Got taught in german school, time to share how ww2 was taught. It was pretty early in my education i think that the nazis were first brought up, and that in many different subjects. Like talking about musicians and writers that were fleeing in german and music class. In grade 9 it was the main topic, and we analysed many things fron the time, like actual nazi speeches which made the entire stupidity of them obvious, a big part of it was easily disproven. The most central part was a visit to a concentration camp, and this is were most of my impressions came from. It was the one in Dachau, so it wasnt even a murdercamp but a labour one, a teacher who was in Aushwitz described how Dachau is tame in comparison. We went through the path a prisoner would take, everything filled with information. It started with the entrance gate, which encompassed the words : Arbeit macht frei (work makes free), absolutely disgusting. It apparently was stolen at one point and found on a trash deposit, quite fitting. We then went through the recieving hall, where things from the time were shown. Them we went to where the prisoners were kept, no place for privacy, hundreds of wooden floors serving as beds, one didnt have one inch to move. Then some extra cells, more space, but with horrendous torture i wont describe further. And then the incinerator. We went from the first room, posing as shower room and looking innocent, but being a gas chamber in truth to one giant furnace where many bodies could be burnt. It was just one, but the sheer size was hollowing, and it wasnt even a annihilation camp. It left a lasting impression, especially since i realised that this would certainly where id end up during that time when reading through the association with all the symbol on the prisoners clothes. They all had uniform clothes with a triangle on the side, its colour showing why one was there, and it had a second triangle forming a star when one was jewish. After that topic we discussed how the process of denazification worked in the allied parts of germany, also seeing how it wasnt done properly in east germany where the soviet union was in control, simply prohibiting it without confronting people with the past crimes. We also got shown the extent of their experiments with children, of which starving them to death was a tame one. They literally barely looked human after those, its literally destroying faith in humanity. Another experience was visiting a synagogue nearby. We had to be checked beforehand, they didnt want any nazis in there. We went through an underground tunnel on that the names of that synagogues holocaust victims were written, and it just went on seemingly forever. I even spotted some familiar and famous names, like what feels like the whole Einstein family, and many Shoenbergs. The synagogue itself was very pretty, decorated with some hebrew texts. In conclusion i think that the most memorable moments in education are experiences like that, that many seem to be missing (an aunt of mine for example, who compared our lousy covid measures with the holocaust) so theres still much room for improvement. Hope this was helpful in gaining insight into how germany teaches ww2. We also discussed how it was teached in school itself and many said, that it should have been done earlier as most of us were around 16, and at that age bad connections in ones life could already have shaped ones view too much.
a different anecdote: The Nazis were greatly misusing biology and its race theories, and made arian to mean white blond, big and blue eyed and made up the jewish race, the opposite. Their oh so great leader was, after their own definition jewish, which just further shows the sheer stupidity and lack of knowledge of basic geneology
@@paranira6466 Many of the ideas and actions of the Nazi's were inspired or affected by Social Darwinism (not to be confused by the theory of evolution, which is different), which basically is a form of scientific rasism.
@@brabbelbeest social darwinism isnt really scientific though, as darwinism is not setting up a hirachy in worth, but in being the best adapted, so it essentially ripped darwinism out of context, because all of us might be the fittest in one place, and the least in another (ie sunburnresistance), at least thats my take
I think the craziest thing was that Bethesda got some flak for how willfully and joyfully they were killing and disrespecting Nazis and their response was effectively, "Yeah... They're freaking Nazis ..."
I only remember that with the 3rd game which I think was more of a distraction from the complaints about the twins dialogue in game coupled with repetition, lack of polish, and lack of innovation. The first one was widely praised as far as I remember, but they kinda went down in quality so I guess they brushed off the criticism on the supposed problem people suddenly had with killing nazis which I don't think was half as prevalent as they made it out to be. It's a typical way to save face by blaming game and movie criticism on something more ridiculous than the thing people actually complain about in order to make all the criticism, including the valid stuff, seem dishonest and untrue. It's very predatory against fans though which is probably why the series is dead in the water right now.
one of the funniest injokes of wolfenstein, lampshaded frequently via ingame dialog, is that the man with the absolute biggest most raging murder-boner against nazis is himself the perfect arian ultra chad. His superior looks grant him instant access to many high security places without him knowing a word of german. The scenes are hilarious.
He does speak German, albeit with a Texan accent. One of the funniest scenes is in The Old Blood when he responds to Rudi Jaeger's question in german, but with the THICKEST texan accent ever.
the best part is that BJ is canonically a jew, it just shows even more how arbitrary the nazi's hate was. Blue eyes and blond hair while being a bulk got him admired for being an example of "the master race" when in fact he was the worst of the worst for the Nazi's, a polsih jew.
So I can't confirm this but I think Jimmy Hendrix is in Wolfenstein, (there's a guy named "J" who is into psychedelics, rock music, philosophy, etc) conversations with him are used as a way to address how America was doing segregation and oppression as well. Wolfenstein is deeper than it looks, never feels forced or preachy.
Okay, so there are two potential timelines based on a choice made during the intro section of the game. In one of the timelines, Hendrix, in the form of J, is there.
Such an interesting addition, few games let you do home brewed psychedelics and listen to Hendrix jam. Didn't know he wasn't in both storylines, that's really cool.
I remember going into Wolfenstein: The New Order and expecting a big silly dumb fun action game. It was a lot more somber and introspective, and the protag's characterization was way stronger than i expected. Immensely pleasant surprise Obvs i hadnt seen the trailers, I based this off some of the action shooty gameplay i saw
You go in expecting BJ to be a quipping badass, but he's this weary worn-out man who's tired of violence and hate, but that's all he's ever known. I especially liked the parts where his internal monologue might wax on his unhappy childhood
Man, same thing with me! I expected a fun action game without much of a story like the Wolfenstein RTC, but I was pleasantly surprised with an actually amazing story for an FPS action shooter. I love the game, it's brutality, it's story, characters, everything...
The fact that they had a whole segment set in a literal concentration camp without making it seem tasteless or disrespectful is amazing. It gets reduced to just killing Nazis but it spends just as much time showing empathy for their victims.
Honestly as a set the first two games are some of the tightest and most compelling narrative of any fantasy media, video games or not. The characters are all well fleshed out, their motivations are believable within the rules of their world, and the most impressive part of it all is that they got a story THIS GOOD out of a game that surely must have started in a writer's room that said "Okay, so this game is about fighting nazi robots and we have to have a moon level." The fact that they went out of their way to examine the uncomfortable relationship between how hilter saw 1940s america and how as modern people see it in the sequel, again, OF A GAME ABOUT FIGHTING FANTASY NAZI ROBOTS with giant stupid fantasy guns is insane. Its the series I go directly to any time some asshat tells me "video games shouldn't be political" (and then tell them to just watch the cutscenes from the third game because it is a lazy cash grab) They don't have to be, but if they're GOING to be it is the perfect example of how to do it. It is unapologetically both a big dumb action game AND a biting and nuanced commentary on fascism and its place in not only WW2 but the modern day.
Also iirc Wolfenstein Protagonist( Blazkowicz) is Doom guy/Doom Slayer great great great great Grandfather. So yes, Wolfenstein happened in the same univers as Doom apparently and the Doom slayer ancestor was killing Nazis. (even tho it was retconned that the Wolfenstein New Order timeline was an alternate timeline from the OG wolfenstein games, so they severed the connection, but still)
Wolfenstein started all the way back in 1981 with Castle Wolfenstein an action-adventure game that was developed by Muse Software. In 1992 came Wolfenstein 3D developed by the now iconic id Software behind such games as Quake and Doom, Wolfenstein 3D being regarded as the grandfather of the First Person Shooter genre. Some similar games to the modern fps genre pre date Wolfenstein 3D like MIDI Maze but Wolfenstein 3D created the formula the overall archetype that carried over into all future FPS from id's future games such as Doom and Quake all the way up to games like Call of Duty and Halo. Wolf 3D was followed by the amazing Doom just one year later in 1993 was better in every way and then came Quake in 1996 which was the first true-3D game to use a special map design system that pre-processed and pre-rendered some elements of the 3D environment. Wolfenstein and Doom were actually 2D games using tricks to make the game appear 3D very convincing but it's the reason you can't look up or down in Doom. 2D games Castle Wolfenstein Gameplay - ruclips.net/video/nq1blhsGD5w/видео.html Wolfenstein 3D Gameplay - ruclips.net/video/x8o0a5ntxfc/видео.html Doom - ruclips.net/video/iFnOLFd_ByQ/видео.html 3D Game Quake Gameplay - ruclips.net/video/MkED3x0TjYU/видео.html
"Being a true patriot is seeing how your Country can be better and loving it anyways." -- Hannah Paisley. This is why you're a writer. Fire ass quote, Hannah. Keep on being awesome. Much love.
The wildest thing is, even though it looks like mindless action in the trailers, it has some amazing characters and commentary. It's often hilarious, but also poignant and relevant, and it completely revels in the B-movie schlock it draws a lot of inspiration from.
