Lesson 6

To deepen your understanding of the ideas in this lesson, read Chapter Three in Facing
History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior.

The Nazi Party Platform

?WHY teach this material?

Rationale
The purpose of Lessons 6 and 7 is to help students understand the conditions in the
Weimar Republic that resulted in Germany’s transition from a democracy to a dictator-
ship. Part of understanding this history, or any history, is not simply to memorize dates,
events, and people, but to understand the reasons why and how things occurred in the
past. By establishing a context for Weimar Germany and helping students understand the
main beliefs of the Nazi Party, this lesson provides the background information students
need to answer the question: In 13 years, how did the Nazi Party go from being an
unknown political party to the most powerful political party in Germany? [Note: Students
are not expected to have an answer to this question until after Lesson 7.]

At its core, this lesson is about membership. Reading the Nazi Party platform provides
important information about how the Nazis defined German citizenship, and these ideas
are fundamental to understanding the laws Hitler put in place once he came to power in
1933. This lesson helps students continue to develop their awareness of how rules of
membership—norms that establish who is included and who is excluded—have implica-
tions for an entire community. This issue is not only relevant to understanding Germany
in the 1920s and 1930s, but also relates to how communities and nations today welcome
or reject immigrants and establish citizenship policies. Students will be able to tap into
their experience as adolescents, many of whom are preoccupied with issues of belonging,
as they try to make sense of this history. In this way, this lesson helps students see how
their own experience can help them understand the past, and vice versa.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
The purpose of this lesson is to help students:
• Reflect on these guiding questions:
• What are the main ideas in the Nazi Party platform?
• According to the Nazi Party platform, who is included in German society? Who is
excluded?
• What might be the consequences for the people who are not included in how a
group, or nation, defines itself ?
• Practice these interdisciplinary skills:
• Analyzing primary documents
• Deepening understanding of historical documents by making text-to-text, text-to-
self, and text-to-world connections.
• Deepen understanding of these key terms:
• Nazi

Lesson 6 • 76
 • Political party
• Party platform
• Inclusion
• Exclusion
• Versailles Treaty
• Democracy
(See the main glossary in the unit’s “Introduction” for definitions of these key
terms.)

? WHAT is this lesson about?

In this lesson, students analyze the Nazi Party platform, written in 1920. To understand
this document requires going backwards in time a few years to World War I. Because of
inaccurate or incomplete record keeping, it is impossible to know the exact number of
military and civilian casualties of World War I. Researchers have estimated that at least
40 million women, children,and men were killed or wounded as a result of the Great
War.1 Considering the indirect impact of the war in terms of disease, malnutrition, and
mental illness, the actual number of people who suffered as a result of the First World
War was likely significantly higher than this estimate. Moreover, World War I devastated
Europe, not only in terms of loss of lives, but also in terms of damage to basic infrastruc-
ture (i.e., factories, roads, bridges, hospitals, homes, etc.). While the fighting ceased in
1918, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 marked the official end to this war
and firmly established Germany’s defeat to the victorious Allied powers (primarily
Britain, France, Russia, and later others including the United States).

Battle-Weary Troops Retreat by German artist Otto Dix portrays the sadness and humiliation many Germans felt
after their loss.

Lesson 6 • 77
The harsh penalties for Germany authorized by the Treaty of Versailles following World
War I came as quite a shock to most Germans. The German people knew nothing about
Germany’s surrender until November 9—the day the Kaiser, the monarch ruling
Germany, fled to the Netherlands and the Social Democrats declared Germany a repub-
lic. That same day, the nation’s new leaders learned that the Allies expected Germany to
give up its armaments, including its navy, and evacuate all troops west of the Rhine River.
If the Germans did not accept those terms within 72 hours, the Allies threatened to
invade the nation. Germany’s new leaders turned to the military for advice. Paul von
Hindenburg, the commander of the German Armed Forces, and other military leaders
convinced civilians that they had to accept the truce. German soldiers could not hold out
much longer. Early on the morning of November 11, 1918, three representatives of the
new republic traveled to France to sign an armistice agreement. They made the trip alone;
the generals chose not to attend the ceremony.

