Hitler's initial step in his rise to power, the Beer Hall Putsch, would be a failure and get him arrested. During his time in prison, Hitler would write Mein Kampf and outline what the Nazi empire would look like. After his sentence, 12 Nazis (the National Socialist German workers Party led by Hitler) would be elected into the Reichstag. The Nazi's paralleled the Italian fascist party as the brownshirts were designed in the blackshirts model as a paramilitary force for the purposes of intimidation. The Brownshirts were led by Ernst Rohm and would harass the opposition. The Nazi's would eventually become the largest party in the Reichstag and Hitler would become the chancellor. In 1933, the Reichstag would be burnt down and the crime would be blamed on a Dutch communist. Consequently the Nazi party would win a narrow majority in the following election and by mongering the fear of a communist revolt in combination with brownshirt intimidation of Reichstag members, the enabling act would be passed essentially giving Hitler absolute power.
The Weimar republic faced multiple challenges in the first years of its existence. Firstly, there were multiple uprisings. In the Spartakist upping of 1919 a communist party was brutally put down by the Freikorps. Consequently, a general strike in 1920 would save the republic from a coup in the Kapp putsch in which the anti-revolutionary force ironically revolted. In addition to the multiple uprisings, the terms of the treaty of Versailles caused general discontent and lead to hyper inflation. Unemployment was high and thus even under a democratic government, the Weimar republic faced huge challenges in running a successful nation, particularly economically. In Italy, Benito Mussolini, the father of Fascism, would rise to absolute power through intimidation. He organized the blackshirts as a paramilitary force and the king gave in quickly after their March on Rome. Mussolini would then force the Acerbo Law through parliament giving the party with the most votes 2/3 of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. By 1926 any parties that weren't agreeable with fascism had been eliminated and Italy was run by a totalitarian dictatorship.
I found Life is Beautiful to be compelling and touching film. The relationship between the father and son and Guido's efforts to shield his son from the horrors of the holocaust were moving. Although many critics found the use of humour in that situation distasteful, I found it to convey that love triumphs all and therefore to be a powerful contrast. I was particularly fascinated with the Nazi guard's presentation as cruel and their inability to connect with or even see the prisoner's as human. Although a minor aspect of the film, I thought these characters provided an important insight as to the reason the atrocities of the holocaust were able to play out. Through the film, one feels they know and understand Guido and his family. Their personalities and struggles are shown. But just as one views the guards as shallow, single sided enemies; the Nazi's saw the Jews in the same simplicity. Such a lack of understanding of one another's humanity would lead to one of the most atrocious acts in human history.
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