Friday, January 24, 2020

Hitler Youth: The Future of Germany :: Nazi German Hitler History Essays

Hitler Youth: The Future of Germany The Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend-HJ) were for Hitler the future of the Nazi party. Hitler’s dream of a thousand year Reich could only be accomplished through the youth, which were deemed the most important aspect of Germany's future as a powerful nation. "The future of the German nation depends on its youth, and the German youth shall have to be prepared for its future duties."(i) The youth were important because they would continue the Nazi legacy and spread propaganda to future generations. Hitler was so obsessed with his quest for the future of Germany, that he devoted most of his endeavors, such as the acquisition of Lebensraum and the elimination of the subhumans, for the purpose of gaining more land for the future generations. Hitler was not some all mighty God that was able to just snap his fingers and the youth would follow him, he was aided in the fact that the youth were on a quest of their own: independence. They were energetic, full of life, and had an overwhelming love for Germany along with spirit and a quest to find their position in life. Hitler recognized these characteristics of the youth and decided to incorporate them into his plan for the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party) to flourish. These characteristics and Hitler's involvement became the leading tragedy and inspiration of the German youth movement. This youth movement began before World War I, was the result of the industrial revolution, and came to be known as the ‘Youth Revolution.’(ii) The Early Movement In the 1920's, the German youth were involved in about two thousand groups and organizations. The most popular organization was the Wandervogel, which was popular due to the involvement of sports. Boys were able to go on weekend retreats, where they would hike and learn to survive on their own in the wilderness. Organized sporting events of soccer and other various competitions kept the interests of the children. The Wandervogel were noted for their love of the land, not the new, modern conveniences of the cities. Hiking and skiing were chosen over activities such as watching a movie or going to a dance. The Wandervogel, which was formed November 4, 1901(iii), reflected the main attitudes of the of the youth movement. American Boy Scouts saluting Hitler Youth in Munich in 1935. Koch p. 196. In some ways the Wandervogel was a manifestation of the perceptible mood of boredom and restlessness appearance of Wilhelmian Germany was little more than a facade which

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Jill Lepore, new york burning

New York Burning, by Jill Lepore, is an interesting yet flawed study of a 1741 conspiracy among New York’s slaves, which authorities discovered in the wake of ten fires started by African Americans.   While the work claims to examine the slave revolts and ensuing trials (in which over a hundred blacks were executed by hanging or burning) as evidence of how political opposition formed and functioned, it succeeds much better as a study of race relations and the culture of paranoia. Lepore’s thesis is that the 1741 conspiracy, while based more on hearsay and forced confessions than on actual evidence, occurred within a climate of political and intellectual ferment that made political pluralism (and, ultimately, the American political system) possible.   Indeed, the New York she describes was already politically divided in the wake of the landmark Zenger trial of 1735, in which printer John Peter Zenger was charged with printing libelous attacks against the arbitrary, heavy-handed colonial governor. His acquittal laid the foundations for free speech but also caused a political schism, as two rival political factions formed – the Court party, which supported the royal governors, and the Country Party, an opposition group which demanded greater liberties.   (However, she makes clear that liberty was reserved strictly for whites and pertained more to the press and taxation than to individuals, certainly those of color.)   Mutual mistrust between the two parties lingered for years. The 1741 conspiracy took place, says Lepore, within a rather tense and paranoid context.   It began in March with a fire at the city’s only military outpost, Fort George.   Subsequent blazes over the next few weeks broke out at houses and businesses belonging to Court party members, and these were quickly followed by a series of arrests and trials that lasted into the summer. Twenty whites and 152 blacks (slave and free) were arrested and over a hundred people executed, including many Country Party members’ slaves and servants.   Lepore claims that the end result of these events was greater acceptance of political opposition, but her work does less to connect the slave plot to politics than it does to describe a place beset by racism and paranoia. In tracing the plot’s evolution, Lepore offers the reader a detailed description of New York in 1741.   A former Dutch colony with a multilingual population and sizeable slave population, New York had considerable political division and a strangely paranoid culture.   Not only were fears of slave rebellions prevalent and population politically split, but novels and plays about intrigues were common and highly popular.   (She notes that George Farquhar’s The Beaux’ Stratagem was then the city’s most popular play.) New Yorkers were thus highly sensitive to anything resembling a plot and unusually prone to imagine such things; Lepore writes, â€Å"Nothing ‘just happened’ in the early eighteenth century.   There was always a villain to be caught, a conspiracy to be detected.   The century was lousy with intrigues† (51). In addition, she asserts that the black plotters may have been misunderstood by white witnesses who overheard them in Hughson’s tavern, taking oaths and swearing revenge on New York. She demonstrates that, much like New England’s slaves staged mock â€Å"election days† to both mimic and satirize white culture, the New York plotters may have been imitating their masters, many of whom were Masons (and thus mistrusted in an early America which saw wrongdoing in their secrecy and rituals).   Horsmanden, says Lepore, viewed the trial like a conspiracy novel and, â€Å"In an anxious empire, he found monstrous black creatures . . . [and] political plotters† (122) from whom he thought he could save the city. The 1741 plot was thus tailor-made for the age.   It involved a group of New York blacks who swore oaths to burn down the city, kill its white men, take their wives, and to install a tavern keeper and small-time criminal named John Hughson as the new governor.   After the arsonists were captured and confessions extracted (in some cases with torture, which could not legally be used on whites but was freely used against blacks), the colony’s Supreme Court was eager to demonstrate its authority and regain some of the credibility it lost after the Zenger trial.   In particular, Lepore devotes considerable attention to Daniel Horsmanden, the English judge who prosecuted Zenger and was eager to redeem himself. Lepore relies heavily on his own journal of the trial, pointing out its biases and distortions, and she comments that Horsmanden considered losing the Zenger trial â€Å"a gross humiliation† and that the 1741 plot offered him â€Å"an unrivaled opportunity to consolidate the court’s power.   He could make a name for himself† (118). Indeed, his handling of the trial shows not only his zeal but also how poorly colonial courts handled evidence and how grossly they mistreated black defendants.   Four whites and over a hundred blacks were executed, often in a grisly manner that assuaged the nervous city.   According to Lepore, whites enjoyed public executions and attended â€Å"out of hatred, out of obligation, out of fascination† and, â€Å"like imprisonment, interrogation, and trial, an execution was a pageant† (105).   Trials and executions of rebellious slaves were especially celebrated, as the racial order was preserved. Though the book claims to examine the 1741 slave plot’s meaning in terms of politics, is actually spends little time doing this and her analysis is thus somewhat underdeveloped.   However, Lepore offers an excellent picture of colonial New York’s race relations, which were volatile and tense, adding that â€Å"however much ‘liberty’ some enslaved New Yorkers might have enjoyed, it was always fragile and nearly always illicit† (155). Whites so feared blacks that they passed laws regulating their right to gather freely and set grossly unfair standards for sexual conduct (white men could exploit black women without penalty, but black men were sternly discouraged from consensual relations with white women).   It is little wonder, then, that blacks resented their white masters and neighbors.   Also, at the same time, though, the court was quick to attribute the plot’s leadership to Hughson, a smuggler and thief on the side, because few believed blacks intellectually capable of hatching such a scheme. Lepore ends the book by claiming that the 1741 plot demonstrates how New York’s colonial politics operated.   Horsmanden, who exacted a vicious justice on the conspirators, was stripped of his political offices in 1747 and then became a champion of the liberties he had denied as a judge.   His activities redeemed him and one of his posts was restored to him in 1755. Lepore uses this, along with the Zenger trial, as evidence of how New Yorkers became more tolerant of opposition politics, but she does not tie this very convincingly to the slave plot.   Indeed, her discussion of New York’s colonial politics pales in comparison to her picture of New York’s social and cultural landscapes. New York Burning appears to be two different histories in one, with its study of race relations and fear of conspiracies submerged within its examination of how the plot influenced politics.   The political aspects are not as well-developed and Lepore does not argue very convincingly that the Zenger trial and slave conspiracy demonstrate how New Yorkers handled the question of political opposition. The author devotes much of the book to exploring race and culture, and she creates a vivid, convincing picture of how early New Yorkers combined fear of their slaves with their taste for (and sensitivity to) conspiracy and intrigues.   Had the book been a study of race and paranoia, instead of claiming these were only parts of a developing political culture, it would likely have been a stronger piece of scholarship.   The book succeeds as a cultural history while failing to connect race and culture to the developing political landscape of early America. Lepore, Jill.   New York Burning.   New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Essay Major League Baseball´s Culture - 1548 Words

