First of all, it must be said that her worldview and attitude to certain values was distorted due to the fate of Riefenstahl. For seven years, from 1926 to 1931, Leni Riefenstahl performed key roles in five Arnold Funk’s “mountain films” (Wikipedia 2022). The creative perception of the girl was predetermined by such work experience (Wikipedia 2022). The same contrast of physical and spiritual components, characteristic of the “mountain films” of the 1920s, will help to shape a similar directorial vision in the future in Triumph of the Will and especially Olympia (Wikipedia 2022). Having filmed the film Triumph of the Will, the girl was sure that this product of art was historically correct.
Reasons of Film Criticizing
However, this opinion is criticized by other people for several reasons. Riefenstahl’s key criteria were his own intuition and personal experience (Duiker and Spielvogel 2019). Based on this, the filming of the Triumph of the Will took place with the help of the vision of the world and the situation by the directors, omitting a number of significant events or facts (Wikipedia 2022). This fact allows us to assert that the author of the film was guided only by her own ideas about Hitler’s party and modern Germany, but not by historical events and principles.
Secondly, the UFA company, a propaganda organization, was engaged in marketing and promoting the movie. Hitler is shown as a multifaceted personality, welcoming and considering the ideas of ordinary people and the country as a whole. The Fuhrer speaks in the stands, towering over the heads of those present and even his inner circle. Thus, all scripting and directing methods were used to show the personality of Hitler in the best light and from vantage points. Accordingly, such art is propaganda but not a historical chronicle.
Effectiveness of Propaganda
It is worth highlighting the reasons for the high effectiveness of such a propaganda system in Germany. It is important to note that the German citizens supported the Fuhrer, because despite his aggressive foreign policy, he was an effective manager of the country (Duiker and Spielvogel 2019). There was a series of reforms that rapidly improved the lives of ordinary people. For example, birch workers and beggars have fallen to record levels. In addition, the propaganda system was effective, which did not provide an alternative opinion on important issues (Duiker and Spielvogel 2019). Accordingly, the majority of the population did not have examples for comparison; the management of the Fuhrer seemed the most acceptable scenario. In addition, citizens had many everyday problems, which left no time for critical thinking or an objective assessment of government actions (Duiker and Spielvogel 2019). The combination of these factors predetermined the excessive gullibility of the population and the fact that the Germans did not notice the reverse side of the current regime.
Two Scenes of Hitler’s Presentation to Society
Almost the entire film Triumph of the Will is devoted to the exaltation of the current government and presenting it to the public as an exceptionally positive and effective movement. For a vivid illustration of this thesis, it is necessary to consider two scenes from this film. The viewer sees a plane flying over the city immediately after the opening prologue (Riefenstahl 1935). Using the symbolism of Nazi paraphernalia, the author combines several metaphorical meanings into one (Riefenstahl 1935). As Hitler’s air transport dominates the clouds and sunbeams, the montage gives way to shots of rivers of people flowing into Nuremberg. The shadow from the plane also performs a symbolic function since the essence of the scene is to compare the Fuhrer with an eagle.
Another scene that glorifies the Fuhrer is the moment when, after the red carpet welcome, the city of Nuremberg wakes up. This act shows how Hitler receives numerous gifts and gifts like a hero of the nation, whom the people adore and are devoted to him in the name of labor and the country (Riefenstahl 1935). Hitler’s handshake symbolizes that he is not only a national leader, but a native of the people.
References
Duiker, William J. and Spielvogel, Jackson J. 2019. The Essential World History, Volume II: Since 1500, Ninth Edition. Boston, Mass.: Cengage Learning.
Dehumanization deprives people of human qualities, personality, or dignity by making them feel less human. Therefore, a person uses abusive and idiomatic language during communication. Everyone has the right to be respected regardless of race, age, or physical appearance. Dehumanization lowers a person’s esteem and might interfere with their performing confidence which they apply to their daily activities. The essay discusses how Hitler implements dehumanization toward Jews culture during World War II.
Dehumanization is implemented in two ways, one of them being animalistic dehumanization. It is defined as the view in which most people are incapable of achieving high levels of their activities, making dehumanization commonly implemented in the community. The most challenging task faced by every human being in their experience is rising from the lowest to the highest point (Terskova et al., 2019, p.770). A lot of negative energy is experienced before attaining the goal of success, as it hinders most success journeys. Therefore, this type of dehumanization is caused by people who always have negative thoughts and do not take a risk on something (Duffy, 2020, p.140). People fail to accomplish their plans when overwhelmed by this dehumanization as they are afraid of making any helpful move.
Animalistic dehumanization includes discouragement from people when one is about to attain a particular goal. The dismay given by friends regarding the helpful move their friends are about to make results in a significant failure (Terskova et al., 2019, p.768). Dehumanization may lead to a lack of trust in the organization as most workers feel disrespected by their partners. Most of the dehumanized personnel suffer from various mental disorders which implements big bills to their family. If one has a mental illness, the family must take care of their unhealthy member (Porto et al., 2022, p.2). Therefore, for one to be able to attain his goal, an individual is not required to listen to the negative compliments given by his friends.
Animalistic dehumanization is displayed as the most dangerous thing challenging human health, as it can lead to depression. For instance, if one is strong and resilient to positive thinking, the victim will likely have a mental illness (Terskova et al., 2019, p.772). People need to cheer a person to reduce suffering rather than make them feel they can not achieve anything from their goals. The animalistic dehumanization user has good discouraging words, including comments that lower esteem, making people believe that things are impossible. They aim to make people compare themselves with less productive things, making them feel like they will not make it (Porto et al., 2022, p.5). They almost kill one’s dream with just a word and never show the way forward to ensure that success does not follow.
The second way in which dehumanization is implemented is by using mechanistic dehumanization on how we think about robots and other things that do not have emotion. In this case, humans are denied some qualities, such as individuality and feelings, by being treated as objects (Terskova et al., 2019, p.774). The organizational settings and interpersonal interaction are the time by which this type likely occurs. Mechanistic dehumanization may result in antisocial behaviors among people working together or employees as it does not give an individual a chance to be themselves (Porto et al., 2022, p.7). As a result, the organization might experience a decrease in its production rate as employee output and effort will reduce.
During World War II, under Hitler’s rule, Jewish people experienced dehumanization. According to the complete story of Vladek Spiegel man and his wife, who survived in Hitler’s Europe, it is evident that there were several actions taken by Nazis that dehumanized Jews (Porto et al., 2022, p.10). The reason why Jews were dehumanized is that their values were different from others, and they lacked prosocial values. The Jews strictly followed their culture as it was unique, and no one could penetrate it. This culture triggered Hitler’s anger, making him more committed to finishing the Jews (Terskova et al., 2019, p.776). Regarding Hitler’s fame in Germany during those times, he ensured that people and Jewish culture would not have peace in the country.
Hitler developed various propaganda by showcasing poisonous fungi and rats with the heads of hooked-nosed Jewish men plastered on walls after he became famous and light posts across Germany. As Jews dehumanization was one of Hitler’s killing projects, it inspired the art of Spiegelman to replace humans with animals. Spiegelman used to compare Jewish people with mice and Nazis with cats from the way they were treated (Duffy, 2020, p.145). The mouse is displayed as the most defenseless creature, and the cats always try to capture them by hunting them down. Mice are said to be a nuisance, and cats are mainly reared to eradicate them, thus paralleling the mammalian representation of the Jewish. Comparing the Jewish and the mice were dehumanizing, considering that mice always run for their safety because animals and humans are targets to kill them (Porto et al., 2022, p.13). As a result, Jewish had a task to run for their life since no one would want to associate with them.
During the persecution of the Jews by Nazi Germany, they were named parasites and diseases, making it easier for Hitler to justify their termination. Jews were the most unlovable human beings in the eyes of Hitler since Spiegelman compared them to mice (Duffy, 2020, p.148). Mice are the most unlovable animal, and one would use every means to ensure they are dead, as Hitler used every method to kill every Jew that would start a generation. Comparing Jews with the mice was very dehumanizing to them. Comparing humans to animals is the most dehumanizing thing, especially those considered unlovable.
Dehumanization resulted in a reduced workforce as a worker were not able to fight for their rights. for example, during the Jew’s capture, they did not receive any support; instead, the propaganda used brainwashing main, and as a result, Jews had no other choice but to accept defeat and give in to the Nazis of Germany. After Jews were captured, according to the story, they were forced to remove their clothes, and they were labeled with numbers that were not identical (Duffy, 2020, p.150). Each prisoner had a unique set of numbers, and they experienced torture that resulted in death. It was humiliating to be stripped off and identified with numbers other than their names.
In the novel, Jews were forced to abandon and betray their loved ones out of necessity to survive. Betrayal was the most challenging decision that some of the Jews had to make to ensure their safety and the safety of those they loved (Terskova et al., 2019, p.768). He gives the case of Eliezer Wiesel, an ordinary Jewish boy in a small town who happened to experience physical and mental torture and watched other Jews lose themselves to torment in a concentration camp (Duffy, 2020, p.143). During the night, Nazis conducted themselves with inhumanity which dehumanized the Jews. From Eliezer’s experience, an older man was dragging himself with a remarkable speed while holding a piece of bread under his shirt where he drew it and put it in his mouth when his eyes gleamed and lit up his dead face (Porto et al., 2022 p.17). The man’s death did not alarm the people that all that needed to stop and save the Jews. The end was devastating to Eliezer, but he could not do anything about it since he was also a captive of the Nazis in Germany.
