Interpretation

Subject: Language Arts

Grade Levels: High School

Objectives:

• to determine the author's purpose and point of view and their effects on text
• to become familiar with the language of the Nazis and their propaganda.

Sunshine State Standards:

• Grades 9 through 12
  • LA.A.2.4.2

View all Sunshine State Standards

Materials:

• historical facts about Adolf Hitler pertaining to his artistic pursuits

• history of artists that lived in Terezín

The History Place: World War II

Procedure:

1. Have the students read the following facts below:
   • Sept. 1900-------Hitler desires to go to art school but is forced to attend technical school.
   • 1905--------------Unable to pass his exams, Hitler leaves technical school for good.
   • October 1907----Hitler fails the entrance exam to the Vienna Academy of the Arts, (his dream).
   • 1908-1913-------Hitler lives in Vienna, fails the exam for the Vienna Academy of the Arts a second time and spends many months on the street. This is the time that he forms his anti-Semitic and German nationalistic ideas.

2. Have the students read the following quote below:

   "Art is a noble mission. Those who have been chosen by destiny [Vorsehung] to reveal the soul of a people, to let it speak in stone or ring in sounds, live under a powerful, almighty, and all-pervading force. They will speak a language, regardless of whether others understand them. They will suffer hardship rather than become unfaithful to the star which guides them from within."

   --Hitler. Nuremberg speech, Sept. 11, 1935

3. Have the students discuss the following questions:
   1. Which people is Hitler speaking about?
   2. Why does he say that people are chosen by their destiny to pursue art?
   3. How do you think Hitler's background with art influenced this speech? Do you see any irony in this statement? Explain. (Support answers with historical facts)
   4. Do you think that Hitler's message would have been the same regarding residents of Terezín expressing their experiences through art, poetry and music? (Support answers with historical facts)
   5. Obviously, Hitler's experiences influenced his ideology. Why is it important for young people to pursue an education and receive one?
   6. The youth of Terezín as well as the teachers risked their lives in the pursuit of arts and education. Would you be willing to risk your life for an education? Why or why not?

   Submitted by:

   Eckerd Theater Company - a professional theater for young audiences touring company based in Clearwater, FL. For further information about Eckerd Theater Company's productions they are touring with, please visit, and click on ETC to access this information.

   

   

   

   A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
   Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
   College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997-2013.