Unit 9 presentations

These are the presentations for the international contents of Unit 9:

The duty of remembering

This is the complete documentary we watched in class at the end of the school year. It's sad that so few people came to class to watch it. The documentary was broadcasted in three parts in a program called Línea 900 on La 2 in 2000. Only two of the survivors who appear in the documentary are still alive, but as long as we can, we have to spread their experience and make people aware of what people can do to their fellow human beings:

 

Swastikas in Spain

On the following link you will find a short history of the symbol of the swastika and how it became a symbol of the "Aryan race" and was adopted by the Nazis in Germany.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007453


They reached the point of including the swastika in Germany's flag between 1933 and 1945:

But as we studied in class, the swastika has been used  as symbol of good luck, the eternal return, birth and death... since the Neolithic. In Spain we have some old remains from the past that contain swastikas: 

Celtiberian vessel found in Numantia, Soria

Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esv%C3%A1stica#/media/File:Vaso_celt%C3%ADbero_con_anillas_colgantes_(M.A.N._Inv.1920-37-94)_01.jpg

Roman mosaic in La Olmeda, Palencia

Source: http://www.minube.com/rincon/villa-romana-la-olmeda-a92997

Mussolini and Hitler: the Killers' Opera

This is the trailer of a documentary about the relationships between Hitler and Mussolini. In the 1920s decade Hitler admired Mussolini and his March on Rome and he tried to copy it with his Munich Beer Hall Putsch. However, Mussolini found Hitler and his book Mein Kampf boring and simplistic. They first met in Venice in 1934 and they didn't get along well, although the propaganda spread that their relation was closer than it was.

 Despite their differences they co-operated in the Spainish Civil War and in World War 2. Hitler's influence over Mussolini grew as Germany's military power showed its strenght in Europe. The last proof of their connection came when Hitler sent a group of elite paratroopers to rescue Mussolini, who had been confined in the Gran Sasso ski resort in the Apennine Mountains. But this couldn't avoid Mussolini's capture by Italian partisans and his execution on the 28th April 1945. Hitler committed suicide two days later. 

Presentation of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

This is the presentation of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany:

 

Some videos about Italian Fascism and Nazi Germany

Here you have some short videos about Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany


MUSSOLINI: EARLY LIFE AND RISE TO POWER

MUSSOLINI'S ITALY

Two short videos:

APOCALYPSE: THE RISE OF HITLER

 

APOCALYPSE: THE FÜHRER

 

Thursday 18th June 2015

Today in the class of social sciences...

At first the teacher has given back the notebooks that we have gave her, the other day... Some students like Gustavo have to give the notebooks with all the contents ( he failed).

Then the teacher has explained some contents about Nazi Germany like:

• •NUREMBERG LAWS (1935) They excluded the Jews from German nationality and forbade them to work in contact with Germans (“Arians”) or to marry them.
  
  •NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS (9th November 1938) Attacks to synagogues and Jewish shops all around Germany:
• - 90 Jews killed. 
• -More than 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to camps - Massive emigration of Jews to other countries. 
• 
  
• •MUNICH AGREEMENT (September 1938). Hitler claimed Sudentenland, a Czechoslovakian territory inhabited by 3 million German speakers.The main European powers met at Munich and signed an agreement Sudentenland to Germany. They didn´t want to provoke a war (appeasement policy, led by Neville Chamberlain, the UK prime minister) and saw Hitler as an 30th September 1938 important ally to stop Stalin.Hitler promised to stop his territorial demands, but he didn´t keep his promise.
• 
  
• • INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA (March 1939). The Nazis occupied Bohemia and Moravia and established a protectorate in Slovakia
• 
  • NAZI- SOVIET PACT (August 1939) Secret agreement signed between Germany and the USSR. Hitler wanted to be sure of the USSR neutrality in the invasion of Poland and Stalin wanted to gain time in order to be ready for a future war against the Nazis. 
• 
  
