This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Rise of the Nazis - Period 1
For the past three days 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?
13 comments:
nick turk
said...
one minute your sitting peacefully in your home and the next minute the gestapo are at your door, ready to send you off to an extermination camp. This is how people had to live in germany. Afraid that at any minute you might be considered a traitor to your country. Though immoral, the Gestapo was very effective. it was able to scare the people and make them paranoid . They would stab thier own neighbor in the back, even creating false accusations, just to show how loyal they are.
The scene with the woman on the bench denying the letter she sent to the Gestapo was ridiculous. It was so obvious that she was lying the whole time, she knows what she did and she knows that it was wrong, and she should just have the courage to admit she made a horrible mistake.
I agree with Nick when he said the Gestapo were very effective and how they used fear to control the poeple.
One thing that I'm curious about is what would have happened to the lady who reported her neighbor? Would the Gestapo have arrested her because she was witholding valuable information? I think not. I think they both would have been able to live their lives happily the way they pleased, avoiding any trouble with the Gestapo at the time, and avoiding an embarrassing conversation on a park bench 50 or 51 years later.
I found it amazing that the women could kill her neighbor and not feel a bit of remorse. And be shocked and embarrassed when it was finally surfaced and blamed the interviewer for bringing it to the worlds attention again. The use of everyone against everyone was a certain tactic that was used by the Gestapo and was extremely effective, as seen since this is how many people where caught, and only a few officers were in each area. This means that the citizens where saving their own skin by killing others. Who seemed unfit or unworthy to be in such a "perfect" society.
I was shocked mostly by that women. Her attitude toward the act was so cavalier, and her conscience must be nonexistent.
You either sold out those who were different, or you let it happen by doing nothing. I was rather distraught with the likes of the Germans.
I agree with what Tony said about the woman. I don't understand how a person could put on a disposition that she didn't really care that the death of another human being was her fault. Part of me thinks, however, that she does feel some sort of guilt, otherwise she wouldn't have denied writing the letter.
The idea of a police group making its rounds and checking up on people to make sure they're not doing anything to undermine the German nation - even something so simple as being a homosexual or practicing Judaism - is a terrifying idea.
Living in Germany at that time was not only dangerous for the Jews, but also the German citizens. Everyone had to keep an eye out for themselves; everyone was turning on one another just to save oneself. As Tony mentioned the Gestapo did a very good job in making everyone afraid and work for them without actually forcing them. It is a very frightening thought to think that your neighbors would turn on you just because you might be slightly different and they want to show their appreciation toward Hitler. When the woman denied what she had done, I was angered. How could she deny it? The proof was there in front of her. I was also angered at the fact that she somewhat felt insulted that history is being brought back and being discussed. We need to know what happened in the past so that these incidents never happen again. No one should be afraid to express themselves; we all have the right to be who we want to be. Even when we don’t “fit in” we deserve the same respect as the next person.
I never could believe people had the heart to do such a thing until I saw that lady today in the video. Instead of standing firm and defending her name she decides to complain how this should be old news. I think she deserved what she got and we should bring it up over and over again. I think in the future it will make people second guess their actions, if history decides to repeat itself.
That lady showed us a valuable point. You can trust someone (neighbor or friend), but you won't know how far it will go until your in a life or death situation.
Like Lisbeth said earlier, everyone kept an eye out for themselves. How can you trust a society that is ready to bail on you when your excluded? How can you trust a neighbor or a friend when they are ready to put you to death when your not one of them? People can say what they want to say, but no one really knows until they are in the situation. That is why I think it is important to discuss events that happened in history to help people become strong enough to make the right choice.
I agree with everyone that the woman who wrote the letter about her neighbor is almost horrifying. I was shocked to see this old, grandmotherly woman who had never held a gun or seen the real war laughing as she unconvincingly denied leading to her neighbor's death. When I was watching the film, I couldn't tell if she was just ashamed of this act or had actually managed to push it to the back of her mind and forget about it.
I don't think that the Gestapo created a world where everyone attacked others because of fear, though. Although they did use fear against the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and other minorities, I don't think that cases such as the lady writing the letter happened because people were afraid. I think that these normal people took advantage of an environment where they faced no repercussions to lash out and hurt others solely through their own wishes.
In the case of the old lady, I think that, instead of trying to divert the Gestapo's attention away from herself, she probably felt some animosity towards her neighbor (because of quarrels, dislike of her antisocial nature, jealousy, or another reason) and acted by writing a letter to the Gestapo. She knew she would not be punished, and would actually be seen as patriotic. In addition, if anything bad happened, she could always blame it on the Gestapo and reassure herself that she did not lead to the fatal conclusion.
I thought that what happened with the Gestapo was very serious. It was absolutly wrong. If one day you are in your house and are just sent to a concentration camp, you must have many negative emotions. Knowing that you are going to be killed must be the most traumatizing experience that you can have. Jews were in a bad position at the time, so therefore the Gestapo were able to do what they did very easily. I think the lady who denied writing the document was absolutly rediculous.