In conclusion, dehumanization has various effects, and most of them are negative. It leads to low self-esteem and antisocial behavior, especially in organizations and among adolescent children. Dehumanization makes someone feel like a failure and cannot achieve anything they want. It slashes one’s confidence and makes them think they cannot be something more in this life. Also, dehumanization might lead to death. For example, in the story, Jews were tortured and humiliated in front of people by removing clothes, and as a result, some died in the process. Many lives have been lost due to dehumanization, and actions should be taken. Instead of making a person feel like a failure, people should always try to pick and dust each other and speak positivity by comparing them with logical facts.
Work Cited
Duffy, Helena. “The Silence of the Mothers: Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Philippe Claudel’s Brodeck.” The Journal of Holocaust Research 34.2 (2020): 138-154.
Porto, Melina, and Michalinos Zembylas. “Difficult histories and the ‘problem’of sentimentality: a case study in an Argentinian university.” Pedagogy, Culture & Society (2022): 1-24.
Terskova, Maria A., and Elena R. Agadullina. “Dehumanization of dirty workers and attitudes toward social support.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 49.12 (2019): 767-777.
Scholars may only rely on Adam Czerniakow’s Warsaw diary if they combine findings from the source with other materials on Nazi Germany. The diary is a vital source of information, but it brings with it the biases, fears and the limitations of the author. To overcome those biases, scholars must use information from other sources in order fill in missing details as well as to extract meaning from the tests.
Usefulness of the diary as a primary source
Adam Czerniakow was a renowned Jewish leader. He held many positions in his professional as well as his civic life. This means that everything he wrote was in a way related to his leadership responsibilities. A scholar who is interested in learning about the Nazi regime would find his entries quite useful because they were written from a communal, not a personal perspective. Since he was at the centre of the Jewish Council of elders in the ghettos, he was in touch with new developments in his community.
One should note that the Nazi regime ousted Jews from their homes and placed them in ghettos. In order to speed up the execution of their commands, they appointed a council of elders, of which Czerniakow was a part. Many analysts assert that the Nazi government absolved themselves from blame by pointing fingers at the Judenrat (Jewish council).
However, that this was mere propaganda: Czerniakow and other members of the Judenrat were committed to the freedom and rights of their people. Other opposing groups such as the Thirteen arose in Czerniakow’s jurisdiction. And as he states in his 25th February entry, he despised this group’s leader (Abraham Gancwajch). [1]
Perhaps this is one of the influences that scholars ought to think about when using Czerniakow’s diary as a primary source. Given the fact that the ghetto was disunited, it is likely that Czerniakow wanted to paint his opponents in a negative light in these entries. Another way one may look at his biases is with regard to his associations with the Nazi officials.
Since he was the president of the Jewish Council, his position was like that of major. As such, he had to interact with the Nazis more than others. Adam was in a very difficult position; as a president of the Jewish Council he could not oppose or fight against the Nazi regime directly.
On the other hand, as a community head, he needed to demonstrate strong political leadership, which could entail direct confrontations with the Nazis. These divided tensions may have caused him to refrain from talking about Nazi deficiencies. One can thus understand why his diary contains very little information about the wickedness of that empire.
The government Commissioner in the ghetto needed to act cordially towards Czerniakow since he was quite powerful in the Jewish community. He may have feared the reactions of such a man if he knew all their secrets. In one instance, the Ghetto commissioner went to discuss critical matters at the Nazi headquarters.
He did not inform Adam about this development, and it was only later when they announced that they would execute massive resettlements on 19th January 1942.[2] The Nazis deliberately hid information from Adam thus making his entries incomplete. It is imperative to support his assertions with diaries or letters from other unofficial Jews because they probably saw things from a different light.
Adam’s limited knowledge is quite evident when one reads the entry he made on 20th July 1942. At the time, he heard rumors that some deportation would take place on that day. Czerniakow stayed in denial about this for a whole day. One can thus deduce that Czerniakow’s had limited knowledge.
If one wants to find out about the organization of the execution orders or their initiation, then one should consider getting primary sources from the other side. Jewish recordings of the Holocaust were limited to their personal experiences. The government controlled and manipulated media sources such that the Jews and non Jews could only hear what the government wanted them to hear. Consequently, one cannot solely rely on their perspective for information about the organization of their execution.
Fears of the Nazis’ reaction to the diary may also have altered Czerniakow’s entries tremendously. He knew that the ruthless leaders could confiscate his diary and use it against him. If he wrote anti-Nazi remarks about them, or talked about a plan for rescuing his people, then the government officials would have killed him. What’s worse, the entries might have endangered his family’s life. This was the reason why he could not get too graphic about the many evils committed by the Third Reich.
The use of a diary as a primary source for historical analyses always creates a number of problems to the academician, and this is true for Czerniakow’s diary. First, one must tackle the problem of meaning-making. Statements are rarely straightforward; scholars should decide on what the author was trying to say especially in relation to the topic under analysis.[3]
For example, when Adam wrote that it was raining on 11th June 1941, he adds that the rain did not come at any cost to them. A scholar may interpret this statement in a series of ways; one may assume that the Jews were quite used to the rain, so none of them stopped their usual activities because of it. Alternatively, one may presume that the rains destroyed people’s property in other towns, but when it poured in the Jewish community no such flooding took place.
One the other hand, one may deduce that the ghetto was highly underfunded, so the Jews had nothing to loose in the rain; they did not have much property or things to protect. Consequently, this may have left their economic fortunes unaltered. For one to make the latter deduction, one must have the ability to connect the word ‘cost’, as stated in the entry, to the economic status of the ghetto.
One must look for additional information to better understand some of the statements in the diary, yet this information may not be available. If one does not know the context of the text, then one cannot use the diary accurately. For instance Adam mentioned several names of persons in the Council, the opposing camp as well as the Nazi regime. Unless one knew the names of all these persons, then one would not understand the significance of his entries.
Conclusion
The Czerniakow diary is a useful piece of information for studying Nazi Germany, but on its own, it is not sufficient. First, the author’s position as a community leader affected his ability to access information from the officials. He also had an agenda of playing down his opponents’ challenges.
Additionally, the author had limited knowledge owing to Nazi communication controls. The writer’s fears concerning the confiscation of his diary may have changed his entries. Lastly, one can interpret his statements in multiple ways, and thus overlook certain things. It is only by combining the diary with other primary sources that one can get a full grasp of the Holocaust.
Bibliography
Dobson, Miriam, and Benjamin Ziemann. Reading primary sources: The interpretation of tests from nineteenth and 20th Century History. NY: Taylor and Francis, 2009.
“The Warsaw diary of Adam Czerniakow.” Holocaustresearchproject.org, last modified 2007.
“The Warsaw diary of Adam Czerniakow.” Holocaustresearchproject.org, last modified 2007.
Miriam Dobson and Benjamin Ziemann, Reading primary sources: The interpretation of tests from nineteenth and 20th Century History (NY: Taylor and Francis, 2009), 182.
The ideas associated with the construction of an ideal city were a vital part of architecture until the 21st century. It is not surprising that the rulers of many countries were concerned with the role of architecture, especially those in which the dictatorship and authority of one person were manifested. As the representative of Nazism and totalitarianism, Hitler strived for order, universal correctness, and validity, working on the idea of some utopian town-planning project.
In the center of attention of Hitler, there was the restructuring of Berlin by the architect Albert Speer. Such buildings as the Volkshalle and the Cathedral of Light were the most expressive projects that illustrated the power and authority of the Nazi regime. To understand the role of the architectural Nazi propaganda in an in-depth manner, this paper will discuss the works of Speer, both internal and external scales, including their inherent aims and perception by people.
Albert Speers’ Works
Architecture and Nazi Germany
A supporter of classicism, Hitler admired the layout of the center of Paris and especially that of Vienna. In his memoirs, Speer mentioned the words of Hitler, who stated that Berlin is a large city, but not a world city; it is nothing more than a disorderly cluster of buildings, and it is necessary to surpass Paris and Vienna. The Third Reich could not exist without the support of representatives of various spheres – not only military and political but also economic, social, and cultural ones. Albert Speer was an architect by profession. Nevertheless, he managed to become one of the most influential figures in Nazi Germany and Hitler’s confidant.
At the Congress of the party in Nuremberg, the cultural program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) was adopted. In particular, it declared that since Germany should consider the eternity of the Empire, works of art were also to become eternal, thus satisfying not only the magnificence of their concept but also the clarity of the plan along with harmony of their relations. These powerful works were also to be an exalted excuse for the political strength of the German nation. It should be emphasized that the above statement concerned primarily architecture.
Role of Urban Scale-Relationship with the City in Implementing Nazi Policies
Albert Speer developed a project of the so-called new Berlin architecture, which was supposed to be implemented by 1950. According to the mentioned project, several railway stations, a town hall, a soldier’s palace, an opera house, and the Reich’s chancery were to be located on the main axis of the capital. The General Construction Inspectorate led by Speer began with the compilation of lists of Berlin Jews subject to eviction from the city.
Many of them owned luxury apartments in good houses, which the Reich planned to use for their purposes. By the way, the office headed by Speer was also engaged in the construction of concentration camps. In 1942, Hitler appointed Speer to the post of Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. He managed to significantly increase the productivity of military-industrial enterprises through the involvement of forced labor of prisoners and those of concentration camps.