As soon as the agreement was signed, people in many countries rejoiced, but there were
no celebrations in Germany, where people were in shock. How could they possibly have
lost the war? Many agreed with General Hindenburg who, although he had earlier urged
surrender, now claimed that Germany had been “stabbed in the back” by traitors at
home. Within just 48 hours, Germany was turned upside down. The stunned nation lost
its monarch, its empire, and the war itself. To make matters worse, there was now fight-
ing in the streets of many German cities, as the communists tried to bring about a revo-
lution. Berlin was so unsettled that the nation’s new leaders met in the city of Weimar—
hence the new German democracy was known as the Weimar Republic.

The Weimar Republic established the first democracy in Germany’s history, with a consti-
tution, elections, a parliament, and separation of powers. In 1920, 459 elected representa-
tives served in Germany’s parliament, called the Reichstag. At this time, the Nazi Party
did not garner enough support to send even one representative to the Reichstag. By
1933, the Nazi Party earned enough votes to seat 288 of its members in the Reichstag,
occupying 45% of the seats, enough to give the Nazis power to place Adolf Hitler in the
position of Chancellor, the leader of the Reichstag and second only to the President in
political power.

When studying this history, one of the most important questions to answer is, “How
were Hitler and the Nazis able to use the instruments of democracy to create a dictator-
ship?” Students will address this question in Lesson 7. But, first, in order to understand
why so many Germans were attracted to the Nazi Party, students need to understand the
core beliefs of the Nazis. The Nazis succinctly articulated their beliefs in the party plat-
form they wrote in 1920. A close reading of this document reveals how various groups
within Germany might be impacted if the Nazis came to power. This text indicates that a
cornerstone of Nazi ideology was a belief in race science and the superiority of the Aryan
race (or “German blood”). Nazis used this belief to determine who should be a citizen in
Nazi Germany and who should be excluded from citizenship. How might those with
“German blood”—those who are granted legal membership into German society—be
affected by laws based on Nazi beliefs? This document reveals the Nazi belief that certain
rights and privileges (the right to vote, run for office, and own a newspaper) should be
bestowed only on citizens; according to the platform, German citizens would be guaran-
teed jobs, food, and land on which to live.

Lesson 6 • 78
What might be the implications of the beliefs espoused in the Nazi Party platform for
those without “German blood”—for those who fall outside of what Holocaust scholar
Helen Fein calls a nation’s “universe of obligation.” Helen Fein refers to a nation’s uni-
verse of obligation as the circle of individuals and groups “toward whom obligations are
owed, to whom rules apply, and whose injuries call for [amends].”2 The Nazi Party plat-
form provided considerable information about who the Nazis would include in their uni-
verse of obligation, and who would be excluded. The fourth point in the platform singles
out Jews as a group that must be stripped of citizenship. (Note: Jews had been living in
Germany for a thousand years, and since 1870, Jews had been living in Germany as citi-
zens with the same rights afforded to non-Jewish Germans.) Point number five states that
non-citizens must follow special rules, yet, having lost the right to vote, they would have
no say over these rules. The ideology underlying the Nazi Party platform suggests that
groups stripped of citizenship are vulnerable to the whims of those in power. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked on the relationship between the treatment of minorities
and democracy when he argued, “No democracy can long survive which does not accept
as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of minorities.”3 History
demonstrates that human rights abuses can flourish when people are denied protection
from the government of the land in which they reside.

Related readings in
Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior
The Impact of Total War, pp. 110–13
War and Revolution in Germany, pp. 115–18
The Treaty of Versailles, pp. 119–22
Anger and Humiliation, pp. 122–26

Lesson 6 • 79
?HOW can we help students engage with this material?
Duration: one class period

Materials
Handout 1: Nazi Party platform
Handout 2: What did the Nazis believe?
Handout 3: Nazi beliefs about citizenship: Who is included? Who is excluded?

Opener

Optional: With this lesson, students begin the historical case study by exploring the fragility
of democracy in Weimar Germany. To understand the choices individuals and groups made
that resulted in the Nazis’ rise to power, students will draw from the core concepts they
explored in section one (i.e., identity, belonging, conformity, stereotypes and labels, ostracism,
etc.). To reinforce students’ understanding of these concepts and to prepare them to apply
these themes to the new material, give students time to review what they have learned thus far
in this unit. You might give students a few moments to review the journal entries they have
written and then ask each student to present one “take away” or “key learning point.” This list
of main ideas can be recorded on a large piece of paper that can hang in the room as a
reminder of prior learning.