@@danhughes1814 halfway through new colossus I was getting kinda tired of cutscenes honestly. Felt like 65% cutscenes and 35% gameplay and personally felt like it was getting a little preachy by the end. I still had fun but new order and old blood were better in my opinion.
Here’s a fun lore fact: with New Order set in the 60s, they had Jimi Hendrix be a side protagonist alongside your character. He even plays his version of the Star Spangled Banner in the game.
Best line in the series: “You're among wolves now, and these are our woods” it’s a very good series, I hope you get the chance to check out the cutscenes
One of the people who worked on the games (I cant remember who said it) said that the Nazis are the perfect video game enemy because everyone has no problem with killing Nazis
Totally agree. My first ingame encounter with nazis was in the original and first call of duty campaign. I remember the last mission, on the soviet side. "Victory or death! To the reichtag! Death to the fascist!" Many muricans forget that soviet union alone reached and conquered berlin, ending the ww2 at least in europe. I despise stalin and dictatorships but it seems based on history that communist are most effective against fascist.
@@sanhcman666 Well, while technically true, the allies were just outside the town. It was a race, and in the end Stalin faked he wasn't even interested in taking Berlin while it was looking like he might lose it. The Americans usually think they won ww2, while in fact it was the Soviets who paid the biggest butchers bill. And on the other side, Russians usually forget about the huge aid in materials they got from the allies, that kept them in the fight. So, to say either can claim they alone did it would be a fat lie.
@@mtomic87 @c sh the allies let him take it for two reasons. stalin really wanted it for his ego and the allies didn't want to expend troops taking territory that was going to be under soviet control. anyone that thinks their country alone won ww2 or did most of the work is lying to themselves. without the british there would have been no threat keeping hitler from focusing entirely on the ussr and no giant aircraft carrier/staging ground for d-day, without the ussr mainland europe would likely not have been open to invasion, without the us providing materials and supplies the british and soviets would likely not been able to continue the fight and then they were there for the invasion of mainland europe. hell, i think the first tank into berlin was in the soviet forces because of the lend-lease program.
The song that starts playing at 10:45 sounds like a german version of "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals in 1964. The date seems to align with the decade that this game takes place. If it is the same song, I think its amazing that they switched it to german to signfy how the entire world has changed under Nazi occupation!
That is indeed the case. They did this to several songs in the game. Not just switched it to German, but switched out the meaning in interesting ways. Often in an overtly censored type of way.
Wolfenstein is so good at not letting anyone off the hook for complacency in the face of nazism and definitely acknowledges that America was not historically as anti-nazi as people like to believe. Time after time, the main character is confronted with the fact that women, black people, gay people, disabled people and jewish people were not treated well even before WW2, and they are NOT fighting to go back to 'business as usual'. The cutscenes are actually so good I think you could get a decent overview of the story through it and I would give it a try. BJ is the main character and he's got a fascist father and a jewish mother. They do some really cool stuff with his arc.
One more thing: In wolfenstein 2, you're apparently allowed to beat Hitler to death, like there's an option to melee kill him. You die for it but it's worth it.
The Wolfenstein series is the story of William "BJ/Terror-Billy" Blazkowicz and how (after spending almost a decade in a vegetative state after an assault on a Nazi fortress) returns to a world that has changed greatly, ala Captain America, but for the worse as Nazis have conquered Europe and America by using futuristic technology based on hidden artifacts they uncovered that allowed them to win the War. BJ goes on a rampage of Nazi killing to stop them and succeeds in immortalising himself as a living legend known as Terror-Billy that inspires hope in the free people of the world and instills fear in all things Nazi.
I think you would like to watch Jacob Geller's video titled Judaism, Whiteness and Wolfenstein, as he goes really in depth on the themeing of both games and the Main characters purpose within the setting. Both games really don't shy away from the hypocricy that was America's ideology during the second world war.
Yeah, on the one hand we have a good education concerning WW2 in Germany although it doesn't get through to everyone. We had covidiots comparing themselves to Sophie Scholl and Anne Frank. On the other hand the Wolfenstein games in their normal form can't be sold in Germany. They have to take out all Nazi iconography, and they are not called Nazis but "The Regime". That's because of laws banning Nazi symbols and an inability to see games as art. Movies for example are exempt from that.
@@Mjoellnir1984 Those regulations have been lifted since 2019. Now the international (english) version of all 3 Wolfenstein games can be legally bought in Germany's steam store. Those regulations still apply for games that would glorify Nazis by putting you into the role of a "Nazi Hero" winning WW2. But if, like in case of B.J. you are slaughtering every Nazi you lay eyes upon, its perfectly fine! (as it should be)
The main character of Wolfenstein, B. J. Blazkowicz, is basically Captain America with an an axe and guns. What's interesting about Wolfenstein is that the characters openly acknowledge how easily America can give into toxic ideals. Seen in the first trailer, New York got nuked by the Nazis, and America immediately surrendered and quickly adopted the Nazi's ways of life. Wolfenstein actually has a pretty good story as it recognizes the flaws of the modern world while allowing people to kick their feet up and kill some Nazi bastards.
There is also a Netflix TV Show called "A Man In The High Castle", it's very similar to some extent to Wolfenstein series. *EDIT: Oh you're mentioned it in the video, nvm.*
I watched all. The funniest scene for me was when the "model" of arian race in the SS, chosen by hitler and himmer themselves, looked like homelander with guns... but was killed by the target he should have killed, an elder japanese with artritis and a stick
I feel like it depends on what state you're in when it comes to learning history in the US. In California I did learn about the persecution and relocation of Native Americans (although they do kinda skip over the whole genocide part), I leaned about Japanese internment camps and so on.
By contrast, in MN we learned more about the things that happened to American Indians, but not much about the Japanese internment camps, although it was definitely covered. We also got a pretty solid bit about the Holocaust, including pictures and film. But I agree that the covering of history in the US is pretty atrocious.
I learned about both down here in Georgia. The relocations, Japanese internment camps during WW2. I was actually taught quite a bit about the bad things that the government has done. I think a lot of it has to do with the teachers. Of course, they can't just go off an teach whatever they want, but some will add in things where they feel it necessary.
Skipping over the genocide is a pretty big part. Right now in our news, we occasionally hear about how uncomfortable white students in the us are about history classes discussing slavery.
"Gimme a rebellion story." I recommend a couple XCOM 2 videos. XCOM 2 is a strategy game and the trailers don't have a lot of story in them. The following videos together is equivalent to the first chapter in a book. Also I recommend Honest Game Trailers video for the laughs. Part 1: XCOM 2 Opening Cinematic ruclips.net/video/TGIDNPTIx08/видео.html Part 2: XCOM 2 Rescuing the Commander Cutscene ruclips.net/video/J8Ojshd-_dA/видео.html Bonus: XCOM (Honest Game Trailers) ruclips.net/video/qehLhqLx6Ak/видео.html
I was completely taken off guard by these games. They are so cinematic and alive with character, it sometimes did feel like a movie! So much depth in them too in everything you find in-game.
i don't know if it's still canon these days, but in old wolfenstain 3d and doom, blazkovic had a grandson who then become "commander keen" (with his platform games serie) and the doomguy from doom is a descendent of commander keen. Basically, the Blazkovic lineage ripped and teared through the ages
Honestly, I don't think there are many powerful countries that are entirely honest about themselves when it comes to history. I'm British, and very little of the history I learned in school dwelled on any era or event for long enough to get more than a superficial glimpse. The longest single era covered was 1918-1945... but our lessons covered *Germany* in that period, mainly as a cautionary tale to show how Nazism rose and fell.
honestly, if you're interested, i would suggest reading up on the history of the colonized countries instead. a good example would be india. ive forgotten most of what we were taught in school, but 80% of all of our historical heroes are from the British rule era. Powerful countries tend to hide the atrocities of their ancestors, not understanding how many important lessons can be gleaned from their actions.
@@DSkulle1 Yeah, I've learned that since then - I'm 36 now, quite some time since my school days - but it's good advice for anyone who hasn't already come to that realisation.
Part of it is surely becaus children don't really comprehend these things very well, so dwelling on periods and events too long in history class just makes them disinterested. Most of them are thinking about what to do after school after all, so to give a true picture of how and why is really difficult. I honestly thing those are periods in time that should be saved for the older teens when they are capable of actually comprehending it.
Bethesda has produced both Wolfenstien and Doom, which are both remakes of old games. They took games that were classics but not know for their stories and characters and gave BJ and Doom Guy personalities. They have both turned out to be great games again.
The main character bj blazkowitz is Jewish American but looks extremely like an ideal Nazi Aryan he's built af with white skin and blonde hair and blue eyes but is actively fighting against the Nazis when he could easily just pass as Aryan
@@PolishGod1234 Yeah, they hated the Russians, Poles and Czechs which somehow they think are descendants of Mongolians. Also they considered the Japanese as “Honourable Aryans”, which is funny because the Japanese considered themselves to be racially superior above all, including Aryans
I'll say, as a Georgian, I got lucky! My school happened to be one of the few that had the IB program, and it essentially replaced AP on the heirarchy of difficulty so I got put into the IB classes. My IB history classes were honestly my favorite of all of them, my Teacher was this awesome guy who didn't pull his punches when it came to reality. He did some crazy things like Making us debate AS the countries engaged in different time periods, I was personally given Nazi Germany and I had to learn about everything they did so that I could debate WW2 US and the others, I managed to win the debate cause my opponents really flubbed it, but I think everybody learned what really happened. Same thing with the Natives, the Japanese internment camps, the Black Panthers, all the groups the US shattered with violence.