• •OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR 2 (SEPTEMBER 1939) 1st September : Invasion of Poland using Thunder War (Blitzkrieg): combined attack of artillery and aircraft. 3rd September: France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. 17th September: The Soviet Union occupied the Eastern part of Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Poland was occupied in four weeks

We have copied some vocabulary:

- Night of the Long Knives: Noche de los Cuchillos Largos

-appeasement policy: política de apaciguamiento

-Thunder War: Guerra Relámpago

- Night of Broken Glass: Noche de los cristales rotos

-cleansing: depuración/limpieza

And finally I just wanted to say that it has been a very good year, we have learned a lot and we've been very well. Thanks to the teacher Paqui for standing us! 

ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!

http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-enjoy-your-summer-5/

16th June (tuesday)

Hello everybody I'm Amalia!

Today in Social Sciences lesson we have learnt about how did Nazis reach power but first Paqui has given the make up exam to the people who has failed.

We knew from last day that Hitler founded a party calles NSDAP

NSDAP logo

Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NSDAP-Logo.svg

This party has two paramilitary groups:

SA: ,Assault Sections, also known as Brownshirts

SS:  Security Sections, personal Hitler´s guard directed by Himmler. During WW2  run the concentration and extermination camps

SA and SS uniforms

Source:www.elholocausto.net

We have also spoken about the BEER HALL PUTSCH In November 1923 the Nazis tried to seize power with a coup d´État (putsch) inMunich. The Nazis surrounded the Bürgerbraukeller, a beer hall where Bavariapolitical authorities were celebrating a meeting. The putsch failed because thearmy didn´t join the Nazis. 14 Nazis died and their main leaders were arrested.

Hitler was also arrested and condemned to 5 years of jail but he didn't complete his stay.

They dind't won the elections of 1933 but the conservative forces convince Hidemburg to appoint Hitler Prime minister.

The Nazis committed arson against theReichstag (Parliament) and accused thecommunists. The government issued an emergency decree restricting liberties.Many opposition leaders were arrestedand sent to detention camps.

When Hitler won the March elections (He convinced Hiddemburg to make new elections)he demanded full powers in the Reichstag.The Gestapo (Secret Police) was created and in July the NSDAP became the only legal party.They burned books of forbidden autors and persecution against the Jews started immediately . 

Adolf Hitler addressing the Reichstag on 23 March 1933

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_rise_to_power 

Then whe have also talked about concentration camps and also  exterminationa camps about their situation and that no one from other countries knew about them.

We have added some new vocabulary as;

Hall beer- cervecería

Marshal- Mariscal

arson- incendio intencionado

quarry- cantera

And this have been all for today, see you!

Monday, 15th of June 2015

Hello everybody! I'm Minerva and this is my last journal of the year.

At first, Paqui has given us the exams and she has asked if we had any doubts, but we hadn't got any.
Then, we have given to her the art projects because they are going to be exposed at the library.
Today, was the day to give Paqui our notebooks so we have given her the notebooks too.

Finally, we have started with the theory.

We have started talking about the NSDAP results in the General Elections. At first, The Nazis' results in the elections were very poor until the beginning of the 1929 crisis, but in July 1932 the NSDAP were the most voted party (more than 13 million votes). Despite this, they didn't have the majority.
In January 1933 the conservative forces convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler prime minister (30th January 1933); his first government included 3 Nazis out of 11 ministers. Hitler convinced Hindenburg to call new elections for the 5th of March.

Source: http://laroucheplanet.info/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Cult.Schachtausterity

We have been talking about the false fact of the Nazis' triumph at the elections. Paqui has told us that this is a lie and she has explained us what happened.

We have also talked about the Reichstag Fire on the 27th of February. It was an arson committed by the Nazis to accuse the communists. The government issued an emergency decree restricting liberties. Many opposition leaders were arrested and sent to detention camps, like Oranienburg.

Source: http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=13082

The consequences of the elections of March, 1933 were that the Nazis won the elections but by using intimidation and violence against the opposition. Hitler demanded full powers in the Reichstag. The Gestapo was created and in July the NSDAP became the only legal party.

