Transcript 4 Roads in the Garden of Beasts

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU East Bay
4 ROADS IN THE
GARDEN OF BEASTS
APPEASEMENT, COLLABORATION,
RESISTANCE AND DISSENT
Kevin P. Dincher
www.kevindincher.com
www.crazymoonconsulting.com
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1. JUNI 1943
4 ROADS IN THE
GARDEN OF BEASTS
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Ambassador William E. Dodd and family arriving in
Germany (1933)
4 ROADS IN THE
GARDEN OF BEASTS
APPEASEMENT
The policy of acceding to the demands of a potentially hostile nation in the hope of maintaining peace
•
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin (Eric Larson)
COLLABORATION
To cooperate treasonably, as with an enemy occupation force in one's country
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Sarah’s Key (Tatiana de Rosney)
RESISTANCE
An underground organization engaged in a struggle for national liberation in a country under military or
totalitarian occupation
•
Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman who Defied Hitler (Frank McDonough)
DISSENT
The refusal to conform to the established authority or doctrine
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Eric Metaxas)
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WE LIKE OUR
HISTORY SIMPLE!
Complexity
Ambiguity
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Paradox
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Family of Carl and Christina Behle (1913)
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“WAVE OF AMNESIA THAT HAS
OVERTAKEN THE WEST”
Revisiting The Rise and Fall of
the Third Reich
By Ron Rosenbaum, Smithsonian
magazine, February 20, 2012
www.kevindincher.com/beast
The Long Night: William L.
Shirer and the Rise and Fall of
the Third Reich
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By Steve Wick (2011)
4 ROADS IN THE
GARDEN OF BEASTS
Handout
• www.kevindincher.com/beast
Martha Dodd Stern
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Handout
PowerPoint Slides
Links to Articles
•
Some Resources
•
Definitions
•
Timeline
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APPEASEMENT
The policy of
acceding to the
demands of a
potentially hostile
nation in the hope
of maintaining
peace
My good friends, this is the second
time in our history that there has
come back from Germany to
Downing Street peace with
honour. I believe it is peace for our
time. We thank you from the
bottom of our hearts. And now I
recommend you to go home and
sleep quietly in your beds
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Neville Chamberlain
30 September 1938
APPEASEMENT
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Neville
Chamberlain
showing the paper
containing the
Munich
Agreement
permitting Nazi
Germany's
annexation of
Czechoslovakia's
Sudetenland to a
crowd at Heston
Aerodrome
(London) on 30
September 1938.
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APPEASEMENT
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APPEASEMENT
APPEASEMENT
Conformity Through Intimidation
SA (Sturmabteilung)
•
Storm Troopers (Brown Shirts)
•
1920 - 1934
SS (Schutzstaffel)
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Defense Corps
•
1929 – 1945
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Secret State Police
•
1933 - 1945
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Gestapo (Geheimne Staatspolizei))
APPEASEMENT
Conformity Through Intimidation
I simply cannot believe that the
mood of the masses is really still
behind Hitler. Too many signs of
the opposite. But everyone,
literally everyone, cringes with
fear. No letter, no telephone
conversation, no word on the
street is safe anymore. Everyone
fears the next person may be an
informer.
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Victor Klemperer
August 1933
APPEASEMENT
The policy of acceding to the
demands of a potentially hostile
nation in the hope of maintaining
peace
I wish it were really possible to make our people at home
understand, for I feel that they should understand it, how
definitely this martial spirit is being developed in Germany. If
this Government remains in power for another year and
carries on in the same measure in this direction, it will go far
towards making Germany a danger to world peace for years
to come. With few exceptions, the men who are running this
Government are of a mentality that you and I cannot
understand. Some of them are psychopathic cases and
would ordinarily be receiving treatment somewhere.
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George S. Messersmith
American Consul General for Germany, 1930-1934
June 1933 dispatch to the State Department
APPEASEMENT
The policy of acceding to the
demands of a potentially
hostile nation in the hope of
maintaining peace
In France, Britain, the United States and elsewhere, policymakers had to decide
whether they were dealing with the mad, belligerent Hitler of Mein Kampf or the
public, more cautious Hitler, the one who constantly praised the merits of peace,
sought no more than equality for his nation, and cursed the useless strife of war.
