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The Recounting Of Kristallnacht, By Susan Warsinger

Decent Essays

propaganda to see individuals like this as lazy or as a problem to Aryan society, especially since they are depicted as rather frightening with their demands. This leads into stage number six, where social division becomes even more solidified. Stage number six is Polarization. According to Stanton, this is where “Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda. Laws may forbid intermarriage or social interaction. Extremist terrorism targets moderates, intimidating and silencing the center.” In this stage segregation can really be seen taking place. Signs such as “Jews not Welcome here” were placed in shop windows and outside businesses. Another clear example of this is the event of Kristallnacht, …show more content…

And according to Susan, the Rabi’s family had the exact same impression, as they found them up there already when they arrived. The people that live on the third floor will shortly become relevant as Susan recalls their pacifism towards the onslaught of violence against her family, and other Jewish residents that were living in her same building. She continues, And our apartment was, not ransacked too badly, but a lot of our furniture was broken and a lot of things were missing. But it... you could still live in it. However the rabbi 's apartment, when they people had rushed up there during my mother... the eve of my mother’s birthday, they burned all of his books. He had this beautiful library and they got torn and burned and his furniture was really destroyed. And the people who were on the third floor, they pretended they didn 't know anything was happening. After the Night of the Broken Glass everybody in Germany wanted to leave. I mean I think maybe that was the objective of the Nazis, to try and get everybody out. This is a clear example of the growing pacifism of those who were not Jewish and how they chose to react, or not, to such acts. While it may come off as a cold shoulder, the important realization of this situation was fear. Those on the third floor, as many others did, pretended that nothing was awry during the ransacking of their Jewish neighbor’s apartments and homes. Propaganda, up to this

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