(My character, Max Bühler, is a young man living in Berlin as a member of the Nazi party) Max was deeply disappointed he could not go to the Nuremberg parade on 1938. However a whole year had passed and his support for the NAZI party had risen to feverish heights. The Führer was everything Max…
Author: mfurtado@rollins.edu
Soviets in Berlin
In school I was taught that after the Battle of Berlin the Allied forces, represented by the Russian Red Army, valiantly walked into Berlin thus unshackling the Germans from the Nazi regime. However, as Lucy Ash exposed in her BBC article, the truth was not so simple. As Soviet forces took the city, it is…
Jewish community in Berlin
The Nazi system withered one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in Europe. It was mentioned that it was not the constant depredations and humiliations of the authorities, but the lack of information on what happened to those who were taken away was what deeply worried the evacuees. The Nazi regime managed to break this…
Foreign Workers
Staying true to the book’s premise, the chapter Unwelcomed Strangers was all about giving a voice to those who have not been given one before. Moorhouse stated that ‘foreign workers’ were seldom mentioned in first-documents in wartime Berlin. They were a substantial group within Berlin (they worked at Speer’s megalomaniacal constructions) yet natives managed to…
Why Hitler should have payed more attention to his history classes in school
I am currently taking a Fall of Roman Empire class so Speer’s and Hitler’s megalomaniacal attempts of turning Berlin into Rome are somewhat ironic. This empire collapsed into itself due to corruption and the unquenchable thirst for power of its leaders. Hitler seemed to severely lack historical perspective (if Napoleon did not manage it, neither…
Berlin Morale
If chapter four (“Marching on their Stomachs”) focused on the rationing, chapter two (“A Guarded Optimism”) highlighted the effects of the blackout upon the Berlin residents. It is interesting to see how both affected people’s morale but the rationing was immensily more effective (militarly speaking). The advent of radar technology made the blackouts innefective yet…
My Character in Berlin
My character is a German man, age 25 in 1939 living in Berlin. He comes from a wealthy family and is a member of the Nazi party. I chose this character because he is my polar opposite and I believe it will be an interesting experience to delve into such a different perspective. The Berlin…
WWI Narrative with a Twist
It was interesting to learn about World War II from a non-Hollywood perspective. As amusing and heartbreaking movies as Schindler List and The Pianist are, they portray the standpoint of a specific group. The German civilians under the Nazi regime are seldom given a voice in these post-war narratives as in Berlin at War. This…