Inform students that over the next several weeks, they will explore how these key ideas
played out during a critical time in world history when the choices of people resulted in a
democratic government turning into a dictatorship. These are big concepts that may be
unfamiliar to students at this time. So, you might begin this lesson by having students
brainstorm the ingredients that make up our democratic government. Prompts you might
use to structure students’ thinking include: What are the main parts of our government?
When you think of U.S. democracy, what words come to mind? If you were taking a test
on U.S. government, what items might be included?

Students may suggest words such as elections, separation of powers, Congress, courts,
laws, Constitution, freedom of speech, president, and political parties (i.e., Democrats
and Republicans). You can present key ideas students do not include. With this list on the
board, you can transition to the study of Weimar Germany—a time when all of these
ingredients were in place. This is also an appropriate time to have students locate
Germany on a map.

Main Activities
Part I: Establishing historical context for the Nazi Party platform
Before introducing the Nazi Party platform, give students some context for this docu-
ment. Below are some talking points highlighting the ideas about Germany students
should understand before analyzing the Nazi Party platform. (As you explain this history,
you may wish to draw parallels to U.S. government. For example, when explaining how
the Nazis were a political party, you can make a connection to political parties in the
United States.)

Lesson 6 • 80
 Background information about the founding of the Weimar Republic

In 1918, at the end of World War I, the German monarch (king) fled the country,
opening the way for Germans to replace a monarchy with a different form of govern-
ment. Many Germans (but not all) wanted the people to have a voice in government
and adopted a new constitution to set up a democratic system with elections, repre-
sentatives, and civil rights. Because this constitution was adopted in a town called
Weimar, the first democratic government in Germany is often referred to as the
“Weimar Republic.”

The Nazi Party platform was written in 1920 when Germany was a young democ-
racy. The Nazis were a German political party. While the U.S. has relatively few pow-
erful political parties, in 1920 Germany had many political parties and at least seven
of those had enough seats to be a powerful force in the Reichstag, the German parlia-
ment. In 1920, the Nazi Party was very weak. In fact, it did not get enough votes to
have any representation in the Reichstag. Thirteen years later, in 1933, the Nazis
received a majority of votes and had more seats in parliament than any other party.
In other words, they were the most powerful political party in Germany. When the
Nazi Party had the majority, it gave its leader, Adolf Hitler, control of the govern-
ment. By the middle of 1933, Hitler and the Nazis passed new rules that made all
other political parties illegal and gave Hitler complete control of the government. In
13 years Germany went from being a democracy to a dictatorship.

The purpose of the next few lessons is to help students answer this key question:
In 13 years, how did the Nazi Party go from being a little-known political party to
the most powerful political party in Germany? Write this question on the board as a
reminder to students of what they will be responsible for answering in a few
days. Before students can answer this question, they need to understand what the
Nazis stood for. To learn about the main ideas of the Nazis, they will study the
Nazi Party platform. Explain that political parties write documents called “plat-
forms” to articulate the core beliefs the party stands for. [You might ask students
to consider what might happen if political parties did not write platforms. How
would people know the difference between parties? How would the members of
a party know if they agree with their parties’ beliefs? How would people know
which party to join or vote for?]

Part II: Interpreting the Nazi Party platform

Now students have sufficient context to begin exploring the Nazi Party platform (hand-
out 1). There are many ways you could structure this task. You could have students
answer the true/false statements on handout 2, “What did the Nazis believe?” To adapt
this handout for students of different levels, you can write the appropriate statement
number from the Nazi Party platform next to the relevant statement on the true/false
sheet. This makes it easier for students to know where to find the statement that will help
them answer true or false. To make students’ task more challenging, you can ask them to
rewrite all false statements to make them true.

You could also structure students’ analysis of the Nazi Party platform as a press confer-
ence. Divide students into groups and assign several platform statements to each group.
Each group will be responsible for answering questions about these statements at a press

Lesson 6 • 81
conference. When staging the press conference, students should not assume the role of
Nazis. It is unwise to put students in the same shoes as perpetrators of major crimes
against humanity and to provide them with an opportunity to characterize, or even sati-
rize, a group who inflicted serious harm on millions of people. Students could answer
questions as historians, reporters, or experts.

