II. Short Answer Type Questions (3 Marks)
- Who wrote the book ‘Third Reich of Dreams’? What did it tell us about?
- How did the common people of Germany react to Nazism? [HOTS]
- How did the Jews remain the ‘worst sufferers’ in the Nazi Germany? Explain.
- Why were the Nazi killing operations called the ‘Holocaust’? Explain.
Answer
- Charlotte Beradt secretly recorded peoples dreams in her diary and later published them
in a highly disconcerting book called the Third Reich of Dreams. She describes how mental
and physical torture done on Jews haunted them. They themselves began believing in the
Nazi stereotypes about them. They dreamt of their hooked noses, black hair and eyes,
Jewish looks and body movements. The stereotypical images publicized in the Nazi press
haunted the Jews. They troubled them even in their dreams. Jews died many death even
before they reached the gas chamber. - Common people of Germany can be put into three categories based on their views about
Nazism.
(i) Those who believed in Nazism idea and supported it. They marked the houses of Jews
and spread anger and hatred against other communities including Jews.
(ii) Those who opposed it actively. They had to face the wrath of Nazi government and even
death sentences.
(iii) Those who were passive onlookers and apathetic witnesses. They were too sacred to
act or to protest. Pastor Niemoeller, a resistance fighter, wrote about this attitude of
apathy among Germans to let atrocities occur in their neighbourhood. - Jews were the worst sufferers as they were treated very baldy.
(i) They were classified as undesirables.
(ii) They were considered as racial inferiors.
(iii) They were widely persecuted.
(iv) They were stereotyped as killers of Christ and usurers.
(v) They were banned from owning land.
(vi) They lived in separately marked areas. - Nazi killing operations were called the ‘Holocaust’ because:
(i) Of atrocities, sufferings and the killings.
(ii) After the War had ended, the Jews wanted the world to remember the atrocities and
sufferings they had endured.
(iii) They wanted to tell the world what had happened in the Nazi Germany.
(iv) They preserved documents, diaries, notebooks and created archives.
