VOLUME X, NUMBER 20
a ffi/ruruOVATION AaSTRACTS
Role -P I ay ing Ad olf Hitl er
Active fu srperior to passtve at all levels of learning
includtng the college dassroom. Thb truth reguites no
furthd subshntiation for hlstory irctructors who have
ernployed rolepl,aying and stmrlation-both of which
have long been favored Echniques for involving
students in reliving the past, in experie!:tcing the difficulty of decision-making and in appreciating drallenges faced by bygone leaders and generatiorc. The
question I wish to pose is Do we history teachers dare
roleplay the most infamous of all historic frgure, Adolf
Hider? The answer, I tldnk, should be '!e," albeit a
cautious "yes,"
Role-ptaying is, by its very natue, "gutsy." I had
taught history for 15 y€ars to collEle frehmen and
sophomores before penonally risktng plalng the pa*
of a historic figure. Previously, I had developed a
variety of student role.plays, but in eadr of these I
merely kept time and managed the post-role-play
debriefing. Inspired by the success of thes€ student
exercises, at long last I donned black acadernic cap and
gown-plus a concealed pillow for girth-to become
Martin Luther for a Reformation Day celebration at my
Protesbnt church (a relatilely safe environrnent for my
acting debut). Emerging from that o(perience with a
modest feeling of self<onfrdence, I proceeded the next
day to the college classroom "stage," donning the same
cap and gown, sans piUory, to role-play the mudr less
weighty John Calvin for my Western Civilization I dass.
In both the Luther and Calvin role'plays, the format
was that of interviewing. In the Lu&er appearance, I
had previously scripted quedons to be asked by a
selected inquirer. In the Calvin appearance, all shrdmts
were encouraged to take the /guesf b tagk for his theological positions on predestination, sovereignty of God,
depravity of man, and so forth. Flaving suwived both
role plays with no apparent psydric damage-and, in
fact, with much less shyness and fear of looking foolish,
I subsequently worked up the neree to present-to a
Westem Civilization II dass-none other than AdoU
Hitler,
The Hitler role-play resulted ftom my asking students to read Keith Eubank's The Origins of World War
II. To amplify and clarify that reading, I announced,
't{ext Monday, Adolf Hitler will be visiting our das}
room Be sure to have frnislrcd your reading and to
have written out at least two questions to which Hider
will respond. Questions may be about events and
policies associated with the Nazi regime during the
1930s prior to the September 1, 1939, attack on Poland."
Student interet heightened when I asked if anyone
could locate a militarlr uniform for Hitler whose size
was approdmately my owIL A milihry re€erqist in the
class quickly volunteere{ on the appoind day he
arrived not only with an American army office/s hat
and jacket but also with genuine collecto/eitem Nazi
armbands replete with swastikas.
On the day of the role-plan I asked for four volunteers from the dass to occupy seats in the front of the
classroom where they would assume the roles of
toumalists from the major Westem democracies. The
"journalis/' students sifted through all the questions
submitted by the students to eliminate those that were
out of the prqrer time frame or that were "off the wall."
The pretended setting was Hider's mounhinside retreat
at Berchtesgaden in mid-August 1939, While the journalists compleFd sorting the questions, I exited in order
to greet Hitler-students had not been told in admnce
that I myself would play the role of our guest. ln the
hallway iust outside of our dassroom, I srid up.
Unfortunateln a young co-€d in the no(t dassroom,
glancing up from her note.taking, Iet out an audible
gasp of disbelief when she saw the Nazi armbands
going on my uniform. Her instructor, a dear friend and
quite resourceful colleague, quieted her distressed
student by suggestin& 'ttrot to worry. It's probably iust
'Show and Tell' day in Dr. Raiford's classes!"
'fitleC' entered the room, greeting his guestg olrdially and ocplaining that his purpose in invitint the
joumalists to this rneeting was to dispel the myths
about hirn and about Nad Gennany as reported in the
Westem press. As questioning began, Hitler assumed a
demeanor of charming receptiveness as he patiently
explained German policies and actions. He frequently
pointed to Gerrnan words such as Reich, Reichstag.
Fuhrer, Luftwaffu, and Lebensraum. written on the
clulkboard beforehand to clue the student audience as
to their meanings as he spoke. Hiile/s charm quite
suddenly turned to vitriol as he recollected offenses to
THE II/,ATIONAL INSTINffE FAN STAFF N'ID ARAAMZATNNAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
Conege Leaderchip Ptogqn, The Uniwrcity ot Te/;ls at Austin
Connunv
EDB 348,'Aw&in,-Tans 7871 2
the Fatherland. During responses to what ilre joumali9t9 gupposed were non-threatening questions,
Hiu€ds
arms flailed, his head terked, his net pounded--ail of
which accomparded lds harsh retortg. As the intssiew
neared completion (schedded for 20 minutes), Hitler'e
air and countenance of cordiality returned as suddenly
as it had previously dlsappered. He shook hands
wtth his guests, wished fhun safe passap to their
homelands and bid them farewell.
