My Journal Entries

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Why I am on this trip

I decided to take this class for many reasons other than just wanting to go to Europe. I have learned about World War II ever since I was in middle school. Not being a real history buff, I wasn't too interested and never quite caught on. I understood the important aspects but not much else. I'm excited to learn about the war in a context I know I'm interested in, psychology. You don't need to be a psychology major to know that there were some definite problems that took place during the war like the blind obedience of the Nazis.

Although I know about the major studies done at the time looking at obedience and conformity, I know those weren't the only ones done. I hope to learn more about the war from the psychology viewpoint, hoping that I may retain more of the information this time. Seeing things first hand and experiencing them will also help as I am a hands on learner, one of the reasons why I choose Hartwick.

Painless

Today, at the science museum there was an exhibit on pain titled painless. It was very interesting exhibit especially to me, as I and most of my family members live in constant pain whether from sciatica or headaches. The exhibit also had interactive games that included a demonstration on how people become addicted to pain medicine and consequently the medicine stops working. This game also showed how placebos can still work to relieve pain even through there is no scientific reason for it to do so, it is all in the person's head. The game involved many kinds of medicines that could be taken and the player had to relieve all the pain using as few pills as possible, as well as having to avoid building up a tolerance to the pills.

My family and I seem to have heightened pain tolerance than most other people, I believe that this is related to the chronic pain that we feel. Since we are so used to it, the pain needs to exceed the normal amount to even phase us. This is the same phenomenon that takes place when people become addicted to pain killers except now it is working in our favor.

Aspects you want in a leader

Being a leader would be very difficult in a situation of war with so many people relying on you to help with the war effort. Different people are relying on you for different things, mothers want you to bring their sons home, soldiers look to you for guidance, other leaders need your cooperation. A leader during this time should therefore have a certain number of characteristics which would comfort the people of his or her nation.

Firstly, it would be very helpful for the leader to be well spoken and good at giving speeches. Even in uncomfortable times, their voice should be even and calming to the people. Both Winston Churchill and President Obama have this quality. During times of war or more recently, the shootings in Newton, Connecticut, President Obama was able to come on the television and soothe a panicking nation. Winston Churchill also chose not to show fear when he kept above ground during all the bombings and would not hide underground until after he was forced to. He showed his face at the sights of bombings and walked upon the rubble. This is also important for leaders to do as this will also calm the nation. Churchill's saying "keep calm and carry on" which has quickly rose to popularity, is exactly what he did. Once people saw that he could not let this get him down, they were more easily able to follow suit compared to if he was always hiding in a bunker, and not exposing himself to the danger that his people were facing every day.

Although leaders need to be down to earth and connect with their population, they also need to be able to hold themselves above everyone at the right time and make decisions for them. The separation between emotions and cognitive processing is relevant here because much like the footbridge and trolley dilemmas, a leader has to make decisions in war that can cost lives either way. Leaders must be able to ignore their emotions and choose the best response that will do the least damage. Statistically, males are better than females at doing this because they have a more systemizing than emotional brain. Even more systemizing are autistic people, not saying leaders should be autistic because there are certainly other aspects that would make them bad leaders, but they are the best at making these decisions. These decisions must also be made quickly for some leaders like generals in the army since a few seconds can mean quite a lot on the battlefield.

It would help a leader's ratings if they were attractive because of the halo effect. It has been shown that attractive people are rated as warmer and more likable than their unattractive counterparts. This is obviously not necessary however since there have been many unattractive leaders that were well liked such as Churchill, as well as plenty of attractive leaders that are not liked by everyone such as President Obama. It also doesn't help that everyone has different ratings of attractiveness, but this one small aspect could be the deciding factor for those in the population that are still on the fence about a given person.

National Archives

The national archives, although confusing to work at times, ended up being very informative. The amount of propaganda stored in there was unbelievable. There were influential posters covering a wide variety of topics. The most striking poster to me said "we beat em before we'll beat 'em again". The picture depicted a shadowy figure in the background ready for battle with a bayonet implied to be from World War I. The figure in the foreground is a machine gunner from the Second World War. This poster is speculated to have been created in response to France giving in to the Nazi's. The government wanted its citizens to remember that if they stay and fight, history can repeat itself and it wasn't worth it to cave in.