Love the tangents Hannah looking forward to the next vid. If you haven't already the "Assasins Creed Unity" Trailer and "This War of Mine" Trailer are kinda nice.
The United States is very hit or miss when it comes to teaching about our atrocities because we don’t have a universal curriculum for all schools. Each school district sets its own curriculum. So you’ll have some schools that are just as aggressive as German schools with telling you about all the terrible things America has done, and then you have some schools that will straight-up deny that Native American genocide even happened.
Love the bit in the second game where an aged Hitler is a paranoid and incontinent geezer who clearly has dementia from all the amphetamine abuse the Nazis were using towards the end of WW2
I couldn’t stop laughing when he suspected that actor to be a Jew. The actor said „no my führer I’m from New Jersey“ and hitler just decks him and unloads the magazine on his body.
I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated High School in 2013. In our public high school history courses, there was at least a week to 2 weeks dedicated to the history of slavery and the Civil rights Era each. We also had optional courses that were completely devoted to African American studies, History of the Holocaust and Native American history. I'm sure that's not everywhere, but thought it was of note since we are still the South.
I like how in this alternate universe they also had alternate versions of songs like in the second trailer “haus in neu berlin” (house in new berlin) is the alternate version of house of the rising sun
5:00 in Wolfenstein: New Order, released in 2014 developed by Machine Games, it's set first in 1946 and the rest set in 1961 after the Nazis won the battle.
I was coming back to this video and I absolutely love the tangent you went on how history is told in various parts of the world, especially pertaining to WW2 between the US and Germany. It does feel like a lotta education, or historical systems in parts of the US really don't wanna paint the US as also having those same issues that were prevalent in that specific time as well. And take this from a native American, the reservation a major part of my family had lived DEFINITELY told a different perspective on that history, especially not just pertaining to the actions of soldiers and armies, but also the inaction of local and federal governments when it came to how badly all tribes were treated.
I live in germany and i am going to the 9th class(freshman i think). We learn pretty much everything what happened in and before world war 2. We know what happened but we also all know that it was not our fault we get taught that we are the future and that we are responsible to make germany great and not let the things that happened in the past happen again.
I literally just commented that to someone who told me the issue in the American system is that they are teaching white guilt. Like, my guy, that sounds like a personal problem. Don't be guilty for the past, be responsible for the future. I wish I could pin two comments. I would pin this comment too.
@@HannaHsOverInvested exactly we are the future so it is our job to make the country great and fair to everyone living in it (i hope you can understand my english i dont have the best grades in it haha)
"Violently un-self-aware" sums it up pretty nicely down here. What you learn, how much, and how well can vary wildly from state to state (we don't have a unified federal standard) and the quality of the teachers you get from primary school through high school. Prime example being whether you come from a learning about the "U.S. Civil War" place or a learning about "The War of Northern Aggression" place. Couple that with the fact that since there are 50 different sets of standards for education book publishers don't want to waste time and money developing 50 different sets of history books, science books, etc. Texas being the largest market in the South has basically been able to set the standard for what goes into school books for a huge swath of the country (i.e. if it doesn't offend Texas it will sell to schools in other places with similar demographics). On top of that, in general, across the whole country even if you have a decent education in public school there is kind of a zeitgeist where we don't teach unpleasant things in elementary school and it's seen as kind of a preserving innocence thing because they'll learn the bad stuff when it's more age appropriate in high school. Then maybe in high school you get some fuzzy details about some bad stuff in the past with a "but we know better now" and anyway you'll learn about these things more in depth when you get to university (if you pursue U.S. history)...and you can kind of see where I'm going and why our civil war gets used as kind of a general bellwether in the discourse about history and education down here so much. Not to mention why certain factions are so hell bent on worming their way into the university system to "reform" higher-ed standards. What was the video about again? I couldn't stop thinking about your opening comments.
America: "The war of 1812 wasn't actually a war, it was just a small military incursion that didn't succeed." Canada: "🎵 The white house burned, burned, burned, and we're the ones that did it! It burned burned burned, while the president ran and cried!🎵" (Thought TBF and historically impartial, Canada wasn't its own thing at the time, so it was technically Canada as part of the British empire who won.)
This was such a good game. Wasn’t expecting the somber, thoughtful tone, the level of emotional and political intelligence, or the level of absolute gleeful cruelty with which they allow their characters to dispatch fuckin’ Nazis. Also a surprisingly sweet game with a well written and understated love story.
According to Id Software co-founders Hall and Romero, Wolfenstein protagonist William "BJ" Blazkowicz was the Doom Slayer's great grandfather. Not only that, but Commander Keen himself also fathered The Slayer, which basically confirmed three generations of badassery battling Nazis, Aliens, and Demons.
Canadian here, your remarks about residential schools were true maybe 15 years ago or so, but the last 3 generations of students (me included) talk about it extensively at all ages in great detail every year. It's no longer something the younger generations have to study on their own anymore. But thanks for acknowledging it!
I actually loved your commentary. Very true. Its stuff we all need think about. Yiu probably wont react to it because it's not a video game trailer, but I highly recommend Jacob Geller's video essay on wolfenstein. It gies through the themes of the games and how they actually did their homework on a lot of these issues. Even if you watched it on your own time I'd highly suggest you do so. One of the best video essays out there
I'd absolutely love to watch you react to some of the actual Wolfenstein The New Order cutscenes, Hannah! I love your input and think you would definitely enjoy them.
For the US, it really depends on the State you live in. For example, I’m from New York, and I’ve spent a lot of time on slavery, the civil war, the Trail of Tears, and American imperialism during the Cold War. I know in a lot of other states, these topics can be suppressed, or completely removed at worst.
I'm born 1995 and i can tell you, when we were at school, it was not just WW2 but also WW1 that was pretty intense (since it was seen as a prelude to WW2). And i can still remember that we were taught that WW1 was Germanys full fault (which i do not agree with, WW1 started due to a great deal of factors, one could play the blame game forever on that)
It's interesting - despite the many games dealing with WW2 there are only two games I remember that cover the matter of concentration camps and the Holocaust in more than a superficial way. These games are both alternative history, where the creators could have taken the easy way and picked a narrative that ommited this dark part of history: Valkyria Chronicles and Wolfenstein: New Order.
I think it was set in late 60s, early 70's. The first two games were during the lose of WW2 in this timeline. Long gap between the games, but it was passed off as BJ was stuck in a comatose kind of thing.
Do you know there are channels that edit the whole game into cut scene movies or game movies? Ones like Gamers' Little Playground or MKIceAndFire, just to name two. I used to watch games' stories from them.
The Wolfenstein games are (not Youngblood which was riddled with predatory microtransactions among other things) probably the best FPS story games in a generation. There's so much nuance to the characters and BJ's growth beyond just a nazi-killing machine, especially in the 2nd game. As a fellow history dork, these games are such fun alternate history and more complex than they seem at first glance. Great thoughts and great react as always!
I went to school in the border region close to France and Luxemburg (on the German side). As a kid I played in the ruins of the destroyed bunkers in the woods, so the subject was someting I learned about very soon. In school, the holocaust was not just taught in History, but most of the books we had to read for school were about holocaust victims or similar stories aswell. (Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama, Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl,...). And as a german, thats haunting. Not just because you know how much you have in common with the people that did this (speaking the same language, culture and so on, not politically) but because you knew that this is the only thing most people will ever know you for. Understanding how much it horrifies them because of how shaken you were when you heard of it. It was only when I started studying history at university that I really learned how much more layers of gray there were to the german people of the third reich. Many monsters, but many heroes too. It was the first time I realised that being a german did not just mean being part of the legacy of a tyrant, but also of those who opposed him and those who had no choice.
As a german i was sooo fascinated by the music they made for this game! They made like the Beatles for example.. but german! Or the song used in the 2nd Trailer.. that's House of the rising Sun.. but in german. That was so interesting to hear ingame! :D
A little thing I like in the Wolfenstein series is the little interactions the NPC's (non-playable-characters) have (especially the nazis). For example you might get two nazi soldiers casually talking about their lunch break and things of that manner, which really helps to humanize them, in a way. I know how this might sound but stay with me, I think it is very important to show that nazis are just that, humans. I feel like quite a lot of media ignores this human factor, making the nazis feel very alien and forgetting that they were not some demons from another dimension, but humans, which is precisely what I find so terrifying about the nazis (and other ideologies as well). The thought that essentially normal people can become so horribly horribly corrupted and commit such acts is in my opinion of the most important takeaways from history, because if we not recognize that this can happen again, how are we supposed to stop it? little book recommandation at the end: the book "ordinary men" is worth a read, it is very terrifying and left me sick to my stomach at times, but it does a very good job at highlighting exactly what I said in my comment. So if you are ready to be horrified, read "ordinary men".