Some of the things they did once in power were persecuting the Jews (April 1933), they burnt books of authors considered to be against Germany (10th May 1933) and they sent the members of the opposition parties to the first concentration camps ruled by the SS.

 

Source: http://www.mollymanning.com/author/museum/

Finally, we have talked about the Night of the Long Knives (June - July 1934). It was a cleansing of the opposition inside the Nazi Party. Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, and other prominent Nazis like Strasser and Von Schleicher, were killed.

As always, we have copied some new words on our glossary... But, unfortunately, I can't write them down because I have my sheet of the glossary in the notebook.

That's all for today, bye!

Tuesday, 9th of June 2015

Hello!
Today in Social Sciences we've continued with Nazi Germany. Paqui has started talking about the NSDAP which was the National Socialist German Workers Party founded by Hitler in 1920. Its ideology was very similar to Italian Fascism and there were three specific ideas:
-Anti-Semitism: they hated jews and they were considered to be the responsibles for all the bad things.
-Superiority of the "Arian" race and a need for vital space
-Demand of the abrogation of Versailles treaty.

source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihQdDh_ol1TGFZq-pRF5xjMNLhPzAk50QHHSaRdjmCJEFXySj7d3uTZpmrGrv08HdLIRLwvwfpVuAEpbWh_LDrQf13NmG7CuAf5GCZfwqMMBStmDElVQ2L8ibN-vYTvEiglYqAV4VMUEu/s320/2000px-NSDAP-Logo.svg.png

Then we have seen the Nazi Paramilitary Groups:

source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqZRf_IGptVIJ5zx-F8XAwV2xQu7y7jh-cB85_sjUKH_cpwGLRdX3FfwZZ-XFC36Cl6hCffOOZTV113YJ2ew0D-MLxnQGoniqYkW048bHGw00Mr-MXUMq2fjSqn61NRXjSIfa0U9GGeAB/s200/sa.png

SA: STURMABTEILUNG

source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fiAqW3jUqRzxM39LMq2b48o_E6i6BjOcHeNnmhvLYt00Ux7J6fSR7G9e9_CVbejNdStoq4zB1baE1Dlj8odJlXBJ_o6rkLhC3M_JSbGWxJNjlms-QPiQMspcMQ29PtE6aob7xjGwnB5l/s200/ss.JPG

SS: SCHUTZSTAFFEL

Paqui has told us about the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, when the Nazis tried to reach power in Munich.

And finally, we've seen "Mein Kampf" book, which means "My struggle" or "My battle" in German. It was the book which includes all the ideas Hitler had. Hitler and the people with him were condemned to jail because their failed Coup D'État killed a 14 people. With a very short sentence of 5 years, and after 8 months they were out again. 

New vocabulary:

Scapegoat: chivo expiatorio 

Gypsy: gitano

Arian: ario

Brownshirt: camisas pardas

Beer Hall Putsch: Putsch de dervecería

Mein Kampf: mi lucha

Van: furgoneta

source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRASRETV5IKBVUPi32rn48zyV0vKoD1TsBKiLwVPfItZGjeRf0xwnStioG3Oi2cjVcm9LHA8WNmrpSwiLNuG6MfVYyfCFg253tZugbL_YoOolt0uo1NHJzQoO9FiPMU5HEfICvivspsIEM/s320/munich.jpg

And that's all for today's class! See you on the exam! Study hard and good luck :)

Monday, 8th of June 2015

Hi! I'm Pablo and this will be my last journal this year!

Today we have started the lesson finishing with the last part of Fascist Italy. Then we have started with Nazi Germany and the situation of the country after WW1 (economic crisis, unemployment...). We have seen some pictures about the hyperinflation, a lot of money was printed so it lost its value. 