This type of document is known as propaganda because it is something dispensed to the population that only shows one side of the story. Many people think that propaganda is always lies, but that is not necessarily true. Much of the propaganda by Joseph Goebbels, however was either lies or stretching of the truth as he was in charge of making the Nazi party look good. Propaganda was also released in the form of leaflets of paper dispensed by the Royal Air Force. This operation was known by the government of London and even touched upon by Churchill at a war cabinet meeting. This was apparent when I was able to examine the meeting minutes from the war cabinet from September 1939. This was striking to me because they approved of it and thought it should be repeated from time to time. I personally wish the government would be honest with the population, but that is not likely to happen in any country so propaganda will continue to exist.

Stereotypes and prejudice

During our stop at the Jewish museum, it was very evident (in case people didn't already know) that the Jews were not well liked. They were not portrayed well, and in many cases not even treated as humans. Magdalena spoke at the beginning about the yellow benches that were available in the parks for the Jewish women. This discrimination against them stems from the Germans thinking that Jews will spread lies and they must be separated from the others. The yellow benches depicted the space available for all Jews to sit and talk so they would not contaminate the minds of any of the other mothers.

Similar to this discrimination, Jewish workers (if still allowed to have their job) had to replace their original sign with a new one with the Star of David as well as a sentence stating that they were now only allowed to treat Jews. The museum showcased one such sign of a dentist. He was still allowed to work because of his wife, but now had to have the new sign hang above his door. It was this new sign that now hangs in the museum to remind everyone how much the Jews that did not have to go to a concentration camp were still discriminated against.

Later on, once we left Magdalena, there was one section that had the depiction of a Jew with a big hook nose and money. Everyone is easily able to tell this is supposed to be a Jewish person because of the well known stereotype that Jews have big noses and are frugal with their money. Although this may be true in some cases as most stereotypes have a basis in truth, it is not necessarily fool proof and should not be taken literally. Unfortunately, along with the prejudice and discrimination the Jews have dealt with their whole life, they must know live with an unflattering stereotype. I say this because not all stereotypes include bad traits, for example Chinese people are smart. People must begin to break down stereotypes and see past them in order to view others for what they truly are.

Disobedience and defiance

It is clear from both Milgram and Asch's studies that it is within human nature to both obey authority and conform to what others are doing. Yet, there are a few examples from the holocaust that defy this tendency.

One is shown in the iconic photo with everyone at a factory with they're hand out in pure Hitler fashion with a single person in the crowd not doing so. Instead he is standing there in defiance with his arms crossed against his body which is the universal body language for distancing oneself from a situation. Not only is this man not conforming and backing down in the pressure of the group, he is also not falling victim to deindividuation. He hasn't lost himself in the crowd and just adapted to what everyone else was doing.

Other people that chose to disobey Hitler include the people that smuggled Jews out of the country like Schindler. These people risked their own life to save others which takes a special kind of person. Not only did they disobey and not conform to others they are also very altruistic, doing things with no benefit to themselves. These two things are probably not related but it is interesting to note.

Assassinating Hitler could also be considered an altruistic action. Although no one was successful in killing Hitler besides himself, a few people tried. Hitler narrowly escaped both times merely by chance, especially the bomb placed in the column behind him during his speech. These people could have been using their altruistic actions as an excuse to themselves to not conform and obey, or the reverse, they figured since they weren't going to conform anyway, they mind as well do something good with their time. I guess it's something we will never know.

Home front compared to the battlefront

There are many differences between the home front and those fighting on the battlefront, but there are also some very important similarities. Both groups are experiencing types of stress; it is just the way in which the stress is caused that is different.

Those soldiers on the field are feeling both chronic stress and fast stress triggering the fight or flight response. Chronic stress is coming from the constant worrying about their family and whether they are going to make it through all of the bombings. They are also constantly reminded that they could step on an unexploded bomb and that they could lose their life. The other stress they feel is coming from the fighting that they take part in. The stress of battle is unlike stress people feel everyday and takes a serious toll on one's body.

Those members of the family that stay home may think that they have lucked out because they are not in battle but they are experiencing their own kind of stress. Their chronic fear is caused by the bombing happening right outside their door, people they love could be dying and they must ration all of their supplies. Rationing can cause fear and stress because of the consequences of not rationing correctly and subsequently running low or out of something all together. The V2 rockets are also a large portion of their stress because they can hear it for a few seconds as it is launched, but after that, there is nothing to be seen or heard until it makes contact, hopefully far away.

