Lesson Plan

Objectives

1 September 1939 and 9 May 1945 are official dates today that mark the beginning and end of World War II (WWII) in Europe.

Through this exercise, students will come to understand from the perspective of four different countries when WWII began and ended for each of these countries, and how these events were perceived by the people in these respective countries. These countries are Germany as the perpetrators, Poland, Belarus (the western part was part of Poland, the eastern part was part of the former Soviet Union) and Russia (part of the former Soviet Union) as the countries that were invaded, occupied, and devastated.

Each of these four countries has its own view of this time and its own story to tell, a story that most of us do not know. World War II unites and separates us to this day. It is now more than 70 years since the end of the war. Nevertheless, we can still feel its consequences today.

With a little more understanding and knowledge of neighbouring countries with their people and their histories and stories, we as individuals will be able to contribute to ensuring that there are no more wars between peoples.

Methodology

Working with historical text sources / Cooperative work

The following exercise can be used as:

• a refresher
• consolidation
• a summary
• a supplement

Working with historical text sources

Documents as historical sources are traces from the past. They can be:

• newspaper articles or radio announcements
• diaries or memoirs of witnesses of the war
• speeches
• official papers or reports
• interviews
• photographs
• objects ...

Cooperative work

During the lesson, activities will take place in three phases:

Individual or Pair work Expert
A student or a pair of students work on a task on their own or together, and combine their pre-existing knowledge with new knowledge, thereby achieving expert status.

Small group work Expert group
The expert students come together in expert groups to work on one topic, to present their results, and to discuss possible questions.

Plenary
The expert groups present their results in the plenary, discussing their topic with the other expert groups and answering their questions.

Material for students

Before the lesson

Texts

Texts containing general information on events from 1939, 1941 and 1945 are to be studied by every student in preparation for the lesson (as homework). About 700-800 words each text.

General information on the beginning of World War II on 1 September 1939

September was completely dominated by the war started by Germany: at 4.45 a.m. on 1 September, the German warship “Schleswig-Holstein” opened fire on the Westerplatte in Gdansk, and at 5.45 a.m., after a faked German “attack” on the Gliwice station , the war of which many were afraid had begun. At 10 a.m. Adolf Hitler, in a speech in the Reichstag broadcast throughout the German Reich , justified the attack on Poland, which was carried out without a declaration of war. In his speech, he avoided the word “war”. The German press were likewise told to avoid the use of the word.

On the morning of 3 September, after two days’ hesitation, Great Britain, followed shortly afterwards by France, declared war on the German.

After Soviet troops had invaded eastern Poland on 17 September - as agreed in the supplementary agreement to the Non-Aggression Pact in August - German and Soviet troops met for the first time the following day near Brest . On that occasion both sides issued a joint statement to the effect that they would not pursue conflicting interests in Poland. On 22 September German troops withdrew to the agreed line.

The day before, Reinhard Heydrich , as head of the SS Security Police and Security Service, had outlined the policy to be pursued by the German occupying forces in Poland: Liquidation of the intelligentsia, ghettoization of the Jews, and the resettlement of the Polish population to a residual Poland known as the “Generalgouvernement” , the capital of which would be Krakow.

According to the Wehrmacht High Command, the campaign in Poland was over by 23 September. However, this did not prevent the German Air Force from massively bombing Warsaw two days later - an unnecessary attack that claimed more than 10,000 lives. On 27 September, the city capitulated, and 140,000 Polish soldiers fell into German captivity.

The beginning of the war naturally brought about serious changes for daily life on the territory of the Reich, which was now considered the “home front”11. As early as 1 September, a complete black-out was ordered, and the tapping of “enemy transmitters”. Spreading news heard on “enemy transmitters” was severely punished. Changing jobs without official permission was now completely impossible. On 3 September, the decree on “Principles of Internal State Security during the War” was published, in which Reinhard Heydrich, as head of the SS Security Police and Security Service, explicitly threatened to intervene ruthlessly against anyone who publicly doubted the German victory.