I remember you experiencing Doom in another video It's speculated that Doom Guy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer is "Stan Blazkowicz" Great Great Grandson of B. J. Blazkowicz
The New Order, a mod for Hearts of Iron 4, follows an alternate history world similar to this, where the Germans won ww2. However, the world of Hoi4: The New Order is more of a cold-war scenario between America and Germany much like America and the USSR was in our timeline.
The reason they are called The Terror Twins is because their father from the previous games, William Blazkowicz, was nicknamed Terror Billy by the Nazis who feared him.
historically, Wolfenstein 3D is the first first-person shooter made that's in the form we're familiar these days, paving the way to the game Doom which then popularized the genre I remember playing this when I was a kid and getting nausea and weird stomach pangs from all the moving around in faux 3d space for over an hour
Wolfenstein was such a surprising story. Like you start this game expecting dumb shot nazi and everyone go boom game, and you kind of get that but not only.
Similar story history wise in South Africa. The way Apartheid is taught. Primary school was basically earlier south african history and colonialism. High school was divided between South African history and Global History. The South African history section focused on the Second Anglo Boer war and the Anglo Zulu War and then Apartheid. We also do the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power as well, especially since their is a large overlap between Black Power and Black Consciousness in South Africa.
I don't know about other places but I go to school in Missouri, and we have been taught about slavery, civil war, civil rights, treatment of natives, and all of these things have been condemned (excluding civil rights those are obviously great) while I'm sure we could be doing more in recent history the teaching is much better than what it has been.
@@orangecat504 I didn’t say the song choice was weird, as you said, it is quite a logical choice. But it is a weird version of the song. It’s not just a German version of the original song, but they turned it into a sort of polka folk version.
Proud new subscriber...you are spot on with the need to teach actual history in schools. Love your vids, and gonna read your books....have an awesome day!
Love the history dialogue! Wolfenstein has a great way of elaborating the strength behind diversity and why the fascist worldview is ultimately limited by its hate.
15:40 Yeah in the 2nd game Colosus, BJ's wife was pregnant of twins This game happens in the 80's( alternate dystopian 80's) where the 2 girls are the protagonists... And its bad... Like really fucking bad... From start to finish the game is a cringe inducing nightmare..., the gameplay is stale and not much was improved, but the dialogues and interactions and banter between the two during the game, just makes you wanna tear your own ears off and gouge your own eyeballs... The person who wrote these dialogues, is someone that has no idea on how siblings actually interact with each others... And it completly kills the game and any interest you have in it, its a freakin torture. Wich is a shame cause the basic premise looked fun, you know? an alternate version of the 80's, and ni one was really against the Twins idea, but its so poorly executed... I don't remember if its the same studio who made the 2 prior games, maybe thats why there is such a shift, but it is NOT a very popular entry in the series.
A lot of shooters started as historical representations of wars! Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, even Assassin's Creed use historical facts on their games It's to see you enjoying all this 😌
One reason games are not brain rooters as many old people think. In fact i suspect eve online produce people that can be good at politics, even better than current politics (if they have better moral compass is another question)
@@sanhcman666 no if you watch tv it can reduce grey matter in your Brain so there kinda right (which is the reason why we should take the old generation more seriously then the current one) and we got video game journalist who are kinda young saying that video games lead to depression, and you being alt right we still have people especially the older crowd that says video games cause violence.
History is a Rated-R subject and should be taught to its fullest extent. I was lucky where I grew up in the states, they were brutally honest about our past. All countries have committed unredeemable atrocities but its important to learn them so they are not repeated.
also the song from the second trailer is "house of the rising sun" but in German. It's a very American song that Nazi's made German (in this timeline), which is extremely accurate to the lore that these new wolfenstein games highlight literally all the time.
As a german I can confirm that World War 2 is a pretty huge chapter in german history classes and we got told all the brutal things the germans did back then like systematically killing millions of jews like they even told us all the Details about concentration camps etc. So Germany really wants to make sure that doesnt happen again. I think thats a pretty good thing because Germany compared to the us. for example actually admits their mistakes and stands up for them
There are cutscene movies people have comprised together by stitching all the cutscenes of the game into one long movie. Can cause a bit of confusion with pacing since it tried to exclude gameplay but it's a really fun watch when one has nothing to do.
During the "history chat" I was thinking like. American schools: We stoped the second World war and saved the world. Me: what about the civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Say hello to the grandfather of all first-person shooter games, Dear Hanna This game made a new generation of ray-casting 2D-based 3D games, it's more than the game Frances
Wolfenstein is a very old franchise dating back to the 80s. It started out pretty much as a WWII stealth game; when it was revived in 3D during the 90s, the mad science and occult aspects were added and it became a straight up FPS series (one of the earliest examples thereof). It’s only the more recent ones that have gone into the “What if the Nazis won” aspect.
Not sure about other areas but here in South Texas when I was in grade school all I really remember in History classes were themes of slavery and rebellion. Following that the civil rights movement. I never got the impression that my school was holding back on Texas history. But for note the city I live in is predominantly 97% Hispanic.
There's videos by Potential History where he goes into how in over their heads Germany was called Germany Could Not Win WW2, he did 2 parts and it really sheds light on how absolutely insane the Nazis were
I also love historical and alternate history settings, this game is mostly about the satisfaction of killing Nazis in gruesome ways but it does have pretty awesome characters. Frau Engel was one of the best villains I'd seen in a while. Youngblood is actually a co-op game where you and a friend can play each sister.
And Youngblood definetly dropped the ball in terms of writing and characters. Blazko daughters instead of being cool, are insufferable to me. Whoever was a writer there I hope they will not write the proper sequel to the Wolfenstein.
You might be interested in Command & Conquer Red Alert, it's an alternate history that takes place after Einstein uses a time machine to erase Hitler from history
As a very American American, I agree lol I'm a history buff as well and personally I feel we put way to much emphasis on sports and such in public school here, luckily I was home schooled and home schooled well.
@@HannaHsOverInvested don't get me wrong i have nothing against sports its just that here at least for sure in my tiny section of the country sports get priority over like.. actual schooling lol
No need to apologize 😂 you saying "stein" the third time was a very accurate German pronunciation. The 'OLF' in Wolfen would be the same sound you make when saying "Golf"
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Got taught in german school, time to share how ww2 was taught.
It was pretty early in my education i think that the nazis were first brought up, and that in many different subjects. Like talking about musicians and writers that were fleeing in german and music class.
In grade 9 it was the main topic, and we analysed many things fron the time, like actual nazi speeches which made the entire stupidity of them obvious, a big part of it was easily disproven. The most central part was a visit to a concentration camp, and this is were most of my impressions came from. It was the one in Dachau, so it wasnt even a murdercamp but a labour one, a teacher who was in Aushwitz described how Dachau is tame in comparison. We went through the path a prisoner would take, everything filled with information. It started with the entrance gate, which encompassed the words : Arbeit macht frei (work makes free), absolutely disgusting. It apparently was stolen at one point and found on a trash deposit, quite fitting. We then went through the recieving hall, where things from the time were shown. Them we went to where the prisoners were kept, no place for privacy, hundreds of wooden floors serving as beds, one didnt have one inch to move. Then some extra cells, more space, but with horrendous torture i wont describe further. And then the incinerator. We went from the first room, posing as shower room and looking innocent, but being a gas chamber in truth to one giant furnace where many bodies could be burnt. It was just one, but the sheer size was hollowing, and it wasnt even a annihilation camp. It left a lasting impression, especially since i realised that this would certainly where id end up during that time when reading through the association with all the symbol on the prisoners clothes. They all had uniform clothes with a triangle on the side, its colour showing why one was there, and it had a second triangle forming a star when one was jewish.
After that topic we discussed how the process of denazification worked in the allied parts of germany, also seeing how it wasnt done properly in east germany where the soviet union was in control, simply prohibiting it without confronting people with the past crimes.
We also got shown the extent of their experiments with children, of which starving them to death was a tame one. They literally barely looked human after those, its literally destroying faith in humanity.
Another experience was visiting a synagogue nearby. We had to be checked beforehand, they didnt want any nazis in there. We went through an underground tunnel on that the names of that synagogues holocaust victims were written, and it just went on seemingly forever. I even spotted some familiar and famous names, like what feels like the whole Einstein family, and many Shoenbergs. The synagogue itself was very pretty, decorated with some hebrew texts.
In conclusion i think that the most memorable moments in education are experiences like that, that many seem to be missing (an aunt of mine for example, who compared our lousy covid measures with the holocaust) so theres still much room for improvement.
Hope this was helpful in gaining insight into how germany teaches ww2. We also discussed how it was teached in school itself and many said, that it should have been done earlier as most of us were around 16, and at that age bad connections in ones life could already have shaped ones view too much.
a different anecdote: The Nazis were greatly misusing biology and its race theories, and made arian to mean white blond, big and blue eyed and made up the jewish race, the opposite. Their oh so great leader was, after their own definition jewish, which just further shows the sheer stupidity and lack of knowledge of basic geneology
Thank you for sharing this!
