The Holocaust and Genocide in the Modern World
Aligned to C3.D2.His.7 — C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.
What this lesson teaches
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-organized murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II, along with millions of Roma, disabled people, and other targeted groups. Genocide — the deliberate attempt to destroy an entire people — has recurred in places such as Rwanda and Cambodia, which is why survivors urge the world to remember and to act.
Worked example
At the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland, the Nazis murdered more than one million people; today the preserved site stands as a memorial so that visitors never forget what prejudice, unchecked, can become.
Practice questions
- Define the term genocide.
- Explain how the Nazi state moved from discrimination toward the mass murder of European Jews.
- Analyze why studying the Holocaust and other genocides matters for preventing such crimes in the future.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
El Holocausto y el genocidio en el mundo moderno
El Holocausto fue el asesinato sistemático y organizado por el Estado de seis millones de judíos a manos de la Alemania nazi y sus colaboradores durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, junto con millones de romaníes, personas con discapacidad y otros grupos perseguidos. El genocidio — el intento deliberado de destruir a todo un pueblo — se ha repetido en lugares como Ruanda y Camboya, por lo que los sobrevivientes instan al mundo a recordar y a actuar.
Ejemplo: En el campo de Auschwitz, en la Polonia ocupada, los nazis asesinaron a más de un millón de personas; hoy el sitio preservado sirve de monumento para que los visitantes nunca olviden en qué puede convertirse el prejuicio sin freno.
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