Discussion Questions , Based on Original Photograhs

Nazi Antisemitism

Nazis picketing a Jewish shop

1. Intimidation
a) What effect would the presence of stormtroopers outside shops have on customers?
b) Why might non-Jewish shopkeepers have been pleased with this action?
c) Why might the Germans have set up this particular photo?
d) What evidence is there that the boycott of Jewish shops was more than just an economic measure?
e) Apart from Germany, where else might this photo have been published or used? How do you know?

Humiliation of Jews

2. Humiliation
a) What do you notice about the way the Jews are dressed?
b) What sorts of people usually clean city streets?
c) What time of day would this form of degradation have had the most effect?
d) Why might the Germans have taken this photo?
e) What effect might this incident have had on the small children in the photo?

The burning of books

3. Burning Books
a) Can you think of any books or authors that some people would want to ban or even destroy today? What ideas are not in favour today?
b) What ideas do you think that the German Nazi government would not have wanted the people to read?
c) Why were works by writers such as Heine (a poet) or Freud (a psychoanalyst) included in the bookburning?
d) Why were (are) books important? Were they more important then than today? What influences our thinking today?

Rallies

4. Rallies
a) What purpose might the Nazis have had for such rallies?
b) What impression would a visitor to Germany have had of the support for the Nazis from such a rally?
c) If you were in the audience, what impression would you have of the speaker?
d) What technology was important for such a rally to have been successful?
e) How would a speaker today manage to reach a wide audience?