MULTICULTURALISM

By: Meri Swain (2023)

Not for the Faint of Heart

Revamping Multiculturalism is not for the faint of heart and there is a delicate line to walk. America has changed since the civil rights movement, but did we assimilate? With the evolution of humankind, some did not get the memo of cultural diversity. There are racial, political, emotional, and spiritual problems  everywhere and there is no end in sight. As we face the challenges of today why can’t those of “anti-diversity” go back into the grave? When we think of multiculturalism, we think of cultural diversity, but multiculturalism is not for cultural diversity. History is controversial and it is difficult in today's culture to stay in the network of political correctness while discussing certain elements of what it is to be an American. As a mother, I have been tasked with the nurturing of two future "American Atoms" in a scary time of school shootings, racial and political extremes, and constant overexposure. What is wrong with Multiculturalism?

Welcome to the Melting Pot 

A mixed-up world that has been smashed into a big whoopee pie. In "What is Multiculturalism?: A "Cognitive" Introduction," Evelyn J. Hinz (1995) asks the question  "What is multiculturalism, and how should it be conceptualized?" She answers that the issue with multiculturalism is that it would be better as a political theory than in actual assimilation (Hinz, 1996). But what does she mean by actual assimilation? Is Hinz applying that we do not allow immigrants into the country? Are we becoming overcrowded? Is there a chance of war on American soil? These are the types of questions we should be asking ourselves. But where do we draw the line between what I right and wrong when it comes to immigration? While teaching Multiculturalism it is important for the learner to begin getting used to the two terms, multiculturalism, and assimilation it would be better to know how they are similar and how are they different. Hinz (1996) asks, "To what degree do various individuals or groups conceptualize differently and to what extent should this be a factor in planning a multicultural society?" As a person who enjoys conceptualizing, we of course see things differently depending on our cultural differences but when do we become an obsolete triangle? 

Melting Pot: the Evolution of Multiculturalism 

Is multiculturalism the same as the melting pot or is it the evolution of something? In the article "What Multiculturalism Means," Peter Erickson discusses the debate over the literary curriculum. The literary curriculum has an impact on what it is our students and children are learning and it influences our future cultural divisions. To have empathy for those less exposed to educational opportunities can seem rather taxing but digestion is a slow process. In the continued debate on what it is to be an American during a time of issues with cultural identity, Erickson (1992) asks, "Should we accept multiculturalism as a guiding term? The second question immediately follows: what are the implications and difficulties of this term?" Well, multiculturalism has been accepted since there is a class named after it and that leaves the better question. I think it is clear we are seeing the implications and difficulties right now as the effects are beginning to trickle into society. The multicultural approach to the assimilation of the minority culture is seen by Erickson (1992) as not a clear-cut way to victory but a way to help identify the problems that exist even if it cannot eliminate them. Is there a way to articulate the differences between the multicultural approach to education, the anti-racist approach, or the combination of the two? Are we addressing the problems with the right or with the left? 

The Theme of being an All-American

There are possible issues with all three. Lesson Two focused on the meaning of the metaphor The Melting Pot and the theme of what it is to be an American. To be an American is to be an all-American. In the article, “Le Melting-Pot: Made in America, Produced in France,” Nancy L. Green (1999) addresses that even though there are similarities in the histories of immigration of America and France those similarities did not lead to the same cultural conclusions on their immigration policies and their national identity. Green (1999) wants “to examine how French writers have marshaled different versions of an American model in order better to elaborate variations on French model.” While she is using a comparative historical approach, she takes the pieces of the "melting pot," and describes how they have shifted over time. Is Green (1999) right and did it start to affect the national identity of both the Americans and the French? Historians in France were searching for a fresh start to the immigration policies into France to help create a new French identity of cultural diversity (Green, 1999). The French’s le melting pot is to imply that France is too a country of immigration and that they will continue to allow cultural diversity (Green, 1999). The French had a difficult time adapting to the assimilation of immigrants but is this just a general assumption? Are we coming to too many assumptions as our media platforms become larger and larger into this new metaverse? Green (1999) writes that in the year 1989, “three adolescent Moroccan girls were expelled from school for wearing Islamic head scarves.” They were being condemned by both the political right and the left, the separation of church and state in public schools, and by feminists who thought it was a sign of female oppression (Green, 1999). Can we know for sure if this is an oppressive approach? Is this where that line gets difficult to cross? Should we be wearing Jesus on our backs? One person cannot speak for all people, and a few bad eggs cannot always be at the forefront of the news. That is unless you are attempting to create a depressive epidemic to add to the stir. French historians began to describe America as no longer a melting pot but as a place of competing communities and identity wars (Green, 1999). I think we can see that competition runs high on American soil. Green (1999) declares that “multiculturalism has crossed the Atlantic Ocean since the 1980s with an almost purely negative connotation, as a synonym for adversarial relationships, if not urban riots, to be avoided at all costs." As Green (1999) comes to her conclusion, she claims that the French model was able to make its own identity, that it did not resemble the American identity, and in the belief of separate communities that had been established. Is that community line able to change or is it stuck in the mud? 

