Category: German

Propaganda – information posed to an audience with the intent to persuade in favour of one side of an idea, often through biased or emotionally stirring content – was one of the most powerful weapons in Hitler’s artillery during 1933-1939. As part of the Nazi regime, propaganda tailored towards the public was utilised heavily by Joseph Goebbels (Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda) in Hitler’s campaign. Propaganda had a significant impact on the conformity of the German citizens at this time. This period consisted of constant political promotion of the Nazi party after Hitler was elected as Chancellor of Germany. Much of this promotional advertisement was done through propaganda such as posters, movies, newspaper articles, radio and other forms of communication between the public, media agencies and the government. The content covered was often biased towards the Nazi Party and influenced the opinions of the public while also being ever present and constantly prompting action and conformity to the regime. Hitler’s ideals were enforced through dictatorial means, and if the military wasn’t enough to create fear in the minds of the public, then the propaganda shamed and dehumanised those for thinking anything other than what the Nazi’s told one to believe.

The Nazis were adept propagandists who utilised professional advertising techniques and modern technology of that time period to reach audiences with their message. Upon claiming power, Adolf Hitler established the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to mould the minds of the German public to his liking. Nazi media and propaganda played an important role in the anti-sematic views and actions of the German people, and ultimately the persecution and massacre of Europe’s Jews, now referred to as the Holocaust. The political propaganda encouraged racism and aggression that united the nation against a common enemy, persuading all the conform in rising up against the Jews. Goebbels was able to infiltrate the minds of the German’s through various forms of propaganda including film/movies, newspaper articles and advertisements, radio, art and culture and public events such as political gatherings and rallies offering displays of power through military presence. These forms of propaganda sought to foster hatred like that of “The Eternal Jew (1940), directed by Fritz Hippler, [which] portrayed Jews as wandering cultural parasites, consumed by sex and money.” Other films testified to the strength of the German nation, like that of “The Triumph of the Will (1935) by Leni Riefenstahl, [which] glorified Hitler and the National Socialist movement.” These films and other forms of propaganda created examples of how to think and act in order to adopt the Nazi regime into one’s lifestyle, strongly influencing the opinions and views of the public in order to gain support for Hitler and his ideals.

Post-election propaganda supported only the Nazi Party, with dictatorial laws in place to ensure the people only saw what Hitler and Goebbels wanted them to see. It allowed for the ideals of the party to not only be known, but drilled into the back of minds, remembered and followed for years to come. Many sources of entertainment and even general actions of daily life were riddled with Nazism, many including films like Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), a documentary on Jews and how they should be treated at the time, as well as subjects taught at school that had been altered as of Hitler’s rise to power to contain Nazi values such as Race Study and Party Beliefs. The appearance of biased Nazi propaganda, either directly through advertisement or posters, or indirectly in movies or books was always censored to contain specific information, and always targeted to the public to ensure conformity in ones way of thinking. The constant presence of blaring Nazism was part of one goal held by the Ministry for Enlightenment and Propaganda, with it being “not enough for people to be reconciled to our regime, to be persuaded to adopt a neutral attitude towards us,” as this does not ensure ones devotion to the Nazi cause, but “Rather, we want to work on people until they have capitulated,” to ensure absolute understanding through brainwashing. The presence of propaganda was so constant and relentless, it left little to no room for individual thought and reinforced the ideas of conforming to Nazism through every outlet possible.

Nazi ideals and values were instilled into the German people through propaganda, with actions prompted by those ideals being taken in order to conform with the Aryan image. The essential and only job of an Aryan female was to “[live] strictly for her husband and her children,” and abide by the three K’s: Kinder (Children), Küche (Kitchen) and Kirche (Church) . Typical Aryan males were expected to become soldiers or a part of the working class, with young boys joining youth organisation to learn to shoot riffles and to perform patriotic songs of Germany . These roles were inevitably assumed by the German public, persuaded by propaganda into the Aryan lifestyle and fulfilling it with pride, as seen below in posters displaying the differing gender roles of as part of the Nazi Regime. The traditional values exuded through Nazism were transferred onto the public, if it had not already validated the same ideals some held. Changes were already occurring and with the encouragement of these ideals through propaganda, multiple laws being passed and reinforcement from the military, men gained the role of Germany’s protectors, while women accepted the roles of carers, and most taking more pride in completing their “duty” to their country, conforming to the Nazi beliefs of a traditional society.

Propaganda played an integral role in influencing the populations to side with Nazi values and Hitler’s ideal German nation. The impact of Hitler and Goebbels weaponised words, visuals and scare tactics convinced a nation to turn from what was once a modern democracy to a traditional dictatorship and hold the values of one too. The biased materials and distorted content fed to the public assisted in shaping the perfect Aryan, while the constant flow of propaganda created an entire population movement to value the growth of the German people and it’s nation’s power above all else. Propaganda was one of the most impactful components of Hitler’s Nazi regime that altered the thoughts, actions and way of living of an entire country in his favour.Propaganda – information posed to an audience with the intent to persuade in favour of one side of an idea, often through biased or emotionally stirring content – was one of the most powerful weapons in Hitler’s artillery during 1933-1939. As part of the Nazi regime, propaganda tailored towards the public was utilised heavily by Joseph Goebbels (Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda) in Hitler’s campaign. Propaganda had a significant impact on the conformity of the German citizens at this time. This period consisted of constant political promotion of the Nazi party after Hitler was elected as Chancellor of Germany. Much of this promotional advertisement was done through propaganda such as posters, movies, newspaper articles, radio and other forms of communication between the public, media agencies and the government. The content covered was often biased towards the Nazi Party and influenced the opinions of the public while also being ever present and constantly prompting action and conformity to the regime. Hitler’s ideals were enforced through dictatorial means, and if the military wasn’t enough to create fear in the minds of the public, then the propaganda shamed and dehumanised those for thinking anything other than what the Nazi’s told one to believe.

The Nazis were adept propagandists who utilised professional advertising techniques and modern technology of that time period to reach audiences with their message. Upon claiming power, Adolf Hitler established the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to mould the minds of the German public to his liking. Nazi media and propaganda played an important role in the anti-sematic views and actions of the German people, and ultimately the persecution and massacre of Europe’s Jews, now referred to as the Holocaust. The political propaganda encouraged racism and aggression that united the nation against a common enemy, persuading all the conform in rising up against the Jews. Goebbels was able to infiltrate the minds of the German’s through various forms of propaganda including film/movies, newspaper articles and advertisements, radio, art and culture and public events such as political gatherings and rallies offering displays of power through military presence. These forms of propaganda sought to foster hatred like that of “The Eternal Jew (1940), directed by Fritz Hippler, [which] portrayed Jews as wandering cultural parasites, consumed by sex and money.” Other films testified to the strength of the German nation, like that of “The Triumph of the Will (1935) by Leni Riefenstahl, [which] glorified Hitler and the National Socialist movement.” These films and other forms of propaganda created examples of how to think and act in order to adopt the Nazi regime into one’s lifestyle, strongly influencing the opinions and views of the public in order to gain support for Hitler and his ideals.

Post-election propaganda supported only the Nazi Party, with dictatorial laws in place to ensure the people only saw what Hitler and Goebbels wanted them to see. It allowed for the ideals of the party to not only be known, but drilled into the back of minds, remembered and followed for years to come. Many sources of entertainment and even general actions of daily life were riddled with Nazism, many including films like Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), a documentary on Jews and how they should be treated at the time, as well as subjects taught at school that had been altered as of Hitler’s rise to power to contain Nazi values such as Race Study and Party Beliefs. The appearance of biased Nazi propaganda, either directly through advertisement or posters, or indirectly in movies or books was always censored to contain specific information, and always targeted to the public to ensure conformity in ones way of thinking. The constant presence of blaring Nazism was part of one goal held by the Ministry for Enlightenment and Propaganda, with it being “not enough for people to be reconciled to our regime, to be persuaded to adopt a neutral attitude towards us,” as this does not ensure ones devotion to the Nazi cause, but “Rather, we want to work on people until they have capitulated,” to ensure absolute understanding through brainwashing. The presence of propaganda was so constant and relentless, it left little to no room for individual thought and reinforced the ideas of conforming to Nazism through every outlet possible.