On the avenue located north-south, there was a plan to erect a Triumphal Arch with a height of 117 meters and a width of 170 meters. On the construction, Hitler wanted to carve the name of every German soldier who died in World War I. The image of the arch turned out to be extremely cumbersome, but Hitler did not allow Speer to ease it, and the arch and a wide avenue were built. The rest of the layout of Berlin was background: Hitler was not interested in either the purpose of the buildings or the effectiveness of the grid of streets. He was not worried that the implementation of the project required massive destruction in Berlin.
Nevertheless, he understood that if the stratospheric rates of the project cost became known to the general public, the project might be unpopular. Therefore, the financing of the project was divided between different departments. At the end of the war, Speer without notifying Hitler spent the fund for humanitarian needs collected for construction.
Hitler continued to focus mainly on palaces, museums, theaters, ministries, and other important buildings. The Volkshalle, the People’s Hall, which is the main building of the Reich, was intended to be a 300-meter diameter dome and equip it with a hall with a capacity of 150-180 thousand people. Its height was 320 meters with a perimeter of 315 × 315. The Volkshalle is perceived as a colossal dome building, monstrous and great at the same time (see Picture 1).
Speer subsequently noted why Hitler insisted on such large dimensions. The Ulm Cathedral, for example, had an area of 2500 square meters. The very idea of designing such a building may be interpreted as the intentions of superiority over other nations and elevation of the Nazi regime. In other words, the building seems to be conceived as the one to demonstrate the power and potential of Hitler, while paranoiac architectural monumentalism can also be noted. In particular, disproportionate forms in terms of other buildings and the whole city look like the expressions of personality disorder. Compared to Newton’s Cenotaph that also relates to monumentalism, the Volkshalle intends to affect human consciousness and subjugate it in a sense.
A grandiose and magnificent picture unfolds before the viewers while they look at the Volkshalle. The presentation of the building is expressive and poetic. At the same time, gigantic dimensions of the construction do not deny grace. The idea of the Volkshalle was designed to impress the human imagination since the upwardly directed building was to reflect the greatness of the Nazi leader. Since Hitler was personally overseeing developments in the field of Nazi architecture, one may suggest that he understood its role in building and promoting his Nazi ideas to people.
Megalomania along with an imprint of the neo-classical motives can be traced in the forms of the People’s Hall likewise in the Cenotaph of Newton. However, the paramount task of presenting monstrously huge and impressive projects of Hitler was realized through the mentioned building to result in reverential awe and cause a mobilizing effect that was rather important for the Nazis. Not shelters or houses, but powerful and large-scale buildings likewise were declared as signs of a new culture of Nazism.
Likewise other works of totalitarian art, the above building was called not only to admire but also to terrify, not without reason it resembles monstrous giants. The People’s Hall was to correspond to the idea of the sublime in the understanding of Kant and Burke. Kant distinguishes between two varieties of the sublime – mathematical and dynamic, and the former may be viewed drawing on the example of the People’s Hall.
One gets the impression that what he or she sees goes far beyond his or her sensory perception, and people tend to imagine more than is available to their eyes. As clarified by Kant, a person is inclined to this because his or her mind (the ability to comprehend the ideas of God or the world or freedom that cannot embrace intellect) tells to postulate an infinite that cannot be felt by senses and imagination to be embraced in a single intuitive image. Instead, the Volkshalle translates a restless and negative pleasure that allows people to feel the greatness of subjectivity capable of wanting something inaccessible.
In his turn, Burke’s ideas also found their embodiment in the representation of the Volkshalle. The mentioned philosopher considered fear and suffering as the emotional sources of the sublime, while objects themselves include emotional esthetics. In the philosophical and aesthetic views of Burke, the combination of analysis of a person’s thinking abilities and his or her reactions to the experienced pleasure, affectation, and manifestation of the morals and actions of other people are traced. Being derived from displeasure or danger, these emotions, far outweigh all the other effects of power and are primarily connected with the experience of the sublime.
In the Volkshalle, fear causes the dominant principle of the sublime, and the latter may be characterized as the strongest emotion that the soul is capable of experiencing. Consistent with the philosophy of Burke, the reasons for such a strong and deep perception of the People’s Hall are rather impressive factors such as strength, power, megalomania, infinity, and the subsequently occurred magnificence.
The concept of haunted buildings elaborated by Vidler may also be noted in terms of the Volkshalle and margins of the sublime. The genre of uncanny in architecture reveals the essence of its very idea. In particular, unattainability is emphasized by the author as the core root of a pathological uncanny world within the boundaries of fear. An unattainable ideal of conquering other nations, implanting new perverse culture, and Hitler’s personality striving for enormous power and terror help to understand the aim of the People’s Hall.
The architecture of the People’s Hall building was permeated with the idea of going beyond the limits of the human, which connects with the figure of the totalitarian leader – Hitler. It seems that all this sublime symbolism was designed to reflect his greatness as he wanted to see the architecture of his time, and on these principles, he began to rebuild Berlin and other German cities. The Reich Chancellor proclaimed the following requirements for architecture: there should be no native places and chamber buildings, but the majestic figures adopted from the time of Egypt and Babylon should be adjusted.
Nazi architecture should create sacred structures as iconic symbols of new high culture. Using the above symbolism, Hitler was to evoke the inexhaustible spiritual nature of people and the time. The comfort was to be denied as a great man should live in a magnificent building.
Solemn events such as NSDAP parties took place at the Arena of Luitpold, a square located on the outskirts of the city, which could hold up to 150,000 people, as well as in the Hall of Luitpold, the capacity of which was 16,000 people. Since 1933, festive events stretched for eight days, and there was also an impressive light show in the program of late congresses called the Cathedral of Light. Albert Speer used 150 antiaircraft searchlights to create the above building (see Picture 5).
As a replacement for the unfinished stadium, Speer created the Cathedral that was built not of concrete but light. The architect borrowed from the Luftwaffe powerful antiaircraft searchlights and sent them skyward at intervals of 12 meters. When the installation was switched on at night, it created a huge wall of high rays. They surrounded the site and made it visible for tens of kilometers around.
Speer described the effect of the Cathedral of Light as being in a vast room with mighty pillars of light instead of concrete outer walls. The German stadium was added to the list of famous unfinished buildings as it was never completed. These rays were grandiose propaganda events carefully organized to strengthen Nazi Party’s enthusiasm and demonstrate the power of National Socialism to the whole world.
Sometimes, a cloud floated through this luminous crown, becoming surrealist elements in the already fantastic spectacle. It seems that the Cathedral of Light was the first example of a luminescent architecture, and it remains to this day not only the embodiment of the most beautiful architectural concept but also the only creation that survived its epoch and stood the test of time. This building remains solemn and beautiful. Largely due to the work of Speer in the first half of the 30s, Hitler attracted the greater part of Germany unaware that Hitler would start burning people in the stoves in a few years and would drag the country into the most terrible war in history.
Importance of Residential Architecture and Interior as an Essential Element of Nazi Architectural Propaganda
Along with the huge buildings that were discussed above, it is significant to note the second direction – the residential architecture. Unlike Stalin, Hitler not only did not stop but also strengthened the construction of houses for workers, for which a traditional folk style with pitched roofs was prescribed. The contemporary style with flat roofs and horizontal windows characteristic to the given period was banned. The single-family houses of Nazi time were not fundamentally different from the interlocked houses of Ernst Mayor Bruno Taut (see Pictures 6 and 7). The point is that the principles of rationalism were embodied in the works of the above architects.
In Nazi Germany, such houses became a special direction and an effective tool of propaganda: the monumental majestic structures, according to Hitler’s plan, we’re supposed to suppress the size and the greatness of the enemies of Germany, and also cause awe in people. The grandiose architecture of the Third Reich should have been better than others to demonstrate the superiority of the regime and glorify the power of the Aryan race.
As Speer noted, several Washington Capitolions could be placed in such a building as People’s Hall. Inside, the hall was designed for 180 thousand people. The dome of the building was crowned by the German eagle, holding the globe in its hands. Nearby, there stretched a pool of 1200 × 400 meters, the largest in the world. Here, Hitler was to meet with people on an annual basis. The vast dome was expected to act as a symbol of the roof over the “center of the world.”
Goals Pursued by Hitler and Speer in Architecture
Nazi art, especially architecture, should have continued a clear hierarchical line, which involved three pivotal elements that are as follows: ideology, a leader, and a nation. In combination, these three components constituted a mythological time continuum. A leader in a totalitarian society was the embodiment of the perfect representative of a new formation and personified the happy and ideal future.
The task of the Nazi Party was to unite the present and the future. In this regard, Hitler used the Communists’ experience in organizing open mass meetings, while taking the religious ritual of the Catholic Church as a model, copying the pomposity of Kaiser’s time. The spirituality of the masses was considered by Hitler in the true sense of the word along with the gigantic revival of the aspirations of the German people.
Art seemed to him, therefore, a political tool. He believed that national-socialist holidays should be solemn, they should not only demand national unity but also strengthen the authority of the idea. In the very organization of the Nazi movement, Hitler saw a certain theatrical nature, which embodied politics and art almost exclusively through large and spectacular dramatizations and which was animated through them.
Likewise, a theatrical production needs a stage in the broadest sense of the word, people need holidays and mass events in terms of architectural framing. From all that has been said, it follows that Hitler actively patronized architecture not so much from his structural position as a sovereign leader, seeking to win himself popularity as patronage, but from personal attachment, being keen on this type of art. However, since he was, above all, a politician and head of a totalitarian state, he inevitably embodied in his architectural ideas and all his architectural creativity the same totalitarian ideas clothed in stone.
