Some more awesome sources:

Nuremberg Rally Posters


http://ia600405.us.archive.org/23/items/TheCompleteHitler-SpeechesAndProclamations-MaxDomarus/TheCompleteHitler-1932-1945-Vol1-4.pdf (although I kinda already have this in book form from the library...this may not hurt)

1927-33 films

1933 speeches

1933 film leni riefenstahl's first.

and, insanely important source for where all the guidebooks are and what they're called: http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Party%20Day/Nurembergdoc.htm


I'm having a really hard time w/ primary sources, particularly because I don't really read German very well at all yet.  I'm thinking about expanding my topic to all of the Rallies...just because it might be more fruitful than simply two.

trying to find hitler's speeches

Slowly and steadily the thesis is being composed.

links to some hitler speeches:
http://humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/speeches/speeches-hitler.html

and there are times when I really really really wish that wikipedia/wikiquote was a legitimate source:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler

progress!

Last week I wrote an intro for my thesis. 

Today I wrote about a page. 

That means 5 pages have been written!  Plus, I added about seven pages of stuff that I've written before to it that I need to do some serious rework/addition to next week.  But I'm probably almost halfway through the first chapter when all is said and done.

I'm sorta in the doldrums right now.  Halfhearted and stressed with other school stuff so thesis doesn't get to be my sole focus.  I think in many ways it'd be easier to enjoy my thesis if it was the only thing I was doing.

Plus, I decided to wait indefinitely to go on for my PhD.  So that doesn't exactly motivate me to finish well.  But finish well I must - I didn't come all this way for nothing. :)

Hitler's closing speech at the '34 Rally

I haven't really ever taken the time to listen to one of Hitler's speeches, especially since I've started to kind of understand at least the flow of the language if not the exact meaning yet (but the link at the end of this post has subtitles). Hitler was a REALLY powerful speaker. Crazy, but moving in a creepy sort of way.

Thoughts on this speech:
"For all time to come the Party will be the source of political leadership for the German people. It will in its teaching and was ultimately in its organization hard as steel, malleable in its tactics and adaptable in its entirety: yet it will be a training school like a holy order for political leaders. It must be shown, however, that all upstanding German become National Socialists. Only the best National Socialists, however, are Party Comrades!" (5:00)

language of religion - struggle, martyrdom, battle.
a type of religious fervor in his voice - like a revivalist preacher or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUB_-kbR3Ks

updated outline

Marilee Akland

Thesis Outline/Proposal

1. Hypothesis/Introduction
   A comparison of the Nuremberg Rally of 1934 and the Nuremberg Rally of 1935 offer a clear vision of the evolution of Nazi ideology, particularly in its official and unofficial stances toward Christianity. Whereas the 1934 Rally was preoccupied with religious symbolism, the 1935 Rally was preoccupied by preparation for war. Underlying both Rallies were themes of both religion and race, which provided ideological justification for war.

2. Hitler and the Church

A. Christianity in Germany in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries

B. Christianity in the Nazi Party

1. anticonfessionalism with Protestant bias as the framework through which to understand Party policy in regard to the Churches

2. Rosenberg as ideological/religious representation of the Party?

3. Goebbels & Hitler – Catholicism vs. Protestantism within the party leadership

C. Protestantism in Nazi Germany

1. Positive Christianity – complex relationship between German Christian movement and Nazi leadership. To what extent can the German Christians and the Nazi Party be considered working toward the same goals?

a. German Christian views of National Socialism

b. Party views of German Christians

2. The Confessing Church

D. Catholicism in Nazi Germany
E. Christian themes in the planning, implementation, and representation of Nuremberg Rallies of '34 and '35.

1. Catholic/Protestant tension at the rallies - did one win out over the other in terms of symbolism?

2. German Christians at the Rallies (???)

3. The Cult of Hitler
   A. In this section I would like to explore the obvious attempt on the part of Hitler to emulate a messianic figure. Was this exploitation of the religious? An attempt to replace religion? Is it possible that Hitler had Christian sensibilities in his approach to leading Germany?
   B. Response of masses to Hitler (as exemplified at the Rallies). This section will also include more general theory on the subject of mass enthusiasm.

4. Symbolism at the Rallies
   A. Leni Riefenstahl's representation vs. reality

B. Swastika

C. Religious symbolism – emphasis at '34 Rally.

1. German Christians at the Rally

D. War symbolism – emphasis at '35 Rally.

1. link between religion and war – German Christianity as “manly”

2. more clear departure from traditional Christianity?

5. Conclusion

gold mine!

Most of the following is just me needing a safe place to write down some sources (I don't trust my harddrive or myself to not lose my flash drive haha).

Today I stumbled upon a primary source goldmine - although it's all in German, and none of it is (obviously not) available at Western's library. I interlibrary-loaned it today...I'm going to feel so hard core when it comes and I get to go pick it up. Here's the website for my future reference... http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Germany/germatotal.htm#THE%20V%C3%96LKISCHER%20BEOBACHTER

Dates I need to find New York Times articles from:
September 15, 1934 -

NUREMBERG RALLY A HITLER TRIUMPH; He and National Socialism Are Held to Be More Strongly Entrenched Than Ever. 100% SUPPORT DEMANDED Conversion of the Lukewarm Sought -- Labor Service for All Is Another Goal.

September 4, 1934

HITLER WELCOME OPENS NAZI RALLY; 100,000 Acclaim Chancellor in Nuremberg, Whose Mayor Hails Him as Liberator. LEADER HEAVILY GUARDED Storm Troopers Are Not as Conspicuous as Last Year -- Regime's Gains Listed.

September 14, 1935

FINANCIAL BERLIN UNEASY OVER NAZIS; Nuremberg Rally and Meeting of Reichstag Stir Fears of Disturbing Policies.

September 10, 1935

Berlin Quiet, With Rally Near End.

In general, I find myself dragging my feet with this whole thesis thing. I don't know... I just feel like the sources are drying up and there's nowhere to go with this thing. Hopefully that changes, though, 'cause I'm kinda stuck.

3 down...a lot to go.

Tonight at work (well, last night, technically), I finished my third book of the summer...

That's so pathetic. I need to be much more productive this last month of the summer...

I'm starting Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich this weekend. It's only 225 pages or so, so I'm hoping to finish it in a few weeks (let's be honest here...I work at a slow pace in the summer) and be able to start and finish yet another book before the start of the quarter. Five books in a summer isn't so terrible, is it?