Nazi ideals and values were instilled into the German people through propaganda, with actions prompted by those ideals being taken in order to conform with the Aryan image. The essential and only job of an Aryan female was to “[live] strictly for her husband and her children,” and abide by the three K’s: Kinder (Children), Küche (Kitchen) and Kirche (Church) . Typical Aryan males were expected to become soldiers or a part of the working class, with young boys joining youth organisation to learn to shoot riffles and to perform patriotic songs of Germany . These roles were inevitably assumed by the German public, persuaded by propaganda into the Aryan lifestyle and fulfilling it with pride, as seen below in posters displaying the differing gender roles of as part of the Nazi Regime. The traditional values exuded through Nazism were transferred onto the public, if it had not already validated the same ideals some held. Changes were already occurring and with the encouragement of these ideals through propaganda, multiple laws being passed and reinforcement from the military, men gained the role of Germany’s protectors, while women accepted the roles of carers, and most taking more pride in completing their “duty” to their country, conforming to the Nazi beliefs of a traditional society.

Propaganda played an integral role in influencing the populations to side with Nazi values and Hitler’s ideal German nation. The impact of Hitler and Goebbels weaponised words, visuals and scare tactics convinced a nation to turn from what was once a modern democracy to a traditional dictatorship and hold the values of one too. The biased materials and distorted content fed to the public assisted in shaping the perfect Aryan, while the constant flow of propaganda created an entire population movement to value the growth of the German people and it’s nation’s power above all else. Propaganda was one of the most impactful components of Hitler’s Nazi regime that altered the thoughts, actions and way of living of an entire country in his favour.

Many people in the United States today come from diverse ancestry groups. German is one of the most popular with over 42 million people living the United States whose ancestry can be traced back to Germany. The largest immigration of Germans came to the United States in the mid 1800s. The German people brought their customs and traditions to the United States today. When reflecting on Germany, the culture can be understood and some of the customs and traditions may be recognized in everyday life.

The history of Germany can be traced back to ancient times. It was during the period between 9AD and 900AD that Germany became a distinct region. From around 900-1806, it was known as Germania and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The name Germany evolved over the years from ancient times to the 19th century from a collection of names of the tribes who inhabited the region. The borders of Germany remained stable until the 20th century. After World War 2, Germany to split into two countries separated by the Berlin Wall. It wasn’t until 1990 that East Germany and West Germany reunified, and the Berlin wall was taken down. The capital of Germany is Berlin. It is the largest city with a population of almost 4 million people.

Germany is about the size of Montana. Even though that seems small for a country, it is the sixth largest country in Europe. The language spoken is German by at least 95% of its citizens. Germany is in Central Europe and is bordered by the Baltic sea, North Sea, and other European countries. The landscape elevates from below sea level to the snow-capped alps. It has a very diverse terrain from beaches, mountains, farmland and marshes creating a beautiful landscape pleasing to most.

Germany is a parliamentary and federal democracy. The German Bundestag, the constitutional body most present in the public eye, is directly elected by citizens eligible to vote every four years. The most important tasks of the Bundestag are legislation and to oversee the government’s work. The Bundestag elects the Federal Chancellor for the legislative period by secret ballot. Within the Federal Government, the Chancellor has the authority to lay down guidelines. The Federal Chancellor appoints the federal ministers, and from among them, a Deputy Chancellor (“Federal State”). There is a Federal Constitutional Court that is very influential in that it is considered the guardian of basic law.

The currency used in Germany is the Euro. Prior to 2002, the Deutsche Mark was the used. The switch to the Euro made it easy to make purchases with surrounding European states. Credit cards are also used to make purchases but are not widely used. The conversion to the Euro was a challenge for the citizens but it did not take long for most to discover the convenience to have the same currency as neighboring countries.

Everyone who earns money in Germany is subject to paying income tax. However, all resident individuals are taxed on their worldwide income (“Germany-Taxes”). The tax rate of an individual is subject to pay is based on a linear progressive scale that reflects a 42% tax rate on the high end. There are no local or state income taxes levied.

Germany has a mixed economy. It allows a free market economy in consumer goods and business services. But the government imposes regulations even in those areas to protect its citizens. Germany has a command economy in defense since everyone receives the benefit, while those with higher incomes pay more in taxes. The government provides health care insurance and education. That means you pay into the system according to your income and receive benefits according to your need (Amadeo, 2020).

Germany has the fourth largest economy in the world with the United States, Japan, and China as top three. Germany’s total GDP is $3.4 trillion (Amadeo, 2020). It is the largest manufacturing economy in Europe. The top exports are machinery which includes computers, cars, and chemical products. Top imports are machinery, including computer equipment, vehicles, and mineral fuels which includes oil.

Germany’s economy has survived the first stage of the coronavirus pandemic because of an aid package that granted to prevent insolvencies, mass layoffs and a rise in poverty. The country, like all others, was forced to find other ways to keep business open and workers employed. If businesses must close, the economy will be affected by rising unemployment rates resulting in less manufacturing.

Covid-19 has affected all European countries. Germany has been praised for its tackling of the coronavirus pandemic, having managed to keep its deaths under 10,000 people while its European neighbors have seen higher fatalities (Ellyatt, 2020). Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany has shown elements of success across the four phases of preparedness and response framework: prevent, detect, contain, and treat. The country’s incredibly strong enabling environment, including a good local public and health care system and expert scientific institutions, has largely contributed to this broad-based progress (Wieler, et al. 2020). Measures such as social distancing and masking were also used to prevent spread of the virus.

There are several social issues that affect Germany. School violence and high school dropout rates, reunification, and immigration are a few of them. School violence in Germany is an ongoing problem, especially in elementary schools. It has gotten to the point where teachers have been writing the Senate Office asking if the school could be shut down. Bullying and victimizing children is the main problem. Also, school dropout rates have skyrocketed since 2008, especially in Eastern Germany. Some say it is their surroundings, such as bad neighborhoods, bad parenting, etc. The government is currently trying to stop elementary school violence and high school dropouts, but it is very hard to stop because of the high number of children taking part in both (Stroh, 2020).

Reunification issues continue between Eastern and Western Germany. Neither side can understand how each other thinks. There is a standard of living difference in which the government is trying to help by raising the standards to be equal. Both sides were governed differently until the reunification. When the countries divided, Russia drained the money out of Eastern Germany and the country was a communist country and its people lived by a lower standard (Stoh, 2020).

The immigration of Turks increased after World War 2 when they came to Germany to help rebuild. They were supposed come to work and go back home when the work was completed but that did not happen. The Turks stayed in Germany. Part of the problem is that the Turks do not want to renounce their citizenship in Turkey. They have a dual citizenship. However, German law does not allow dual citizenship so they must renounce their Turkish citizenship first (Stoh, 2020). Since the Turks continue to work in Germany, the German people feel as though the Turks are taking away their jobs. The German government will not ask them to leave because they want a more populated country.

The education system in Germany consists of an elementary education and a secondary education. The secondary education is split into a lower secondary education which is a vocational track and an upper secondary education which is a vocational-dual track. The elementary education starts at the age of six and lasts for nine years. Elementary education is the only stage in German education where all student study at the same type of school. From grades 1 to 4, almost all German pupils attend a Grundschule, where they study the same basic general subjects. At the end is foundation cycle, students move on to different types of lower secondary schools (Trines, 2016).

The secondary education system includes multiple programs at both the lower and upper secondary levels. These programs emphasize either vocational skills or preparation for tertiary-level education, depending on the track (Trines, 2016). The lower secondary school prepares the student for admission to the upper secondary vocational school. The upper secondary school has two tracks. One track focuses on academics and the other focuses on practical training. More than 50% of the students focus on practical training (Trines, 2016).

German schools emphasize academics. Even though they do provide some physical education, school sports are rare. Athletes that want to play a sport must attend sport school also known as Sportschule. These schools, found in most areas of Germany, specialize in developing a student’s talent in a sport, while also providing a strong academic program. Sport schools come in several varieties: public or private, boarding school or day school or both. They specialize in various sports (soccer, swimming, handball, rowing, boxing, skiing, field and track, etc.) (HF, 2018). Some of the sports schools are certified by national German sports organizations that earn them elite status. The goal of the elite sports schools is to produce athletes that can perform and win at the Olympics. Germany has 18 Olympic training centers which are partnered with the sports schools. About 30 to 60 percent of German medal winners and participants (winter sports have the highest percentage) at recent Olympic games have been current or former students of German elite sports schools (HF, 2018).

Germans have only one federal holiday and that is October 3. This is the day that East and West Germany reunified. Germany celebrates the Christian holidays including Christmas and Easter. About 65 to 70 of people recognize themselves as Christians, 29% of which as Catholics (Zimmermann, 2018). There is also a Muslim minority of 4.4%. A number as high as 36% do not identify themselves as having any religion or belong to another than Christianity or Muslim (“German Culture: Facts”).

