Video: 1920s Charleston

Happy Moving Feet

by Lorena Solari 

After the World War I, people started to practice a new dancing style. Their feet started to move faster, following a cheerful music. They started to wear exotic and short dresses, full of fringes and feathers; and high heels, in the case of women. Men wore suits, hats, sticks, and were really elegant. After the horrible World War I, people were happy because of the “peace” after this terrible situation, and this happiness was manifested in dancing. It represented an era of disregard: this joyful style was the Charleston.

This dancing style was originated in 1903, by the African Americans of South Carolina, as a folkloric African dance. That is why it has some similarities with the dances of Nigeria, and Ghana. The name “Charleston” comes from a city named like that, in South Carolina. At first Charleston dance was forbidden for considering it immoral and provocative. Its popularity grew due to the presentation in the Negro musical “Running Wild” in New York, presentation that spread al among the country. It achieved its popularity when Elizabeth Welch sung a song named Charleston (composed in 1923 by the pianist James P. Johnson) in this production. The dance itself was introduced in Irving C. Miller Liza (Broadway musical) in 1923. People started to like this joyful dance and it spread fast among the United States.  

In the year 1926 a group of Americans presented Charleston in the Metropole Hotel of London. Rapidly, this dance started to spread among Europe, and imposed as the most popular dance in the time. Because of this spreading, the original forms of Charleston changed because of the expansion in the European country. It was the most “in” dance, always presented in shows and cabarets. In 1927, the Charleston style started to decay, because of the appearance of the Black Bottom, and later of the Quickstep.

The Charleston dance is rhythmically syncopated (a change in rhythm) in 4 beats from 4. In this style, people dance in couples. Some dance steps are for example the Susy Q and the twirl in one foot touching one heel and another, return, and back, clapping in an alternated way. Another dancing ways are walking one step to the front touching the floor, retuning, and making a step back, while the arms move just like a pendulum. People use to jump and smile, because they want to show this feeling of happiness after a World War.

The Charleston dance is a way of manifesting the happiness of the people. It was a really happy style, where people enjoyed and passed great times. The dancing was usually really fast and people used to jump and smile, and show that they had no worries. Art is the way of expressing feelings, and in this time, people expressed their feelings with music and body, and when watching the Charleston one can realize that the people enjoyed their life. It is not only a dance, it is the way of proving that the war has ended, life is beautiful, and one can be happy despite anything one has lived.

Women in Nazi society

 By Antonella Chihizola

Does Nazi society had a male chauvinist basis?

Women’s role during Hitler’s regime was completely male chauvinist and discriminator. Their role in society was primary as housewives, supporting their husbands, community organizers and especially as mothers of further Aryans. Their duties could be summarized with three k-starting German words: Kirche (Church), Küche (kitchen), Kinder (children). Only once men unemployment was completely alleviated and labor shortages took place women were required and allowed to work in public professions.

One of the main purposes why Nazis discouraged women working outside home in common employees, was to alleviate the high unemployment rate of men. That’s why, after getting married, women were encouraged to work at home and take care of their husbands and families with the support of “generous” loans. Anyway, as these loans had reductions and rates of interests depending on the age and number of children, after having four a couple owed nothing.

 Many facilities were given by the government to encourage women to get marry and have children. Abortion was made illegal, unless some specific cases of “genetic defects” demanded its enforcement… If the German baby was not an Aryan, why should it even be allowed to born and infect society with its impurity?

There was even an especial ceremony to reward prolific mothers. It was held on August 12, the birthday of Hitler’s mother, each year. The German blood and hereditarily healthy mothers who had four or five children were receiving a bronze medal, if they had from six to seven a silver one, and from eight on the golden one. All of them had the inscription “The child ennobles the mother”

However, only the genetically pure were allowed to procreate and received the benefits that the government offered. Before getting married, the couples needed to present a certificate of “fitness to marry” and of course if they didn’t had the particular features to give life to pure Germans; they were not getting married, and probably even eradicated… or at least sterilized. Millions of Germans suffered due to sterilization during these years.

Also, in order to “bear a child for the Führer”, unmarried women that count with good racial credentials were encouraged to become pregnant with selected SS (Schutzstaffel ‘protective squadron’) men as fathers.

Mothers were in charge of ensuring the education of their children as “national comrades”… at least they wanted the Nazi government to take away their children’s custody.

