This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
PERIOD 7 - THE GESTAPO
You've been watching the BBC documentary, The Rise of the Nazis - A Warning from History. Please share your thoughts about the film thus far. Does anything stand out for you about the segment on the Gestapo that you saw today?
Whenever I think of nazi germany I think of a people brainwashed by an oppresive goverment. After watching this film I really understand that it wasn't just the goverment but the people too. It was amazing to see how the lady reacted when she found out that someone knew about the letter she had written. Even with a small number of people the gestapo were able to operate effectivly, but only because they had the support of the german people.
It is really interesting how the people were driven by their hopes and by the misleading information. Now that the lady who wrote the letter of the german women, notice that she can be held guilty for someones life taken directly and after the world saw the nazi actions, she knows that her acts wont be viewed in a good way. She knows that nowadays being in favor of a nazi party is dangerous thing, the society does not accept it. So she apparent to be lying about her involvement.
Labelle took the words right out of my mouth. I had always viewed all Germans as victims of Hitler, supporting his cause out of fear. This film showed me that not all the people were victims but oppressors themselves. The woman in the film also spoke volumes of how some people will never admit that they were wrong. I feel like she must have really bought into the belief that people of the jewish faith were inferior to her because even after all this time she still won't admit her wrongdoings. If you were responsible for the death of an innocent woman, no matter how different she was, wouldn't you exhibit a little more remorse?
The film we watched today was very interesting. I think it was interesting to watch the speeches coming from Hitler himself, and the one from Goebells as well. The interview with the lady on the park bench and the number of Gestapo officers per civilians really surprised me. Pitting neighbor against neighbor is a terror that evokes thoughts of Stalin’s Russia much more than it does thoughts of the Third Reich. The pervasive feelings of the time I guess were inescapable to the average citizen.
i find it interesting how when Hitler gives speeches it captivates you also i found it interesting how Hitler wasn't such a tyrant as he is portrayed to be so often
The woman in the film was shocking. She refused to believe that she was wrong in what she was doing. She refused to admit that she had anything to do with the her neighbor’s murder. She is living a lie so that she does not have to feel guilt for what she does. It is awful what she did. The fact that she was not the only one who did this makes me feel ill.
I agree with Jon, it was really interesting watching Hitler speak. It was interesting that he would relax when he was not in the public eye. That really surprised me about him.
I thought the film was really interesting and did a great job at explaining how the Nazi party worked. I also found out a lot of interesting things about Hitler that I never knew before. For example when he was Furer he has to policies to govern Germany. I had never heard of the Gestapo before. It amazes me how a few simple reports saying that a person doesn’t fit in and hang out with people who look Jewish could get them arrested. I am also very grateful all the document collected by the Gestapo were not destroyed so historians can study them and find out the truth about what happened.
Andrew, I also thought the government did all the brainwashing and I was so shocked that the average citizens took in the brainwashing as well. Studying the documents that were kept by the Gestapo really helped reveal the truth about what was going on in Germany during the time when the Nazi party had power.
Sanjiv Banavali I found the film fascinating and one person that stood out to me was Hitler's actions when he was in office. He would sleep in until lunch time and when we got out of bed he would have lunch. Also, he took walks and never really did the dirty work. Hitler seemed to live a very relaxed life, except when he presented his speeches.
I found it interesting just like everyone else that the German people would just completley buy into the Nazis beliefs and not admit thief wrongdoings. I also found it interesting that with so little people in the gestapo that they were able to operate effectivley with the help of German citizens.
I have to agree with Swell and La Belle. People always say how manipulative Hitler was with his words and what he was able to do with them. Although he is definatly very influential, the German people were ripe for the picking. They were basically thinking the same thing before Hitler even started up. Also, the lady who wrote that letter really frustrated me. She wrote the letter, it was a mistake. Acting like it never happened is just making matters worse.
I also was surprised to hear the German woman speak about her signature on the letter concerning her neighbor. I had known that the Nazis/Gestapo had successfully brainwashed the German people, but I could not believe how even today the woman could not identify herself as a part of it. She laughed as if she knew it was wrong, but still couldn't admit it to herself more than 50 years later. Like Andrew/Zach/others said, I thought it was also interesting how the people helped the Gestapo so much; however, I can sort of understand this because everyone must have been paranoid and eager to support the new political party. You can blame the citizens for this, but I think the blame still goes to the Nazis and Hitler for making the whole country feel the need to turn against their neighbors.