Substituting Immigrations Historical Perspective

Do you think the term the Melting-pot is just a substitute for the history of immigration? The magazine article “Beyond the Melting Pot,” by Cecilia González-Andrieu, written for the America in September of 2020, gives newer concepts of the term and can be used to continue the historical-comparative approach to Lesson Two’s theme. Will this backfire? González-Andrieu (2020) asks during the covid-19 pandemic if people were learning how to set their individualism aside and, come together as a unified community. I would argue that no for some that did not take place and we are even more divided. He also asks, “Did the image of the American melting pot help us become the people we needed to be or did it ultimately harm us”(González-Andrieu, 2020)?  If before the time of the melting pot in America was the time of slavery, then I would have to say no to that one. When covid was at its height crosses were placed in front yards as a sign of unity in neighborhoods in the south, and as the vaccine became mandated, many attempted a request for exemption based on religious beliefs. I would like to say that it is better to place our differences aside and work together to keep our community a safe place to live. González-Andrieu (2020) is a theologian and she begins by introducing many of the disagreements that those within the same communities have faced, stating that “There are those who choose denial…refusing the possibility that our lives are not our private property but are meant to be shared in community…people disdain wearing masks or keeping distant or acknowledging that we cannot buy our way out of a global pandemic.” González-Andrieu (2020) dates Americanism back to 1782 by referencing J. Hector St. John Crèvecoeur Letters From an American Farmer, "He delineates the requirements for being an "American" with precision: Be European, care single-mindedly about your self-interest and your "fat horses," and privatize your religious beliefs because these have no application to the "welfare of the country." In Le Melting-pot, I made mention of Green’s reference to the American separation approach to neighborhoods, González-Andrieu (2020) argues to be a "good neighbor," in 2020 you just have to stay out of each other's way. So how does this relate to the black neighborhoods? According to González-Andrieu (2020), those from communities of color do not view the melting pot the same way as those who grew up abroad instead it is viewed to create a single mass culture based on the white wealthy Euro-America. But is that saying that only people of color were social distancing? 

Lessons Learned 

At the Heart of Multiculturalism

In lesson one I introduced the article "What Multiculturalism Means," and Erickson (1992)  introduces three books to better understand the education of multiculturalism or Anti-Racism in America versus England. In Lesson Two I included the article "Le Melting-Pot,' which addressed the comparative history of immigration between America and France. So to tie it together, with lesson four's focus on the European identity in America, I've found the article "Debates and Developments: The End of late-generation European Ethnicity in America?" by Herbert J. Gans. According to Gans (2015), European immigration to America between the 1870s and 1924 would create the end of ethnicity and "has been doing so since the first immigrants arrived in this country and became colonials and later Americans." The article also makes a quick mention of the melting pot metaphor and emphasized that it focuses on the positive qualities of all whites who have entered into the stew (Gans, 2015). 

Assimilation: Lesson Continued

How does the assimilation of the European identity end ethnicity in the article "An Evolving European Identity," Nadia M. Abbasi (2005), raises the issue of the European identity and them becoming 'one people.' The founding fathers of the European Union created a failure of a European Constitution that raised questions on the political legitimacy, scared of big countries like France and Germany, becoming too strong under the Constitution, and eliminating other smaller countries' national identities (Abbasi, 2005). The different countries in Europe are linked together in similar historical and cultural values dating back to Greek thought and Roman law (Abbasi, 2005). Are we going to see a similar situation as with the great migrations of the past? How do we define the European identity? Abbasi agrees with other historians that it is challenging to decide on a formal definition and not even the European Union has been able to clearly define it. Identity can be defined as the feeling of belonging to a particular group that shares similar values, a common history, and religion; but identity is also about how to distinguish yourself from others and determining what you are not (Abbasi, 2005). Just like in America, the European identity is argued by a revolving door of opinions. There is also the inclusion of the European collective memory meaning that those European countries shared or had common historical experiences (Abbasi, 2005). Both America and the European Union have different states, and both have large geographical areas with open borders that are loosely defined. The different languages in each European state create cultural differences and the Union is hoping to solve that issue by making English the dominant language (Abbasi, 2005). 

