February 19, 2025 - Classroom

The sky over the Quad was a flat gray sheet. Snow threatened but refused to fall.

Dr. Brenner sets his briefcase on the desk but stays standing in the center of the horseshoe. Names, dates, places. Keep it simple. Marker stains his fingers as he faces the board.

"History drill," he says. "April 1, 1933: the Nazi regime organized a nationwide boycott of Jewish shops, law offices, and medical practices—SA men posted outside doorways with placards warning Germans to stay out. That opening salvo made antisemitism an official civic duty."

"September 15, 1935: the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship, banned marriage and sexual relations between Jews and so-called Aryans, and created the Reich Citizenship Law and Blood Law that defined belonging by ancestry charts."

"November 9-10, 1938: Kristallnacht. Ninety-one people murdered, roughly nine hundred synagogues burned, thirty thousand Jewish men deported to concentration camps in a single coordinated night of state-sanctioned violence."

He adds one more line. "By 1936, the Four Year Plan put Hermann Göring in charge of preparing the economy for war—rearmament accelerated even as propaganda promised prosperity."

The marker underlines the day's prompt already written on the board: How did nationalist rhetoric, scapegoating, and economic promises sustain Nazi support? "That is our core question," Dr. Brenner says. "We hold onto those names and dates because they show escalation—boycotts, laws, pogrom, mobilization."

He faces the class. "Let's define Volksgemeinschaft first—the 'people's community' that promised unity through exclusion. The term sold ordinary Germans on the idea that belonging required purging anyone cast as alien: Jews, Roma, disabled people, political opponents."

Marcus raises his hand but speaks as soon as Dr. Brenner nods. "Actually, it wasn't just rhetoric—over 1,900 anti-Jewish laws by 1945 meant every mundane interaction—school, employment, tenancy—was filtered through identity checks. That administrative grind normalized exclusion."

"But we can't ignore the fact that Germany in 1933 had six million unemployed." Jake leans forward. "People were desperate. When the regime framed Jews as controlling banks or media, voters already felt betrayed by Weimar elites. Is it scapegoating if citizens thought they were pointing to real causes?"

Dr. Brenner turns the marker in his fingers. "You have to interrogate causation claims carefully. Economic crisis created fear, yes. But the statistical reality—Jewish citizens comprised less than one percent of the population—undercuts the notion that they somehow engineered national collapse. The narrative supplied an enemy; it didn't diagnose the crisis accurately."

Nisha gestures with her sticky notes toward the center of the U. "And the boycott imagery—stormtroopers outside shops—told bystanders there was only one acceptable reading of public space. Violence wrapped in civic language becomes patriotism. That's what Volksgemeinschaft accomplishes."

He nods, moves to the board. "Let's examine the mechanics. How do April 1933 boycotts lead to 1935 citizenship laws?"

Emily raises a tentative hand. "The boycott was symbolic, but it tested compliance. Once the public adjusted to SA guards at storefronts, it became easier to pass laws that required ancestry certificates. People had already practiced walking past their neighbors."

Dr. Brenner writes tests of obedience on the board. "Escalation relies on habituation. Each step conditions the next."

Marcus interlaces his fingers. "The Nuremberg Laws also introduced bureaucracy—Reich ancestry offices, proof-of-bloodline charts. That administrative machinery made prejudice look official."

Jake lifts his chin. "But the regime presented these as protecting national integrity, not random cruelty. When a state says 'we're defending our heritage,' some citizens hear legitimate self-preservation, especially after Versailles humiliation."

"Exactly." Dr. Brenner sketches a loop on the whiteboard: Humiliation → Myth of betrayal → Identified enemy → Policy enforcement. "Nationalist rhetoric reframed aggression as restoration. 'Make Germany whole again' resonated because it promised reversal of perceived injustices. This loop matters for understanding how scapegoating and economic messaging intertwine."

Nisha's voice sharpens. "We're living the loop. Trump declares an 'invasion' on day one, labels cartels and migrants as terrorists by executive order 14157, signs the Laken Riley Act on January 29 to mandate detention for whole categories of undocumented people, and directs expansion of Guantanamo Bay to hold thirty thousand migrants as if mass suspicion equals safety.