Looking at the mentioned buildings, people experienced overwhelm and admiration targeted by Hitler as well as deceit aimed at replacing peaceful intentions with the desire to be above others. The pathological megalomania that is observed in the works of Speer illustrates grandeur and monumentality called to preserve the Nazi regime for eternity. More to the point, Speer’s oeuvre emphasized the authority of Hitler and strived to imprint his image for centuries.
There is no coincidence that Hitler saw the embodiment of the eternity and grandeur of old eras and people in architecture, contrasting it with other more dynamic and quickly disappearing elements of culture. Thus, the idea of greatness and immortality became the core of the architecture of the Nazi time. Formally, this was achieved by the following methods: sharp enlargement of buildings; creation of a clear rhythm of simple architectural forms (towers, columns, blocks, arches, etc.); and the formation of wide-open spaces, limited by architectural wings (fields, stadiums, etc.) (see Pictures 3, 4, and 5).
A return to the architectural forms of the classicism of the nineteenth century was accompanied by easy visibility, clarity, and simplicity of architectural compositions. Looking back in his memoirs, Albert Speer saw in the architecture of the Third Reich, which he created among others, cruelty and the exact expression of tyranny. This late and undoubtedly self-critical assessment was emotional but quite accurately reflected architectonics of megalomania projects of Nazi time designed to suppress a person, inspire him or her with awe and reverence for the daring power of the great Nazi leader as well as the idea of selfless service to the state through the dissolution of the person in the public.
The architecture of Nazism inherits antiquity and renaissance, yet it reinterprets and simplifies the classics: modest cornices and columns are often devoid of capitals. Hitler’s preferences are gigantomastia and aspiration for the past made the Nazi propaganda to be based on German functionalism, adding to it the scale and power. Berlin for Hitler, like Moscow for Stalin, was the future capital of the world. However, the architectural heritage is not limited to the ancient heritage, the aesthetics and symbolism of the Eastern despotism were also rather close to the totalitarian culture.
Speer’s works and the ambition of Hitler to create something eternal may be considered from a different angle. As perpetual objects imply an ever-lasting representation of their ideas, the People’s Hall and other buildings cannot be regarded as eternal. Today, they are perceived by people as the exclusive heritage of Nazi terror and horrific events. The Nazi constructions were to symbolize power expressed in static stone massifs, which were practically devoid of ornamental décor and refer to the Egyptian and Sumerian temple architecture. There is no visible and tangible embodiment of these architectural monuments that can stand for millennia. In this regard, the buildings of the Third Reich can hardly be marked as eternal ones.
Conclusion
To conclude, it was discovered that Nazi architecture was primarily based on the intention to reflect the power and greatness of Hitler. The notion of sublime caused by unattainability and fear was specified as the key explanation of Nazi architectural ideas. At the same time, Hitler’s madness and ambitions as well as striving for eternity in architecture were not achieved since he failed to win the war and now is perceived merely as a paranoiac Nazi leader. The orientation to eternity was embodied in the idea of such buildings as the People’s Hall and the Cathedral of Light. The mentioned architecture was called to evoke the feelings of awe, greatness, and power inherited in Hitler and Nazi propaganda. The two paramount goals of the latter were to admire and encourage people to support their leader and also to terrify other countries and cultures.
Bibliography
Antoszczyszyn, Marek. “Manipulations of Architecture of Power; German New Reichschancellery in Berlin 1938-1939 by Albert Speer.” Technical Issues 3 (2016): 3-12.
Fest, Joachim C. Albert Speer: Conversations with Hitler’s Architect. Cambridge: Polity, 2007.
Hagen, Joshua, and Robert Ostergren. “Spectacle, Architecture and Place at the Nuremberg Party Rallies: Projecting a Nazi Vision of Past, Present and Future.” Cultural Geographies 13, no. 2 (2006): 157-181.
Hirshberg, Gur. “Burke, Kant and the Sublime.” Philosophy Now 11, (1994): 17-20.
Krier, Leon. Albert Speer: Architecture, 1932-1942. New York: Monacelli Press, 2013.
Nelis, Jan. “Modernist Neo‐Classicism and Antiquity in the Political Religion of Nazism: Adolf Hitler as Poietes of the Third Reich.” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 9, no. 4 (2008): 475-490.
Sereny, Gitta. Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth. London: Pan Macmillan, 2017.
Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich. London: Hachette UK, 2015.
Stuart, Charlotte L. “Architecture in Nazi Germany: A Rhetorical Perspective.” Western Speech 37, no. 4 (1973): 253-263.
Taylor, Blaine. Hitler’s Engineers: Fritz Todt and Albert Speer-Master Builders of the Third Reich. Philadelphia: Casemate, 2010.
Thies, Jochen. Hitler’s Plans for Global Domination: Nazi Architecture and Ultimate War Aims. New York: Berghahn Books, 2012.
Vidler, Anthony. “The Architecture of the Uncanny: The Unhomely Houses of the Romantic Sublime.” Assemblage 3, (1987): 6-29.
Appendices
Picture 1. The People’s Hall (from the source by Krier).Picture 2. The People’s Hall (from the source by Speer).Picture 3. The People’s Hall (from the source by Speer).Picture 4. The People’s Hall inside (from the source by Speer).Picture 5. The Cathedral of Light (from the source by Krier).Picture 6. Nazi Germany houses (from Fairfax Photo Library).Picture 7. Houses built by Ernst May (from Fairfax Photo Library).
The term Americanization is used to refer to the impact that the United States has on society in politics, culture, technology, and language. The United States being a superpower makes it have a big influence on the social fabric of the world. This term can also be used to refer to the way immigrants adapt to the American culture within the United States. To many, the influence of the United States in the world is perceived in a negative manner. There is a general fear of the loss of local customs and traditions (Darrell, 2003). The United States always strives to influence its policies in countries where they have a special interest. They influence these policies on countries that they have offered military, monetary, and medical. This has received opposition from countries. America has the belief that they are a great country and the different ideologies and policies are also the best in the world. They venture into other countries with this belief and thus influence the society that they are in.
Ways of Controlling Neo-Nazi
Economically
The first way that neo-Nazis can be stopped is through economic ways. This can be done by boycotting products or services from the companies, organizations, and states where they are known to come from. Despite the fact that people of Spanish roots have been part and parcel of the American fabric since the signing of the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty ended the 1848 Mexican-American War and signaled the incorporation of what is now South West America to the United States government, the restrictive and exclusionary nature of the U.S. laws that govern the policies and immigration laws have sustained the treatment of Hispanics as aliens on U.S. soil since the signing of this treaty. 62% of Latinos residing in the United States are genuine U.S. citizens by birth, while 7% of them are citizens by naturalization. However, the Hispanic citizens of the U.S. often have their relatives co-habiting with them within the country yet they are not U.S. citizens. This is one of the reasons why the public policy has been particularly focused on the Hispanics, who are virtually a minority group in the U.S (Goldfield, 2000). This is a crucial matter that affects this group, especially because most of them usually occupy near-bottom positions of the social hierarchy.
Pearce’s un-American anti-immigration legislation made other states boycott Arizona economically. The law perceived immigrants as robbers of resources. The police would be allowed to interrogate people they perceived to be illegal immigrants. They would also question anyone they suspected of not having a valid US visa or green card. Neo-Nazi ideologies were favored in this law. The law targeted Hispanic immigrants who come into this State while in search of better living standards. Conventions that were meant to be In Arizona were all canceled. The boycott went further to the cancellation of products that are manufactured in Arizona and contracts. The situation was further compounded by the fact that many Hispanics were fleeing from this state before the law came into effect. These factors made the economy of Arizona go down. Arizona has always depended on the immigrant population for its economy to run. A sharp decrease in population would have led to a negative economical downturn of the State. With this looming fact, a court decision ruled against the law. The National Socialist Movement held the protest near the phoenix courthouse. Rival demonstrators opposing the law came and the police had to intervene because the situation was escalating to violence. Both protesters were dispersed.
Protests
Another way of stopping these movements is through non-violent protests. In this protest, neither force nor violence is used and this puts authorities in the limelight because they have to respond in a way that is non-offensive to the public. The protests create awareness to the public about serious problems affecting society. Apart from just creating awareness, the protests seek to pressure the authorities to find a solution to the problem. The Asian Americans in the US faced a dual system of administration in which the administration from their homeland was approved by the US to partake in controlling the Asian Americans. This acted as an American strategy of developing and enforcing its interests that included external loyalty and racism. This system of administration was particularly prevalent in the period of exclusion that saw racial segregations, oppressions, and gender discrimination perpetrated among Asian Americans. They reacted against the oppressions by holding strikes, and slowdowns, fighting mostly on the basis of nationality and class.
There have been several protests against Neo-Nazis. In Bulgaria, a protest was organized in Sofia in support of the rights of refugees and immigrants. The two groups have been the targets of Neo-Nazis in this country.
In the United States, there have been several counter-protests held against white supremacists. In Los Angeles, about 100 members of the National Socialist Movement a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi group held a protest against immigrants to the United States. Their actions sparked a counter rally that drew about 500 people.
Policies
Another way is for the central government to take up the responsibility of offering programs that expand benefits and approval for families, with dependents such as children, to receive financial assistance. This will ensure that they do not engage in gangs and violent activities. The gangs and the violence that is created by them legitimize the white supremacist’s ideology that immigrants are the cause of most crimes in the United States (Ferrarotti, 1994). Programs have been started that see to the coming up of pre-schools for children, huge funding of city schools of various categories for the minorities, several hiring programs for the minorities in both public and private sectors.