Nazis’ policies over women become contradictory when in 1933 almost 5 million women were paid employment outside the home and then in 1939 the number grew up to 7.14 million. This was a consequence of labor shortage and rising wages; it was just then when women were encouraged to go to universities and study a career to become professionals.

As a conclusion Nazi society was male chauvinist one, which only allowed women to develop intellectual and professionally after men had filled all the quotas and it was a necessary fact for maintaining government’s prosperity. Women were “used” as procreators of new Aryans, by giving birth new children and by ensuring their “correct path” in education. I have nothing against housewives who want to dedicate their life to their family and children, as long as it is their choice and there is nobody restricting their liberty to grow as professionals and therefore achieve self-realization.

USA Isolationism: selfishness or survival?

“In the large view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United Staes, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by this outside forces” 

                                                             - Herbert Hoover

By Brenda Pedreschi 

New York. A favorable boom in the economy of USA led the Americans to invest large amounts of money in stock market. To afford it many people asked for loans to banks, over $8.5 billion was out on loan.     On October 24th the share on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. About 16 million shares were traded, and the Dow lost an additional 30 points, or 12%. When the stock market collapsed it cause disastrous financial effects on worldwide markets. 

The United States optes a system of isolation to survive the crisis after World War I, affecting not only their economy but also other nations. One of the main nations to be affected by this system was Germany as all their incomes from USA were cut and become loans.The Young Plan by Stresemann appealed to the USA for further assistance in paying reparations. The Young committee reduces Germany's liability to £2,000 million (about 1/3 of the original sum), to be paid over 59 years. This plan collapsed because of the Wall Street Crash on 1929. 

The reality of a worldwide economic depression and the need for increased attention to domestic problems only served to bolster the idea that the United States should isolate itself from troubling events in Europe.

USA was not in a favorable position to continue supporting them neither was able to support with money foreign countries as Germany, causing the block of international payments and begun collecting loans back. 

Isolationists held the view that USA's perspective on the world was different from that of European societies and that USA could advance the cause of freedom and democracy bu means other than war.

Even thought Isolationism did not mean disengagement from the world stage, USA isolated her in terms of trade. Tariffs were put on foreign goods to protect USA industry, and because Europeans couldn't sell their goods to hem they could not afford to buy agricultural goods from USA. This was one of the causes of the Depression.

But isolationism is not only applied for economy, isolationism refers to USA's longstanding reluctance to become involved in european alliances and wars, any conflict or international politics.

A main consequence of this isolation toward the world was shown in USA turning its back on Europe by restricting the number of immigrants permitted into the country. Until World War I, millions of people, mostly from Europe, had come to USA to seek their fortune and escape from poverty and persecution. Britons and Irishmen, Germans and Jews constituted the biggest groups. In 1921 the relatively liberal policy ended and quotas were introduced. By 1929 only 150,000 immigrants per year were allowed in.

Isolationism might be seen as a way to survive interwar crisis especially economical but in the end it just was a factor that gave place to the great Depression that followed also as it gave crisis to other nations it gave place to new leaders arrive, those leaders who will later be main characters in World War II. A cut in loans to foreign countries is undeniable a optimum decision as the nation couldn’t afford to keep doing it but that is just one way of isolation, some others were just over exaggerating decisions that could be managed in better situations and better ways. Isolation affected the whole country and will leaf serious consequences for the following years.

“Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future."
Adolf Hitler

“Germany will either be a world power or will not be at all."
Adolf Hitler

History Channel the Third Reich "The Rise "

Germany inter war period Ruhr Crisis

Light in the Dark: Germany’s Dawes Plan

By Brenda Pedreschi

The important role of Allies in the recovery of Germany economy is undeniable.

Germany has lost the WWI entering a time of economic depression as it have received a reparation payment imposed by the treaty.

In order to survive the crisis after the Treaty of Versailles Germany established in 1919 a federal republic and parliamentary representative democracy which replaced the imperial form of government. It was named after Weimar, the city where the constitutional assembly took place.

In its 14 years, the Weimar Republic was faced with numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremists on the left and the right and their paramilitaries, and hostility from the victors of World War I, who tried twice to restructure Germany's reparations payments through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan.