Relationship: Racism & Multiculturalism 

Unit five discusses the social and cultural roots of African American cultures and the relationship between racism and multiculturalism. In this next article, "Cultural Diversity: It's All About the Mainstream," Roy L. Brooks (2012), the important question to ask when delving into cultural diversity is what cultural diversity group should reign supreme if the values or perspectives of two groups clash. Brooks (2012) thinks that the problem isn't only in the diverse models of assimilation, trans-culturalism, and pluralism but also finding the model that has the least inherent weakness. He decides to keep his focus on the black-and-white relationship and how it can be applied to the cultural diversity models. Brooks defines culture "as the congeries of values, attitudes, behaviors, language, music, art, stories, and other conventions that govern or characterize a society…" (Brooks 2012). African Americans place a lot of value on their communities and I like how Brooks (2012) references Maya Angelou’s essay from the Book of Values, titled "Voices of Respect," where Angelou explains while slaves were being treated like unwanted children by their owners and overseers, within their slave communities they were able to create emotional ties by giving each other family titles of respect and love. Brooks (2012) states the important aspect of the black community home when he states that "The black community traditionally and in modern times is a place where blacks do not have to prove their humanity." As a white person who has lived in African American neighborhoods, I have not ever feared or felt unwanted within the African American community.

Multiculturalism in Education

In the mainstream of society, is black cultural elements being assimilated into pop culture? In the article "African American Scholarship and the Evolution of Multicultural Education," James A. Banks's (1992) definition of the history of multicultural education is written as a history of the views of race, class, and gender, as together and not singling out people of color. I chose this article because Banks’ because of the point that he is trying to make. As we are experiencing higher demographic changes in our nation, it is important to address the issues of racism to keep peace within our multiethnic communities. Banks (1992) writes “Multicultural education is a populist movement whose greatest support and possibilities come from teachers, students, and parents who are struggling to overcome inequality and address the culturally and ethnically diverse world of the present and future.”  Reforming the educational system to make a more culturally inclusive curriculum is important to combat the increase in racial tensions that are occurring within our society.

Patriotism & Rights to Movements 

I am a patriot. Since the civil rights movement we have preached equal opportunity but have left stray elements in place that is in opposition to what we are striving for, and it has slowly created a hostile situation. Lesson Ten, "Patriotism vs. Multiculturalism," an essay by Thomas D. Klingenstein (2019), is a straight-up love story for former president Trump. The capitol riots that happened in our recent history have created even more racial tensions in our society. Klingenstein (2019) believes that Trump has an "unapologetic love of his own country…Trump is a walking, talking, all-out defense of America."  But I would argue, that if Trump had a great love for his country, why would he want to create a larger divide among the people? As I embarked on my journey to better understand historical context, how do we make a basic unit of structure that we are missing in America, the “American Atom.” Klingenstein (2019) then brings up Abraham Lincoln the president who brought a divided country back together, and quotes Lincoln's "All men are created equal," but it is time to build upon Lincoln's address and use "I am equal, you are equal, we are equal." But I cannot argue with Klingenstein (2019) when he states that “When they fail to make arguments that defend America’s way of life they are failing in their first and most essential obligation: to defend America.” But what is the American way of life, the biggest debate we face? Covid-19 brought forth even more of a divide among our citizens and nations of the world. Klingenstein (2019) makes his case in point in boldface type, "Multiculturalism is the central issue and threat—the Communism or slavery, as it  were—of our time." As a woman, I think that this is hilarious. As white males who were raised to have a superiority complex are being brought down the social hierarchy to become equal among the rest of society, they are feeling the joys of the institution of communism or slavery, or colonialism that they have been placing upon everyone else for a millennium. I am religious, I believe in God and the Hierarchy, but I believe God has spoken and is now a woman. The phrase “man cold” comes to mind as we are now a world that needs people to place others in front of themselves. Lastly for this controversy, under the heading of Making Patriots, Klingenstein is really for suppressing multiculturalism, and I can see that he may find it necessary for the possible battles to face when the world becomes as divided. 