Baseball is spread across the United States and has become a part of some cities culture. Cultures stretch from the newer teams of the west and the old school teams of the east. There are teams that have been around since baseball started and new teams that were made within the last 20 years. Major League Baseball’s culture differs across the United States depending on where you’re located. There are trends between cultures based on location and how long the team has been around. These cultures are different in many, but all have a common similarity. All baseball cultures revolve around a Major League Baseball team. These teams can move, like the Dodgers from Brooklyn to L.A. and teams changing ownership, like when the Montreal Expos’s†¦show more content†¦To do that you have to go spend lots of money on free agents, like they are doing now. The way a team builds itself changes the type of culture that surrounds a team. A team at the other end of the spe ctrum is the St. Louis Cardinals. They have built their team through their farm system like I mention earlier, also known as the minor leagues. Many of their players are â€Å"home grown† talent as they call it and the fans are very close to their players, unlike the money driven stars, the fans feel like the young players are growing up and their involved with it. An example of this is on the teams Facebook page the team posted a thank you to two of their home grown stars that they traded away, and the top comment reads this, â€Å"Freese will always be a cardinal in the hearts of true fans of STL(St. Louis) baseball.† The second highest comment posted is this, â€Å"Freese will always be the homegrown talent. Best of luck to both of them in Anaheim.† The cardinal fans love their players and care about wining, but there is more to it to them, they feel a part of the growing of David Freese and other players like him. Teams like the Cardinals, Yankees, and the R ed Sox don’t have to worry too much about bringing in fans like small market teams. Teams that do have to try to get fans to come to the games like the Tampa Bay Rays or the Seattle Mariners. The RaysShow MoreRelatedThe Unique History Of The Negro Baseball Leagues1379 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Negro Baseball Leagues. We will discuss how they were an integral part of the African American culture and what they meant to their communities. We will also discuss some of the more famous players of the Negro Leagues as well as take a look at what the impact of Jackie Robinson being the first African American to be signed to a professional Major League team was and how it affected the future of baseball. Black American men were banned from being able to play professional baseball from theRead More316 (4-5). Ms. Matthews . English Iv. 24 April 2017 . 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