Faces of the Holocaust: The Perpetrator

Meet Maria Mandl, a small town girl lured by the Nazi party’s promise of stable, well-paid work and upward mobility, who rose to the highest position a woman could hold as an SS officer in a concentration camp. A classical-music lover since childhood, Maria Mandl wielded art as a method of torture and earned herself the nickname “The Beast.” Use the accompanying questions and activities to guide students in a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be a perpetrator—and how ordinary people became complicit in extraordinary crimes.

How to use this guide
This guide is designed to enhance your students’ engagement with the video. You can explore the video together or utilize a flipped classroom approach, assigning the video (in full or in segments) for students to watch at home, then using class time to unpack ideas together through reflection, discussion, or hands-on activities. Choose the approach that best fits your students and classroom setting.

Discussion Questions

1. Distribution of Nazi Writings: Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” is sold on Amazon with over 3,400 reviews. Do you think Nazis’ writings should still be distributed and read, or should they be banned?
2. Nature vs. Nurture: Some argue that perpetrators of cruel atrocities, like Nazi leaders including Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, were born evil, while others believe their behavior was learned and shaped by their environment. How do you view the nature versus nurture debate in the context of individuals like Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler? What about a modern-day person like Nikolas Cruz, the school shooter at Marjorie Stoeman Douglas in Parkland, Florida? Are these behaviors innate or the result of external influences?
3. “Obeying Orders”: At the Nuremberg Trials, defendant Rudolf Hoss claimed, “We were all so trained to obey orders without even thinking that the thought of disobeying an order would simply never have occurred to anybody, and somebody else would have done just as well if I hadn’t.” The judges rejected the defense of “just following orders.” Do you agree with their decision? What are the strongest arguments for and against considering “just following orders” as a valid defense for crimes committed during the Holocaust? How should personal accountability and moral agency influence this debate?

Learning Activities

1. Write a Letter: Ask students to read this article by a grandchild of two Nazis. In this article, Seiffert reflects on her complicated feelings towards her grandparents, who were Nazis, and how this legacy has shaped her views on history and morality. After reading, students should write a letter to the author, expressing their thoughts on her reflections and the broader implications of coming to terms with a difficult family history.
2. Hitler’s Rise Timeline Analysis: Present this timeline of Hitler’s rise to power to your students. Students should individually identify and rank the three most significant turning points in Hitler’s rise to power and write an explanation of their responses.
3. Goebbels Letter Deception Activity: Read the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels’ last letter to his stepson, Harald Quandt, out loud to the classroom, without telling the class who the letter was from. In reading the letter, substitute “our people” for German and leave out the two phrases that mention Fuhrer. Ask for students’ reactions; many will think that it is a Jewish victim writing to his son. Then, reveal the author of the letter, explain his role in spreading Nazi ideology and inciting hatred against Jews, and discuss students’ reactions.

1. Erik Larson, In the Garden of Beasts
2. Deborah Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial
3. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Humanity and the Holocaust
4. The Wave
5. Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, 10 Stages of Genocide Posters
6. Yad Vashem, Perpetrators of the Holocaust – Consequences at a Distance
7. The Zekelman Holocaust Center, Trust No Fox (video and resources)