Imagine - Hitler the Tiger and Me

[kittyP]

Part of the imagine series about the author of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and her families escape from Nazi Germany.
It's quite extraordinary.

Has anyone else seen it?

 

[wiskey]

Yes I watched it the other day and thought it was excellent and Kerr lived up to all my expectations. Such an interesting woman.

 

[kittyP]

The whole Imagine series has a certain beauty about it that no other programmes I have come across have had.
It is the BBC at its best.
This programme was the top of the game.
Just stunning.

 

[wiskey]

I can't remember seeing any others but will keep an eye out.

 

[barney_pig]

Just watched this and cried all the way through.
Fantastic

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Is this something based on When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit? I liked that when I was little.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Kerr's son is Matthew Kneale, another good novelist.

 

[frogwoman]

loved that book when i was little.

 

[rubbershoes]

Is this something based on When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit? I liked that when I was little.

It's about the life of the author

 

[Maurice Picarda]

It's about the life of the author

As was WHSPR, of course.

 

[wiskey]

As was WHSPR, of course.

And most of her other books.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

And most of her other books.

Even TTWCTT.

 

[Dan U]

will watch this,thank you.

am regularly reading this book to my son

what is currently confusing me is how the Tiger drank ALL of the water from the tap. surely that isn't possible.

 

[ddraig]

it was an amazing prog, really enjoyed it, what an inspiration that lady is

 

[Schmetterling]

It was wonderful. She had a few life philosophies I can identify with; e.g. while being sad that her husband is now dead she feels it is easier to come to terms with as she has had that happiness and companionship. She can gain strength and happiness retrospectively from that.

Or her joy at her daughter having experienced some power over her; her insight that children are so powerless for such a long time; her grace in letting her daughter have that power.

I also like what she said when she explained that first Jews and then people with one Jewish parent, etc, where not allowed to own pets; "Who thinks of that?" she said. I had that thought recently; I was back home and reading up on the local history during the Third Reich and came across something I had never known.. As of 38 or 39 Jews were not allowed to use public phone boxes as they might stop an Aryan from using it!!!!! That so pissed me off. In the scheme of things of course it is nothing compared to the killings but I had the very same thought - "Who thinks of this?"

 

[frogwoman]

the casual sadism of the nazi regime is horrifying but you should always remember that many germans both jews and non jews resisted it until the end.

they never had majority support, especially not for things like that.

 

[frogwoman]

It was wonderful. She had a few life philosophies I can identify with; e.g. while being sad that her husband is now dead she feels it is easier to come to terms with as she has had that happiness and companionship. She can gain strength and happiness retrospectively from that.

Or her joy at her daughter having experienced some power over her; her insight that children are so powerless for such a long time; her grace in letting her daughter have that power.

I also like what she said when she explained that first Jews and then people with one Jewish parent, etc, where not allowed to own pets; "Who thinks of that?" she said. I had that thought recently; I was back home and reading up on the local history during the Third Reich and came across something I had never known.. As of 38 or 39 Jews were not allowed to use public phone boxes as they might stop an Aryan from using it!!!!! That so pissed me off. In the scheme of things of course it is nothing compared to the killings but I had the very same thought - "Who thinks of this?"

to make them feel like they were scum, to psychologically and physically separate them from each other and the aryan population, (the phones thing means that the jews are unable to ring their mates for a chat or that non-jewish mates will be able to ring them) - don't forget that prior to 1939 nazi policy was aimed at making life as unpleasant for jews as possible so they left rather than actual genocide. also makes them/their situation less visible to the aryan population who may have some sympathy - not using/being able to use public facilities (parks, leisure centres etc) means that they won't encounter people who use those facilities, not being allowed to use public phones means that you won't meet people while waiting in the queue to use it (who might also then complain to you about there not being enough phones, you can imagine the sort of thing, "there's only one phone in this entire neighbourhood and they want to spend money on the sudetenland", etc) it also means that you will be less sympathetic to any complaints by people who are using that stuff and do enjoy the rights you don't have, you'll be resentful of them etc and that will help to stop your/their common resistance, you'll think they've got it better than you, you'll also be scared of them because you'll assume they have nazi sympathies (the regime controls the media and many people will be unaware of these changes) and will want to leave them alone and stick to the company of other jews in the same position.

not being able to have a dog means that you won't meet people walking your dog who might bitch about the regime to you once you/they trust each other enough

 

[kittyP]

Indeed frogwoman , it was to totally dehumanise.

