Timeline Activity Quick Links
Select your timeline activity cards:
• Downloadable PDFs
• Online Interactive Version
• Request Printed Copies
Additional resources:
• Plan your timeline activity lesson
• Preview how to use the activity with your students
This lesson is structured around a multi-layered wall timeline that encourages critical thinking about the relationship between Nazi policy, World War II, historical events, and individual experiences during the Holocaust. Extension timeline card packs are available. The activity allows students to make inferences about the interrelatedness of time and geographic location to historical events and promotes critical thinking about the impact on groups targeted for persecution and the experience of individuals within those groups.
Grade level: Adaptable for grades 7–12
Subject: Multidisciplinary
Time required: This activity is highly adaptable and can be completed in 60 minutes or multiple class sessions, used as a point of reference throughout an entire unity of study, or provide a base for thematic extension activities that can be added.
Languages: English, Spanish
Select Your Timeline Activity Cards
Timeline activity cards are provided in a variety of formats to support your use in the classroom.
Downloadable PDFs
Timeline cards can be downloaded off the Museum’s website and accessed as PDFs below.
Foundational activity cards:
Extension activity cards:
- Exploring Night as Literature, Bearing Witness to History (PDF)
- Exploring Anne Frank’s Diary (PDF)
- Racial Science and Law in Nazi Germany and the United States (PDF)
Teacher Feedback
“We opened our Holocaust unit with the Timeline Activity. It has been tremendously helpful for my students. We are also reading Night and will be using the Wiesel extension cards. Thank you for sharing this valuable resource. The impact on my students is immense.”
–Teacher, Nashville, TN
Online Interactive Activities For Learning Management Systems
This timeline card lesson plan is compatible with learning management systems or web browsers. To use with your LMS, download the files below and follow your system’s instructions for importing files.
Printed Copies
Free, printed copies of timeline activity cards will be shipped to educators within a few weeks, based on availability. Request a printed version.
Plan Your Timeline Activity Lesson
- Lesson Plan (PDF)
- Optional Worksheet (PDF)
- Lesson Plan Extension: Non-Jewish Victim Groups (PDF)
- Lesson Plan Extension: Connecting to the Path to Nazi Genocide film (PDF)
Use Timeline Activity Cards with Your Students
Watch this short video to learn how to use the timeline activity to contextualize Holocaust history in your classroom.
Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust
Teaching Holocaust history requires a high level of sensitivity and keen awareness of the complexity of the subject matter. These guidelines reflect approaches appropriate for effective teaching in general and are particularly relevant to Holocaust education.
