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Impact of the First World War
Stalin rule
Weimar republic collapse socially
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Recommended: Impact of the First World War
In November 11th of 1918 World War I was finally over. The war left many countries in ruin, all but Germany. Although there was no physical damage done to the country, an economic crisis was about to sweep away almost all of the country’s hope. America called in all their foreign loans to help pay for the war, this destroyed Weimar, Germany. The population of unemployed people rose to 6 million. When people were losing their job, along with their faith, the Nazi Party began gaining support. The poor people of the country turned to communism. This act frightened the wealthy businessmen of Germany, so in return they began supporting Hitler’s campaigns. The Nazi Party started out small with only 12 seats, but by July of 1932 they had 230 seats …show more content…
When Hitler rose to full power in Germany he wanted to branch out his dictatorship to other countries as well. In September of 1939 Germany invades Poland starting World War II. Hitler’s forces eventually take west invading the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. In June of 1941, he breaks the Nazi Soviet Pact and invades Russia. As Germany hits harder into the heartland of Russia, more troops are drafted in to protect the Soviet leader, but when Russia first went to war against Germany, Russia never signed anything to protect their prisoners. By October of 1941, more than three million people that were in jail, were now prisoners of the war. This resulted in harsh, and mistreatment towards the Russian prisoners. This is dark part of history was written in a novel called: One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The book revolves around the main character, Ivan, and his experience in a labor prison. The book often describes how he and his fellow peers were mistreated and were underfed. In history it was described as “The Policy of Mass Starvation”. Soviet prisoners were the first victims of the Nazi policy. In August of 1941 the German army set a ration of 2,000 or so …show more content…
The name of the camps were called Gulag. The camps were government agency that administered the main Soviet Union camp system during the Stalin era. The camps housed many convicts, murders and traitors of the country, but later on the prisoners of Russia and innocent people wounded up in the camps. The author of the novel also had a first hand experience at this camp. He was arrested for writing a derogatory comment about Stalin in a letter. At the time, private mail did not exist and it was read by an officer. He was sent to a Stalin labour camp where he had to endure the harsh treatment of the camps. He was arrested in 1945, he later then was released in 1953. When he was released, he was sent to exile, but three years later he was soon allowed back into his home country. However, once the wretched leader of Russia was killed many Soviet prisoners were released. The camps were functioning up until the 1980’s but the political leaders realized how inhumane they were, and were shut
The book, Night, by Eliezer (Elie) Wiesel, entails the story of his childhood in Nazi concentration camps all around Europe. Around the middle of the 20th century in the early 1940s, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army traveled around Europe in an effort to exterminate the Jewish population. As they went to through different countries in order to enforce this policy, Nazi officers sent every Jewish person they found to a concentration camp. Often called death camps, the main purpose was to dispose of people through intense work hours and terrible living conditions. Wiesel writes about his journey from a normal, happy life to a horrifying environment surrounded by death in the Nazi concentration camps. Night is an amazingly
"Gulag: Soviet Forced Labor Camps and the Struggle for Freedom." Gulag: Soviet Forced Labor Camps and the Struggle for Freedom. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. .
In late 1923 and early 1924 the German economy seemed to experience a mild period of economic stabilisation and "prosperity". In November, the government issued a new currency and ensured that tight restrictions were imposed. The economy was further stimulated by loans principally from the USA. However despite all this there simultaneously, was increasing numbers of unemployed persons. A well cited example of this is the coal mining industry where the introduction of more efficient machinery meant that one in four miners lost their jobs. No doubt that increased unemployment meant that the German population grew increasingly discontent with the Weimar government and this is the beginnings of the swing towards more radical political voting. Hitler knew that he had to have attractive political policies in order to attract a greater pool of voters, looking for alternative parties, and he recognized a possible solution to this was to attract the attention of the farming and rural community. The Nazi Party took this opportunity quickly and campaigned hard to win over the votes of the farmers and rural workers by promising tax reductions, cheaper electricity and a promise to rebuild the farming industry. "The peasants, the Nazis said, were of true German blood and their life was the true German life. They had shamefully been neglected by the Weimar Republic." Hitler told the people of the land that under a Nazi Government, rural people would be the most important people in Germany. The rural Germans were on the brink of bankruptcy, constituting approximately 11 Billion marks by 1932. The Nazi's promise of a return to rural prosperity was too good for them to resist. Yet this adoption of the rural Germans also proved useful in another sense because it allowed the Nazi party to use the Jewish people as a scapegoat towards the problems faced by the rural Germans.