You can write the questions for the press conference, or you can ask students to come up
with questions. Press conference questions might include the following:

• How do Nazis define a German citizen? Who do they believe should enjoy the
rights of German citizenship?
• Which groups of people might be stripped of their citizenship if Nazis were in con-
trol?
• How will Nazis help Germans put food on the table for their families?
• What do Nazis believe about the Versailles Treaty?
• What ideas in this platform might be most appealing to German citizens? Why?
• What ideas in this platform might offend some German citizens? Why?

As you debrief students’ analysis of the Nazi Party platform, the most important idea for
students to come away with is how the Nazis defined German citizenship: they believed
only those people who could prove that they belonged to the Aryan race (had “German
blood”) should enjoy the rights of citizens. One way to reinforce students’ understanding
of this concept is to have them draw a circle in their journals (or you could use handout
3). Inside the circle, ask students to describe the groups that the Nazis believed should be
included in the definition of German citizen. Outside of the circle, ask students to
describe the groups that the Nazis believed should be excluded form German citizenship,
such as Jews, those without “German blood,” and foreigners. It is a good idea to post this
circle chart on the wall because you will be able to come back to it throughout the unit as
students confront more information about groups that the Nazis excluded from German
citizenship.

Follow-Through
The concept of membership—who is included and who is excluded—is a central theme
of the Nazi Party platform. As students look at who is inside and outside of the circle
representing the Nazi’s vision of Germany (see handout 3), ask them to think about what
this might mean to those outside of the circle and inside of the circle. How might being
included in the circle of citizenship impact someone’s life? How might being excluded
from the circle of citizenship impact someone’s life? Students can respond to these ques-
tions in their journals. Encourage them to connect their prior knowledge and experience,
including their work in Lesson 2 with the ostracism case study, to the history they are
studying. What were the implications for Sue when she was excluded from her group of
friends? What have been the implications for students you know when they have been
included or excluded from groups? How do you imagine it might feel to be Rhonda or
Jill, the girls who led others to ostracize Sue? What are the costs and benefits to those
who have the power to exclude others from membership?

Another way to help students connect the ideas in the Nazi Party platform to issues in
their own lives (as well as to reinforce students’ understanding of the Nazi Party plat-
form), is to use a literacy strategy called “Text to Self, Text to Text, Text to World.” This

Lesson 6 • 82
can be assigned for homework or these prompts can be used as the basis for a class
discussion.

Text to Self, Text to Text, Text to World

Note: The purpose of this teaching strategy is to deepen students’ under-

standing of a text. It is best used after students have sufficient comprehen-
sion of the material.

Step One: Text to Self

Ask students to answer questions about the reading that relate to them-
selves. Example prompts include:
• What I just read reminds me of the time when I was included or
excluded . . .
• I agree with/understand what I just read because in my own life . . .
• I don’t agree with what I just read because in my own life . . .

Step Two: Text to Text

Ask students to answer questions about how the text reminds them of
another piece of text. For example:
• What I just read reminds me of another story/book/movie/song I read
because . . .
• What I just read reminds me of the ostracism case study we read in les-
son two because . . .

Step Three: Text to World

Ask students to answer questions about how the text relates to the larger
world. Example prompts include:
• What I just read reminds me of this thing that happened in history
because . . .
• What I just read reminds me of what’s going on in my community,
country, or world now because . . .

Assessment(s)
By the end of this lesson, students should understand that the Nazis wanted to restrict cit-
izenship to those who could prove they had “German blood.” They could demonstrate
this understanding through their responses on handout 2 or through how they label their
circle chart. Students should also begin to understand how practices of inclusion and
exclusion have consequences for the entire community. This might be revealed through
students’ journal entries and/or a class discussion. For example, those who were included
in the Nazis’ definition of citizenship would have access to better jobs and have the
opportunity to influence political decisions by voting or running for office. Those who
were excluded from the Nazis’ definition of citizenship could be exiled from the country,
have their job taken away, or be subject to laws agreed on by people who might not repre-
sent their views (seeing that non-citizens can’t vote).

Lesson 6 • 83
Extensions
In this lesson, students begin to explore the history of the rise of the Nazi Party in
Germany. Many teachers have found it useful to provide students with the opportunity
to build a timeline of this period. As students learn new material, they can add it to their
timelines. Teachers have had students record their timelines in their journals or on special
sheets of large paper. These timelines can be used as a formative and summative assess-
ment tool, allowing you to track students’ historical understanding throughout the unit
and at the end of the unit. Timeline building can also be structured as a small group or a
whole class activity. Many Facing History classes maintain a timeline on the wall.
Timelines might include short captions of key events, dates, images, important quota-
tions, and key questions.

