Analysing Nazi Propaganda

     The image I chose for analysation was the poster of three flags and a man.  The caption reads, "Hinter den Feindmachten: der Jude.  This translates to "Behind Enemy Lines: the Jew".  The image depicts a large, ugly man partially hidden behind the Union Jack, the U.S. Flag, and the Communist flag. All three are threats and enemies to the Nazi Party, hinting that the large man is also an enemy. He is wearing a gold chain with a yellow Star of David, labelling him as a Jew. He is dressed in mainly black, and has dark hair/eyebrows and a prominent nose. This suggests how the Germans at this time view the Jews; as large, ugly, non-Aryan enemies.


The only clues I could find as to who created this image and when was the name "Hamil" and the date, 1945. 1945 is the year the U.K., U.S., France, and the Soviet troops entered Germany. Adolf Hitler committed suicide in 1945 also. However, this image couldn't have been created after/during these events. This poster was most likely created much earlier in the year, at the peak of Hitler's influence over Germany and its citizen's stereotypical thinking.


This image is a poster, and I believe the intended audience is the general population of Germany at this time. The intent of this propaganda piece was to dehumanize the Jewish population in Germany. This message may have caused German citizens at this time to view the Jews as an enemy of Germany; and the cause of economy problems due to the war. The Communists, U.K. and U.S. are also represented in this poster by their flags. This implies the need for the Nazi Party to blame others for the crises of Germany at this time.


Misleading information is definitely used in this poster. A man with a Jewish star is ported as large, ugly, and evil-looking. He is dressed in all black, including the large hat on his head. His expression is unhappy and he glares out from his hiding position behind three enemy flags (of the Nazis). This image is showing that Jews are ugly creatures, with enemy plots against Germany and an inhuman appearance/personality. This is the dehumanizing step prior to genocide; causing people to believe the Jews aren't human to make their actions acceptable.




http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm- This website was extremely helpful and has a wonderfully detailed account of Hitler's life and actions.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

What has The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas 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 Commandant.  He's still young and oblivious to the cruelty his father is subjecting millions to.  His view of Shmuel is not affected by prejudice and propaganda; he's only got his personality to judge.  Once you've been exposed to prejudice, however, your view of people and the world is tainted.

     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.

Any Man's Death Diminishes Me

"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."

-John Donne, 1624 Meditation 17 from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

John Donne's meditation and Armin Greder's The Island share similar themes. Donne describes mankind as a continent, and any individual man is a piece of the whole; "a part of the main". The death of any one man breaks away their piece of the continent, making the whole smaller and less great. Greder's characters in The Island established a similar theme.

A stranger washed up on a beach is different from the inhabitants of the beach's island. The majority of the island locals suggest that he is returned to his raft and sent out back to sea. A fisherman who deals with the sea daily claims that sending the stranger away would result in his death. Though he gets to stay on the island, he is neglected and viewed as a savage. In the end, he is returned to the sea that brought him to the island. The fisherman, who was obliged to help the stranger, was punished with the burning of his fishing boat.  The island is later surrounded by a large wall, and birds that come near are shot down, to ensure "different" people never find their island again.  

Though Donne's poem and Greder's story have different moods and endings, they share similar ideas.  People who discriminate others are the lesser.  The killing or ignoring of another human being causes you and your people to be smaller.  The island's people shunned a man they think of as different, and ended up isolated and alone on their island.  Only living close to people you accept as your own "kind" causes you to be close-minded, and in the end, alone.  An island.   

Science Long Term Homework

Task B: Visit this site and choose 5 tasks to complete.

I chose:

Task 35

Task 77

Task 90

Task 94

Task 95

35: In a garden flower, figure out the different parts. Locate the stamens (pollen-producing male part, consisting of filament and anther), pistil (female part that will mature into a fruit, consisting of stigma, style and ovary), corolla and calyx.

I cut open a bellflower (I'm guessing that's the name) in half to reveal the complicated tubes and stems. After reading this site, I realized that this flower has a superior ovary. The ovary carries ovules, which are the fertilized seeds in the pistil. This flower also had male and female parts, as flowers often do: the stamen, which produces pollen; and the pistil, which catches pollen to fertilize seeds.

77: At night, find a streetlight or backyard light and watch for insects who flutter into it. These insects are trying to navigate by the light as if it were a star. However, as they fly, trying to keep the light at a certain angle as must be done to fly in a straight line, they begin passing by the light. They turn to compensate, then have to turn again, and before long they are circling the light and crashing into it...

I've kept a light on in my room at night, and watched the bugs attracted to it. They seem content with flying around it in many circles before eventually disappearing. After researching why bugs continue to bump into lights after surely having done it many times before, I've gotten some answers. Moths are nocturnal insects well-known for being attracted to lights in an otherwise dark location. Some scientists claim they view light as a safer location, as their source of light is the moon, and flying upwards is advantageous in an attack. Others claim that they use the moon for navigation at nighttime, as it never disappears, until daytime begins. When they do see light, they "become disoriented as they never expected to reach the moon, or fly above it".

90: Most insects are either "chewers" or "suckers." Wander around looking at miscellaneous insects, deciding which are chewers and which are suckers.

This website deals with different bugs, the mouths they have, and whether or not they use it for sucking or chewing. Butterflies are considered "suckers". They use their proboscis to suck up nectar from flowers. Mosquitoes have similar means of getting their nutrients. They begin their feeding process by sticking their proboscis in, not a flower, but their live victim's skin. They continue by sucking up their blood. Humans feel irritation after being bitten by a mosquito, because the saliva of the parasite causes an allergic reaction in our bodies.

94: Understand your local weather by looking at clouds, seeing weather maps, etc.

It rains quite often in KL, usually every day, but mostly not for such a long time. You can often tell when it is about to rain because of the dark, heavy clouds in the sky. The humidity in the air might also be a bit more uncomfortable than usual, as the water vapor in the air has reached its breaking point. The weather reports often include forecasts of thunder/lightning storms, or party cloudy skies. The temperature is usually in the 30's in Celsius, upper 80's in Fahrenheit.

95: If you had to personally kill the animals providing the flesh you eat each day, would you do it? Is it moral for you to simply pay others to kill the animals you eat? Think about these questions.

I don't usually eat a lot of meat, but when I do, I don't ask myself these questions very often. There are some animals I think I'd be willing to kill myself, and others I would never even dream of killing. If I was stranded on an island with not enough fruit in the trees or vegetables in the ground, I may be willing to catch a fish. Anything bigger or bloodier than that, I don't think I would be able to stomach. When I am safe at home with plenty of food to eat, fishing might be something I'd do for myself, but never any other animal. I don't think it is very moral for me to have others kill the animals I eat, and this has created some doubts about my diet and the meat I put in my mouth. If I can't kill the animals myself, do I deserve to gain energy from the lives they had lived before?