One of the country’s biggest celebrations is called Oktoberfest. The celebration runs from September to October for a span of 18 days. Germans like their beer. It is the most popular alcoholic drink. Other popular alcoholic drinks are brandy, wine and schnapps. German food culture revolves around the preparation of hearty meals. Meat is typically eaten with most meals along with bread and potatoes (“German Culture”). A popular meat in Germany is the bratwurst. Pork is the most common meat consumed (Zimmermann, 2018).

One of the best traits of the German people and culture, is that they like to take care of each other. For example, lost items are hung on trees. For example, at a park in Germany, or anywhere near a tree, if there is something hanging at its lowest branches, That is a lost thing. Somebody has lost it, and the other one who found it took care to hang it on the tree. When retracing their steps, the owner will have it easier to find their belonging (“German Culture: Facts”).

Germany has many places of interest to visit. A few of them are its cathedrals, the Berlin Wall, and Dacahu Concentration Camp. Germany has cathedrals that were built during the Gothic era and some of the architecture was built in the 15th century. It also is home to several castles and palaces that have survived for centuries. A portion of the Berlin Wall remains in Berlin as a memorial when Germany was divided. It is a place of interest for many tourists and a reminder of the cold war. Dacahu Concentration Camp has also attracted many tourists. It was the first concentration camp in Germany and the only concentration camp to remain open the entire span of German rule.

Germany is a country rich in history, customs and traditions. It is a common ancestry in the United States and is evidenced in customs and traditions to many people. Many of us eat bratwurst especially at our tailgate parties during sporting events. Oktoberfest is also celebrated in some ethnic areas of the United States and the traditional holidays are widely celebrated by Christians. In reflection, Germany has a significant influence in the western culture and some of that culture is part of everyday life.

Works Cited:

1. Amadeo, K. “Germany’s Economy, Its Successes and Challenges,” The Balance, 28 Jul 2020, www.thebalance.com/germany-s-economy.
2. Ellyatt, H. “Collateral Damage: Germany Has Limited Its Coronavirus Death Toll, but It Hasn’t Escaped Criticism,” Health & Science, 23 Sept. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/09/23/germany-has-limited-its-coronavirus-death-toll-but-faces-criticism.html.
3. “Federal State,” The State & Politics, www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/politics-Germany/federal-state. Accessed 20 Oct 2020.
4. “German Culture,” Expatrio, www.expatrio.com/living-germany/german-culture. Accessed 10 Oct 2020.
5. “German Culture: Facts, Customs, Traditions and Things to Know,” Studying in Germany, www.studying-in-germany.org/german-culture.
6. “Germany – Taxes on Personal Income,” Worldwide Tax Summaries, 09 Jul 2020, www.taxsummaries.pwc.com/germany/individual/taxes-on-personal-income.
7. HF. “Sportschulen: Sport Schools in Germany,” The German Way & More, 21 May 2018, www.german-way.com/sportschulen-sports-schools-in-germany.
8. Stroh, E. “Major Social Issues,” Germany, www.germanyglobalissues.weebly.com/ major-social-issues.html. Accessed 20 Oct 2020.
9. Trines, S. “Education in Germany,” World Education News and Reviews. 8 Nov 2016, https://wentr.wes.org/2016/11/education-in-germany.
10. Wieler, L, Rexroth, U, Gottschalk, R. “Emerging COVID-19 Success Story: Germany’s Strong Enabling Environment,” Exemplars in Global Health, 30 June 2020, https://ourworldindata.org/covid-exemplar-germany.
11. Zimmermann, K. “German Culture: Facts, Customs and Traditions,” Live Science, 9 Mar 2018, https://livescience.com/44007-german-culture.html.

Not long ago, a fire broke out at the well-known, visited, and praised Notre Dame Cathedral in France. Thousands of individuals were devastated at the news and thousands of others, including the very wealthy, quickly came to the rescue by giving over one billion dollars in donations to rebuild and repair the attraction. This was found odd, however, as it seems that these individuals—the world, did not understand the history of this place. It’s unknown Notre Dame has been one to harm hundreds of indigenous peoples, non-catholic or non-Christian peoples because of what they did and did not believe in in regards to religion. Even France has had a long history of religious missionary work as they’ve colonized many places, forcing multitudes of people to convert their religious beliefs. Hundreds of years of religious persecution are hidden away behind the glorified stained-glass windows and what people claim to be of utmost importance as eight-hundred-plus years of art, history, and culture. Learning about history is a crucial part of people’s education. It helps them better understand why things have turned out the way they did, who or what they should or should not support, to see a cause-and-effect relationship, to remember those who positively made an impact on the present, and most importantly avoid repeating the same mistakes countries, places, or other people have already made in the past. What’s additionally important is how these people address their mistakes. Similar to a child who’s taught at a young age what is right and what is wrong, they should be able to take responsibility for their actions, own up to them, and apologize to make things right. When it comes to war, a country in the wrong should be able to reconcile with other countries and be able to be seen as trustworthy. They should feel empathy for those they have wronged. Countries and places should resolve their mistakes by reconciling with their neighboring countries, building and leaving the proper memorials, and being able to face their consequential choices unafraid of shame.

On one hand, Germany has been a wonderful example of a country that has taken full responsibility for its actions after World War II. They have liberated themselves from fascism. Their war reconciliation and reparations with not other only countries, but within themselves as well, have regained most of the respect they’ve lost from the world after World War II. They teach their students the long history of World War II and the Holocaust. It’s quite honorable as it takes so much personal will and perseverance to be able to reflect on one’s own mistakes and can oftentimes be extremely torturous. The “Fatherland” has undergone much reconstruction to make up for the physical and emotional damage they’ve caused to others and themselves. For example, Patrick Hein, a professor at Meiji University states that “[Germany] peacefully reconciled successfully with its former victims such as France, Poland or Benelux. All of these monuments in commemoration of the people they’ve harmed clearly show Germany’s efforts to make things right again, and the fact that they weren’t afraid to expose this vulnerable aspect of their country was quite astonishing in the eyes of other countries. Their choice of actions after the war has transpired to be in their favor and has regained the trust of other countries as they have accepted Germany back into the world of trading, foreign policy, and military alliances.

On the other hand, unlike Germany, Japan was less willing to make interpersonal reparations with other countries after World War II. A researcher in foreign policy at Meiji University states, “the unwillingness of Japanese Government officials to admit past wrongdoings, to apologize for coerced war prostitution and to refuse to compensate former slave laborers has put Japan on the frontline of international criticism” (Hein). Japan is a prominent example of what is not acceptable for a country to do after the war. In contrast to conventional explanations, it is argued that different circumstances, influenced by distinct historical and political factors in each country, resulted in different approaches to their history. However, this should be overlooked as cultural and political differences should be set aside when someone has committed wrongdoings. It’s something that countries should not allow to get in the way of making things right. It’s even quite known in numerous Asian cultures that apologies are necessary even when nothing remotely wrong has occurred. Just the mere fact of causing trouble and stress for others is the epitome of apologies in Asian culture. An example is seen and stated by the German national daily newspaper, Die Welt, in the scholarly publication by Patrick Hein:

There is a museum in the southern Kyushu city of Chiran glorifying the kamikaze as national knowing that they were sent against their will to their death-, a museum exhibiting the warship Yamato opened some time ago in the city of Kure near Hiroshima to glorify the military past and the Japanese Government has supported the opening of a center for the study of Anne Frank and the German Holocaust in Japan. Anne Frank is almost worshipped as a saint in Japan. According to her cousin Elias, the Japanese people have adopted the Holocaust because ‘they do not like to speak about their own past wrongdoings. (qted. in Hein)

It can be obviously seen here that the Japanese have built monuments and memorials strictly only for their military and in no way shape or form, see anything right in being accountable for their actions from World War II. Also, not only did they harm individuals from other countries, but they negatively affected their citizens too—especially their women. Forced into prostitution to sexually entertain their militant troops, raped, and repulsively taken advantage of. Instead, they found it more favorable to commemorate and honor their military troops. They never felt any need to apologize for not just the trouble they’ve caused in their own community. In stark contrast to Germany, Japan has received less respect and has had quite some trouble with assuring countries that they no longer believe in what they did in the past.

