The First German World Cup Triumph

The Olympics have shown over the decades that they can be affected by political conflict. However, it seems that this is the point of the Olympics, to illustrate national pride, by competition. Bloodshed should not be the way for pride of one’s country to be shown, but it should be shown through competition, in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de

There are many different factors attributed to Germany’s early success during the Second World War. While some factors were more significant to the German’s success, there is no debating that all of them contributed to the German’s attacking and conquering of Europe. It took quite a while for the Germans to begin to have trouble winning battles. The early success of Germany from 1939 to 1941 was due to Western Europe being afraid to have another World War, America’s lack of initial intervention, the Blitzkrieg, and Adolf Hitler’s intelligent militaristic strategy.

The following is a critique of the article “Good Times, Bad Times: Memories of The Third Reich” by Ulrich Herbert. In this critique, I will explore the themes of the article, discuss the main arguments, and address the significance of the author’s insight to the world of Nazi Germany.

Germany’s fate was changed on April 20, 1889, the day I, Adolf Hitler was born to German official, Alois and my dear, Klara Hitler. Little did they know of what a miracle that had blessed them that day. My destiny was decided for me every time my father lectured me about the abhor Jews, taking up our German property, and beat me for the childish mistakes I made. I realized my destiny was to punish the faults in our once perfect nation. My father’s strict upper hand was not the only contribution to my great plan. At the age of sixteen, I left my home to pursue my dream of becoming an artist. I enrolled myself into the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. The vile Jews in charge of the school denied me acceptance into the school. I spent

Germany was able to rebuild thanks to American financial aid. People in Germany, as in other European beaten countries after the war, began to pin their hopes for happiness on the acquisition of cars, television sets and furniture. About the time of Bausch’s adolescence, comparing status symbols began to be a more powerful form of personal communication than simple human contact.

The Holocaust took place during the late 1930s to the early 1940s, a time when many external and internal factors were affecting Germany and its people (Hill 1). Nevertheless Nazi leaders and common Germans killed almost two thirds of an estimated nine million Jewish people (Hill 2). One of the most puzzling questions about the Holocaust is why did common Germans take part? It is difficult to formulate an exact answer to the question because it deals with a whole nation, but many historians have hypothesized explanations related to the German’s unwilling and willing participation (Goldhagen 375).

Throughout the book “Au Revoir Les Enfants” Louis Malle highlights at several points the typical associations which the majority of people have when discussing the role of the Germans during the war. However Malle approaches the topic from a more complex angle thus forcing the reader to question the general stereotypes and examine the varying attitudes of both the French and Germans, by portraying them in certain situations in which they adopt a sometimes unexpected attitude.

Most people would classify the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 as just another Olympics, and they would be right because the Games did have the classic triumphs and upsets that occur at all Olympic Games. What most people did not see, behind the spectacle of the proceedings, was the effect the Nazi party had on every aspect of the Games including the results. Despite Nazi Germany’s determination to come off as the superior nation in the 1936 Olympics, their efforts were almost crushed by the very people they were trying to exclude.

One of Germany’s best football players during the 20th century was Franz Beckenbauer. Franz is in the international football hall of fame, making 103 international caps along with 14 international goals as a defender and a midfielder. He received the European Footballer of the year in 1972 and 1976, which is a huge individual award to receive. The international team awards he accomplished include winning the World Cup in 1974 and the European Championship in 1972. Franz was the captain of West Germany when they won the World cup in 1974. He is not just remembered for all the trophies he won, but also for the way he played the game. “Every movement he made on the pitch bristled with elegance. There was an arrogance in his play that suggested he was always in command” (Litterer 2010). Franz invented the attacking defender, by making his long runs down the

It has been around eighty years since the world’s deadliest war occurred. World War II is a topic that is often mentioned and debated on. From the year it actually started to how many were killed, World War II has been disputed about for decades. Layers concealing the inhumane and horrific crimes are slowly peeling off. While the coats of lies are being uncovered, however, not much of the truth has been taught. Most of the information learned today show only what the victors accomplished and strived to achieve. But there is another perspective, nearly forgotten amongst the exciting tales of victory, that tells of pain and desperate situations many faced at the end and even after the war. It is told through the losers point of view, which in the case of World War II in Europe, are the Germans.

“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas” (Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda* 98). This rule shows just what the Germans were hoping for, a peaceful, passive, war-free environment in which countries can get together and compete. Although we all know that quite the antithesis was upon the 1972 Olympics in Munich between September the fifth and September the sixth. The Munich Massacre, one of the worst massacres of all time, was driven by the vengefulness of the Palestinian group known as Black September, towards the people of Israel, or more relevantly, towards their Olympic team (Rosenberg). Since this confrontation between Palestine and

Elizabeth Heineman argued in her article that the collective societal memory of the experiences of German women in the immediate aftermath of World War II greatly contributed to the development of West German national identity, and directly influenced their eventual status in the partitioned country.1 She suggested that in order to fully comprehend this “history of memories” it was necessary to understand the distinctions and interconnections between what she refereed to as “counter”, “popular”, and “official” memories.2 In order to support this argument, the author conducted a series of formulaic analyses on the German perception toward women in three major areas of Post-War German cultural memory; war rapes by Soviet soldiers; the experiences of women who rebuilt the nation and the economy without much assistance from men; and finally those women who fraternized with Allied soldiers. She began her formula by first exploring the “universalization” of certain aspects of what became the stereotypical female experience of Germans at the end of World War II through the immediate post-war years.3 Next, she examined the effects of the universalization of the female German experience upon the formation of the West German national identity.4 This second point was further elaborated with an analysis of the relationship between “counter-memories” of subordinate groups and the “public” or “popular” memories of the dominant culture, national identity, and culture of West Germany.5

Although the term „war“ is very often used in German memories (71), particular – according to the generation of respondents - the time after the War is more often mentioned in this context.

Books, films, documentaries, and even memories: each serves to recount past events, each in a different way. While these accounts of the past are shared, they serve to provide the audience with an understanding; oftentimes this understanding does not and cannot portray the effect of certain, unimaginable events in history, such as the Holocaust, on individuals. In his essay, “The Presence of the Past,” Bernhard Schlink brings to the surface some of the inherited struggles that generations of German people have faced as a result of the Third Reich. Alongside his essay, Schlink also presents the effect of the past on people in his novel, The Reader, when he presents the audience with a character placed in a situation that is highly uncommon.

Therefore, this film is not only a testimony about the German past but also the German present. It displays the irrational annihilation of six young Germans at the end of WWII, summoning up a very agonizing recollection of Nazi Germany’s futile effort to turn back the Allied invasion by hurling teenage boys into the