The Hindenburg relates the story of the world's most famous airship and its sudden destruction over Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937. Tracing the history of the development of the airship, the film highlights the international competition to build a dirigible capable of transatlantic voyages. The documentary features detailed descriptions of the construction process and design of the airship. It is recommended for high school students interested in science, technology, drafting, U. S. and European history, and in the history of air travel.

• Third Reich.
• Treaty of Versailles
• anomaly
• formative
• gondola
• incendiary
• mahogany
• rudders
• zeppelin

1. What was the appeal of travel on the Hindenburg? What did people do while traveling on the airship?

2. What precautions were taken to cut back on the possibility of a fire on board the ship? What made travel on the Hindenburg so dangerous?

3. Why didn't the Germans use helium to fill the Hindenburg in 1936? Which larger economic and political forces shaped the Hindenburg disaster?

4. Why did Count Von Zeppelin capture the imagination of the German people? Why did so many donate money to his company?

5. How effective were the zeppelins as fighting machines during World War II?

6. Why were the British and Americans less successful at building airships than were the Germans during the inter-war years?

7. What made the Hindenburg unusual? Why were the Nazis willing to finance the Hindenburg?

8. Why did airships disappear after World War II? What has replaced them?

1. Make a drawing of the Hindenburg. Include a color key chart detailing the airship's design and construction materials.

2. Make a time line showing the development of the airships and the major world events that influenced the history of the Hindenburg. Then, develop an oral presentation in which you discuss the larger historical context for the development and sudden disappearance of airship travel.

3. Europeans had been crossing the Atlantic Ocean by ship for at least five hundred years before the rise of the airship. Why was regular air transport across the Atlantic considered of vital importance to the European powers and the United States in the early twentieth century? Write an essay in which you consider the significance of transatlantic air transport to international relations in the first few decades of the twentieth century.

4. Divide the class into groups. Each group should design their own fantasy airship. What would you like to have on board when you traveled with your friends? On a poster board, include a drawing of the fantsy airship and a key chart explaining the group's preferences. Create a map charting your ideal destinations. Each group should be prepared to explain its ideas to the class.

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