Sinti people to camps before later deporting them.

Correct Answer: concentration, labour

Q6.
What does the Nazi term 'untermensch' mean?

chosen people
master race
Correct answer: subhumans

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Why did the Nazis back down after the April 1933 boycott?

they believed the boycott had already succeeded
they feared legal consequences from Germany’s courts
Correct answer: they were worried about negative foreign reaction and economic harm

Q2.
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped Jews of their and banned marriage between Jews and ‘Aryans’.

Correct Answer: citizenship, rights

Q3.
Why was the Nazi persecution of Jews difficult to predict in the early 1930s?

Correct answer: Discrimination unfolded slowly and seemed like it might stop.
Hitler avoided making any antisemitic statements publicly.
There was no antisemitism in Nazi propaganda.

Q4.
Which of the following were actions taken by the Nazi regime after Kristallnacht?

allowed Jewish victims to claim insurance
Correct answer: burned synagogues across Germany
Correct answer: fined the Jewish community 1 billion Reichsmarks
encouraged Jews to take revenge on SS officers

Q5.
The Nazis built on deep-rooted beliefs, turning them into official state policy to justify persecution.

Correct Answer: antisemitic

Q6.
What was the goal of the Reich Centre for Jewish Emigration, created in January 1939?

to help Jews access education
Correct answer: to push Jews out of Germany
to recruit Jewish workers for the war effort

Additional material

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