Europe and as some historians have argued, the United States, interpreted Hitler as
the latter and followed a policy of appeasement. Hitler was treated as a traditional
politician with limited goals; accordingly, the British and French in particular sought
to provide the Chancellor with adequate concessions to satisfy his ambitions and
avoid a European war.
Kevin Glowalla
Observing Hitler’s Gambles in Foreign Policy 1933-1937
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An American Ambassador in Berlin:
4 ROADS IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS
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A LITTLE
BIT OF
HISTORY
IF CLOCKS COULD
TALK
• Junghans und Tobler
• 15 April 1861
• Schramberg, Baden- Württemberg (Black Forest)
• Erhard Junghans with his brother-in-law Jakob
Zeller-Tobler
• 1900: world’s largest clockmaker
• Junghans Grandfather Clock
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• 1910-1920
PAUL AND EMMA KRAMER
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1915
21
1916
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PAUL AND EMMA KRAMER
HILDEGARD KRAMER
1919: Hildegard Born in Berlin
1923 (4): Beer Hall Putsch, Munich
1933 (14):
• Jan: Hitler named Chancellor
• Feb: Reichstag Fire and
Reichstag Fire Decree
• Mar: Enabling Act
• May: Trade Unions dissolve;
leaders sent to concentration
camps
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1935
16 years old
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• Jul: NSDAP (Nazi Party)
becomes the only legal party
HILDEGARD KRAMER
1934 (15):
• Hitler becomes Führer
• Nacht der Langen Messer (Night
of the Long Knives)
1935 (16):
• Germany rearms
• Sep: Nuremburg Laws
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The Law for the Protection of
German Blood and German Honor
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The Reich Citizenship Law
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1935
16 years old
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• 4 German grandparents = "German or kindred blood“
• 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents = Jewish
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• 1 or 2 Jewish
grandparents= Mischling or ‘”mixed blood”
HILDEGARD KRAMER
1935 (16):
• Germany rearms
• Nuremburg Laws
• Hildegard graduates “high school”
•
Receives Abteilung
1936 (17): Hitler Youth became mandatory
1938 (19): Kristallnacht
1939 (20): Invasion of Poland; “Final Solution”
ordered
1945 (26): Battle of Berlin
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1950 (29): Hildegard immigrated to the US
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About 1950
With Putzel
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PAUL AND EMMA KRAMER
APPEASEMENT
William Edward Dodd
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1869 – 1940
Historian/Academic
US Ambassador to Germany: 1933 – 1937
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“Telephone Book Dodd”
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•
•
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. Nativism, Isolationism, Neutrality and Pacifism
3. Hitler’s Message
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4. America’s “Affinity” with Germany
APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
WW I and the Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1818)
The “German Revolution” (1918-1919)
The Weimar Republic (1919)
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Economic Collapse and Hyperinflation (1921-1923)
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•
•
•
•
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
• WW I and the Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1918)
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Authority: church and state
•
Personification of Germany, the German people and the
German way of life
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Abdication: 9 Nov 1918
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Dolchstoss
•
dagger thrust
•
stabbed in the back
Political vacuum
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Kaiser Wilhelm II
1859 – 1941
Reign: 1888 – 1918
(picture: circa 1890)
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
• WW I and the Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1818)
• The “German Revolution” (1818-1819)
•
•
Social Democrats (Democratic Republic)
Communists (Socialist/Marxist Republic)
Conservative Revolutionary Movement
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A "new" conservatism
Ethnic nationalism that was specifically German (völkisch)
Opposed individualism/liberalism (anti-democracy)
Advocated their own brand of "conservative socialism“ (anticommunism)
Authoritarian/militaristic
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•
•
•
•
APPEASEMENT
•
Bavarian People's Party
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German People's Party
•
Centre Party (Zentrum)
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German Racialist Freedom Party
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Christian Social People's Service
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German State Party
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Communist Party of Germany
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German Workers' Party
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Communist Party of Germany
(Opposition)
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Independent Social Democratic
Party of Germany
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Conservative People's Party
•
•
German Democratic Party
National Socialist German Workers'
Party (Nazi Party)
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German National People's Party
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Socialist Workers' Party of
Germany
