We begin our discussion of World War II this week, one of the most momentous events in human history. The famous quote is “all it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.” That is not the story of the Second World War, however. Good people did much – and they literally saved the world from the kind of fear and suffering not seen on earth since the days of Genghis Khan – but this time on a much wider scale. From the underground organizations such as the White Rose to individuals hiding Jews from the Nazis, people took the initiative to do what they could to stop the spread of Nazism, and for thousands the ultimate result was death without ever knowing the outcome. Without the organized efforts of the US and our allies and underground resistence groups, however, Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo would have been successful. Americans gave sacrificially – their sons (over 400,000 American soldiers died), their efforts, and their finances. Even Hollywood got in on the act, producing one patriotic film after another.
Studs Terkel, an American author, captured the experiences of hundreds of people who participated in World War II and compiled their stories in an awesome book entitled “The Good War”. It is obvious what his title insinuates: this was a war worth fighting. It was good versus evil, with human freedom on the line for all humanity. For us, that seems a little unbelievable – after all, no one’s ever taken our freedom. However, in other societies where freedom has been lost, oftentimes generations, even centuries, go by before authoritarianism is defeated and human rights restored.
Now, I love to read, but few books have ever captured my attention like “The Good War”. While print versions aren’t available online because of copyright restrictions, numerous sound recordings are available through the Studs Terkel website - http://www.studsterkel.org/gwar.php. If you are able to access these sound recordings (I have been unable to open them, but you might have better luck) listen to one and report your findings. Summarize and evaluate the person’s experience in World War II.
If you are unable to access the sound recordings, go to http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afcphhtml/afcphhome.html and do your research there. (This is the Library of Congress website, and the interviews are also in audio format, but transcripts are available. Because they are unedited, they are inferior to the Terkel interviews). Click on “name” or “subject” and randomly choose an individual to research and report on. This is the last assignment for which comments will not be required.
The time has come as well to discuss your 4th quarter bonus opportunity. Like last quarter, you may use this as a “test pass” or, more wisely, an opportunity to drop your lowest test grade of the quarter and exchange it for a 100%. Here’s the assignment: since we are studying World War II and will soon cover Korea and Vietnam, I would like you to interview an American vet who participated in a foreign war (World War II up to the current conflicts, any is acceptable).
You must submit your video log to this website (I’ll create a specific post) and give me a list of questions you plan on asking in advance of the interview. The interview should be about ten minutes long. If you don’t have a family member who participated in a war, ask around for friends or members of your church who can help. Your questions should focus on the individuals experience (his/her job, location, memorable events) and the lasting impact of the war on the individual. PLEASE take time to carefully plan your interview, make an appointment with the vet, be courteous and respectful. (Be sure to send a thank-you card afterwards). The best of these interviews will be made available for wider viewing, so make sure the individual knows that this video will be viewed publicly.
The Diary of Anne Frank
ReplyDelete“I see how the world slowly changes into a desert. I hear the impending thunder more and more. IT will also kill us. I feel the pain of a million of people too but though when I see the sky, I think that everything will turn out good and that even this hardness will come to an end.” (15th June 1944)
Anne Frank was the daughter of her Jewish parents. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1933 her father opened a shop in Amsterdam. From 1934 until 1942 Anne lives in a carefree childhood. On her 13th birthday she gets a diary as a present which shall become her closest trustee “I hope that I can tell you everything. Even those things I couldn't tell anybody so far.” On 10th May 1940 German troops conquer the Netherlands; on 9th June Anne's family went into hiding. Anne is smoother than others.
On 4th August 1944 their hideaway gets discovered. All of the hiding people get sent to Auschwitz. The family gets separated. On 30th October they get sorted again: naked the women stand in front of a doctor; the strong ones go to Bergen-Belsen, the others into the gas chambers. After the homicidal brutality in Auschwitz the women in Bergen-Belsen experience the worst: countless corpses lie around. Thirst, hunger, cold and the itch assault them night and day. At first Anne's mother dies, afterward her sister, and in may 1945, with fifteen years, finally also Anne Frank.
Harold Joseph Thomas (born c. 1947) is an Indigenous Australian descended from the Luritja people of Central Australia. An artist and land rights activist, he is best known for designing and copyrighting the Australian Aboriginal Flag.
ReplyDeleteThomas designed the flag in 1971 as a symbol of the Indigenous land rights movement. In 1995, the flag was made an official "Flag of Australia". Later he was involved in a high-profile case in the Federal Court and the High Court, to assert copyright over his design.
The flag was first flown on National Aborigines' Day in Victoria Square in Adelaide on 12 July 1971. It was also used in Canberra at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy from late 1972. In the early months of the embassy—which was established in February that year—other designs were used, including a black, green and red flag made by supporters of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club, and a flag with a red-black field containing a spear and four crescents in yellow. Many buildings in Australia fly the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian flag, the Melbourne Trades Hall being an example. Various councils in Australian towns fly the Aboriginal flag from the town halls, such as Bendigo.
