Auschwitz

The extermination camp in Poland called Auschwitz-Birkenau was notorious for being the worst of all the camps. This camp was also the largest of the extermination camps. Some of the concentration camps that were built earlier in WWII were turned into extermination camps later. Auschwitz was built to be a place for the Nazis to work the Jews to death or to immediately kill them upon their arrival there.
When I lived in Germany I visited Dachau and Auschwitz. Even at only eleven years old I was hit hard emotional by what I saw there. I had no idea what to expect and just thought it was another part of the places that we would visit on that particular trip. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw and the first hand narrative that I heard from a survivor there. I would not suggest that a parent take their child there before they are old enough to comprehend what took place at Auschwitz. I am twenty six now and still can not comprehend how people to treat a human being in the way that Jews were treated at these camps.
Primo Levi's novel Survival in Auschwitz is very important for people to learn about the actual accounts of what took place at this camp. It is novels like these that should be required in high school. While I understand a parent wanting to shelter their child from the knowledge of these atrocities, I think it is very important to learn these things for the development of a persons understanding of the world and its evils. The world is not all fun and games as many children grow up being taught. We want our children to live with the knowledge that people are inherently good, but this can not be achieved without learning about those who were inherently evil. People must learn about these evils in order to mold themselves into a good person. Good people are good because they know what is evil or bad and what is not. Learning about our past and the evils that occurred in it helps future generations to not allow things like this happen.

Hitler

Hitler is known by most people as the evil leader of Germany who wanted to annihilate the Jewish race. He allowed the steps to his goal made possible with the building of concentration camps and then extermination camps. I am really interested in WWII and what Hitler did because I lived in Germany for three years. While I lived there I went to some of the concentration camps and Hitler's house. The visit to the concentration camps did sink in with me until I actually got there. I was only about eleven years old, but being in that place changed my life. My experience was even furthered when there was a survivor who told us of his time at Auschwitz.
I began to have many questions and my parents could not answer them. I wanted to know how and why people would do this to other people? My father said that Hitler had blamed the Jews for everything wrong in Germany and thought that the only way to fix this was to get rid of them all together. I could not believe this and it never really sunk in the logic behind his decision. I have taken a Holocaust class and now this class that discussed WWII and it's hardships. I still cannot give a good answer as to why these things happened and I probably never will.
The act of genocide that Hitler committed can be related to the genocide in Somalia, other pasts of Africa, and maybe even Bosnia. The hatred that some people have towards others cannot be fully explained nor can the ability to murder those other people. The thought that mass murder will solve whatever issue a race has with another will never be fully understood by me.

Wipers Times

After reading the Wipers Times articles I thought it was kind of funny that there was so much comedy in the articles. These articles range from a variety of things like classifieds, responses to letters, and poetry. I thought that the use of comedy of some of these articles was a good way to lighten up the mood of citizens during the war. I liked the article or part of the paper that is titled "People We Take Our Hats Off Too". The first thing they take their hats off too is the person who re-introduced the sale of whisky in Pop. The following are soldiers that they take their hats off too. This light humor is a way to make the reader laugh even in a time of war. It makes it better because the reader is not just reading about the horrors of war.
The classifieds advertise a large quantity of second-hand furniture that is slightly damaged. You just imagine a couch full of bullet holes on sale. The advertisement for building a house on Hill 60 where that battle of Ypres was fought around. Using a battle as a way to promote property. It is like what we do to political leaders now and aspects of government decisions. We find a way to make bad decisions or bad events humorous, to a certain extent. We do not say much or create much humor about the soldiers fighting in the Middle East. I think it was almost necessary for these articles during WWI because the war was in their backyard and not on some foreign land. Citizens were experiencing battle everyday and the effects of it. We do not experience this everyday because the war is not being fought in our backyards. The humor in some of these articles and classifieds was necessary for the normal citizens to help deal with the horrors of war.

German Unification

Bismark had an the idea that Prussia's position in Germany would be made known through military power. The liberals resisted him even though he said this military idea would bring German unification. Bismark carried out his military measure even though Parliament turned down his military reform. Bismark was not met with much resistance since the liberals could not come together to give any resistance. The Prussian king and many others feared that German unification would dilute Prussian power and influence. In order to succeed Bismark had to be very clever. The events that followed gave Prussia a direct link to the Rhineland with the annexation of some of Austrian controlled lands after Prussia defeated Austria. Bismark became a hero. Was Bismarks plan to unify Germany an idea to benefit Prussia or to boost Bismark's popularity?
One may never know the true answer to this question, but I believe that Bismark had more personal gains. I do not think that the Prussian empire was being taken into consideration when Bismrk decided to move forward. He basically did all of these things without the permission of the Prussian king. He was clever enough to make the Prussian king and it's people think that this would benefit them, but as history shows it would not. The unification of Germany did not benefit Prussia, but maybe for a little while, or we would still have a Prussian presence now. Germany as a independent country would soon follow the unification of Germany and Bismark would go down in the history books as the man who started it all.

The revolutions that took place in 1848 may have been prevented, but would they have eventually taken place no matter what? Many peasants were losing the privileges that they once had because the countryside was becoming more and more privately owned. The population was growing as well which added tension. The economic depression of 1845-1846 did not help matters either. Could leaders have prevented these rebellions from happening.
These reasons are very broad and may not account for the cause of rebellion in each country. These factors, however, may have been prevented and may have not lead to a rebellion. The privileges that peasants once had could have not been taken away from them. The peasants had been able to gain access to village commons and were once able to forage through the forests for firewood. The access to village commons was becoming less and less due to them becoming privately controlled. There were increasing limitations on peasant's rights to forage for firewood. If the wealthy people who controlled the area had not become greedy the peasant's unrest could have been prevented.
This is merely my opinion and may not be the case, but if you keep the majority of the population happy then you should not have them rebelling against you. How long could the peasants hold out and remain under the pressing thumb of the monarchy? The peasants may have still rebelled against there country's leaders, but if the leaders had made drastic changes that benefited the peasants this may have never happened. Things could not just stay the same, because peasants did not really have an easy life. Peasant's rights and opportunities for a better life needed to take a major turn for the better or rebellion would have been inevitable no matter what.

Education

I wanted to touch on an issue that we were discussing on Thursday in class, education. We spoke about education being a huge breakthrough and form of enlightenment for the time. The ideas of Kant, Locke, Jefferson, Voltaire, and Rousseau were new, but not exactly what the people in power wanted. The thought of change did not sit well with them because it meant that they may not have control. I think the same can be said for today and the education that we have in place. The people in power liked that the people they ruled over were not educated. The people not being educated meant that the people in power were not questioned.
Questioning and challenging the people in power is what contributes to the advancement of society. The education system now is all about teaching to the test and there are some teachings who go beyond and actually teach. The students are force fed material that they must regurgitate for a test that is supposed to tell those in charge whether or not the students know the material. Anyone can memorize some things for a test, but it does not mean that they know the material. The education system right now is trying to change or enlighten itself in order to be better suited for the students. The idealist of history, particularly those that pushed to educate the uneducated, gave us what we have today. The people in our society today take what we have for granted.
People did not always have access to education or could not speak out against their ruler. Society has had education for a very long time now and it is time for another enlightenment. We need this enlightenment in order to see more Jefferson's and Voltaire's, so that we can advance the human race even more. Restricting students to only learn what the government says is necessary to survive is ridiculous, we need to educate students in a way that will make them flourish.

Hello HIST 2302