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Year 9

'Choiceless choices' during the Holocaust

I can explain what it meant for Jews during the Holocaust to face ‘choiceless choices’.

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Year 9

'Choiceless choices' during the Holocaust

I can explain what it meant for Jews during the Holocaust to face ‘choiceless choices’.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. A major uprising occurred in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943.
  2. After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was defeated, most survivors were murdered.
  3. Leaders in the Lodz Ghetto chose to comply with German orders.
  4. Many Jews faced 'choiceless choices' during the Holocaust.
  5. 'Choiceless choices' gave Jews little real control over whether they survived or not.

Keywords

  • Liquidated - to destroy something

  • Compliance - behaviour which obeys an order, rule or request

Common misconception

Leaders in the Lodz Ghetto made 'bad' choices for choosing to comply with German orders.

Leaders in the Lodz Ghetto, like many other Jews, faced multiple poor choices - or 'choiceless choices'. The decisions they made occurred in extreme circumstances where they had little real control over their own survival.


To help you plan your year 9 history lesson on: 'Choiceless choices' during the Holocaust, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Immediately before introducing the idea of 'choiceless choices' ask students how they would describe the leaders of the Lodz Ghetto. Some negative answers are likely to emerge (i.e. weak). Return to these after explaining choiceless choices. Ask why any negative descriptions may not be appropriate.
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content-guidance

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of serious crime
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
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Supervision

Adult supervision required

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What was the name of the group of young women who were involved in smuggling and carrying messages between Jewish communities?
Correct Answer: kashariyot
Q2.
How many Polsih ghettos had their own armed underground movements?
None
Less than 10
Around 25
Correct answer: More than 50
Q3.
Write the missing word. were often used for smuggling in Jewish ghettos.
Correct Answer: children, kids, young children, small children
Q4.
What proportion of food consumed in the Warsaw Ghetto was smuggled in?
20%
40%
60%
Correct answer: 80%
100%
Q5.
How did Henry Wermuth resist the Holocaust?
Correct answer: Attempted to derail Hitler's train
Led an uprising in the Treblinka extermination camp
Became a member of the kashariyot
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - Germany invaded Poland.
2 - First ghettos were established.
3 - Germany invaded the USSR.
4 - Babi Yar Massacre
5 - Nazi leaders committed to the 'Final Solution'.
6 - Uprising occurred at Treblinka.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Write the missing word. refers to behaviour which obeys an order, rule or request.
Correct Answer: compliance
Q2.
Which group was involved in the organisation of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising?
Nazis
Polish Home Army (KA)
Correct answer: Jewish Combat Organisation (ZOB)
Q3.
What happened to most of the survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising?
escaped and survived the war
Correct answer: murdered by the Nazis
transferred to another ghetto
Q4.
Write the missing word. Leaders of the Lodz Ghetto hoped that by making its factories it would ensure their survival.
Correct Answer: productive
Q5.
What was the fate of Lodz Ghetto?
It fought and defeated the Nazis in 1944.
It was liberated, with most Jews surviving, in 1944.
Correct answer: It was liquidated in 1944.
Q6.
Why was the compliance of Lodz Ghetto's leaders with Nazi orders a 'choiceless choice'?
Correct answer: They believed if they refused, the Nazis would carry out the orders regardless.
They believed if they refused, the Nazis would not punish them.
They believed that if they resisted they could defeat the Nazis.

Additional material

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