Learning about the Rise of Nazism in Germany (Part 18)

To read the first post in this series, click here.

To see an index of posts in the series, click here. 

As far as I know, no one is really reading these posts.

Strangely, I'm not bothered by the fact.

I mean usually in the past, I would find it lonely. I'd feel rejected.

But now, I just enjoy the research and the writing.

* * *

I think my game plan is to finish with what I want to get from The Holocaust Explained website...which will likely include a zillion tangents and rabbit holes.

Whatever Other-Holocaust sites I don't get to in my left vs right quest...maybe I will just look at all of those in one post.  I mean quickly zooming through to see if the website labels the Nazis as being left-wing or right-wing.

I can't say I'm going to visit every single Holocaust site that exists out there.

I've been using Touru University's lists.  I'll go through those until I get tired of it.

After I finish with those two quests...If I'm still interested in all of this, I'm going to have other related posts that I don't think would fit in the title "Learning about the Rise of Nazism in Germany."

Some ideas for my related post include:

1. The American Jewish response to Nazis and the Holocaust.

2. The Republican/right wing American response to the Holocaust

3. The Democrat/left wing American response to the Holocaust.

When I wrote these down weeks ago, I'm not sure if 2 and 3 referred to just during the Holocaust or also in the decades following the Holocaust.

4. The response of Palestine to the Holocaust—both the Jews and the Arabs in the 1920's-1940's.  I imagine most Jews in Palestine pushed for the rescue and immigration of European Jews while most Arabs did not want a lot of Jews coming in.  BUT....any opposites?  Any Jews in denial about the need to provide refuge?  Any Arabs involved in helping to rescue Jews during the Holocaust?

5. The response from Australia to the Holocaust.  I know about the Kimberly Plan.  I'd love to learn more.  Plus, I miss researching Australia!

6. The history of antisemitism in Europe.

7.  Holocaust minimizing and outright denial.  

8.  Racism in the United States and Europe during the 1920's. I'm thinking (When I made this list) that I meant racism not including antisemitism.  

9. Homophobia in the 1920's and 1930's...though I think I also want to learn about LGBTQ life in general.

10. Antisemitism in the 1920's around the world.

11. Right-wing American Jewish response to the Holocaust.  Examples: Ben Shapiro, Steven Miller, and Jared Kushner.  (Oh!  So maybe with 2 and 3, I meant only during World War II vs then and now)

12. Nazi hunters

13. Children and grandchildren of Nazis

14. Resistance via art.  (How did people use music, theater, fine art, film, books, etc. to speak out against the Third Reich.

15. Holocaust refugees. (What was the asylum process like. What places were most welcoming? Which were least welcoming?)

16. European Jews post Holocaust

17. Jewish life in Mexico

* * *

Are you wondering why I have the right-wing response to the Holocaust but not the left?

Well...to be honest, so was I. 

But then I realized I am Jewish and left-wing, SO....I already know the response.  Whenever I share my opinions regarding the Holocaust on my blog, that's a left-wing response.

I'm half-joking.

I do think that most of the Holocaust websites I'm looking at are center-left or center.  So I feel like I'm seeing a left-center-left opinion there.  

In terms of very far-left views about the Holocaust, I think I'd get into that a bit with Holocaust minimizing and anti-semitism.

No. I'm not saying that every far-left person is antisemitic or a Holocaust minimizer.  But I do think some are.

If someone is anti-Zionist than they are a Holocaust minimizer....unless they have some other brilliant plan about where all the Jewish refugees should have gone. (edited to bold and enlarge on 12/4/2023)

* * *

I was just thinking that some Holocaust museums could be center-right.  But it's a version of right-winged I'm just not used to anymore....since the party has been pretty much taken over by the far-right.

* * *

Either The Holocaust Explained has added new stuff since I last looked a few days ago.

OR...I missed a lot.

In my last post, I went from a brief section about Jewish life....to their section on Romani, homosexuals, Polish, and Jehovah Witnesses.

But there's actually a lot more stuff about Jewish life that I somehow didn't see before.

So I'm going to start looking at that.  

* * *

Well, now I'm seeing that a lot of the Jewish stuff is about Jewish life in general....the Jewish religion and Jewish culture rather than being specifically about Jewish life in Europe prior to the rise of Nazism.

I'm not going to look at all that now.