Ivy Trail:
ReplyDeleteThis was an interview from the “Dear Mr. President” interviews in Fayetteville and Farmington, Arkansas. It was recorded in either January or February of the year 1942. Ivy Trail was from Farmington, Arkansas which was far out from any decent size city at the time. Ivy Trail talks about how very few boys from his area were able to go to war because they weren’t healthy enough. Ivy Trail goes on to say that if there had been a doctor in their area when the boys were younger that they would have been healthier and able to fight for their country. Due to the bad roads at the time and the cost of transportation, doctors from the cities would charge large amounts of money to merely check up on a patient in the rural regions of Arkansas. Ivy Trail complained about how in Kentucky the doctors were able to reach many patients that lived far from the cities and how many boys in his region weren’t able to go to war and support their country. Ivy Trail asked Mr. President to help get more doctors in rural regions to keep the boys healthy and able to fight for their country.
Carlos Lopez;
ReplyDeleteCarlos Lopez was a Hispanic-American who served in the military. While on discharge from the army he enlisted in the U.S Marine Corps. This man from Mexico was a very passionate soldier. He believed that we should have gone to war with Japan a long time before we did. He believed that the United States military should go to states like New Mexico and Arizona where many Hispanics lived. He seemed very passionate about getting Hispanic support for the war. He believed that we needed to send soldiers to Latin-American countries and to build military support for the war.
I think this man has some very legitimate points. First off, I think it is great that a none-American would be so willing to serve the United States and would be so passionate about getting other people’s support in this struggle. I also think it is great how respectfully this man treats the president, even during a time of war; how different from the way Americans treated George W. Bush during the war in Iraq, and this man isn’t even a U.S. citizen from what I could tell. There are a lot of great men and women throughout American history with unknown stories like this one, I think it is important to find out about these stories and bring them into public knowlege
This week I decide to write about one girl that always take my attantion: Anne Frank.
ReplyDeleteAnnelies Marie Frank was one of the most discuss Jewish person in World Wor II. She was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, but she lived most of her life in Amesterdam, in the Netherlands. When Nazi Germany passed the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws, she lost his citizenship. In July 1942, when the Nazi started to persecute the Jewish, Anne's family try to hide themselves in the house of Anne's father, Otto Frank. Two years later they were captured and take them to the concetrate camp (lagher). Anne and Morgot, her sister, both died of typhus in March 1945. While she was hiding from the Nazi, she wrote a diary about her difficult days. Otto, her father, was the only one that survived in her family; he keep her diary and after a few years he decide to public it. This story always let me think me about the difficult part that the Jewish had to affront in this war, even if they didn't do anything to couse it.
I have chosen this week to do my essay on Ivy Trail...
ReplyDeleteIvy's story all started with a request of the President's assistance. Ivy was a resident of Farmington, Arkansas. I'm supposing it was quaint little town shoved back into the hills of Arkansas where the families had plenty to live off of but hardly any money. Due to there location and there money situation or there lack there of it was like pulling teeth to get medical attention. After years of having no treatment all of the boys that could have gone to war were not permitted to simply because of there health. Ivy wanted the president to make it possible for these boys to get into the army... she had a burden on her heart for the boys and men of her town and for that I give her much respect. I wonder what the president thought when he opened the letter, I wonder if he had compassion for her and the boys, or if he brushed it off as a small insignificant issue...The thought that if even one doctor had been in the local area at the time of these boys youth so much could have been different for them and their families.
Fletcher Collins born November 19, 1906 was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated Yale and because an English professor. While attending Yale University he was highly involved with the drama department. He also recorded Folksongs on the side. I found this to be extremely interesting. Later in his life, of English and Theatre, Fletcher Collins founded a drama department at Mary Baldwin College located in the city of Staunton, Virginia, where he worked as a professor. As you can probably tell the dramatics were a huge love f Fletcher Collin’s and he enjoyed every facet of the Theatre. He wrote many plays, articles, and books including some of the following: Alamance Play-Party Songs and Singing Games, Medieval Church Music-Dramas, and so many more. He was one of the ten men who were chosen to be interviewed by the Library of Congress after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a devastating blow from Japan that caused pain to the country as a whole, and will never be forgotten. On May 6, 2005, the well-known Author that was interviewed about Pearl Harbor passed away at the old age of 98. He lived long enough to see all kinds of devastation to America and one of the Americans to live and see two of the most tragic times in American history, Pearl Harbor and September 11.
ReplyDeleteMaxine Christian
ReplyDeleteHe was interviewed in Austin, Texas. He told the president, that he feels left alone with the registration process. He says that he is registered in the civilian defense record for 3 weeks, but that he has no appointment yet. He also tells the president that a lot of other African-Americans are willing to serve the country, but are not informed about the registration process.
Robert Clark
He is tells the president, that he was shocked after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but he got accepted as a pilot and is now ready to fight for his country.
Daniel Wozjek
Daniel Wozjek was a medical student from the University of Detroit. He is telling the president, that he may not carry a gun, but he says that he will study hard for his country, to help with the current emergency and afterwards with the rebuilding of the United States.
Estelle Porier
A nurse in Detroit tells us that she feels particularly close to the attack, because not long ago she was a nurse on Honolulu. She says that she is ready to help on the battlefield, if necessary, but she also will perform her duty on Detroit better to help face the challenge that lies before the U.S.