On Hitler’s Mountain is a memoir of a young girl’s life in the time of the Nazis’ rise to power. This riveting story is written by Irmgard A. Hunt who was born on May 28, 1934. Her and her family resided in the Bavarian village of Berchtesgaden in Germany. This Bavarian village happened to be on the very mountain that Hitler chose to place his future headquarters and retreat. Living in close proximity to Hitler’s retreat meant that Hitler influenced Irmgard and her family’s domestic lives and thoughts. Irmgard had a little sister named Ingrid; her parent’s names were Albine Pohlmann and Max Paul. Irmgard called them Mutti and Vati which is the German terminology for mom and dad. The family had enough wealth to meet their necessities. Growing …show more content…
Hitler’s suicidal death was announced along with the continual list of the German army’s casualties. Eventually, the people of Berchtesgaden were told to hang a white sheet on their balcony or out their windows to signify to the oncoming American troops their surrender. Necessities were getting scarce until the day of the Währungsreform (currency reform). This was the beginning of new hope and a new life in West Germany. Democracy was being rebuilt and gave people a sense of local empowerment. New houses were being built along with the recovery of jobs. Irmgard’s spirits began to lift once again along with many others. Germans were ready to face and forget the country’s …show more content…
Irmgard speaks of how the Nazis were in full control of the German government, military, and media. They gained access to education, books, the news, how people greeted one another, and they even influenced the names parents gave their children. Albine had to change her daughter’s name from Ruth, a Christian name, to Ingrid. The Nazis even controlled what holidays the people signified and how they celebrated them. For example, Hitler urged the women to make their Christmas cookies into Nordic trees of life or Celtic runes. Irmgard also wrote of how Hitler would kill children who had defects. In addition, she spoke of how on September 1, 1939, Hitler sent fifty German divisions into Poland. The troops’ uniforms were also described in detail. Being a young girl in school, Irmgard could write about the tools and techniques they used in school. Every first grader had a Setzkasten, a flat wooden case containing cardboard rectangles depicting upper- and lowercase letters. The people of Berchtesgaden could listen to Hitler’s speeches on either the Munich or Salzburg radio stations. Irmgard was also able to describe Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest with the swastika flags fluttering in the wind. Another piece of historical information was the chemical, white fog released in order to hide the mountain from approaching enemy planes. Moreover, she wrote of how Polish women were brought to Selb
Adolf Hitler, born in 1889, is an Austrian born man who is known for his instigation and participation in the Nazi Political movement, or genocide, known as the Holocaust. Throughout his later life, Hitler spent the majority of his time organizing discriminatory laws that prevented Jewish citizens’ basic rights and ultimately their demise. However, before he advanced such laws and politics, he served as the Head of State, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, until he became the Fuhrer of Germany’s Third Reich which began in 1933 and ended in 1945 (Jewish Virtual Library). His actions were fueled by an unrelenting and strict hate for the Jewish community, better known as anti-Semitism, much like the vast majority of Eastern countries. Both
On Hitler’s Mountain is a memoir of a child named Irmgard Hunt and her experiences growing up in Nazi Germany. She herself has had many experiences of living during that dark time, she actually met Hitler, had a grandfather who hated Hitler's rule, and had no thoughts or feelings about the Nazi rule until the end of WWII. Her memoir is a reminder of what can happen when an ordinary society chooses a cult of personality over rational thought. What has happened to the German people since then, what are they doing about it today and how do they feel about their past? Several decades later, with most Nazis now dead or in hiding, and despite how much Germany has done to prevent another Nazi rule, everyone is still ashamed of their ancestors’ pasts.
The Reich was a dominant regime under the control of the infamous Hitler. Its rampant delinquencies of subjugating an entire race took nearly the entire world to impede. Hitler’s Secret is a novel by William Osborne that derives its setting from the World War II era in Bavaria. It encompasses two teenagers assigned to kidnap a girl who has proven influential to the Nazis. The teenage agents, Leni and Otto, confront numerous obstacles in their efforts to securely transfer the girl to Britain’s possession. Hitler’s Secret is an A grade book because it utilizes authentic historical content, ensures a balance of suspense and relief, and contains emotional characters.
Six million Jews died during World War II by the Nazi army under Hitler who wanted to exterminate all Jews. In Night, Elie Wiesel, the author, recalls his horrifying journey through Auschwitz in the concentration camp. This memoir is based off of Elie’s first-hand experience in the camp as a fifteen year old boy from Sighet survives and lives to tell his story. The theme of this memoir is man's inhumanity to man. The cruel events that occurred to Elie and others during the Holocaust turned families and others against each other as they struggled to survive Hitler's and the Nazi Army’s inhumane treatment.
