1. I need you to watch this short version of Hitler's rise to power here. It is a vodcast I created. You will also create a mind-web or other summary, focusing on the key points from the video, and submit this to me by the beginning of class on Thursday, Jan 24. This may be as a tumblr post, as an email or as a paper copy.
If you have the interest, it is well worth your efforts to watch the longer two-part series below, as it contains the same info, but has much higher production value, including rare colorized footage of the era, and some pretty amazing footage that I've never seen before.
If you have the interest, it is well worth your efforts to watch the longer two-part series below, as it contains the same info, but has much higher production value, including rare colorized footage of the era, and some pretty amazing footage that I've never seen before.
The documents we will be reading in class on Monday, Jan 28 are the following:
Early Nazi Program, 1920 German Elections to 1933 "Chart for Weimar Collapse" (attached as a pdf to the right AND as a picture below) "cartoon graphic of elites and nazis" (attached as a pdf to the right AND as a picture below) The main questions we need to answer is who the Nazis targeted as their main audience, the message they crafted to appeal to their audience, and the degree of their success. Your task is to discuss and connect the documents in some sort of relationship - a one page summary or a mind-web or infographic - that helps explain what each document is telling us, and how together, they tell us something about how and why the Nazis rose to power. Use the mind-web you created for today to help you connect the documents. This should be submitted onto Tumblr by the end of the day. Your answer should include a one sentence THESIS that gives the reader an answer to the main questions at the start of this prompt. |
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Some particularly good student responses:
example 1. The nazi party gain most of its traction from the Great Depression in the 1930s. Then, in 1932, it became Germany’s dominant party. Hitler’s novel, mein kamph gained and people began to eat up his brainwashing. A major error on Germany’s part was that Hindenburg appointed hitler as chancellor, giving him the supreme voice for propaganda. Also, Hitler’s 25 point plan, written in 1920, seemed a lot more necessary a decade later after their economic fallout from the treaty of Versailles as well as their numerous restrictions. So essentially, the entire reason behind Hitler’s rise to power is the economic disparity of the people, begotten from the treaty created to maintain the peace. Ironic. Hitler's hate for Jews also was concealed during this period of time, but the nazi party prior was viewed as crude and unrefined, very uncouth. Hitlers speeches though, paved the way for the Nazi party’s success.
example 2. The NSDAP was telling the people what they wanted to hear.
1. That they demand to unify all the Germans on the basis of self determination
2. They demanded land and territories for the German public
3. Only pure Germans could be citizens, and Jews could not be
4. The halt of further immigration of non-Germans and all existing non-Germans to be exhiled
5. The state is to be responsible for things such as education, health care, and ect
6. The would protect the mother and son, outlawing child labor and encouraging sports
The list goes on but the NSDAP told the people what they would benefit from all the good things and not the bad things. They talked about getting rid of non-Germans but not about concentration camps.
The German government did not want hitler to be chancellor even after the great nazi electoral success because the nazi movement had declined and they had been split into divisions. But people around Hindenburg persuaded him to let him in. They tried to let him be vice chancellor under papen but he rejected. This was a gutsy move and many saw it as a defeat for the movement. The second tactic was to split the nazis by schleicher as the chancellor and the nazi strasser as vice chancellor. This ultimately failed and strasser left the nazi party. The final tactic they used was to elect hitler into the chancellor position but surrounded by papen as vice chancellor and other conservatives hoping they could hire him and manipulate him. They were so wrong.
example 2. The NSDAP was telling the people what they wanted to hear.
1. That they demand to unify all the Germans on the basis of self determination
2. They demanded land and territories for the German public
3. Only pure Germans could be citizens, and Jews could not be
4. The halt of further immigration of non-Germans and all existing non-Germans to be exhiled
5. The state is to be responsible for things such as education, health care, and ect
6. The would protect the mother and son, outlawing child labor and encouraging sports
The list goes on but the NSDAP told the people what they would benefit from all the good things and not the bad things. They talked about getting rid of non-Germans but not about concentration camps.
The German government did not want hitler to be chancellor even after the great nazi electoral success because the nazi movement had declined and they had been split into divisions. But people around Hindenburg persuaded him to let him in. They tried to let him be vice chancellor under papen but he rejected. This was a gutsy move and many saw it as a defeat for the movement. The second tactic was to split the nazis by schleicher as the chancellor and the nazi strasser as vice chancellor. This ultimately failed and strasser left the nazi party. The final tactic they used was to elect hitler into the chancellor position but surrounded by papen as vice chancellor and other conservatives hoping they could hire him and manipulate him. They were so wrong.