I was very surprised to see how people could and would snitch eachother out so easily, and without hesitation. Also the lady that they confronted about the letter seemed to just try to minimize the issue and rub it off like it wasnt a big deal. I feel like history does repeat itself and if people dont recognize the issues and mistakes of the past, there just could be another mass genocide.
I feel that this film is a very insightful look into the innerworkings of the Nazi Party. I was unaware of how uninvolved Hitler was in the formation of his party's policies. Rather than being the brains of the operation, it seemed as if he was simply the mechanism which fueled it. In addition, I was surprised by how The Gestapo operated. I thought that The Gestapo used intelligence and brute force to opress the views of opposing parties. The video portrayed this as an impossibility based on the number of officers in The Gestapo. The idea of merely using fear and deception as a tool of turning the German people against eachother never occurred to me.
it was interesting to see how the women refused to own up to the letter that she wrote knowing that she would get in trouble for doing something like that today. you think she would take ownership for taking and innocent womens life.
when i saw this i was surprized that there were so many people "most of germany" that went gung ho for this and allowed to have all of these arrests alowible and have specal police hunting down a certain race of people with the chance of mestaking you of being one of them that would make me go bonkers within a few days of that it is just that bad in my mind.
I agree with Andrew's point that my preconceptions of the German public was that they viewed Hitler as a savior to restore Gedrmany to her former power, yet I didn't know that they also bought into his belief system, or that he spoke very openly about ridding Germnay of the Jews. Goebbels's statements that Germnay existed without contribution from the Jewish population was also shocking, because there is no possible way for a group of people to live in a country for hundreds of years and have no effect on or contribution to the culture and heritage of that country. The woman who denied having written the letter was an astonishing example of how people try to erase events from their memories, especially when they are viewed in a bad light after the fact, and how, despite very tangible and irrefutable evidence, she still claims never to have writting such things.
The gestapo is mind boggling. The amount of power that it had over Germany is depressing. That woman who ratted her neighbor out to the gestapo and then denied it most likely has not forgiven herself for the indirect murder she was involved in. I learned alot about the gestapo when I read The Diary of Anne Frank back in fith grade. The gestapo played a major role in that book and it came up again when we watched Freedom Writers.
I would like to say to Betsy and anyone else who said that the woman would get into any real trouble with the law that they are wrong. I disagree. The woman might get scolded but I think that would be as far as it went. Of course, she would most likely be shunned by the rest of society but again, that would be it.
This was an extremely visceral documentary to watch and it brought many things to my attention. Prior to watching the film, I did not know that the people in Germany living under the Third Reich were active participators in the regime. I also thought it was extremely interesting to see the woman's reaction to seeing the document on the bench, regarding her statements about the woman with suspicious behavior.
To Andrew and others- The people believe all these hateful thing about the Jews because the government and the surrounding society forced those views upon them. Therefore I believe that the people were completely ignorant and subject to believe whatever their friends and respected individuals around them said (with little factual evidence). It is the only possible way that so many people could kill so many other people.
Also, the woman that turned in her neighbor to the gestapo either appeared extremely judgmental and prejudice or completely brainwashed by her past. If she truly believes that she is thinking for herself and not as a part of the prior German regime, I would consider her a racist.
I thought it was crazy how the one woman in the film admitted that it was her signature and address on the letter, but completely denied sending it or knowing what it was. This video definitely strengthened the idea to me that the holocaust wouldn't have been possible without the support of the German people. Something that surprised me was that the Gestapo didn't have to find most people, neighbors would just write letters and turn people they thought were strange.
The things that stood out to be was really the idea and the understand that hitler had over the people of germany. Not only was he a mass murderer which everyone pretty much knows he is a powerfull speaker and leader. He gained support so quickly and evectivly which is another thing that stood out to me.
I found The Gestapo interesting as it showed me a lot of the different views of those who were involved with Nazi Germany. Especially the woman who wrote the letter, seeing her lie about having written that letter is incredible to see. People just want to follow the crowd and never stand up for their own true beliefs.
i think that the propoganda was apsaluttly genius if i spelled that right. im not saying a agree with it but the way he did things and the way he gained support by thousands of germans just blew my mind. One person 100% supoorters is the main gist of what i got out of this film.