Bridging the Educational Gap 

Have they forgotten it is mothers who are the backbone of society? In the article "Bridging Multicultural Education: Bringing Sexual Orientation into the Children's and Young Adult Literature Classrooms," Patti Capel Swartz (2003) brings up the scars that are formed from being bullied in the classroom for being anything other than a heterosexual and express that she believes “the most important classes in which to include multicultural issues are children’s and young adult literature classes, for if future teachers are without awareness of the issues and of the literature that can counter racism, classism, ableism, sexism, and homophobia, attitudes and practices in schools will not change.” This article was written back in 2003 when life for the LGBTQ  community was not as well received as it is today. As a high school graduate from the year 2004, I think we do have our teachers to thank for the improvements. I believe that Swartz shows a great deal of empathy in her findings and that without articles like these, things would not have changed. Was it the influx of immigrants to America that created a more open society to cultural differences and even different sexualities? I do think it is as simple as teaching our children the differences between right and wrong, but how do we draw that American standard? 

Building the American Bom or the "American Atom"

If we break down the simplistic nature of our constitution, must live by it. But how do we stop the system of mental abuse that keeps different cultural groups stuck in class systems? I have been subjected to discrimination and I have had to protect my daughter from it also. Fear. Fear is the problem and those who believe to have more money, authority, power, or privilege should not be allowed to disrespect, abuse, or belittle others. But teachers are combating the years of home life that have exposed them to the idea that they were created better than other people and if those are the things that make you "better," I would rather not be associated. But how do we live in harmony? Do we move to areas better fitted for us? But that is easier said than done. We become accustomed. The revamp of the Lessons was not to take away from what you already provided but to include in the list.

References

Abbasi, N. M. (2005). An evolving European identity. Strategic Studies, 25(4), 29-65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45242682.

Banks, J. A. (1992). African American scholarship and the evolution of multicultural education. The Journal of Negro Education, 61(3), 273-86. http://doi.org/10.2307/2295248.

Brooks, R. L. (2012). Cultural diversity: It’s all about the mainstream. The Monist, 95(1), 17-32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41419012.

Erickson, P. (1992). Review of what multiculturalism means, by Gajendra K. Verma, James Lynch, and Cameron McCarthy. Transition (55), 105-14. http://doi.org/10.2307/2934854.

Gans, H. J. (2015). Debates and developments: The end of late-generation European ethnicity in America?” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38(3), 418-429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.967707.

Green, N. L. (1999). Le melting-pot: made in America, produced in France. The Journal of American History, 86(3), 1188-1208. https://doi.org/10.2307/2568611.

González-Andrieu, C. ( 2020). Beyond the melting pot. America, 223(3) 18-24. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/08/21/melting-pot-outdated-

image-america-we-need-new-metaphor-define-nation.

Hinz, E. J.  (1996). What is multiculturalism?: A ‘cognitive’ introduction. Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, 29(3), vi-xiii. http://jstor.org/stable/44029752.

Klingenstein, T.D., Guelzo, A.C., Kimball R., Azerrad D., & Kimball M. (2019.) Patriotism vs. multiculturalism. Claremont Review of Books, https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/patriotism-vs-multiculturalism/.

Swartz, P.C. (2003). Bridging multicultural education: Bringing sexual orientation into the children’s and young adult literature classrooms.” The Radical Teacher, (66), 11-16. http://jstor.org/stable/20710186.

JOSEPH GOEBBELS: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS

Introduction 

The timeline of historical events led to Joseph Goebbels, The Severed Children’s Hands or The Children with Their Hands Cut Off. The German Empire changed drastically after 1871. The Great Depression left the Weimer Republic in economic failure, a crisis that led unemployment rates to reach thirty percent. The devastated populations culture changed rapidly. Goebbel railed the public sphere behind the Nazi party through his rhetorical speeches and oration. His rhetorical campaign changed criminal punishments to capital crimes and long-term imprisonment ended in the death penalty. 

