GCSE Coursework Assignment 2

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GCSE Coursework Assignment 2.

  1. I think historians studying Kristallnacht would find source B more useful. This is because it seems more reliable out of the two sources. This source is a secret report, so therefore they can write what they want as it is not for publication. But it is the Nazi version of events, so they would want it to seem as if Kristallnacht was a spontaneous event. This source does give facts, as it tells you the date of the dinner. This report was written closer to Kristallnacht than source A. This might mean that source A is not as reliable. Source A could also be useful, because Hesse was an eyewitness. He also tells you Goebbels planned it and was looking for Hitler’s approval. But Hesse worked for the Nazi Party, so you could ask if he really would be saying this or if he really heard the whispers. Source A is a summary of Fritz Hesse’s account, so maybe important details were left out. This is also Hesse’s opinion on the events, but he does give facts, like the date of the dinner. Hesse wrote his account some years after the events, so there is a possibility that he could have forgotten or left out some important details. Source A suggests possible Nazi involvement directly as this account tells you that Goebbels told Hitler about the planned attacks before they had happened. Source B suggests that the Nazis were involved indirectly as it says that the attacks were not to be started by the Party but any spontaneous attacks were not to be stopped.

 

  1. Source C gives the impression that Kristallnacht was planned. This source is saying that the local people were horrified by the acts of violence, so if it was spontaneous then many people would know about the events. This account also says that one reliable source informed Buffman that SS men and Stormtroopers out of uniform, carried out the attacks and were provided with weapons. David Buffman implies that the attacks were planned because he wrote that the fire-service ‘made no attempt to put out fires’ on Jewish buildings, so this suggests pre-planning. He writes his opinion about Kristallnacht as he says ‘the so-called ‘spontaneous’ action’, resulted in many male Jews being sent to Concentration camp. This source was written by an American Consul in Leipzig, which means he was neutral and did not have any reason to dislike the Nazis. He was an eyewitness and was reporting on things he saw and from people he interviewed.

  1. I think sources D and E make it more likely that source C is accurate. I think this because source E agrees with source C’s implication that the attacks were planned. As it says that most German people were not involved, and that SA men were supplied with weapons. This source was written by ‘A Civil Servant’, he did not leave his name, and gave it to the British Consul. Because of this its reliability may be affected, as we have no way of really knowing if a Civil Servant did write it. But if it really was someone who worked for the Government, he may have had access to this information. Source D makes it more likely that source C is accurate because it says the German people were showing signs of unrest and signs were put up against Jews. It also says that these attacks made some Jews emigrate. It makes source C likely to be accurate because a German Jew wrote it and they must have felt as if all Germans hated them, but this could make it less reliable as they would have felt discriminated against. But on the other hand it could be the true version of events, therefore it would mean that it makes source C less likely to be accurate.
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  1. Both sources F and G give out a similar message about the Nazis. They both show the Nazis as thugs and powerful over the German people. Both these source show he same thing as sources C and E, they all suggest that the Nazi Party planned Kristallnacht. Source F shows a Nazi SA man holding a knife dripping with blood in one hand and a club in the other. He is deliberately portrayed as a thug, and the cartoonist has drawn him as a stereotypical Nazi. This source also shows Tsar Nicholas II advising the Nazis ...

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