Further, far-reaching measures followed: On September 4, by decree of the Council of Ministers for the Defence of the Reich, the size of the Reich Labour Service (for young women between the ages of 17 and 25) was increased to 100,000. On the same day, the Council also issued a “war economy ordinance”, which included a rise in income tax as well as surcharges on tobacco, beer and other alcoholic beverages. At the same time “war wages” were introduced, which also meant that bonuses for Sunday, holiday and night work were to be abolished. A Council of Ministers decree against “pests of the people”, operative from 5 September, prescribed the death sentence for looting in cleared areas and crimes committed during an air-raid alert.

By an order of 6 September the Reich Minister of Transport prohibited the use of private motor vehicles from 20 September. Exemptions were possible only if their use was in the public interest. On 25 September, an Ordinance made on 7 September and concerning foodstuffs and luxury foods came into effect in the Reich. From that date, bread, milk, meat, fat, jam and sugar - some of which had been freely available until then - were only

General information on the attack on the Soviet Union by German troops on 22 June 1941

by Bianka Pietrow-Ennker

The impact of the German Blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union, which began at dawn on 22 June 1941 along the entire length of the Soviet state border, with the main lines of attack towards Leningrad, Moscow and Ukraine, hit the Soviet armed forces while they were still in the process of being deployed. The first directive issued by the People’s Commissariat of Defence to the troops assigned to military border districts, which was intended to put the border troops on alert, came much too late, only at 00.30, on 22 June 1941. It failed to reach most units in time. The content of the directive was also problematic: Soviet troops were ordered not to be provoked and not to open fire even if the enemy was entering Soviet territory. When the German Wehrmacht’s attack was already stretching from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, Soviet troops retreated and recorded their first heavy losses, following which a second directive was issued seven hours after the first. This made clear that the Soviet political and military leadership were continuing to act on the basis that this was a German provocation and that they did not believe a major military confrontation between Germany and the USSR had begun. Troops were ordered to attack and destroy the enemy where they had violated the Soviet border, but there was no mention of a state of war and no general mobilisation. A third directive was issued on the evening of 22 June 1941, by which time the initiative had long since been in the hands of the Germans; this directive ordered offensive counter-attacks on all fronts against the enemy on Soviet territory. At that time, the headquarters had no idea of what was happening at the front. The German Air Force already controlled the airspace, and Soviet troops were fighting heavy defensive battles or were even in retreat. The German bombardment reached 400 kilometres into Soviet territory. It scattered Soviet units, destroyed communications, and made it extremely difficult to bring troops to the front. German units started their offensives at different times, making it impossible to establish a continuous defensive front. As a result, German tanks and motorised units bypassed the Soviet forces and attacked them from the flanks and from behind. Defeats for the Red Army in these border battles, the large losses of men and material, and the lack of reserves of weapons and ammunition enabled the Germans to seize the strategic initiative after only a few days. By December 1941, when the German advance had stalled, 4 million Soviet soldiers had fallen and 3.9 million had been captured.

[...] Stalin’s speech [note: 3 July 1941] was the first time that Soviet citizens became fully aware that the Soviet Union was in existential danger, that it was a matter of “life and death”. At the same time, Stalin presented himself as an undisputed leader whose rule had not been shaken despite the German invasion. [...] Apart from acknowledging the defeats of the Red Army, the speech had three central functions: to legitimise the regime’s policy prior to the German attack, to give an explanation for the successful advance of the enemy into Soviet territory, and to mobilise the population and non-hostile foreign countries in defence of the Soviet Union.

In an effort to dispel the suspicion that the party and government had made mistakes, Stalin justified the German-Soviet non-aggression treaty . It was the Soviet love for peace that had led the USSR government to conclude and honour the treaty proposed by Germany. [...] A further advantage, said Stalin, was the gain in time of one and a half years for rearming the Soviet armed forces. This argument, however, was contradicted by the fact that the Wehrmacht had inflicted severe defeats on the Red Army.

