Topic: Two occupations

Target group

8th‑grade students of an elementary school

Core curriculum

XXXIV. Poland under German and Soviet occupation. Pupil:

1. compares the assumptions and methods of German and Soviet policy in occupied Poland;

2. lists examples of German and Soviet crimes (Palmiry, Katyn, punishment of professors of Lviv, Zamojszczyzna).

General aim of education

The student will acquire knowledge about the effects of German and Soviet occupation.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• how were Polish territories partitioned between the occupants;

• what did the organization of territories under German and Russian occupation look like;

• about repression used by the occupants;

• in what way was the extermination and annihilation of the Polish nation reflected;

• what was the Deutsche Volksliste and passportization;

• about the most important places of execution of the Poles at home and abroad;

• what was the Katyn massacre and who had done it.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

1. Reading the content of the abstract. The teacher uses the text for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

2. On the basis of information presented on the timeline and news from available sources, students indicate what, in their opinion, was the long‑term goal of the occupants. They present their answer on the class forum. Colleagues assess their work, taking into account the manner in which conclusions are presented and the clarity of justification.

3. The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.

4. Students analyze the illustration and execute Task 2. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

5. Students analyze the gallery of illustrations and execute Task 3. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

6. Students analyze the illustrations and execute Task 4. To answer the questions, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

7. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.

Summary

1. The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

2. The teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer?
   If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Make at home a note from the lesson, for example using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Two occupations

After Polish defence was finished in 1939, the country was divided between the occupants –Third Reich and the Soviet Union. With some slight modifications, the boundary line was carriedd out in accordance to the secret protocol of the Ribbentrov - Molotov Pact. The occupants did not intend to respect Polish administration and any manifestations of Polishness in any way. From the very first days they started mass terror towards the Poles, in particular towards those of Jewish ancestry (occupation German), sending them to concentration camps, deporting into their countries for forced labor or exterminating. The elites of the country and educated people (politicians, senior military men, teachers, priests) had especially hard fate, as they were usually murdered quickly (e.g. the death of Cracow's professors). Pawiak prison and Palmiry and Katyn, where lots of executions of Polish intellectual elite were held, have become the symbols of Polish martyrdom.

The society was subject to the processes of germanization i russification, eliminating any manifestations of Polish culture and science. Polish press was replaced by the one published and controlled by the occupant. Industry plants, bigger estates, museums and art collections were overtaken and nationalized. Rural popultion was subject to compulsory obligation to deliver supplies for the army, called quotas. Factories were transformed to produce goods for the needs of war and plundering exploitation of natural resources started.