The other way is to ensure that all races are included in the leadership circles of America. This has been done through the formation of movements that cater to the rights of minority groups. The movements have activists who ensure that their ideologies are lobbied by the central government. Most of the civil rights activists particularly those that came before March 1963 in Washington, believed that the need for equality in protection by law, which was already included in the fourteenth amendment would be finally be allowed. They also believed that similar equality, civil rights, and equal democratic rights would be enacted in the system. However, during the governance of Kennedy, there was weak safeguarding of civil rights workers and harsh treatment from the FBI and J. Edgar. These activities sabotaged civil rights instead of enforcing them. This led to the realization that the simple demands for equal rights and the end of racial separation were revolutionary (Laqueur, 1996). There were killings of the revolutionaries of the minorities and these included Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and the murdering of Bobby and John Kennedy. In the year 1972, Amiri Baraka together with Gary, alongside Indian Mayor Richard Hatcher assisted in convening the most extensive united front of the Black in the history of the US. This took place in Gary, Indiana and it was dubbed the National Black Political Convention. It led to the development of several far-reaching demands that included the election of Blacks to govern the Black community, which was organized under the Black Agenda. Currently, the president of America is an African American proving that a high number of the American population does not believe in Neo-Nazi’s ideologies.
Media
The other way is by making the media to be more responsible in the way they portray different races or minority groups (Johnston, 2009). Receiving positive or unbiased information will enable people to make sound judgments in what is perceived as racial profiling. Information will also help the Neo-Nazis change their ideologies as they will see that the groups that they are targeting can be beneficial to them and society. The United States can also try to stop the websites that are operated by this from running. It is known that the internet servers for German neo-Nazi websites are in the US.
Banning Of the Groups
Another way is to ensure that all organizations that hold white supremacists ideologies are banned. A group like the National Socialist Movement should be banned because it is publicly seen as a white supremacy group. This group always grows especially in areas where there are high rates of immigration and unemployment. When the controversial immigration law was being debated, militias with neo-Nazi ties armed themselves and started patrolling the border. They were in search of illegal immigrants. The group has maintained that these patrols and the weapons that they carry are all legal. This is an unlawful act because border patrol is the one charged with the responsibility of patrolling the borders of America and local authorities have voiced concerns. The militias have been receiving support from the National Socialist Movement. More measures should be put in place to combat such acts. In Germany, several Neo-Nazi groups have been banned. In 1982 the Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit were banned. The Homeland-Faithful German Youth is the most recent group. It was banned in late March 2009 by the German Interior Ministry.
Conclusion
Thus it appears that the discriminatory treatment of minority groups in the U.S. is synonymous to the immigration policies of the country, and will continue to exist unless a revolutionary review of these policies is carried out. Maybe then there will be a chance of changing the racialization ideals that are so deeply rooted in the minds of native northern and western Europeans, in which racial discrimination flourishes at will. In the end, it will depend on how people will accept each other for who they are and respect the different ideologies that they have.
References
Darrell, L. (2003). Civil Liability in Criminal Justice Third Edition. Anderson Publishing Co.
Ferrarotti, F. (1994). The temptation to forget: Racism, anti-Semitism, neo- Nazism. Contributions in sociology. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
Goldfield, D. (2000). The American journey: a history of the United States. Prentice Hall, Longman Press.
Johnston, A. (2009). Racism in America: the scientific contribution to the nineteenth- century race debate. Arizona: Deakin University.
Laqueur, W. (1996). Fascism: Past, present, future. New York: Oxford University Press.
Children with a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe is a book that gives insight into the internal lives of Jewish Children during the rise of Nazism under Hitler. The writer vividly highlights the changes that happened within the lives of these children during this period. In her thesis, Deborah argues that despite the humiliation and abuses that the Jewish children lived, they never lost their humanity. They still lived to be productive members of society. To achieve this, the author develops one by one the steps through which these children underwent until they found themselves in labor camps and other death camps. Accordingly, this paper will identify some of the themes that are brought out in this book and the contribution of this book to my understanding of the topic of the Holocaust.
Thesis of the author
To support her thesis, Deborah develops the plot using vivid development of themes that highlight the realities that these children faced during the Nazi reign. One of the themes that are clearly brought out is the theme of persecution of children. In the beginning of the events that could turn out as a massacre of more than 1.5 million children, it was not expected that such great persecutions would come by. The foremost decrees by the Nazi regime completely isolated the Jewish population from the economic realms. As a result, they lost their jobs and hence economic power. Although this edict did not apply to children, its effect on them was pronounced. The resultant standard of living was so low that the children could not access the basic needs and wants that they had enjoyed prior.
While they still contemplated on these decrees, the second wave of edicts swept over the country. These were directly focused on the children. It was a big blow to their social life. These decrees bared children from attending some of their favorite places including ice cream parlors, fun parks, cinema halls and playgrounds. These were places that commanded a big part of their lives. Being banned from attending such places was like being imprisoned. However, the main blow was yet to come. The Nazi regime banned children from attending school. The school was a central part of them. This decree denied them access to the central part of their lives.
As the plot develops, Deborah highlights the children’s life becomes more and more miserable as the Nazi edicts continue to escalate. The children are later forced to stay within their houses. They are restricted from moving beyond their courtyards. Their associations with non-Jewish friends are cut short as the gentile children are forbidden from visiting them/ in addition, they are also forbidden from visiting their non-Jewish friends. Riding bicycles and tram cars becomes a thing of the past. As time passed by, the Nazi persecution increased. Eventually, children were forced to go into hiding. Some of them were forced into ghettos and labor camps where they were murdered mercilessly. A good example is the recounting of Sara Grossman who had been transported from the Ghettos to the Auschwitz concentration camp with her sister, mother-in-law, sister in law and her sister-in-law’s children. According to her, they were ordered to leave the children to their grandmother as they were led to their respective places where they would work henceforth. However, the kids and their grandmother, who were unable to work, were led straight away to the gas chambers.
Themes of the book
The role of women during these tumultuous years has also been brought out as a theme in this book. This can be identified among the wider theme of the Jewish reaction to the escalating persecution. While children were forced into hiding and into labor camps, women did their best by trying to console and keep the children strong. All through, the women became the psychological support for the children who had lost a lot in life. In addition, they took up economic roles that helped them access some money for upkeep.
Evaluation of sources and evidences
An evaluation of the author’s sources and evidence proves the authenticity of the book and also of the Holocaust Deborah Dwork approaches the issue from first-hand evidence and interviews, written memoirs, family photos and letters from people who had undergone and survived the Holocaust. She also uses diaries, family albums and photos from the survivors. This use of primary forms of data collection enables the reader to have a vivid recollection like he was there during the events. It also helps the reader understand the weight of the issue by hearing the people who were affected speak out their hearts.
Author’s point of view
In this book, Deborah Dwork uses a personal approach to the issue. She uses anecdotal examples to highlight the research findings that she had undertaken. In the development of her plot, Deborah uses this personal approach through the use of direct quotations of victims of the Holocaust. She gives a first-person quotation of the interviews, letters, photographs and memoirs. For instance, she gives an account of Magda Magda Somogyi who narrates her encounter with two twins in one of the concentration camps. She narrates how she had to act as a mother to Evichka and Hanka because they had lost both their parents. Instead of giving an account of this in the third person, Kaplan gives it from the first-person point of view by directly quoting the speaker. This point of view successfully plays the role of putting the reader right within the historical context and time and hence recreating the whole scene afresh.
What the book imparts to my understanding of the Holocaust
I have read many books concerning the Holocaust. However, the main topic brought out in this book by Deborah Dwork was a completely new approach to the subject. She brings up the issue of children, the most vulnerable members of society. Through the book, I come to understand the role that children can play. True to the word of the Nazis who thought that children were the future and that they had to be eliminated, I find that children lived to tell the tale. They lived to narrate the story of how they had undergone such a terrible time to the whole world. It is therefore understandable that children are an integral part of society. The book has enabled me to see the way children suffered under the Nazi regime. Initially, I had not considered the issue from a children’s perspective.
My own opinion on the success of the book
Above all, the author wanted to show the suffering undergone by the Jewish children and how these sufferings were created by Nazi policies. This is successfully brought out by the use of first-hand information through interviews, letters, photos and memoirs. Through the first-person narration of their sufferings (as quoted by Deborah), a reader of this book is able to vividly create a mental picture of what the Jewish children in Germany were undergoing. The reader will also identify with the victims and hence have an understanding of what they really underwent. Basing on these, I believe that the book was successful and that the author’s intentions were well brought out.
How the book helps me to understand certain topics
In conclusion, the timeline, step by step narration of the beginning to the escalation of the Holocaust has deepened my understanding of the topic about the reasons that led to the development and escalation of the Holocaust. Through the book, provided every political change that took place in Germany and how Hitler intended to cleanse Germany from other races. In addition, the book has deepened my understanding of the social, economic and political implications of the Holocaust on the Jewish and non-Jewish populations living in Germany during the Nazi era. The deep understanding has been generated by first-hand narrations from victims and eyewitnesses.
Works cited
Dwork, Deborah. Children with a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
There are many biographies and autobiographies that reveal the cruelty of the Holocaust and its destructive impact on a person. Art Spiegelman’s comic book Maus is probably the most unusual memoir that depicts the life of a person under the Nazi regime.
The author describes the life of his father Vladek Spiegelman before the Nazi occupation of Poland, during the Second World War, and the later influence of the Holocaust experiences on his personality.
