Holocaust Memorial Day

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• History
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• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• Further Education (Key Stage 5)
• GCSE

Introductie

This lesson introduces your students to Holocaust Memorial Day. During this lesson, your students get a brief overview of the events, processes and outcomes of the Holocaust, and have a chance to explore why it is something we still have time to reflect on today. This lesson does contain materials that students may find distressing or emotional, so we recommend that you adapt the videos and tasks to suit your pupils needs and abilities. Encourage discussion and questions during the lesson, and help them draw any parallels they might see to modern events. The Holocaust did not begin with violence but with words, laws and prejudice that escalated step by step. Students trace that escalation from 1933 to 1941 and consider why remembering it on 27 January still matters. Interactive highlights: two word webs; hotspot timeline; sorting question; two video slides. Best suited for: KS3–KS4 History, PSHE or form time in the week of 27 January; teacher-led live delivery, not unsupervised independent study.

Instructies

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Holocaust Memorial Day falls on Wednesday 27 January 2027, the 82nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The deck moves from prior knowledge through the escalation of persecution to how and why the day is marked, so leave time for quiet reflection at the end.

Before teaching, check whether any students have a personal or family connection to the Holocaust or other genocides, and agree ground rules for respectful discussion.

What do you already know about the Holocaust?

Draws out what students already know, so misconceptions and gaps can be identified before the historical content begins.

Stretch: Ask students to separate the contributions they are confident are accurate from those they would want to check, and explain how they would check them.

Device-Free: Students write one word or phrase on a sticky note; build the web on the board and address any inaccurate terms sensitively.

INTRODUCTION

Holocaust Memorial Day is observed to commemorate the millions of victims of the Holocaust and other genocides, and to educate the public about the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and discrimination.

It is held on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, to honour survivors and prevent future atrocities by fostering a commitment to a safer, better future, and educating people on the atrocities of the past.

LO: To understand the impact of the Holocaust and explore why and how it is remembered.

Explains why 27 January was chosen and sets out the purpose of the day: remembering victims, honouring survivors and challenging prejudice.

Stretch: Ask students why the day commemorates "other genocides" as well as the Holocaust, and what that wider scope achieves.

Device-Free: Pair talk: partners agree one sentence that explains the purpose of the day, then share it with the class.

HISTORY OF THE HOLOCAUST

• The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.

• The Holocaust did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process that escalated over many years.

• The Nazis created over 40,000 camps to imprison Jews and other targeted groups.

• While Jews were the primary target, the Nazis also systematically murdered or persecuted millions of others.

• These included disabled people, Roma and Sinti, gay people and political opponents.

Establishes the scale of the Holocaust and stresses that it was a gradual process, preparing students for the timeline slides that follow.

Stretch: Students explain why the point that the Holocaust "did not happen overnight" matters when considering how prejudice can take hold in a society.

Device-Free: Ask students to recall the start and end dates from memory on mini-whiteboards, then recap the three bullet points together.

Why would it be important to understand the Holocaust?

Builds the vocabulary of remembrance and responsibility by collecting the class's own reasons for studying the Holocaust.

Stretch: Ask students to rank three reasons from the web and justify which matters most today.

Device-Free: Each student writes one reason on a mini-whiteboard, and a selection is read aloud to form the web on the board.

STUDYING THE HOLOCAUST

Studying the Holocaust is critical for many reasons:

• Recognise warning signs: It demonstrates the dangers of prejudice, discrimination, and propaganda that can manipulate a society. The Holocaust did not begin with violence, but with hateful words and ideas.

• Understand human rights: The scale of the atrocities led the world to develop international human rights laws to protect people from mass violence.

• Empower action: Learning about the choices made by perpetrators, victims, and bystanders shows how individual actions—whether out of hatred, fear, or indifference—contributed to the genocide. It encourages people to speak up against injustice and defend human rights today.

Sets out three reasons for studying the Holocaust, connecting historical events to human rights and individual responsibility today.

Stretch: Students apply the "recognise warning signs" point to explain how hateful language or propaganda can be challenged in their own community.

Device-Free: Read each reason aloud; students show one, two or three fingers for the reason they find most convincing, and a few explain their choice.

THE PROCESS OF

THE HOLOCAUST

1933: Nazis seize power

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany and immediately began targeting Jewish people through propaganda and discriminatory laws. They falsely blamed Jews for Germany's problems after World War I.

1.