Weimar Germany was not able to recover by itself neither to pay all its loans, external help was needed. Important achievement of a temporally success needs to be attributed to nations that send represents on the committee. Even though the main interest of this nations was to avoid any revolution in Germany as Russia was seen as the main enemy of the moment after the establishment of communism. On the other hand economists didn’t count on a worldwide crisis as the Wall Street Cash and the following depression, no one could be prepared for it nor were the Germans, nor was the Dawes Plan.

The five nations represented on the Dawes Committee were USA, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium and France. Each nation gave two experts in finance. There was a common motive for finding some way to restructure Weimar’s economy.

The Dawes Plan of 1924 was formulated to take Weimar Germany out of hyperinflation and to return Weimar’s economy to some form of stability. The Dawes Plan got its name as the man who headed the committee was an American called Charles Dawes.

The Dawes Plan was needed to solve financial problems inside Germany, without it the payment for reparations imposed by the treaty after WWI would have destroyed Germany causing bigger struggles and crisis not only in economic aspects but also in the whole nation.

  

What was seen as a temporally succeed of this plan is especially regarded to those nations who agreed to loan Weimar Germany large sums of money that would be invested into the economy.

One of the main strokes of the Dawes plan was the remove of troops from the Ruhr, because this passive resistance had led to Germany’s most important economic zone simply not working and producing the money it should have been producing, by removing Belgium troops the Ruhr was given back to Germany and Italy.

The payment was needed to be restructured in order to be more “German friendly¨, therefore a second stroke of the Dawes plan was the reparation payment restructuration.

A third point was treat on the committee, the restructuring of Weimar’s national bank, the Reichsbank, which would be supervised by the Allies. While this may have been interpreted as direct interference by outside powers, it was not an issue and the Weimar government accepted the terms

It’s important to recognize that the Allies could have played the card of “you deserve everything you get” toward Germany but even though WWI affected every nation, they found ways to help with the stability of German economy; the questioning might be how long would this last? No one could predict a disaster as the Wall Street Crash, that crucial period when the Dawes Plan apparently succeeds came to an end and Germany suffered the Great Depression.

References

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/young_plan_1929.htm

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/dawes_plan_1924.htm

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/weimar_depression_1929.htm

Adolf Hitler: The antichrist history

By Isabella Ponce de León

This is the story of a man who changed world history and caused consequences that follow to this day. His name is Adolf Hitler; he was a German ruler in the interwar period and during the Second World War too.  Diffused hatred and contempt for Jews and people with ideologies different from him.  He made during his government in Germany, concentration camps and massacres of this innocent people. In this article you will find out everything you did not know about this important character.

Adolf Hitler, baptized as a Catholic, was born on April 20, 1889, in the Upper Austrian border town Braunau am Inn, located approximately 65 miles east of Munich and nearly 30 miles north of Salzburg.

His parents were Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl, a middle class couple. He was a boy with low performance at school l and postulated when he was 17 years to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, but failed the entrance exam. Then, he worked as sweeper and builder.

In 1914, the outbreak of World War, he voluntarily presented to the German army and fought until 1918, when he was injured. Mad by defeat, accused the Jews and Marxists of being traitors. And after the war he was repelled by the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which he considered as too humiliating to Germany.

Since 1920 he devoted his life to the National Socialist Party (Nazi Party). In 1923 he attempted a coup, but failed and was imprisoned for 9 months. In prison he wrote "Mein Kampf", which explained his nationalist, racist and anti-communist ideology. His ideas spread among the Germans unemployed and poor.

Hitler ran for Chancellor in 1932, but was defeated by Hindenburg. And when he died in 1933, the power fell to Hitler, who proclaimed himself Führer. He then organized a fascist-type state (nationalist and militarized) where he became a strong, cruel and insensible dictator. In 1936, he invaded the Rhineland (the Rhine) and signed agreements with Italy and Japan. In 1938, annexed Austria to his country and stole from it Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia.

On September 1 in 1939, Germany leadered by Hitler invaded Poland and provoked World War II. It attacked Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, France and England. But failed the invasion of Russia. In 1944, there was the Allied invasion of Normandy, forcing Hitler to retreat. When the Russians took Berlin, Hitler shot himself on April 30, 1945. His body was cremated.

And this is how a man, of middle class, with few resources to develop and so much hatred accumulated because of the problems of life,  comes to a power, and leads a whole nation with an ideology that he made himself, and influences millions of persons around Europe and the world. Leaving his mark in the world until nowadays.