Another major difference between the two, stems from the training the soldiers experience. They are trained partially to deal with this stress and its consequences while the citizens are left with nothing. The soldiers are also privy to more information, the only bits that the population knows is the propaganda being hand fed to them by the government. At least the soldiers know where, when and sometimes why. Not knowing is sometimes much worse than knowing so the soldiers are better off in that respect.

On the same point, soldiers don't know what they are coming home to. This is probably not first on their list to stress about but when they are arriving home, they are in for a shock. They've seen destroyed homes and cities, but when they see their homes and memories destroyed it can cause stress. Especially since many soldiers are already coming home with PTSD, these conditions just make it worse.

Human factors engineering

The technological developments that were made during the war were most noticeable on the HMS Belfast. Although, the stairs could have been less steep, the cannons and guns available on the ship were impressive. Compared to the First World War, the army and navy etc. were all much better off now. Some of the weapons were automatic which meant they didn't have to waste precious time trying to reload them. Warships also had radar now so they were able to tell if any enemies were closing in on them and if they had to get ready to fight.

One could also tell that human factors engineering played a role in the development of weapons and different aspects of the ship. The necessary buttons were all close together and convenient on the weapons which probably led to less accidental deaths and tragedies. Also in the laundry room, developments were made to get massive loads of laundry done at a time instead of only small loads. The irons were also not hand irons like people would see in a house, there were giant boards that closed with the garment inside and flattened a larger area than a hand iron. This probably made life on the ship much easier (especially for the crew doing laundry).

The ship was also an excellent example of how much someone's brain and body can adapt. The HMS Belfast seemed very inconvenient to us with the ladder-like stairs and the giant steps when trying to get into the next room. These inconvenient aspects had a purpose however, the stairs took less space and the steps were to stop water from spreading about the ship if it were unfortunate enough to start taking on water. If the brain and body were not semi-malleable, these safety aspects of the ship would do more harm than good. After a while though, the crew would have acted as if this was normal and they never knew of anything different.

Three memorials

The Jewish museum in its entirety was quite the memorial to the Jews and their history. The way Magdalena explained it was very intriguing, from the slashed windows to the shape of the building to the slanting of the walls and floors. The empty tower was quite interesting, whether it invoked a feeling of hope or a lack of hope. The architect's addition of the voids really does depict all of the missing information and artifacts of Jewish history that will forever be gone because of the holocaust. The most striking part of this museum however was the Falling Leaves exhibit in one of the voids. I did not expect to feel the way I did when stepping on the faces, normally I am not good at interpreting art so I did not give stepping on the faces a second thought. After the first few steps however, I felt as if I was one of the perpetrators of the holocaust, hurting all of these innocent people. The faces overlaying each other like they were, made me imagine the well know pictures of dead bodies laying in a giant pile. By the time I got to the other side, I did not want to walk back across, I wished there was a secondary door at the back. Instead, I stood back and watched the others cross, those people looking down, seemed to be gentler than those looking straight ahead. The noise from the metal was not so bad at first as I was one of the first people to step on the exhibit, however once more people started walking, the clanging metal started sounding like the torture and screams that the Jews experienced during the holocaust. I can now definitely understand why such an exhibit is very controversial, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I think many people need to have.

Another thought provoking memorial would definitely have to be the one at Buchenwald concentration camp, the plaque in the ground that is heated to 98.6 degrees, the temperature of a live body. Besides making sure that the plaque is always visible in the snow, this symbolizes the loss of all people, not just the Jews. This is a simple but moving symbol of their life and everyone else's life that may have survived the holocaust. Certainly an excellent way to be remembered, as a live warm body without sickness and extreme weather, two of the ways many people lost their life. It symbolizes their body temperature before being burned and turned to ash. I'm sure that any family member that were to go back to Buchenwald to remember their loved one, would find comfort that amongst the freezing conditions outside, they could feel the warmness of the body of the one they lost.

Although I thought most memorials were appropriate and well thought out for what they were trying to symbolize, the one I liked least would have to be the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial seemed to be more of a playground than a memorial. There was no mention of any of the names or the places that people came from. I much preferred the other idea that lost the bid for the memorial that was the building with the names of the concentration camps engraved into the sides so the sun would cast the shadow in on people. I feel as though that memorial would have invoked a similar response as the 'falling leaves' exhibit, very emotional. It seems that the more emotional a memorial the more it is remembered and appreciated. Although this memorial was very nice and artistic, I feel as though something better could be in its place. However, the underground museum was very fitting and emotional but I'm unsure if it was a part of the same idea. The best room in the underground museum in my opinion was the room with the benches and the names projected on each wall. With each name came a story first in German and then in English. The explanation said that these were just some of the stories that have been uncovered, told by survivors, friends and family members. All of the stories of those persecuted would take a six years and approximately 8 months to tell.