To explain this, Stalin used the attributes “unexpected” and “treacherous”. The former can be interpreted as the subjective view of Stalin, who doubted that Hitler would turn against the Soviet Union before the end of the war with Great Britain. The second attribute related to Germany’s breach of the Non-Aggression Treaty, also implicitly suggesting that Stalin had trusted the National Socialist government. Stalin attributed the advantage in the field that the German Wehrmacht and its allies had to their attack strategy and to the surprise

The Second World War ended in Europe on 8 May 1945. When the guns finally fell silent, more than 60 million people were dead. This text provides an overview of the end of the war.

Germany 1945 - The “thousand-year” Nazi Reich sank in an ocean of blood and tears. When the guns finally fell silent on 8 May, more than 60 million people were dead. Fallen at the front, murdered in concentration camps, burned to death in nights of bombing, dead from hunger, cold and violence as they fled. When the world learned what had happened in the name of Germany—and not only in the regime’s camps—the anger of the nations turned against all of Hitler’s people.

The outcome of the war in Europe had actually been decided in early April 1945. In Yalta at the beginning of February, the USA, France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union had started discussing the post-war order. But instead of surrendering, the Nazis continued to throw everything they had into a final battle. Old men were drafted into the “Volkssturm” , children of the Hitler Youth were sent out onto the streets with bazookas. In many places throughout the Reich, many people were still being executed as “traitors”. Right up to the end, the Wehrmacht and SS courts martial passed thousands of death sentences against German soldiers and civilians. On 21 April, the Soviet Army reached the city borders of Berlin, and on the evening of 29 April 1945 they stood at the Brandenburg Gate. The fight for Berlin was not over until 2 May.

While Berlin perished in street fighting and tens of thousands of people paid with their lives for the fight to the bitter end, Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler shirked responsibility by committing suicide on 30 April 1945 - as he had said he would. He appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Dönitz instructed Colonel General Alfred Jodl , the man responsible for warfare from Norway to North Africa, to conduct the surrender negotiations at the American headquarters in Reims . Jodl still tried to delay the surrender to the Red Army in order to allow the Germans in the eastern territories to escape to the west, but without success.

Colonel General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht on 7 May 1945 in Reims at the headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower , commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe. The surrender entered into force at 23.00 on 8 May 1945. The Soviet dictator Josef Stalin urged a repeat of the ceremony in the Soviet sphere of power. On the night of 9 May, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command of the German Wehrmacht, signed the Instrument of Surrender at the Soviet headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst. After more than five years of war, the guns were finally silent in Europe.

On 5 June 1945 the four victorious powers signed the Berlin Declaration. It states: “The Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Provisional Government of the French Republic hereby assume supreme governmental authority in Germany, including all powers of the German Government, the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht and the governments, administrations or agencies of the Länder, cities and towns”.

Germany was divided into four zones of occupation and Berlin into four sectors. Each victorious power determined the economic and political development in its zone or sector at its own discretion.

The war in the Pacific, which had begun on 7 December 1941 with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, lasted until August 1945 and reached its somber climax with the dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On 2 September 1945, the Second World War ended in the Pacific region with Japan’s capitulation.

Note: Texts are written from the German point of view. Teachers in Poland, Belarus and Russia are advised to study the texts carefully, and if necessary to choose country-related texts

Worksheet 1

Worksheet 1, on which every student is to make notes on the ‘texts containing general information’

During the lesson

One Folder containing

1. A task (with questions as a guideline), with instructions telling the students in the expert groups what to do
2. Different kinds of historical documents, to be studied by the students in each expert group (one group for 1939, one for 1941, one for 1945)
3. ‘Worksheet 2’—a guideline on how to read the historical documents and what to concentrate on

Expert group 1

Task / 1 September 1939

Your group is expert group 1 and will be studying historical text sources about “The beginning of World War II (WWII) on 1 September 1939”. You should:

-> Perform an analysis of the text sources by using the guideline questions on worksheet 2 and the notes you have made on worksheet 1 (on the texts you’ve studied in preparation for this class);

-> Answer the following questions by finding arguments and/or evidence from the texts:

• How was this date perceived by the Polish in the historical documents?
• How was this date perceived by the Germans in the historical documents?
• Why do you think this date did not play a major role in the media or in the memoirs of the Belarusians and Russians (both parts of the former Soviet Union)?