Third Reich, the Nazi state of Germany

By Isabella Ponce de León

The designation "Third Reich" was created in 1922 by the romantic-conservative, writer-intellectual Arthur Moeller van den Bruck. In his publication Das Dritte Reich (The Third Reich), Moeller envisioned the rise of an anti-liberal, anti-Marxist Germanic Empire in which all social class divisions would be reconciled in national unity under a charismatic "Führer" (leader), who was Adolf Hitler. Moeller's "Third Reich" referred to two previous Germanic Empires: Charlemagne's medieval Frankish Empire and the German Empire under the Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty between 1871 and 1918.

This government existed from January 30, 1933, to May 8, 1945.

The rise to power of the Nazis led to the end of the Weimar Republic, a democracy established in Germany after the First World War. Following the naming of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor on January 30, 1933, the Third Reich quickly became a government in which the Germans had no basic right guaranteed. After a suspicious fire in the German Parliament, in February 28, 1933, the government issued a decree that suspended constitutional civil rights.

Here is where it began a cruel dictatorship by the antichrist leader Adolf Hitler.

In the first months of Hitler's chancellorship, the Nazis instituted a policy of "coordination" and made the alignment of individuals and institutions with the same goals of the Nazis. Culture, economics, education and law all came under Nazi control. The Nazi government also tried to coordinate and organize the German churches, and although it was not entirely achieved, the government won support from a majority of Catholic and Protestant clergymen.

An extensive propaganda was used to spread the goals and ideas of government. With the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler assumed the powers of the presidency. The army took personal loyalty to Hitler. He was very popular and so was his government, he was also charismatic and nice with the people. According to the "Fuehrer principle", Hitler was out of legal state and he determined his own policy issues. He had all in his favor: The power, the army and the followers.

 The Nazi foreign policy was guided by the racist belief that Germany was biologically destined to expand to the east by military force and the population that was racially superior should expand and establish a permanent authority in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Hitler turned Germany into a world power through his many conquests and through his ability to control and manage his country perfectly.

Here the women had an important role. Aggressive population policy encouraged women of the Third Reich "racially pure” to have as many Aryan children possible. They made this because they considered the Aryan race as the authentic and pure Germanic race, that is why they encourage these women to have as many children as they wanted.

 Within this system, people "racially inferior" as Jews and Gypsies, would be eliminated and viciously exterminated in the region. The foreign policy of the Nazis went from the beginning to make a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, and the years of peace in the  Nazi rule were passed preparing the German people for war. In the context of this ideological war, the Nazis planned and carried out the Holocaust, the mass murder of Jews, who were considered the enemy "racial" principal, and other people who had different ideologies than the Nazis or rebelled against the Nazi system. The open criticism of the government was suppressed by the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Security Service of the Nazi party, but Hitler's government was popular with most Germans. The Allies defeated Nazi Germany and forced the German surrender on May 8, 1945.

This government was like no other. Through these 12 years innumerable unfair acts were carried out: Massacres of almost an entire race happened and racist ideas were spread through all the European continents, affecting more millions of people who were sent to concentration camps and were killed by Nazi hands. But also the intelligent and dissatisfied Fuhrer led a destroyed Germany, to be a world power in his first 6 years of leader. This has been never seen in history which speaks of a formidable government.

The Fetuses of Totalitarian Regimes

by Antonella Chichizola

A critical view to the youth manipulation under totalitarianism (1919-1938)

“Those who have youth on their side control the future”

-Hans Schemm, leader of the Nazi Teachers’ League

Totalitarian regimes during the interwar period (1919-1938) had it very clear. Fascism, Nazism and Communism; all of them took special interest over the young generations of their time. While the two first ones wanted to forge boys as unbeatable and courageous warriors and prepare girls to be good mothers and procreators of the future generations, the USSR under Stalin’s reign trained the young ones to be future skilled workers for industrial, scientific and technological developments. In other words, these currents were creating “the perfect society” by planting ideas on the young and innocent minds of children. In communism for example, probably the main aim of controlling youth was to create new “socialist citizens” who will accept collectivism rather than individualistic ideas.