Denazification

After the war, Germany went through denazification to get rid of all the Nazi buildings and reminders of the war. I'm not really sure that's the best idea though. Whenever we would walk by a building and Peter or Finn would say "this used to be here" it wasn't very interesting, and kind if saddening. Of course Peter couldn't make the building appear but it would have been much better if we could go into them.

Obviously if all buildings were kept and turned into memorials, almost all of Germany would be museums, but the buildings could have been repurposed. There were the two buildings that the government now works in. That makes sense because it would be bad for someone who loves Hitler to be able to get back into the building. But these buildings should be treated as important and reconstructed for reminders of where the country was and how far it has now come. It was only a little over twenty years ago that the Berlin Wall was taken down and it's amazing how far the country has come. It's especially striking because some of the things from that time are still available for people to see, like Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall.

These constant reminders are actually good in my opinion. The plaque in London that explains that the holes in the buildings are from bombings during the war is another one of the constant reminders. Those people that live there probably don't even notice them anymore and as more years go by, less and less people probably know the whole story. That's why it was so fascinating to hear people talk about being in the war and in the camps at the different museums we went to.

The buildings should not have been torn down; they should be kept for educational purposes. Just because something bad has happened in history, it shouldn't be swept under the rug. The opposite should happen, it needs more exposure. I'm not saying people don't know about the holocaust of course, but classes like this made it even more real. The building that I really wish was not ruined by denazification was Bürgerbräukeller. Although the museums were nice, I feel like the lessons would have been much more effective if this building was still standing. If anything, this building shows resistance against Hitler not favor for him and therefore should have been kept and rebuilt.

Should Camps Be Memorials?

I very much enjoyed going to the camps as part of this trip because it made everything much more real. You can hear about how bad the concentration camps were and about the weather but you can't truly imagine it until you are there. As much as I did enjoy it and thought it was a valuable educational experience, I don't think that camps should be turned into memorials.

While we were at Buchenwald we saw firsthand how people mistreat this memorial and acted as if it was a playground. The boys that were running around and throwing snowballs are surely not the first and certainly not the last to act that way in such a sacred place. Doing that there is very much like playing in a graveyard, it is so disrespectful. So many people lost their lives there; it is a place for solemn reflection not joyful playing. I don't like when some people ruin something great for everyone else and that is what I feel those teens were doing. Other important memorials have also unfortunately been mistreated so sadly to say, it is almost as if it is human nature, but there are other reasons why camps shouldn't be memorials.

Much like a survivor was quoted as saying; it did not fully show how bad the camps were. Since much of the buildings were destroyed and the place us not filled to three times capacity with dead bodies lying around, the since of destruction is not fully experienced. Although sometimes it was difficult, I took the pictures that have been engraved into my mind from so many years of studying the holocaust and trying to project them to what I was seeing. It was very educational for me, but for those people not doing that, I'm not sure they would have had the same experience. The one thing that we could truly tell must have pushed everyone's bodies to the limit was the weather.

The coldness we felt by being there in our winter coats and hats was unbelievable. Ronald told us about the 19 hour roll call in pajamas and sometimes naked that ended up killing 70 people. We were all hoping the tour would be over soon because we were all shivering but we hadn't even been out there for an hour. So that definitely gave more meaning to "freezing temperatures in no clothing".

Just that is not really a great reason to keep the camps open to everyone though. I don't think they should be destroyed either though, they are a vital part of world history. They should be opened for historians and studies studying the topic. They should also be open to those survivors and families of survivors or victims that need closure and hopefully they can get it.

Heroes

The German Resistance Museum was very eye opening. I especially liked that we had a tour guide because she talked about her grandparents and how they must have know what was going on. She also mentioned that there was only one place in the whole museum that called those who resisted heroes and those were the people who helped others escape.

