The Nazi Hunters

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Who was Adolf Hitler? What were his goals as a politician? How did other nations respond to his goals, particularly those in Europe?

Teaching Suggestion: These questions orient students with the historical context of the novel: Nazi Germany and World War II (WWII). As the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (i.e., “Nazi” Party), Adolf Hitler discouraged the reproduction of non-Aryan peoples, a concept that links to the theme The Malleability of Identity. As a part of his vision for a “pure” German race, the Nazi regime identified the Jehovah Witness, Jewish, Roma, and LGBTQI+ communities as well as those with communist associations, as “undesirable” to their goal of racial purity. This genocide these communities was called the Holocaust. Although many countries claimed not to know the nature of Hitler’s extermination camps, his attempts to establish “lebensraum” by invading the surrounding countries of Austria and Poland led to the start of WWII. Students may benefit from an in-depth review of this and similar content prior to reading.

• This article provides an overview of the start of WWII.
• This article from Anne Frank House connects the beginning of the Holocaust to the history of antisemitism in Europe.

2. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, trauma is “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.” How does trauma affect the way we communicate about difficult subjects? Why might trauma survivors have difficulty talking about their experiences?

Teaching Suggestion: Many of the survivors of the Holocaust had difficulty speaking about their experiences in the camps, and trauma that is experienced by a collective community can further problematize coping mechanisms, since individuals may feel like there is no one to speak to as everyone has experienced the same atrocity. In this sense, the Eichmann trial was more than bringing a Nazi official to justice; it was a collective acknowledgement of the atrocities of WWII, which ultimately provided a space for dialogue in order to cope with the collective trauma of their past. As a result, Eichmann’s trial allowed Justice for the Victims of the Holocaust both literally and figuratively. The articles below and similar resources may help develop students’ understanding of what trauma is and how it affects individuals and communities.

• This article from Relias discusses the impact of collective trauma on communities.
• In “How Trauma Suffered by Holocaust Survivors Has Affected the Next Generation,” CBC shares the stories of Holocaust survivors living in Canada.

Short Activity

Since the end of WWII, many artistic works have shared stories regarding fighting and overcoming the Nazis. Working in small groups, select one film, TV show, or piece of literature that focuses on defeating the Nazis. Review your selection and consider the following questions:

• How are the Nazis portrayed? How is the contrasting party portrayed?
• Are the Nazis successfully “defeated” in this work? If so, how?

Teaching Suggestion: This question invites students to consider the portrayal of Nazis in artistic works. It may be helpful to discuss how individuals can be perceived through different cultural lenses prior to the activity. For example, Nazis are popular antagonists in Western media and are usually portrayed as one-dimensional, evil characters. By contrast, Bascomb highlights accounts in which people were surprised by how frail and normal Eichmann looked, with some even feeling pity for him.

• This list from IMBD highlights films and TV shows with Nazi representation.
• Project Muse’s “Hollywood Über Alles: Seeing the Nazi in American Movies” discusses the pervasive role of Nazis in American film.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

Is it more important to be moral or to follow laws? Pretend you had to follow a law that was not moral. What would you do?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt invites students to reflect on the theme Legality Versus Morality. Throughout the account, Eichmann states that he was merely following orders in his focus on exterminating Jewish communities. This bind to legality is challenged throughout the account with references to the absence of morality in his decision; however, he does not waiver in his assertion that he did nothing wrong. It may help to have students consider how they would act in a similar situation: Would they follow immoral rules or disobey unjust laws? To generate ideas, consider introducing transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” a short piece that influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr’s nonviolent approach in disobeying unjust laws.

Differentiation Suggestion: Based on the interests of the class, this prompt may be reframed as an in-class debate, where students have the opportunity to argue for or against the following point: It is more important to follow an immoral law than it is to make a moral decision that goes against a law?