WHO IS/WAS A JEW?
1. A family tree

2. Who is a Jew under Jewish tradition? To be classified as a Jew, one must be born of a Jewish mother.

3. Who was a Jew according to the Nazis and under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and later decrees?

i. Both parents Jewish

ii. Either parent Jewish


iii. Two Jewish grandparents - Mischling ("mixed race") - first degree

iv. One Jewish grandparent - Mischling - second degree

v. Members of the Jewish community, regardless of their actual ancestry.
vi. Children of 'mixed' (Jewish plus non-Jewish) marriages.

STEP 1:

Students fill in the data of their own family tree.

STEP 2:

Teacher should initiate discussion on family traditions e.g. religion, political belief, language, closeness of family and the extended family, cultural traditions, food habits. This should focus on what makes people different in family groups.

STEP 3:

Explain (or have an expert come in to explain) some of the basic beliefs of Judaism, e.g.:

a. Belief in one God.
b. Acceptance of the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) as the basis of Jewish faith, law and morality.
c. Concept of the Chosen People - to be a good example of God's teaching; circumcision.
d. The dietary laws - separation of meat and milk, fit and unfit food (calld Kashrut).
e. Communal prayer rather than individual worship; centrality of the synagogue (the meeting house rather than a place of worship) and the family.
f. Symbols for Judaism - Shield (Star) of David (Magen David), seven-branched candelabrum (Menorah), prayer scrolls on door (Mezuzah).
g. Covered heads of males as a mark of respect for God.

STEP 4:

Explain that all the family situations in (3) were seen by the Nazis to make a person 'Jewish', despite the fact that some individuals would no longer have considered themselves Jewish, nor might they have been considered Jews under Jewish law.

STEP 5:

Read the Nuremberg Laws. (See the sections "Nazi Antisemitism" and "Holocaust Timeline".) Discuss their implications for those Germans who would neither have realised nor acknowledged their Jewish ancestry previously.

STEP 6:

List the restrictions that the Laws made on their lifestyles.
Note: while all classified groups were discriminated against, the Nazis did not apply their methods equally. For example, people classified as "Mischling second degree" were not necessarily deported.