Same formula: crisis framing, named enemies, mass paperwork that says you're not part of the community."

Billy's hands slap the table hard. "He's protecting Americans. If you break the law, you get detained. That's not scapegoating—that's common sense."

Jake nods. "And we still have courts, elections, appeals. You can't equate deportation policy with Kristallnacht. That comparison is reckless."

Dr. Brenner lifts both palms, steps into the center of the U. "Analogy discipline. Nisha identifies the rhetorical pattern—security crisis, targeted group, policy apparatus. Billy and Jake remind us of differences in scale and outcome. We keep both in view while focusing on how narratives build momentum."

He turns back to the board. "Let's map how economic promises amplified the scapegoating. The regime claimed rearmament and Autobahn construction were proof of Nazi competence. Employment figures improved—official unemployment dropped from six million to near zero by 1939—but wages remained low, hours long, and two-thirds of industrial investment flowed into preparing for war."

Sarah leans in. "So conditions appeared better superficially, but the benefits were uneven. Yet propaganda sold the 'people's car,' holiday camps, Strength Through Joy trips as proof of Volksgemeinschaft delivering."

Michael Lee frowns. "If you're one of those workers, though, you see a paycheck where none existed before. Even if wages stay low, the perception of stability matters. Maybe ordinary people supported the regime because their daily lives really did get better compared to 1932."

Marcus replies softly. "Except statistics were manipulated. Women and Jews pushed out of the workforce weren't counted. Conscription pulled men off unemployment rolls. Consent built on cooked numbers isn't consent informed by reality."

Dr. Brenner annotates the loop with another arrow: Economic optics → Reinforced myths. "Propaganda needs tangible evidence—Autobahn concrete, parade flyovers—to make myths feel true."

He glances at the clock, then back at the room. "Break into pairs. Identify one scapegoating mechanism, one nationalist narrative, and one economic promise that reinforced the Volksgemeinschaft pitch. Note who benefited and who paid the price. Five minutes."

Chairs scrape; whispering fills the U. Nisha and Marcus swap notes on the April boycott and Strength Through Joy. Jake and Sarah chart Versailles rhetoric tied to rearmament. Emily and Michael Lee list education quotas and marriage bans. Billy engages Amir in half-debate about whether the Four Year Plan simply mirrored other countries' military buildup, while Jennifer and Sofiia huddle over notes on radio propaganda.

When they reconvene, Dr. Brenner populates the board with their findings. Under Scapegoating he writes "April 1 boycott, ancestry charts, Kristallnacht's terror message." Under Nationalist rhetoric: "Versailles revenge, Lebensraum promises, Volksgemeinschaft slogans." Under Economic promises: "Autobahn employment claims, National Labor Service conscription, Four Year Plan mobilization."

He circles the phrase shared destiny. "What unites these columns?"

Emily speaks first. "They all tell people that prosperity depends on excluding someone else. If you want a job, you accept that a neighbor disappears."

Jake adds, "And they imply dissent is betrayal. If you question the numbers or the targets, you're outside the community."

Nisha inhales, voice low. "That's why no one stops the escalation. You're either with the people's community or you're an enemy. There's no safe middle."

Before Dr. Brenner can respond, Sofiia raises her hand—rare. "My grandmother lived through this. Not Hitler, but similar. When the state tells you that unity requires everyone the same, people who don't fit disappear. That's when you know something is broken." Her voice is quiet but steady, the room leaning in.

Jennifer speaks up—silent all semester until now. "I didn't think about it that way. That it starts as rhetoric before it becomes policy. But looking at the dates you put up, the boycott happened before the laws. So people had already learned what to believe."

Dr. Brenner taps the date on the board. "Which is precisely the design. When national belonging is defined through exclusion, scapegoating becomes self-reinforcing. Economic promises sweeten the bargain; violence enforces it."

He faces the room. "Friday we tackle economic populism in greater detail—the labor programs, propaganda, and statistical sleight of hand. The exam next week will ask you to trace mechanisms, not memorize numbers. Focus on how the loop we sketched operates across cases."

He nods at Sofiia and Jennifer. "Thank you both for bringing that in. Everyone sees differently. That's what makes this work." All accounted for.