The German Empire: Homosexuality Criminality  

In 1871, four kingdoms and twenty-five states unified as the German Empire. In the same year, the German Reich adopted the Prussian criminal code paragraph 143 as paragraph 175, a code criminalizing male homosexual relationships.[i] Capital crime punishment for female homosexuality ended in 1794 in Prussia and by 1851, it was no longer written in the criminal code.[ii] The British Empire changed the criminal code of male-male sexual relations from the death penalty to long-term imprisonment in 1860.[iii]

African Concentration Camps

In 1904, 1,500 Germans troopers fired machine guns at the 40,000 Herero people of West Africa. The Herero people headed towards British Bechuanaland, but the Germans pursued and captured them. Germany built Konzentrationslagers or concentration camps, a system of human encloses for the Herero people of West Africa.[iv] The Konzentrationslagers system resembled the British concentration camps built in 1900 in South Africa to contain the colonies Boer population.[v] The British camps separated the Boer’s into 40 white camps and 60 black (native refugee) camps.[vi] The white camps held 150,000 women and children with a few of their black servants and the black camps were labor camps for displaced African families.[vii] From 1904 to 1908 there are ~ 25,000 recorded white camp deaths and ~15,000 black camp deaths.[viii]

Severed Hands of Children

In 1909, the paragraph 250 proposal extended paragraph 175 of the German criminal code to recriminalize female homosexuality and to change the serving sentence.[ix]  Austrian born Adolf Hitler moved to Germany in 1913 at the age of 24 and he joined the German army at the start of World War One. Paul Joseph Goebbels, a German born and writer, had a deformed leg and could not fight in the war. He attended the university and earned his PhD. The Allied press reported German soldiers severed the hands of children and labeled them ‘German atrocities’.[x] The newspaper Le Matin and the British press depicted wounded German soldiers in Paris hospitals with severed hands of young women and children in their pockets starting on September 20, 1914.[xi]

End of World War I

The German Empire (Reich), Kingdom of Prussia abolished monarchal rule and reformed as the Weimer Republic, Free State of Prussia in 1918. Meanwhile, Austria and Hungry proclaimed independence from Charles I, the Emperor and King, and reformed as the Republic of German-Austria. And the Weimar Republic borrowed money from the United States to pay for their war reparations. 

Hitler, Röhm, Goebbels & the Stormtrooper Revolution

Hitler’s first public speech in 1919 impressed the captain of the Reichswehr (German armed forces), Ernst Röhm to join the German Worker’s Party.[xii] The German Worker’s party changed its name to the Nazi party the following year. In 1921, Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party. Dr. Joseph Goebbel joined in 1922. Hitler and his Sturmabteilung or Stormtroopers started a national revolution by storming a public meeting to demand a new government and the next day he went to the Bavarian War Ministry to overthrow the government.  Hitler spent a year in prison after for high treason and the Nazi party was banned. On December 20, 1924, Hitler was released and on January 4, 1925, he met with the Bavarian prime minister and agreed to use the democratic process to achieve political power. The minister lifted the Nazi party ban on February 16, 1925. But, on February 27, Hitler proclaimed that the Nazi party would walk over dead bodies of the Marxist Jews. This banned him from public speaking in Bavarian until 1927. 

Rhetoric Militarization of Homosexuality

In 1925, Röhm’s comrade Dr. Karl-Gunther Heimsoth article “Friendship or Homosexuality,” explained how male homosexuals sex could be used as a war weapon against the feminist and Semitism.[xiii] Röhm advocate for the repeal of paragraph 175.[xiv] German rhetoric militarized homosexual language to merge their friendship identity with comradeship and the homosexuals of the Weimer Republic started to request emancipation.[xv]

Goebbel’s Rhetorical Campaign 

Hitler and Goebbels met in 1925. The party began strategically placing administrative regions or Gaue in the 33 Reichstag or lower parliament districts of the Weimar Republic with each headed by a Gauleiter (regional leader). Goebbels was appointed the Gauleiter of Berlin in 1926. He won the 1928 election to serve as one of the 12 Nazis appointed to the Reichstag. These events affected the rhetorical campaign used by Joseph Goebbel cultural oration. The Weimar Republic borrowed money from the United States to pay for their war reparations after WWI and when the stock market crashed in the United States in 1929, Germany’s unemployment rates rose close to 30 percent by 1930. The Nazi party designated Goebbels as its propaganda leader in 1929, and his national Reichstag campaign led to the Nazi party winning 107 seats in parliament in 1930. 