Additionally comparative, Germany is quite critical in making sure their monuments and memorials are made as best as they can be. The “Fatherland” rigorously puts a great deal of effort into remembering those who have perished at their hand. No matter how many monuments are built, however, doesn’t go to show the true intentions or true meanings of these memorials. As it is a very sensitive subject, even the slightest bit of offense can receive an impactful, harsh amount of backlash—especially if the monuments have lost their meaning and true purpose. This caused the introduction of counter-monuments into Germany. For example, James E. Young addresses in his scholarly publication, “Germany’s vanishing Holocaust monuments,” the efforts in Germany to commemorate the Holocaust. Young brings up the controversy and backlash Germany gets for every single monument they put up and how their monuments have become “a facile kind of pathos” (Young). He evaluates Germany’s monuments and memorials and concludes that some are purely superficial—completely ignoring the true meaning of a monument and its memorial to the Holocaust. Additionally, he brings up the topic of “counter-monuments” that have come up in Germany as well. An example of a very prominent counter-monument in Germany is the “Square of the Invisible Monument” or “Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals.” Jochen Gerz, a conceptual artist and professor, had his students take cobblestones from the old home of the Gestapo during Hitler’s Reich, and engrave the missing names of the Jews from cemeteries. The stones, however, were not placed upright but faced down instead so that no one knew they were there. Young states, “The memorial would be invisible, itself only a memory, out of sight and therefore…in mind…we who visit these monuments might begin to rethink our own relationship to them and the memory they would embody.” Gerz’s vision and ideas for the counter-monument keep alive the idea and purpose of a memorial: to keep alive memory and allow those in the present and future to remember. The idea of a memorial is taken for granted today as there are tons of monuments and written information for people to easily access. It causes those to misunderstand the true purpose of a memorial. These counter-monuments challenge the idea of regular monuments, whose information is taken for granted and unappreciated. They’ve dedicated themselves to making the Holocaust remembered and never forgotten and to correctly and respectfully honor the victims at their hands. Every monument, at every turn, is endlessly scrutinized, explicated, and debated. This is as it should be, as Germany’s past ideologies and morality are what brought millions of innocent individuals into harm’s way.

One of the things that makes a monument of quality is the way it provides information. In another scholarly article “As support grows for ditching confederate statues, some colleges begin to remove theirs,” written by Adam Harris, discusses the controversy of taking confederate statues down versus preserving them. Harris addresses both sides of the controversy and gives multiple real-life examples of both cases. He merely gives facts and asks “But does the association of the monuments with white supremacy mean that they should be removed?” The United States has one prime example of an excellent and well-executed monument. The first is the Lynching Museum created by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). In an article written by the Journal of Pan African Studies, “The equal justice initiative: memorial and museum,’ prior to the opening of this museum, it is stated that the memorial will include a long history of the disenfranchisement of African-Americans by white-supremacy laws, their mistreatment, and the most detrimental aspect of racial terrorism: lynching. The memorial also names over four thousand names of lynched victims in America and has collected soil from lands where the act of lynching was carried out. The United States has an incredibly terrible, long, excruciating history of racism. It even goes so far to today as America has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and it’s mostly full of African-Americans. It has rarely talked about segregation lynching and justice for the African-American people. These subjects seem to only take up a tiny amount of space in students’ history textbooks. Instead, the confederacy is often times romanticized. That’s why it is so crucially important for these monuments to withhold this information, provide more, and not let the past be forgotten, or remembered in a negative connotation.

Finally, shame is a feeling that is hard to bear and cope with, but is something countries should be able to face. Japan is an example. The Asian country couldn’t bear the thought of reconciliation, accountability, and apologizing. Similar to Japan, it may be the reason why the United States is taking down Confederate monuments around their country. How can they face and look at statues that glorified their days of slavery? Similar to Germany, Young states in “Germany’s vanishing Holocaust monuments,” “What then of Germany, a nation justly forced to remember the suffering and devastation it once caused in the name of its people?” By this question, he questions Germany’s self-indictment. Connecting it to the removal of America’s confederate statues, the actions have caused a continuous controversy on whether removing them is the right thing. Lawsuits and heated public debates filled the news in New Orleans, North Carolina, and Charlottesville over the issue. For instance, Charlottesville is “home to a statue, commonly known as Silent Sam, that stands as a monument to hundreds of Chapel Hill alumni who served in the Confederate Army” (Harris). This statue was found controversial as it was a potential safety threat to those around it. They found a lifeless statue dangerous. It’s as if America has confined itself to two coping strategies for its past choice of slavery: silence and denial. Another example of this is the streets in New Orleans named after slaveholders such as Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay (McWilliams). Sure, Andrew Jackson did own slaves in the past, and condoned the act of slavery, but to what extent will these past slave owners be held accountable for for the past? What will changing street names or statues of these individuals really do for the people in America let alone African Americans? A professor of history at Texas State University states, “Taking those statues down was a bad idea because they reminded white people what was done to us. We are not educated’ (McWilliams). What the author means by this is that the feeling of shame is something that Americans are not prone to feeling when it comes to slavery. Later on in the text, it’s stated:

We haven’t been taught how to confront the troubled history and legacy of slavery in a way that demands our sustained discomfort and puts us at risk in public space. True, by wishing the statues away, we justifiably honor the crushed feelings African Americans experience when living amid monuments that once honored slavery. But less justifiably, by wishing these statues away, we also ease the guilt of many progressive whites who, for altogether different reasons, also hate looking up to Lee, Jackson, and, dare one say it, Mr. Jefferson. (McWilliams)

McWilliams deduces that the removal of these statues only strips away one, thin layer of the whole picture. Some individuals will say that removing these statues helps African-American communities heal and stay safe, however, what they fail to consider is that it merely sweeps the problem under the carpet. Racial bias and bigotry will still exist, and the uneducated people in America will still believe in these individuals. An alternative approach to this would be to have these statues, places, and monuments, carry information that allows people to see fully, the history of that monument or statue—not just the sugar-coated version. Otherwise, it would all just be covered up, disregarded, or forgotten. A prime example of white supremacy not being able to let go, being uneducated about slavery and the never-ending racial injustice in America are the populated Confederate monuments in North Carolina (Wahlers). Wahlers factually states:

North Carolina enacted the Heritage Protection Act (‘HPA’) in July 2015, less than two weeks after the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House. This law severely restricts the removal, relocation, or alteration of any monument or ‘display of a permanent character’ located on public property.

This further proves the racial bigotry in America as the only purpose of keeping the Confederate flag there in their eyes is for heritage and preservation. They seemingly don’t care about the long history of that flag. Even in the United States justice system since slavery was abolished, black persons who were incarcerated in the eighties and nineties were forced to pick cotton still. Without the feeling of shame, there would be nothing to motivate these individuals to make the situations for others better and overall improve countless lives.

The people should truly know about what intentions their government has in the present. They need to reevaluate and reflect on their ethics and values to keep and preserve or to discard and destroy the buildings, places, and monuments we have today. They need to truly understand the depths of the history of these places, and not just eliminate or keep it merely for political or aesthetic gain. They need to acknowledge the true histories of these places in order to know what they should be preserving or destroying. The prominence of racism, bigotry, and injustice will only manifest and grow. All of that energy can most definitely be used to expect more out of Notre Dame for example. They could, in fact, use their million-dollar donations to give the world more exposure to its dark side of history of religious persecution and missionary work. The small choices and impacts can really encourage individuals from other countries, from all over the world to demand and expect more from their courtrooms, their leaders, their classrooms, and most importantly each other. The choices of these countries to make reparations for their mistakes will alter the narrative of their country’s systems. The education of more and more individuals can finally get them to be prepared to set their foot down and say that there is no longer any tolerance for mistakes already made in the past.

