Conte 1 Emelia Conte CAS 137H, Section 005 Professor Lori Bedell 12 October 2014 Wer Ist Der Giftpilz? In 1938, a year before the outbreak of World War II, Nazi Germany was already well into their persecution of Jews, known as the Holocaust. As the movement grew, the Nazi Party aimed to raise a new generation that shared their ideals, which they partially did through Julius Streicher, publisher of the anti-sematic newspaper Der Stürmer. In addition to newspaper, Streicher published a children’s book called Der Giftpilz, translated in English to The Poisonous Mushroom, as propaganda to convince children of the dangers of the Jewish people (Mills). Ultimately, the book was successful in brainwashing children through its careful illustration, embodiment of ethos, logos, and pathos, use of allegory, unique style, and applicable delivery. As soon as children open Der Giftpilz, the illustration of a young boy and his mother in the forest helps them connect with the characters who will tell them how to think. The illustrator does not show the German boy’s entire face, giving him an anonymity that ensures each child can associate him with a cousin, a best friend, or even a brother. Additionally, the mother’s face gives children a sense of security as they prepare to read the book; she is not scolding the boy, Franz, nor does she look even remotely angry, and this reassures children that they can trust whatever the kind-hearted woman tells them as they read. Moreover, the color choices for the photograph are very telling of the nature of the words to come. Primarily, subdued greens and warm browns are used to convey a sense of relaxation to the child, ensuring them that there is nothing outwardly scary or evil about the upcoming tale. However, although there is a sedative Conte 2 feel in the color choices of the forest scene, the sky is not a typical cheery blue; instead, the illustrator chooses to paint the cloudless sky with an alarming red-orange hue, which seems somewhat out of place in the serenity of the forest. In this way, the illustrator parallels the message of Der Giftpilz; even if it seems as though all is well, danger still lurks. The author’s first task is to establish ethos for the basis of his criticism using the mother figure. It is natural that children look up to their parents, and the author of Der Giftpilz uses this basic concept to ensure that children will adopt his point of view. When the story begins, the mother warns her child about the presence of both good and bad mushrooms. Here, the mother begins to establish her credibility as she proves that she is trying to look after her child and keep him safe from harm. Because all children see their mothers as protectors, young readers are convinced that Franz’s mother is just like their own mothers and are guaranteed that placing their trust in her is not a mistake. Once a sense of ethos is established and associated with Franz’s mother, the author can speak through her to validate the opinions he wishes to express. Before establishing a pathetic appeal, the author first uses logical appeal to create an association needed to establish a powerful metaphor about the dangers of Jews. Franz’s mother explains to Franz that there are good mushrooms and good people and bad mushrooms and bad people. From a very young age, children understand the concept of good and bad and can fairly easily differentiate between the two. Therefore, the existence of the opposing ideas of good and bad make sense to a child, as evidenced by Franz’s enthusiastic confirmation of his mother’s lesson. Once the author establishes this idea, he continues his appeal to logos by connecting the bad, poisonous mushrooms to the Jewish people. In a rational progression of thoughts, the mother skillfully transforms the bad mushroom into “the poisonous mushroom[s] of mankind,” who both she and Franz believe are the Jews (“The Poisonous”). Because of the pre-established Conte 3 ethos of the mother and the logos behind the establishment of the idea of the poisonous Jew, children are more likely to believe the conclusion that the Jews are indeed “der Giftpilz.” Once the author has established the idea of the Jew as a poisonous mushroom, pathetic appeals are then invoked to instill a sense of urgency, hatred, and fear to children and parents who read Der Giftpilz. The use of the emotionally loaded and unsympathetic term “poison” to describe the Jewish people makes German children feel isolated from them. Everyone knows that poison kills, and even Franz says of the consumption of poisonous mushrooms that “One may even die!” (“The Poisonous”). Therefore, upon reading the term poison in association with Jews, German children become fearful of and potentially even hateful toward those who try to do them ill-will. The use of the terms “destroy” and “kill” later in the narrative also serve this purpose; because children understand