The Wave: Strength Through Action By Mr. Ben Ross

In his article titled Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, Daniel J. Goldhagen argues that the reason why ordinary Germans participated in the mass murder of of the Jewish people was to obey orders and fearing for their own lives if they did not participate. I believe that ordinary people can commit acts that may go against their moral belief if their own life is at risk. Goldhagen further argues that the ordinary German was coerced into participation by the social pressures they experienced. This element is similar to the peer pressure we all experience in wanting to be part of a group. Goldhagen stated, “It is, so goes the argument, extremely difficult for individuals to resist pressures to conform, pressures which can lead individuals to participate in acts which they on their own would not do, indeed would abhor.” (n.

Many people would willingly assist someone in danger, yet many German citizens sat idle as innocent people were slaughtered by the thousands. By the mid 1920s, Germany was plunged into a state of economic depression and people were desperately looking for someone to follow. Many people simply conformed to the ideals of others, despite their own thoughts and beliefs. Herd mentality is the subconscious adoption of the attitudes and behaviors of one’s peers. As a result of this ingrained disposition, people are more likely to “bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one” (Taleb 192). Through the use of propaganda, Hitler effectively targeted people’s innate need to conform to prevent the rapid decline in his following

Hitler impresses the Reichstag with the ethos, credibility, of his leadership. Referring to the success of his government, Hitler entreats, “Allow me now to give you a short excerpt from our economic life which proves in plain figures whether and to what extent National Socialism has solved these problems.” Hitler then presents a simple, yet powerful statistic: a tremendous rise in annual German births. Hitler does not pick this statistic blindly. He chooses a statistic that he knows will be important, impactful, and personal to his audience. Not only is a rise in births a sign of increased prosperity (for people are unlikely to have kids if they are not in love and with the means of supporting their children), but it is also a statistic dear to his audience’s heart. After World War I, so many loved ones died. Accordingly, the babies and new life mentioned in the statistic must have brought great joy to a hurting nation. Further, Hitler reinforces his ethos as a leader when he remembers, “It was as an unknown German soldier at the front that I put together this bold program, fighting for fourteen years…” Mr. Hitler is proving his credibility as a planner and a thinker, describing his process of invention, how he carefully came up with the idea while fighting at the front. The thoughtful and planned politicians of the German Reichstag surely appreciate the care and attention their leader invested in this program. For his audience, Hitler could have no better credibility than that provided by increased birth statistics and his claim of careful

Have you ever been hurt by words or inspired by a saying? It’s staggering that they can change people's life for good or end it altogether. The Wave, a short novel based on a true story by Morton Rhue, demonstrates the power of words in good and bad ways. The novel is about a teacher who dictates his students into a Nazi-like student group as a lesson for his history class. However, the simple, seemingly harmless experiment soon goes out of hand and no one can stop the students organization, The Wave. An important idea in the text is ‘words can be used for harm or for good. One author method that is used by Rhue to convey this idea is the power of repetition of harmful words. And a second author method that is used by Rhue to reveal this idea is persuasive, emotive language by Mr Ross to get students on board with the experiment.

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.

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

As the citizens of Germany endorsed Hitler’s new cutting-edge ideas, they gained enthusiasm and determination to regain their power. Germany came to the conclusion that war was the only solution to their problem when Hitler wrote, “No nation can remove this hand from its throat except by the sword” (Document A). These words reveal that Hitler’s thoughts and opinions affected those around him. By saying this, he suggested that he understood what Germany wanted and knew that they wouldn’t get it unless they followed his methods. People who read what Hitler wrote were hugely impacted by it, so much so that they began to think with their emotions instead of their heads.

