Nazis Propaganda Write Up

Propaganda, to my understanding, is a single-way communication. In English it is often means to use it politically to alter the cognition towards the target group or individual of public to make certain group or individual benefit. In my mind, no matter in what form, propaganda dosen't always includes fairly information; in fact, the publisher of propaganda posts contains missed, selective and even faked information inside. This image, is an anti-Semitism poster published in March 1941 in Poland by a Nazi supporter describing the Jews as "lice".
In this image, the whole background is covered by complete blackness. At the center of the poster, there is a huge lice crawling over a man's face, each of them occupied at least 1/4 of the image. The lice is big and fat while the face looks skinny and it's no more than skin around bones. There are red spots in the lice's abdomen and it's legs spread wildly all on the face and the face looks exhausted and it's smiling ghost-like with broken teeth, long mustaches and a black eye. There're a sentence on the edge of the picture: ZYDZI WSZY, TYFUS PLAMISTY, if translated in English that means "Jews are lice, they cause typhus."
I think the poster means that the Jews in the Germany are the tumors in the society; the Jews take all the jobs and food away and let Germany itself become weaker and weaker; the Jews should be removed. The message the creator of this piece wishes to cause fear to Jews in the people, the author of the poster intends to let the German citizens realized that the Jews are the harmful “lice” to the Germany’s society, they suck the blood out of the Germans and causes damage to them while the Germans are still and treat them like friends. In the poster the lice (Jews) crawls on the man (Germany)’s face and sucks the blood (jobs and money and food) out of the man but the man is still laughing. This poster and its message will alter the image Jews seems to the Germans and will spread fear of Jews among the Germany citizens. The poster compared the Jews to lice and Germany to the skinny face, any German who read it will develop hatred to Jews. The Germans will be scared of Jews and will not socialize with them which will cause the Jews being separated (the 5th step of genocide: Polarization). The Germans will become the opposition of Jews and the from all the points the Jews are going to be gradually wiped out like no jobs for Jews, no settlement for Jews, limit of freedom to Jews, etc.
Yes, the poster lied to the audience to express its message. In the drawing, the Jews are described as parasitic lice sucking German’s jobs and food, but in fact, the Jews didn’t not rob any jobs or food, they had earned them by their own power, and additionally, the Jews had provided great contribute to Germany, the Jews helped the German greatly on astronomy, technology, medicines…etc. In my opinion, the image defiantly expresses a negative message about how “bad” and “filthy” Jews are but they are really not!

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

What has the novel taught you /shown you about prejudice and bias?

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is told in the point of view of Bruno, a nine-year old son of a German Nazi SS Commandant. He's young and innocent to the cruelty his father is doing to millions of Jews. When he met Shumel, he didn't prejudice based on the fact "he's Jews" and kids who are supposed to be enemies became friends. However, when you start to see things through coloured-spectaclesor hear from others but not seeing yourself, prejudice might twist your vision and your thinking.

The Auschwitz extermination camp was the camp Shmuel was at in the novel. It was used mainly for extermination in gas chambers, but many residents died of forced labor, starvation, and human experiments. At the end of the novel, Bruno and Shmuel, two nine-year old boys, are forced into a gas chamber and are killed. Children were killed out of prejudice for those who were different. Not only that, but they were forced to work on the little food and fear they were being fed. The children weren't the only ones; it was anybody thought to be different or causing Germany's then-crisis, or those who disagreed with Nazi rule.

Prejudice is a powerful thing; it can lead people to commit extreme acts with a mere push. Crises such as a war or depression oftentimes causes anger, frustration, and a need for someone to blame. This feeling can grow so great as to convince people that mass murder is for the best.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was set in the past, as the Holocaust took place during World War II, which ended in 1945. It is important for us to continue studying events like this, no matter how long ago they were. History has passed, but it happened, and events can repeat themselves. Caring about the past can help us make better decisions than our ancestors, and ensure a better future.

