DOCSLIB.ORG

Fantasy and Hate: a Fantasy Theme Analysis of Der Giftpilz

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fantasy and Hate: a Fantasy Theme Analysis of Der Giftpilz AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Matthew S. Rosenberg for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Name in Speech Communication, Speech Communication, and History presented on December 10, 2014. Title: Fantasy and Hate: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Der Giftpilz. Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________ Robert S. Iltis In Nazi Germany, 1938, Der Stürmer publishing house, under the control of Julius Striecher, published Der Giftpilz or The Poisonous Mushroom; an anti-Semitic children’s book. Disseminated in the thousands, Der Giftpilz became infamously known as a children’s book so grotesque it could be, and in fact was, admitted as evidence in the Nuremberg Trials. This study explores the totalizing nature of the Jewish question and its usage as an explanatory backdrop towards the manipulation of children. Congruently, this study seeks to expose this artifact’s rhetorical function through the use of Ernst Bormann’s Fantasy Theme Analysis (FTA). This study employs FTA as a means of exposing the symbols and narratives behind an ideology that Der Giftpilz aimed at children. Particularly this study illuminates a child version of Nazi ideology that is utterly delusory, but at the same time instructive, and corrective. In addition, this study also explores cultural identity specifically the formation of identity through alienation. Lastly, this study could have implications on similar rhetorical research as the world comes to understand child propaganda and its implications. ©Copyright by Matthew S. Rosenberg December 10, 2014 All Rights Reserved Fantasy and Hate: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Der Giftpilz. by Matthew S. Rosenberg A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Presented December 10, 2014 Commencement June 2015 Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies thesis of Matthew S. Rosenberg presented on December 10, 2014 APPROVED: Major Professor, representing Speech Communication Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. Matthew S. Rosenberg, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS May the G-d of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, rest among us in peace. Anything I have achieved is because of my wife’s unconditional kindness and support. This thesis is dedicated to my parents for their ingenuity and foresight into my educational path. Words are not enough. My thesis advisor, Dr. Robert Iltis. The consistent reminder to persevere guides me even now. Brad dear friend. Every student should be blessed to have a Brad in his or her life. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1 The Rhetorical Component ....................................................................................... 3 The Intercultural Component .................................................................................... 4 IMPLANTING THE JEWISH QUESTION .................................................................. 7 Long-Term Vision, Return on Investment, Education .............................................. 7 The Jewish Question ............................................................................................... 13 Totalizing Propaganda ............................................................................................ 16 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 23 THE HISTORICAL WEIGHT OF DER GIFTPILZ ................................................... 25 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 34 Fantasy Theme Analysis ......................................................................................... 34 Morhmann’s Refutation .......................................................................................... 39 Justifying FTA as a Method .................................................................................... 42 The Intercultural Component: A Rules/Systems Approach .................................... 47 Justification of Rules/Systems Approach ............................................................... 51 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 51 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page ANALYSIS OF DER GIFTPILZ ................................................................................. 53 Ch.1 Poisonous mushroom ..................................................................................... 54 Ch.2 How One Recognizes Jews ............................................................................ 56 Ch.3 This is How the Jews Came to Us .................................................................. 58 Ch.4 What is the Talmud? ...................................................................................... 61 Ch.5. Why Do Jews Have Themselves baptized? ................................................... 63 Ch.6 How a German Peasant was Driven from House and Farm ........................... 66 The End (of the First Narrative Set) ....................................................................... 67 Ch.7 This is How Jewish Merchants Swindle ........................................................ 68 Ch.8 What Hans and Else Experienced with a Strange Man .................................. 70 Ch.9 What Happened to Inge at The Jew Doctor ................................................. 72 Ch.10 This is How the Jew Treats His Servant Girl ............................................... 75 Ch.11 How Two Women were Swindled by Jew Lawyers .................................... 76 Ch.12 This is How the Jews Torture Animals ........................................................ 77 Ch.13 What Christ said About the Jews ................................................................. 79 Ch.14 The God of Jews is Money ......................................................................... 81 The End (of the Second Narrative Set) ................................................................... 83 Ch.15 How the Worker Hartman Became a National Socialist .............................. 83 Ch.16 Are There Decent Jews? ............................................................................... 