South City High Students Win National History Day in California Again

The Volksempfänger: An Intrusion of German Minds

South San Francisco High School sophomores Audrina Lopez, Alyssa Batang, and Kylie Situ advanced to the final round of competition in the annual National History Day (NHD) contest by placing first in the group documentary category during the state level round of competition that took place in Sacramento from April 14-16, 2023. Their documentary, "The Volksempfänger: An Intrusion of German Minds", examined how Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels mass-produced cheap radios as a way to channel Nazi propaganda into German homes during the 1930s and 1940s.

Show Transcript

the creation of the Finger by the Nazi party my two new frontier during what are two as was used as a means to indoctrinate the German population into conforming to anti-semitic fuse emphasized by the totalitarian government Hitler's regime accomplish this through intensified German propaganda a racial Prejudice and media censorship and exploitation for their political game rapid increase of anti-Semitism in Germany led to Rising propaganda against Jews Adolf Hitler capitalize on the popular myth that the Jews had betrayed your during World War 1 and exercised totalitarianism to control the German people word was going around that Jewish military members were worshipping meaning they were avoiding military responsibility on the front lines Hitler use this mystery German nationalism and spread the idea that anyone not of pure German descent was to be purged it was great success in the spread of xenophobia towards Jewish people do to the severity of hardships in Germany at the time Germany had just been issued the guilt clause Treaty of Versailles stated that Germany and other Central Powers were at fault for the entire war and where to pay for all reparations this drove Germany into massive data and apparent inflation the people suffered from a broken economy and needed somebody to pin the blame on I'm condemning German leaders Hitler place the blame on the Jewish people they became Public Enemy Number One the goal of Hitler was to create a brand new Germany full of strong and uniform citizen this month everyone had to be of the same Nation language appearance most importantly we have the same mindset I know that you guys. Like when I was in school I just like believe everything one of the ways that the Nazis Brainwashed the population was fight going forgetting kids these were school books be her textbook that this was published in 1936 so they were things that ordinary German kids were reading about these were saying is that you were going to end up like our whole country they still developing minds and indoctrinated them with message the pantai semitism psychological manipulation with the most abused toilet Hitler and Joseph Goebbels Goebbels was the head of the ministry of public Enlightenment and propaganda in Nazi Germany who favored the representation of so-called pure Germans and spread message to as many people as possible he snuck anti-jewish messages and two music films news reports literature and anything else possible and the beginning of Goebbels is efforts in 1928 the Nazi party had very little power with only 12 Steve in German Parliament out of 647 seats after his Russian propaganda by 1930 the Nazis held 160 + 5 discrimination and enjoy working to do nothing but shred his propaganda this led to the monopolization of the radio in a way that was used to the advantage of the Nazi party what's the first technology that you can have thousands albeit millions of people experiencing something at the same time before with printed materials obviously they could hear about something but you might read it today and get the same information patient but you're not experiencing at the same time is a luxury that only prestigious people had access to typically costing 200 by tomorrow for $500 its purpose was simply to amuse and broadcast mute all the power and impact that it was capable of so he seized this opportunity and commissioned an engineer named Otto grazing to invent a cheaper radio that was easy to mass-produce mystical 205 who might not have been able to buy a different Radio Soleil it was designed to be easily attainable and expensive to produce at 76 price mark 190 US Dollars it was used not only for broadcasting and music but they're spreading Nazi propaganda as but they called it the ve 301 be sending for VOC something and 301 representing January 30th the day power with the affordability of the book something there it was rapidly spread across Germany with a total of 2.6 million units produced from 1933 to 1937 the ve-300 one was sold for less than it cost to make the Nazi he wasn't hungry for money they were hungry for Power 8 radio stations in Germany alone that essentially played his messages all the time speeches racing was compelling to the ears of the Germans listening to him in person and carried through to the listeners of the books and finger the planet a universal idea of new beginnings and made his audience feel motivated hopeful and exhilarated the Volkswagen Thing also made it extremely efficient for Hitler's ideas to read with the people of one no longer had to leave their home to hear him speak the book something your place continuously in almost every German household however Goebbels knew that if the Nazi agenda was the only thing being broadcasted it would bore people rather quickly those segments of propaganda were intertwined with casual entertainment such as local news music and sports broadcast this was especially useful to Goebbels and Hitler as a 1936 Olympics for taking place in Berlin people are now more eager than ever tune in to their goats and finger and hear updates on the games nationalism in Germany but that is all time high but not only due to dramatic Pride Hitler brainwash Germans with the mindset that they were the superior race that their race was meant to rule all the Germans believed in this is shirt Victory portrayed by Hitler's words with the purchase of the book something our customers would also receive a tax stating that it was illegal to tune into foreign broadcast the German it essentially says that if you use this radio or modify this radio to listen to anything but the German stations you could go to jail or actually even the face Depp the capability to connect to other European station but it was heavily prohibited to do so to ensure no one lives in far out of range instead of numbers on the dial there were the names of German cities are a very difficult if not impossible to listen to anyting but Hitler's radio stations with only from him connecting back to him being a totalitarian he never wanted foreign broadcast to interfere with his own corrupt problem this shows the number of steps that go both took within the ministry of propaganda in order to impose his control over German media which shows his success in brainwashing the minds of all Germans but it in the way that they designed it in the way. it's loaded it in the way that they used it it became a thing that's greater than itself the v in fingernail why did the people of Germany but opposing countries during World War II in response the US created a government broadcasting station Voice of America to combat the German propaganda that was spread not long after Germany and chided War on the US President Roosevelt one of the way for America's birth active to be distributed to the Germans as well as the rest of the world the view a side broadcasting in Germany in 1942 it was on its media that reported news regarding the state and held its significance and I was over 50 million listeners a week and 35 different languages in modern-day government censorship remains prevalent as country still part of a different aspects of media and sharing that they were the sole voice of information to the people because of this it is almost inevitable that the people can forms that ideals that are believed to be a universal truth in Ethiopia assistant state-controlled media prevents widespread access to information in English media transparency in turkey and amendments internet law allowed the government to close any website or been any content along with this walking of Twitter and other social media actions of the Nazis turkey's president received heavy are drawn as young many journalists along with greatly fighting media groups in retaliation to their coverage The Waltons finger is a frontier in media as it was utilize its influence Millions by the widespread power of His words and to be recognized as a warning to humanity to be mindful of the seizure of media are powerful leaders

