Swing Kids And Berlin 36: Film Analysis

Between the late 1930’s and the Second World War, Germany was under Adolf Hitler’s fascism rule. Many fascist policies were used to control the people of Germany, which soon evolved into Nazism, a variation of fascism. Nazism is characterized by propaganda, nationalism, anti-Semitism, complete control over the society, and a strong police force to control the population. All of these characteristics are portrayed in Swing Kids and Berlin 36. These two movies show how fascism and Nazism play a large role in the lives of German citizens. Many specific examples show how lives are affected by the enforcement of fascism, and its variation, Nazism. Swing Kids is a movie that reflects fascism and Nazism, following the lives of two students. Taken place in Hamburg, the two students are part of the Hitler youth by day, and swing kids by night. The Hitler youth was an organization of young teenage boys who served and helped the Nazis control the country, while the swing kids were a group of German swing lovers. The Hitler youth is an example of fascism because the governments usually rule their country by using a strong military or police force. Members of the Hitler youth are trained to carry out the law with all their power, showing cruelty and using force.
Propaganda is the influence of opinion in public matters through the use of mass media. In the move Swing Kids, we see that propaganda is used to make the German army more appealing. Over a large radio broadcast, an announcer is heard saying that the German army has successfully invaded Czechoslovakia, and that the citizens of Czechoslovakia were cheering on the German army. However, this was not the truth. Not a lot of the Czechoslovakians were actually German, so they didn’t want to live under German rules and laws. In this case, the government twisted the truth to make it seem like the Germans were saving the people of