Holocaust Post #2: Nazi Teaching To The Youth: Artifact and Maus Connections

Artifact: Hitler Youth Camps & Teachings


Maus Passage: Page 149

One artifact that was closely related to Maus was the Hitler Youth Camps and the teachings of Nazism to young children. The teaching of Nazism to young children is clearly shown on page 149 where Vladek is walking through the streets with his pig mask and the kids think he’s a Jew. Immediately when they thought Vladek was a Jew they ran away to their mothers in horror as if Vladek was going to kill them. This passage shows how kids were taught to be afraid of Jews and avoid them as best as possible. As Vladek said, “The mothers always told so: “Be careful! A Jew will catch you to a bag and eat you! ~ So they taught to their children (Spiegleman 149). ” This is saying that kids were taught by their parents to avoid Jews because of unreasonable reasons such as they will “eat you.” This also shows that adults were also brainwashed into believing that Jews were monsters also. Some adults didn't believe at all what Hitler said, but anyone who voiced themselves against Hitler would have been killed. Showing how Hitler ruled with fear and terror that almost everyone followed whatever he said because they valued their lives and families. But were Hitler Youth camps effective enough to sway the minds of children? The answer to that was clearly yes, most boys looked forward to joining the army so that they could defend their beloved country and bring honor to their family. Girls bore many children when they grew older and did what they were taught in those youth camps and played the exact role in society they were taught. It’s clear to say that the Nazi ideology was taught extensively to the German youth and played a huge role in German society and in the Holocaust time period.

Holocaust Post #1: How can something Like The Holocaust Happen?

Artifact 1: Hitler Youth Camps


Artifact 2: Nazi Propaganda Posters


Artifact 3: The Poisonous Mushroom Childrens Book


A question that many people have to this day is how is it possible for something like the Holocaust to happen. It took lots of planning and cooperation with the German people to have made the Holocaust possible. After World War I the country of Germany was hit hard with the Treaty of Versailles which pretty much blamed the Germans for starting World War I. The Treaty of Versailles made the Germans pay for all the damage caused during the war which put them into a ton of debt and also put many limits on Germany’s economy. So they needed a leader quickly to bounce them back from this downfall, that is where Hitler and the start of the Holocaust came in. Hitler was an anti-semitic and he blamed the Jews for Germany’s loss in the war. Hitler quickly promoted anti-semitism in Germany which caused the start of the Holocaust. Hitler took many actions to promote anti-semitism, one action was that he forced the youth to attend Hitler Youth Camps. Hitler believed that the youth would be the leaders of the future so he did whatever he could to teach them his ideas of racial and national superiority. Youth camps were also used to show what roles boys and girls would have in Germany’s Nazi society. For the boys the camps strengthened them to become strong and loyal soldiers to their country. Girls were brainwashed into being childbearing and doing housework. These camps lasted for twelve years making sure that each child was prepared for the role that they would play in the Nazi society. Hitler also used Nazi Propaganda as way to promote Nazism, using posters, cartoons, art, music, and even children books to get his point across the German people. Posters of Nazi Propaganda would show images of wounded Nazi soldiers, trying to show that the Germans were being the victims of all the war and commotion. It also showed that these soldiers showed true nationalism for their country and that the citizens should do the same things so that Germany could bounce back from their national downfall. There was also a childrens book written by Streicher's Der Stürmer-Verlag which encouraged young children to avoid Jews at any cost. The book was called The Poisonous Mushroom, the title referring that Jews are poisonous mushrooms because mushrooms are fungi, meaning that they spread easily. Coming to the title The Poisonous Mushroom because the Jews would spread their “poisonous” beliefs, which was what Hitler opposed. The Holocaust was a terrible event in history, but it’s incredible to see how one person managed to get one whole country to do such a thing. Hitler managed to organize a whole country to do exactly what he wanted just with the use of persuasion and using the manipulation that Germany was in such a vulnerable situation. You would think that it would be impossible for someone to do such a thing but when the whole country was in desperation they had to do whatever they could to be one of the power countries in the world.

Taliban Attack on Afghan Election Headquarters

Smoke coming from election headquarters after
attack by Taliban

Rosenberg, Matthew. "Taliban Attack Election Panel Headquarters Before Afghan Voting."The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

Link:

On Saturday Taliban fighters opened fire on election panel headquarters, which is a week before voting for the new president of Afghanistan will happen.The Taliban had vowed prior to this that they would attack sometime before the election had started. Thankfully there had been no reports of casualties but not one hundred percent sure if there were or not. The Talibans goal is to derail his election so that they can show that they still have power, this is their third attack in Kabul this week and these attacks are adding lots of tension to the city. Noor Ahmad Noor the election commissions spokesman said that the attack started with two rocket propelled grenades hitting the compound. He then said that the compound “is in total lockdown and we have moved our staff to bankers and safe houses,” he added. “None of the insurgents have managed to breach our security and enter.” This period of elections will be very dangerous for Afghanistan and they will have to take many security measures so that they will have a secure election for next week.