To some degree, this book is based on Vladek’s recollection and it can be used as a primary source for historians who study the Holocaust even despite that it is a graphic novel. Maus can be studied by historians because it eloquently demonstrates the cruelty and absurdity of racial ideology as well as its dehumanizing effects on a person.
As a primary historical source this graphic book can be criticized for its use of animal images. For instance, Art Spiegelman depicts Jews as mice whereas Germans are portrayed as cats. Thus, one can argue that this book can be related to the Holocaust, but it lacks realism and objectivity that are necessary for a historical document. Nevertheless, this argument can be disputed.
The use of animal images reflects the racial ideology of the Nazi Germany. By dividing people according to their racial or ethnic differences, this ideology forced people to be hostile to one another. To a great extent, they began to act as cats and mice. Moreover, ethnicity or race became the distinctive characteristic of a person. His or her individuality was completely disregarded by the regime.
It should be noted that Art Spiegelman’s visual characters can be distinguished from one another only by their clothes. Overall, members of the same ethnic group look practically in the same way. This description reflects the principles of the Nazi ideology that emphasized nationality of a person, rather than his or her character traits.
Despite animalistic descriptions, Art Spiegelman manages to render the horrors of the Holocaust, and its dehumanizing effects on people. The author shows how characters struggled to survive the Ghetto or in the concentration camps. This graphic book shows how people hid or foraged for food in order to sustain themselves in any way.
By showing their attempts to survive, Art Spiegelman demonstrates that people can be forced to behave like animals, especially when they are driven by fear. Additionally, by describing German atrocities aimed against the Jews, the author prompts people to think about cat-and-mouse play. For instance, Vladek recollects that his father was forced to cut off his beard by German soldiers (Spiegelman, 65).
One should bear in mind that there were many Nazis who chose to entertain themselves in such a cruel way. Again, this humiliation of a person resembles cat-and mouse game. Thus, readers can see that animalistic description of characters actually reflects the changes in their personality and the way in which their experiences dehumanized them.
In the first chapters of the book, Art Spiegelman shows how Polish Jews perceived the danger coming from Nazis. In particular, one can mention their apprehension after seeing the Nazi flag and surfacing of different stories about the atrocities committed against the Jews (Spiegelman, 32).
However, at the beginning, these stories were met with some disbelief. For instance, Vladek decides that his family should stay in Bielso, even though it was under the rule of the occupiers. Again, this decision was taken not only by Vladek but by many other people who believed that such cruelty could not be possible.
Finally, this book demonstrates that the experiences of the Holocaust did not fully end after the fall of the Nazi Germany. This event left many people crippled both physically and emotionally. Vladek, who survived the Holocaust, turned into a very callous person.
For instance, he is unable to understand why his wide committed suicide or how to comfort his son who suffered from the loss of his mother. The main issue is that this lack of empathy can be the direct result of Vladek’s experiences in ghetto or in the camp. Most importantly, such psychological traumas could have been inflicted upon thousands of people.
Overall, there are different in which one can approach this book. One can certainly regard it as an artistic or literary work that gives one of the most terrifying descriptions of the Holocaust. It produces a strong impression on the person by combining such media as text and image.
Moreover, it also poses many thought-provoking questions, especially about the reasons that made ordinary people to commit atrocities against everyone whom they believed to be different.
Yet, historians can also find it useful because from it they can learn more about the experiences of Jewish people, their perceptions of the Holocaust, and their attempts to survive. One should not assume that Maus is superior or inferior to other biographies and autobiographies written about the Holocaust. Its major difference is the choice of media and the use of symbols that have to be decoded by attentive viewers and readers.
Works Cited
Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. New York: Pantheon, 1996. Print.
Teaching about the historical importance of book burnings in Nazi Germany in 1933 using the novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak should incorporate jackdaws. This piece was published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in 2007, and it narrates the hard life of Liesel Meminger, an avid reader, during the time (Zusak, 2007). The story is significant for understanding the political power of words. Supporting materials alongside the original story are appropriate for grades 9-12, and student participation will be ensured by providing resources of high interest that are easily comprehended (Rasinski, 1983). Hence, the focus of this project is on increasing awareness regarding the selected period through reading.
NCSS Theme and NGSSS Standards
The theme which corresponds to the discussion of the selected book is “Individuals, groups, and institutions” since the topic reflects on the link between these elements and their political significance. In other words, an examination of the methods which entities can adopt for controlling people’s activity can be performed concerning this aspect. In turn, the chosen period is aligned with two NGSSS-SS standards, which are “Interpret primary and secondary sources” and “Describe how history transmits culture and heritage and provides models of human character” (“NGSSS_SS,” n.d.). Their inclusion is conditional upon the suitability for referring to multiple resources for clarifying the relation between literature and people’s mindsets.
Artifacts
Photographs and Video Materials
(World Jewish Congress, 2019)(The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.b)(“Book burning,” n.d.b)(“Book burning,” n.d.a)(Naor, 2019)
These artifacts are photo and video materials related to the described events. The first picture is a short film clarifying the types of books that the Nazis burned, and it will be used to introduce the period (World Jewish Congress, 2019). The second photo shows the response of American Jewish leaders to the event, which is helpful for reflecting people’s attitudes (The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.b). The third and the fourth items are the process of burning books showing the participation of citizens, implying the link with the characters’ duty to conform (“Book burning,” n.d.a.; Naor, 2019). The fifth picture confirms the involvement of students, such as Liesel (“Book burning,” n.d.b). Thus, all these artifacts are connected to the novel as their combination serves as evidence of these occasions.
Articles
The above visual materials are complemented by articles on the topic. Thus, the first publication is “1933 book burnings” from the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d.a) to provide background information on Liesel’s conditions. The second source is “The Two Pages that Survived the Nazi Book Burnings” by Amit Naor (2019), which is used for connecting political decisions and literature. The third item is “The Burning of the Books in Nazi Germany, 1933: The American Response” by Guy Stern (n.d.) for clarifying the universal nature of the problem presented in the novel. The fourth artifact is “Annette Kelm’s Photographs of Banned Books” by Kito Nedo (2020), which is helpful for recognizing the intellectual loss of the girl. The fifth article is about Thomas Mann, and it is critical for demonstrating the effects of the time on authors’ mindsets to complement the citizens’ response (The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.c).
Related Literature
The ten artifacts described above can be introduced alongside other literary works expanding the understanding of the historical era in “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak (2007). In the first place, they include poems written by young people in Germany when the described events happened. The selected pieces are “In Praise of the Führer,” “Adolf Hitler,” “Thoughts on the Führer,” and “German Girls Address the Führer!” reflecting the instilled values for the youth.
The above poems are to be presented alongside other books on the topic. First, “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank (2015) is a diary of a girl whose experience in Nazi Germany will be useful for understanding that of Liesel. Second, the novel “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne (2007) narrates about life circumstances of children in different families distinguished by the authorities, and it will help grasp the significance of one’s background. Third, “Girl at War” by Sara Novic (2016) is a story of another girl facing a world full of struggles, and it will allow compare Liesel’s perspectives with those of her peers. Fourth, “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl (2006) is about spiritual survival attributed both to camp prisoners and children. Fifth, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” by Heather Morris (2018) is a Holocaust story supporting Zusak’s narrative about human behavior.
References
Curriculum standards for social studies: Ten thematic strands. (n.d.) [PDF Document]. NGSSS_SS. (n.d.) [Word Document].
Book burning. (n.d.). A teacher’s guide to the Holocaust. Web.
Book burning. (n.d.). A teacher’s guide to the Holocaust. Web.
Boyne, J. (2007). The boy in the striped pajamas. David Fickling Books.
Frank, A. (2015). The diary of a young girl. Prakash Book Depot.
Frankl, V.E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Beacon Press.
Hitler youth poems in praise of Hitler. (n.d.). Calvin University. Web.
Morris, H. (2018). The tattoist of Auschwitz. Harper Paperbacks.
Naor, A. (2019). The two pages that survived the Nazi book burnings. The Librarians. Web.
Nedo, K. (2020). Annette Kelm’s photographs of banned books. Frieze. Web.
Novic, S. (2016). Girl at war: A novel. Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Rasinski, T. V. (1983). Using jackdaws to build background and interest for reading. 28th Annual Convention of the International Reading Association, 1-11. Web.
Stern, G. (n.d.). The burning of the books in Nazi Germany, 1933: The American response. Museum of Tolerance. Web.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). 1933 book burnings. Web.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). American Jewish leaders participate in a mass demonstration. Web.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Thomas Mann. Web.
World Jewish Congress. (2019, May 10). The Nazi book burnings: A history of hatred [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Zusak, M. (2007). The book thief. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
The people of any country, even when from different ethnic backgrounds, often feel a strong bond to each other. These nationalistic feelings are in regard to the country and its symbols. The cultures and traditions are regarded as belonging to all of the people. During the 1800’s, Germany’s concept of nationalism (the Volk) was bigger than just the people or the nation. What Volkish thinking and the Nazi movement both shared was a sense of cultural superiority along with intolerance for people or cultures within their borders that did not fit their cultural ideal. This sense of commonality of the people fit the objectives for Hitler and the Third Reich. In speeches, they appealed to the betterment and welfare of the Volk seeking to bring back Volkish culture.
Germans wanted a clearly defined distinction between Germans and the other peoples of Europe. This discussion analyzes the influence of Volkish thought in the shaping of Nazi policies beginning with a historical definition of the term ‘Volk’ and the reasons for its integration into German society of the 1800’s. It will also address how the Nazi party utilized these precepts as an idealistic tool, why they established these concepts and how effective this tactic was in congregating the people.