I agree with Tony. If your neighbor gets killed and you are the one who contributed to that fate, you should have remorse.
First off, the film is nicely organized. I love the high quality pictures and the detailed explanations of the happenings. The part about the Gestapo didn't surprise me, but I found it very ridiculous. How can a human being treat someone else like trash just because they are different? This proved that the Nazis were not in the right state of mind, and they were the ones that were crazy. The lady that wrote the letter to them was also ignorant. She tried to deny the truth when it obviously happened, and the fact that she was trying to say that she "doesn't remember" it is just ridiculous. At least an apology could've been handed out.
I agree with nick though. I liked how he described the shock of the Gestapo can affect someone. It truly is unimaginable.
I thought it was interesting that women denied that she wrote the letter ratting the "jewish lesbian" out. I think it was a really good desplay of how the time effects action. She obviously did write the letter and she even half admits it. I think what she means when she is not wanting to talk about it because it was in the past was, not to forget that it ever happened, but more because people today jus dont understand. We dont understand why or how someone like her could have done something like that, and we dont even understand now, because we are thinking that she doesnt want to talk about it because she is ashamed or sorry.
Getting to the blog late it is hard not to agree with what everyone else has said about the elderly woman still denying the horrible thing did by giving another person up to the gestapo. That is absurd because the woman who ratted out the other person didn't gain or lose anything by doing so. It really shows that past a certain point of Hitler's reign, anyone would do basically anything for the government.
The aspect of the gestapo that really surprised me was that in one of the few records that was recovered, it was discovered that only there were only 30 or so gestapo members controlling a large area. I find this amazing because in order for this to be successful the widespread fear of the secret police made them into a much larger force than the small amount there actually were.
The traitor neighbor seems to be a pretty big deal. Most of us can't understand why she did it. But it makes me wonder about our actions. What would we have done? It's not different from what we experience everyday by following the crowd. We seclude people with looks, comments and "cliques". It might not be as drastic as the lady, because her words led to the demise of her neighbor, but we have to look at eachother before we judge too.
I agree with Joe when he says that the lady denying the letter is ridiculous, but I bet it eats away at her consciense every night.
Its really shocking to see the extent some people would go in order to basically save themselves. The traitor threw her neighbor under the bus and was the ultimate cause of her death. Even though she was not Jewish she was killed because she was different. Even more shocking is years later the person who did do this denied everything even with the signature of the victims death note. It is sad to see that
I have to agree with both Joe and Lina that this women was the direct cause of her death and I'm sure she did not suffer within herself
13 comments:
one minute your sitting peacefully in your home and the next minute the gestapo are at your door, ready to send you off to an extermination camp. This is how people had to live in germany. Afraid that at any minute you might be considered a traitor to your country. Though immoral, the Gestapo was very effective. it was able to scare the people and make them paranoid . They would stab thier own neighbor in the back, even creating false accusations, just to show how loyal they are.
The scene with the woman on the bench denying the letter she sent to the Gestapo was ridiculous. It was so obvious that she was lying the whole time, she knows what she did and she knows that it was wrong, and she should just have the courage to admit she made a horrible mistake.
I agree with Nick when he said the Gestapo were very effective and how they used fear to control the poeple.
One thing that I'm curious about is what would have happened to the lady who reported her neighbor? Would the Gestapo have arrested her because she was witholding valuable information? I think not. I think they both would have been able to live their lives happily the way they pleased, avoiding any trouble with the Gestapo at the time, and avoiding an embarrassing conversation on a park bench 50 or 51 years later.
I found it amazing that the women could kill her neighbor and not feel a bit of remorse. And be shocked and embarrassed when it was finally surfaced and blamed the interviewer for bringing it to the worlds attention again. The use of everyone against everyone was a certain tactic that was used by the Gestapo and was extremely effective, as seen since this is how many people where caught, and only a few officers were in each area. This means that the citizens where saving their own skin by killing others. Who seemed unfit or unworthy to be in such a "perfect" society.
I was shocked mostly by that women. Her attitude toward the act was so cavalier, and her conscience must be nonexistent.
You either sold out those who were different, or you let it happen by doing nothing. I was rather distraught with the likes of the Germans.
I agree with what Tony said about the woman. I don't understand how a person could put on a disposition that she didn't really care that the death of another human being was her fault. Part of me thinks, however, that she does feel some sort of guilt, otherwise she wouldn't have denied writing the letter.
The idea of a police group making its rounds and checking up on people to make sure they're not doing anything to undermine the German nation - even something so simple as being a homosexual or practicing Judaism - is a terrifying idea.
Living in Germany at that time was not only dangerous for the Jews, but also the German citizens. Everyone had to keep an eye out for themselves; everyone was turning on one another just to save oneself. As Tony mentioned the Gestapo did a very good job in making everyone afraid and work for them without actually forcing them. It is a very frightening thought to think that your neighbors would turn on you just because you might be slightly different and they want to show their appreciation toward Hitler. When the woman denied what she had done, I was angered. How could she deny it? The proof was there in front of her. I was also angered at the fact that she somewhat felt insulted that history is being brought back and being discussed. We need to know what happened in the past so that these incidents never happen again. No one should be afraid to express themselves; we all have the right to be who we want to be. Even when we don’t “fit in” we deserve the same respect as the next person.