Cultural Influences of Goebbels Oration

Goebbel publication in Berlin named Der Angriff [The Attack], a daily tabloid, covered the 1930 death of the Storm Trooper (SA) and Nazi activist Horst Wessel.[xvi] Wessel’s political meetings, failure to pay rent, and fights over the communal kitchen led to his death.[xvii] The landlady sent German communist and Red Front Fighter Albrecht Höhler to Wessel’s attic room.[xviii] Wessel opened the door, and Ali Höhler shot him in the face with his pistol.[xix] Goebbel sat at Wessel’s bedside as he laid dying and Wessel’s mother felt she was losing the perfect son. Goebbel reacted by publishing reports depicting Communists as thugs and murderers and Wessel as a talented martyr.[xx] 30,000 Nazi’s marched at his funeral and stormtroopers dressed in their uniforms including SA-Hermann Goring, son of Kaiser Prince August-Wilhelm.[xxi] The communists insulted the proceedings participants with brickbats, and the words “A final Heil Hitler to the pimp Horst Wessel,” were written on the walls of the cemetery’s parish.[xxii] Goebbel converted Wessel’s marching song composition to become the Nazi tune Horst Wessel Lied, the second national anthem of Germany.[xxiii]

Concealment of Homosexuality from the Public Sphere

In his diary entry for February 27, 1931, Goebbels opposed the Nazi party becoming an “El Dorados” or a place of wealth and opportunity for homosexuals.[xxiv] Dr. Meyer published articles on Rohm’s sexuality, and he was found hanged in a cell on December 15, 1931, after being charged with fraud.[xxv] In 1932, an unknown author published the article “National Socialism and Inversion,” to report Röhm’s confessed his homosexuality to Hemisoth in 1929 and that his inability and any comrade’s inability to conceal homosexual activities to the public sphere should have “a free hand in private.”[xxvi]

Goebbels' Unified Cultural Sphere

In 1932, the Red’s or communist threatened to turn May 1, an official holiday of the National Socialist, to a day of resistance.[xxvii] Union leaders decided to support social equality in consequence of its members attempt to resist.[xxviii] Goebbel wrote the slogan ‘mob ought to be shown the teeth’ in his May 1 diary entry.[xxix] That same year, Goebbels announced Hitler’s candidacy by portraying him as a man of integrity.[xxx] Hitler won the election and as the new German Chancellor, he had absolute power to draft and enforce laws. He appointed Goebbel as the Reichsminister for propaganda and national enlightenment to unify the cultural sphere through war communication and art. Nazi speeches placed importance on the speaker and appealed to emotions. Goebbel described strong speakers as presenting political problems simply.[xxxi] His tributed Hitler’s speaker style as speaking from the heart instead of intellectually.[xxxii]  

May 1: The Rhetorical Symbol for the end of the German Marxist

Goebbel organized a political event for the Chancellor Hitler on May 1, 1933, at Tempelhofer Field with more than one million in attendance.[xxxiii] Swastika banners and flags covered the field and Horst Wessel Lied played as Hitler promised to end the artificial separation of social classes by creating a unified community.[xxxiv] Goebbel responded with “The sun has risen again over Germany” and May 1 became the symbol of ending the German Marxist period.[xxxv] In July, the Nazi sterilization law passed which allowed medical doctors to sterilize people with inheritable clinical conditions.[xxxvi] This started in 1927 when African German and Asiatic German children fathered by French colonial soldiers in the Rhineland by German women where “Black Shamed,” and threatened with extermination of mixed-race children with sterilization.[xxxvii]  

The Violence of Stormtrooper Unification

In 1934, Goebbel coined the phrase “blood glues people together,” to represent the unification of stormtrooper camaraderie through violent acts.[xxxviii] June 21, Goebbels speech broadcasted on every German Radio station that the Chancellor was approved to use force against Röhm by the President of the German Empire, Paul von Hindenburg.[xxxix] The aftermath of the Night of Long Knives murders left the public sphere in confusion and Goebbels answered in a broadcast using stereotypical attacks to expose the murdered stormtroopers as traitors for planning to expose the Nazi party leaders as homosexuals on July 1.[xl]