The idea od united nation
The ideas intended to unify a nation advanced by Volkistic philosophies evolved for over a century into a national impression of superiority. The Third Reich did not expose the German people to beliefs to which they were not originally pre-disposed. The regime had to be supported by the German people for it to have experienced the heights of popularity that it achieved during the 1930’s and this support came from a nationalistic narcissism.
Nazi ideology was not an overnight event, it had evolved for over a century with a beginning in Volkish beliefs. During the early 1800’s Germans began thinking of themselves as more than just a disassembled collection of Bavarians, Prussians, Saxons and the like living within the same borders. The idea of Volk became not simply the people of a country, but a unifying spiritual force of a people’s traditions and customs.
Literature, music, art, folklore, and religion are all manifestations of the spirit of the people, or the volkgeist. This draw to unify inspired a considerable interest in the German people’s common culture, myths, legends and folksongs. “This idea found many adherents, reacting to both the Napoleonic conquest of Germany from 1806 to 1811 and the rationalism and scientific advances of the English and the French later in the century” (Iggers 1988).
Though still not politically united, Germans were learning to take pride in their cultural accomplishments. There was, unfortunately, a dark aspect to unification. The tendency for cultural nationalism produced cultural superiority and intolerance, which, when combined with racism, was a powerful political force of nineteenth-century Europe. Volkish writers, in-step with the people of the mid to late 1800’s Germany were becoming increasingly intolerant of cultures other than their own.
Anti-Semitic League
In the mid-1800’s, the term ‘semitic’ became widely adopted by as a result of German philologist Wilhelm Marr’s foundation of the Anti-Semitic League. In 1879, he determined the Hebrew language was ‘semitic’ and not Indo-European (Wegner 2002 p. 2) “The mysticalized, Volkish linguistic foundation for the Aryan myth was a popular concept in the mid-1800s that both Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel, among others, had argued vociferously for, to overflowing university classrooms and in their voluminous writings” (Wegner 2002 pp. 8-9). This linguistic difference provided a means for those of Volkish thought to further identify themselves as different from and superior to anyone of Jewish descent well before the Nazis came to power.
It was widely held that the true German spirit was rooted in nature. The people perceived the rural culture as genuinely German. The peasant who lives close to nature is closest to the German volkgeist. Wilhelm von Polenz’s 1895 “The Peasant from Buttner” is the story of a German peasant who hanged himself after becoming indebted to a Jewish landlord. The Semite creditor in the story had the peasant’s land foreclosed and sold the property to a manufacturer who then built a factory on it.
The basis of Volkish thought of the late eighteenth century was a reaction against modernity, and the rapid industrialization of Germany as well as decidedly against the Jewish people. Volkish writers viewed German nationality as fundamentally a sacred soul. True Germans are spiritually united by the volkgeist and, like Polenz, portrayed Jews as adversaries of the German volk. The consensus of the time was that the Jew is spiritually incompatible with the German spirit, strangers on German lands.
Anti-Semitism propaganda
For the Nazis, the Volk could only be described as the Aryan race, thus the concept of excluding the Jews. Anti-Semitism propaganda under the Third Reich fulfilled its objective to represent the combination of older, culturally stereotyped perceptions of the Jewish people with the racialism in the Nazi curriculum (Iggers 2000). Germans were constantly encouraged by the Reich to view the Aryan people of Germany as part of the Volk and to envision themselves as a superior and eternal collection of people.
The influence of the ideology of the Volk was motivating in the 1920’s and 30’s to Germany. It supported regaining a sense of nation broken in their WWI defeat. “During this period of discontent, Germans showed a growing interest in the volkish movement, a movement calling for the revival of the German people so the nation would regain its honor, strength and position in the world community” (Foundation of the Nazi Party 2003).
Widespread confusion and discontent ruled Germany immediately after the WWI surrender. Both workers and soldiers revolted against the imposed government. “The Kaiser fled the country, and the Weimar Republic was created but many Germans were disappointed with the Weimar Republic for signing the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was in chaos as the new republic tried to reestablish order, calling upon the Army to quell the revolution of soldiers and workers” (Foundation of the Nazi Party 2003). Volkish groups of that time period frequently held Jews responsible for the loss of World War I. They maintained that Jews joined forces with socialists and communists to defeat Germany. The anti-semitic ideas of the right wing volkish faction opposed the democratic principles of the leftwing liberal parties.
The volkish groups showed contempt for the Weimar Republic, condemning its willingness to sign the Treaty of Versailles. “From the perspective of extreme rightwing groups, the Weimar Republic was equated with the ‘Jew’ Republic. One of the many volkish groups that existed in 1919 was the German Workers’ Party, precursor to The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (The organization that launched Hitler’s accent to power). The party was based in Bavaria, where there were pitted battles between rightwing nationalist groups and the radical leftwing groups sympathetic to Communist ideas” (Foundation of the Nazi Party 2003).
The concept of the Volk for the ‘German Race’ to remain pure was loudly voiced by the Third Reich. The two identities, the German nationalistic influence of the Volk and the Jewish 2000-year-old persona as the Chosen People, were in direct contention. Conflicts of the two strong national identities in Germany in the 1920’s and 30’s developed over time. “The centrality of the Volkish, mystical base is emphasized, as is the position that the ideological framework for education was based on ideas found in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and reflected in a 1919 letter by Hitler asserting that a ‘rational anti-semitism’ must be devised that would include facts establishing Jews as a ‘racial tuberculosis of the people, a race, rather than a religion, which must be removed.’” (Wegner 2002 p. 1). The Volkish ideology viewed the Aryan race of Germans as the successors to genuine western culture.
The original Aryan race theory was brought to the fore in the late 1800’s by Houston Stewart Chamberlain. He linked science with a mysticism of race combined with realistic thinking “at a time when social Darwinism enjoyed growing support among the newly emerging social sciences, especially anthropology” (Wegner 2002 p. 9). Chamberlain’s work abounds with quotations dedicated to the greatness of the Aryan nature as described in explicitly theological terms (Chaimberlain 1968 pp 19-20, 37).
The need for bloodline purity and the treacherous influence of the Jews was formed from the Volkish ideology regarding racial soul transmittal through bloodlines. “Julius Langbehn espoused the notion that the Aryans possessed the ‘life-force’ in a ‘life-fluid’ which flowed from the cosmos to the Volk. ‘Jews did not possess this ‘life fluid’ because they had ‘long ago forfeited their souls.’” (Mosse 1985 pp. 97-99). Nazi science could not be comprehended without the power of mysticism, an element with deep roots in the Volkish thought of the nineteenth century.
In 1962, Thomas Kuhn, in an attempt to understand the relationship between ideology, politics and a national identity, said, “Scientific knowledge, like all forms of knowledge, was and is culturally bound. One may well ask whose science was practiced and for which political and social ends” (Wegner 2002 p. 12). Race and science were used interchangeably by the Third Reich. Substituting racial prejudice as scientific fact remains a significant part of the legacy of Nazi education.
The manipulation of history as a propagandistic educational mechanism in Nazi Germany was a means of legitimizing the state. The Nazis decided whose history would be legitimized as an ideologically suitable agenda for interpreting the past (Wegner 2002 pp. 117, 141, 120). Nazi education policies and materials were effective as Hitler and his followers gained complete control of the German system of education, formal and informal.
History textbooks began to be rewritten from the Nazi point of view in the spirit of national character and of international reconciliation. “This led Nazi educator H. J. von Schumann to decry ‘the emphasis on everything foreign and neglect of the national values, both marks of the liberal school of the Marxist system, with the result that many pupils, especially in the secondary schools, were more familiar with foreign countries than with their own Fatherland.’” (Kandell 1935). Kandel quotes a Nazi writing on history: “Objectivity in the teaching of history is only one of the numerous fallacies of liberalism.”
Conclusion
Volkish ideology led to the emergence of a political theology with national socialist leanings. While the end of the second World War saw an end to ever-present references to the Volk, it remains viable and popular, if just in concept, even today by influencing German art, politics and religious life. Not all of the German nationalists were anti-Semitic or predisposed to volkish ideas but the romanticism of nationalism was not only a German occurrence.
In the history of England, for example, one finds a different kind of cultural nationalism than in Nazi Germany but what these ideologies share, whatever the particular nationality, is a sense of cultural superiority along with a degree of intolerance for people or cultures that do not fit the popular cultural ideal. Many would agree that a nation should consist of a people who share a common history, a common culture, and a common language. What some Germans added to culture definitions, as do some English, in their definition of nationalism, is race. Cultural nationalism, as has been discussed in this paper and, as was the conception of Volkism, is not always a harmless attempt to learn more about one’s own culture. As with any ideology, its practice is in the hands of the beholder.
References
Chamberlain, Houston Stewart. (1968). The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, Vol. II. New York: Howard Fertig.
“Foundation of the Nazi Party.” (2003). Florida Holocaust Museum: Virtual History Wing. Web.
Iggers, George G. (1988). The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present. Hanover, New Hampshire: Wesleyan University/University Press of New England.
Iggers, George G. (2000). “The Uses and Misuses of History.” Apollon. pp. 1-3. Web.
Kandel, I. L. (1935; reprint 1970) The Making of Nazis. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Mosse, George L. (1985). Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-Class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Wegner, Gregory Paul. (2002). Anti-Semitism and Schooling Under the Third Reich. New York: Routledge Falmer Press.