But they do have some personal biographical stories that might be insightful.

* * *

One of the people featured is Gerty Simon a Jewish photographer from Berlin.

She worked in the 1920's and 1930's...well, probably just early 1930's.

She photographed Albert Einstein.

I don't know much about his timeline. Was he very famous then?

I'm not sure if she was a somewhat successful photographer who ended up photographing someone who became very famous.

OR...if she was a very successful photographer who was given the opportunity to photograph someone very famous.

Then again....I don't think every celebrity photograph is taken by someone very successful.  Well, of course not these days.  But in the various bygone eras, there were probably rising photographers who were given the chance to take a photo of famous people.  I mean within a studio setting rather than a paparazzi situation.

Anyway...getting back to the Nazi stuff.

Gerty Simon's story had a fortunate outcome.  She and her son emigrated to the UK where she continued on with her career.

Her husband stayed behind.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe work related.  He was a lawyer; though had to downgrade to a notary.  I think because of the antisemitism.  

After Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, he went into hiding and eventually escaped; then joined his wife and son in London.

* * *

The Holocaust Explained says that Simon was at particularly high risk from the Nazis, because she was Jewish, AND many subjects of her photography were socialists and anti-Fascists.  

Antifa!

I'm wondering. Besides being at high risk, was Simon also maybe more likely to understand the risk?

I think artists are more likely to be woke.

And woke people are more likely to be willing to see injustice and understand how it's a threat.

* * *

Now I'm falling down a rabbit hole....

I'm guessing it's not a myth that writers, singers, actors, actresses, etc. are more likely to be left-wing.  But how unlikely is it for a Conservative to be in art and entertainment?

Are there just as many right-wing artistic people than left, but the left just happens to have more power which leads to right-wing artists being disfranchised?

OR do left-wing artists outweigh right-wing ones so much that their rareness leads to feeling/being ostracized and alienated?

I guess what I'm trying to ask is the left-wing dominance about power in number or more about power in who you know and who people want to support and not support.

I'm also curious about support for the arts.

I imagine support or lack of support can range from 

1. Art is not a real job.  Movies, TV shows, books, music, theater and art is all a waste of time. 

2. We love TV, movie, books, music, etc.  But it's not real work.  It's not a career to go into.  It's definitely not a career for OUR kids to go into.

3. We love art!  We love movies, books, music...all that stuff!  Careers in it would be great...but wishful thinking. It's okay to put some effort into a career but very important to put more effort into a back up plan.

4. Life is art. Art is life. And we are going to strongly nurture and support any creativity that our children have.

I feel right-wing people are more likely to be in groups 1-2.

I think left-wing people are more likely to be in group 4.

And 3 is probably a mix.  

* * *

I started to feel guilty for this rabbit hole/tangent...thinking it's not appropriate for the discussion.

BUT....then I remembered that one of the posts I want to do is resistance via the arts. And I'd probably talk about resistance to Nazis and the Holocaust back then and resistance to MAGA and other racist, nationalistic movements that are in the world today.  

* * *

Now I'm going to read an article from a website called Artnet News.  The title is: "Why Did the Art World Vote for Hillary? Psychologists Say It’s Because Democrats Are More Creative Than Republicans"

They give examples of who supported Clinton vs who supported Trump.

Team Clinton: Beyoncé, Steven Spielberg, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Annie Leibovitz, Stephen King, Frank Gehry, Calvin Klein, Lena Dunham, and Rihanna

Team Trump: Hulk Hogan, Tila Tequila, Kid Rock.

Because of my time on Twitter, I know there are other celebrities that can be added to either list. Well, I'm not sure if they were vocal about supporting Clinton.  But in the time since 2016, I know of celebrities who are strongly pro-Trump or anti-Trump.

Anti-Trump:  Patricia Arquette, Bette Midler, Alyssa Milano, Ken Olin,  Ron Perlman, Rob Reiner, Stephen King.....

Those are ones that just come quickly to my mind.  I'm sure there are others.

Some of the pro-Trump ones include Adam Baldwin, Scott Baio, Rick Schroder, Kirsty Ally...

Now I don't think all the individual left-wing artists are more creative and talented than right-wing ones.  

I think it's more about the whole picture and not one a case of every right-wing person lacking talent or not having enough talent.   

