Nazi Germany and the Daleks

Some may find it surprising that Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator was released in 1940. In the film that Chaplin also directed, he plays the parts of a Jewish barber suffering from memory loss and Adenoid Hynkel, the great dictator, who is very friendly with Benzino  Naplaoni. Hynkel and the barber manage to swap roles.    

The film became Chaplin's greatest financial success.

Hynkel's speech at the end could fill us all with hope, even today. However, even though he sends a positive message, his tone is similar to Hitler's at the Nuremberg rallies.

This was also Chaplin's first film with dialogue. 

My character becomes dissatisfied with just making fun of Hitler. She realises they must show his evil side as well. So, she exaggerates the near hysteria that is both Chaplin's speech and in Hitler's ones at the rallies. She begins to sound like a Dalek. The early Daleks' sink plungers were used almost like a Nazi salute. They use that same hysterical voice as Hitler  and Chaplin in their 'Exterminate. Exterminate.' Gabriela uses this in her scene.

Terry Nation, the first writer of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, based the Daleks on the Nazis. Nation died twenty-five years ago and grew up in the shadow of World War II.

The Daleks share many qualities with the Nazis, including their claim to be the master race and therefore all who get in their way must be exterminated.

I was a small child in the early 1950s and Doctor Who was first broadcast in my first year at secondary school. The Daleks filled me with the same horror as the swastika and the Nazi flag.

I can’t remember how I know about the latter. And we should remember that the swastika was originally a symbol for prosperity and good luck.

Even as a small child I recognised this as absolute evil. That black hooked cross against startling white and vivid red backgrounds. It was almost as if I could remember the horror of all that that represented even though I hadn't lived though those times. Was I accessing other people's memories? Had someone told me something about it and though I’d forgotten that actual conversation the emotional memory remained?

Such is our reaction to the Daleks, and indeed sirens which resemble the air raid and even that all clear ones.  Were they designed to instil fear or is that a learnt response now?

The Nazis, Hitler and the Daleks have become the 20th century equivalent of the bogey man. Are we, though taking enough heed of any 21^st century recurring patterns?         

      

 

Bruno and Frida by Tony Bradman

 

 

The story is set at the end of World War II as the Russians start to occupy Nazi Germany. Bruno’s mother is killed as the Russians attack. Bruno is befriended by the dog Frida, and by an old lady who takes him in for a while.  Frida is a suicide bomber dog and Bruno’s first task when he meets her is to remove her vest.

As the Russian occupation takes hold, Bruno has to move on and try and find his grandparents.  He has to leave the old lady behind. He never sees her again and he never finds out what happens to her. He writes to her daughter but she does not reply.

Bruno finds his grandparents and goes on to live a happy life.  He marries, becomes a doctor and has a family.  His granddaughter interviews him about being a refugee.  The family are sympathetic towards the Syrian refugees.     

This is a Barrington Stoke book and created for less able readers.

 Barrington Stoke claims “Our books are tested for children and young people by children and young people.”  Usually they commission a known writer to create the text and their own editors then work on it to make it suitable for the target reader.  

Tony Bradman offers an historical note at the end and also points out how German attitudes have changed since the end of World War II. 

 

The Schellberg Cycle Workshop

Would you like to get your students thinking clearly about the Holocaust?

Rationale

My Schellberg Cycle workshop presents a unique view of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. It explores how normal decent people can become involved in something so horrific. 

The Cycle includes the true stories of some feisty women and the men around them, including those of a young Jewish girl who comes to England on the Kindertranpsort, her grandmother who puts herself in danger in order to save some disabled children, her mother who has a dramatic encounter with Hitler himself and some ordinary German young women who are at first taken in by the glamorous life that the Nazi regime offers.

Nature of workshop

The workshop includes:

·         Board games

·         Creative writing exercises  

·         Role play exercises

·         Reading material

·         Discussion

What you get

Any school booking a workshop will also receive:

·         All materials needed for the workshop on the day (The school only needs to supply student stationery. A data projector and computer is desirable)    

·         A copy of the materials so that you can disseminate it to other groups or use them in future years. They will be provided on a memory stick so that you can customise them later.   

·         Updates on developments in the project

·         A copy of The House on Schellberg Street for your school library (this will be sent to you as soon as you book the workshop)  

·         Letters inviting students to purchase a copy of the book (the school will only need to give these out – I myself shall handle all purchases)     

Practicalities

The full version of the workshop lasts a full school day, minus thirty minutes at the beginning for set-up and thirty minutes at the end for books signing / evaluation.

There is a half-day version of the workshop also available – you might consider sharing my time with another school nearby or booking a half day Creative Writing workshop as well. The half day version requires a twenty minute set-up and a twenty-minute end.

The workshop is limited to up to 36 students, Years 9-13. However, I’m happy to talk to a whole year group or a hall full of students at the beginning or the end of the day at no extra cost.  

Cost

The cost is normally £400 (£200 for half day) plus travel expenses. However, any booked by the end of January 2017 will cost just £200 (full days only but this could be one Schellberg Cycle Workshops and one Creative Writing Workshop) plus travel expenses. Throughout February 2017 I am accepting bookings of two for the price of one. These may be half day or full day and can be two Schellberg Cycle Workshops, two Creative Writing workshops or a combination of one of each.

My credentials

I am very used to the secondary school classroom. I taught modern languages for 23 years in various schools and have continued to make school visits as a writer of fiction for children and young adults. I have been a university lecturer in Creative Writing for the past nine years and the Schellberg Cycle came out of a sabbatical project for which I was able to research some unique materials.    

Please query here.    

You may also like an inspection copy of The House on Schellberg Street. Request that here.