Man with baskets of money
Source: http://www.inflationproofinvestor.com/images/hyperinflation_1923.jpg

Then we've seen the past of Hitler and the cration of the NSDAP, first he entered as an spy in the DAP (German Workers' Party) and became soon one of their leaders and the later foundation of the NSDAP, which was very similar to Italian fascism and which would lead to the beginning of WW2 years later...

Finally we've had a short conversation about racism and how to eliminate it. Many people are racist because their family is racist or because they've lived very isolated. The best way to eliminate racism is coexistence. I'd like to share a song related with this (at the beginning I was thinking of sharing "Mestizaje" by Ska-P but as it's in Spanish I've changed it to this one):

And finally, today's glossary:
Swastika: esvástica
Worthless: sin valor
Barter: trueque
Shelter: albergue
Ounce: onza

And that's it. Bye!!

Tuesday, 1st June, 2015

Hello Classmates!

     Today in the class of Social Sciences we have started the Fascist Italy and the Nazy Germany. At the beginning of the lesson Paqui has showed us a video where Franco is speaking English ( he spoke really really bad), and we have laughed a lot because when he was finishing he said "Viva España" in Spanish while he was speaking English.

     Later we have started with the class Paqui had prepared for us. Firstly we have studied the Fascist Italy and we have started with the explanation of Italy after World War 1, and the theory was:

• Although Italy fought with the Allies in WW1, they were not satisfied with the territories they received after the Conference of Paris. 
• There was a general feeling of mutilated victory.
• The irredentists claimed for more territories they considered that had to belong to Italy.

    Then Paqui has explained us the The Two Red Years: Italy continued to be a liberarl monarchy, but the liberal Governments were unable to pace postwar problems:

    Unemployment            High External Debt      Influence of the Bolshevik Revolution:  

    Inflation                Political Instability              seizure of lands and factories.

 After this explanation Paqui has told us that all these problems were fertile ground for extremist ideologies.

  Later we have started with the leader of the Facist Italy, Benito Mussolini:

Mussolini was a former Socialist, who had been expelled from the Socialist Party when he decided to support the participation of  Italy in WW1. He was promoted to corporal during WW1 and general discontent allowed him to create an extreme right group to confront workers' and peasants' protests.

  After we have known a bit of Mussolini we have continued with the: Fasci Italiani di Cambattimento:

Mussolini as I have said took advantage of the critical situation in Italy and created a new group used to threaten workers and help businessmen and landowners to re-stablish order through violence. Their paramilitary group was called the Blackshirts.

  Later Paqui has said that the Emblem of the Fasci reflected the symbol of Justice. Then we have continued with the National Fascist Party created by Mussolini in 1922, and this party was in favour of:

• Anti-communism, anti-socialism, anti-liberalism and against parliamentary democracy.
• Defense of private property.
• Strong state.
• Use of violence.
• Intervention of the state in economy and autarky.    

 Mussolini was supported by the Petty Bourgeoisie and big landowners and industrialists. Also they were tolerated by the church and the king.

   To end with the lesson Paqui has explained us the March on Rome (28th October 1922): as a demonstration of their power the Fascists organized a March on Rome with the Blackshirts, from all over Italy. The Fascist demanded power and threatened the government with the use of violence.

   Also Paqui has said that the king appointed Mussolini prime minister, with the other 3 Fascists ministers. Once in power their Fascists used all the resources ath their reach to persecute the opposition.

In the 1924 elections they got majority in the Parliament.

This is all we have done today. Also we have copied some words in our glossary:

• Francoism: Franquismo.
• Roman Salute: Saludo Romano.
• Mutilated Victory: Victoria Mutilada.
• Undreemed territories: Territorios irredentos.
• The Twor Red Years: Bienio Rojo.
• Seizure: Ocupación.
• Fertile Ground: Terreno abonado.
• Corporal: cabo.
• Antarky: Autarquía. Economic policy based on self-sufficiency producing all the country needs and not importing anything.
• Petty Bourgeoisie: Pequeña Burguesía.
• Landowners: Terratenientes.
• Cocky: Gallito, chulo.
• At their reach: a su alcance.
                      
