Kristillnach: taking a stand

On Kristillnach Germans had to make choices. They had to decide if they were going to just be bystanders or if they were going to stand up for Jew's rights. Some decided they were going to leave Germany to a neutre country, a few decided they were going to take a stand, and the majority followed the Nazis. If I would have had to make a choice on that night, I would have unfortunatly, probably decided to leave to a neutre country. My first answer in class was to take a stand but then we watched a few videos about what happened to people who did. There I understood that the few who dared taking a stand were simply heores, unfortunatly I am not one of these people, at least, for now.

Propaganda

Propaganda: It is an action taken by a government to influence public opinion on some matter by spreading (true or false) beliefs, ideas, news...

Propanganda was used a lot by Hitler and the Nazis because they needed to make people beleive in what they were doing so that they felt like they were part of something huge, something incredible that was happening to their country. The Nazis made films, music, theater, books and even educationnal material to have people believing in them. They needed a lot of people for their armies.

Analyzing Visual Images

1.The picture represents a group of people : 2 adults and 4 children. They are in the center of the poster. --> We can deduce, they are a family with a lot of children. Which is what the Nazi party wanted to repopulate Germany with this breed of people so the more they had the better it was.

2. The mother put one of her arm tightly over the smallest kid. The father has his hand on his son's shoulder. The kids are in the middle of the two adults. --> We can deduce that the adults are protecting their kids, also what the mother will do to one of the kids the father will do to another one.

3. The kid that the mother is holding is holding out his arm.--> It seems that his hand is trying to touch the audience (literally and figurativelly).

4. The girls and the mother all have the same hairstlyle, a streak in the middle.Also one of the girls is wearing the same dress as her mother. The father and the two boys have a streak on their left side. Also the females are at the left of the picture while the males are at the right. --> We can deduce that the mother takes care of the girls and the father of the boys: In the family the .roles are shared between the two parents. Of Course the role of the father will be different then the one of the mother. Also the smallest kid is certainly a boy as he has the same streak as his father. The members of this family all look the same. It sends an idea of purity (the pure Nazi race). They will not mix. Something not said but certainly thought is that if we compare the representation of Jewish pnd bright eople on Nazi propaganda with the representation of this family we can understand that no mix is possible and that the breed of this family is the right one. (white and bright colours)

5. In the family are two boys and two girls with two adults. --> It reprents an ideal family at the time.

6. There are smiles on everybody's faces, and the girls are holding toys in there hands. Everyone's clothes are white and two of the chilren are making signs with their hands. The older boy is wearing a tie and has his arm bent.--> We can deduce that it is a happy family with enough money. Also they are enthusiastic.

7. The caption's background is black with white writing up and white with black writing down. Even if I did not understand what was written I could still notice that one word is repeated two times and that there is an exclamation point at the end. Which makes me think of an enthusiastic slogan. As there are only four words and out of them one is repeated twice I recongnize the typical formation of a slogan with little words but they are straight forward. At the same time as I know what is written there: "Healthy Parents Have Healthy Children" it also makes me think that it kind of is an obligation. It is an order that says " DO NOT MIX!".

Conclusion:The purpose of this image is to make Germans beleive that voting for the Nazi party will make their lifes simpler and better. This image does achieve its purpose, it is related to a daily thing (family), that interests everyone. The caption is simple, easy to understand and to remeber.

For what party will Wilhem Chultz vote for?

Wihelm Schultz works on a farm that his father owns. The part of Germany where a he lives now belongs to Poland. . So Wihelm is against the treaty of Versaille because it implies that the part of Germany where he lives will always have to belong to Poland while his uncle is in Germany so it is difficult to go and see him. Also he is against The communist party because it would mean that he and his father would have to share their land with other people. I think that he will vote for the Nazi party as they propose the abolution the treaty of Versaille and the Nazi party is the worst enemy of the Communist party. So voting for the Nazi party would be the best solution for Wihelm Schultz.

Anger and Humiliation


After having thoroughly read all of the points that the Nazi Party Program had installed in the German community I have decided that the following were the most unfair ones:
1. “Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles” because breaking a contract is not loyal at all from the party. It was too easy for Hitler because once the French army had left Germany in peace they couldn’t do anything against it as Hitler was already starting to build up an army. Also they would not have left the country if they knew Hitler was going to play such a trick on them.
2. “No further immigration of non-German. Any non-German who entered Germany after August 2, 1914, shall leave immediately”. This point is very unfair because it is simply a proof of racism, discrimination and of segregation. As if non-German people weren’t good enough to live with German people.
On point number 5 : “Non-citizens can live in Germany only as foreigners, subject to the law of aliens”. I did not quite get what the “law of aliens” was.
Point number 9 is confusing to me: “A thorough reconstruction of our national system of education. The science of citizenship shall be taught from the beginning.”

Voices in the Dark

I am unfortunatly not sure I would have found the courage to stand up for myself and my fellows if I had been on that train. I think I would have kept quite in the outside and exploded in the inside. I have never been in this kind of situation and I hope I will never be. (As far as I know) no one that I would know has either.