Genocide Worksheet Answer Key

Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY Short answer: Answer the following questions while you watch Path to Nazi Genocide. 1. List three ways in which World War I and the Treaty of Versailles led to political instability in Germany. 1) had to take sole blame for starting the war 2) territory shrunk 3) large reparations 4) Hitler took advantage of the German people’s anger and fear 5) postwar economic depression 2. In his book Mein Kampf [“My Struggle”], what goals does Hitler advocate for Germany? Territorial expansion, a racially pure state, destruction of European Jews 3. How did Adolf Hitler become chancellor of Germany in 1933? How did he become the Führer and sole head of government in 1934? Hitler was appointed as part of a compromise among politicians; the death of President Hindenburg 4. How did the 1935 Nuremberg laws affect German Jews? Loss of citizenship, forbidden to marry non-Jews 5. Under Nazi racial ideology, what groups were considered racially inferior? Jews, Slavs, blacks, Roma (gypsies); also those with physical and mental disabilities 1 Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY 6. List three ways the German government tried to isolate and persecute Jews between 1933-1938. 1. Jews sent to separate schools 2. Jews kicked out of jobs 3. boycott of Jewish stores 4. loss of citizenship 5. hundreds of antisemitic laws 6. p ublic antisemitism 7. What factors made it difficult for Jews to emigrate from Germany? No country wanted them; Nazis deprived Jews of their resources before they left 8. How did German authorities treat the Jewish populations of the occupied eastern territories during World War II? Ghettos for control, mass shootings, sent to concentration camps/killing centers, forced labor 9. How did American soldiers react to the liberation of concentration camps? They were shocked and tried to help however they could 10. Why do you think it is important to learn about the Holocaust? Students write their own responses True or False: Write True or False after watching Path to Nazi Genocide 1. Adolf Hitler supported the Treaty of Versailles and believed that the German government was right to try to end World War I. [False] 2. Germany prospered economically prior to the worldwide Great Depression. [False] 2 Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY 3. Adolf Hitler tried to seize control of the German government in 1923, ten years before he became chancellor. [True] 4. Prior to 1933, Hitler’s desire to eliminate European Jews was kept a secret. [False] 5. Hitler seized control of Germany in a military coup. [False] 6. The Nazis used propaganda to gain supporters, offering simple solutions and blaming scapegoats for Germany’s problems. [True] 7. The Nazis never received more than 38% of the vote in a national election prior to 1933. [True] 8. Jews were the first group to be sent to concentration camps. [False] 9. The Nazis rejected stories of Germany’s patriotic history and did not try to reassure average Germans about Hitler’s leadership. [False] 10. German soldiers swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler, not to Germany. [True] 11. Nazi racial ideology labeled Jews, Slavs, blacks, and Roma [gypsies] as racially inferior. [True] 12. The Kristallnacht attacks in November 1938 were spontaneous and surprised Nazi authorities. [False] 13. Jews could be released from concentration camps in the late 1930s if they promised to immigrate to another country. [True] 3 Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY 14. The German invasion of France was very unpopular among the German people. [False] 15. German soldiers were trained in Nazi racism. [True] 16. Nazi Germany refused to allow local collaborators, like police, to aid in mass murder. [False] 17. At least two million Jews were murdered in mass shootings in eastern Europe. [True] 18. Many Jews, especially in eastern Europe, were centralized in ghettos, sometimes for years, prior to being deported to forced labor, concentration camps, and killing centers. [True] 19. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, all Jews were sent immediately to gas chambers. [False] 20. The word “genocide” was created to describe crimes like the Holocaust. [True] 4