   

                                                                        

http://www.elpais.com/recorte/20070217elpepiint_6/XXLCO/Ies/Benito_Mussolini.jpg         

http://www.notapositiva.com/trab_estudantes/trab_estudantes/historia/historia_trab/histnazfascismo/histnazfascismo6.jpg

Presentation of Fascist regimes

This is the presentation of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany:

 

The duty of remembering and some bibliography

Today seven students have come to class and we've finished watching the documentary about Mauthausen. The last part explains what happened when the camp was freed by the USA Army. The prisoners felt that moment as a new beginning, as if a new life started for them. When the USA soldiers took the control of the camp, they discovered thousands of corpses the Nazis didn't have time to burn in the crematories. The prisoners also discovered that, while they had been starving, the warehouses of the camp were full of food. Many former prisoners died of binge eating, because their bodies couldn't assimilate the food, after such a long time of hunger and privation. The USA soldiers helped the prisoners find Ziereis, the commander of the camp, who was shot. Before dying, Ziereis said that he had no responsibility of what had been happening in Mauthausen, because "he only followed orders". 

The Spanish prisoners could also recover the photographs Anna Poitner had hidden in her house. Those pictures were decissive for the Nuremberg  Trials, where 23 prominent Nazi leaders were judged. Francisco Boix was witness for the prosecution, because the pictures he took showed what had happened in the camp and that many Nazi leaders had visited the camp. His testimony was crucial to condemn Albert Speer and Ernst Kaltenbrunner. 

One of the pictures taken by Frabcisco Boix, where Himmler, Kaltenbrunner and Ziereis appeared

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_192-029,_KZ_Mauthausen,_Himmler,_Kaltenbrunner,_Ziereis.jpg

After the end of WW2, the Spanish survivors of Mauthausen couldn't come back to Spain. Seven of the men of the documentary settled down in France and Francico Comellas stayed in Austria, very close to Mauthausen. On the 16th May 1945 all the prisoners made an oath to tell the world what had happened there and committed to fight for a new world, free and just. That's why many of them joined associations and participated in conferences and went to schools to tell their story. They felt obliged to remember, to keep the memory of those who had been killed in the camp. The return to the ordinary life wasn't easy. Nightmares with the camp were common and the Spaniards also suffered the exile and oblivion, even when the dictatorship finished in Spain. Their story was ignored by all the democratic governments until very recently. The monument to the 7,000 Spanish prisoners dead in Mauthausen was built with the donations of private people. The first official recognition of the resistance of the Spanish deported was made by president Rodríguez Zapatero in 2005. Zapatero participated in the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the end of WW2 and visited the camp. Here you have a chronicle of the ceremonies of 2010 and 2013 (this last one, very painful): 

http://www.publico.es/espana/311381/el-gobierno-homenajea-a-las-victimas-espanolas-del-holocausto-nazi

http://federacion.republicanos.info/2013/05/17/memorial-de-mauthausen-2013/

The documentary ends with two reflections: Ramón Milà, one of the youngest prisoners, said that humanity hasn't learned from what happened in the camps and similar horrors repeated later and continue to happen. In different parts of the world, people continue to treat their peers as if they were not humans. Finally, Francisco Comellas deposited two stones of the quarry in the memorial dedicated to the Spaniards who died in Mauthausen and remembered that all they went through there had been organized by the Nazis with the cooperation of the Spanish Fascists. The oblivion of the fight of the Spaniards against the Nazis continues to exist.

Drawings made by Ramón Milà

Source: http://holocaustoenespanol.blogspot.com.es/2010/05/supervivencia-testimonio-y-arte.html

As I said when we started to watch the documentary, only two of the 8 former Mauthausen prisoners who participated in the film are still alive.  Both, Ramón Milà and Manuel Alfonso, still live in France. Some of the others, like Josep Egea, Mariano Constante, Antoni Roig and Francisco Batiste, returned to Spain after the end of dictatorship and died here. Some of them wrote about their experiences in Mauthausen or helped to write books about the camp. Here you have a list of these books, just in case you're interested: 

- CONSTANTE, Mariano, Los años rojos, Ed. Círculo de lectores, Barcelona, 2005.

