Hey Veeky Forums, I need some help. I tried asking a similar question yesterday...

Hey Veeky Forums, I need some help. I tried asking a similar question yesterday, although I've since decided to go with a slightly different route.

So, I've got to write a short story piece for my course, and one of the two prompts is "It is the victims of conflict that show us what is really important". We can't choose a prompt that's anything other than this and the other one.

Now, I've decided to make my piece about the struggles of the German citizens after WW1. I've tried asking Veeky Forums, but they aren't that helpful, so I thought I'd ask here.

I've come to realize that even though I studied about Germany during and after WW1, I can't remember shit. And I also can't think up of any good ideas.

I just need some ideas at the very least. I can't just state a bunch of historical facts, which is all I can think of doing. I wanted to write a piece that's sort of a self-reflection from a first-person view of a German citizen, and at the end it would be revealed that this citizen is Adolf Hitler, because why the fuck not. But this piece should have nothing to do with him or his actions until the very last paragraph. It needs to focus on the struggles of the average Germans.

The other prompt is "Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional." I can't think of anything for that, which is why I went for the other prompt.

Can somebody please help me with this? I need to write this thing within the next 3 hours and hand it in tomorrow morning which is in 9 hours.

...

You didn't even read my post in its entirety.

Let's see how serious you are. What do you think the average German's struggle consisted of?

From what I remember, I'd say that it would be lack of jobs, and the fact that the economy was falling apart and the inflation of the mark.

But I need more than just this. I need it to be on a more personal level, you know what I mean?

What were the causes for that?

For the inflation? Because the government (?) was making a shit ton of cash to pay their really large debt. And the treaty of Versailles signing that made them pay reparations didn't help either.

Look, I don't mean to rush you or anything, but are you going to help me?

>making adolf hitler into a person at a university
user...

if you do want to go that route, it's sort of worth mentioning that hitler himself always had a political slant, so if you want to go the whole 'harsh treatment of enemies leads to terrible things happening' route then you can try for that

Yeah, I know, it's probably a bad idea but the twist is really just to fuck with my cunt of a teacher who knows jack shit about history and Hitler other than that he was a baddy. I want the bitch to sympathize for this German citizen until the very end.

Could you please expand a bit on the 'harsh treatment of enemies leads to terrible things happening' part? I don't think I understand. I need to write about how WW1 affected the German citizens in a negative way, and make it on a personal level. So like, how it affected the person's mental health, and their pride for their nation, how it tore apart their family, etc.

you can talk about how not only adolf suffered, but how he saw the common people suffer in droves (treaty of versailles, overinflation, lack of things to eat etc), and how that adversely affected his mental state

i'm only around 3 chapters into mein kampf mind you so i have no idea what he was actually doing at that time

Thanks for the help.

user i know this is entirely unconstructive but please don't write about hitler for your university short story, there are plenty of ways to address the prompt without invoking old mate adolf. For example, if you want to stick with the theme of inter-war Germany, how about talking about the conflict between fascists and communists in the late 20s? there's plenty of room to create a unique character & story without leaning on hitler which frankly is a tired point.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the conflict between the fascists and the communists in the late 20s, and don't have enough time to properly learn about them and write up a whole new piece.

And like I said, the Adolf part was just a twist in the very last sentence to fuck with my course teacher. The rest of the piece would be read as someone who struggled with life after WW1. You wouldn't know it was Hitler.

look ok fair enough but im just saying that that Adolf plot twist immediately makes me cringe and might sour your otherwise solid work

Peoplr were poor. Just look at poor people today and you get a pretty clear image of how it was.

Here's what I've written so far, sort of as a backbone for the story. Yeah, I know it's shit, and yeah, I know it's really short. But it's a first draft of something I know next to nothing about. And I'm really rushing this shit because I've got two more hours to have a final draft complete.

The first three paragraphs are just facts, that needs to change. I'll also have to fix the last paragraph, as it doesn't even follow what really happened.

Could someone give me some (constructive) criticism on this?

concrete experiences and how hitler empathized

men being sent off in waves to face machinegun fire, the courage and strength to be sent out there only to return to a shattered nation
widows, if your teacher is into the female perspective
scenes of poverty in general, kids toying around with the worthless mark
make sure to tie in hate towards the establishments which causes these issues as well

to further on that, put in some narrative/narratives

"one day i was walking and this happened, which made me reflect on this"

Thank you.

>"one day i was walking and this happened, which made me reflect on this"

Should I make up a scenario for this, or try to find something that actually happened?

how constrained by time are you?
and how long does the paper have to be?

I have just about two hours, because I've got to sleep for at least five hours before handing it in tomorrow morning at 0800. It is currently 0047 here.

It's got to be ~2000 words.

personally i'd go into detail on general experiences that he probably had

so in short, make it up, and if you have time or feel guilty about it you can type up new narratives based on reality

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. I've added in the suggestions that you made. So basically I just turn each of those into short scenarios that he comes across, and write his made-up reflection on it?

yep
as long as you have writing short narratives down you're good

godspeed, user, and may other anons help you if you need shit

Thank you again, you've really helped me out here user.

>Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.
This prompt is WAY better if you want to focus on WW1.

Shit, really? Do you have any ideas for the prompt? I'm already at 1500 of the 2000 word essay I need to write, but I might as well see what could have been, for future reference.

WW1 led to the destruction of an entire nation and all her people, all over pathetic little land holding issues and nationalism in the Baltic region. Not to mention how Germany was in no way at fault for the war, they just happened to be the most powerful force in it and so the blame got put on them. This is all besides the fact that the only reason England really took part in the first place was simply to destroy Germany. They had no interest in the politics, they simply saw Germany as a threat to British imperial dominance in that time frame, specifically throughout Africa. They wanted to see the German Empire destroyed for their own benefit, not for the protection of their weak eastern allies.

Had it not fell to combat the Europe we know today would be entirely different and probably stronger on the whole because her economic engine wouldn't have been completely stopped, twice.