Dietrich Bonhoeffer On The Role Of Nazism In Germany

The holocaust took its toll on the lives of innumerable people. One particular survivor Elie Wiesel had his entire outlook on life changed not to mention his beliefs feeling and his innocence. His life was once a pleasant and comfort filled life, one with family and friends. A life worth living and a life that was filled with innocence and freedom of religion. He loved his religion as if it was life itself. He wanted to push himself to be more close to God but, that would soon change. As a result during Elie’s experience during the holocaust he changed from a religious, sensitive little boy to a spiritually dead , unemotional man.

The Totalitarian Aspects of Nazi Germany The government of Nazi Germany was a fascist, totalitarian state. They ruled in Germany ever since Hitler became chancellor in 1933, to 1945. Totalitarianism was a form of government in which the state involves itself in all facts of society, including the daily life of its citizens. It penetrates and controls all aspects of public and private life, through the state's use of propaganda, terror and technology.

Within Germany, a country torn between the rise of a totalitarian party that determined a superior race, Nazism, and the survival of the oppressed, young Germans face a test between a sense of self and society. Individuality would be suppressed within this new type of society, and being different would be the deadliest obstruction to life. The violations of the rights to life, religion, and speech are relived through the stories of the German youth that lived through this haunting time, whose name would be tarnished in their struggle to survive. In their fight, their morals would be challenged and influenced until the Nazi regime ended, and the violation of human dignity would leave them wondering if life was worth living after all. The Nazi Party grew under its leader, Adolf Hitler, which struggled not to use violence against those that disagreed with their views, starting with armed groups known as the Strum Abteilung, who pledged to be ready to sacrifice their life in the aims of the Nazi Party and absolute loyalty to their leader. Their cruel intolerance began by their strong nationalism and their hatred of democracy and communism, and they gained power through the economic depressions around the world, controlling the media by instilling fear and propaganda that influenced a strong belief in their leaders. This belief in the leaders would soon seem to override Church influence when the official body of the Church failed to do anything significant

Hitler’s rise to power was the result of many factors, but Hitler’s ability to take advantage of Germany’s poor leadership and economical and political conditions was the most significant factor. His ability to manipulate the media and the German public whilst taking advantage of Germany’s poor leadership resulted in both the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler and the nazi party. During the early 1920s, Germany was struggling with economic instability and political uncertainty. Germany, after being defeated in the Great War, was forced to sign the unforgiving treaty of Versailles, which the Weimar Republic was held responsible for. This brought forward feelings of fear, anger and

The author demonstrates that an adverse atmosphere can cause a person to relinquish their faith. The author establishes the purpose through the sufferings of Moishe the Beadle, Wiesel’s torment and plight of other prisoners in the concentration camp.

This is a gradual transition that starts, first, with Wiesel’s questioning of God. The first day at Auschwitz, Wiesel witnesses babies being thrown carelessly into pits of flames, burning alive. To Wiesel’s utter disbelief, God is not present to save these poor innocent children from premature death. Wiesel cannot comprehend why his God is not showing up in the face of such adversity and starts to question whether he should worship such a God that ignores his people’s obvious pleas for help. Instead of praying to God for strength and guidance, Wiesel skeptically asks, “Why should I sanctify his name? What was there to thank him for?” (33). Instead of trusting that God is beside him through this experience and investing every last bit of faith into optimism, Wiesel infringes on God’s path for him and becomes suspicious of God’s motives and loyalty. He does not understand, “how can anyone believe in this Mercy of God”, when the Jewish people, their own people, are slaughtered daily

The holocaust unleashed unparalleled cruelty and suffering to a great number of people; Elie Wiesel survived these hardships, but his innocence was shattered. For this reason, he wrote Night to share his personal memories of his time spent in the concentration camps and details the transformation of his faith and understanding of God. Each person Elie writes about attempts to reconcile their agony with their faith, albeit many fail or have their faith transformed. In this paper, I will describe how Wiesel’s understanding of God transforms as he experiences tragedy and how the various prisoners come to terms with their faith.

1) Germany before the Fuhrer. Germany’s defeat at the end of World War I left the nation socially, politically, and economically shattered. The reparation agreements inflicted upon Germany without its’ consent at the end of the war meant that the nation was in complete financial ruin. In the wake of Germany’s defeat, public decent climaxed on the 9th November 1918 during the revolution that took place on Berlin’s Postdamer Platz. This revolution transpired as a result of the public’s culminating discontent towards the imperial monarchy, and lasted up until August 1919, which saw the establishment of the Weimar Republic. In attempts to guide Germany out of economic

Even though Germany was left in a period of struggle and economic weakness after WW1, Adolf Hitler would take a stand by creating a party that would help refine the structure of the economy. This party, when abbreviated, was called Nazi, would also create harsh laws and unrelentless punishment. Due to the Nazi party’s quick growth, there was an immediate impact on lifestyle and politics for the people of Germany. The long term impact brought forth by the consequences or legacy of the Nazi party included a population decrease and an increase in deaths. To make both of these impacts, Hitler had to overcome many hard challenges.

During the Nazi German era, which took place from 1933 until 1945, Christianity played a very important role in the rise of Hitler’s regime. The Christian churches greatly influenced not only the formation of the Nazi regime, but also the German folk. The most influential churches were the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. Even though Christianity itself faced a state of decline in the early 1930s, the higher clergy of the Christian churches in Germany still managed to make a significant impact. The amount of influence that the churches exerted can be measured not only through the impact of their resistance towards the Nazis, but conversely through the resistance carried out by

Bonhoeffer had been challenging his seminarians to make the choice before them to embrace the cross of Christ by sharing in his suffering and death

Dietrich Bonhoeffes was a German pastor for the Lutheran church. He was born in Breslau, Germany, on February 4th, 1906. He had 5 siblings a mother (Paula) and father (Karl). He went to school in Tubingen and Berlin in 1927. Then in 1928 he went to Barcelona and served as a German parish. Then in 1930 he finished his studies at Union Seminary in New York. Which later lead to help him with the resistance.

Shortly after the end of WWII, British Intelligence officer Hugh Trevor-Roper was given the task to establish the facts of Hitler's end, and thereby to prevent the growth of a myth. His report, later published as “The Last Days of Hitler”, draws on Allied intelligence's interrogations of survivors who spent time in the bunker during the last ten days of Hitler's life. Trevor-Roper organizes his book chronologically, but it's more a series of character sketches than a strict time line of events. We see a raving, physically broken, nearly insane Hitler contemplating both his heroic death and the complete and

Two days after Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany, on the 3rd of September 1939, President Roosevelt issued a proclamation of neutrality and ordered the suspension of munitions sales to all “belligerents” (nations involved in war.) This included its “allies” the British and the French, as they were counted as “belligerent” nations.

The leaders of the Nazi party made it one of the most infamous groups to lead a nation in history. The horrible things done under their rule and with their stamp of approval has made the term Nazi one of the worst possible. The amazing thing about the Nazi party is that many of the main aspects of their ideology existed in Germany even before they formed or came to power. Some of the major aspects of Nazi ideology such as antisemitism, the desire to expand the German empire, and the belief in the strength of the Aryan race existed in Germany years before Adolf Hitler was a name anyone in Germany would recognize.