- CONSTANTE, Mariano y RAZOLA, M, Triángulo azul. Los republicanos españoles en Mauthausen. Gobierno de Aragón y Amical de Mauthausen, 2008

- TORAN, Rosa,. Joan de Diego: tercer secretari a Mauthausen. Ed. 62, Barcelona, 2007

- ALFONSO ORTELLS, Manuel, De Barcelona a Mauthausen. Diez años de mi vida, (1936-1945), Editorial Memoria Viva, 2007

- BATISTE, Francisco, El sol se extinguió en Mauthausen (Vinarocenses en el infierno), Editorial Antinea, Vinaròs, 1999

- ROIG, Montserrat, Els catalans als camps nazis, Edicions 62, Barcelona,

- BASSA, David y RIBÓ, Jordi, Memòria de l´infern, Edicions 62, Barcelona,.

- TORAN, Rosa, Vida i mort dels republicans als camps nazis, Proa Edicions, Barcelona, 2002

- SERRANO I BLANQUER, David, Les dones als camps nazis, Pòrtic Edicions, Barcelona, 2003

- SERRANO I BLANQUER, David, Un català a Mauthausen. El testimoni de Francesc Comellas, Pòrtic Edicions, Barcelona, 2001

- BERMEJO, Benito, Francisco Boix, el fotógrafo de Mauthausen, RBA Editores, Barcelona, 2002

-WINGEATE PIKE, David, Españoles en el holocausto: vida y muerte de los republicanos en Mauthausen, Ed. Mondadori, Barcelona, 2003
- TORAN, Rosa, Los campos de concentración nazis. Palabras contra el olvido, Ed. Península, Barcelona, 2005

Many of these books are in Catalan, because many of the survivors of the camps came from this region, The first book to tell the story of the Spaniards in Mauthausen, Els catalans als camps nazis, was written by the journalist Montserrat Roig at the beginning of the 70's. Other historians have continued this work

I also want to recommend you some other books we´ve talked about today. They are very important books, because their authours, who also survived to the Nazi camps, made deep reflections on human nature. They are the following: 

- LEVI, Primo, Trilogía de Auschwitz (Si esto es un hombre, La Tregua y Los hundidos y los salvados), Muchnik. El Aleph Editores, 2005

- FRANKL, Viktor, El hombre en busca de sentido, Ed Herder, Madrid, 2004

If you want to read any of these books, just ask them to me. I have almost all of them at home.

I would also like to say that it has been a real pleasure for me to spend almost 3 hours with you today, talking about so many interesting things. I wish we could repeat this soon. 

Presentations for Unit 8

I don't know if we'll be able to finish this unit before the school year ends, but here you have the two presentations we are going to use to learn these interesting contents: 

Mauthausen, the duty of remembering

As Enrique didn´t write the journal, I´m going to include some information about what we saw in class yesterday. The documentary is called El deber de recordar (The duty of remembering) and it was produced by a La 2 TV program called Línea 900 in 2000. It tells the story of 8 Spanish fighters against Franco and Hitler, who were confined in Mauthausen concentration camp during World War 2. The survivors who appeared in the documentary were Francesc Comellas, Antoni Roig, Joan de Diego, Francisco Batiste, Josep Egea, Mariano Constante, Manuel Alfonso and Ramón Milà. Only Manuel Alfonso and Ramón Milà are still alive. The documentary explains about the hard conditions the prisoners had to put up with, the countless ways of killing the Nazis used and how the survivors managed to remain alive until the camp release on the 5th May 1945. It´s a story of horror and humiliation, but also tells about resistance and solidarity, values no one should forget. 

