Nazi Germany Paper Topic: Suggestions?

[Evilhalfling]

DO NOT : compare the people who worked (and died) in the World Trade Center to Nazi's who ran the death trains. You will be in a world of hurt.

The radio called the nazi (echimiller?) notorious, but from what I remember he was notorious for running away and being caught in Argentina.

Yes I atttend CU, but not in Boulder.

 

[d20Dwarf]

The most interesting paper I wrote in my class on Nazi Germany was about the White Rose, which is as beautiful a story as any to come from that time period. That class changed me in a lot of ways, and a part of that was my study of the White Rose. Check it out if you get a chance, and write your paper on it if it catches your fancy. (Yes, I'm being purposefully enigmatic. )

Also, don't do all this "compare Nazis to X" stuff, you can get enough of that on the internet...talk about being "done!" It's a very unique time, and there's enough fodder there to explore for a lifetime without going outside Germany.

 

[tarchon]

The role of ideology in the reification of nation and ethnicity.

 

[reveal]

I would suggest doing a paper that really delves in to how Hitler even had the ability to come to power. The Treaty of Versailles, which effectively ended World War 1 and was signed by every member of the Allies except for the US (Woodrow Wilson understood how destructive it would be to Germany), essentially sent Germany spiralling into economic chaos for years.

3 years later, Hitler would try to completely take over the German political system (the Beer Hall Pusch) and fail. He would go to prison where he wrote his manifesto Mein Kampf. Once he got out, he would use his new found fame to whip a disenchanted and broken German public in to a nationalistic, and extremely jingoistic, fervor.

So the question remains: Would Hitler have been able to come in to power if it were not for the Treaty of Versailles? Would the people have accepted him so readily?

It's an interesting topic to me because it exemplifies how the non-forward thinking of a few people can have such harsh consequences on future generations.

"But, Sir George, if you sign this, it will mean turmoil for Germany for decades."
"I don't care! I want my revenge now!"

 

[johnsemlak]

Hey, Max Schmeling just died. He was a Boxer who fought Joe Louis twice during the Nazi era, winning once and loosing (badly) once.

A good essay would be on the Nazi's (ultimately failed) attempt to use Schmelingas a propaganda tool, and Schmeling's own resistance to the Nazi ideology. Schmeling was anything but a Nazi; he hid Jews from persecution and remained friends with Joe Louis until his death.

Read more here
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/boxing/comment/0,10145,1406526,00.html

There's more info in this NYTimes article, but you'll need registration to read it probably:
http://nytimes.com/2005/02/05/sports/othersports/05schmeling.html?pagewanted=all&position=

 

[Kelleris]

In a recent historiography class I wrote a short review of the Historikerstreit - the feud of German historians in the 80s. The crux of the problem was how much political ideology in Germany had actually changed. It's a pretty interesting debate because it covers a great deal of territory in the area and has the underlying theme of "how much survived."

As far as an "exploration of the Nazi conscious"*, one of the major bones of contention in the Historikerstreit was whether or not the Nazis were a break with the German past (you know, "Goethe and genocide, Beethoven and gas chambers, Kant and jackboots"). I'll go ahead and attach the paper if you're curious.


* - Because "the Nazi conscience" would be an ethical paper.

 

[reanjr]

I'm taking a course this semster of Nazi Germany - it explores the inspirations and practice of Naziism in Germany... it is not a class that focuses on WWII - it is mainly an exploration of the Nazi conscience...

I've got to write a fairly size-able paper on some aspect of Naziism and, though I am a History major, this course is pretty far off of my focus (pre-civil war America).

Just wondering if some of you WWII/Hitler buffs could suggest an interesting and exciting topic to write a paper on.

Much thanks to any that reply!

How about the influence of Germanic Mythology upon the Nazis, especially the SS. Theosophist influence might be another decent one, though you'd have to sift through a lot of New Age alien abduction stories to get any real info.

 

[reanjr]

How about something on the Nazi's "myth-making"? I saw something on the History Channel once about how the Nazi's tried to tie their social movement into Germanic/Norse myths and legends, further demonizing the Jews. There was some popular movie that played with this idea as well, Raiders of something or other. . .

Just an idea from a non-historian. Hope it's helpful. If you have to write a paper on philosophy, particularly John Dewey, I'm your guy.

I don't recall the Germanic Myth affecting the view on Jews. I'm pretty sure that came from Theosophy which stated that the lost people of Atlantis eventually migrated throughout the world. The Hindu Aryans were the closest to pure Atlantean left, while the Jews were the newest, most debased race. The Nazis took Theosophy and its ideas of vril (a divine substance that could make men gods) and aryan race and mixed it with Germanic myth, changing it so that the Germans (actually the Nordic ancestors) were the aryans.

 

[reanjr]

I doubt anyone would admit to being a Hitler buff...

I think an interesting topic would be Nazi science and military technology. It's pretty spooky how close they came to developing The Bomb, for one thing. I'd also agree with nakia; some of the stranger PR programs the Nazis went for based on pagan German mythology is interesting. If I remember correctly, that's the brainchild of Himmler in particular.

I watch the Hitler... I mean HISTORY channel all the time. I've even seen Triumph of the Will (WWII era nazi propaganda film shown in German theatres throughout the war). I'd say I've gotta at least be kind of a Hitler buff. I'll admit it.

 

[reanjr]

Something mostly on-topic that probably won't be done by everyone else: maybe an examination on the scientific (technological, medical, whatev) that was taken by other countries after the war was over. Cuz there was a lot. A lot of the medical stuff being a moral conundrum: is it okay to use information taken from the Nazi concentration camps?

Admittedly, I could come up with other ideas, but I'd have to talk to my friend who's a fan of researching the Nazi regime.

Offtopic:
On that same line of thinking, Operation Paperclip, which was America's program to bring the Nazi doctors who performed all the "questionable" research over to America to work for the government, rather than try them for crimes against humanity.