Gardelegen, April 1945

Please note: Images in the slide presentation and in the video may be disturbing. Teachers should review and offer appropriate preparation.

All photos of the Gardelegen massacre used in the slide show, and many more that show the aftermath for the massacre, are in the James Knights Collection, Seton Hill University (National Center for Holocaust Education).

Lesson Plan

• Slides presentation on the events of the Gardelegen massacre

  • Resource: Short article that describes events of the massacre

  • Resource: Video of discovery of the massacre. Please use with care. The video contains images that may not be suitable for classroom use

• The key question: A wide range of groups, civilian and military, participated in this atrocity. How do we explain the willingness of so many ordinary Germans to engage in organizing and committing mass murder?

• Review (or presentation) of three theoretical perspectives

  • Banality of evil

  • Ideology

  • Dehumanization

• Students given in-class mini-research assignments to identify characteristics of

  • Wehrmacht

  • SS

  • Volkssturm

  • Hitlerjugend

• Students fill out analysis worksheet then meet with others analyzing the same group

• Student groups then discuss which theoretical perspective best explains actions of the group they are studying

• Whole class discussion of the group conclusions and further discussion of how theories can explain actions of perpetrators

• Teacher may wish to extend discussion by asking class to consider actions of Gerhard Thiele, the Kreisleiter whose actions coordinated the massacre (as a means of exploring individual responsibility)

Assessment

• Students individually write a paragraph explaining why their group reached the conclusion it did and if the individual has changed their mind based on full class discussion or further consideration.

  • Note: If students fill in grid handouts, they will have all the information they need to develop their paragraphs.