The Soviet system of forced labor camps was first established in 1919 under the Cheka; however, in the early 1930’s camps had reached outrageous numbers. In 1934 the Gulag had several million prisoners. The prisoners ranged from innocent pro-Bolsheviks to guilty Trotsky’s. Conditions were harsh, filthy, and prisoners received inadequate food rations and poor clothing. Over the period of the Stalin dictatorship many people experienced violations of their basic human rights, three in particular were Natasha Petrovskaya, Mikhail Belov, and Olga Andreyeva.
This demonstrates that the prisoners are part of a system where the needs of the collective are far more important than the needs of the individual (in both communism and in the prison.) It also reveals the corruption of the Soviet Union because it while it claims that everyone should be equal, the life of the prisoners in the camp are not valued at all. This could be due to the fact that prisoners in the camps aren’t viewed as people, but rather as animals that are being worked to their death.
Hitler's Invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 I think that Hitler had always planned to attack Russia, even as he agreed to the signing of a non aggression pact with Russia, his plans to invade were beginning to come together as the pact split up Poland, enabling Germany to have a border with Russia. The pact was signed by Ribentrop from Germany and Molotov from Russia This was vital as German tactics relied on fast, effective and surprise attacks known as blitzkrieg; with Poland standing between Germany and Russia, in the time that it would take the German army to advance Poland and reached Russia, the Russian army would be aware and ready for battle; the element of surprise would be gone and Germany would be at a disadvantage. Also using blitzkrieg tactics would enable them to destroy the Russian air force while it was on the ground Hitler had stated in his book 'Mein Kampf' that he very much-disliked communism, he thought of the Russian people as inferior, this however would be one of the contributing reasons for the downfall of Germany, Hitler would underestimate the Russian people thinking they were inferior. He also stated that he would give the German people 'Lebensraum' (living space) and that living space would be in the east, this almost definitely meant Russia.
The Holocaust existed as an actual living nightmare for the prisoners, as they suffered through a period of endless tragedies.With the Nazi regime gradually advancing in power in the 1930s, the lives of the Jewish population were submerging into danger. Due to the belief of “racial superiority” the Nazis had, they developed the Holocaust to exterminate those who were viewed as social threats. Prisoners were abused physically and psychologically, as the sight of dead corpses became a mundane picture. As the conditions were gradually getting worse, people could no longer see a light of escape. This can best be exhibited in three pieces of literature. In Night by Elie Wiesel, the author writes the book from his personal experiences being trapped
When the term “gulag” is mentioned, an image of labor camps commonly comes to mind. While this is partly true, the actual term Gulag is an acronym which translates into “Main Camp Administration.” It was a Soviet institution opened during the Lenin era that controlled a network of labor camps aimed at demonstrating absolute control over Russia. Even though the Gulag system had been around since the 1920s, it only became a prominent part of Russian society during Stalin’s rule, when anybody who opposed him was sent to a prison camp or killed. At first, the Gulag was only a fraction of the penal system in Russia, but after the publication of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1973, it came to represent the entire forced labor administration of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s Gulag resulted in anywhere from twenty to sixty million deaths; the exact number is unknown. In the camps, prisoners were subject to starvation, sickness, and hard labor in unfavorable weather conditions. As it happened, many of the construction projects in Russia were completed due to the work of Gulag prisoners. Yet, despite the fact that Stalin’s Gulag is one of the most gruesome genocides to ever occur, with a death rate higher than that of the Holocaust, it is also one of the most overlooked events in history.