* * *

It's been a few days since I wrote the above.

I'm not sure I can get the momentum back.

But maybe if I continue reading the article...I will.

I don't think I got very far a few days ago.  Probably not past the few few lines. 

* * *

Oh.  

I'm wrong.

I had gotten past the first paragraph.

Yay me.

* * *

A group of psychologists from England and Canada joined forces to answer the question of whether creativity is linked to a particular political affiliation.

The article talks about a previous study done in 1992.  It looked at what type of shapes people preferred

with the idea/knowledge that creative people prefer more complex shapes and less creative people prefer simple shapes.

I'm assuming this shape preference correlation was determined by an earlier study and not just a random opinion.

So....supporters of David Duke, a white supremacist, preferred the simple shapes.  The non-white-supremacists preferred the more complex shapes.  

In the newer study (2016) participants were asked which statements they prefer.

A) We must “smash the perversions eating away at our moral and traditional beliefs

B) Everyone should have their own lifestyle, religious beliefs, and sexual preferences

I think I'd be confused if taking this test.  Because the second one kind of sounds like every single person must have their own unique lifestyle, religious beliefs, and sexual preferences.  Like you must not have the same religious beliefs as your neighbor or sister.  

Okay...to be honest, I would probably get what they meant.  But I do think the wording is a bit off.  Either way, though, I definitely prefer B to A.

Anyway, the study had the participants do various assessments.  The results indicated that Democrats were more creative.  

There was another component to the study and that's about whether social risk-taking is more associated with Democrats or Republicans and creative vs less creative people.

Other research connected to the study was one where counties were examined.  Those that voted Republican issued less patents.

* * *

I'm thinking of the Political Compass.  The question asked of participants in the study would fall under the authoritarian vs libertarian line.

I wonder if left vs right...which on the Political Compass is about high taxes/social programs vs low taxes/no social programs....I wonder if there's a substantial difference in creativity there.

I'm also now wondering these days how common is it to have someone who's fiscally conservative but very open-minded when it comes to religion, lifestyle, sexuality, etc.

* * *

Artnet has a link to a related article.

It's pretty interesting.  It looks at which career fields donated most to Trump and Biden via a study done by Bloomberg.

Fundraising professionals were the most likely to donate to Biden (96%).  That's interesting. 

The ones most likely to vote Trump?  Homemakers (96% and people on disability 93%).

What???!!!

As for the artistic folks.

They looked at architects, artists, photographers, musicians, actors, writers/authors, producers, and editors.

They all were very much more sided with Biden.

The lowest difference was with artists and photographers. Seventy-eight percent went for Biden.

The highest difference was with producers and editors—90% and 94%.  Wow.

What does that mean for the 14% of writers/authors who are pro-Trump.  

How about the 16% of actors who are pro-Trump?

I guess the 10% of producers can make films and then hire the 16% of actors.

* * *

Now I'm looking at the actual Bloomberg article.  It has fun blue and red circles representing companies and career-fields.

I'm happy that more circles are blue.

The bluer the circle, the more likely the employees supported Biden with donations rather than Donald Trump.

Some of the very very blue: Harvard, Google, Facebook, John Hopkins, MIT, University of Chicago.

Quite Blue: Disney (yay!) Starbucks, US Government, hospitals

Lighter Blue:  Delta, Walgreens, US Department of Defense

Grey: Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, US Postal Service....

Beige: Lowes, McDonalds, Publix, Fed-Ex, 

I need to keep reminding myself that this is not the company itself but the employees.

Red: US military, Us Marines, NYPD

Then there is a second circle thing with career types.

Very Very Blue: librarians, professors, producers, therapists and psychologists, editors.

Quite Blue: scientists, lawyers, authors, teachers.

I'm VERY glad about teachers.

Lighter Blue: nurses, pharmacists, IT professionals, flight attendants, project managers

Grey: Cooks/chefs, sales managers, CEO's, students, secretaries, 

Beige: Realtors, dentists, caregivers

And here there are different shades of red (vs above...just a light red)

Very very red: Homemakers and people on disability.

Quite red: HVAC professionals, plumbers, stay-at-home moms

Light red: Truckers, electricians, farmers, police officers, construction workers

Pink: Manufacturing employees, custodians, pastors, firefighters.

This is fascinating.  

