Willy+Brandt

**Background:**
Germany has many features: the mountainous landscape from the Alps, the Germans’ precise workmanship (as seen in their architecture), and the plethora of small towns with a culture all their own. The 81 million people cluster in many of the small towns and use the Rhine River for trade with northern ports. The green, flowing hills, excellent for agriculture, span the landscape. Arguably, Germany’s legacy- Hitler’s Holocaust- overshadows any and all else that Germany has done and may do.

Adolf Hitler was 24 years old when Willy Brandt was born. Adolf begins to increase in power in his late 30’s while Brandt receives an education in Lubeck, Germany and later Oslo, Norway (to escape increasing Nazi persecution). He partnered with anti-Nazi forces, living underground with them in Berlin for a stint, and worked to build international cooperation. In 1937, Brandt worked with Spain for humanitarian relief organizations, was expatriated (by Hitler’s government) in 1938, and was captured and released in 1940 in German occupied Norway, presumed to be a Norwegian. He fled to Stockholm, Sweden and remained there until 1945, the year that Hitler commits suicide. Brandt’s political career began in 1948 with the Social Democratic party of Berlin. He holds various offices within the SDP and later is elected the Mayor of Berlin (1957-1966). He is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971, is elected to European Parliament in 1979, and dies in 1992 of cancer.

The actions that Hitler took are often the main focus of a unit on the Holocaust. Opposing forces to Hitler are hardly ever looked at. It would be interesting to look at who opposed the Holocaust and the anti-Semitism movement in Germany (other than the Jews and non-Aryans), to see all that they accomplished, and to see what their lives looked like. I could bring in outside sources, diary entries, reports, fictional literature, newspaper clippings, and movies that shed light on these underground anti-Nazism organizations. As a class, we would try to paint a picture of the life an individual, like Willy, or organization would have during the Holocaust.
 * Application:**

This would probably be a one or two day lesson taught in tandem with a unit on Germany, the rise of Nazism, and Jewish anti- Semitism. I would want students to see many different facets of the event: Hitler’s view, the Jews and non-Aryans being persecuted, the world’s view, the German supporters, and German Aryans opposed to Hitler. To assess, I would probably choose to do a project at the end of the unit that would allow the students to write from a viewpoint of their choice. Perhaps they could write a narrative of the Holocaust from the viewpoint of (Hitler, the world, Jews and non-Aryans, German supporters, and Aryan Germans against the Holocaust). In it they would demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned about the Holocaust and the events, as well as multiple perceptions of it. This also allows them freedom of choice and freedom to express their opinions.

**Sources:** [] (Willy Brandt life and NPP) [] (excellent map of Europe) [] (Nazi Propaganda) [] (Hitler’s early life and rise of Nazism) [] (Germany Geography) [] (Adolf Hitler time-line)