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Using all the
sources (Activity sheet 1, 2,
3 and 4) and the video, write an empathy account of a Nazi meeting held in
March 1932.
It is late in
the evening and you have just returned home from a Nazi Party rally. You
cannot sleep so instead you decide to write about the events of the
evening in your personal journal. You have never been interested in
politics before but as a consequence of the meeting you decide that in
future you will support the Nazis. In your journal you hope to explain
your conversion.
Some
guidelines:
Good
empathy is imaginative but always based on fact. It is not fiction but
rather faction. Do not invent names. You are middle class, a social worker
or teacher for example. You live in Hamburg and the meeting you attended
was on the 23rd of March.
Good
empathy seeks to do more than describe events as they are witnessed.
Description is important but empathy also attempts to “step into the
shoes” of someone who might has lived in the past. This means explaining
attitudes and emotions in a convincing way. The videos should be able to
help you do this. The scene from Cabaret is excellent at capturing the
atmosphere and emotion of crowd mentality.
You
hope to convince the reader that you are real. You must try to give your
character depth. The reasons for your conversion are complex and not
everything that the Nazis stand for appeals to you. You have hopes and
fears.
In
your explanation of why you are now going to support Hitler remember to
refer to more than just the evening’s events. Hitler did give a great
speech but your experiences of the last three years were also important.
Again see the video on the fatal attraction of Hitler and the interview
with the elderly former social worker.
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