@@paranira6466 True.
In fact the word "arian" is rooted in.... Iran. xDDDDDDDDDDDD
@@paranira6466 Many of the ideas and actions of the Nazi's were inspired or affected by Social Darwinism (not to be confused by the theory of evolution, which is different), which basically is a form of scientific rasism.
@@brabbelbeest social darwinism isnt really scientific though, as darwinism is not setting up a hirachy in worth, but in being the best adapted, so it essentially ripped darwinism out of context, because all of us might be the fittest in one place, and the least in another (ie sunburnresistance), at least thats my take
I think the craziest thing was that Bethesda got some flak for how willfully and joyfully they were killing and disrespecting Nazis and their response was effectively, "Yeah... They're freaking Nazis ..."
WHAT?!?! In like, a Nazi's are people too kind of want?
There were also people that I remember were saying that the game turns people into nazis even though it's about killing them.
@@HannaHsOverInvested Yup, exactly that kind of way. They got quite a bit of backlash for it in the US.
@@trumps_toupee Let me guess which side of the political spectrum were whining about it...
I only remember that with the 3rd game which I think was more of a distraction from the complaints about the twins dialogue in game coupled with repetition, lack of polish, and lack of innovation. The first one was widely praised as far as I remember, but they kinda went down in quality so I guess they brushed off the criticism on the supposed problem people suddenly had with killing nazis which I don't think was half as prevalent as they made it out to be.
It's a typical way to save face by blaming game and movie criticism on something more ridiculous than the thing people actually complain about in order to make all the criticism, including the valid stuff, seem dishonest and untrue. It's very predatory against fans though which is probably why the series is dead in the water right now.
one of the funniest injokes of wolfenstein, lampshaded frequently via ingame dialog, is that the man with the absolute biggest most raging murder-boner against nazis is himself the perfect arian ultra chad. His superior looks grant him instant access to many high security places without him knowing a word of german. The scenes are hilarious.
He does speak German, albeit with a Texan accent. One of the funniest scenes is in The Old Blood when he responds to Rudi Jaeger's question in german, but with the THICKEST texan accent ever.
@@SSD_Penumbra homie tells Greta to stfu
hes giga chad. the spiffing brit would be proud
And on top of that He's Polish jew
the best part is that BJ is canonically a jew, it just shows even more how arbitrary the nazi's hate was. Blue eyes and blond hair while being a bulk got him admired for being an example of "the master race" when in fact he was the worst of the worst for the Nazi's, a polsih jew.
So I can't confirm this but I think Jimmy Hendrix is in Wolfenstein, (there's a guy named "J" who is into psychedelics, rock music, philosophy, etc) conversations with him are used as a way to address how America was doing segregation and oppression as well. Wolfenstein is deeper than it looks, never feels forced or preachy.
Thats cool!
Okay, so there are two potential timelines based on a choice made during the intro section of the game. In one of the timelines, Hendrix, in the form of J, is there.
Such an interesting addition, few games let you do home brewed psychedelics and listen to Hendrix jam. Didn't know he wasn't in both storylines, that's really cool.
Yup, J is Hendrix
The first game in the new series isn't forced or preachy. The second one is a mixed bag and the Young Blood is insufferable
I remember going into Wolfenstein: The New Order and expecting a big silly dumb fun action game.
It was a lot more somber and introspective, and the protag's characterization was way stronger than i expected. Immensely pleasant surprise
Obvs i hadnt seen the trailers, I based this off some of the action shooty gameplay i saw
You go in expecting BJ to be a quipping badass, but he's this weary worn-out man who's tired of violence and hate, but that's all he's ever known. I especially liked the parts where his internal monologue might wax on his unhappy childhood
Man, same thing with me! I expected a fun action game without much of a story like the Wolfenstein RTC, but I was pleasantly surprised with an actually amazing story for an FPS action shooter.
I love the game, it's brutality, it's story, characters, everything...
The fact that they had a whole segment set in a literal concentration camp without making it seem tasteless or disrespectful is amazing. It gets reduced to just killing Nazis but it spends just as much time showing empathy for their victims.
Honestly as a set the first two games are some of the tightest and most compelling narrative of any fantasy media, video games or not. The characters are all well fleshed out, their motivations are believable within the rules of their world, and the most impressive part of it all is that they got a story THIS GOOD out of a game that surely must have started in a writer's room that said "Okay, so this game is about fighting nazi robots and we have to have a moon level."
The fact that they went out of their way to examine the uncomfortable relationship between how hilter saw 1940s america and how as modern people see it in the sequel, again, OF A GAME ABOUT FIGHTING FANTASY NAZI ROBOTS with giant stupid fantasy guns is insane.
Its the series I go directly to any time some asshat tells me "video games shouldn't be political" (and then tell them to just watch the cutscenes from the third game because it is a lazy cash grab)
They don't have to be, but if they're GOING to be it is the perfect example of how to do it. It is unapologetically both a big dumb action game AND a biting and nuanced commentary on fascism and its place in not only WW2 but the modern day.
This game is like Doom, but instead of slaying demons, you slay nazis
With a different soundtrack haha
Also iirc Wolfenstein Protagonist( Blazkowicz) is Doom guy/Doom Slayer great great great great Grandfather.
So yes, Wolfenstein happened in the same univers as Doom apparently and the Doom slayer ancestor was killing Nazis.
(even tho it was retconned that the Wolfenstein New Order timeline was an alternate timeline from the OG wolfenstein games, so they severed the connection, but still)
@@HannaHsOverInvested **Heavy metal intensifies**
@@HannaHsOverInvested the ost is made by the same guy actually
So in both game you don't kill humans
Wolfenstein started all the way back in 1981 with Castle Wolfenstein an action-adventure game that was developed by Muse Software. In 1992 came Wolfenstein 3D developed by the now iconic id Software behind such games as Quake and Doom, Wolfenstein 3D being regarded as the grandfather of the First Person Shooter genre. Some similar games to the modern fps genre pre date Wolfenstein 3D like MIDI Maze but Wolfenstein 3D created the formula the overall archetype that carried over into all future FPS from id's future games such as Doom and Quake all the way up to games like Call of Duty and Halo. Wolf 3D was followed by the amazing Doom just one year later in 1993 was better in every way and then came Quake in 1996 which was the first true-3D game to use a special map design system that pre-processed and pre-rendered some elements of the 3D environment. Wolfenstein and Doom were actually 2D games using tricks to make the game appear 3D very convincing but it's the reason you can't look up or down in Doom.
2D games
Castle Wolfenstein Gameplay - ruclips.net/video/nq1blhsGD5w/видео.html
Wolfenstein 3D Gameplay - ruclips.net/video/x8o0a5ntxfc/видео.html
Doom - ruclips.net/video/iFnOLFd_ByQ/видео.html
3D Game
Quake Gameplay - ruclips.net/video/MkED3x0TjYU/видео.html
Really good interview with Tim Willits on the creation of Quake and how it used a 3D Engine - ruclips.net/video/aUPcngRGnu8/видео.html
Good info dump. Nice.
@@andrewcrockett4780 ikr!
Thank you!
"Being a true patriot is seeing how your Country can be better and loving it anyways."
-- Hannah Paisley.
This is why you're a writer. Fire ass quote, Hannah. Keep on being awesome. Much love.
🙏🏼🙏🏼
The wildest thing is, even though it looks like mindless action in the trailers, it has some amazing characters and commentary. It's often hilarious, but also poignant and relevant, and it completely revels in the B-movie schlock it draws a lot of inspiration from.
Wolfenstein is one of the few series' where I look forward to cutscenes
@@danhughes1814 halfway through new colossus I was getting kinda tired of cutscenes honestly. Felt like 65% cutscenes and 35% gameplay and personally felt like it was getting a little preachy by the end. I still had fun but new order and old blood were better in my opinion.
Here’s a fun lore fact: with New Order set in the 60s, they had Jimi Hendrix be a side protagonist alongside your character. He even plays his version of the Star Spangled Banner in the game.
Someone else mentioned that too!
Damn, that scene. "This moment, right now? It's gonna be LOUD!"
Best line in the series: “You're among wolves now, and these are our woods” it’s a very good series, I hope you get the chance to check out the cutscenes
One of the people who worked on the games (I cant remember who said it) said that the Nazis are the perfect video game enemy because everyone has no problem with killing Nazis
Totally agree.
My first ingame encounter with nazis was in the original and first call of duty campaign.
I remember the last mission, on the soviet side.
"Victory or death!
To the reichtag!
Death to the fascist!"
Many muricans forget that soviet union alone reached and conquered berlin, ending the ww2 at least in europe.
I despise stalin and dictatorships but it seems based on history that communist are most effective against fascist.
Except gamers™️ on reddit who think nazi's were good
I feel sad for those people
@@sanhcman666 Well, while technically true, the allies were just outside the town. It was a race, and in the end Stalin faked he wasn't even interested in taking Berlin while it was looking like he might lose it. The Americans usually think they won ww2, while in fact it was the Soviets who paid the biggest butchers bill. And on the other side, Russians usually forget about the huge aid in materials they got from the allies, that kept them in the fight. So, to say either can claim they alone did it would be a fat lie.