During the time of the Nazis coming to power, some of German citizen soon questioned the Nazi empires authority. Then soon after the German citizens at the time question if they went against the Nazi Empire what would happen. “Most Germans worried primarily about their own survival and thus, as information began to leak out about the deportation of Jews and the other Nazi abuses, they kept any concerns they might had to themselves” (Hoffmann 1). Showing the oppression of the Nazi empire affecting their citizens and not only the Jews. This however started to oppress the people that did not agree with the Nazi ideology at the time. Than citizens were questioning why no one would go against the Nazi rule and try to rebel against their ideas and the

“Young boys were organized into the Deutches Jungvolk (German Young People, informally called Pimpfe), older boys into the Hitlerjugend (HJ). The Deutches Jungvolk could have boys from the ages of 10-14 and the Hitlerjugend could have boys from the ages of 14-18. When World War II started, more than ninety percent of German youth were members of these organizations. Ninety percent is a huge percentage. That means that almost every teenage German, Gentile was a member of some kind of Nazi Youth Organization. Many of these youth organization actually over rid the parental control on the children. Many were told that the individual or the family was less important than the state. If children had disloyal parents, they were encouraged to report them. When the boys weren’t in school or at home with their parents, they were with their youth organization learning military maneuvers and different chants. An example of the one the chants that the Hitler Youth used to march around chanting are: “Comrades, we march to the field, red today, tomorrow dead, Comrades it must be that way.” If the boys made any achievement in the Hitler Youth, credit in school would be given to the student. The teacher must respect the authority of the youth leaders, regardless of their age or attitude towards them. Blind obedience seems to be a common theme. Children are taught these ideologies without knowing the true real reason. Teachers are forced to believe and follow these ideologies if they wish to

Throughout the years 1933-1939, the Nazis consolidated and strengthened their power over the German people in a number of ways. The debate as to whether they depended on their broad popularity or on terror has been argued by historians ever since. The view given by Gellately in Source 4 strongly agrees with that in the question, whereas Evans, in Source 5 combines the terror and popularity aspects of the regime and says that the German people perceived terror as being popular. Johnson presents the view that the selective nature of Nazi terror created a sense of security for German citizens who should have nothing to worry about. However, on any level it

Ross’ history class. When teaching his students about the Holocaust, he dives into detail about the Nazi army, which at the time was its own subculture. A question from teachers pet, Laurie Saunders (main character) sparks Ben Ross’ mind with a question he wasn’t sure how to answer. Laurie’s question enquired why no one had stopped Hitler or the Nazi’s. This query haunted him until he thought of a social experiment titled “The Wave” that could show the class how the Germans behaved during the Holocaust.

Ben Ross teaches his students a remarkable lesson about the Nazi by creating The Wave. The purpose of his experiment is to teach his students how the Nazi was able to manipulate the German people. In this process, propaganda is pivotal; this was used by the Nazi to gather support from German. Nazi propaganda relied heavily on slogans and symbol; for instance, the Swastika was used to symbolize “good fortune” and “well-being”. Likewise, Mr. Ross draws, “a circle with the outline of a wave inside it” (43; ch. 6), as a symbol for The Wave because, “it has movement, direction and impact” (43; ch. 6); or, he uses a simple slogan, “Strength Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, Strength Through Action!” (62; ch. 8), to demonstrate the importance of discipline in reality. Next is the illusion. The Nazi Germany gives people faith in a superior

Peter Fritzche’s book, Germans into Nazis, contends that, “Germans became Nazis because they wanted to become Nazis and because the Nazis spoke so well to their interests and inclinations…however, voters did not back Hitler mainly because they share his hatred of the Jews…but because they departed from established political traditions in that they were identified at once with a distinctly popular form of ethnic nationalism and with the basic social reforms most Germans counted on to ensure national well-being.” (8-9) His argument rests on the notion that the Nazis had a vision for Germany that incorporated Germans into a national community, throwing off the restraints of a tired government, and propelled them towards a future that would

When looking into the history of Germany and determining what led to the startling rise in Nazism in Germany and its detrimental effects on the social outcasts in Europe, it can be easy to deduce that the Nazi regime was one where Hitler walked in with his officials and took office by force. The truth is that, while the Nazi party is responsible for the atrocities that occurred before and during WWII, they would have not gotten far if it hadn’t been for the cooperation of the German people themselves. Life in the Third Reich provides proof through voting, youth programs and village life that the Nazi party rose into power with German support.

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