Works Cited

1. Harris, Adam. ‘As support grows for ditching confederate statues, some colleges begin to remove theirs.’ The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 Sept. 2017, p. A28. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.mhcc.edu/apps/doc/A504460092/AONE?u=mthoodcc&sid=AONE&xid=5b9747b7. Accessed 4 May 2019.
2. Hein, Patrick. ‘Patterns of war reconciliation in Japan and Germany. A comparison.’ East Asia: An International Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 2, 2010, p. 145+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.mhcc.edu/apps/doc/A372612471/AONE?u=mthoodcc&sid=AONE&xid=6bbe2877. Accessed 4 May 2019.
3. McWilliams, James. ‘SHAME, AND ‘THOSE’ MONUMENTS.’ The Hedgehog Review, vol. 20, no. 1, 2018, p.
4. 12+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.mhcc.edu/apps/doc/A532655358/AONE?u=mthoodcc&sid=AONE&xid=b7a55f74. Accessed 4 May 2019.
5. ‘The equal justice initiative: memorial and museum.’ Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, 2017, p. 413+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.mhcc.edu/apps/doc/A498734521/AONE?u=mthoodcc&sid=AONE&xid=58a608e2. Accessed 4 May 2019.
6. Wahlers, Kasi E. ‘North Carolina’s Heritage Protection Act: cementing Confederate monuments in North Carolina’s landscape.’ North Carolina Law Review, Sept. 2016, p. 2176+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.mhcc.edu/apps/doc/A468139942/AONE?u=mthoodcc&sid=AONE&xid=5fa4eb58. Accessed 4 May 2019.
7. Young, James E. ‘Germany’s vanishing Holocaust monuments.’ Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought, vol. 43, no. 4, 1994, p. 412+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.mhcc.edu/apps/doc/A16481905/AONE?u=mthoodcc&sid=AONE&xid=887d44d2. Accessed 4 May 2019.

The Holocaust was a time when Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, prostitutes, and beggars were kicked out of their homes to be sent off to work hard labor or sent to death. German SS officers showed no remorse to the prisoners by constantly torturing them. These actions by the Germans show that they had no solicitude about Human Rights. They violated various rights such as the freedom of race, liberty, life, privacy, and freedom from torture or inhuman treatment. Therefore, the Holocaust was a violation of Human Rights. For the purpose of this research paper, sources from textbooks, websites, and personal testimonies will be used.

According to the Bill of Rights, Article 2 states that “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or another opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or another status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional, or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing, or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Labor and death camps such as Auschwitz Birkenau violated various of these rights such as the right to sex, and property. Upon entering the death camp, SS officers would strip the prisoners off their clothes, and separate them based on their gender and health.

The Jewish race is a religious group of people. They often pray and read the Torah in their free time. In labor and death camps, they were not allowed to do such as it was banned by the Germans. They are beaten and often shot to death by the SS officers by performing their religious beliefs. this violates their freedom of religion.

Article 3 of the Bill of Rights states, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. Nazi Germany performed a massive genocide on thousands of Jewish prisoners by placing them in gas chambers and killing them by the dozen. This event is a massive blow to their right to life as their main purpose in the camp was to be placed in the gas chambers. Nazi Germany showed no remorse and sympathy to the prisoners as they were also forced to dig their own graves.

There was also no way of leaving the death camps. These Jews were kept prisoners for the duration of World War 2 in Germany. With this, the Holocaust had taken their right to liberty. SS officers also had the power to search through the remaining belongs of the prisoners and often the prisoners themselves. This event massively violated their security of person as they had no privacy in the death and labor camps.

The Book Inheriting the Holocaust: a Second-Generation Memoir expresses the hardship and suffering the Jewish race had to endure during their stay and the Lodz Ghetto, and Auschwitz Birkenau. The book stated that Bluma Sieradzka and Chain Harry Fass survived cruel torture during the Holocaust. They were degraded by the SS police along with their fellow prisoners in Auschwitz. (Fass, Paula S. Inheriting the Holocaust: a Second-Generation Memoir. Rutgers University Press, 2009.). This violates article 5 of the Book of Rights, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Book Night by Elie Wiesel is a biography of a Holocaust survivor by the author himself who tells his story and experiences during the bloodshed that is the Holocaust. Throughout the book, Elie states the sequence of being captured and shipped to various labor/death camps to being set free at last. He expresses his emotions towards his experiences in the German death camps, along with some visual representations of how the Jews suffered during World War 2. Ultimately, Elie Wiesel wanted to share his past experiences of being a Holocaust survivor by telling the story of how he survived the Holocaust during World War 2.

Article 12 of the book of rights states that “ No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” (“Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html.). Elie’s father was killed while he was still young. This meant that Elie is left alone without a father or any type of family as he was also separated from his mom and younger sibling upon arriving in Auschwitz. The SS officers interfered with Elie and his family by separating them upon arriving in Auschwitz and beating his father to death.

According to The Holocaust: Racism and Genocide in World War II, there was immense racism against Jews and Gypsies, while also having an intense judgment against homosexuals, prostitutes, and beggars. In today’s modern world, racism and judgment are extremely prohibited due to the mass variety of races and occupations we have today. The Holocaust showed just how cruel and unforgiving the Nazis were to these people. It was to the point that they built death/extermination camps just for the sake of performing mass genocide on them.

Article 4 of the Bill of Rights states that “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”. The Nazis built labor camps and took Jewish prisoners as slaves and forced laborers. On the gate of Auschwitz, there’s a quote saying, “Work shall set you free.” This gave prisoners hope by knowing that if they worked hard enough, they would have the chance to be set free. Little did they know that thousands of Jewish slaves and prisoners were sent to gas chambers and shot while digging their graves daily. This violates their right from slavery and forced servitude.

Human Rights are without a doubt very important especially in times of wars such as World War 2. The Holocaust proved just how cruel and inhumane some people can be. It violated the rights of life, liberty, race. sex, religion. social origin, property, privacy, family, protection, interference, etc. The impact on the survivors has been a burden for the most part but has also been an accomplishment, considering they endured so much pain and suffering yet they are still here to share their experiences and stories. Holocaust survivors are a testimony of how strong the spirit of the human race is despite the immense pain and suffering they had endured in the past.

World War I resulted from an unsettlement in the international system that began in the 1870s, when the German Empire was created after France lost the Franco-Prussian War. The power that Germany achieved was sustained through a series of alliances (whose goal was to isolate France and neutralize Russia to secure German strength [49]), and through Otto von Bismarckєs Realpolitik diplomacy. Bismarck is often pointed as a key individual in determining the origins of WWI because of the influence he had on the methods used for conducting international relations. While it is true that as a leader he dominated policy making, rather than pointing at him as an individual force, one must look at his methods of diplomacy as an expression of a broader rising raison (50) ideology that prioritized national interests and that was a response to the rise of nationalism in the 1850s.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, nationalism was a new and powerful source of tension since it clashed with the interests of the dominant European imperial powers. Before the establishment of the Concert of Europe in 1815, nationalist ideologies started to spread because of the philosophies brought by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars[2]. There started to be a growing popular political support towards the principle that each nation had the right to form its own independent state to fulfill the socio-economic and cultural objectives of people united by common origins, language and interests.

Conversely, the project of the Concert of Europe opposed to this call for state self-determination and suppressed nationalist revolutions while institutionalizing conservative territorial outlines in the Congress of Vienna. This suppressed the political aspirations of various nations and fueled the frustration of nationalist movements that later became unification wars, namely, in the Germanic Confederation and Italy. The successful outcomes of these wars challenged core structures set by the Concert of Europe (mainly political-territorial configurations) and thus, influenced the readjustment of balance of power and contributed to the further challenging of political structures that until then were unquestionable. Nevertheless, while in Germany and Italy the unification wars were successful, in other European countries nationalist struggles remained unsolved, contributing to the escalation of tensions. Later in the 1860s and 1870s, nationalism started to be influenced by supremacist ideas of Social-Darwinism, favoring imperial and military pursuits under the belief that war was good for nations (27). Under these conditions, nationalism created new areas of interest over which leaders of nations could compete,ppromoting methods of diplomacy like Bismarckєs Realpolitik (49-50), and making movements such as Pan-Slavism fundamental to the development of the events that preceded the First World War (56).

In addition to nationalism, European imperialism should also be considered a major impersonal origin of WWI because the commercial colonization of Africa and Asia allowed European states to develop economically and industrially through the massive extraction of foreign raw materials, but in very unequal and competitive terms: England and France had the monopoly of industrial development, which generated discord and revived nationalist arguments. Because of the Industrial Revolution, imperialism promoted and facilitated significant technological advancements and industrial expansion in Europe, which fueled arms development and the construction of all types of maritime, air and terrestrial armaments and transportations specialized for war. This turned the late 19th century into an era of military competition and contributed to the anxiety that war could unleash soon. Europe lived an arms race: a power’s announcement of an increase in their defense expenses was interpreted by their rivals as a direct threat, which created a climate of distrust and mutual fears, especially between Germany and Britain (because hegemonic British imperialism was concerned about the German will to become a naval power and extend its dominance outside of Europe). Moreover, the effects of militarization started to be translated to political life, for instance in Germany and Russia, where the military became more involved in the government, influencing the decision-making of state leaders (26) and embracing the militarist-imperialist-nationalist notion that nationhood could be achieved through conquest and war. Hence, imperialism, industrialization and militarization worked together in bringing the origins of the WWI to be, overpassing the agency of the individual leaders that had to cope with the implications of these political-economic transformations.