25 comments:
Whenever I think of nazi germany I think of a people brainwashed by an oppresive goverment. After watching this film I really understand that it wasn't just the goverment but the people too. It was amazing to see how the lady reacted when she found out that someone knew about the letter she had written. Even with a small number of people the gestapo were able to operate effectivly, but only because they had the support of the german people.
It is really interesting how the people were driven by their hopes and by the misleading information. Now that the lady who wrote the letter of the german women, notice that she can be held guilty for someones life taken directly and after the world saw the nazi actions, she knows that her acts wont be viewed in a good way.
She knows that nowadays being in favor of a nazi party is dangerous thing, the society does not accept it. So she apparent to be lying about her involvement.
Labelle took the words right out of my mouth. I had always viewed all Germans as victims of Hitler, supporting his cause out of fear. This film showed me that not all the people were victims but oppressors themselves. The woman in the film also spoke volumes of how some people will never admit that they were wrong. I feel like she must have really bought into the belief that people of the jewish faith were inferior to her because even after all this time she still won't admit her wrongdoings. If you were responsible for the death of an innocent woman, no matter how different she was, wouldn't you exhibit a little more remorse?
The film we watched today was very interesting. I think it was interesting to watch the speeches coming from Hitler himself, and the one from Goebells as well. The interview with the lady on the park bench and the number of Gestapo officers per civilians really surprised me. Pitting neighbor against neighbor is a terror that evokes thoughts of Stalin’s Russia much more than it does thoughts of the Third Reich. The pervasive feelings of the time I guess were inescapable to the average citizen.
i find it interesting how when Hitler gives speeches it captivates you also i found it interesting how Hitler wasn't such a tyrant as he is portrayed to be so often
The woman in the film was shocking. She refused to believe that she was wrong in what she was doing. She refused to admit that she had anything to do with the her neighbor’s murder. She is living a lie so that she does not have to feel guilt for what she does. It is awful what she did. The fact that she was not the only one who did this makes me feel ill.
I agree with Jon, it was really interesting watching Hitler speak. It was interesting that he would relax when he was not in the public eye. That really surprised me about him.
I thought the film was really interesting and did a great job at explaining how the Nazi party worked. I also found out a lot of interesting things about Hitler that I never knew before. For example when he was Furer he has to policies to govern Germany. I had never heard of the Gestapo before. It amazes me how a few simple reports saying that a person doesn’t fit in and hang out with people who look Jewish could get them arrested. I am also very grateful all the document collected by the Gestapo were not destroyed so historians can study them and find out the truth about what happened.
Andrew,
I also thought the government did all the brainwashing and I was so shocked that the average citizens took in the brainwashing as well. Studying the documents that were kept by the Gestapo really helped reveal the truth about what was going on in Germany during the time when the Nazi party had power.
Sanjiv Banavali
I found the film fascinating and one person that stood out to me was Hitler's actions when he was in office. He would sleep in until lunch time and when we got out of bed he would have lunch. Also, he took walks and never really did the dirty work. Hitler seemed to live a very relaxed life, except when he presented his speeches.
I found it interesting just like everyone else that the German people would just completley buy into the Nazis beliefs and not admit thief wrongdoings. I also found it interesting that with so little people in the gestapo that they were able to operate effectivley with the help of German citizens.
I have to agree with Swell and La Belle. People always say how manipulative Hitler was with his words and what he was able to do with them. Although he is definatly very influential, the German people were ripe for the picking. They were basically thinking the same thing before Hitler even started up. Also, the lady who wrote that letter really frustrated me. She wrote the letter, it was a mistake. Acting like it never happened is just making matters worse.
I also was surprised to hear the German woman speak about her signature on the letter concerning her neighbor. I had known that the Nazis/Gestapo had successfully brainwashed the German people, but I could not believe how even today the woman could not identify herself as a part of it. She laughed as if she knew it was wrong, but still couldn't admit it to herself more than 50 years later. Like Andrew/Zach/others said, I thought it was also interesting how the people helped the Gestapo so much; however, I can sort of understand this because everyone must have been paranoid and eager to support the new political party. You can blame the citizens for this, but I think the blame still goes to the Nazis and Hitler for making the whole country feel the need to turn against their neighbors.