@@mtomic87 @c sh the allies let him take it for two reasons. stalin really wanted it for his ego and the allies didn't want to expend troops taking territory that was going to be under soviet control. anyone that thinks their country alone won ww2 or did most of the work is lying to themselves. without the british there would have been no threat keeping hitler from focusing entirely on the ussr and no giant aircraft carrier/staging ground for d-day, without the ussr mainland europe would likely not have been open to invasion, without the us providing materials and supplies the british and soviets would likely not been able to continue the fight and then they were there for the invasion of mainland europe. hell, i think the first tank into berlin was in the soviet forces because of the lend-lease program.
Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do study history are doomed to watch helplessly as everyone else repeats it.
The song that starts playing at 10:45 sounds like a german version of "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals in 1964. The date seems to align with the decade that this game takes place. If it is the same song, I think its amazing that they switched it to german to signfy how the entire world has changed under Nazi occupation!
That is indeed the case. They did this to several songs in the game. Not just switched it to German, but switched out the meaning in interesting ways. Often in an overtly censored type of way.
They also show my city New Orleans which is now ghetto in this timeline so it seems fitting to use this song
@@cybercat1531 most of the songs in the game are entirely original ones that just imitate the sound of real life 60s musicians
wolfenstein 1 and 2 both take place mostly in 1960/61 so the date is off by a little bit
Wolfenstein is so good at not letting anyone off the hook for complacency in the face of nazism and definitely acknowledges that America was not historically as anti-nazi as people like to believe. Time after time, the main character is confronted with the fact that women, black people, gay people, disabled people and jewish people were not treated well even before WW2, and they are NOT fighting to go back to 'business as usual'. The cutscenes are actually so good I think you could get a decent overview of the story through it and I would give it a try. BJ is the main character and he's got a fascist father and a jewish mother. They do some really cool stuff with his arc.
One more thing: In wolfenstein 2, you're apparently allowed to beat Hitler to death, like there's an option to melee kill him. You die for it but it's worth it.
The Wolfenstein series is the story of William "BJ/Terror-Billy" Blazkowicz and how (after spending almost a decade in a vegetative state after an assault on a Nazi fortress) returns to a world that has changed greatly, ala Captain America, but for the worse as Nazis have conquered Europe and America by using futuristic technology based on hidden artifacts they uncovered that allowed them to win the War. BJ goes on a rampage of Nazi killing to stop them and succeeds in immortalising himself as a living legend known as Terror-Billy that inspires hope in the free people of the world and instills fear in all things Nazi.
I think you would like to watch Jacob Geller's video titled Judaism, Whiteness and Wolfenstein, as he goes really in depth on the themeing of both games and the Main characters purpose within the setting. Both games really don't shy away from the hypocricy that was America's ideology during the second world war.
Oh that is so interesting!
Yeah, on the one hand we have a good education concerning WW2 in Germany although it doesn't get through to everyone. We had covidiots comparing themselves to Sophie Scholl and Anne Frank. On the other hand the Wolfenstein games in their normal form can't be sold in Germany. They have to take out all Nazi iconography, and they are not called Nazis but "The Regime". That's because of laws banning Nazi symbols and an inability to see games as art. Movies for example are exempt from that.
@@Mjoellnir1984 how incredibly stupid. without discourse how can you teach someone why nazism is wrong
@@Mjoellnir1984 Those regulations have been lifted since 2019. Now the international (english) version of all 3 Wolfenstein games can be legally bought in Germany's steam store. Those regulations still apply for games that would glorify Nazis by putting you into the role of a "Nazi Hero" winning WW2. But if, like in case of B.J. you are slaughtering every Nazi you lay eyes upon, its perfectly fine! (as it should be)
The main character of Wolfenstein, B. J. Blazkowicz, is basically Captain America with an an axe and guns. What's interesting about Wolfenstein is that the characters openly acknowledge how easily America can give into toxic ideals. Seen in the first trailer, New York got nuked by the Nazis, and America immediately surrendered and quickly adopted the Nazi's ways of life. Wolfenstein actually has a pretty good story as it recognizes the flaws of the modern world while allowing people to kick their feet up and kill some Nazi bastards.
There is also a Netflix TV Show called "A Man In The High Castle", it's very similar to some extent to Wolfenstein series.
*EDIT: Oh you're mentioned it in the video, nvm.*
I watched all.
The funniest scene for me was when the "model" of arian race in the SS, chosen by hitler and himmer themselves, looked like homelander with guns... but was killed by the target he should have killed, an elder japanese with artritis and a stick
Loved it until the ending lmao.
I feel like it depends on what state you're in when it comes to learning history in the US. In California I did learn about the persecution and relocation of Native Americans (although they do kinda skip over the whole genocide part), I leaned about Japanese internment camps and so on.
By contrast, in MN we learned more about the things that happened to American Indians, but not much about the Japanese internment camps, although it was definitely covered. We also got a pretty solid bit about the Holocaust, including pictures and film.
But I agree that the covering of history in the US is pretty atrocious.
yeah it's mostly the conservative states which are starting to ban books to protect their little snowflakes
I learned about both down here in Georgia. The relocations, Japanese internment camps during WW2. I was actually taught quite a bit about the bad things that the government has done. I think a lot of it has to do with the teachers. Of course, they can't just go off an teach whatever they want, but some will add in things where they feel it necessary.
Skipping over the genocide is a pretty big part. Right now in our news, we occasionally hear about how uncomfortable white students in the us are about history classes discussing slavery.
@@HannaHsOverInvested No wonder with the white guilt trip movie industry has been since late 70s
"Gimme a rebellion story." I recommend a couple XCOM 2 videos. XCOM 2 is a strategy game and the trailers don't have a lot of story in them. The following videos together is equivalent to the first chapter in a book. Also I recommend Honest Game Trailers video for the laughs.
Part 1: XCOM 2 Opening Cinematic
ruclips.net/video/TGIDNPTIx08/видео.html
Part 2: XCOM 2 Rescuing the Commander Cutscene
ruclips.net/video/J8Ojshd-_dA/видео.html
Bonus: XCOM (Honest Game Trailers)
ruclips.net/video/qehLhqLx6Ak/видео.html
Thanks!
I was completely taken off guard by these games. They are so cinematic and alive with character, it sometimes did feel like a movie! So much depth in them too in everything you find in-game.
8:48 haus in neu Berlin(house in new Berlin) original song: house of the rising sun
My go to karaoke song
i don't know if it's still canon these days, but in old wolfenstain 3d and doom, blazkovic had a grandson who then become "commander keen" (with his platform games serie) and the doomguy from doom is a descendent of commander keen.
Basically, the Blazkovic lineage ripped and teared through the ages
Honestly, I don't think there are many powerful countries that are entirely honest about themselves when it comes to history. I'm British, and very little of the history I learned in school dwelled on any era or event for long enough to get more than a superficial glimpse. The longest single era covered was 1918-1945... but our lessons covered *Germany* in that period, mainly as a cautionary tale to show how Nazism rose and fell.
I took a course once called "The British Empire". It was intense.
honestly, if you're interested, i would suggest reading up on the history of the colonized countries instead. a good example would be india. ive forgotten most of what we were taught in school, but 80% of all of our historical heroes are from the British rule era. Powerful countries tend to hide the atrocities of their ancestors, not understanding how many important lessons can be gleaned from their actions.
@@DSkulle1 Yeah, I've learned that since then - I'm 36 now, quite some time since my school days - but it's good advice for anyone who hasn't already come to that realisation.
Part of it is surely becaus children don't really comprehend these things very well, so dwelling on periods and events too long in history class just makes them disinterested. Most of them are thinking about what to do after school after all, so to give a true picture of how and why is really difficult. I honestly thing those are periods in time that should be saved for the older teens when they are capable of actually comprehending it.
Bethesda has produced both Wolfenstien and Doom, which are both remakes of old games. They took games that were classics but not know for their stories and characters and gave BJ and Doom Guy personalities. They have both turned out to be great games again.
The main character bj blazkowitz is Jewish American but looks extremely like an ideal Nazi Aryan he's built af with white skin and blonde hair and blue eyes but is actively fighting against the Nazis when he could easily just pass as Aryan
Interesting discussion on passing there.
@@HannaHsOverInvested yeah it also shows how fucking stupid the Nazis are that the peak Aryan specimen in their eyes is a Jewish guy
@@Sophie-mv7bd and he's also slavic . Nazis hated slavs especialy Russians
@@PolishGod1234 Oh yeah he was polish too
@@PolishGod1234 Yeah, they hated the Russians, Poles and Czechs which somehow they think are descendants of Mongolians.
Also they considered the Japanese as “Honourable Aryans”, which is funny because the Japanese considered themselves to be racially superior above all, including Aryans
❤️ the history chat. I really liked the between mission rests that they used for character interactions.
