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.
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.