2. Tuesday Night (Jan 29) I want you to watch these 3 videos below, which will give you the flavor of living in Germany during Hitler's Regime, and also the attitudes of both German residents AND foreign visitors, many of whom initially regarded Hitler as a model of effective leadership. The 2nd and 3rd videos intersperse history with live acting.
Today's activity is not about a document - it is a thinking activity - connecting the dots...
These videos contained a LOT of information. Rather than moving on too quickly, I want you to spend the day thinking about the videos are telling you about the way totalitarian regimes operate.
I want you and two partners AT MOST to create an artifact (a mind-web pdf, a notability pdf, a hand-drawn infographic, a written summary, etc) that explains the details in these videos in two ways:
1. What are the methods that Hitler and the Nazis used to ensure they maintained control over Germany? Keep in mind that these techniques were not always obviously evil or lethal. Everything in these videos was a method of ensuring control? What major ideas did you take from these videos, and which specific policies can you mention here in this artifact?
2. Do you see ANY connections between the events in these videos and what you are seeing in the book 1984? How many parallels can you find between the nazis and the Party, as described in the novel?
Note: This is an opportunity for those of you thinking about doing alternative projects to start doing them. Some of you have mentioned doing iMovies or live acting, some of you have talked about doing a series of infographics. Those of you who just want to do document analysis can take a stab at this one:
I want you and two partners AT MOST to create an artifact (a mind-web pdf, a notability pdf, a hand-drawn infographic, a written summary, etc) that explains the details in these videos in two ways:
1. What are the methods that Hitler and the Nazis used to ensure they maintained control over Germany? Keep in mind that these techniques were not always obviously evil or lethal. Everything in these videos was a method of ensuring control? What major ideas did you take from these videos, and which specific policies can you mention here in this artifact?
2. Do you see ANY connections between the events in these videos and what you are seeing in the book 1984? How many parallels can you find between the nazis and the Party, as described in the novel?
Note: This is an opportunity for those of you thinking about doing alternative projects to start doing them. Some of you have mentioned doing iMovies or live acting, some of you have talked about doing a series of infographics. Those of you who just want to do document analysis can take a stab at this one:
This comes from a memoir by a German author (Sebastian Haffner) remembering his life under the Nazi regime. It is the description of a mandatory military camp all young Germans were required to go to during the 1930s. You need to think about what this document is saying about life in Germany for Germans, and how some of these topics relate to the videos above when you do your standard document analysis. The section begins with Haffner being ordered to get into lines with other young German men and then sing a song similar to the way boot camp works in the US Army. The people with authority in this camp are all members of the Nazi party.
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3. Thursday Night (Jan 31) watch these two movies on Hitler's policies throughout the 1930s. If you never did your mind-web from earlier in the week, I suggest doing it on these videos and turning it in on Friday.
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Today, we are going to read an excerpt from a memoir written by a man you lived in Germany during the years of the Third Reich. He is going to describe to you what it was like watching people begin to "disappear," and how ordinary Germans dealt with living in such conditions.
What kind of artifact would you create to show me that you have some understanding of what life might have been for you had you lived in Nazi Germany in the 1930s? How would you use that artifact to help someone who has not studied this era understand it better? What have you learned, between this and 1984, about what life is like under a totalitarian regime? Continue thinking about your alternative proposals to me - doing infographics, mind-webs, standard document analyses, iMovies, etc. |
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Some student examples to perhaps inspire you...
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Today's documents ask you to think about how Hitler's foreign policy.
What is the most logical
explanation for the foreign policy decisions Hitler made in the 1930s?