-> Discuss with the other two expert groups (22 June 1941, 9 May 1945) the following questions from the multicultural perspective of Germany as the perpetrator, and Poland, Belarus and Russia (the latter two were then part of the former Soviet Union) as countries that were invaded, occupied, and devastated:

• Why is 1 September 1939 (the date that marks the beginning of WWII in Europe for some of these four countries) more or less important in their modern cultures of remembrance? Justify your answer.
• How do you think this date is perceived in today’s culture of remembrance by the people: in Russia, in Belarus, in Poland, and in Germany?

Historical Documents / 1 September 1939

Historical Documents

Poland

• Radio address on Polish radio on 1 September 1939 in Polish and in English (youtube)
• Article by Piotr Abryszenski on the 80th anniversary of the beginning of WWII: 1 September 1939: The beginning of hell

Germany

Excerpts from:

• The daily newspapers “Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro GmbH”, the official central press agency of the German Reich during the National Socialist era
• The “Teltower Kreisblatt”, the daily newspaper for the Teltow district, on 1 September 1939

Diaries or memoirs of witnesses of war

Poland

Three children’s memoirs from Poland: My wartime experiences (children’s writings from June 1946)

Germany

Werner Mork (born 1921) from Germany. Werner recalls the announcement of the begin- ning of the war on 1 September 1939, when he was 18 years old.

Expert group 2

Task / 22 June 1941

Your group is expert group 2 and you will study historical text sources about “The Attack by German troops on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941” (Polish and German term: “The beginning of the German-Soviet War / Russian term: “The beginning of the Great Patriotic War”). You should:

-> Perform an analysis of the text sources by using the guideline questions on worksheet 2 and the notes you have made on worksheet 1 (on the texts you’ve studied in preparation for this class);

-> Answer the following questions by finding arguments and/or evidence from the texts:

• How was this date perceived by the Belarusians and Russians (both parts of the former Soviet Union) in the historical documents?
• How was this date perceived by the Germans in the historical documents?
• Why do you think this date did not play a major role in the media and in the memoirs of the Polish?

-> Discuss with the other two expert groups (1 September 1939, 9 May 1945) the following questions from the multicultural perspective of Germany as the perpetrator, Poland, Belarus and Russia (the latter two were then part of the former Soviet Union) as the countries that were invaded, occupied, and devastated:

• Why is 22 June 1941 (the date that marks the beginning of the Great Patriotic War for some of these four countries) more or less important in their modern cultures of remembrance? Justify your answer.
• How do you think this date is perceived by the people in today’s culture of remembrance: in Russia, in Belarus, in Poland and in Germany?

Historical Documents / 22 June 1941

Historical Documents

Russia/Belarus (Soviet Union)

Speech by Molotov, the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, on the invasion of the Soviet Union by the National Socialists on 22 June 1941

Germany

Excerpts from the “Baruther Anzeiger”, a daily newspaper in the town of Baruth

Diaries or memoirs of witnesses of war

Russia (Soviet Union)

Excerpts from memoirs written by three children/adolescents from Leningrad, born between 1925 and 1929, who experienced the blockade of Leningrad

Belarus (Soviet Union)

Excerpts from memoirs recalling the attack on the Soviet Union by German troops on 22 June 1941, written by four Jewish children/adolescents born between 1925 and 1932 from Minsk, Gomel and Novy Svershen in Belarus

Germany

Excerpts from the 1941 diary of Günter Roos (born 1924 in Brühl), a 17-year old admirer of Adolf Hitler and a passionate Wehrmacht soldier, with some critical comments made by himself in 1989

Expert group 3

Task / 9 May 1945

Your group is expert group 3 and you will be studying historical text sources about “The end of World War II (WWII) on 9 May 1945”. You should:

-> Perform an analysis of the text sources by using the guideline questions on worksheet 2 and the notes you have made on worksheet 1 (on the texts you’ve studied in preparation for this class);

-> Answer the following questions by finding arguments and/or evidence from the texts:

• How was the end of the war perceived by the Russians in the historical documents?
• How was the end of the war perceived by the Belarusians in the historical documents?
• How was the end of the war perceived by the Polish in the historical documents?
• How was this date perceived by the Germans in the historical documents?

