Kit believes that the Nazis “need a history they can believe in…a history that tells the story they want it to tell” (p. 9). How did you feel about her opinion here? Do you think this was an important part of the control they had over their population?
It is well known through Himmler’s belief in the occult and Hitler’s interest in Teutonic legends that the Third Reich strove to create a myth about the Ayran race and to propagandize this.
Absolutely. “Winners write history” and every country writes their own history. If you read about a particular war or international incident from both countries involved, both will minimize the number of their own casualties and maximize the illusion of their conquests of the enemy. We can even see that today with the whole Ukraine-Russia war - the new that is being fed to the West is completely different from what is being told in Europe and the East.
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I concur with Marijana’s opinion. Some Nazis had delusions of their superiority, abilities, and past that never fit with reality. And the Ukraine-Russia war is a prime example of illusory thinking.
Don’t we do the same in religion? We need a backstory to tell to people so they understand “that’s the way things are”. It’s easier to control people if they think things will eventually be better.
This reminds me that often people want to create their own story. I think we see this everyday when discussions of politics, religion or family occur. Depending on how far reaching the “story becomes” it does control people and their beliefs.
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Absolutely! A huge part of the Nazi agenda was the indoctrination and brainwashing of the German people through propaganda. They wanted buy-in, acceptance, and capitulation from German citizens first, followed by – they hoped – the rest of the world. They took over all German media and controlled the narrative in exactly the same way that is being attempted in the U.S. right now which is why this is such a frightening time. Truth is the enemy of evil, of course.
We saw in other parts of the book that the Nazis had many additional means of controlling the population, including policing, torture, etc. But telling a particular history that glorifies their own nation and upholds the ideals of their party is one important tool. It makes the leaders more committed to their program and it makes the populace more willing to accept many of their measures. We see something similar in current efforts in the United States to ban books that present US history in a more negative light. For example, if the commonly accepted version of history shows that the US didn’t do something terrible when it enslaved Africans and people of African descent, then it’s easier for the government to find support for ending DEI efforts. It’s not just in the United States, of course. For example, I believe that in India, Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is rewriting history to glorify Hindus. Likewise, in The Tapestry of Time, if all aspects of history show the superiority of the Aryans, then it’s easier for the population to go along with an agenda that promotes Aryans and causes grievous harm to others.
As a rational, caring human I always find it bonechilling to realize how blindly people followed Hitler’s propaganda. The evil events that took place during the war can only be explained as people reacting to skillful manipulation based on fear. Adding in the occult only made the evil stronger.