Since the armaments race implied that each state’s military plans were judged relative to that of their neighbors, the culture of military paranoia heightened the leaders search for alliances to guarantee the security of their states. The alliance system came about because after 1870, Germany through Bismarck’s Realpolitik’ set a precedent by playing its neighbors imperial endeavors off one another in order to maintain balance of power. When Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck after the German unification, it upset the political balance between Russia, France, and Germany. European geostrategic alliances changed, not because of the fall of Bismarck as a single individual, but mainly due to a new alliance between France and Russia which served as a counterbalance to the Triple Alliance and led to the formation of a bipolar bloc of allied countries. This system of two rival alliances is the key to explain the relevance of impersonal factors in the triggering of WWI because the decision to make war was the response of the alliances leaders in their struggleto secure the balance of world power. The significance of bipolar division in creating the war is that polarization reflected corresponding interests as well as conflictive ones. Due to the power vacuum that the breakup of the Concert of Europe could pose, the same forces that were supposed to serve to keep the peace automatically transformed the war into a general conflict once it erupted. Additionally, the presence of secret alliances and the absence of an informal arbitrator revealed cracks in the international anarchic system that increased the probability of magnitude, duration and severity of the war.

While it can be argued that the alliance system did not make war inevitable, it is impossible to explain the development of the war if it is not considered as an origin. In this regard, it could also be argued that no state leader intervened primarily to defend the claims of their ally but that they mobilized for the own interests of their nations, scared by the risks that not helping their partners could pose to their own decline. For instance, Britain could not allow France to be razed and to destroy the balance of power with a German hegemony in the continent. Diplomacy, national interests and war plans explain the breaking of hostilities.

Introduction

German Unification was one of the seminal events in modern history. It has impacted and been instrumental in both world wars, the later half of the twentieth century, acting as a microcosm of the Cold War (ironically through its partition) and into the modern day, as the leading country in the EU. This momentous event was far from certain, however, prior to the French Revolution it was unthinkable that the German Speaking peoples would be unified into a cohesive whole and the remarkable manner in which it was achieved is more the rarer for the audacity with which it was accomplished.

The Factors Involved

To understand what made German unification possible, several factors must be looked at: German nationalism during the 19th century, Otto Von Bismarck, the interest of exterior great powers in Germany (France, The UK and Russia), Prussian Power and possible alternatives to Prussia as the centre of German unification.

Without German nationalism it would’ve been impossible for Prussia to unify the smaller states under its aegis for any length of time, as the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires show. Otto Von Bismarck was the (arguably) genius who manipulated circumstances on the World Stage skilfully enough to allow Prussia to isolate and defeat its enemies without concerted intervention from the next factor, the other European Great Powers. The European Great Powers had the potential to stop German unification in its tracks if they so chose and yet, they did not, what prevented them from noticing and mustering the force to stamp out the empire that would turn out to be such a fearsome competitor? Prussia was the unifier of Germany, but this wasn’t an inevitable or even a likely fate for a kingdom which had less than auspicious circumstances surrounding its creation. There is also the issue of other possible states around which Germany may have unified, the most obvious of these was Austria. For the first half of the 19th century Austria was the dominant member of the German Confederation and Prussia ,while powerful, was still subordinate to Austria which begs the question, why didn’t Germany unify under Austria?

Prussia

Prussia was instrumental in if not German Unification itself then certainly in the manner which it was unified and yet its creation was a much more unlikely one than that of Germany’s. There were three elements that needed to come together to produce the Prussian state: The March of Brandenburg, the Hohenzollern dynasty and Teutonic knight’s petty kingdoms in the Baltics. (Feuchtwanger 1970:13).

The first, Brandenburg, was granted to Frederick Hohenzollern in 1411, he was granted the land by the grateful Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund who had been aided in his acquisition of the title by Frederick. In 1415 Frederick was granted the title prince elector of Brandenburg and was fully invested as Margrave and Elector Frederick 1st in 1417, cementing the centre of Hohenzollern power.

One of the deadliest and transformative events was The Second World War with 39 million of dead war on Europe alone. Large amount of facilities and infrastructure were destructed for about six years of ground battles and bombing. Many were even forced to evacuate without the assurance of where to go and how they can live. Periods of hunger became common even on the prosperous country such as Western Europe. Families were separated for a long period of years, and many have lost their brothers and fathers. Many were traumatized especially the children who witnessed the horror of battles and bombings. Due to this, economical and political systems in many countries were altered.

In 1941 the United States was still recovering from the great depression. The jobless rate had been as high as 25 percent, bankruptcy was not uncommon, and the standard of living for most Americans was 60 percent lower than before the stock market crash of 1929. When the war started, all that changed. More people were needed to produce the food and weapons for the men on the front lines. The new jobs were taken by many who had been out of work for several years. As more men were sent away to fight, women were hired to take over their positions on the assembly lines.

In Europe, 40 million people were killed. Half of these were soldiers and half were civilians. 20 million were killed from The Soviet Union that merely took the biggest hit. German soldiers directly killed approximately 18 million soldiers and civilians. German also has this what was called as slave labor camps that killed almost 3.5 million Soviet prisoners of war died. German soldiers were ordered to shoot all Jews, communist leaders, and Soviet civilians and take their grain. More than 1 million residents starved to death during the two-year Siege of Leningrad. Germany lost around 9 million. Around 5.3 million were soldiers, and 3.3 million were civilians. The Nazis killed 300,000 German civilians and Allied bombings killed 600,000. Poland lost 5 million people, or 16 percent of its total population. Of those, 2.7 million were Jews, and 240,000 were soldiers. Yugoslavia lost 1 million people, of which 445,000 were soldiers. France lost 568,000 people, of which 218,000 were soldiers. The United Kingdom lost 60,000 civilians to German air raids and 384,000 soldiers. The United States lost 405,000 soldiers and about 2,000 civilians.

The Japanese military killed around 300,000 Chinese in the 1937 Nanking Massacre. China killed 500,000 of its own civilians when leaders opened a dam to stop the Japanese, causing the 1938 Yellow River Flood. Japanese war crimes caused 6 million deaths in China, Japan, Korea, Indochina, and the Philippines. (Sicat, G., 2019) These were the damage of the World War II that causes lots of loss of lives and truly it was no joke.

But despite of these damages, war has been beneficial as well to certain countries for its economical growth. One of which was Japan. After World War II, Japan was deeply devastated. All large cities except Kyoto, the industries and transportation networks were crashed down and shortage of food were observed. But look at it now, it is one of the most developed and advanced country due to its technologies. After WWII, Japan’s economy continued growing partly due to measures laid down by the government and also due to financial aid from the US. The US decided to set up camp in Japan after World War II as an ally, and it included military personnel and civilians to try and slow down the Soviet Union’s influence in the Pacific. During the economic miracle period, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and banks decided to work together forming groups called Keiretsu.

The economic miracle took part in four stages. After WWII, most of Japan’s industries had been brought to their knees because of the war. Most countries were suffering after-war effects when the war has ended with some countries like Japan experiencing a significant drop in industrial output. The swift recovery of Japan’s industries was really amazing that it even led to the name economic miracle. The recovery phase focused on rebuilding the industries with the great focus being on the cotton, steel, and coal industries. As from 1967 to 1971, Japan’s economy experienced the most significant growth recorded in the country. Japan rose to one of the most developed countries in East Asia. The Japanese education system also played a part in the economic growth by producing highly skilled and disciplined workers. Japan was one of the countries with high levels of literacy, and it still is to date. The steady increase phase ran from 1973 to 1992. There was an oil crisis in 1973 and 1979 which saw the prices of oil triple in both instances. The crisis was caused by economic sanctions set by the organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries on countries that seemed to be supporting Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Though the sanction shook the economies of other countries, Japan’s economy continued to grow. The low increase phase started around 1992 when the economic bubble phase faded leading to a recession. Japan had an economic phase known as the economic bubble during the 1980s. The over lending of Japanese banks to industries led to the inflation of the Tokyo stock market. The inflation was followed by a deflation period which affected the economy negatively. (Kiprop, J., 2019)

In the Philippines, about one million Filipinos loss their lives during World War II. And the total output was reduced by 30% of the pre-war output level. The recovery was soon begun as the war ended. With the help of the US military, the supply lines were re-established by enhancing strategic infrastructures that sooner improved transportation and communication that at least encouraged resumption of economic activities. As supply lines improved, imports also began. As the Commonwealth government on Feb. 28, 1945, then president Sergio Osmeña had pleaded to the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Recovery Agency) head, “… within this ruined capital city we find ourselves face to face with problems of staggering proportions. Thousands and thousands of families are without shelter and in rags, millions are facing hunger and starvation.” The UNNRA, was essentially US Operation, headed by American Officials began to send emergency relief such as foods, medicine and clothing.

