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Nazi Designers of Death

Viewing Ideas

Before Watching

1. Ask students to share some of the information they already know about the concentration camps in the Holocaust. Why might it be difficult to find evidence of anyone giving orders to carry out such a massive plan of extermination? As they view the program, ask students to watch for key figures presented, and to take note of the evidence that is used to connect these individuals to the effort to exterminate thousands of people.

2. The experts in this program have found documents, blueprints, and letters that explain some of the plans for concentration camps. Before they watch the program, ask students to make a list of the details that they would look for as evidence that the Nazis had a specific plan to kill large numbers of people, and not merely to dispose of the bodies of dead prisoners. As they watch, have them look for these details in the program.

After Watching

1. In recent years, a few writers in Europe and the United States have argued that the Holocaust never happened and that the concentration camps were not used to kill people. After watching this program, what evidence would students use to counter arguments that the Holocaust never happened?

2. The historians in this program drew inferences and conclusions from many pieces of information about the Nazi plans for crematoriums at Birkenau. Have students to review these inferences and select sections of the program that provide the most significant evidence to support the experts' theories.