National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

THEME VI:

POWER, AUTHORITY, & GOVERNANCE

Putting Together the Puzzle of the Holocaust

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Description: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance. Understanding the historical development of structures of power, authority and governance and their evolving functions in contemporary U.S. society and other parts of the world is essential for developing civic competence. In exploring this theme, students confront questions such as: What is power? What forms does it take? Who holds it? How is it gained, used, and justified? What is legitimate authority? How are governments created, structured, maintained, and changed? How can individual rights be protected with the context of majority rule.

Reflection:

Power, authority, and governance, a theme I instilled throughout the discussion and unit of the rise of dictators with more focus and attention on Hitler than any other dictator during the interwar period. This theme tries to answer several important questions pertaining from what is power; to how this power is gained and to what authority grants this power. Also, how are individual freedoms and liberties affected by those in power?

Again, this theme was present throughout the studies of the interwar period and the Holocaust. I wanted to present the lessons involving the rise of dictators throughout the interwar period by providing a question framework that centered on the amazement of how these people came to power and how they were so successful at limiting civil rights and liberties to those people they opposed. One example of this that I’ve already mentioned was the rise of Hitler and how he was able to pass legislation and policies that affected the Jewish population in the most horrific atrocities ever recorded against man. I used power point to address his past, events that led up to him taking power, and what he did to maintain control and power. I also showed a video clip of Hitler giving a speech of front of thousands of Germans. Even though we didn’t understand what he was saying, the purpose of the video showed how powerful of a speaker he was. As a class, students discuss such things as his mannerisms and fluctuation in speech. My question framework focused on answering questions that involved how he was able to play on people’s fear, the bad economy, and how people were so desperate they sought out any possible leader that would adhere to their economic and social woes. Therefore, this theme definitely opened the eyes of students to the possibilities of something like this happening in the future in parts of the world that may suffer the same fate Germany and other countries did during the interwar period.

In the future, I will still pose questions to help answer imperative questions imposed by this theme that’ll have a direct impact on students whom I’m teaching. Students must know that throughout history, people became susceptible to those people who gained control of the government legitimately my preying on the fears of ordinary citizens who were not educated and who were mostly definitely seeking any solutions to their problems. Education is they key to avoid any type of situation from evolving in the future.