85 Ch.17 Without Solving the Jewish Problem: No Salvation for Mankind ............... 86 The End and Summation ......................................................................................... 89 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page CONLUSION .............................................................................................................. 95 Rhetorical Identity .................................................................................................. 95 Stuctural .................................................................................................................. 97 Characterological .................................................................................................. 101 Relational .............................................................................................................. 107 Intercultural ........................................................................................................... 111 Rhetorical Vision .................................................................................................. 114 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 117 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 122 Appendices ................................................................................................................. 125 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page CHAPTER TITLES SEPERATED BY SECTIONS ................................................. 125 BY CHAPTER: CHARACTER, SCENE, AND ACTION ....................................... 126 SUMMATION: CHARACTER, SCENE, AND ACTION ....................................... 128 POEMS BY CHAPTER ............................................................................................ 130 1 INTRODUCTION By 1938 the infamous Nazi regime had infiltrated German life to the extent that children’s books (not to be confused with educational documents) containing Nazi propaganda were published in the tens of thousands. Jew-baiting teachers used these books as teaching tools, giving the content of the book credibility (Bytwerk 172). Out of the anti-Semitic children books published, one stands above the rest as an exemplar of the Nazi methods: Der Giftpilz, or The Poisonous Mushroom, was a book published by a semi-private Nazi publication that furthered the Nazis’ superstitious, Jew-hating ideology. Masked in this children’s book, an über narrative unfolds, leaving “…little question regarding the intended Nazi solution to the “Jewish Problem” (Mills). This book treats the “Jewish question,”(a racial question of what should be done with the Jew) as an imperative, utterly necessary for survival. Specifically targeting
Load more

Recommended publications
  • STUDENT HANDOUT Antisemitism Over Time
    ANTISEMITISM OVER TIME THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION BOOK COVERS (1911-2006) The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion was first published in 1905. It was said to be the secret minutes of a Jewish council plotting world domination. In reality it was a hoax carried out by the Russian secret police. Over the past century, this forgery has been translated into dozens of languages and spread throughout the world in order to keep alive antisemitic ideas. For instance, Henry Ford (the founder of Ford Motor Company) distributed 500,000 copies throughout the U.S. in the 1920s. In Nazi Germany, teachers were instructed to assign the book to school children. View the Protocols book covers, which span almost a century and a dozen countries. • What stereotypes and beliefs about Jewish people are conveyed through these images? • How have these ideas changed or stayed the same over time? • What conclusion do you come to about how strong the roots of this stereotype are? Original Russian edition, 1911 Poland, 1943 Japan, 2004 Spain, 1930: "The Invisible World Pakistan, 1969 Syria, 2005 Government, or the Jewish Program to Subjugate the World" CONTEMPORARY ANTISEMITISM 1 France, 1934: "The Jewish Danger" Great Britain, 1978 Mexico, 2005 Brazil, 1937 Egypt, 2003: "The Protocols Malaysia, 2006 of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins" CONTEMPORARY ANTISEMITISM 2 THE POISONOUS MUSHROOM (GERMANY, 1938) Der Giftpilz or The Poisonous Mushroom was a book published in 1938 to spread and normalize antisemitic ideas. It was written for children and often used in school settings.
    [Show full text]
  • Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust
    religions Article Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust Henry Munson Department of Anthropology, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA; [email protected] Received: 7 December 2017; Accepted: 12 January 2018; Published: 16 January 2018 Abstract: There is, in principle, a fundamental difference between Nazi racial antisemitism and the traditional anti-Judaism of Christianity. The church’s official view has been that conversion transforms a Jew into a Christian, whereas the Nazi view was that a Jewish convert to Christianity remained a Jew. Nevertheless, the distinction between racial and religious antisemitism has often been less clear-cut than is often claimed by those who claim that Christian churches bear no responsibility for the Holocaust. That is not to say that it is illusory, just that it has often been less clear-cut than is often claimed. During the Holocaust and the decades that preceded it, Christian clergy often stressed the same themes as the Nazis, notably with respect to the Jews being “parasitic” capitalists exploiting Christians, as well as communists seeking to overthrow the governments and traditional Christian values of Europe (Passelecq and Suchecky 1997, pp. 123–36). We shall see that these clerics often also spoke of Jews in racial, as well as religious terms. Conversely, the Nazis often exploited traditional Christian themes, such as the diabolical nature of the Jew, the image of the Jew as “Christ-killer,” and the contrast between “carnal” (materialistic) Judaism and spiritual Christianity. In other words, the Nazis effectively exploited two millennia of Christian demonization of the Jew. Most scholars who have studied the role of the Christian churches during the Holocaust are well aware of most of these facts (Barnett 1992; Bergen 1996; Ericksen and Heschel 1999a; Kertzer 2001).