Here you have the complete documentary:

This is a map of all the forced labour and extermination camps the Nazis created in Germany and the territories they occupied: 

Source: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/es/media_nm.php?ModuleId=10005196&MediaId=354

And these are some links to learn more about Mauthausen: 

- Information about the structure of the camp and pictures on Remember.org: 

http://www.remember.org/camps/mauthausen/index.html

- Information about Mauthausen in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/es/article.php?ModuleId=10005196

- Brief story of Mauthausen on the Holocaust Research Project: 

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/mauthausen.html

- Photographs of the life and death at Mauthausen: 

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/mauthpictoc.html

- Mauthausen Concentration Camp official website: 

http://en.mauthausen-memorial.at/

- Report about three of the last Spanish Mauthausen survivors, appeared on El País some weeks ago: 

http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/05/24/actualidad/1337863342_182744.html

Wednesday, 13th of June.

The symbol of the NSDAP

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/NSDAP-Logo.svg?uselang=es

Today in Social Sciences, today was the last day before the exam of unit 8: The interwar period. So we have dedicated this class principally to correct ours schemes about the Nazi Germany. We have used the PowerPoint presentation of Paqui to correct ours schemes.

We have started saying that the Nazi Germany had similar characteristics to the Fascist Italy. After, Paqui has remembered us that the Nazi party (the NSDAP) had to principal paramilitary groups: the SA or Assault Sections and the SS or Security Sections. Next to this, Paqui has asked for silence, She have said that when She is speaking we have to stay in silence.

The next section of the scheme was how the Nazi party reached power. Before start this section, Paqui has asked for silence again. This section has started with the Beer Hall Putsch, that was a planed Coup d' État in a beer hall in Munich. All the political authorities were celebrating a meeting. The plan failed because the army didn't joint the Nazis. Fourteen Nazis and their principal leaders were arrested. Hitler was sentenced to 5 years in jail, but he only stayed 8 months. In this time, we wrote the "Mein Kampf" (translated: My war), this book is consider the bible of Nazism. Actually, this book is forbidden is Germany. After this, the NSDAP results on the elections were not very good (you can find a summary of the elections on the slide 26 in the PowerPoint presentation of this unit). In January 1933, Hitler was promoted to prime minister. Hitler's first government included 3 Nazis out of 11 minister. Hitler call new elections for the 5th of march of 1933. The Nazis committed arson against the Reichstag (parliament) and they accused the communists. The government declared an emergency decree restricting liberties. Many of the communists were arrested and sent to the concentration camps.

On the 5th of March of 1933, the Nazis won the elections using intimidation and violence against the opposition with the 43% of the votes. They got the absolute majority. Hitler demanded absolute powers in the Reichstag. The Gestapo (secret police) was created and in July the NSDAP was the only legal party. The persecution against the Jews started immediately. On the 10th of March of 1933, the Nazis burnt books considered against Germany: Einstein (Jew), Marx (Jew), Hemingway, Proust, Heinrich and Thomas Mann. The members of the opposition parties started to work in concentration camps, commanded by the SS.

The Night of the long Knives was developed between June and Jule of 1934. Hitler eliminated the opposition inside his party, Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, and other prominent Nazis were killed.

When President Hindenburg died in August of 1934, Hitler concentrated the post of chancellor and president and the Army swore fealty to him. He was proclaimed "Führer" (guide, leader) of the Germans and proclaimed the 3rd Reich (Empire).

The Nazis excluded the Jews for Germany nationality. In the Night of broken glass (9th November 1938), the Nazis attacked the synagogues and Jewish shops all around Germany. 90 Jews killed and more than 30,000 Jews were arrested to the concentration camps. There were a massive emigration of the Jews to other countries.

In March 1936, they started revising Versailles sanctions of WWI. In this moment, Paqui has said that we are disrespectful because we are speaking when she is also speaking.

