Picture Credits:
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The Grimm Fairy Tales were not just stories- not to some people, who took the stories and turned them into propaganda for their own cause, yet another aspect of The Grimm Fairy Tales that people find surprising. Back in the country of Germany, where so much strife has happened and where the stories originated, there dwelled a power hungry man named Hitler, who is not exactly nominated for any Noble Peace Prizes. During World War II, Hitler took over Germany, and much of Europe, and prosecuted mainly one type of people; Jews. He was one of such people who believed whole heartedly in the Kinder-und Hausmarchen. In an attempt to justify his actions, he would use the Kinder-und Hausmarchen. Author Elizabeth Dalton mentions this in her writing, saying, “Nazi ideologues enshrined the Kinder-und Hausmarchen as virtually a sacred text…” (Dalton xxviii). The Nazis held the Grimm Brother’s book in such high regard that when looking back, people actually see their attachment to it as almost worship. Part of their attention to it may be credited to the fact that the stories, in their original form, held German pride very firmly. World War II was a time where supposed German nationalism was at its highest. But what good could come from using fairy tales as justification for horrors? Today, Hitler’s explanations are almost hilarious; they seem so mad and unreasonable.
To illustrate a bit farther on the Nazis dedication to using The Grimm Fairy Tales as an almost revered source, here are some specific examples of how exactly Hitler interpreted the tales, some of which may make one inquire if they really existed. For one example, in all of the stories in the Kinder-und Hausmarchen, there were three that contained Jews. Two of these stories were very anti-Semitic, or held very large racism towards Jews. In these tales, the Jew was a greedy villain who rightly dies. But the third, which the Nazis disregarded, contained a scene describing the murdered Jew being avenged, and this time it was by the protagonist. Another story was the common tale, “Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf”. In this story, the big, bad, Jewish wolf devours the innocent, German, Little Red Riding Hood and her guiltless, German grandmother (Dalton). What’s more, Hitler also used the Grimm Fairy Tales to explain war to his Hitler Youth (Poupard). In the three stories containing a Jew, Hitler was able to justify his murders of Jews. His reasoning was that since the Kinder-und Hausmarchen clearly showed that the Jews were bad, was it not so? Never mind the tale where a Jew, who died wrongly, was avenged by a good German man. And in the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood? People who read this might be shaking their heads. How in the world people could actually believe that may escape them completely. These facts may seem mad; however, the Nazis were exceptionally talented at twisting any source they could to fit there purposes. The Grimm Fairy Tales just happened to be one of them. Though it is hard to imagine any person in their sane mind accepting this, many people did. The Hitler Youth, which were basically the Nazi Germany’s version of boy scouts and girl scouts, needed some way of the madness of war explained to them. Conveniently, there were The Grimm Fairy Tales, right by Hitler’s hand. The Kinder-und Hausmarchen was morphed through Hitler’s sick words, and most people don’t even know it.
To illustrate a bit farther on the Nazis dedication to using The Grimm Fairy Tales as an almost revered source, here are some specific examples of how exactly Hitler interpreted the tales, some of which may make one inquire if they really existed. For one example, in all of the stories in the Kinder-und Hausmarchen, there were three that contained Jews. Two of these stories were very anti-Semitic, or held very large racism towards Jews. In these tales, the Jew was a greedy villain who rightly dies. But the third, which the Nazis disregarded, contained a scene describing the murdered Jew being avenged, and this time it was by the protagonist. Another story was the common tale, “Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf”. In this story, the big, bad, Jewish wolf devours the innocent, German, Little Red Riding Hood and her guiltless, German grandmother (Dalton). What’s more, Hitler also used the Grimm Fairy Tales to explain war to his Hitler Youth (Poupard). In the three stories containing a Jew, Hitler was able to justify his murders of Jews. His reasoning was that since the Kinder-und Hausmarchen clearly showed that the Jews were bad, was it not so? Never mind the tale where a Jew, who died wrongly, was avenged by a good German man. And in the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood? People who read this might be shaking their heads. How in the world people could actually believe that may escape them completely. These facts may seem mad; however, the Nazis were exceptionally talented at twisting any source they could to fit there purposes. The Grimm Fairy Tales just happened to be one of them. Though it is hard to imagine any person in their sane mind accepting this, many people did. The Hitler Youth, which were basically the Nazi Germany’s version of boy scouts and girl scouts, needed some way of the madness of war explained to them. Conveniently, there were The Grimm Fairy Tales, right by Hitler’s hand. The Kinder-und Hausmarchen was morphed through Hitler’s sick words, and most people don’t even know it.