    [Show full text]
  • Suzanne Statland Collection in Holocaust Studies Collection
    University of Missouri-Kansas City Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections NOT TO BE USED FOR PUBLICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch ………………………………………………………………… 2 Scope and Content ………………………………………………………………… 2 Series Notes ……………………………………………………………….………... 3 Series I: Biographical Information ………………………………………………… 4 Series II: Correspondence ………………………………………………………… 4 Series III: Interviews ………………………………………………………………… 4 Series IV: Community Service ………………………………………………… 4 Series V: Holocaust Studies ………………………………………………………… 5 Series VI: News Clippings ………………………………………………………… 5 Series VII: Journal/News Publications ………………………………………… 9 Series VIII: Sound Recordings ………………………………………………… 10 Appendix: Holocaust Research Guide ………………………………………… 11 MS137-Suzanne Statland Collection in Holocaust Studies 1 University of Missouri-Kansas City Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections NOT TO BE USED FOR PUBLICATION BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Suzanne Statland lived most of her life in the Kansas City area. She graduated from Vassar College with a Bachelor’s degree in English literature and earned her Master’s degree in history from Harvard University-Radcliffe College and the University of Kansas. Statland volunteered at Kansas City’s Human Relations Department and was involved in several Kansas City area historical, social and educational groups, including the Friends of the UMKC Library, where she was a co-founder and past president; Historic Kansas City Foundation, Landmarks Commission, and the Kansas City Arts Commission. Statland
    [Show full text]
  • Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust
    nazi ideology and the holocaust nazi ideology and the holocaust united states holocaust memorial museum library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Nazi ideology and the Holocaust. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-89604-712-9 isbn-10: 0-89604-712-1 1. World War, 1939-1945—Atrocities. 2. Genocide—Germany—History—20th century. 3. National socialism. I. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. d804.3.N43 2007 940.53’18—dc22 2007038045 Copyright © 2007 contents Maps: Europe 1938, inside front cover German Administration of Europe 1944, inside front cover Europe Major Nazi Camps 1943–44, inside back cover Euthanasia Centers, Germany 1940–45, inside back cover 9 Acknowledgments 11 nazi ideology 23 enemies of the regime: Political Opponents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Homosexuals 53 territorial struggle in europe: Polish and Soviet Civilians, and Soviet Prisoners of War 75 the quest for racial purity: Germans with Mental and Physical Disabilities, African Germans, and Roma 111 the holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry 159 epilogue | the aftermath of the holocaust: Punishing and Preventing the Crime of Genocide 164 Further Reading and Additional Sources This publication is made possible by a generous grant from the Hess, Ein, and Lewin families in loving memory of Charles and Ilse Hess. research, writing, and editing William F. Meinecke Jr., Historian Alexandra Zapruder, Consultant Timothy Kaiser, Project Director Laura Glassman and Barbara Hart of Publications Professionals, Copy Editors review Peter Black, Senior Historian Sarah Ogilvie, Director of the National Institute for Holocaust Education Steven Luckert, Permanent Exhibition Curator Susan Bachrach, Special Exhibitions Curator Edward Phillips, Deputy Director of Exhibitions Daniel Napolitano, Director of Education design and production Studio A, Alexandria, Va.
    [Show full text]
  • A Curriculum Guide for Grades 9–12
    VOLUME I A Curriculum Guide for Grades 9–12 New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education 2003 Nathan Rapoport, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE: THE BETRAYAL OF HUMANITY A Curriculum Guide for Grades 9–12 New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTSi - TABLE volume TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. 1 I Acknowledgements . 3 I Letter from Chairman, N.J. Commission on Holocaust Education . 4 I To The Teacher . 5 G Introduction . 5 G What Does the Mandate Require? . 6 G Why Teach About the Holocaust and Genocides? A Rationale. 6 G N.J. Commission on Holocaust Education’s Rationale for Holocaust And Genocide Education. 7 G Structure of the Curriculum Guide . 8 G How to Use This Curriculum Guide: Suggestions . 9 > Design of Rationale Statements for Teaching the Holocaust and Genocides . 9 > Identifying the Placement of the Subject in the Curriculum . 9 > Selection of Unit Goals and Performance Objectives . 10 > Selection of Teaching/Learning Strategies and Activities. 10 > Selection of Instructional Materials/Resources . 10 > Assessment of Student Progress. 11 I The Holocaust and Genocide: The Betrayal of Humanity Second Edition, 2003, Goals and Objectives . 13 UNIT I: AN INTRODUCTION TO A STUDY OF THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE: THE NATURE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR . 21 I Introduction. 21 I Unit Goal, Performance Objectives, Teaching/Learning Strategies and Activities, and Instructional Materials/Resources . .23 I Readings Included in This Unit (list). .45 I Reprints of Readings . 47 UNIT II: AN INTRODUCTION TO A STUDY OF THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE: VIEWS OF PREJUDICE AND GENOCIDE . 141 I Introduction. 143 I Unit Goal, Performance Objectives, Teaching/Learning Strategies and Activities, and Instructional Materials/Resources .
