h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Rise of Adolf Hitler- His First 30 years - A10410508
Author: benjaminpmoore - U3508889

New, revised and slightly exciting, the fully updated version of Hitler's First Thirty Years is now part of an exciting Uni project. Please read and make any comments you have as to the quality of the content. Ta.

You still here?

Yup.

Sorry I missed this, Benjamin. I dont know a whole lot about the politics of the time so Leo may be more helpful there. My ocmments re thus:

I like the structure of the entry, it flows well and sequentially. It is informative and although you have several typos in there, I dont think this is the time to comment on them - maybe later.

My ony query with regard to content is with regards to Hitler's appearance and physical *ahem* disability and how that could possibly equate with his whole ethnic cleansing project. I really dont mean to be flippant about this but I have always wondered how he could possibly rise to power and be taken seriously when planning the eventual true superiority of the Aryan race when he was a little dark single testicled Austrian. Some mind bending must have taken place as he did not even have the benefit of some nepotic family influence to push him up the political ladder. Do you know anything about any of this?

You decide if this entry is the place for it, but I'd love to know...





W

This particular entry is not the place to discuss either Hitler's rise to political power or his genetials. I am working on an entry covering 1919-1924 (which needs to be followed by another one going up to '33, which I will probably end up writing as well) which would expand more on what might have been the causes of his extraordinary success.
As for the other *ahem* issue (let's not discuss fluids), I'm aslo reading Hitler's Medical Casebook, and I'm hoping to translate that (figuratively, I can't speak German) into an entry on his medical issues.

Historically speaking, I trust Benjamin on the matter. He's read fatter books on Hitler. I've always been more fascinated by the grisly side of WWII and the Holocaust: like the fact that Hitler felt bad for lobsters being boiled alive, and so on.

No time now, but I can do a run-through on sentence structure and phrasing, which from a quick glance looks rather unnecessary.

Well then, all that remains is the typos. Do you want those dealt with here or are you submitting to PeerReview now, B?


W

It's part of a Uni Project Wilma, so won't be submitted to Peer Review until all the Entries are subbed, ben just wanted some feedback from the EGWWers

Not planning to submit to peer review now, since this entry is supposedly part of a university project (just need another six or seven pieces, maybe I was being a bit over-ambitious...) so if you have any thoughts on the structure... I did feel a little as if my anxiety to seperate fact from speculation in this piece had made it less fluid and readable than it might be.

Maybe if I wasn't streaming digital radio through my PC my replies would bea bit quicker.

>>He was the forth child of Klara and Alois Hitler, who's previous three children had all died. <<

Two typos in here.
fourth and whose.

>>ating at soup kitchens and eeking out a living with his painting. <<
and a third:
eking.

Is that all, Wilma?


>>relative non-person during this period <<
nonentity, maybe better?

>>only served to fuel the speculation that was a factor of historical assessment of his early life. Hit<<
- I think this could be clearer.

>>In Bavaria Hitler remained relatively directonless, despite having considered the prospect of becoming an archiatect. The Austrian authorities caught up with him but excused him m<<
- two more. Directionless and architect.

>>after he failed a medical. <<
- exam. medical exam.

>>r could hold and loose on of their best messeng<<
lose.

>> the Jews2 , who was also shoulder the blame in his eyes for a surrender he regarded as a betrayal.<<
- who was? I think something wrong.

>>ewly installed Weimarr Republic r<<
-Weimar, I think.

>>popular Government widely blamed <<
- government lowercase.

>>this political context the Senior military figures, alth<<
- same for senior.

>>hich was little more than a politcal talking shop. Ho<<
- political

>>is request, and Hitler's response, would change the course of European history irreverably over the next century.<<
- isn't all history irreversable? Just a quibble.

Anyway, I zipped through and understood it all perfectly, so forget your worries. It's great.

What Leo said /\

and Matt said/\
and Ben said/\

Oh, and Wilma, I did a report on the whole "How and Why" business for 11th grade , and though it's rather incomplete because I hadn't yet heard of Stanley Milgram, Jane Eliot, the prisoner-jailer experiment, or read the book on Eichmann's capture, (did bring in the Third Wave experiment, though,) the long and short of it is:
If you take people who are desperate and give them someone to blame (Jews and Communists) and remove the main problem (bad economy) and give them reason to be proud (conquest) there isn't much they wont do for you.
The grisly details are all explained by the experiments mentioned.

You've mentioned quite a lot og stuff I'm not familliar with there, Leo. How old are you in the eleventh grade?
I think you also have to factor in Hitler's ability to appeal both to the working classes and to the aristocrats of Germany, as well as his success in ultimately drawing in the middle class. There are also issues of not only desperation but also wounded pride, feelings of persecution and anxiety at mass levels of unempployment and economic crisis. Crucially, for me, there is also the very contemporary problem of political apathy.

I was the usual age for 11th grade back then. Now I'm 3 years older, and 19.
Why people do what they do is a serious interest of mine. As soon I heard of Milgram I bought a copy of "Obedience to Authority."

I oversimplified in the post, of course. Along with, as you mentioned, crisis level economy and wounded pride was a long history of anti-semitism.

Browsing my report I find mention of the 'stab-in-the-back' theory, the fact that after WWI there was no victory march or any of the usual methods of letting the beaten Germans know for certain that they'd been beaten, ("We didn't feel we had come to the end of our strength.")

Also the imperialistic racist belief, Hit1er's personal charisma - not to be underestimated, even if he was short and dark, and hmmm... this is interesting:
"Hit1er planned each speech to the detail. The room always had to be too small so that people of all types would be squashed together. Party members were scattered throughout the crowd to infect themwith enthusiasm. Women were placed in the front where their emotional support would be capitalized. Hit1er was always on a podium above the crowd" (not so short looking...) lighting, flags etc etc.

Propaganda, anti-communism, Hit1er youth, the SA for the unemployed:
"...then I saw crowds of men marching by
To the Third Reich I heard them say
I thought as I'd nothing to live for
I might as well march their way."
- song of the SA Man, by Bertolt Brecht

Was there really much political apathy? I got the (possibly erronious) idea that everyone was either communist or t or (some) monarchist or (fewer) democratic. May be oversimplification.

Perhaps 'apathy' is the wrong word. I think there was a lot of support for the Nazis, as there always is for facism and other 'extreme' political movements because they are dynamic and because they give the appearance of doing things where the other political parties seem untrustworthy.
Leo- I ask about your age at 11th grade because I'm confused as to what eleventh grade is. I assume you are in America? You're right about the anti-semitism and I think that points like that are absolutely key because it's important to realise that Hitler wasn't just an isolated nutter and that his power base was based on genuine democratic support. The stab in the back thing is also important, because of the way information was passed back by senior military figures the German public thought they were winning, and found their surrender extremely confusing, hence the theory of the betrayal, which leads into ideas of a Jewish conspiracy.
Would either of you be interested in maaking a contribution to my Hitler Uiversity Project? It's here A10893873. If not, I'd be interested to hear what you think of Hitler: From Backroom to Beerhall, when it's ready.

Honestly can't see myself contributing anything significant, but thanks for the invite. Will definitely read it when you're done or when it goes into PR.
They do make Uni projects go through PR these days, don't they?

The whole thing will go through pr at some stage but the individual entries will go through the edited guide workshop first.

So I've made a couple of ammendments, a bit of wording and some new information. If anyone would care to see what they think, please comment.