Do the townspeople still hold anti-Semitic feelings? Explain your answer.
1. How did war criminals escape prosecution?
2. Discuss the formation of the International Military Tribunal.
3. How were war criminals tracked and captured?
4. Define the four different charges against individual Nazis and Nazi organizations.
5. What was the format used for the Nuremberg trials?
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What evidence was used at the Nuremberg trial and why?
2. Consider Hermann Goering’s behavior at the trial. Why did he behave the way he did and how does that play into his eventual suicide?
3. How did the Eichmann trial differ from the Nuremberg trials and what was the impact of the Eichmann trial?
4. Discuss the reasons for the public proceedings at Nuremberg. Why was it so important to have a public, legal trial with proper process?
5. During the trial, prosecutors had to present sensitive and horrifying materials, including photographs of victims and evidence of crimes against humanity. What are the advantages and disadvantages of presenting this type of material in a trial? Do you think you would have taken the same approach as the Nuremberg prosecutors? Why or why not?
Shtetl <- your first lab link
This documentary is several hours long. Watch at least the first hour of the film for this unit. (The rest of the film will be covered in the next unit.) Read through some of the information from the left-hand side menu.
1. How did the Holocaust affect the Polish town that Marzynski and his friend visit? Write at least three paragraphs in response to the question.
2. Marzynski and his friend confront the idea that some of the Polish townspeople killed or turned in their Jewish neighbors. How do they feel about this?
3. Do the townspeople still hold anti-Semitic feelings? Explain your answer.
4. Why did some of the Jewish townspeople to the woods during the Nazi occupation? What was their life like there?
5. Why do you think Marzynski is reluctant to return to his own hometown? Why do you think Nathan wanted to search for his family’s shtetl?