Debriefing the role.play took place during the remaining 1$20 minutes of the dass period. I o<plained
to the students that I had based my inbrpretations of
Hider on Alan Bullocl{s Hifler: A Study tui Tyranny
and strongly recommended the book to rh€dr. In his
detailed account of the Mull& Crisis and Hitleds
meetings with Prlme Minlster Chanberlain of Great
Briain, Bullock graphically recaptures Hitle/s raptdly
changing demeanor and almost suggests that Hitle/s
behavior wtth foreign guests was more contrived than
genuina Also, actual film footage from newsreels of
the 1930s contributed to rny portrayal of Der Fuhrer.
The value of the role play came to light in the de
briefing when several students indicated that they now
understood much more dearly-than merely frorn the
asstgned reading-juet why otherwise rational Germans followed Hitleds treadership in the 193&. Our lrtdass fiitled' had dwelt upon Germany's &lnomlc re'
covery during the thirtie whm other countrles sudr as
those repreented by the "joumalists" had struggled
with the iu-€ffects of the Great Depreslon. During the
debriefing I rnade clearhow Hitler based Gerrnan/e
eonordc galns ln large part upon rearmtng Ns county in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles and also how
he failed to regune I /orld War I repantion payments
stipulated in the treaty.
Students also indicated how convincing Hitler's
verbal attacke on the "Di}itat" ftis dertsive term for the
Treaty of VersatU$) would have been to them had they
actually been German cittzens ln the 193&. Accoldlng
to my students, Hitler's dernand for the return of all
German-speaking peoples and their lands to the
Fatherland would have appearcd quite reasonable to a
German audience. Mo3t importantlt my sbdente
recognized how easy it would be to follow a leader
$rho told them only what they wanted to hear, even if
he only told them lies. I o<plained to the dass Hider's
propagandistic tactics and emphasized his masteqy of
deception Students had readily seen this mastery for
themselvs in the rcleplay, inasmudr as they had read
a fachral account of evente leadtng to World War tr and
leamed that-within days of the supposed intenriewpeaceproclaiming Hitler wodd launch the unpro'
gt**
voked attack on Poland. Further:nrore, he would make
that attack ln league with his avowed ardtenemy,
Communist Rnssia.
How useful was this roleplay? I believe that studerrts learned far more about the $bject than if I had
gtven them my beet efforts at lecturing on tlre same
Every major point that I would have included in
lecture wag made either during the roleplay or dudng
the debriefing. In fact, I think more polnte were
made--and with more emphasis-in the classroom
perfomance than I usually cover in what is one of my
favorite Western Civilization lectures. The active
involvement of all gtudents in formulating questions
and in the debrieing-and especially the lnvolvement
of the four student "ioumalists"--seaH an exdte.
ment and interet that could only reinforce leaming in
a most effective manner. The roleplay was risky,
however, for I trusted the "journalists" to eliminate inappropriate questions---a task they handled well,
incidentally; and as Hitler, I did not know where the
quesdons would lead.
I must confe3s that, despite my fears of looking
foolislf as an instsuctor I stretched and grew by adding
to my arsenal of teaching strategies and at the same
tirre discovered some "doset acting abilities" previ-
topc
owly unlmown
to me. Developing a doser rap'port
wtft
students than had been the case wtth traditional
lecturing added to the effuiveness and richness of the
experience, The risks weie well worth the efforti I
discovered that the collep cla*sroom can and should
be an exciting laboratory, a plaee of ongoing experimentation in the search for intrdudng etudente to the
joys of leaming and espedally to the joys of exploring
history.
My only caution to fellow teachers of Westem Civilization who are considering rol*playing Hider for their
classes is that they make clear his villafurous character.
I would be horrtfred to thlnk that shrdents might miscongtme my or any other instructor/g interprebtion of
llider and would leave a Hider role'play thi*tng of
Der Fuhrer a9 a hero. Surely no amount of rcvisionism
will ever rehabilitate the reputation of this rrnst
infarnous of all ldstoric figuree to date.
Norrran G. Ralfotd,Iflst rtot, Hunt^ itia Depafunmt
For further lnformauon, contact the author at Greenville Techntcal College, P.O. Box 5616 Greenville, SC
29ffi-5676.
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