The 1940’s was a time of great conflict between the United States and Europe. This led to World War II, which began on June 14th, 1940 when German troops were sent to France to occupy Paris (Nash 500). Before the United States entered World War II many conflicts erupted throughout Europe such as the advancement of German troops into various countries (Nash 501-502). The main source of these conflicts was a man by the name of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a power hungry man who had the drive to become a political leader (Nash 492). But, the ways by which he obtained leadership were repulsive. He struck fear into the eyes of those in which opposed his teaching and killed whoever stood in his way (Nash 493). Germany faced troubling times after World War I. Hitler looked at this as the perfect opportunity to rise to power. He turned a party that consisted of a small amount of workers into the National Socialist German Workers’ party, which later became known as the Nazi party. During the 1920s, Hitler performed many speeches in order to make the Nazi party better known. In his speeches he talked about eliminating the differences between the rich and poor in order to prevent divided social classes. This made his party strong, attractive, and it quickly gained many supporters (Nash 494). By August 1934, Hitler became the Dictator of Germany and began mass takeover of Europe and World War II began (Nash 495). It was at this point when he began mass takeover of Europe and World War II began (Nash 500). He sent Nazi troops to take over nearby land, which made neighboring countries nervous. One of these countries, Russia, made a non-aggression pact with Hitler as a way to try to protect their country. Even though H...
The novel focuses on one man, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, as he tries to survive another day in the Soviet Union with dignity and compassion. The action takes place at a prison camp in Russia in the northeastern region called Ekibastuz. The location is pounded by snow, ice and winds of appalling and shocking force during winter and lasted for many weeks. The camp is very isolated as it consists double rows of barbed wire fencing around the entire area, making sure it is fully concealed and private, so that no prisoners can escape. The conditions of the camp are very harsh. It is a union where camp prisoners have to earn their food by working hard in their inadequate clothing during the extremely cold weather. Living conditions are almost unbearable; heavy mattresses do not include sheets, as an alternative it is stuffed with sawdust, prisoners only eat two hundred grams of bread per meal and guards would force prisoners to remove their clothing for body searches at temperatures of forty below zero. The building walls are covered in dull and monotonous white paint and it was untidy and unpleasant. “It’s constant chaos, constant crowds and constant confusion” shows that ceilings are most likely coated with frost and men at the tables are packed as tight and it was always crowded. Rats would diddle around the food store, because of the incredibly unhygienic and filthy environment the camp is and it was so insanitary that some men would die from horrible diseases. “Men trying to barge their way through with full trays” suggests that the living conditions are very harsh indeed and mealtimes would be chaotic, as every famished men would be rushing to receive food. However, not only did the place cause the prisoners to suffer and lose their...
After the terrible causes of World War I, Germany was stuck in the ruins. They were still trying to rebuild and recover from the war. The Treaty of Versailles, along with the Great Depression severely affected Germany. The unemployment lines increased, and food was scarce. Money was a huge hassle too, the factories were all closed and the savings were completely wiped out. Due to all these economic is what made Hitler’s rise to p...
After World War I, the social climate in Germany was depressing. The German people were humiliated by their country's defeat and by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The financial depression that resulted left millions of individuals out of work. The German government was weak, and the people sought new leadership. These conditions provided an opportune setting for a new leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party, the National Socialist German Workers Party. Hitler, reckless and powerful, was able to fan the flames of an ancient hatred into a wild and out of control holocaust (Altman 12).