The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived.
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, he recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control. His words are strong and his message clear. Wiesel uses themes such as hunger and death to vividly display his days during World War II. Wiesel’s main purpose is to describe to the reader the horrifying scenes and feelings he suffered through as a repressed Jew. His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader. Young readers today find the actions of Nazis almost unimaginable. This book more than sufficiently portrays the era in the words of a victim himself.
During this dark time in history, people like Miss. Breed from Dear Miss Breed took initial action on what she thought was right, and gave hope to Japanese Internment Camp children by supplying books and writing letters. What these heroes of the past have in common is that they took action for what they truly believe is right. The best way to respond to conflict is based on a person’s general judgment on what they think is right or wrong, this will show how they take action during conflict. In the story, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow, the thoughts of independence and judgement were shown by German student, Sophie Scholl.
Throughout the memoir, Wiesel demonstrates how oppression and dehumanization can affect one’s identity by describing the actions of the Nazis and how it changed the Jewish people’s outlook on life. Wiesel’s identity transformed dramatically throughout the narrative. “How old he had grown the night before! His body was completely twisted, shriveled up into itself. His eyes were petrified, his lips withered, decayed.
World War II was a grave event in the twentieth century that affected millions. Two main concepts World War II is remembered for are the concentration camps and the marches. These marches and camps were deadly to many yet powerful to others. However, to most citizens near camps or marches, they were insignificant and often ignored. In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak introduces marches and camps similar to Dachau to demonstrate how citizens of nearby communities were oblivious to the suffering in those camps during the Holocaust.
Fritzsche, Peter. Life and Death in the Third Reich. 1st Ed. ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP,
INTRODUCTION Wendy Lower in Hitler’s Furies interrelates the adventures of 13 women who travelled to East Germany in search of jobs, fortune, romance, and even power. These young women (mostly secretaries, wives, teachers and nurses) saw the “wild east” as an exciting opportunity to acquire what most women in Germany dreamed about which were career advancement, marriage and valuable possessions. Hitler’s Furies attacks the claim that women in Germany were largely innocent and hardly participated in Nazi party’s devilry by using examples of seemingly “ordinary” German women who committed heinous crimes under the guise of patriotism. Their crimes were as low as being indignant bystanders to as high as been the perpetrators who were only too
After Germany lost World War I, it was in a national state of humiliation. Their economy was in the drain, and they had their hands full paying for the reparations from the war. Then a man named Adolf Hitler rose to the position of Chancellor and realized his potential to inspire people to follow. Hitler promised the people of Germany a new age; an age of prosperity with the country back as a superpower in Europe. Hitler had a vision, and this vision was that not only the country be dominant in a political sense, but that his ‘perfect race’, the ‘Aryans,’ would be dominant in a cultural sense. His steps to achieving his goal came in the form of the Holocaust. The most well known victims of the Holocaust were of course, the Jews. However, approximately 11 million people were killed in the holocaust, and of those, there were only 6 million Jews killed. The other 5 million people were the Gypsies, Pols, Political Dissidents, Handicapped, Jehovah’s witnesses, Homosexuals and even those of African-German descent. Those who were believed to be enemies of the state were sent to camps where they were worked or starved to death.
“Hitler won’t be able to do us any harm, even if he wants to.” So begins the book, Night, by Elie Wiesel an autobiographical work about Elie’s struggle to survive the Holocaust while living at multiple concentration camps. Beginning at age 15, Elie Wiesel moves from a young man questioning the accounts of German hatred, to becoming a witness of many inhumane acts brought upon people. Elie Wiesel’s book, Night, describes instances of inhumane acts on the Jews at Berkenau-Auswitz, at Buna, and on the march to Gleiwitz.
The tragedies of the holocaust forever altered history. One of the most detailed accounts of the horrific events from the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past. It is beneficial that Wiesel published this, if he had not the world might not have known the extent of the Nazis reign. He exposes the cruelty of man, and the misuse of power. Through a lifetime of tragedy, Elie Wiesel struggled internally to resurrect his religious beliefs as well as his hatred for the human race. He shares these emotions to the world through Night.
In 1930, young, teenage Mengele completed high school and left his home to study medicine at Munich University in Germany. Adolf Hitler was stirring up the Bavarian people at this time with his “anti-Jewish” ideas. He attracted large crowds, who gather...