But yeah.  It really does look like people in creative careers are more likely to be left/democratic.

* * *

Slowly crawling out of this rabbit hole...which was all because of a German photographer.

I think I'm actually going to stop with The Holocaust Explained and this will probably be my last post in this particular series.

Before I end, though....I'm going to explore another Holocaust website.  

And depending on my mood and what I find...we may be a short distance from the conclusion of this post or miles and miles away.

* * *

One thing I want to add is I probably mark off homemaker when I donate.  

I consider myself a writer...and a creative person.  But since I'm financially unsuccessful with writing, I don't feel right marking that as my career.

I was thinking...are the 4% of Pro-Biden homemakers unsuccessful creative types like me?

I wonder if many financially unsuccessful artists still mark themselves as having the creative careers.  I guess maybe the ones who don't suffer from a ton of imposter syndrome.

* * *

It's about two days later.

This post is going to take a long time to finish.  Probably.

I don't think I did any research yesterday.

Most of my time was spent being attuned to Lake House drama.

I was also lethargic which I tried to cure with two expressos.  Or three?  That was on top of my usual morning coffee.  And then I tried to appease my low blood sugar feelings by eating a handful of carrots...even though my stomach was feeling a bit off.  That wasn't the best decision.

* * *

One thing I hadn't noticed before about the beautiful Bloomberg chart is each circle has an actual percentage.

I figured this out when I started asking how Artnet News knew 96% of homemakers support Trump.

Okay.  And what the fuck is up with those getting disability?  Why the hell would disabled people support Trump over Biden?

And these are the disabled people who didn't feel they could or should mark down a career type.  I would feel people in that situation would feel more disgruntled with capitalism and be more down with left/socialism.  

Isn't it the left that is more supportive of providing supports for people unable to find jobs?

Anyway...back to the percentages.

The most important thing is Disney employees gave 84% of donations to Biden vs Trump.  It's so nice to know that.  

Also...I can use my beloved iPhone and laptop knowing that 92% of their employees gave to Biden instead of Trump.  

* * *

Well...looking at the Bloomberg bubbles.

I can definitely believe that left-wing people are more likely to be creative.  

* * *

Because my parents are both Trump supporters (or defenders), I find a huge amount of comfort in the Bloomberg bubbles and percentages.

I'm sure there's a lofty explanation for that.

I'm not sure how to explain or define it.

I guess part of it is comfort in numbers...and the fact that the numbers are coming from the type of people I like and/or admire.  I mean at least in terms of their career paths.

Also, I think it's kind of infuriating and unfathomable to have family members that support Trump despite all that has been revealed. And since (adult) Trump supporters outnumber Biden supporters in my family, when it comes to family discussions and situations, I end up feeling outnumbered.

So, it's nice to know that outside my family...the people I tend to see as being cool or super cool are on the same team as me—Disney employees, government employees, Target employees, Google employees, librarians, professors, psychologists, graphic designers, scientists, actors, occupational therapists, architects, pharmacists, restaurant servers, artists, veterinarians, software engineers, other engineers, IT professionals, scientists, authors.....

* * *

I'm going to leave this fun and comforting rabbit hole and move onto a Holocaust website.

For this post, I'm going to be looking at The Zekelman Holocaust Center which is in Farmington Hills Michigan.

Farmington is 24 minutes from Detroit.

Looking on Google Maps, the architecture of the museum is pretty interesting.  I kind of like it.  

They've worked the Holocaust uniforms into the design. Interesting choice.

In the same building...or attached?  There is a place called The Zekelman Family Campus.  But it's permanently closed.  I wonder what that was.  

Well...I'm getting the idea from Google that maybe this is what the museum used to be called?  

* * *

The website for the Society of Architectural Historians has a page about the museum, describing the various symbolic elements of the building.   

They talk about the museum as being in Detroit, so Farmington is a suburb I guess.

Detroit has about 96 thousand Jews and many of them live in Farmington.

* * *

I wonder what percentage of Holocaust museum employees or volunteers donated to Biden rather than Trump.

How about museums in general?

Was that on the Bloomberg page?  

Well..I looked.  I don't think they're on there.   

* * *

The Board of Director page is illustrated with a photo of some of the board members with a special guest speaker.

Who was that guest speaker?  

George Takei.

You can't say we-are-a-left-leaning museum more loudly than having George Takei featured on your Board of Director Page.