The topic of this research paper is the account for the appeal of the Nazi Party in Germany. The problem of Nazism has always been important for the whole mankind since the supporters of this ideology came to power in Germany in 1933. The terrible crimes Nazis committed while ruling Germany still have their consequences all around the world. The idea of Nazism is the idea of the superiority of one race over all other peoples on Earth and, needless to say, that it is unacceptable nowadays in the society which aims at building the world having human rights as its leading principle. But in 1920 – 1930s the ideology of National Socialist German Worker’s Party won lots of supporters, at first in Germany and later throughout the world (Brophy, 2005).
The political situation in the world was favorable for such a movement to become the leading one in many countries. The roots of the Nazi Party go to the early 1920s, to the period when the World War I has just been finished. The state of things in Germany was terrible, the country had to pay immense reparations to the Entente (Great Britain, France and Russia) which was the winner of the war. Germany was not allowed to have an army, fleet or arsenal of weapons. There was a huge inflation, unemployment which destroyed the country’s economy and industry and caused a great famine that took lots of human lives. All these conditions could not satisfy the needs of an average German and the ideologists of Nazism used the situation to their advantage. Adolf Hitler and his supporters promised to return the former power to Germany and almost the whole nation believed in their promises (Spielvogel, 2005).
This is how Nazis came to rule Germany with their plans of ruling the whole world. So, this essay will be aimed at understanding the basic reasons for supporting the Nazis by the vast majority of Germans in the early 1930s and the main techniques used by the Nazi Party to reach power. To do this in a proper way we shall include in this research paper the analysis of several scientific works dedicated to the problem of Nazism, as well as the analysis of some primary sources such as The Program of the Nazi Party, excerpts from some other documents of that epoch and from speeches of prominent Nazi officials. This will allow us to study the issue in more detail and give a precise picture of the phenomenon we are studying in this research paper – reasons and ways by means of which The National Socialist German Workers’ Party became the leading force in the political life of Germany in the 1930s.
It is necessary to mention that the issue of the origin and development of Nazism has always been a provoking topic for research and was studied by many scientists, including historians, sociologists, ecologists and psychologists. The historiography of this stage of the human society’s development is rather reach as from the moment of the Nazism defeat in 1945 lots of researchers were eager to find out the essence of this movement in the politics (Evans, 2003). Already in 1960s, as Nazism was defeated and all its leaders and ideologists were sentenced at Nurnberg Trials, the first works dedicated to study of such a phenomenon in the human history as Nazism were published. The research work was started much earlier but the authors managed to complete and publish it 15 – 20 years after the Nazi collapse.
Among the first scientists to take up the work on the problem of Nazism, not surprisingly, were German researchers like Martin Broszat, who published his work under the title “The Hitler State: The foundation and development of the internal structure of the Third Reich” in 1969. This is the paper reflecting the functionalist view of Nazism, in other words it examines the ideology as a complete system with its own structure, functions and hierarchy aimed at reaching particular goals of ruling the world and establishing the New World Order.
Other German researchers, for example Detlev and Peukert continued exploring the issue of Nazism and published their book called “Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life” some years later, in 1970s. This brilliant work touches upon the problem of the ideological basis of Nazism and provides evidence of the Nazi policy from real life of ordinary Germans. The issue of racism, hostility to Jews and their extermination which took place in the Third Reich are the main ideas expressed in this very work.
Not only German historians dealt with the problem of Nazism in their works. The famous British historian Ian Kershaw took his time to write one of the most complete and precise biographies of the “father” of Nazism Adolf Hitler ( real surname – Schicklgruber). This book reveals the personal reasons of Hitler to create the Nazi party, his ideals and, what is the most important, destroys the myth about Hitler as a superhuman and the prophet of the new era. Kershaw explains that Adolf Hitler was an ordinary person who had a talent of public speaking and persuading people. He did not need any superpower to persuade the Germans, he only used the conditions historically formed in Germany of that time. Hitler promised what the whole Germany wanted to hear and the nation followed him tired of hardship and hoping for a better living. The book speculates also on the distortion of original National Socialist ideas by Hitler and his supporters (Kershaw, 2000).
Among the latest works on the Nazism such ones deserve special attention as books by Robert Gellately (“The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945”) and Eric A. Johnson (“Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews and Ordinary Germans”) published in the middle of the 1990s and presenting great interest for studying the organization of The Third Reich’s executive bodies, their activities and interaction with the population of Germany. Such organizations as Gestapo which performed the executive and punitive functions in the Nazi hierarchy were integral parts of that society. They not only did the dirtiest work but also executed various diversions directed at establishing racial hostility and strengthening the positions of the Nazi Party in Germany.
All the above mentioned works, together with lots of other researches dedicated to the problem of Nazism comprise a great scientific base giving us valuable data for the research we are conducting. Although, the authors wrote the works at different time and dealt with various aspects of the issue, the general direction of their thoughts stays the same – they condemn Nazism as anti-human ideology aimed at destruction with no constructive force. Irrespective of their national belonging, all the authors of the Nazism-concerned works keep to the point of view according to which all nations should unite not to allow anything like Nazism in future and call for the whole mankind to study the lessons of history and to repeat the mistakes of the past generations.
But for this or that reason, there was a period in the history when the ideas of Nazism attracted attention of masses of people and did not rise any negative reactions or disputes (Bischof, 1993). Why was it so? What made Nazism such an attraction for nations? What did the Nazi ideologists and propagandists do to persuade people, firstly to win their votes in Parliamentary election of 1933 and then to become the dominant ideology of the whole German nation? These are the questions answers to which are difficult to find but which will provide us with the deep understanding of the problem. This, in its turn will allow us not to make the same mistakes in future realizing the experience of the preceding generations. So, let us start the research of the reasons and ways of Nazism development with analyzing the data that we can take from the primary and secondary resources concerning the topic of this work.
The foundation of every political ideology is the program of this or that party, so let us take a look at the Nazi program, or as it was originally called, the Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. It is evidently the document promoting racial hostility, violence and war: “4. Only those who are our fellow countrymen can become citizens. Only those who have German blood, regardless of creed, can be our countrymen Hence no Jew can be a countryman.” Needless to say, that the main point of the program is then restoration of the former power of Germany defeated in the World War I: “2. We demand that the German people have rights equal to those of other nations; and that the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain shall be abrogated.” In general the spirit of the program is reformative, Nazi promise to change the life of the German people, introduce new methods of ruling and provide people with substantial level of income: “15. We demand a generous increase in old-age pensions.” Reformation of all spheres of industry and economy was also among Nazis’ program points: “16. We demand the creation and maintenance of a sound middle-class, the immediate communalization of large stores which will be rented cheaply to small tradespeople, and the strongest consideration must be given to ensure that small traders shall deliver the supplies needed by the State, the provinces and municipalities.” (Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, 1920).
These are the main ideas of the Nazi party which wee followed by the majority of the German nation who did not want or could not listen attentively to what Hitler and his supporters said. Their public speeches are full of racial hatred and calls for war and extermination of races which were considered to be inferior: “And we say that the war will not end as the Jews imagine it will, namely with the uprooting of the Aryans, but the result of this war will be the complete annihilation of the Jews.” (Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, 131). Nazis did not stop at anything in order to make their ideals come true and with the purposes of making the German race the dominant one in the world: “In amending my directive of June 20 1944, I request that those people subject to special treatment be sent to a crematorium to be cremated if possible.” (Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, 1166).
As can be clearly seen from the primary sources quoted above and from the scientific literature on the problem of Nazism appearing and establishment in Germany, the ideals of this political anti-human movement found their supporters all over Germany due to the historical reasons – Germany was defeated in the World War I and the people lived in terrible conditions, Nazis indicated those who were to blame for the hardships of the Germans, the Jews, and gave clear program of what needed to be done in order to reanimate the German economy and to improve the people’s living standards (Dowbiggin, 2001). The only problem was that the majority of Germans did not understand that they were only the means for Nazi party to reach the power, when Nazi became the rulers of Germany their ideals changed and the people were betrayed. This became possible due to the skillful propagandists serving the Nazis, Hitler himself was interested in the rhetoric and was considered to be a genius of public speaking and persuasion: “The art of propaganda lies in understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding, through a psychologically correct form, the way to the attention and thence to the heart of the broad masses. The fact that our bright boys do not understand this merely shows how mentally lazy and conceited they are.”(Hitler, 1943).
In the conclusion I would like to state that the above mentioned reasons and ways of Nazi party becoming the leading force in the German society are evident nowadays and we should keep them in mind for next generations not to make the same mistake as our predecessors did – not to allow the reanimation of Nazism.
Works Cited
Primary sources
Fray, William C., and Lisa A. Spar, 1997. The Avalon Project. Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. University of South Florida.
Hitler, Adolf.1943.Mein Kampf, translated by Ralph Manheim. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals. 1949-1953. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., , Vol XIII, p. 131.
Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals. 1949-1953. Washington, U.S Govt. Print. Off., Vol. IV, p. 1166.
Secondary sources
Bischof, Günter, 1993. “The Historical Roots of a Special Relationship: Austro-German Relations Between Hegemony and Equality”. In Unequal Partners, ed. Harald von Riekhoff and Hanspeter Neuhold. San Francisco: Westview Press.
Brophy et al., 2005. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western.
Civilizations. Vol. 2, From the Age of Absolutism through Contemporary Times. 3rd Edition.
Dowbiggin, Ian. 2001 Review of “The Nazi War on Cancer” Canadian Journal of History.
Evans, Richard. 2003. The Coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin Books.
Jackson J Spielvogel, PhD. 2005. Western Civilization: Alternate Volume: Since 1300. London: Wadsworth.
Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press.