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MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
• WW I and the Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1818)
• The “German Revolution” (1818-1819)
• The Weimar Republic (1919)
Weimar Constitution (11 Aug 1919)
• Proportional Representation
•
•
•
Presidential Powers
•
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1930: 28 parties in the Reichstag
1933: 40 parties in the Reichstag
Replacement Kaiser; no “checks/balances”
Emergency Provisions
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
•
•
•
•
WW I and the Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1818)
The “German Revolution” (1818-1819)
The Weimar Republic (1919)
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• Dissolution of the Army
•
Paramilitary/Militia Groups
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• Reparations
APPEASEMENT
Political/Economic Instability (1918-1933)
• The Germany Revolution (1918-1919)
• Weimar Constitution (11 Aug 1919)
• Treaty of Versailles (29 Jun 1919)
• Dissolution of the Army
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Paramilitary/Militia Groups
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APPEASEMENT
Political/Economic Instability (1918-1933)
• Appeasement
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Need for a strong leader to deal with the chaos and violence
$1.2 billion in 1933 = $212 billion in 2012
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APPEASEMENT
Political/Economic Instability (1918-1933)
• Versailles Treaty Reparations
•
•
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1921: 226 billion Gold Marks
• 100,000 tons of pure gold = 50% of all gold ever mined
• $53.8 billion ($757 billion in 2012)
• Payable in: Coal, steel, intellectual property (e.g. the
trademark for Aspirin) and agricultural products
1929: reduced to 132 billion Gold Marks
• $31.4 billion ($442 billion in 2012)
1931: Germany suspended annual payments
1954: London agreement
Oct 4, 2010: final payment – 20th anniversary of unification
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APPEASEMENT
Political/Economic Instability (1918-1933)
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1914 – 1918 (WW I):
• Amount of currency in circulation rose 400%
• Prices doubled
January – June, 1921: Doubled again
1921: $1 = 75 DM
1922: $1 = 400 DM
1923: $1 = 7000 DM
• Aug: $1 = 1 million DM
• Nov: $1 = 4 billion DM
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• Versailles Treaty Reparations
• Hyperinflation
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APPEASEMENT
APPEASEMENT
Political/Economic Instability (1918-1933)
1923
•
Loaf of Bread
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sep 1922: 163 DM
Sep 1923: 1,500,000 DM
Nov 1923: 200,000,000,000 DM
Workers: paid hourly
Restaurant Menus: no prices
November 1923: Rentenmark (RM)
•
•
•
Debt Security Mark
Eliminated 9 zeros
Backed by mortgages and bonds
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
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2. American Nativism, Isolationism and Pacifism
APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. Nativism, Isolationism, Neutrality and
Pacifism
Immigration Laws
•
•
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Isolationism
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League of Nations
Neutrality
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•
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1921: Emergency Quota Act
(357,803)
1924: Immigration Act (164,687)
German Americans
Irish Americans
New Pacifism
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APPEASEMENT
Sword of the Spirit,
Shield of Faith: Religion
in American War and
Diplomacy
World War I
•
The war to end all wars
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Crusade: use of war for holy cause
•
Andrew Preston
•
Pacifism = treason
War = “glorious paradox”
Inter-war Years
Peace movement
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•
•
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America
•
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Christian pacifism
Returning veterans
Failure of the Great War to end all wars
Lead the world into a warless future
War = “impossible, hateful contradiction”
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. American Nativism, Isolationism and Pacifism
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3. Hitler’s Message
APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. American Nativism, Isolationism and Pacifism
3. Hitler’s Message: social justice for Germany and the
German people
1920s – 1930s America
•
•
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Unprecedented economic prosperity and then the worst
depression in history
Social conflict and suffering
Questions of recovery, reform and social justice
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APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. American Nativism, Isolationism and Pacifism
3. Hitler’s Message
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4. America’s “Affinity” with Germany
APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. American Nativism, Isolationism and Pacifism
3. Hitler’s Message
4. America’s “Affinity” with Germany
• German-Americans
• Anti-semitism
The German authorities are treating Jews shamefully
and the Jews in this country are greatly excited. But
this is also not a government affair. We can do
nothing except for American citizens who happen to
be made victims. We must protect them, and
whatever we can do to moderate the general
persecution by unofficial and personal influence
ought to be done.
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FDR to Dodd
APPEASEMENT
1. Political/Economic Instability
2. American Nativism, Isolationism and Pacifism
3. Hitler’s Message
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4. America’s “Affinity” with Germany