that killing and destruction are morally wrong behaviors, they associate these terms with negative feelings and, by the transitive property, associate those who destroy and kill with the same negative emotions. Later in the story, Franz’s mother tells him that not all non-Jews know about the “misery and distress, illness and death” that the Jews bring, this time not only instilling a sense of hatred for Jews, but also a sense of fear and pity for those who are not yet aware of the true nature of the Jews (“The Poisonous”). Children are generally altruistic beings, so upon hearing that their fellow classmates may not know about these horrible dangers, they experience a sense of urgency and are motivated by fear to spread the Nazi ideals to their friends to keep them safe from harm. Even more interestingly, the author uses biblical allegories to demonize Jews. The Jewish people, although not Christians, still worship God. However, the last line of Der Giftpilz calls a Jew “the Devil in human form” (“The Poisonous”). By referring to Jews as the Devil, the author completely twists their accepted ideological beliefs, effectively calling Jews out as hypocrites to Conte 4 distance them from all ties to anything pure and good. This more sophisticated analysis certainly appeals to parents who may read this book to children. On a more basic level, most children understand the concept of the Devil as the embodiment of evil. Because of this conception, the metaphor drawn between Jews and the Devil effectively scares children into fearing the Jews for all the reasons that they fear the Devil, drawing them deeper into Nazi ideals. Because Der Giftpilz is written as a children’s book, its style remains relatively simplistic; however, the use of simple sentences ensures that children do not lose their trains of thought throughout the book. Children generally have a difficult time focusing, so the author is truly challenged as he attempts to convince children to hate millions of people who they do not know in just a few short sentences. However, the author speaks clearly, quickly, and bluntly in the traditional German manner to keep the children’s attention, and refuses to coddle them with wishy-washy terms. Instead, his stylistic choices attempt to engage both the child and their parents with careful diction that inspires pathetic appeal, simple statements of logos, and an acknowledgement of hypocrisy through allegory while maintaining a familiar storybook format. Although Der Giftpilz is a children’s book, its delivery is similar to an informational pamphlet. This is not surprising since the author, Ernst Hiemer, was second in command to Julius Streicher and was probably well trained in writing informative articles published in the anti-sematic newspaper Der Stürmer (Bytwerk). However, the informative voice is not distracting in conveying the author’s message; because the information is coming from a German mother, who would likely have an instructive tone when attempting to warn her child of the dangers of the world, the piece gains an authenticity among children, effectively adding to its persuasive power. Conte 5 Although the Nazi campaign to rid the world of Jews ultimately failed, Der Giftpilz was successful in instilling fear and hatred into children and adults through its use of ethos, logos, pathos, allegory, style, and delivery. In its prime during the Holocaust, this piece, along with many other forms of Nazi propaganda, inspired at least 8 million German children to join organizations like Hitler Youth, which taught children about the superiority of the German lineage over the Jewish heritage (“Hitler”). Der Giftpilz is only the first installment of a not so multi-faceted view of Jewish culture, and its topical structure allows for a setup of even more appeals to prejudice throughout the seventeen chapter book. Despite the fact that hatred cannot be condoned, Nazi Germany effectively showed the world that a “poisonous mushroom” does exist; it is one who hates irrationally and treats others unjustly. Conte 6 Works Cited Bytwerk, Randall L. "Anti-Semitic Children’s Stories." Anti-Semitic Children’s Stories. Calvin Minds in the Making, 2011. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://research.calvin.edu/germanpropaganda-archive/pudel.htm>. "Hitler Youth." Historical Boys' Uniforms. Historic Boys' Uniform, 15 Nov. 1998. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://histclo.com/youth/youth/org/nat/hitler/hitler.htm>. Mills, Mary. "Propaganda & Children during the Hitler Years." The Nizkor Project. The Nizkor Project, n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills00.html>. "The Poisonous Mushroom, by Der Stürmer 1938." Unity of Nobility. Unity of Nobility-News for White Europeans, 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://unityofnobility.com/2013/03/05/the-poisonous-mushroom-by-der-stuermer1938/>.