Osman Alnaal
I was very surprised to see how people could and would snitch eachother out so easily, and without hesitation. Also the lady that they confronted about the letter seemed to just try to minimize the issue and rub it off like it wasnt a big deal. I feel like history does repeat itself and if people dont recognize the issues and mistakes of the past, there just could be another mass genocide.
I feel that this film is a very insightful look into the innerworkings of the Nazi Party. I was unaware of how uninvolved Hitler was in the formation of his party's policies. Rather than being the brains of the operation, it seemed as if he was simply the mechanism which fueled it. In addition, I was surprised by how The Gestapo operated. I thought that The Gestapo used intelligence and brute force to opress the views of opposing parties. The video portrayed this as an impossibility based on the number of officers in The Gestapo. The idea of merely using fear and deception as a tool of turning the German people against eachother never occurred to me.
it was interesting to see how the women refused to own up to the letter that she wrote knowing that she would get in trouble for doing something like that today. you think she would take ownership for taking and innocent womens life.
when i saw this i was surprized that there were so many people "most of germany" that went gung ho for this and allowed to have all of these arrests alowible and have specal police hunting down a certain race of people with the chance of mestaking you of being one of them that would make me go bonkers within a few days of that it is just that bad in my mind.
I agree with Andrew's point that my preconceptions of the German public was that they viewed Hitler as a savior to restore Gedrmany to her former power, yet I didn't know that they also bought into his belief system, or that he spoke very openly about ridding Germnay of the Jews. Goebbels's statements that Germnay existed without contribution from the Jewish population was also shocking, because there is no possible way for a group of people to live in a country for hundreds of years and have no effect on or contribution to the culture and heritage of that country. The woman who denied having written the letter was an astonishing example of how people try to erase events from their memories, especially when they are viewed in a bad light after the fact, and how, despite very tangible and irrefutable evidence, she still claims never to have writting such things.
The gestapo is mind boggling. The amount of power that it had over Germany is depressing. That woman who ratted her neighbor out to the gestapo and then denied it most likely has not forgiven herself for the indirect murder she was involved in. I learned alot about the gestapo when I read The Diary of Anne Frank back in fith grade. The gestapo played a major role in that book and it came up again when we watched Freedom Writers.
I would like to say to Betsy and anyone else who said that the woman would get into any real trouble with the law that they are wrong. I disagree. The woman might get scolded but I think that would be as far as it went. Of course, she would most likely be shunned by the rest of society but again, that would be it.
This was an extremely visceral documentary to watch and it brought many things to my attention. Prior to watching the film, I did not know that the people in Germany living under the Third Reich were active participators in the regime. I also thought it was extremely interesting to see the woman's reaction to seeing the document on the bench, regarding her statements about the woman with suspicious behavior.
To Andrew and others- The people believe all these hateful thing about the Jews because the government and the surrounding society forced those views upon them. Therefore I believe that the people were completely ignorant and subject to believe whatever their friends and respected individuals around them said (with little factual evidence). It is the only possible way that so many people could kill so many other people.
Also, the woman that turned in her neighbor to the gestapo either appeared extremely judgmental and prejudice or completely brainwashed by her past. If she truly believes that she is thinking for herself and not as a part of the prior German regime, I would consider her a racist.
I thought it was crazy how the one woman in the film admitted that it was her signature and address on the letter, but completely denied sending it or knowing what it was. This video definitely strengthened the idea to me that the holocaust wouldn't have been possible without the support of the German people. Something that surprised me was that the Gestapo didn't have to find most people, neighbors would just write letters and turn people they thought were strange.
The things that stood out to be was really the idea and the understand that hitler had over the people of germany. Not only was he a mass murderer which everyone pretty much knows he is a powerfull speaker and leader. He gained support so quickly and evectivly which is another thing that stood out to me.
I found The Gestapo interesting as it showed me a lot of the different views of those who were involved with Nazi Germany. Especially the woman who wrote the letter, seeing her lie about having written that letter is incredible to see. People just want to follow the crowd and never stand up for their own true beliefs.
i think that the propoganda was apsaluttly genius if i spelled that right. im not saying a agree with it but the way he did things and the way he gained support by thousands of germans just blew my mind. One person 100% supoorters is the main gist of what i got out of this film.
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