The Nuremberg Laws (1935)

These laws officially stripped Jewish people of their German citizenship and banned marriage and relationships between Jews and non-Jews. Jews were cut off from society and subjected to public humiliation.

2.

Kristallnacht (1938)

On the "Night of Broken Glass," Nazis attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany, looting and destroying them. Thousands of Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

3.

Hitler addressing the crowds in Nuremberg, Germany.

There would have been a mix of soldiers, the Hitler Youth and devout Nazi civilians in attendance. Watching his speeches was compared to watching a play, and many people found that he had answers to the problems they faced in their daily lives. He also explained how they were caused, not by the government or German history, but by select groups of people that he blamed.

Part 1

Opens the chronology with the Nazi rise to power, the Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht, showing persecution escalating first through law and then through violence.

Stretch: Ask students to explain how each of the three stages made the next one easier to carry out.

Device-Free: Open each hotspot in turn and ask students to summarise it in five words or fewer on mini-whiteboards.

World War II and the Ghettos (1939)

After invading Poland, Germany forced Jewish people into overcrowded, unsanitary, and guarded areas of cities called ghettos. Many died from disease and starvation.

4.

The 'Final Solution' (1941)

This was the Nazi plan for the genocide of all European Jews. The Nazis began carrying out mass murders using mobile killing squads and later created extermination camps designed for mass murder.

5.

One of the watchtowers at Auschwitz concentration camp, based just outside the camp, looking in. If anyone was brave enough to try and escape, the guards in the watchtowers would have shot them down before they could even scale the fences. They were always manned and had torches and searchlights, so that no one could pass by unnoticed.

Part 2

THE PROCESS OF

THE HOLOCAUST

Continues the chronology from the ghettos to the 'Final Solution', marking the shift from persecution to systematic murder; a short pause after this slide is appropriate.

Stretch: Students explain how the outbreak of war in 1939 changed what the Nazi regime was able to do.

Device-Free: Partners recap all five stages in order to each other before the sorting task.

Put the events into the right order.

1

The Nazis seize power

2

The Nuremberg Laws

3

World War II

4

Kristallnacht

5

The 'Final Solution'

Challenges students to order the five stages from 1933 to 1941, reinforcing that the Holocaust escalated step by step.

Stretch: Ask students to justify where World War II sits in the sequence and explain its link to the creation of the ghettos.

Device-Free: Write the five events on cards; small groups arrange them in order on the desk and compare with another group.

The clip brings real-world context to the timeline; preview it beforehand to confirm its content and suitability for the class.

Stretch: Ask students to identify one point from the video that adds to, or differs from, the information on the earlier slides.

Device-Free: If the video cannot be shown, recap the five timeline stages orally and take questions.

VICTIMS BEYOND THE

JEWISH POPULATION.

These included Roma (also known as Gypsies), people with physical and mental disabilities, Polish and Soviet civilians, gay people, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Not all young people were victims. German youth were indoctrinated into Nazi ideology through groups like the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls. They were taught to hate and persecute others.

It demonstrates the dangers of prejudice, discrimination, and propaganda that can manipulate a society. The Holocaust did not begin with violence, but with hateful words and ideas.

01

OTHER GROUPS

NAZI YOUTH

GENERAL PUBLIC

02

03

Widens the focus to other persecuted groups and to the role of indoctrination and propaganda in shaping young people and the wider public.

Stretch: Students explain why the Nazis targeted young people through groups such as the Hitler Youth, and what this reveals about how propaganda works.

Device-Free: Assign each third of the class one column to summarise aloud for the others.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY PRACTICES

To observe Holocaust Memorial Day, you could:

• Participate in the "Light the Darkness" moment by placing a candle in your window at 8 p.m. on 27 January

• Learn about the Holocaust and other genocides through readings and documentaries

• Organise a local event like an assembly or a memorial service.

But spending your time reflecting on it in this lesson is a great way to start.

Moves from history to remembrance, outlining practical ways individuals and schools can mark the day on 27 January.

Stretch: Ask students to evaluate which of the practices listed would have the greatest impact in their school, and why.

Device-Free: Take a show of hands on which practice students would most like to take part in, followed by brief discussion.

Placed after the remembrance practices, this second clip gives the theme of remembrance a real-world dimension; check its content before the lesson, as the slide carries no description of it.

Stretch: Students explain what the clip suggests about why remembering matters for future generations.

Device-Free: If the video is unavailable, invite a minute of silent reflection before the closing slide.

Closes the lesson on remembrance; a brief moment of silence or quiet reflection is appropriate before students leave.