Develop a summary (continue thinking about your alternative proposals to me - doing infographics, mind-webs, standard document analyses, iMovies, etc) that explains the relationship between the documents in the file to the right, and provides some possible explanations for the choices Hitler made with respect to German foreign policy. Use your mind-web, as well, in making your argument - just make sure to turn it in when you're done with everything. The documents are: 1. The Treaty of Versailles/Germany (map) 2. The German Diaspora (map) 3. Percentage of Germans living in Czechoslovakia (map) 4. The Spread of Hitlerism (newspaper article) 5. Notes from a meeting in Berlin on German Foreign Policy (memo) 6. The Expansion of Germany in the Mid to Late 1930s (map) |
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A GREAT response from Bobby: Hitler foreign policy
In class we looked at a few documents to help us better understand hitlers ideas on foreign policy. One of the things found was that there are many theories for his foreign policy. Earlier on we had watched a vodcasts, and in it, it said how hitler started remilitarizing Germany so that he could take other countries fast in war, and then use the conquered country to make Germany more self sustainable, and fuel them to take on more countries. In the documents we just looked at it seemed like hitler was planning on having Germans spread out across Europe, mainly in nearby countries like Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria, and once there was enough German influence it would be easy to step in and take over. Hitler had multiple goals for Germany to keep him in power, and its interesting how some of those goals are linked. When hitler first came into power, Germany was in ruins from WW1. There was unemployment, lack of resources, and the country was over all falling apart. Hitler used remilitarizing Germany, as a way of creating jobs, and gradually unemployment disappeared. Hitler used all Germans to help rebuild Germany, by making sure that every one worked, and putting a positive spin on work, and encouraging it. The hitler youth, and young maidens, made sure that every one was physically and mentally healthy. Couples were encouraged to start families and have children, so that there would be a large amount of Germans in future generations. Hitler used the carrot and the stick in creating nazi Germany. People were kept in fear of the government, while nazi ideas were introduced to people, by propaganda, and Hitlers idea of the perfect Germany (large, industrial, militarized, plenty of farmland and country, self sustainable, healthy middle class, and all completely controlled by hitler) were spread and carried out. Hitlers message to the people was basically that they can be a part of this thriving country, or they can not take part in it, and become their enemy.
While hitler was doing well with strengthening Germany, and remaining unchallenged in power, it could only last for so long and he needed to bring in something new. What he needed was to try and assert power in other countries, to ensure that Germany stays united, and to gain more resources and land, to make Germany more self sustainable. That is a bit like 1984, because under war or conflict, the people are more reliant on the gov. “war is peace”. Hitler talked about going into other countries to sort of unite Europe under nazi power. He said how there were nazis in other countries and that’s why they were going - explain this further.
People admired the nazis back between WW1&2, unlike now where a swastika is like a symbol of evil. Countries had their own nazi parties, because it seemed to be working for Germany, and some people wanted their own countries to be more like the nazis. By looking at the pictures on weebly, some of the European nazis could have been caused by the German population in their countries since one of Hitlers plans was to take over by influence. I didn’t know until now but there is a nazi party in America, called the American Nazi Party. I tried to look deeper into this but it’s blocked by the school. This proves though, that the Nazis had a very strong influence on other countries if there are still Nazi parties in America’s government.
In class we looked at a few documents to help us better understand hitlers ideas on foreign policy. One of the things found was that there are many theories for his foreign policy. Earlier on we had watched a vodcasts, and in it, it said how hitler started remilitarizing Germany so that he could take other countries fast in war, and then use the conquered country to make Germany more self sustainable, and fuel them to take on more countries. In the documents we just looked at it seemed like hitler was planning on having Germans spread out across Europe, mainly in nearby countries like Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria, and once there was enough German influence it would be easy to step in and take over. Hitler had multiple goals for Germany to keep him in power, and its interesting how some of those goals are linked. When hitler first came into power, Germany was in ruins from WW1. There was unemployment, lack of resources, and the country was over all falling apart. Hitler used remilitarizing Germany, as a way of creating jobs, and gradually unemployment disappeared. Hitler used all Germans to help rebuild Germany, by making sure that every one worked, and putting a positive spin on work, and encouraging it. The hitler youth, and young maidens, made sure that every one was physically and mentally healthy. Couples were encouraged to start families and have children, so that there would be a large amount of Germans in future generations. Hitler used the carrot and the stick in creating nazi Germany. People were kept in fear of the government, while nazi ideas were introduced to people, by propaganda, and Hitlers idea of the perfect Germany (large, industrial, militarized, plenty of farmland and country, self sustainable, healthy middle class, and all completely controlled by hitler) were spread and carried out. Hitlers message to the people was basically that they can be a part of this thriving country, or they can not take part in it, and become their enemy.
While hitler was doing well with strengthening Germany, and remaining unchallenged in power, it could only last for so long and he needed to bring in something new. What he needed was to try and assert power in other countries, to ensure that Germany stays united, and to gain more resources and land, to make Germany more self sustainable. That is a bit like 1984, because under war or conflict, the people are more reliant on the gov. “war is peace”. Hitler talked about going into other countries to sort of unite Europe under nazi power. He said how there were nazis in other countries and that’s why they were going - explain this further.