After Sixty Years, Remains of Chinese Soldiers From Korean War Returned Home From South Korea

          Chines soldiers with flags over boxes containing the
 remains of the 437 Chinese dead soldiers

Sang-hun, Choe. "After Six Decades, Chinese Soldiers Killed in South Korea Head Home."The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

Link:

After 60 years South Korea has returned the remains of 437 Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War back to China, showing a sign warming feelings between the two nations. That it took 60 years to return the remains showed that there was a ton of uneasiness and conflict between the two countries. A breakthrough came last June when South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye spent some time in China. As part of her effort to become comfortable and familiar with South Korea she offered to send the remains back to China where they belong. China being North Korea’s biggest and major ally, it looks like South Korea has made closer connections with South Korea than North Korea. The remains sent to China on Friday arrived just ahead of China’s annual “tomb sweeping day,” the day families would visit their loved ones who fought in the war. With these signs of gratitude from South Korea you can understand the lesson of with time old wounds can be healed with forgiveness.

Ebola One of the World's Most Deadliest Viruses Hits Guinea

Ignace Deen Hospital in Conakry

"Ebola Spread to Guinea Capital Raises Fears." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

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Ebola one of the most world’s most deadliest viruses has spread from a remote forested area in southern Guinea to Guinea’s seaside capital Conakry. Ebola causes severe bleeding and almost always is a certain death, and this could possibly spread far beyond the borders this tiny West African nation’s borders. Ebola has already killed 70 people and others who have been exposed are being isolated in hospitals in Conakry. With Guinea being one of the poorest countries in the world and having a population of two million this could turn into a serious disaster and tragedy. Some people who have shown symptoms of Ebola fear to even enter hospitals as hundreds of people with Ebola are going there to be treated, meaning that the virus is circulating throughout the hospital with so many germs spreading. The people of Guinea are in panic and believe that “Only God can save us now.” Doctors are doing as much as they can to help these people and at the same time making sure that the disease does not spread too far to where it could possibly be a world threatening epidemic.

Twitter Banned In Turkey With Support Of Nation's Own President

Jones, Bryony, Laura Smith-Spark, Ivan Watson, and Gul Tuysuz. "Turkey's Twitter Ban Condemned -- Even by Nation's Own President." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

Link:

The Turkish Government banned Twitter in the country of Turkey and has caused an outrage with the people of Turkey. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports the ban of Twitter because Erdogan believes that social media is the cause for anti-government rhetoric. Turkish Twitter users finding a way across the ban immediately voiced themselves against the Turkish Government and President saying “He is afraid. Afraid of democracy, afraid of freedom, afraid of people.”

Turkish analyst Fadi Hakura says that Twitter has been targeted because it’s a way to block the public’s access to information amid the government’s corruption scandal and in the run-up to key local elections at the end of March. The Prime Minister’s top priority is to win these elections so that his authority remains in Turkish politics, but with him supporting the ban on Twitter you can only expect disapproval from voters for Erdogan. Keep a close eye on this because as seen before, when a government censors the people’s voice you can only expect protest from the people.

Speculations Arising For The Disappearance Of Flight 370

Watkins, Tom, Mick Krever, Wen-Chun Fan, Thom Patterson, and Catherine E. Shoichet. "Searching for the Plane Truth -- amid Speculation." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Link:

It  has been 12 days since Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has gone missing and there have been many speculations to what had happened to the plane. Many speculations have been proposed and here are just a few of the ones that could have possibly happened. One was that it was a “Pilot Hero” attempt, meaning that the plane was going down and the pilot steered the plane to the nearest airport and the plane didn’t make it. The next speculation was that the pilot took the plane down as a suicide attempt, believing that one of the pilots had a meltdown during the flight. Another speculation is “Commandeering,” Commandeering is not to be confused with hijacking as Commandeering is to be when the plane is hijacked but motives are not clear or made yet. The last speculation was that the plane was actually hijacked because of evidence that the transponder data was terminated before the disappearance of the plane . There are many speculations to what had has happened to the plane and almost everyone is eager to find out what has exactly happened to Flight 370.