The beginning of the novel, it showed that during the beginning, some Jews believed into the Hitler myth and that Hitler was trying to help them. They saw the new regulations against non Aryan employees who did not serve in the previous war as helping to put an end to unemployment. They compared Hitler to Mussolini and believed that Hitler would work miracles; they overlooked the fact that people died under Mussolini’s rule. They had the mentality that as long as they are not directly affected that they will be okay. They do not see how bad things will get for them and these Jews blindly believe that Hitler will make life better for them. They did not see that he was trying to hurt them. They thought that the people that are running away were foolish and acting prematurely. They thought it was silly of them to panic. Deutschkron mentions that Jews were getting used to being discriminated against and accommodated themselves. She mentions that her father and his friend believed that “the National Socialist nightmare could not last more than three months at most” (16). This ties into how so many people underestimated Hitler’s control of the people. They thought that this was another phase, another government that will come and go.
Deutschkron also seems to have it harder for their family because her parents are socialist. That is two strikes against their family; they are Jewish socialist. For a period of time, they fled to her uncle’s place because they were afraid of their neighbors. It depicted exactly what we have learned. Overnight people were not sure who they can trust. Since they know the neighbors were aware of their socialist ties, they had to make sure they did not stand out, lest they get in trouble with the officials. They had to take precautions to burn their anti-Nazi papers. People were already looking for her father to throw him into the concentration camps with people who are affiliated with him. Yet they still returned to their house and her father did not want to leave. I can understand why at the time of turbulent governments they did not take the Nazi rule seriously, but they should have picked up on the signs that they will be in serious trouble because they are Socialist of Jewish background, two things that Hitler is against.
I actually had a somewhat different impression of the jewish girl's story. It is true that the memoir does portray the faith in Hitler that we have been learning about in many of the jewish girl's encounters, however, the jewish girl does not share this opinion. She was confident that Hitler would not be able to win a war. (I can't quote because I used the NYU reserve book and am writing this on the bus ride home to boston).
ReplyDeleteIt is also true that the Nazi's took over power quite quickly, however i never knew that families (with serious connections) like this jewish girl were able to stick around in Berlin for so long. I was always under the impression that when the Nazi's took over power, Jews either emigrated or were put in concentration camps. I also thought that all the imprisoned jews on the train did not know where they were going. From this memoir i learned that the concentration camps for jews was not immediate and when it was the jews were shipped off gradually. The jews the were in not in the first rounds, knew exactly what there fate was. They knew they were going away to die
The Jewish population in Germany were still considered to be Germans until a certain point. When they saw Hitler come to power and saw all that he could do for the people. They wanted him to bring a new Germany, which he did, in the beginning. When Hitler came to power very quickly and even though most of the population was very accepting of the Third Reich, the people really did not have much of a choice. Once the Jews started getting discriminated they realized that Hitler wasn’t all that he was cracked up to be.
ReplyDeleteThis memoir was very interesting to me and it taught me a lot of what the Jews had to go through throughout the Holocaust. The Jewish people were very cautious to the people around them, they had to make sure that no one knew they were opposed to the Nazis. If they were to be caught they would get in major trouble and could be possibly taken to a concentration. And if that happens they most likely be killed.
It was weird how that although restrictions were imposed upon the majority of the Jewish population, some of them were not affected by it. Inge Deutschkron names her father as one of the few exceptions; though her father was fired for his poliical opinions (with the family being Socialist) he actually was the recipient of a medal that honored him for service in the war. However, even when it was made official, it was not recognized by the local provinces, where all Jews were to be subject to the imposed restrictions.
ReplyDeleteWhen she and her family moved, she had to see the Hitler-esque mentality sift through her life. There was definitely opposition to he Nazis, albeit somewhat subtle. Deutschkron writes, "Our teachers were obliged to greet their classes with the mandatory 'Heil Hitler,' but they did so with barely disguised disdain, and they treated all of us, Jews and non-Jews, equally" (22). I think this is a clear example that Hitler was not loved by all and that even though no one was strong enough to directly oppose him, these little gestures mean a lot. When Jewish schools were banned from being in the public sphere and barred from athletic fields and gyms used by other schools, they decided to sponsor their own sports meets and contests, another example of subtle opposition. Deutschkron reminisces this time as one of her happiest.
But as they had some sort of freedom in school, they were still being restrained in public. They had to travel underground and show deference to the Germans roaming the streets. It was a time of danger, a time when anything could happen to anyone at anytime, and people were just anticipating for it to happen to them. They could sense that something bad was coming up, only they didn't know what, and it took them completely by surprise.
I can't help but feel angry at the older woman who chaperones a group of Jewish children to England and then returns to her life in Germany because she felt she had nothing to do in England. Decades later, her actions scream stupidity but of course she didn't have the benefit of hindsight, which is often teleological. Her seeming unawareness or unwillingness to accept the current state of Germany reflects how many more Jews were unable or unwilling to accept the idea that their Fatherland was no longer theirs. Also, that Jewish children could emigrate much easier in most cases and that parents could move to England only when they had found work seems to indicate that the British government had some inkling of worsening conditions in Germany. Their maintaining limited immigration quotas may not have been anti-Semitic or overtly prejudicial, but it raises questions of who knew what and when.
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