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Just a quick reminder for anyone here who isn't aware. There are millions of people in the world today who have lost most of their families to Hitler. No grandparents, no uncles, aunts, cousins...most everyone is gone. They look at photos of the piles of bodies, and wonder if any family members are there. Often times their parents were concentration camp survivors, or lived in hiding during the war, under extremely traumatic conditions.
When one, usually about 5th grade reads "The diary of Ann Frank" one learns quite a bit about the horror that was Hitler. Of course, if it's not on video or in a game the kidlets nowadays might not know about it.
Of course those of us who had relatives killed by that regime or have LIVING relatives with number tattoos learn at an early age what the deal was.
EPIC fail on the end of the school, I for one would love to have a "talk" with the "supposed" parents of this kid.
When I was in grade school, I remember several times seeing the films from the concentration camps that were recently liberated.
These films showed the emaciated, the almost dead, those who had been starved and worked to death and near-death, those who could not walk, and those who were dead and piled high like cord wood. I remember the bulldozers pushing those piles of dead humans into mass graves. It was shocking but I would hope that these films are still being shown. I hope there is a discussion leader who is available to give these events resonance and explanation, but I also fear that today and tomorrow's kids will be jaded and view these films just as they would a theatrical movie or video game where mass murder is played for laughs or other entertainment.
In my early life, I met several older women who had numbers tattooed on their forearms. Learning about their stories gave me a deeper understanding of what happened to them and their people and why it happened. When you are 10-12 and someone riding next to you on a public bus tells you that when they were your age, their entire family was murdered and cremated and there is not even a chance of visiting their "graves," you sit up and listen.
Unfortunately those people are leaving us. The eye-witnesses to genocide are fewer and fewer each year and if their stories are even told in school anymore, it is probably done in more than a few cases aloofly by someone who may not even believe it, or will give it no more emotional a read than discussing "Thomas the Tank Engine" because it really means little to the presenter.
This means that people will forget, this knowledge sooner or later will be forgotten, and all some children will have is pictures of or copies of those nice "sharp" uniforms given to them by parents who do not know or care about the significance of that uniform.
Google "Prince Harry and Nazi" and you will find someone who should have known better, should have been taught better - after all, his grand mother drove a truck in WWII to help fight the Nazis. Someone had to (I hope) take time to explain to him that dressing as someone who was affiliated with mass murder on a global scale for a party was wrong. If someone being groomed to be the leader of his country didn't get taught the appropriate reverence then what chance is there for someone in Kansas?
As time goes by, there will be more people who admire the uniform and ignore the meaning behind it. History will be repeated. It is inevitable because we don't take history seriously enough.
Last edited by blktoptrvl; 09-12-2016 at 10:14 AM..
When does one learn about such things? How does one learn?
Growing up in the 60's, watching Hogan's Heroes, I was unknowing of how terrible the 3rd Reich was, took WWII as just another war like that of Viet Nam or the Civil.
Further, even a serious movie like "Twelve O'Clock High" does absolutely nothing to tell the viewer of how terrible the German rulers were.
The list may be endless of movies that don't tell: Tobruk, Mosquito Squadron, Raid on Rommel, and so forth. Even movies that do touch on such as in Morituri, 633 Squadron, The Last Escape, Operation Crossbow may not tell enough if one does not really know to recognize it. Especially when those movies can be countered with the good guys doing similar things such as in The Dirty Dozen.
So when, at what age, does one start learning how really terrible they were?
I grew up in the 60s, too. There are plenty of books. History books in school. The tons of movies made about the holocaust and the Nazis were shown on TV.
For you, I recommend the DVD "Night and Fog" but definitely not for young children. I'm serious about this. Do not let them see it if they are young. It's an award winning documentary made by the French in the 1950s.
For kids and you, I highly recommend, "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Author) It's still in stock on Amazon and if you scroll down the page you will see about student reading ages. There are more photos in this book which is an oversized book but despite it being for students, I found it to be the best book in print on Hitler Youth.
The Diary of A Young Girl (Anne Frank) (book) or the movie The Diary of Anne Frank (DVD)
Secret Lives - Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII (DVD)
You should watch first for age appropriateness:
Holocaust (The 1978 TV mini series)
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (DVD)
Swing Kids (DVD)
The Counterfeit Traitor
Valkyrie
Many more
I grew up in the 60s, too. There are plenty of books. History books in school. The tons of movies made about the holocaust and the Nazis were shown on TV.
For you, I recommend the DVD.......
I don't need to watch to learn for I know.
I was pointing out, asking the question of when do children learn that WWII was not a war of countries of similar mentalities. Regardless of how we came across it, I think the point has been answered.
I think the man who designed them actually attended Harvard. It's never been confirmed, but the MSP Winter Dress is a dead ringer for SS uniforms.
As Matt Damon's character in "The Departed" said to a uniformed MSP trooper...
"Do you like going to work everyday dressed like you're gonna invade Poland?"
I thought the exact same thing when I first saw the MSP on the highway when I got pulled over. Almost said "ja vol heir kommandant"...Wondered who in the hades had the nerve to come up with that costume...
The day was book related. Maybe the kid's favorite book was Anne Frank. Or maybe he had been in the play The Sound Of Music.
Children love to dress up as monsters. Look at how many zombies, ghosts, and Freddy's there are at Halloween. Just because the kid dressed up as Hitler doesn't mean he was advocating racism or genocide. He could have been fully aware that Hitler was a monster.
Veering way off the track of the politically correct, the German uniforms looked sharp. If the uniform was well done, maybe the child really was the best dressed. Getting votes for sharp creases in his pants does not mean that the student body was approving of genocide.
This is what I was thinking.
'Best dressed' means best representation of your character.
I wasn't thinking monsters, but if they're reading history books, there aren't many charismatic characters to model after. Good or bad doesn't matter much.
My point is...this isn't ancient history, and many people today are still a physically and emotionally wounded by his horrifying deeds. Yes it can be looked upon as a "neat costume," but then would it be OK to dress as a 9-11 terrorist? Very poor judgement (to say the least) was used by the parents. The administrators who picked the costume for a "winner" were amazingly ignorant.
'Best dressed' means best representation of your character.
I wasn't thinking monsters, but if they're reading history books, there aren't many charismatic characters to model after. Good or bad doesn't matter much.
There are TONS of charismatic - and admirable - historical characters to model after! Good grief, just look at the biography section in the school library. Kings, queens, statesmen and women, pioneers, inventors, military leaders, doctors, humanitarians, artists, musicians, writers, scientists, teachers, explorers...the list is close to endless.
I hope that "best dressed" simply meant most accurate depiction of a character - but that avoids the issue of why Hitler was picked to start with, although I have absolutely no issue with kids learning about Hitler. Portraying him is something else, unless it's in a dramatic production.
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