-> Discuss with the other two expert groups (1 September 1939, 22 June 1941) the following questions from the multicultural perspective of Germany as the perpetrator, Poland, Belarus and Russia (the latter two were then part of the former Soviet Union) as the countries that were invaded, occupied, and devastated:

• Why is 9 May 1945 more or less important in their modern cultures of remembrance? Justify your answer.
• How do you think this date is perceived by the people in today’s culture of remembrance: in Russia, in Belarus, in Poland and in Germany?

Historical Documents / 9 May 1945

Historical Documents

Russia/Belarus (Soviet Union)

• Radio announcement about the end of the war read out by the famous radio reporter Levitan
• Stalin’s speech and an article “Yesterday in Moscow”, from the newspaper “Pravda” for 10 May 1945

Poland

Excerpts from newspaper articles for 8 May 1945 in the “Dziennik Zachodni”, a daily newspaper in Katowice, and “Zycie Warszawy”, a Warsaw daily newspaper

Diaries or memoirs of witnesses of war

Belarus / Russia (Soviet Union)

Excerpts from memoirs recalling the end of war written by a soldier of the Red Army in Berlin, by a survivor of the Minsk ghetto (Belarus), and a child who survived the blockade of Leningrad

Germany

Excerpt from memoirs recalling the end of the war written by Hermann Lohmann (born 1925), who was 13 years old when the war started and never thought of going to war, but had to at the age of 17 in 1943

Worksheet 2

To be used by each student as a guideline for performing analysis of the text sources and for the subsequent discussion

The questions in this worksheet are as follows:

A Description of the text source

• author / date of creation / occasion
• source type / addressee
• topic / content / argumentation
• intention

B Placing the text source in its historical context

• historical context

C Evaluation of the text source

Keep in mind that we cannot judge the thoughts and actions of people who lived in the past by today’s standards alone.

• the student’s assessment of the text source
• the student’s own attitude towards the source

D Which questions remain open?
What is new for you?
What have you not understood?

Material for teachers

• A map of Europe or the world, to indicate where countries, regions or places can be found geographically
• (possibly:) Historical maps dating from (1) 1938, (2) after 17 September 1939, and (3) after the end of WWII in 1945
• Blank cards in three different colours, to write on during the ‘reflections’ at the end of the lesson

• Blank cards in three different colours, to write on during the ‘reflections’ at the end of the lesson

Lesson Plan

Before the lesson

Individual work

-> In preparation for the lesson, the students will study the texts with general information for 1 September 1939, 22 June 1941, and 9 May 1945, so that they understand the context. In order to have an overview of this background information with them in the lesson, they will fill in worksheet 1.

During the lesson

The class will be divided into 3 expert groups, one for each of the three dates (1 September 1939, 22 June 1941, 9 May 1945) and given the appropriate folder with the task, historical text sources, and worksheet 2.

Individual or Pair work: expert/s

Every student or pair of students in the expert group:

-> chooses a historical text source covering the group’s topic;

-> studies the text, following the guideline questions on worksheet 2 and using the notes they themselves made on worksheet 1 (context) on the texts with general information that they studied in preparing for this class;

-> develops arguments/viewpoints, following the questions outlined in the task.

Group work: expert group

Every student or pair of students in the expert group:

-> presents their document to their fellow students in the expert group;
-> presents arguments on the questions to be discussed, and;
-> answers possible questions from his or her group members.

The expert group decides to what extent and how the documents are to be presented to the whole class.

Plenary with all expert groups

Each expert group

-> gives the whole class an overall presentation of the historical text sources they have been studying;
-> presents arguments on the questions to be discussed, and;
-> answers questions from the other students.

Reflection (plenary)

Students are given a couple of minutes to think about the following three questions, to write one key word or phrase on one blank card (they can use more cards if they wish), pin the card(s) on the wall, and explain what they have written.