Education was a main tool that must be controlled by the state in order to create the perfect Nazi or Fascist or Soviet as the case may. Teachers that had contradictory ideas were eliminated. The same happened with textbooks that didn’t provide the information the government wanted to transmit impose. Everything was carefully arranged so that citizens will learn since very young “the principles of the government life”. The primary purpose of schools came to teach children the main values of Communism, Fascism, or Nazism respectively such as manliness, patriotism and obedience.

YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS

Another common fact is that the three countries (Germany, Italy and USSR) developed the system of creating “youth organizations”.  They separated them according to age and only in USSR not by sex. If you were member of these nationalistic groups, you were of course meant to give cult to the leader; either it was “Il Duce”, “Der Führer”, or “Comrade Stalin” they made a great job on making people glorify them. Another important difference between the Soviet and the fascist indoctrination was that their youth organizations were largely independent of adult party. Children on the Nazi youth groups were encouraged to spy their parents and what is more, to report them to the government when they were “not doing right”. Hence, there must have been a previous differentiation of what’s right and what’s wrong.  

As there is everywhere, (youth) opposition groups appeared rebelling again these impositions. However, the willingness of millions of young people to fight for (Nazi/ Fascist/ Communist) cause when war broke out must suggest who had the real power and major influence.

All these facts led me to ask myself… and the family? Isn’t it the first school of values? Were the families inculcating the same values as the regimes? Or… Were they too scared of the government’s police to teach them any that differed from the established ones? Were these movements really able to wash the brains of the young and therefore had a mentally-programmed future generation who will understand the imposed philosophy of their national regimes as a natural fact of life? ... But if they learned these “values” at first, could it really be considered a brainwash? Controversial, isn’t it?

VIDEO: Mickey Mouse - The Opry House 1929

Mickey Mouse: The Opry House  1929

Cultural: Story of a Black Mouse

By Lorena Solari


He is part of our childhood. Who doesn´t remember this little mouse and his friends? His is known by our parents, grandparents, and so on. He has been everything one can imagine, a sportsman, farmer, sailor, cowboy, pianist, car driver, and has even met Santa Clause! He is Mickey Mouse, created in 1928 by Walt Disney, and has traveled by the entire world.

Some stories affirm that Walt Disney was in a train when he created this humanized body mouse, and his real name was Mortimer Mouse, but his wife preferred to name it Mickey. He made only a draft of Mickey Mouse, and his friend, Ub Iwerks was in charge of making the final design of the cartoon. “Its head was a circle with another circle like a snout. Its body was like a pear and had a long tale; its feet where pipe tubes and we put them in big shoes to give it the aspect of a boy wearing its father footwear.” (Walt Disney).

At first, Mickey was just Black, with black dots as eyes, it had no gloves, and he wore short pants. Mickey Mouse´s first appearance was “Plane Crazy” in May1928, with the appearance of Mickey and Minnie, its girlfriend. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. “Plane Crazy”, had duration of just 6 minutes, was mute (the sound was added years later), and did not succeed as it was expected. Disney made two more short films “The Gallopin´ Gaucho”, and Mickey´s first succeed, “Steamboat Willie,” made in November 1928. Disney then created “The Opry House” where he added the white gloves, that at first where made to distinguish the hands of his characters, who were all black. By the year 1930, Mickey was the idol from kids and adults, President Roosevelt and King George V of England demanded Mickey´s short films previous to their private film sessions. 

While the years past, Disney industry kept growing and growing: during the year of the Great Depression, Walt Disney created Mickey´s short film: “Jungle Rhythm”, situated in Africa. Mickey´s first appearance in colors was in 1935, in the film “The Band Concert,” it was as good that the League of Nations declared Mickey Mouse “international symbol of good will.” Mickey became more popular every day around the 5 continents. But this popularity started to decay: around the last years of the 1930s people started to prefer long films, and Mickey´s friend, Donald Duck, started to steal Mickey´s popularity; reason why, Walt Disney created Mickey´s short film “Fantasy,” which defined Mickey as the most important icon of Disney´s study.

With the passing of the years, Mickey has changed a lot. He has been everything one can imagine, and has taught us many things. It´s impossible to forget the magic films we have seen since we were kids. Mickey Mouse has been in more than 120 animations, and is nowadays the principal character of Disneyland, Disney World, and Disney Channel. He has been the image of lots of brands. Walt Disney has proved us that dreams really do come true: "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse." (Walt Disney).


Video Plane Crazy Mickey Mouse Classic Walt Disney 1928 Sound Cartoon