From: Judith Bone (judith@HELIOS-UK.DEMON.CO.UK)
Date: Mon Jul 12 1999 - 06:23:32 PDT
Hello Victoria Christabel Bielenberg, an English woman married to a German lawyer and living in Germany just before and during WW2, writes of this in her autobiograhy. It may help Judith Bone, Warwick U3A In message <01BECC48.6CE34D60.tom.holloway@u3a.org.uk>, Tom Holloway <tom.holloway@U3A.ORG.UK> writes >. >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