I am going to predict that this museum does NOT side with Conservapedia about the Nazis being left-wing rather than right-wing.  

I will say, though, that the museum needs to work on their gender equality wokeness.  All of the top board governing people are men.

* * *

I'm looking at their exhibit page.  And with this aspect of the museum, I feel it's more right-leaning.

Why?

Because unlike the other museums I've looked at so far, the Zekelman Museum doesn't seem to have an exhibit about other victims of bigotry and/or genocide. 

Now I haven't looked at their online education section yet.  Maybe that has something?

But still.  I feel most Holocaust museums also try to tie in other injustices.  And exhibits ARE a huge part of a museum.

I think left-wing Jews are more likely to be social justice warriors not just with injustice against Jews but also against other people.

I think right-wing Jews are more likely to focus on atrocities committed against Jews.  

For left-wing Jews, "Never Again" seems to mean we need to pay attention and fight against genocide.

For right-wing Jews, "Never Again" seems to mean we need to stay vigilant and make sure Jews are safe.

* * *

Now I'm going to look through their online education stuff.

I'll jot down anything that is interesting to me....

And maybe go on a tangent or fall down a rabbit hole.

* * *

Okay.  Good.

I'm glad to see these lines on this page of the online education...which expand the subject of injustice beyond antisemitism.  

Where do you see hatred in our world today? 

What can be done to help change its course? 

I'll answer the second question: 

Vote

Pay attention

Be willing to see the injustices.  Don't turn away.

I mean we can turn away sometimes.  We don't have to read every tragic article and watch every video of brutality.  Personal mental health is important too...and there are only so many hours in a day.  

But if we turn away so often that we're able to believe that things are fine, life is fair, that we're all in the same boat....

Then we're turning away too often.  

* * *

This page talks about a 1936 antisemitic children's book called Trust No Fox.

It was written by an 18-year-old kindergarten teacher named Elvira Bauer.

According to the Bloomberg circles, only 16% of teachers are Team Trump.  That's reassuring to me.  

Though the numbers there might change as teachers become restricted about what books they can have in their classroom and how much they're allowed to say regarding racism, history, and LGBTQ+ issues.

I think part of the master plan is to replace left-leaning teachers with right-wing ones.  Or really I should say: replace left-leaning teachers with white supremacist teachers.

* * *

Now I've somehow landed on a PDF of a lesson plan from the museum.

One of the things they say: 

Many Jewish people thought that what was happening would eventually come to

an end, or were not able to leave because they did not have a place to go. Further,

many could not afford the journey, or were not successful in their efforts to leave. They

needed citizenship papers, immigrant and travel visas, and often needed a sponsor that

would be financially responsible.

I wish people would have this in mind when they say things like, I support immigration.  But it needs to be done legally.

Fuck that.

We live in Texas which is not at war...yet.

There are really shitty things happening here and/or developing.  But the shit hasn't hit the fan yet...it's just slowly inching towards it.

But right now....to get a new driver's license or ID, it takes about three months!!  In the bygone day, this was something you could decide to do last minute.  And yeah...then you'd have to spend hours in a dreadful line.  At least, though, you could get one in a fairly short amount of time.

These days, we have to make an appointment to get an ID...and the appointments are booked for about three months.

So...if a simple but very necessary thing like getting an ID is so challenging...during peacetime.  How do people manage to do all that needs to be done for an exodus?

Moving is stressful.

It's expensive.

It involves saying very hard good-byes to people and things that have to be left behind.

And when something is very difficult, we will cling fiercely to any amount of hope that tells us maybe all of this isn't necessary.  Maybe we can stay.  Maybe we can be okay.

Note: I should add that we were able to get a passport...fortunately.  But that took a stressful few hours to arrange... I don't mean the actual passport meeting.  I mean searching through the Internet to figure out how to get an appointment.  And there was a fair bit of a wait time there as well.  Plus...with passports, it takes several weeks to get the passport back in the mail.

 

* * *

Well, I think I'm done with the Zekelman Holocaust Center...and this post...AND this particular series in general.

I'm going to continue this project, though, by studying related topics.

And really....even this post didn't really talk much about the Rise of Nazism in Germany.  I think I jumped away from that quite fast.  I pretty much went right into a rabbit hole.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online