Mass Media: The Powerful Symbol of the Romanticized Stormtrooper

The Nazi regime used mass media production between 1933-1939 to create symbolizes and demonstrate power.  Stormtrooper relationships in the media were romanticized to become a powerful symbol in persuading the German public sphere.[xli] Julius Witthuhn, the author of Gotthard Kraft, wrote a story about a hero and his romantic relationship with his girlfriend, and he dedicated the book to the SA-Mann (lowest stormtrooper rank), killed by the communists in 1931.[xlii] He wanted to show how all the unknown men “bled for the movement”.[xliii] Stormtrooper stories focused on mythical equal relationship between the stormtrooper and their wives too busy in party activism to cook.[xliv] Stormtroopers professed their love for the fatherland was more important than their relationship.[xlv] The German family’s hardships caused by the Great Depression ruined values and the father was replaced by the stormtrooper as the sole provider of the family.[xlvi] German women and children were attacked such as children’s bottle being poisoned, and father’s threatening to kill their sons for becoming Nazis, by communists to justify stormtrooper violence.[xlvii] Communist enticed German women to participate in orgies with Asians.[xlviii] The character SA-Mann Shultz, in Bade’s SA erobert Berlin, defended Dr. Goebbel when communist mocked his speech and fought for him in the Battle of Pharus hall in 1927.[xlix]The real SA-Mann Shultz legally claimed to be the inspiration for the story.[l]

Homosexual Concentration Camps & the Sterilization of Mixed-Raced Children

In 1937, 385 mixed-race children were sterilized.[li] The increased strength of Paragraph 175 destroyed German’s homosexual subculture with ~30,000 people placed under surveillance by 1939.[lii] Concentration camps permanently housed between 5,000 and 15,000 homosexuals who wore pink chevron on their uniforms.[liii]

A Turn to the British Enemy

Mass communication rhetoric by Goebbel in 1938 created the British and the Russians as Germany’s common enemy.[liv] British journalist who criticized Germany could not enter the empire and had to carefully cover the Jewish population reports.[lv] Goebbel aimed for his target audience to perceive the German race as pure to enforce Hitler’s claim of the master race.[lvi]

ENDNOTES

[i] Matysik 30

[ii] Matysik 30

[iii] Han & O’Mahoney 272

[iv] Smith & Stucki 418

[v] Smith & Stucki 418

[vi] Smith & Stucki 427

[vii] Smith & Stucki 429

[viii] Smith & Stucki 427

[ix] Matysik 28

[x] Last 49

[xi] Last 49

[xii] Machtan 5

[xiii] Machtan 6

[xiv] Machtan 7

[xv] Crouthamel 111

[xvi] Jones 28

[xvii] Jones 27

[xviii] Jones 27

[xix] Jones 27

[xx] Jones 28

[xxi] Jones 28

[xxii] Jones 28

[xxiii] Jones 28

[xxiv] Machtan 8

[xxv] Machtan 9

[xxvi] Machtan 6

[xxvii] Berg-Schlosser 68

[xxviii] Berg-Schlosser 68

[xxix] Berg-Schlosser 68

[xxx] Machtan 10

[xxxi] Scanlan 89

[xxxii] Scanlan 89

[xxxiii] Berg-Schlosser 68-70

[xxxiv] Berg-Schlosser 69

[xxxv] Berg-Schlosser 70

[xxxvi] Weindling 248-9

[xxxvii] Weindling 249-50

[xxxviii] Reichardt 297

[xxxix] Machtan 14

[xl] Machtan 15

[xli] Wackerfuss 304, 322

[xlii] Wackerfuss 307

[xliii] Wackerfuss 307

[xliv] Wackerfuss 319-320

[xlv] Wackerfuss 319-320

[xlvi] Wackerfuss 321

[xlvii] Wackerfuss 321-2

[xlviii] Wackerfuss 322

[xlix] Wackerfuss 308

[l] Wackerfuss 308

[li] Weindling 250

[lii] Machtan 17

[liii] Machtan 17

[liv] Bozkanat 92

[lv] Bozkanat 93

[lvi] Bozkanat 93

References

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LADY JANE GREY: IS SHE ALICE IN WONDERLAND?

INTRODUCTION

Queen Jane Grey, a victim of a young death, walked with dignity across the wintry grounds of the Tower of London towards the White Tower reciting the prayers from the illuminated manuscript clutched in her hands. Her love of literature is seen as one of the highlights of her life. She discusses the longest living human according to biblical text, Methuselah [GENESIS 5:27], in the margins of her illuminated manuscript, a prayer book. 

In the 12th century monasteries crafted illuminated manuscripts, but by the 15th century Paris became the heart of their creation. Illuminated manuscripts became a customary expensive gift to celebrate diplomatic and sovereign relationships in the 16th century. Grey's illuminated manuscript, a possible gift from her mother Frances Grey Duchess of Suffolk, the french queen, commemorates the literacy, wisdom, religious, and political roles its predecessors with emerging patterns that give new meaning to the life and legacy of Grey.  

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