1984 Vs Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany vs. 1984

Freedom of speech is one of the principles of America and one of the most important reasons it was founded. It has set an example to the rest of the world, which many countries have followed. In George Orwell's 1984, he predicted a world where the modern technologies allowed the government to control every aspect of people lives, similar to Nazi Germany: one of the most powerful and evil states in the history of humanity. The Nazis controlled Europe using their ruthless SS and massacred millions of Jews and other minorities. Orwell predicted that unless we changed our ways that our modern world would look like Europe did under Nazi control. His novel acted as a warning that has helped us preserve our rights to freedom of speech. Many parallels can be drawn between the two such as their Secret police, the Gestapo and Thought Police. Their Wars, World War II and the wars with Eurasia and Eastasia and how they censor information. Their deifiers in Claus Von Staffenburg and Winston Smith, and to what extent should we regulate internet information today to keep history from repeating in America.

The Truth Behind Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and 1984 have many similarities that allow them to be easily compared. To truly understand how Nazism took hold, you must know the events that sent Germany down the path to becoming an evil, totalitarian state. Nazi Germany started in the ashes of the First World War when many German soldiers felt that they had been stabbed in the back by the people back home overthrowing the Kaiser,

Emperor of Germany, and forcing the army to surrender when the war had not touched German soil and was still 1000 miles from Berlin (The New Book of Knowledge Vol. WXYZ). After the war, the Germans were forced to agree to whatever the allied powers forced them to do. The punishment was catastrophic. According to Hitler's Empire, by Mark Mazower, they had to pay billions of dollars in reparations, lost all their overseas colonies and some of their own land, had their military reduced dramatically as well as the Rhineland being demilitarized. The German government, now the Weimar republic, in an effort to repay the reparations, printed millions of marks, the German currency. This caused massive inflation and it was more worthwhile to burn your money to make fire than to go out and buy firewood (Wikipedia Treaty of Versailles). This caused intense hatred of the allied powers that had caused this hardship in Germany and a fierce desire to have their country once again a world power. Adolf Hitler the savior they had always dreamed of.

Adolf Hitler: The Rise of Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler was born to Alois Hitler and his mother Klara Pölzl in Ransofen Austria April 20 1889 (People Who Made History-Adolf Hitler). Hitler moved around Austria throughout his childhood. In 1900, his younger brother Edmund died from measles. This greatly affected Hitler and, "He changed from being confident and outgoing and an excellent student, to a morose, detached, and sullen boy who constantly fought with his father and teachers."(Hitler, Wikipedia) Alois Hitler wanted Adolf to follow in his footsteps and become a customs officer so he sent him to school to become such. Adolf, on the other hand, wanted to go to a classical school to learn to be an artist. Both father and son were strong willed however and neither would give in. Hitler in his book, Mein Kampf, says that he hoped that when his father saw "what little progress I was making at the technical school he would let me devote myself to my dream"(Hitler, Wikipedia). Adolf became an extreme German nationalist as a way of rebelling against his father who proudly served the Austrian Government. Although there were many Austrians that considered themselves German, they were loyal to Austria. Hitler was extremely loyal to Germany, and only Germany despite his Austrian heritage. Alois died suddenly when Hitler was fourteen in January 1903 and afterward he was only more disruptive at school and was asked to leave in 1904. Hitler tried to join the German Army but didn't pass the fitness test. After World War I Broke out however, the army began taking whoever in scripted. Hitler fought on the Western front and was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class for his acts of bravery and valor on the battle field. Ironically, Hitler was not promoted because his superiors did not feel that he was fit to be in a position of power because, although intelligent, he was impulsive and acted on a whim. Hitler was injured in battle and was forced to sit out the rest of the war. When Hitler heard that Germany had surrendered, he was in outrage. The Kaiser had been over thrown by a mutiny in the navy and there was a communist revolution in Munich. The punishment that Germany suffered from the Treaty of Versailles would tear Germany down, but from the ashes would come an evil in the Nazi party that has not been seen before or since.

Hitler soon healed from his wounds and did not do much with his life immediately after the war. Then there was that fateful day where Adolf was invited to a Nazi meeting in the early 1920's (People Who Made History Adolf Hitler). After trying to seize power in Munich in the Beer Hall Putsch, where the Nazis took control of the beer hall and began to march through the streets before they were stopped by the police, Hitler was Thrown in jail for around a year in which he wrote his biography and a bible of sorts for the Nazi Party titled Mein Kampf or my struggle (Hitler's Empire Mark Mazower). The Nazi Party began to weaken and seemed that it would never take power but as the 20's came to an end, Wall Street crashed. Germany was hit especially hard because of the loans it took from the American banks. This crisis again caused the German people to go to desperate measures and when he was elected in January 1933, Hitler planned to take full advantage.

Gestapo vs. Thought Police

The Nazi Party didn't have a problem throwing anyone who spoke against them into a prison camp. Similarly, the Thought Police in 1984 didn't have any reserves about throwing people into the ministry of love where people were brutally tortured. The Gestapo is often thought of as a mighty, omnipotent, organization with thousands of men in each town. This, however, is false. In many towns there were less than 50 Gestapo officers. In Frankfurt and Settin Combined there were only 41 officers. For the lower Rhine District, an area comprising of four million people, there were only 256 officers (Gestapo-Wikipedia). The Gestapo actually operated with the cooperation of many German citizens, who turned in those who acted peculiarly. This is an unnerving discovery because for many years it was thought