Good Hitler’s German Nazi Party That Inspired Orwell To Write 1984 Research Paper Example

Orwell’s novel, 1984, depicts a totalitarian society that is ruled by one person. This ruler is solely responsible for declaring what constitutes a crime and what does not. At the time of writing this groundbreaking novel, 1984, the world was filled with several totalitarian regimes that cared less about protection of humans, just like it was the case in the former Nazi Germany headed by Adolf Hitler. This stands as one of the reasons that might have motivated Orwell to pen down 1984. This paper sets to show how the totalitarianism present in 1984 is reminiscent of the brutal Nazism that pervaded Germany society in the 1930’s and the 1940’s.
Hitler’s Nazi Party most often used information censorship and propaganda to put tap on what the citizens read, heard, and saw. One of the four ministries in Nazi Germany was the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda, headed by Joseph Goebbels, who had been appointed by Hitler. Goebbels essentially “would destroy anything which he felt disagreed with Nazi views” (Martinez n.p). This is very similar to the Ministry of Truth where the 1984 protagonist, Winston, works. The book documents how the Ministry of Truth unfairly controlled dissemination of education, entertainment, fine arts, and all categories of news. Winston’s work involved re-writing history, so as to deodorize it and make it seem like the Party had a monopoly on truth. The Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda during the Nazi rule put forth newspapers, books, and posters of varying sizes to make sure that they influenced the opinion of the citizens. In 1984, posters of Big Brother were plastered in very part of the city. Winston describes him as “the black-moustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner” (Orwell 6). At the bottom of the posters, it is captioned, ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’ (Orwell, p.6). The Ministry of Truth is hell-bent on controlling what people read, hear, and see by putting itself in charge of book production and rewriting of the history of the country and the newspapers, just like what was happening in Germany during the Nazi rule. This similarity is a perfect example of what inspired Orwell to author 1984.
Moreover, the philosophy the Nazi Party had on youth has a strong similarity with the philosophy The Party has on the youth in Orwell’s 1984. The manifesto Hitler had for the youth was “designed to indoctrinate German’s young with the ideology of Nazism” (Rosenfield 2). Similarly in 1984, young people were taught how to love and support Big Brother and The Party. The book documents the brainwashing of young kids to be spies of their own parents, thus turning them into the Thought Police whenever the parents are committing a thought crime. These kids are aptly described by Winston as “ungovernable little savages, produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the party” (Orwell 24). The brainwashing made the children love everything that had any association with The Party and loathe everything that they perceived to be the enemy of the State. The Party had a strong focus on the young population because the young people made up the next generation of leaders, and they needed people whose allegiance and loyalty would remain to the party for the long haul. On the other hand, Hitler and his Nazi Party used similar reasons to explain their focus on the youth. Hitler wanted boys who were strong to be part of Nazi soldiers of the future, and strong girls to be in charge of homecare. Most of the activities or actions that German boys committed imbibed in them the belief that, because of Nazism ideologies, they could achieve superiority over other people. Earlier, Hitler had proclaimed that “[the] program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away.. I want a brutal domineering, fearless, cruel youth” (Rosenfield, p.2). In the book, Big Brother’s intent is to see all the kids grow into strong-willed individuals, and that they should all learn the ways of the party. The strong-willed element has close similarity with what Hitler wanted his future generations of soldiers to be. The Party’s Big Brother and the Nazi’s Hitler wanted the youth of their countries to be loving and strong-willed. The Nazi’s ideology for their youth influenced the vision Orwell had about the Junior Spies.
Additionally, in 1984, the pyramids where the houses are housed visibly symbolize the authority and rule of the party. The pyramids dwarfed all the architecture that was close by, and it was possible to see all of them simultaneously just from Victory Mansions roof (Orwell 2). Such buildings were very dreamt of by Hitler; he had earlier complained that “our big cities of today possess no monuments” (Rademacher n.p). Hitler wanted monuments that would be a symbol of his Nazi Party. In 1984, the four pyramids represent the symbols of The Party’s rule. The buildings carry the words ‘WAR IS PEACE, and FREEDOM IS SLAVEY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH’ (Orwell 2). Therefore, Hitler’s complaint about the lack of monuments in the big cities of Germany is actualized in Orwell’s 1984 (Hitler and Murphy 1). Therefore, Hitler desire for tall monuments inspires Orwell to include them in his novel for the sole purpose of symbolizing the rule domineering parties in totalitarian regimes.

Works Cited

Hitler, Adolf, and James Vincent Murphy. Mein Kampf. Zentralverlag der NSDAP, 1942.
Martinez, Jonathan. Art & Humanities-Professional Essays and Assignments: Architecture-Art History-Artist-Censorship-Criticism & theory-Linguistics-Literature-Theology-US Government Essay. Vol. 5. Jonathan MARTINEZ, 2014.
Orwell, George. "1984." Http://msxnet.org. Http://msxnet.org, 1949. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://msxnet.org/orwell/print/1984.pdf>.
Rademacher, Michael. "Michael Rademacher: Orwell Und Hitler." Http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/hitler.html. 1999. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/hitler.html>.
Rosenfeld, S. Nineteen Eighty-Four in Germany: A Look Back. World Literature Today, 199-203.