Treaty of Versailles

Part of Treaty of Versailles

80. Germany will respect the independence of Austria.
81. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Czechoslovakia.
87. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Poland.
119. Germany surrenders all her rights and titles over her overseas countries.
159. The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduced not to exceed 100,000 men.
181. The German navy must not exceed 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines are to be included.
198. The Armed Forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces.
231. Germany and her Allies accept the responsibility for causing all the loss and damage to the Allied Powers.
233. Germany will pay for all damages done to the civilian population and property of the Allied Governments. [The figure was later set at $33 billion].
428. To guarantee the execution of the Treaty, the German territory situated to the west of the Rhine River will be occupied by Allied troops for fifteen years.
431. The occupation forces will be withdrawn as soon as Germany complies with the Treaty.

The WWI finally ended at 1918, Nov 11th. Then the allies forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles. There were 440 clauses in the Treaty and 414 of them is very harsh on Germany.

The Treaty of Versailles is bit harsh to Germany although Germany affected the war greatly, there were many other countries who involved in ti the war. Others had destroy countless cities and killed countless people too. Allies did the same thing, they are as well should be responsible for that but because only because they won the WWI, the Germany become the main loser. Clause 233 made Germany pay all the reparation fee during the war for all the damaged countries, which was about USD 33,000,000 dollars which gave Germany a massive debt which Germany had fully paid in 2010. Other clauses made Germany returned part of land that was occupied during the war. Clause 159, 181, 198 made Germany cut down their military forces harshly, leaving 100,000 soldiers and several ships. Many innocent Germans lost their jobs, houses in their fatherland and all Germans' self-confidence was defeated immediately. Because of the debt, Germany government add taxes on everything and when the worldwide depression hits, Germany was affected hardly: a glass of beer may cost 1,000,000 marks, a loaf of bread may need a truck of money. In 1914 the exchanging rate from USD to DEM was 1:4, in 1923 it was 1:1,000,000,000,000. The Treaty of Versailles made the Germans' life much harder that time.

Treaty of Versailles was way harsh on Germany but not on the other Axis Force countries, some of them just lost part of their land but non of the clauses to them was as harsh as to Germany. It wasn't just Germany's fault.

No Man Is An Island

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

These words by John Donne from the 1624 Meditation 17,
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

How do these texts explore similar themes?

In all 3 texts, the main exposing idea is we live in a society that includes many, many of us, every one is connected to each other. Every one should help each other but not abandon or mistreat them. Like John Donne's "No Man Is An Island", every man is a piece of the whole and every man's death decreases the contient and make it worse. In the video "MANKIND IS NO ISLAND", it shows us how many people is affected by poverty deeply and therefor they sleep on benches or even on the ground, some of them are begging for money. But the people who walked by them did not help, they ignored the poor people and went on what they are doing. The same thing happend in the picture book The Island by Armin Greder. It's about a man was washed onto an island asking for help, but only one man stood out and spoke for the man, at last, the man was sent back to the ocean and the man spoke for him got punished too; it's just because the man was different from other villagers. It presents the now world, where people are busy making money and have no time and no mind in helping the poor people. Because of the "difference", no one gives a hand to the ones who are suffering. But despite the skin-colour, languages, opinions, we are all the same. We are all one specie -- humans.

How do the texts provide insights into prejudice and "otherness"?

John Donne's poem describes a respectful world, however, the video and the picture book describes more of a modern world. In The Island, the man is prejudged as "other people" because he is thin and naked while the islanders looked fat and wearing clothings. Islanders refused to treat him like themselves based on his looking. As a result, the islanders dehumanized the man with animal-treatment and spreading rumors. In the video, the poor people lied down on ground begging for money but people walked past them and never returned.

Why do people make distinctions between "us" and "them"?

Because all people is scared of differences, its a kind of self-protection, and selfish too. The people judge us by knowing where we come from, what religion do we believe, what language do we speak... etc. When they don't know enough information of how we are, people will automatically be suspicious about us and when they don't trust us, they'll try to make their profit as large as they could. All in all, it's just a human nature.