    [Show full text]
  • Page References in Italic Refer to Photographs. African Germans, 14
    index Page references in italic refer to photographs. Binding, Karl, 80–81 biological inferiority, 75 African Germans, 14, 90–94 birth rates, German, 17, 39 antisemitism, 11, 15, 124, 161 blacks, Nazi segregation and persecution, 14, 90–94 German, 17, 111 Bloody Sunday (1939), 26 Hillberg on trends, 114–15 Blut und Boden (blood and soil), 12 Nazi antisemitic policy (1933–1939), 114–24, 120, Bolshevism, 65–67 127, 139 Bonhöffer, Karl and Dietrich, 87 Nazi antisemitic policy (1940–1945), 145–54 book burnings, 44 pogroms, 112, 126–27, 128 Bosnia, ethnic cleansing, 161 public acceptance of antisemitic policy, 120, 127, 139 Bouhler, Philip, 83 resistance movement success and, 152 boycott of Jewish-owned businesses, 115 “Aryan,” meaning and use of term, 13 Brack, Viktor, 89 “Aryan” Germans, 13–14 “Aryanization” of business, 121 carbon monoxide poisonings, 70, 84, 86, 105, 142, 147 compared to Jews, 15 Charitable Foundation for the Transport of Patients death of the race (Volkstod), 75 Inc., 84–86 depiction in propaganda, 120 children and teenagers, 35, 58, 59–61, 82–83, 91, kidnapping Polish children, 59–61 93–94, 149, 129, 134, 135, 150 “Master Race” superiority, 13–14, 20, 75 Children’s Aid Society, 117 racial (bloodline) purity, 14, 75, 90, 91–93, 101, 118 Children’s Transport (Kindertransport), 122, 123, 130 Romani people as technically “Aryan,” 100–101 Clauberg, Carl, 104 unconditional obedience, 18 collaboration with Nazis, 62, 72, 139, 142–43, 156 Asocials, 44, 89, 100, 101, 102, 107 Communist Party. 24, 25, 26–27, 28, 64 asylum for German
    [Show full text]
  • Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College
    Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College Antisemitisms: Facing the Longest Hatreds in a post Holocaust World This introduction to the “world’s longest hatred” is not meant to be comprehensive and will be generally restricted to my own focus, research, personal experience, and imagination. I will explore the role of antisemitism in the context of the development of Western European individual and collective identities that created an “imaginable” foundation for the Nazis. What are the roots of antisemitism? How do individual and collective identities shape its various expressions? How is it similar to and different from racism, bigotry, and prejudice? How has it manifested itself in different times and places? Were the Nazis different or part of a continuum? What is the role of imagination? How does antisemitism allow perpetrators to morally justify their actions by shifting their moral universe? Focus questions: Where does antisemitism come from and how does it give meaning to individual and collective identities? How does antisemitism act as a “virus” – mutating to penetrate societal norms? Hate cannot be publicly aired without some form of justification. What sources of authority within cultures have legitimated and sanctioned antisemitism? What made central and eastern European antisemitism lethal? For classroom discussion: What was surprising and/or interesting about this reading? What questions do you have of the text? What needs to be clarified for you? What are the important ideas and themes for you? How to deal with issues of identity? Antisemitism, broadly defined, are feelings, attitudes and acts of prejudice and hatred against Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Paper for Honors
    STATE OF FEAR: Antisemitism in Nazi Propaganda and Its Effects on the German People by Kirsten Alyse Currier An Honors Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors Diploma to The University Honors Program of The University of Alabama in Huntsville 11 April 2013 Abstract Historians have debated for decades over the role of the German people in the Nazi crimes against the Jews. This paper does not attempt to argue definitively whether Germans of the Nazi period should be considered perpetrators or bystanders but instead looks in-depth at the antisemitic propaganda that surrounded them on all sides. Themes of religious, moral, racial, economic, and cultural antisemitism in Nazi books, posters, speeches, and iconography are examined in order to prove the ultimate power of propaganda on public opinion. That power effectively turned the Germans against the Jews as a result of the fear that it created. As Hitler himself said, “Propaganda is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert.” Honors Thesis Advisor: Dr. Andrew Dunar History Department Chair Advisor Date Department Chair Date Honors Program Director Date Currier 1 STATE OF FEAR: Antisemitism in Nazi Propaganda and its Effects on the German People Between 1939 and 1945, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, in an effort to cleanse Germany of its racial impurities and create Lebensraum (“living space”) for ethnically pure Germans, murdered over six million Jews. The Nazis shot and left thousands in shallow graves whose surface continued to move as those who had survived the bullet suffocated under the weight of their friends and neighbors.1 Others they forced to walk on long death marches in the cold, with no rest, food, or water.
    [Show full text]