Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY
Short answer: Answer the following questions while you watch Path to Nazi Genocide.
1. List three ways in which World War I and the Treaty of Versailles led to political
instability in Germany.
1) had to take sole blame for starting the war
2) territory shrunk
3) large reparations
4) Hitler took advantage of the German people’s anger and fear
5) postwar economic depression
2. In his book Mein Kampf [“My Struggle”], what goals does Hitler advocate for Germany?
Territorial expansion, a racially pure state, destruction of European Jews
3. How did Adolf Hitler become chancellor of Germany in 1933? How did he become the
Führer and sole head of government in 1934?
Hitler was appointed as part of a compromise among politicians; the death of President Hindenburg
4. How did the 1935 Nuremberg laws affect German Jews?
Loss of citizenship, forbidden to marry non-Jews
5. Under Nazi racial ideology, what groups were considered racially inferior?
Jews, Slavs, blacks, Roma (gypsies); also those with physical and mental disabilities
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY
6. List three ways the German government tried to isolate and persecute Jews between
1933-1938.
1.
Jews sent to separate schools
2.
Jews kicked out of jobs
3.
boycott of Jewish stores
4.
loss of citizenship
5.
hundreds of antisemitic laws
6.
public antisemitism
7. What factors made it difficult for Jews to emigrate from Germany?
No country wanted them; Nazis deprived Jews of their resources before they left
8. How did German authorities treat the Jewish populations of the occupied eastern
territories during World War II?
Ghettos for control, mass shootings, sent to concentration camps/killing centers, forced labor
9. How did American soldiers react to the liberation of concentration camps?
They were shocked and tried to help however they could
10. Why do you think it is important to learn about the Holocaust?
Students write their own responses
True or False: After watching The Path to Nazi Genocide, write True or False for each statement
below. Teachers may ask students to provide evidence for each statement, or alter each false
statement to make it a true statement.
1. Adolf Hitler supported the Treaty of Versailles and believed that the German government
was right to try to end World War I.
[
False
]
2
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY
2. Germany prospered economically prior to the worldwide Great Depression.
[
False
]
3. Adolf Hitler tried to seize control of the German government in 1923, ten years before he
became chancellor.
[
True
]
4. Prior to 1933, Hitler’s desire to eliminate European Jews was kept a secret.
[
False
]
5. Hitler seized control of Germany in a military coup.
[
False
]
6. The Nazis used propaganda to gain supporters, offering simple solutions and blaming
scapegoats for Germany’s problems.
[
True
]
7. The Nazis never received more than 38% of the vote in a national election prior to 1933.
[
True
]
8. Jews were the first group to be sent to concentration camps.
[
False
]
9. The Nazis rejected stories of Germany’s patriotic history and did not try to reassure
average Germans about Hitler’s leadership.
[
False
]
10. German soldiers swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler, not to Germany.
[
True
]
11. Nazi racial ideology labeled Jews, Slavs, blacks, and Roma as racially inferior.
[
True
]
12. The Kristallnacht attacks in November 1938 were spontaneous and surprised Nazi
authorities.
[
False
]
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Path to Nazi Genocide Worksheet: ANSWER KEY
13. Jews could be released from concentration camps in the late 1930s if they promised to
immigrate to another country.
[
True
]
14. The German invasion of France was very unpopular among the German people.
[
False
]
15. German soldiers were trained in Nazi racism.
[
True
]
16. Nazi Germany refused to allow local collaborators, like police, to aid in mass murder.
[
False
]
17. At least two million Jews were murdered in mass shootings in eastern Europe.
[
True
]
18. Many Jews, especially in eastern Europe, were centralized in ghettos, sometimes for
years, prior to being deported to forced labor, concentration camps, and killing centers.
[
True
]
19. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, all Jews were sent immediately to gas chambers.
[
False
]
20. The word “genocide” was created to describe crimes like the Holocaust.
[
True
]
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