I found the programme incredibly emotional in both happy and sad ways.

She seemed to have the most perfect, poignant way of saying the most incredible things but so simply.
She was an absolute joy to listen to.
A real treasure of a women.

I have not read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit but I will x

 

[frogwoman]

for an ideologically committed nazi banning the jews from this sort of activity actually makes perfect sense. the nazis who made these policies wanted to transform society into being as anti-semitic as they were and not only that, for there to be no serious opposition left to the regime. they could not manage this overnight and they could not do it by force alone, but they can do it by silencing and stigmatising dissent which may grow into something the regime can't control and by denying any potential form of organisation and any links between jews and non-jews (which in the context of nazi germany is political) however informal it is, an opportunity to start. by making it impossible to be a jew in germany but not only that, to gradually make it impossible to oppose the regime in any way whether that's by bitching about how the telephones are old/broken etc, chatting to your jewish mate on the bus or by taking the piss out of nazi leaders at work or at a party or by printing communist leaflets and planning to assassinate hitler.(and the more these small actions mount up, your views and experiences as you become more aware of issues and more politicised may radicalise you, mean you influence friends etc and lead you into outright hatred of and conflict with the regime, which gives the nazis a real problem if there's more than one of you)

dogs etc are a good way to meet people. not having a phone means that you won't be able to find out about anything like social events that are going on. your kids won't be able to find out about parties etc. the nazis understood this sort of thing, the philosophy was to exclude the jews from the body politic of germany and not let them take part in social life. if you look at guidance for nazi party workers and so on in the 30s its full of stuff complaining about people in pubs bitching about their lives over a pint (and by implication about the regime, if you're complaining that you're working long hours for shit pay or that the roads are in a shit condition and there's dogshit which isnt cleaned etc).

lets say you know a bunch of people through each others dogs and looking after each others dogs when you go away or are working etc. that's how my mum met a lot of her friends when she moved to the area when i was a kid. you might go for walks together with the dogs, you might go out or go for drinks etc. if you're a jew in nazi germany the chances are not all (probably not any) of that group will be ideologically committed nazis. you'll talk to them about work stuff, about local stuff that's happening in the area, and politics might well come into the conversation in some form or other. your situation/others situation almost certainly will if you get to know them enough. there might be a nazi party member in that group but hearing about their friends experience and thinking about their own, at work, their family situation/their mates or whatever - might start to mean that the ideology of the party starts to look increasingly less convincing. you can see it today with people on benefits and opinion polls that mean that as people's experience changes they are increasingly taking a differing view to government lines on welfare.

if this stuff doesn't end up coming up what it will also mean is that the non jewish people who do have dogs or whatever might feel they are less able to talk about their true opinions about the regime (or about stuff thats affecting them on a personal level).

if they did want to help each other out at work or start anything within the community on anything that has the potential of openly challenging the regime (and the nazis transformed pretty much all community organisations even things like chess clubs and flower-arranging societies and so on into organisations that excluded jews and were organised by the party) they will not only not meet potential comrades, the aim is they won't even know that anyone could be remotely sympathetic to what they're trying to do (which could initially just be a non party organised activity, without being "political") at all. it was a deliberately sadistic and nasty element of a programme for the nazification of society, the exclusion of jews and the control of the nazi party over everyone's leisure time and private life, which they hoped would crush organised oppo or stop it before it started.

 

[kittyP]

I can't remember seeing any others but will keep an eye out.

I dunno if it is still on the Iplayer coz my mum and dad recorded it but I watched the one about Machiavelli the other day and it was really interesting.

 

[Sue]

loved that book when i was little.

Me too, and the others too. Always remember in the second? book where she offers her services to a government department desperate for German and French speakers and she's knocked back as she's German, despite having had to flee the county and having spent years as a refugee. Heard a radio interview with her recently and she came across really well.