New businesses were also established that helps the economy grow faster. The new republic also takes over civilian government for the critical political decisions and distribution of funds and economic normalcy. Public sector rehabilitation work was undertaken. United States created the Philippine War Damage Commission (PWDC) to administer the rehabilitation program. The war damage commission was responsible for allocating all the funds for reconstruction between 1947 to 1950. All its major decisions were made in consultation with the new republic, but it was essentially an operation that reported to Washington D.C. The public sector rehabilitation program was used for the following allocations: hospitals and dispensaries, $4.6 million; waterworks and irrigation systems, $3 million; schools, $34.3 million; national government buildings, $6.9 million; provincial and municipal government buildings, $4.2 million; and government corporations, $2.2 million. (Sicat, 2019). And some specific rehabilitation projects were allocated for the repair of quarantine stations in Mariveles and Cebu; the purchase of seven iron lungs or respirators; the construction of a tuberculosis children’s pavilion in the Quezon Institute; and the purchase of rolling stock for the Manila Railroad Co. Big grants were given to the University of the Philippines, $6.3 million; Metropolitan Water District, $1 million; barrio schools program, $2.7 million; Philippine General Hospital, $1.1 million; and national government buildings, $6.5 million. For the development of education, and to keep every citizen healthy.

World Wars really destruct not just the infrastructure and facilities but also our peaceful living. It keeps those who were there during the bombing traumatized. Loss of lives I guess were the greatest scar and the saddest memory. Still, at last as some says, life should move forward and leave the past but never forget its lesson.

There are not many positives in war. People die. It’s easy to get caught up in the belief that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Leaders can be convincing and this appears to have been a problem for the German people. They wanted to be told that they were superior, so they followed that lead. They lost a lot and I’m sure many of them were good people.

After WW1, in Germany, many small, anti- Semitism extremist political groups appeared and Adolph Hitler’s ideals became increasingly popular with the belief that he could bring positive changes to Germany. He was elected into power in October 1933. With this the NSDAP, or Nazi Party, rose to power in Germany. A Nazi Propaganda slide (circa 1933-1939) entitled ‘The Jewish spirit undermines the healthy powers of the German people,’ was one way German civilians were influenced into thinking “this could bring positive changes to the lives of their people”.

The party was intent upon “cleansing” Europe of not only the Jews, but disabled people, Soviet Prisoners of War and civilians, Polish civilians, homosexuals, socialists, communists and trades unionists, Freemasons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Violence spread across the nation in almost every city and town as the Hitler youth and SA paramilitary forces took to smashing shop windows and destroying the homes of Jews. The broken glass is referred to as Kristallnacht or “Crystal Night.’ The German government passed laws to exclude Jews from civil society, most prominently the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. This action bought devastation and “no positive changes for the Jewish community or the German community.”

November, 1933 a network of concentration camps were established, along with ghettos to segregate the Jews. Over 25,000 Jewish men were arrested by the Nazi’s and sent to the concentration camps, such as Buchenwald and Dachau. Women and children were also arrested. Conditions in the camps were horrific and both men and women endured extreme violence. Between 1941 and 1945 with the Holocaust, over six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime, and their collaborators. There were ‘no positive outcomes as these turn of events were negatively impacting the world’. Nazi Germany made advances into other countries believing themselves to be stronger and more superior.

These event s were widely reported across the world, and met with reactions of shock and disgust from the international community. With the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, Nazi Policy soon became genocidal. The total number murdered by the Nazis has been roughly estimated by historians to be between 200,000 to 500,000 people. Germany advanced into France, Poland, and other European countries. They bombed Britain and tried to take on Russia. They had an alliance with Japan, who in turn bombed Darwin in Australia. Almost every country of the world became involved in World War 2.

World War 2 had some positives for Australia. Having suffered greatly from the Great Depression and had witnessed its armed forces decrease in size and effectiveness. One positive the war had on society was the creation of jobs. A few industries boomed during this time. The government gave priority to manufacturing industries and Britain had them manufacture war materials like munitions and food supplies in the agriculture industry. This bought positive changes to the lives.

The role of Australian women changed dramatically in 1942 when the war shifted to Australia’s doorstep. Women entered the workforce in great numbers to support the war efforts. Women were actively recruited into jobs that had always been considered for men, Women began working in factories making bomb casing and parachutes. When the war ended women were expected to give up their jobs for the returning soldiers. However, many women had enjoyed participating in the workforce. By the 1950s there was a dramatic change in the way women’s roles were defined. Women were accepted into the army and doing work previously considered “men’s work.” The type of work women did slowly became less of an issue. Australian society had changed for the better. Women were not stigmatised purely as servants to their families. This brought positive changes to the lives of women, especially those that had lost their husbands, fathers, and sons at war.

Another positive is that soon into the war, Australia realized that they needed the support of the United States of America as well as Britain if they were to stay strong. World War II has had many impacts that can still be felt today, mostly negative. But, it has changed the way humans think about things. Hopefully we have learned from our mistakes and this has made positive changes to our lives and the future.

A self-portrait tells much more than just the condition of its artist. It gives us insight into the state of the society in which they live and their relationship to the conditions of the time. In the Neue Gallerie’s exhibition “The Self Portrait from Shiele to Beckman,” displays Austrian and German self-portraits made from 1900 to 1945. Many of these works expressed the artists’ pre, mid, and post-war sentiments. We can analyze their experiences and relationships with war through setting, style, facial expression, and composition of their works. Two self-portraits that stood out to me were Erich Heckel’s Portrait of a Man and Georg Scholz’s Self-portrait in Front of an Advertising Column. Both artists served in World War I, and both of their art was affected by it. As a result of the war, artists experimented with new techniques and even established new art styles. These two pieces perfectly demonstrate the artistic development that occurred after the First World War. Erich Heckel discovered Novembergruppe, a form of German Expressionism that guided him towards accurately express his emotions, while Georg Scholz pioneered New Objectivity, an artistic movement that opposed Expressionism. War, while not pleasant, stimulated creative growth among the art community.

Before World War I, Heckel was a part of an artistic group called Die Brücke, or The Bridge. He was one of four architects who created Die Brücke, a German movement that began in Dresden in 1905. This movement re-introduced woodcut, a printmaking method in which an image is sculpted into the wood. Ink is applied to the carved wood and then printed onto paper, leaving only an outline of the image. Portrait of a Man is a woodcut print, but it does not fall under the Die Brücke style. It is categorized as a Novembergruppe Expressionist piece. We will discuss this movement later in the article. Die Brücke used unnatural colors, ignored linear perspective, and distorted space to create images of a warped reality. Other major characteristics of Die Brücke art are their sharp angles and strong, almost abrasive, brushstrokes. They were especially influenced by primitivism, especially in regards to African woodcut sculpture which is known for distorting objects by illustrating its features from different perspectives. Their use of power lines and unorthodox hues is also seen in this movement. Die Brücke artists eventually came to be known as German Expressionists when the movement dissolved, right before the start of World War I, in 1913 due to internal conflict (Donahue 12).

Heckel Portrait of a Man illustrates the impact of war on a personal and national level. This piece is a 1919 German Novembergruppe woodcut print and was made one year after the end of World War I. Having served as a volunteer in a Red Cross medical unit in Belgium, Heckel saw the horrors and tragedy of war first-hand. During this time, he did continue to create and produce works, but after the war ended, his art changed. Heckel’s experiences in war greatly shaped his art style and he began producing works of profound desolation and despair. He moved away from his Die Brücke roots and joined the Novembergruppe, a left-winged German expressionist sect that was established after the country’s defeat in the war (Hess). He replaced bright colors and beautiful landscapes with dull tones and chaotic scenes. In Portrait of a Man, Heckel has a disproportionately long face, a misshapen jaw, and worn eyes. Further, the toll of war is especially defined in his facial features, which are, as the curator states “reduced to their essence,” and sunken in (Neue Galerie). He is looking to his left, into the distance, with a saddened expression. His emotional distress is underlined by the graininess of the wood and sharp edges defining the face. Furthermore, the color of his skin is a puke-toned green, which outwardly displays the uneasiness he feels inside; the unrest is parallel to the nausea one feels when they throw up. The agony of war combined with the unstable state of postwar Germany left Heckel worried, somber, and unsure of what to next expect – the same sentiments felt throughout all of German society. Using Novembergruppe techniques, Heckel was able to express the anguish that war had caused him and Germany.