I'll say, as a Georgian, I got lucky! My school happened to be one of the few that had the IB program, and it essentially replaced AP on the heirarchy of difficulty so I got put into the IB classes. My IB history classes were honestly my favorite of all of them, my Teacher was this awesome guy who didn't pull his punches when it came to reality. He did some crazy things like Making us debate AS the countries engaged in different time periods, I was personally given Nazi Germany and I had to learn about everything they did so that I could debate WW2 US and the others, I managed to win the debate cause my opponents really flubbed it, but I think everybody learned what really happened. Same thing with the Natives, the Japanese internment camps, the Black Panthers, all the groups the US shattered with violence.
And slavery too I hope
Love the tangents Hannah looking forward to the next vid. If you haven't already the "Assasins Creed Unity" Trailer and "This War of Mine" Trailer are kinda nice.
Oh before I forget The Warthunder (WW2 game) Trailer "Victory is Ours" is really good imo
Thanks for watching!
This War of Mine is well done...
a common quote in history circles is, "Germany has never been able to forget the war. on the other hand Japan has been forced to forget it."
The United States is very hit or miss when it comes to teaching about our atrocities because we don’t have a universal curriculum for all schools. Each school district sets its own curriculum. So you’ll have some schools that are just as aggressive as German schools with telling you about all the terrible things America has done, and then you have some schools that will straight-up deny that Native American genocide even happened.
Well that's not ideal.
Love the bit in the second game where an aged Hitler is a paranoid and incontinent geezer who clearly has dementia from all the amphetamine abuse the Nazis were using towards the end of WW2
I couldn’t stop laughing when he suspected that actor to be a Jew. The actor said „no my führer I’m from New Jersey“ and hitler just decks him and unloads the magazine on his body.
@@mrmundungus9712 same its so fking hilarious
I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated High School in 2013. In our public high school history courses, there was at least a week to 2 weeks dedicated to the history of slavery and the Civil rights Era each. We also had optional courses that were completely devoted to African American studies, History of the Holocaust and Native American history. I'm sure that's not everywhere, but thought it was of note since we are still the South.
I like how in this alternate universe they also had alternate versions of songs like in the second trailer “haus in neu berlin” (house in new berlin) is the alternate version of house of the rising sun
5:00 in Wolfenstein: New Order, released in 2014 developed by Machine Games, it's set first in 1946 and the rest set in 1961 after the Nazis won the battle.
I was coming back to this video and I absolutely love the tangent you went on how history is told in various parts of the world, especially pertaining to WW2 between the US and Germany. It does feel like a lotta education, or historical systems in parts of the US really don't wanna paint the US as also having those same issues that were prevalent in that specific time as well. And take this from a native American, the reservation a major part of my family had lived DEFINITELY told a different perspective on that history, especially not just pertaining to the actions of soldiers and armies, but also the inaction of local and federal governments when it came to how badly all tribes were treated.
I live in germany and i am going to the 9th class(freshman i think). We learn pretty much everything what happened in and before world war 2. We know what happened but we also all know that it was not our fault we get taught that we are the future and that we are responsible to make germany great and not let the things that happened in the past happen again.
I literally just commented that to someone who told me the issue in the American system is that they are teaching white guilt. Like, my guy, that sounds like a personal problem. Don't be guilty for the past, be responsible for the future.
I wish I could pin two comments. I would pin this comment too.
@@HannaHsOverInvested exactly we are the future so it is our job to make the country great and fair to everyone living in it (i hope you can understand my english i dont have the best grades in it haha)
"Violently un-self-aware" sums it up pretty nicely down here. What you learn, how much, and how well can vary wildly from state to state (we don't have a unified federal standard) and the quality of the teachers you get from primary school through high school. Prime example being whether you come from a learning about the "U.S. Civil War" place or a learning about "The War of Northern Aggression" place. Couple that with the fact that since there are 50 different sets of standards for education book publishers don't want to waste time and money developing 50 different sets of history books, science books, etc. Texas being the largest market in the South has basically been able to set the standard for what goes into school books for a huge swath of the country (i.e. if it doesn't offend Texas it will sell to schools in other places with similar demographics).
On top of that, in general, across the whole country even if you have a decent education in public school there is kind of a zeitgeist where we don't teach unpleasant things in elementary school and it's seen as kind of a preserving innocence thing because they'll learn the bad stuff when it's more age appropriate in high school. Then maybe in high school you get some fuzzy details about some bad stuff in the past with a "but we know better now" and anyway you'll learn about these things more in depth when you get to university (if you pursue U.S. history)...and you can kind of see where I'm going and why our civil war gets used as kind of a general bellwether in the discourse about history and education down here so much. Not to mention why certain factions are so hell bent on worming their way into the university system to "reform" higher-ed standards.
What was the video about again? I couldn't stop thinking about your opening comments.
America: "The war of 1812 wasn't actually a war, it was just a small military incursion that didn't succeed."
Canada: "🎵 The white house burned, burned, burned, and we're the ones that did it! It burned burned burned, while the president ran and cried!🎵"
(Thought TBF and historically impartial, Canada wasn't its own thing at the time, so it was technically Canada as part of the British empire who won.)
I said that we were part of Britain at the time. And I appreciate the arrogant worms quote.
This was such a good game. Wasn’t expecting the somber, thoughtful tone, the level of emotional and political intelligence, or the level of absolute gleeful cruelty with which they allow their characters to dispatch fuckin’ Nazis.
Also a surprisingly sweet game with a well written and understated love story.
Finally been waiting for someone to react to these
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for speaking your mind, especially in light of what's going on in Ottawa at the moment.
According to Id Software co-founders Hall and Romero, Wolfenstein protagonist William "BJ" Blazkowicz was the Doom Slayer's great grandfather. Not only that, but Commander Keen himself also fathered The Slayer, which basically confirmed three generations of badassery battling Nazis, Aliens, and Demons.
Canadian here, your remarks about residential schools were true maybe 15 years ago or so, but the last 3 generations of students (me included) talk about it extensively at all ages in great detail every year. It's no longer something the younger generations have to study on their own anymore. But thanks for acknowledging it!
Now that i know you're a history buff i kinda would love to see you reacting to some more history stuff, related to games or not
First one thta comes to my mind would be "The fallen of WW2". Great presentation, depressing facts but with a hopefull end...
@@brabbelbeest yeah that's a great one
i am more than obsessed with your videos im binging all of them 😭😭
I actually loved your commentary.
Very true. Its stuff we all need think about.
Yiu probably wont react to it because it's not a video game trailer, but I highly recommend Jacob Geller's video essay on wolfenstein.
It gies through the themes of the games and how they actually did their homework on a lot of these issues.
Even if you watched it on your own time I'd highly suggest you do so.
One of the best video essays out there
Did you know Neo Nazis got mad about this game
Good
I hope so.
My grandpa used to say that nazis are lame in deluting themselves being a master race, like models or actors who are selfcenter/selfish.
Good
Cry more, Nazis.
I mean I can't imagine they would be happy about it.
I'd absolutely love to watch you react to some of the actual Wolfenstein The New Order cutscenes, Hannah! I love your input and think you would definitely enjoy them.
For the US, it really depends on the State you live in. For example, I’m from New York, and I’ve spent a lot of time on slavery, the civil war, the Trail of Tears, and American imperialism during the Cold War. I know in a lot of other states, these topics can be suppressed, or completely removed at worst.
11:32 Such a quote worthy statement. ❤️ from America
I'm born 1995 and i can tell you, when we were at school, it was not just WW2 but also WW1 that was pretty intense (since it was seen as a prelude to WW2). And i can still remember that we were taught that WW1 was Germanys full fault (which i do not agree with, WW1 started due to a great deal of factors, one could play the blame game forever on that)
It's interesting - despite the many games dealing with WW2 there are only two games I remember that cover the matter of concentration camps and the Holocaust in more than a superficial way. These games are both alternative history, where the creators could have taken the easy way and picked a narrative that ommited this dark part of history: Valkyria Chronicles and Wolfenstein: New Order.
I think it was set in late 60s, early 70's. The first two games were during the lose of WW2 in this timeline. Long gap between the games, but it was passed off as BJ was stuck in a comatose kind of thing.
There’s also Wolfenstein Old Blood which is a prequel to New Order. It’s focused on the Paranormal Division and leads up to new order
Do you know there are channels that edit the whole game into cut scene movies or game movies? Ones like Gamers' Little Playground or MKIceAndFire, just to name two.
I used to watch games' stories from them.
The Wolfenstein games are (not Youngblood which was riddled with predatory microtransactions among other things) probably the best FPS story games in a generation. There's so much nuance to the characters and BJ's growth beyond just a nazi-killing machine, especially in the 2nd game. As a fellow history dork, these games are such fun alternate history and more complex than they seem at first glance. Great thoughts and great react as always!
I went to school in the border region close to France and Luxemburg (on the German side). As a kid I played in the ruins of the destroyed bunkers in the woods, so the subject was someting I learned about very soon.
In school, the holocaust was not just taught in History, but most of the books we had to read for school were about holocaust victims or similar stories aswell. (Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama, Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl,...). And as a german, thats haunting. Not just because you know how much you have in common with the people that did this (speaking the same language, culture and so on, not politically) but because you knew that this is the only thing most people will ever know you for. Understanding how much it horrifies them because of how shaken you were when you heard of it.
