Today, we started with a reading of pp 90-95 in the Howarth text. The passage gave lots of detail about the economic conditions in Germany in the 1920s, including the effect of the Depression on German families (one in two was affected by unemployment). It also outlined some of the Nazi beliefs and the things they were opposed to. Finally, it described some of the political miscalculations by those in power who wrestled with the problems of the Depression and the challenges it created for the coalitions that we so important in the Reichstag. We saw the numbers of Nazi seats rise dramatically, and then start to fall. Hitler knew he had to act. More importantly, we learned why the left (the KPD and the SPD) couldn't coordinate itself to oppose him. Von Hindenburg and von Papen thought they could manipulate and control Hitler - oops! Tomorrow we'll see what the new Chancellor did.
I shared some notes as we reviewed the passage and then we reviewed Ex #7. The small class went to the library to research the study guide on the Enabling Act (the big class will do that tomorrow). Both classes are asked to start reading the next chapter in DeMarco - up page 100. I won't give homework tomorrow so you can trick-or-treat (or hand out candy for your folks). Tomorrow we'll learn about the Night of the Long Knives, the military's oath to Hitler and we'll watch the Hitler video.
No comments:
Post a Comment