People admired the nazis back between WW1&2, unlike now where a swastika is like a symbol of evil. Countries had their own nazi parties, because it seemed to be working for Germany, and some people wanted their own countries to be more like the nazis. By looking at the pictures on weebly, some of the European nazis could have been caused by the German population in their countries since one of Hitlers plans was to take over by influence. I didn’t know until now but there is a nazi party in America, called the American Nazi Party. I tried to look deeper into this but it’s blocked by the school. This proves though, that the Nazis had a very strong influence on other countries if there are still Nazi parties in America’s government.
a mind-map example
This mind map by Marshall complements Bobby's statement above
5. Over the weekend (Feb 2 and 3), watch the following videos. These 2 videos (part 1, part 2) presents my vodcast on German Propaganda. The videos below present examples of Nazi Propaganda - mostly samples from Leni Riefenstahl's Triumf des Willens (Triumph of the Will). For homework, create a one 1 page mind-web that introduces the main concepts - not all the little details, but the main concepts and big ideas - that these videos state are important to know about Nazi propaganda. You may do this mind-web as a Paper document, an Inspiration or MindMeister pdf, a Notability pdf, or a hard copy, freehanded and on paper.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
If you tell a lie and are able to shield the citizens from the consequences the lie will have on the government then you can get away with the lie. If you are not effected by the lie, then you will believe it. The Nazis cover up an actual event by hiding information in things such as newspapers. The quotes say that a lie should appeal to most of the audience. If you say a lie and narrow it down to main points and continue it, people will continue to believe it. Repeat simple ideas over and over so that it will be remembered. In the textbook, it is said that those who want to live must fight for survival. First animals are given as an example of what they do in order to survive. People are related to animals because they must fight for survival, maintain the species, do things as a whole, etc. In the textbook, animals must keep there species alive. Just like the Nazis, they have tried to keep the German race alive by only marrying Germans. There are quotes at the end of the facts from mein kampf as if everything must be related to the beliefs of Hitler. Everything is supposedly true because that’s what Hitler says. People think that everything in the book has been researched. The children are young so they will be pro nazis even more when they are older. |
The key segments to watch are at the 1 hour mark for about three minutes (which shows a procession at Nuremberg), and again at the 1 hour and 39 minutes mark (which shows a clip of Hitler speaking with high emotion). Compare this to the video at left...
This the entrance of the Tributes scene from The Hunger Games. Do you notice any similarities to Triumph of the Will?
This is a famous scene from a British sit-com called Fawlty Tours. John Cleese (as the main character) runs a hotel. Several guests from Germany have checked in. Meanwhile, Cleese has suffered a concussion but sneaks out of his bed, contrary to his doctor's recommendation, to take care of the guests. His only thought during this entire sequence is "whatever you do, don't mention the war" - meaning, World War II, which is a sensitive subject for the German people...
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This is Charlie Chaplin's 1940 movie The Great Dictator, in which he mocked Hitler and fascism mercilessly while making an anti-war movie. Watch from the 14th to the 20th minute for a parody of Hitler's speech, and then again from about the 47th minute for a five minute sequence that is one of the most famous clips in movie history.
This is the closing sequence from Star Wars IV. Again, do you notice any similarities to Triumph?
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5. The Following videos tell you the story of Sophie School and the White Rose Movement - an anti-Nazi, anti-war organization of university students in Munich, Germany - who were arrested in 1943 for disseminating leaflets protesting Germany's leadership. The first video - called "Opposition to the Nazis" - contains some factual information but mostly consists of scenes from a 2005 German film called Sophie Scholl: the Final Days. The next three videos are optional and show you the final 30 mins of the movie, which in these scenes show you Sophie's trial (and that of her brother and a 3rd White Rose named Christoph Probst) and execution.
As our class documents analysis, everyone is doing the following:
Problem: Did Hitler succeed in creating a unified German nation under his ideology? You have 5 documents to examine to answer these questions 1. Which documents support a positive answer to that question? Which documents present a negative answer to that question? 2. Given these contradictory documents, what is your solution to the problem? Write a paragraph giving your response, citing information from the documents that you are relying on for your answer. You do not have to use all the documents. Use a few that best support your argument. |
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