From: Tom Holloway (tom.holloway@u3a.org.uk)
Date: Mon Jul 12 1999 - 01:24:52 PDT
. Hello Victoria Burstow - you said... > As part of my A-level course i need to complete a personal project of my > chose. The title that i have decided upon is "To what extent did the German > people agree with Hitler's anti-semetic policies?". It would be very Since we started the project (in 1993) we've had quite a discussion along these lines. I think you could do no better than to go to our archives at http://mamelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/memories.html and search for letters from Eberhard Weber and Walter Felscher. I'm not sure how you got my Warwick University address, or even if you have found your way to our web-site at http://visitweb.com/memories, but I hope I may be permitted to put a few points of my own here. * beware the power of accurate hindsight. It's easy afterwards to see what was happening, but living in a State in which ALL the instruments of persuasion and news and motivation are in the hands of an all-powerful State machine, it's easier for ordinary people to "go with the flow" and for those who are uneasy to keep their mouths shut and get on with life. * the part played by marching bands, parades, marching songs, flag waving, saluting, is often underplayed. For young MEN in particular, these are immensely potent forces. (I write this on the day that the Battle of the Boyne - over 300 years ago - is still celebrated. If you watch it on TV, count the women among the marchers!). * the Treaty of Versailles (1922) was so monstrously unfair to the defeated Germany that it was inevitable that there would be a popular socialist movement (the German Workers Party, later called the National Socialist Party) which would fan the flames of resentment towards the rich. Hitler used this resentment in order to effect political and economic change; by so doing he created a government machine that led to the death camps. ------------------ Good luck with your project. Let me know how you get on. =================== Tom Holloway tom.holloway@u3a.org.uk Tel: (+44) (0) 1926-771772 Fax: (+44) (0) 1926-771707