Lesson 6 • 84
 Lesson 6: Handout 1
Nazi Party Platform

Note: Underlined words are defined in the glossary below.

In February 1920, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) came up
with a 25-point program. Included in the party’s new program were the following
points:

1. A union of all Germans to form a great Germany on the basis of the right to self-
determination of peoples.

2. Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles.

3. Land and territory (colonies) for our surplus population.

4. German blood as a requirement for German citizenship. No Jew can be a mem-

ber of the nation.

5. Non-citizens can live in Germany only as foreigners, subject to the law of aliens.

6. Only citizens can vote or hold public office.

7. The state ensures that every citizen live decently and earn his livelihood. If it is
impossible to provide food for the whole population, then aliens must be
expelled.

8. No further immigration of non-Germans. Any non-German who entered

Germany after August 2, 1914, shall leave immediately.

9. A thorough reconstruction of our national system of education. The science of

citizenship shall be taught from the beginning.

10. All newspapers must be published in the German language by German citizens
and owners.4

Glossary
Self-determination: the belief that every nation (organized group of people with a shared history and culture) should
have its own independent state and not be ruled by others.
Treaty of Versailles: the peace treaty that ended World War I. The Treaty of Versailles made Germany responsible for
the war. As a result of being blamed for starting the war, the treaty required them to pay back the winners of the
war with money and land. Many Germans felt that this treaty was unfair and humiliating.
Surplus: additional
Aliens: immigrants who are not citizens

Purpose: To deepen understanding of membership and belonging by studying the Nazi Party platform. • 85
 Lesson 6: Handout 2
What did the Nazis believe?

Directions: Refer to the Nazi Party platform to answer true or false for the following statements about
the Nazis’ core beliefs.

The Nazis believed that only people who could prove they had “German □ True □ False
blood” could be citizens.

The Nazis believed that Germans should not be blamed for World War I □ True □ False
and should not have to pay money or give land to the winners of the war.

The Nazis believed that anybody living in Germany should have the same □ True □ False
rights as German citizens.

The Nazis believed that schools should teach students “the science of cit- □ True □ False
izenship,” explaining how some people have German blood and other
people, like Jews, do not.

The Nazis believed that Jews who had been living in Germany for hun- □ True □ False
dreds of years and fought in wars for Germany have “German blood.”

The Nazis believed that Germany should be able to get more land for its □ True □ False
growing population.

The Nazis believed that anyone should be able to publish a newspaper in □ True □ False
Germany.

The Nazis believed that recent non-German immigrants are welcome in □ True □ False
Germany.

The Nazis believed that all German citizens have the right to a job and □ True □ False
food for their family.

The Nazis believed that if the country could not provide enough jobs and □ True □ False
food for its own citizens, then immigrants must leave so that they do not
take jobs and food away from German citizens.

The Nazis believed that anyone living in Germany could vote and run for □ True □ False
office.

The Nazis believed that anyone living in Germany who does not have □ True □ False
German blood should follow special laws for non-citizens.

Purpose: To deepen understanding of membership and belonging by studying the Nazi Party platform. • 86
 Lesson 6: Handout 3
Nazi Beliefs About Citizenship: Who is included? Who is excluded?

Directions: According to the Nazi Party platform, who is included in the Nazis’ definition of the
German citizen? Write adjectives or nouns describing those groups in the center of the circle. Who is not
included in the Nazis’ definition of the German citizen? Write adjectives or nouns describing those
groups outside of the circle.

Purpose: To deepen understanding of membership and belonging by studying the Nazi Party platform. • 87
Notes
1
“WWI Casualty and Death Tables, 1914–1918,” The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century,
PBS website, http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html (accessed December 29, 2008).
2
Helen Fein, Accounting for Genocide (London: The Free Press, 1979), 33.
3
Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Greeting to the NAACP,” June 25, 1938, The American Presidency Project,
University of California, Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index/php?pid=15663
(accessed January 5, 2009).
4
“Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party,” The Avalon Project, Yale Law School website,
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/nsdappro.asp (accessed December 29, 2008).

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