South City High sophomores Audrina Lopez, Alyssa Batang, and Kylie Situ take first place in the group documentary category at the California National History Day contest.

The students will now travel to the University of Maryland in College Park to share their work with nearly 3,000 other students and teachers from across the country at the week-long national contest.

Their documentary, "The Volksempfänger: An Intrusion of German Minds", examined how Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels mass-produced cheap radios as a way to channel Nazi propaganda into German homes during the 1930s and 1940s.

"We had great results at this year's California state National History Day competition," said South City High history teacher Rhonda Clements. "We had five projects compete, and three made it to the finals round. One qualified for nationals as a state champion in the group documentary category, and another earned an honorable mention in the group exhibit category."

That other project was "The Brothers Grimm: The Tale of Two Brothers Who Changed the Face of Literature" by sophomores Sabrina Aquino, Angeline Gloria, Josephine Harsana.

"The Brothers Grimm: The Tale of Two Brothers Who Changed the Face of Literature" exhibit by South City High sophomores Sabrina Aquino, Angeline Gloria, Josephine Harsana.

"SSFHS is unique in that we require all our sophomore and junior students to participate in the NHD project," said Clements. "I'd like to give a big shout out and thank you to my colleagues who teach the project, judge the projects and provide guidance to students."

Audrina Lopez, Alyssa Batang, Kylie Situ, Sabrina Aquino, Angeline Gloria, and Josephine Harsana were all students in Ms. Kimberly Chin's AP European History class.

The academic contest is a mainstay at South City High, which tends to do very well annually.

A History of Achievement

Last year, South City High juniors Charity Fan and Zoe Kwong ('23) placed first at the state level in the group documentary category of California’s National History Day contest on May 7, 2022, for their project on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

According to Clements, it is extremely difficult to win at the state level in California, because there is so much competition.

“Students have participated [in NHD] off and on for more than 20 years in our district,” said Clements. “SSFHS offers NHD program to more students than other schools in our county.”

For National History Day, students conduct research on a historical topic and decide how to present their project in one of several formats:

Research paper (individual)
Exhibit (individual or group)
Website (individual or group)
Performance (individual or group)
Documentary (individual or group)

Afterwards, students present their projects at school, and judges determine which ones will move on to the county level by using a rubric that assesses research, historical accuracy, argument, and project execution.

Winners at the county level advance to the state level in Sacramento.

The top two entries in each category in Sacramento advance to nationals, which typically take place in the Washington, DC area.

This year, the students in the following categories advanced to the state level:

Individual Exhibit

Mariano Gonzalez: "The Trinity Test: Crossing Frontiers Into the Nuclear Age" (finalist)

Group Exhibit

Sabrina Aquino, Angeline Gloria, and Josephine Harsana: "Brothers Grimm" (finalist)

Individual Website

Izabella Hidalgo: "Anesthesia" (finalist)

Group Podcast

Kieon Miller, Gabriel Espino, and Sanjeet Singh: "N.W.A.: Breaking the Limits of Rap" (runner-up)

Individual Documentary

Malia Choy: "Bruce Lee: Bridging Cultures Through a Life of Nonconformity" (finalist)
Enoch Fan: "The Invention of the MRI: A Frontier In Medicine" (runner-up)

Group Documentary

Austin Liu, Aden Sallaberry, Owen Kieth, and Joncarlo Estrada: The Firebombings of Japan: A Frontier in Civilian Targeted Warfare" (finalist)
Alyssa Batang, Audrina Lopez, and Kylie Situ: The Volksempfänger: Its Intrusion of German Minds" (finalist)

Meanwhile, the following students reached the earlier county level in the following categories: