-
Period: to
Garden of beasts
-
ACTUAL: Hitler is Appointed Chancellor of Germany
In 1932, people of Germany were frustrated with the economic struggle that Germany was living through due to the loss in the great war and the rules imposed by the Versailles treaty. Hitler connected with the people and heard their discontent cries and was able to win in elections with his Nazi party to win about 230 seats of the governmental seats. Hitler managed to win popularity and was able to be appointed chancellor which helped him make Germany a one-party state. -
NOVEL: Ambassador for the United States is Needed
President Roosevelt needs an ambassador to appoint in Germany to keep control of them and hopefully have a means of communication. Suggested ambassadors have denied and have left Roosevelt to rely on his secretary's suggestion of William Dodd, a professor at the University of Chicago. Dodd and his family soon move to Germany to get settled into the next few years of their life. -
NOVEL: Messersmith warns about Hitler and Germany
George Messersmith, a consul general, tried to convince Roosevelt and other American officials that Hitler was a threat and should be taken more serious. Dodd and officials back home thought Hitler wouldn't get very far and wouldn't have to be worried about. Soon after the power held by the Nazi party seemed to be exploited. -
ACTUAL: Nazi Party Wins Power
Federal elections were held in Germany on 5 March 1933, after the Nazi seizure of power and just six days after the Reichstag fire. Nazi stormtroopers had unleashed a campaign of violence against the Communist Party, left-wingers, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. -
NOVEL: Dodd Settles into a home
The Dodds had been staying in a hotel for the start of their temporary life in Germany. A while after they find a Jewish man who is willing to rent the first 3 floors of a house to the Dodds. He charges them 150 a month on an agreement that he and his family would still be allowed to live on the remaining floor. This was weird to Dodd but was quickly accepted as a the Jewish man had been trying to avoid being found by Germans. -
NOVEL: Marches with the Storm Troopers
Berlin, Germany to the Dodds seemed to be peaceful and was tainted with untrue descriptions of violence. They continued to believe this until many individuals who have spent more time in Germany than them begin to tell them stories. Soon after there are reports of Americans, such as Phillip Zuckerman, being beaten by Nazis. Amidst all this Martha seems to get involved with high officials within the Nazi party. -
NOVEL: Dodd Changes Views
After witnessing the deaths and the persecution of jews constantly Dodd had changed his perspective on Germany. Dodd was talking tough with Nazi leaders. In a private meeting with the German foreign minister, Dodd said, “You cannot expect world opinion of your conduct to moderate so long as eminent leaders like Hitler and Goebbels announce from platforms, as in Nuremberg, that all Jews must be wiped off the earth.” -
NOVEL: More controversial Nazi actions
At Nuremberg, Bill, Martha, and Reynolds encounter an incident of anti-Semitism: an Aryan woman is dragged through the streets for associating with a Jewish man. Reynolds reports this on his return to Berlin, but he does not name the Dodds in order to protect them. Dodd receives an invitation to a Nazi party rally in Nuremberg, but he fears that his attendance would imply approval of Nazi policies. He speaks to the other ambassadors, and it is agreed that none of them will attend -
ACTUAL: Hitler Runs for full power
A referendum on merging the posts of Chancellor and President was held in Germany on 19 August 1934, after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg 17 days earlier. The German leadership sought to gain approval for Adolf Hitler's assumption of supreme power. The referendum was associated with widespread intimidation of voters, and Hitler used the resultant large "yes" vote to claim public support for his activities as the de facto head of state of Germany. -
NOVEL: Trouble Arises with Persecutions
Hermann Goring and other Nazi officials had disputes with individuals who avoided arrest or committed crimes that they thought they shouldn't be prosecuted for. This led to the official call of Goring finding and killing any of the accused individuals. A scientist named Fritz Haber requests Dodd’s help to get him out of Germany. Dodd hesitates, and Haber manages to get to England. Another case was actually to get rid of an individual from Germany but Edgar Mowrer begged Dodd to help him stay. -
ACTUAL: Nuremberg Laws
Hitler announced the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. These laws stripped Jews of their civil rights as German citizens and separated them from Germans legally, socially, and politically. Being Jewish was now determined by ancestry; thus the Germans used race, not religious beliefs or practices, to define the Jewish people. Hitler warned darkly that if this law did not resolve the problem, he would turn to the Nazi Party for a final solution. -
ACTUAL: France and Italy Make an Agreement
French Foreign minister Pierre Laval and Benito Mussolini sign the Franco-Italian Agreement which said that Italy wouldn't receive lands lost by Germany. -
NOVEL: League of Nations
The League of Nations was the first international organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. -
ACTUAL: Nazi Party promote their belief
In 1936, Berlin hosted the Olympics. Hitler viewed this as a perfect opportunity to promote a favorable image of Nazism to the world. Monumental stadiums and other Olympic facilities were constructed as Nazi showpieces. Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned to create a film, Olympia, for the purpose of Nazi propaganda. -
NOVEL: Enough is Enough for Dodd
Hermann Goring, during a press briefing to foreign correspondents, offered this answer about the fate of General Schleicher, a former minister of defense: “He had plotted against the regime. I ordered his arrest. He was foolish enough to resist. He is dead.” Frustrated and disillusioned, Dodd now refused to go through the pretense of reasonable negotiation or diplomatic meetings with the German government. -
ACTUAL: What contributes to WW2
Italy withdraws from League of Nations.
