University of Illinois professor and historian Peter Fritzsche presented “Brown Vibe: How Hitler Won Over the Majority in 100 Days” Thursday in Schroeder Hall.
This lecture was a part of the Robert G. Bone Distinguished Lecturer Series hosted by the Illinois State University History Department.
Fritzsche, who focuses mostly on modern Europe, the revolution, the Third Reich and World War II, walked attendees through the first 100 days of Adolf Hitler’s rule and what it was like to be in Germany then.
One of Fritzche’s key points was the Reichstag Election that took place on March 5, 1933, and how the Nazis dominated election crowds while the government took over the remaining German states.
“It is the March 5 elections, with the slim majority, but a strong majority in many, many places, that prompted a wave of violence from above and from below against the republican institutions,” Fritzsche said.
Along with this election, Fritzsche discussed how the community turned on each other and how there was a lot of tension between citizens in Germany.
Fritzsche’s point stuck with the Department of History’s Clinical Assistant Professor Kelly Keogh.
“This idea of how quickly people will turn on each other and turn on their supposedly deep-held beliefs to chase after someone like Hitler or this promise of a better tomorrow is scary,” Keogh said.
Keogh believed there were a lot of parallels between what Fritzsche discussed and the current U.S. government.
“100 days is all it took for [Hitler] to dismantle [Germany], and [I] see how quickly things are deteriorating in this country. There's some really frightening parallels,” Keogh said.
Freshman psychology major Ksenia Peric was interested in how Germany’s citizens felt during this period.
“One part [of the lecture] was a guy's diary talking about his family's internal relationships politically and how his family interacted with each other, and I found that really interesting,” Peric said.
Keogh was impressed with Fritzsche’s storytelling.
“I think he was very calculated in how he weaved the narrative so [attendees] could make the connections to the obvious parallels without beating people over the head with it,” Keogh said.
Keogh hoped this lecture would inspire people to make themselves aware and stand up for what they believe in.
“Some people are too reluctant to call things out as they are; if it looks like fascism, it is fascism. People need to get more educated and aware, and people need to not give up,” Keogh said.
Peric thought the lecture was well-organized and would like to see similar events on campus in the future.
“I would attend a lecture like this again, I would appreciate it if we had more opportunities to have these lectures,” Peric said.