Throughout the 20th century, many countries were ruled by totalitarian leaders who were ready to commit many horrible deeds in order to achieve their goals. Josef Stalin, the leader of Soviet Union between 1924 and 1953, is the perfect example of a despotic ruler, who was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. He believed that communism would transform the Soviet Union into a perfect nation, with an ideal society where everyone would be treated equally. However, in order to achieve this perfection, all external and, more importantly, internal enemies had to be destroyed. Instead of a perfect nation, Stalin created a system, which was based on fear and denunciation, where killing of the so-called "enemies of the nation" became a sport, where Stalin's representatives competed against each other on the basis of the number of "enemies" killed. Throughout almost three decades, millions of innocent people were either killed or put into labour camps. The author of the book himself, was sentenced to eight years in a concentration camp for his anti-Soviet views, which he expressed in writing, and through the characters of his novel, Solzhenitsyn portrays his personal beliefs. Most of the characters in "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" are innocent people, who have never done anything reprehensible. Among them is Gopchik, a sixteen-year-old boy who was sentenced to 10 years in concentration camp for giving milk to Ukrainian nationalist rebels, and Aleshka the Baptist who received twenty-five years for his religious beliefs. The protagonist of the novel, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, is a simple man without any heroic qualities. He is a former carpenter who was sent off to the battlefield during the World War II. After being captured by the Germans, Ivan and five of his fellow soldiers were able to escape and return to the Soviet military base. However, three of them were killed instantly, mistaken for German soldiers while the fourth soldier died from wounds a couple of days later. Although Ivan Denisovich was not shot, he was arrested and accused of being a German spy. Even though he was innocent, he had to confess during the interrogation, because he understood that he would be shot immediately if he did not. As a result, he was sentenced to ten years in a Siberian concentration camp for betraying Soviet Union. The Soviet labour camps represented a small-scale totalitarian nation, where wardens were the despotic rulers who frequently abused the prisoners.
Prisoners and Jews taken during the war were forcibly relocated to areas with “no prepared lodging or sanitary facilities and little food for them” (Tucker). Often said the people were simply being held prisoner, many of them died; some from the brutality of the German soldiers and others through methods for mass killing (Tucker). The labor camps in the novel are based off of this concept; people being taken to an area with poor treatment and then being killed. Towards the beginning of the novel, June believes students who fail the trial go to labor camps and are never seen again (Lu 8). Later in the novel, Day enlightens June about the labor camps by telling her “the only labor camps are the morgues in hospital basements” (Lu 205). In both the labor camps featured in Legend and World War II prison camps, the people are told they are being taken away when in reality they are killed. Furthermore, in the Nazi Germany prison camps the people were living in poor conditions up until their death, similar to the individuals in the novel who were experimented on for the benefit of the military. The portrayal of labor camps as similar to wartime prison camps points out the brutality of the government towards its citizens, as well as, the way leaders tell lies to cover their unethical
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich takes place in a camp run by the Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps. This camp is called a Gulag which was established for people who were working against the soviet union under the man named Stalin. You would go there for disobeying, not believing in what stalin wanted the perfect soviet society to be. One of the men named Ivan denisovich told his story about the life in the Gulags. When ivan was sent there for being a soldier. He would always wake up on time and do the work he was demanded of. But one of the days he fell ill. he hoped he was going to be put on the sick list. So that day he decided to lay in bed for a few minutes longer. Instead the guard so rudely does tell him to get up and said you're coming with me. When you disobeyed the guards orders you were sent to a prison cell.A guard named TarTar took him to the punishment cells for his tardiness but instead he makes him clean the floor in the guard room. This job was for After doing this he goes to eat breakfast which consists of bread and water. When he was done with breakfast he went to the doctor because he felt ill but the guy took his temperature and sent him to do some work. The only thing that kept him moving and fighting was having people he was close with which was necessarily his gang consisting of tiuryn, tsezar, aloysha a baptist not being able to have his own religion. As Shukhov he said “Come on, boys, don’t let it get you down! It’s only a Power Station, but we’ll make it a home away from home.” ( page, Schukov wanted to make knifes with the scrap metal he found. He wanted to be able to fight back with the soviet guards in hopes to go home. But when he was searched at first he remembered that ...