Changing gears, Georg Scholz began to produce politically-charged, sarcastic representations of postwar German society. Scholz served in World War I and fought in combat, only to come back to find Germany in a crumbling economy and political and social unrest (Art Institute of Chicago). He joined the Communist Party in 1919, during the Nazi regime. He was a critic of war and his paintings often reflected those anti-war sentiments. Around 1920, Scholz helped pioneer a new art style known as New Objectivity, which opposes the expressionists. This movement contrasts the training he received at the Karlsruhe Academy by artists such as Hans Thoma and Lovis Corinth, who painted paradisal landscapes. New Objectivity revived and modernized the techniques of the old masters, aiming to depict the sentiment of images as precisely as possible. Many New Objectivity artists were emotionally hurt by the war and wanted to portray the world as it is – with no sugarcoating. The movement somewhat disturbs realism, providing the truth of the current situation, good or bad. No topic was off-limits, and, in fact, the more candid, the better. War scenes, prostitutes, sex, and all things taboo were often the subjects of New Objectivity artworks. Their harsh authenticity reflected the frustration and political turbulence that pursued World War I. Further, it criticized the Weimar Republic, which ruled Germany from 1919 to 1933, because the party supported democracy. According to the New Objectivity artists, democracy was just war manifested in the form of economic and social polarization between classes. When the Nazi regime came to power in World War II, much of New Objectivity art was deemed “Degenerate Art,” including Scholz’s (Foster). Scholz’s art criticized the political, social, and economic unrest of postwar Germany and the Weimar Republic.

Self-portrait in front of an Advertising Column is a 1926 German New Objectivity oil on canvas. Here, Scholz is depicted as a nicely dressed professor standing on the street with an, as the curator states, “alert gaze” (Neue Galerie). In this image, Scholz is satirizing postwar, German consumerist society as seen in his elegant clothing and the Mercedes Benz displayed behind him. The Mercedes, a universal emblem for prestige, is beyond Scholz’s reach. He may appear to be wealthy enough to purchase a Mercedes, but he is not. This new consumerist society values appearance and status, and most fabricate both just to impress their peers.

Furthermore, Scholz stands in front of an advertisement column covered in posters. The yellow one on the bottom left states the word “mastery” in German, telling the viewer that he views his art with high regard. And lastly, in true New Objectivity fashion, Scholz was criticizing war and its effects on society. He portrays the bleak spirit of the German people in the Weimar Republic in his depiction of the urban setting. After World War I, industrialization boomed and mass migrations from rural to urban areas created a sense of displacement among the German people. The grey tones of the background reflected the unfamiliarity and nostalgia permeating through society. The dull green hues that overpower the environment is in reference to the loss of nature. Plush, healthy trees are replaced with somber factories. This criticism of postwar Germany is typical of New Objectivity art.

After analyzing these two works, I find it interesting that something many consider to be so evil, actually stimulates productivity. When one describes war, the words destruction, annihilation, and harm come to mind. Yet, it played a vital role in the creation of some of the world’s most valued artworks. Are we as humans more inspired by the “bad” than the “good” in the world? Try to think about examples in history where something great was produced as a result of something horrific.

Post-world war two was marked by a new beginning, which brought about a new era. Europe and Asia had been reduced to ruined nations. Many of the borders had taken back their expulsions, homecomings, and all the burials taking place at the time (Shoshkes 20). The concerned nations had just received a massive need to revamp themselves and let their rebuilding begin.

The affected nations had to do away with all the mess the war had created and raised their economic, social, and political platforms to better ones. The war had caused about 80 million deaths, which profoundly reduced the world’s populations, which had been estimated at 2 billion before. The post-world war two brought about the creation of new superpowers, German deNazification, common humanity, crumbling of empires, and remembrance of the war (Minns et al. 371).

After the Second World War, new superpowers were created as the old ones lost power. Japan and Germany had to lose their control and start to rebuild new relationships with the United States. It was not easy for them, but they did not have any reasons whatsoever to deny the fact.

Many people at the moment gained new opportunities to become more educated and possess the capacity to rebuild all the societies that had been crumbled. The nations were now interested in becoming heroes in rebuilding their economy and society at large as a way of gaining new insights into growth and development (Shoshkes 23).

German deNazification was also part of the new experiences which took place after the Second World War. The Nazis in Germany were therefore denied to work so that the culture would be brought to an end. In Japan, the head of the occupation led to the breaking up of the zaibatsu, which meant that bigger militarists would bring about new reforms for the country to enjoy a new democratic constitution under a new school curriculum. New tribunals, therefore, had to be set forth to lead to a better democratic nation that would be as peaceful as possible.

The post-world war two led to the introduction of common humanity, which had to be brought forth for new international relations to be created. Such ties would lead to the introduction and development of universal rights that would lead the countries to become better ones (Özkiziltan and Aziz 151). The main aim for the common humanity was to ensure all human beings gained a chance to enjoy equal universal rights and, most importantly remaining as peaceful as possible. There was no need for the creation of a new war, and hence, peace was now treated as a vast humanity goal at the moment.

New universal standards, therefore, had to be created to ensure everything was as perfectly planned. As a result, all the allied powers who had taken part in the war now became occupiers and permanently took control over Japan and Germany. The main aim was to destroy any potential ability of the nation’s being capable of starting another war again.

Their former leadership was therefore removed and prosecuted. However, there had been some war trials that had taken place in countries like Asia but failed in the ultimate end (Özkiziltan and Aziz 162). As a result, they led to consequences such as increment of prison sentences and many other executions. Millions of Japanese and Germans were expelled from the occupations they called home by force, which brought a lot of tensions regarding which one of them would take over the new world (Shoshkes 18). They did not have any chance; however, this brought about a notion that no more war would take place.

New divergent plans took place, and this caused long-lasting problems that were to be generated in the future. The United Nations and the allied powers made new decisions, which created some tensions over the East and West Germany. The different plans which involved the south war led to the original creation of the Korean peninsula. More conflicts such as the Arab-Israel conflict continued to take place, especially after the United Nations Partition Plan led to the creation of Israel independence. More growing tensions continued to come up amongst the western powers together with the Soviet Eastern Bloc, which resulted in a new cold war.

World War two, therefore, marks one of the biggest fights in the 20th century and signifies a massive difference in the world before and after (Özkiziltan and Aziz 162). Immediately after the war, there was a huge need to rebuild the world since it has undergone so many economic, social, and political failures. More families became torn apart, and hence, it was time for a new era to be produced. Many of the countries, therefore, contemplated going back to business as usual so that they would uplift their economy and continue to progress more (Minns et al. 360). After the war, a lot of people had been displaced from their actual homes, and this brought disorganization in people’s lives.

They were not sure of the steps they would take to create a better world for themselves. The voluntary refugees, therefore, had to figure out which new places they would move to and become more comfortable than they were in foreign lands. They had to move westward since it provided a lot of hope for them. Some of the minorities who were not desired at the moment had to be displaced and deported to new areas. No country wanted to deal with the aftermath of the war by feeding refugees, and hence, they had to be taken to other places where they could find better refuge without hurting the economy of the country (Minns et al. 360). Yugoslavia marked as one of the countries which took so many orphaned children since they had nowhere else to go. It had to host about 300,000 of them as a way of making the impossible happen (Özkiziltan and Aziz 151). The red army soldiers had raped so many women, which led to many women giving birth to unwanted babies.

In conclusion, different nations always had to remember how the war took place and, most importantly, have no need to go back to its awful effects. A lot of people had suffered enough, and hence, it was time for new developments to be brought forth and ensure that people lived a better and more peaceful life. Many nations, such as German and Japan, had to lose their powers and follow the rules of new capabilities such as the United States. As a result, new reforms and tribulations had to be brought forth and lead to better experiences as compared to those of the war. There were supposed to be more peace tribulations, which would lead to people becoming more vigilant on their wellbeing and resulting in a better state than before.