It was only when I started studying history at university that I really learned how much more layers of gray there were to the german people of the third reich. Many monsters, but many heroes too. It was the first time I realised that being a german did not just mean being part of the legacy of a tyrant, but also of those who opposed him and those who had no choice.
I'm such a fan of Wolfenstein and I played some games from the franchise. Thanks again for posting Hannah. Love from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
As a german i was sooo fascinated by the music they made for this game! They made like the Beatles for example.. but german! Or the song used in the 2nd Trailer.. that's House of the rising Sun.. but in german. That was so interesting to hear ingame! :D
A little thing I like in the Wolfenstein series is the little interactions the NPC's (non-playable-characters) have (especially the nazis). For example you might get two nazi soldiers casually talking about their lunch break and things of that manner, which really helps to humanize them, in a way. I know how this might sound but stay with me, I think it is very important to show that nazis are just that, humans. I feel like quite a lot of media ignores this human factor, making the nazis feel very alien and forgetting that they were not some demons from another dimension, but humans, which is precisely what I find so terrifying about the nazis (and other ideologies as well). The thought that essentially normal people can become so horribly horribly corrupted and commit such acts is in my opinion of the most important takeaways from history, because if we not recognize that this can happen again, how are we supposed to stop it?
little book recommandation at the end: the book "ordinary men" is worth a read, it is very terrifying and left me sick to my stomach at times, but it does a very good job at highlighting exactly what I said in my comment. So if you are ready to be horrified, read "ordinary men".
I remember you experiencing Doom in another video
It's speculated that Doom Guy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer is "Stan Blazkowicz" Great Great Grandson of B. J. Blazkowicz
I'm glad you left the music in there. The music in the last one is "Turbo Killer," and it's amazing, like the rest of Carpenter Brut's songs.
The New Order, a mod for Hearts of Iron 4, follows an alternate history world similar to this, where the Germans won ww2. However, the world of Hoi4: The New Order is more of a cold-war scenario between America and Germany much like America and the USSR was in our timeline.
The reason they are called The Terror Twins is because their father from the previous games, William Blazkowicz, was nicknamed Terror Billy by the Nazis who feared him.
historically, Wolfenstein 3D is the first first-person shooter made that's in the form we're familiar these days, paving the way to the game Doom which then popularized the genre
I remember playing this when I was a kid and getting nausea and weird stomach pangs from all the moving around in faux 3d space for over an hour
Wolfenstein was such a surprising story. Like you start this game expecting dumb shot nazi and everyone go boom game, and you kind of get that but not only.
Saw the trailer a few times, but I didn't know about 3:39.
Thanks.
You're most welcome!!!
Similar story history wise in South Africa. The way Apartheid is taught. Primary school was basically earlier south african history and colonialism. High school was divided between South African history and Global History. The South African history section focused on the Second Anglo Boer war and the Anglo Zulu War and then Apartheid. We also do the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power as well, especially since their is a large overlap between Black Power and Black Consciousness in South Africa.
6:37 "when your country commits atrocities how do you teach that history ?"
USA : freedom
😂🤣😂😫😭😭😭
I don't know about other places but I go to school in Missouri, and we have been taught about slavery, civil war, civil rights, treatment of natives, and all of these things have been condemned (excluding civil rights those are obviously great) while I'm sure we could be doing more in recent history the teaching is much better than what it has been.
wow I've been playing these games since Wolfenstein 3D! I love history too. You're really cool.
I think the best part is the main character fits the "ideal German" yet he is Jewish.
For those who missed it, the music in the second trailer was a weird German version of "House of the rising sun" (The Animals)
Is not weird because New Orleans is shown in New Colossus. The original song is about the city
@@orangecat504 I didn’t say the song choice was weird, as you said, it is quite a logical choice. But it is a weird version of the song.
It’s not just a German version of the original song, but they turned it into a sort of polka folk version.
Laughes in learning over student comfort in my school system
Proud new subscriber...you are spot on with the need to teach actual history in schools. Love your vids, and gonna read your books....have an awesome day!
Love the history dialogue! Wolfenstein has a great way of elaborating the strength behind diversity and why the fascist worldview is ultimately limited by its hate.
15:40 Yeah in the 2nd game Colosus, BJ's wife was pregnant of twins
This game happens in the 80's( alternate dystopian 80's) where the 2 girls are the protagonists...
And its bad...
Like really fucking bad...
From start to finish the game is a cringe inducing nightmare..., the gameplay is stale and not much was improved, but the dialogues and interactions and banter between the two during the game, just makes you wanna tear your own ears off and gouge your own eyeballs...
The person who wrote these dialogues, is someone that has no idea on how siblings actually interact with each others...
And it completly kills the game and any interest you have in it, its a freakin torture.
Wich is a shame cause the basic premise looked fun, you know? an alternate version of the 80's, and ni one was really against the Twins idea, but its so poorly executed...
I don't remember if its the same studio who made the 2 prior games, maybe thats why there is such a shift, but it is NOT a very popular entry in the series.
A lot of shooters started as historical representations of wars! Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, even Assassin's Creed use historical facts on their games
It's to see you enjoying all this 😌
One reason games are not brain rooters as many old people think.
In fact i suspect eve online produce people that can be good at politics, even better than current politics (if they have better moral compass is another question)
@@sanhcman666 no if you watch tv it can reduce grey matter in your Brain so there kinda right (which is the reason why we should take the old generation more seriously then the current one) and we got video game journalist who are kinda young saying that video games lead to depression, and you being alt right we still have people especially the older crowd that says video games cause violence.
History is a Rated-R subject and should be taught to its fullest extent. I was lucky where I grew up in the states, they were brutally honest about our past. All countries have committed unredeemable atrocities but its important to learn them so they are not repeated.
also the song from the second trailer is "house of the rising sun" but in German. It's a very American song that Nazi's made German (in this timeline), which is extremely accurate to the lore that these new wolfenstein games highlight literally all the time.
As a german I can confirm that World War 2 is a pretty huge chapter in german history classes and we got told all the brutal things the germans did back then like systematically killing millions of jews like they even told us all the Details about concentration camps etc. So Germany really wants to make sure that doesnt happen again. I think thats a pretty good thing because Germany compared to the us. for example actually admits their mistakes and stands up for them
Yes.
For New Colossus (2nd modern Wolfenstein game) see if you can’t find the Blitzmench trailer, it’s awesome.
There are cutscene movies people have comprised together by stitching all the cutscenes of the game into one long movie. Can cause a bit of confusion with pacing since it tried to exclude gameplay but it's a really fun watch when one has nothing to do.
During the "history chat" I was thinking like.
American schools: We stoped the second World war and saved the world.
Me: what about the civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
I love that he is canonically the great-grandfather of doomguy
Say hello to the grandfather of all first-person shooter games, Dear Hanna
This game made a new generation of ray-casting 2D-based 3D games, it's more than the game Frances
Wolfenstein is a very old franchise dating back to the 80s. It started out pretty much as a WWII stealth game; when it was revived in 3D during the 90s, the mad science and occult aspects were added and it became a straight up FPS series (one of the earliest examples thereof). It’s only the more recent ones that have gone into the “What if the Nazis won” aspect.
interesting!
Not sure about other areas but here in South Texas when I was in grade school all I really remember in History classes were themes of slavery and rebellion. Following that the civil rights movement. I never got the impression that my school was holding back on Texas history. But for note the city I live in is predominantly 97% Hispanic.
There's videos by Potential History where he goes into how in over their heads Germany was called Germany Could Not Win WW2, he did 2 parts and it really sheds light on how absolutely insane the Nazis were
I also love historical and alternate history settings, this game is mostly about the satisfaction of killing Nazis in gruesome ways but it does have pretty awesome characters. Frau Engel was one of the best villains I'd seen in a while. Youngblood is actually a co-op game where you and a friend can play each sister.
And Youngblood definetly dropped the ball in terms of writing and characters. Blazko daughters instead of being cool, are insufferable to me. Whoever was a writer there I hope they will not write the proper sequel to the Wolfenstein.
I love this saga. Except the last game, it should't even exist. But oh the first 3. The gameplay is great and the story and humor it's so up my alley
No need to apologise; if you're offending nazis or nazi apologists, you're doing good
🙏🏼🙏🏼
"The only good Nazi is..." etc. And ya know, one can actually choose not to be a Nazi. Amazing, I know.
You might be interested in Command & Conquer Red Alert, it's an alternate history that takes place after Einstein uses a time machine to erase Hitler from history
You know the devs had balls of steel to have a swastika arm band in public just for a video game
As a very American American, I agree lol I'm a history buff as well and personally I feel we put way to much emphasis on sports and such in public school here, luckily I was home schooled and home schooled well.
As a former pro athlete, I understand the power of sport. I just wish we all understood the power of other things too haha
@@HannaHsOverInvested don't get me wrong i have nothing against sports its just that here at least for sure in my tiny section of the country sports get priority over like.. actual schooling lol
No need to apologize 😂 you saying "stein" the third time was a very accurate German pronunciation.
The 'OLF' in Wolfen would be the same sound you make when saying "Golf"