After decades of being cautious as to how and when Hitler has been portrayed in Germany, the country is taking a huge step towards educating the nation about the seemingly charismatic and most evil Adolf Hitler. The German Historical Museum in Berlin strives, with this exhibit, to show the public how a nobody like Hitler was able to win the hearts of a country--a country down on its luck and reeling hard from the Treaty of Versaille and the negative affects the Treaty had on the Weimar Republic after World War I. Hitler has always been acknowledged and portrayed as a monster, evil incarnate, the most vile of all that is distasteful.
The new exhibit goes where few have gone before in portraying the humanity of Adolf Hitler. When one considers that Hitler was once a babe at his mother's breast, a child with skinned knees, a teenager in love, and an artist struggling to acceptance in art school, this adds to the intrigue of the man who became responsible for the murder of millions. I could dive into the subject of psychology here and the mind of a killer, but I won't. We can easily see the factors in Hitler's life that affected his thoughts and emotions, driving him to utter hatred for anyone not Aryan and "perfect." Given different circumstances, the history of the 1230-40's could be completely different. Everyone already knows this though, and I will leave it to each of you to explore the nuances of Hitler's life and decided where that change could have been made.
"The Nazi era is extensively documented and studied in Germany: museums looking at the regime and its crimes exist in many major cities, and the Second World War is a central part of every German child's school curriculum. But there's one figure at the burning-white center of the Holocaust that for many Germans remains too hot to touch: Adolf Hitler himself."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2025745,00.html#ixzz144Q8J8ch
Israeli orchestra to perform at Wagner festival in Germany
"An Israeli orchestra will strike an emotional chord in Germany next year when it plays a work by Richard Wagner, Hitler's favorite composer, further challenging a long-standing taboo in Israel on his music. Israeli ensembles hardly ever play Wagner, citing the feelings of Holocaust survivors."
Another step in moving forward under the dark shadow of The Holocaust, this one for Israeli's. I understand the outrage felt by many survivors of Hitler's atrocities; but I also understand how healing music can be and how music can aid in the healing process. Yes Wagner was an anti-semite, yes Hitler loved Wagner's works, but does this mean that Wagner should be boycotted forever? Much can be taken from his music; his feelings of hatred are surely expressed in the songs he composed. I am not a music student, but I have learned this semester that thoughts and feelings of the writers and composers of music are very much evident in their works. I have listened to Wagner, but never really listened to Wagner. Now, now I will make an effort to learn more about him as a man, a thinker, a hater; and I will open my heart as well as my ears to his works, I will search through the layers to find what his heart and mind spoke of within them.