Hitler claimed Sudetenland, a Czechoslovakian territory inhabited by 3 millions of German speakers. The main European powers accorded to cede Sudetenland to Germany with the promise that Hitler stop his territorial demands. The European powers saw Hitler as a powerful ally against Stalin. But Hitler didn't keep his promise. The Nazis started to occupied Czechoslovakia and Hitler signed secretly an agreement with the URSS to part Poland in two. Hitler wanted to neutralize the URSS in the invasion of Poland and Stalin wanted to gain time to be ready for the next war against the Nazis.

The 1st of September of 1939, the Nazis started the invasion of Poland using Thunder War: combined attack of artillery and air attacks (Poland was occupied in four weeks). The 3rd of September of 1939, the United Kingdom and France declared war to Germany. And the 17th of September of 1939, the Soviet Union occupied the Eastern part of Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Next to this part of the class, Paqui has shown as another PowerPoint presentation with a slides of the expansion of the terriotories that Germany occupied during this period.

In this moment, the bell has rung and Paqui has said to us that study to pass the exam.

Well, this is all we have done is this class. Good luck for tomorrow. Juan Carlos

Swastikas all around the world

As we have studied today, the swastika is a very old symbol the Nazis used as an Arian and anti-semitic emblem. Before the Nazis started using this symbol, swastikas had been used in many places as a symbol of health and good luck, as well as to represent the idea of the eternal return or continuous flow. The oldest known swastikas belong to Prehistory and the Bronze Age. Some Germanic  tribes wore swastika amulets to keep bad spirits away.

Here you have an example of swastikas used to decorate a Greek Kantharos (780 B.C.): 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geometric_kantharos_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_8501.jpg

This is an example of swastikas found in Spain. It´s located in the Roman villa of La Olmeda in Palencia, built in the 4th century

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Roman_Mosaics_Villa_Romana_La_Olmeda_007_Pedrosa_De_La_Vega_-_Salda%C3%B1a_(Palencia).JPG

The relation between the swastikas and anti-semitism was established in the 19th century. When many swastikas were discovered in the ruins of ancient Troy in Turkey and also next to the Oder River in Germany, a French philologist called Emile Burnouf stated that the swastika was a symbol rejected by the Jews, because it didn´t appear in places where they used to live. This idea is false, because swastikas can be found almost everywhere, but this relation between swastikas and anti- semitism extended. 

Before the Nazis, different nationalist associations in Germany used swastikas, such as the Teutonic Order and Thule Society and it was also the symbol chosen by the DAP (German Workers´Party), where Hitler inflitrated as an informant for the army. When the Nazis designed the NSDAP flag, they included the swastika on it.  They chose the red colour (meaning the social part of their movement), the white (which is related to their nationalism) and the swastika, which symbolized the struggle of the Arian man. Hitler preferred the left-facing swastika, which has been  related to decadence and death, but he identified it with a whirlwind and a solar symbol. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_NSDAP_(1920%E2%80%931945).svg

The German Socialist Party (SPD) created a paramilitary group called the Iron Front to oppose the Nazis and they also designed a symbol to easily cover or cross out the Nazi swastikas. Their emblem consisted of three arrows pointing south-west and  their meaning was union, activity and discipline. 

Emblem of the Iron Front

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eiserne_Front_Symbol.svg

Anti-NSDAP rally of the Iron Front in Berlin 1932

Source: http://www.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/Timeline/Inter-war-period-1918-1939/Anne-Franks-birth/1932/An-anti-NSDAP-party-rally-of-the-Iron-Front-in-the-Berlin-Lustgarten-Pleasure-Garden-in-March/#!/en/Subsites/Timeline/Inter-war-period-1918-1939/Anne-Franks-birth/1932/An-anti-NSDAP-party-rally-of-the-Iron-Front-in-the-Berlin-Lustgarten-Pleasure-Garden-in-March/

The swastika is forbidden in Germany at present. The German government tried to extend the prohibition to all the European Union in 2005, but this proposition was rejected by some EU members. In Asia swastikas are very common, because they are related to different religions: Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Here you have an example of swastika on a Korean temple: 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swastika-seoel_(xndr).jpg