I never could believe people had the heart to do such a thing until I saw that lady today in the video. Instead of standing firm and defending her name she decides to complain how this should be old news. I think she deserved what she got and we should bring it up over and over again. I think in the future it will make people second guess their actions, if history decides to repeat itself.
That lady showed us a valuable point. You can trust someone (neighbor or friend), but you won't know how far it will go until your in a life or death situation.
Like Lisbeth said earlier, everyone kept an eye out for themselves. How can you trust a society that is ready to bail on you when your excluded? How can you trust a neighbor or a friend when they are ready to put you to death when your not one of them? People can say what they want to say, but no one really knows until they are in the situation. That is why I think it is important to discuss events that happened in history to help people become strong enough to make the right choice.
I agree with everyone that the woman who wrote the letter about her neighbor is almost horrifying. I was shocked to see this old, grandmotherly woman who had never held a gun or seen the real war laughing as she unconvincingly denied leading to her neighbor's death. When I was watching the film, I couldn't tell if she was just ashamed of this act or had actually managed to push it to the back of her mind and forget about it.
I don't think that the Gestapo created a world where everyone attacked others because of fear, though. Although they did use fear against the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and other minorities, I don't think that cases such as the lady writing the letter happened because people were afraid. I think that these normal people took advantage of an environment where they faced no repercussions to lash out and hurt others solely through their own wishes.
In the case of the old lady, I think that, instead of trying to divert the Gestapo's attention away from herself, she probably felt some animosity towards her neighbor (because of quarrels, dislike of her antisocial nature, jealousy, or another reason) and acted by writing a letter to the Gestapo. She knew she would not be punished, and would actually be seen as patriotic. In addition, if anything bad happened, she could always blame it on the Gestapo and reassure herself that she did not lead to the fatal conclusion.
I thought that what happened with the Gestapo was very serious. It was absolutly wrong. If one day you are in your house and are just sent to a concentration camp, you must have many negative emotions. Knowing that you are going to be killed must be the most traumatizing experience that you can have. Jews were in a bad position at the time, so therefore the Gestapo were able to do what they did very easily. I think the lady who denied writing the document was absolutly rediculous.
I agree with Tony. If your neighbor gets killed and you are the one who contributed to that fate, you should have remorse.
First off, the film is nicely organized. I love the high quality pictures and the detailed explanations of the happenings. The part about the Gestapo didn't surprise me, but I found it very ridiculous. How can a human being treat someone else like trash just because they are different? This proved that the Nazis were not in the right state of mind, and they were the ones that were crazy. The lady that wrote the letter to them was also ignorant. She tried to deny the truth when it obviously happened, and the fact that she was trying to say that she "doesn't remember" it is just ridiculous. At least an apology could've been handed out.
I agree with nick though. I liked how he described the shock of the Gestapo can affect someone. It truly is unimaginable.
I thought it was interesting that women denied that she wrote the letter ratting the "jewish lesbian" out. I think it was a really good desplay of how the time effects action. She obviously did write the letter and she even half admits it. I think what she means when she is not wanting to talk about it because it was in the past was, not to forget that it ever happened, but more because people today jus dont understand. We dont understand why or how someone like her could have done something like that, and we dont even understand now, because we are thinking that she doesnt want to talk about it because she is ashamed or sorry.
Getting to the blog late it is hard not to agree with what everyone else has said about the elderly woman still denying the horrible thing did by giving another person up to the gestapo. That is absurd because the woman who ratted out the other person didn't gain or lose anything by doing so. It really shows that past a certain point of Hitler's reign, anyone would do basically anything for the government.
The aspect of the gestapo that really surprised me was that in one of the few records that was recovered, it was discovered that only there were only 30 or so gestapo members controlling a large area. I find this amazing because in order for this to be successful the widespread fear of the secret police made them into a much larger force than the small amount there actually were.
The traitor neighbor seems to be a pretty big deal. Most of us can't understand why she did it. But it makes me wonder about our actions. What would we have done? It's not different from what we experience everyday by following the crowd. We seclude people with looks, comments and "cliques". It might not be as drastic as the lady, because her words led to the demise of her neighbor, but we have to look at eachother before we judge too.
I agree with Joe when he says that the lady denying the letter is ridiculous, but I bet it eats away at her consciense every night.
Its really shocking to see the extent some people would go in order to basically save themselves. The traitor threw her neighbor under the bus and was the ultimate cause of her death. Even though she was not Jewish she was killed because she was different. Even more shocking is years later the person who did do this denied everything even with the signature of the victims death note. It is sad to see that
I have to agree with both Joe and Lina that this women was the direct cause of her death and I'm sure she did not suffer within herself
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