Heroism to me is a version of extreme altruism in this case. They are doing something that could easily get them killed if they are found out and yet, they continue to save lives. These people like Schindler, who saved thousands of lives combined, should be considered heroes, so I’m glad this museum considered them to be such. I would also consider those who tried to assassinate Hitler like Elser to be heroes. Some may not immediately think of extreme altruism in this case because it is not benefiting a single person but the population as a whole so it requires a little thought. The rest of the people in the museum certainly were resisters and non followers of Hitler who spoke their mind, but those people that put their life on the line should be considered heroes. The others deserve recognition but not necessarily the label hero. Most people think of sports figures as heroes or their parents; they are just using a different definition of the word. It’s actually difficult to provide a definition of the word since it seems to be more of an idea than a solid object.

Hitler’s Bunker

During our tour of the Third Reich with Finn, we ended at Hitler's Bunker, well above it because it is no longer open to the public. I would definitely have to agree with the government's decision to keep the entrance closed off. Although I think the buildings should be repurposed, this is something that I definitely don't think anyone should be allowed into. There are just too many emotions, the place is too close to Hitler and who he was. As Finn mentioned, many people come back every year on Hitler's birthday to do something crazy and celebrate. With followers like that, you never know what they would do if granted to go inside Hitler's bunker.

It is still surprising to me how many people still support Hitler and his views. I think a lot of that has to do with belief perseverance, even when shown to be wrong, people still keep their same beliefs. This is also what happened during WWI, when Germany ordered a count on how many Jews were in the army. The numbers were astonishing and even though they knew they were in the wrong, their attitude towards Jews never changed. Same thing with Hitler, it doesn't matter how much damning evidence they see to the contrary, if they believe in something that strongly, their attitude towards something or someone won't change. This is one of those psychological phenomenons that have always perplexed me, I can see it doing more harm than good overall in daily life, so I'm not sure why it hasn't been overcome yet.

Propaganda and ways of persuasion

Since we just saw the rallying grounds, I will focus on Hitler's speeches as the most notable form of persuasion that came directly from him and not Goebbels. According to the Yale model of persuasion, what matters is who said the message, what the message is and whom it is directed towards. The speeches were given by Hitler, even before he came into power, he demanded the attention of the room, and once he came into power all eyes were always on him. Having that much authority makes people believe and listen to you even if what you are saying is false, because it is presumed that authority is correct. The content of his speeches would have depended on the occasion, however they would always be full of propaganda and lies disguised as something everyone wanted to hear. When people are told what they want to hear, they will believe in the person saying it and then follow them even if they don't believe in everything they say, only some of it. Finally, concerning whom the speech is directed at, you probably wouldn't go to the rallying grounds unless you already believed in Hitler and what he was saying so he wouldn't have to tailor his speeches to different groups. If for some reason, the person was at the rallying grounds and had not already been on board with Hitler's views, they may fall victim to deindividuation as mentioned in the ELM route of persuasion.

I believe more people will be persuaded after using the peripheral route of persuasion rather than the central route. Instead of focusing on the message and what Hitler is actually saying and doing, they will get lost in the crowd. They will become overcome with emotion from the size of the rallying grounds and from being surrounded by so many believers. Hitler's message may not be complicated enough to activate the central route of persuasion but the outside factors are definitely more prominent and influential.

Final reflection

I absolutely loved being in London and Germany to learn about World War II. I originally thought that just learning the psychology behind the war would help, but I think that it also helped to be there. I learned a lot more about the concentration camps from being there. Although most of the buildings in the camps had been taken down so it wasn't just like it had been, the weather was certainly comparable. You hear stories about how cold it was and the weather conditions but its not really the same until you've been standing in the cold. It was especially eye opening since we were all bundled up in our winter jackets and huddled

ogether

The Jewish Museum was also much different in person. All the facts available there are available in any history book or encyclopedia, but like I said before, it's so much different to see in person. I'll always remember the letters that were written home, the first one still full of hope and lightness of a person yet to be broken and the last short message home about being deported to Auschwitz before dying there. Also the sign from the dentist that was allowed to work as long as his new sign had the Jew star on it. History class taught us that Jews weren't allowed to work and if they were, they had to be distinguished as Jews but we now saw that it was made so prominent. There was no way to get around it.

Although I also really like most of the other museums and sites that we saw, the place that stuck out the most of all of them was the museum with all of the different ways people found to escape from Berlin. All the different stories were made so much better because they came with personal accounts, pictures and sometimes even the real item.

Although some days were more packed with events than others, almost everything helped in my understanding of the war. I feel like I've learned so much, not necessarily about psychology since it was the basics, but more about the war and myself so I'm happy to have had the opportunity.

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