Death Camps

The presentations were very good and informative. They gave many good detailed accounts. I agree with the other posts concerning the lack of knowledge about the death camps other than Auschwitz. As the presentations demonstrate how bad the other camps were, it is wild that the public does not know more about them. I think it is unfortunate in general that there are so many battles that are relatively unremembered and yet they can have claimed thousands of lives. I guess other camps are kind of the same thing, and there was so much death that it is impossible to know and realize everything that occurred during the war.

Presenting: The Holocaust Camps

As always, this subject was a bit of a downer, and certainly a sobering reminder of just what humans are capable of doing to each other. Even 'civilized' humans. The fact that the Jews and others were considered sub-human I sure played a role in how badly they were treated, like rats to be exterminated, but that is itself showed there was something seriously wrong about society's views on the subject. Apparently Germany had got over the idea of pogroms before Russia and Poland did, but to trade that out for wholesale genocide is not an improvement in any way to me. And yet, though most agree that this sort of thing is terrible, we as a world people tend to try and ignore it when it happens around us, just so long as it doesn't directly effect us. Sad state of affairs, to be sure.

Presentations 4/23

My first question is: What was the purpose of having zoos and parks in Buchenwald?  I am not sure I understood why they did this.  The Germans did many very weird, crazy, and wrong things, but even those things had reasons.  I did not even get a warped reason for them including bears and the like.  It sounds like a costly thing that they did without a very good reason.  

The interesting thing I did find about these awful places is that they grew and grew as time passed.  Auschwitz had three sections that they added for specific purposes each time.  Buchenwald even had 88 satellite sites.  I knew that they kept getting more and more prisoners, but I did not know that they made the camps bigger multiple times.  I guess I assumed that they either killed the prisoners or they created new camps.  This is just something that i had not realized before today.   

Presentations

The presentations were well-done and informative. To see the personal items (glasses, clothing, shoes etc) taken from prisoners piled up in such vast numbers really sort of knocks the wind out of a person. I cannot begin to imagine how a person gets to the point where he thinks that sort of behavior towards, that sort of treatment of, that sort of philosophy about other human beings is remotely acceptable.

Presentations and videos

The presentations on the two concentration camps gave a lot of information that I had not previously heard. I have previously heard and read a lot about Auschwitz, but I never realized it was that large. Learning that it was built up of three separate areas put into perspective how they killed so many individuals.

I had never heard of Bukenwald, but was surprised by some of the pictures shown. Some of the scenery pictures looked like they were of a summer camp, not a death camp. I guess it was all for the comfort of the officers. Does anyone know if "science experiements" were preformed at all of these camps?

The cartoons we watched today were interesting because I didn't realize they were used for training videos. Disney really was involved in a variety of the war effort. They are humorous cartoons, but also give a warning to soldiers about safety.

Political Cartoons

I thought that the political cartoons, especially the donald duck film was funny, but was also very stereotypical and demeaning. I know durig world war 2 many japanese americans were confined to internment camps in the U.S. However, were all of the japanese americans in these camps and have they not seen this film? And were there any critics of how demeaning this film was?

Propaganda played a huge role in the war, but it seems as though this film is just looked at as a mistake in the past that the U.S. has forgotton to remember. Also could these films have had an impact on racial tensions in America after World War 2. Most likely they did and they undoubtedly help lead to the increase of stereotypes on Germans and Japanese.

Political Situation 4/21 Maria Gonzalez

After discussing the political situations of the dominant powers during WWII, it seems to me that each country wanted to not only become the most powerful but they also wanted to keep other countries from becoming the most powerful as well.  These power struggles were not just to keep their country on top.  Leaders were trying to protect their country from things that they feared.  Germany was a fear because they were trying to change the favored international system as well as conquering and controlling countries.  USSR was feared because of their very different communist views.  Power can also become a an issue when more powerful countries make decisions for less powerful countries.  Having this power over a less powerful country can be very frustrating, angering, and lead to conflicts nationally and internationally.  An example of this is the new nations created from the USSR after WWI and the conflict created by these actions.  Political power is what drives political situations and war.