U.S. gunboat Panay sunk by Japanese in Yangtze River.
Japan invades China, conquers most of coastal area. -
NOVEL: Dodd returns home after refusal
Unfortunately Dodd’s attitude earned him only scorn in Washington. The undersecretary of State asked of Dodd: “What in the world is the use of having an ambassador who refuses to speak to the government to which he is accredited?”. Four-and-a-half years after he arrived, Dodd was forced to resign. He returned to the US and traveled the nation, lecturing on the German menace and what he had witnessed in Berlin -
ACTUAL: World Issues
In the US a recession hit which caused unemployment to rise back to 19%. In Europe Germany was continuing it's strategy of persecuting the Jews and occupation in Czechoslovakia, the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain went to Germany fearing another world war and after agreeing to allow Hitler could occupy Czechoslovakia declared "Peace in our time" . The law changed in the US that meant the minimum hourly wage was 40 cents per hour for a 44 hour working week. -
ACTUAL: Push for German Control
In March 1938, Germany took over Austria without bloodshed. The Anschluss occurred with the overwhelming approval of the Austrian people. No countries protested this violation of the Treaty of Versailles.In September 1938, Hitler eyed the northwestern area of Czechoslovakia, called the Sudetenland , which had three million German-speaking citizens. Hitler did not want to march into the Sudetenland until he was certain that France and Britain would not intervene. -
ACTUAL: Japan Against China
The Hainan Island Operation was part of a campaign by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade the Republic of China and prevent it from communicating with the outside world as well as to prevent imports of much-needed arms and materials. -
ACTUAL: Invasions
Hitler invaded Poland, starting World War II. Two days later, Britain and France, obliged by treaty to help Poland, declared war on Germany. Hitler's armies used the tactic of Blitzkrieg, a combination of armored attack accompanied by air assault. Before British and French power could be brought to bear, in less than 4 weeks, Poland collapsed. Germany's military conquest put it in a position to establish the New Order, a plan to abuse and eliminate so-called undesirables, notably Jews and Slavs -
ACTUAL: Germany Shows power Through Blitzkrieg
France and England declared war against Germany on Sept. 3, but neither country was prepared to fight and would not deploy a significant number of military forces until the next year, leaving Poland alone in its defense. Although it had an army of more than 700,000, Poland was unprepared for Germany’s blitzkrieg tactics. Its army could not deploy its troops quickly enough to defend against the more powerful German forces. As a result, many civilians lost their lives -
ACTUAL: Nazi Camps in Warsaw
Hitler incorporated the western part of Poland into Germany according to race doctrine. He intended for Poles to become the slaves of Germany and that the two million Jews therein were to be concentrated in ghettos in Poland's larger cities. Nazi occupation authorities officially told the story that Jews were natural carriers of all types of diseases, especially typhus, and that it was necessary to isolate Jews from the Polish community. Jewish neighborhoods thus were transformed into prisons -
ACTUAL: Dodd's notes and Letters
Martha and Bill Jr. want to publish all of the letters exchanged between government officials and Dodd. They wanted the true actions and the true demands of the US to be public. They couldn't complete it however due to Messersmith denying his letters to Dodd to be published. This was a blow because those letters might've had more depth in the plans. -
ACTUAL: Consistent Effort of Bombing
Nazi Germany begins the London blitzkrieg, also known as the Blitz, in September during World War II. German bombers would attack London, England for 57 consecutive days with consistent bombings during the day and night.
