This is your last post for the research project. For this post, you will write a well defined paragraph that displays your reflection of the book and the genocide project. Some possible topics you could discuss are what you learned, what conclusions you came to, how this topic affected you, or what you would like to continue to discover. Do not limit yourself.
Post #5 is due 11/16/10 by midnight.
Sheckells- I Have Lived a Thousand Years
ReplyDeleteThis topic has affected me in a lot of ways. First of all, I now know how lucky I am just to have all that I have. Also, that I get a meal everyday and get water instead of having to drink dirty, muddy water. I would really like to learn some more about Adolf Hitler because he was an interesting person to learn about. He was because he created one of the worst genocides in all of the world and I would like to know more of why and how he did all of it. This whole genocide was really sickening because of all the stuff that the Germans made the Jews do and it was really terrible. I think that this should never have to happen again, discrimination of a religion.
Shipley-Darfur Diaries
ReplyDeleteThe conclusion that I came to is that the government of Sudan caused most of the problems. they seem to be racist and narrow-minded. Most of the people of Darfur and innocent. The only reason that they created rebel groups was because of the neglect the government showed towards them. I would like to learn and understand a little bit more about the history of the country of Sudan because I think that it has a lot to do with why the genocide is taking place. Reading some of these first hand accounts of what happend in Darfur has made me appreciate the fact that I go to a nice school. All most of the kids wanted was a chance to go back to school and get an education so that they can make something of themselves. Education really is the key to unlock doors and we need to stop taking that for granted.
Reinhard- The Rape of Nanking
ReplyDeleteThe book that I read was “The Rape of Nanking” by Iris Chang. The book was about the Rape of Nanking in Nanking, China. I enjoyed the book and I really grasped how the topic affected a lot of people and how bad it was. At some points in the book, I felt very lucky for what I have, because I know that these people affected by the Rape of Nanking don’t have the luxury of all the things that I do. Something as simple as having a safe home, is what the Chinese were deprived of because they were always in constant fear or danger. From this book I have learned many things about the Rape of Nanking. I learned about all the horrible ways that the Japanese tortured Chinese prisoners. I also learned about survivors of it. This topic affected me in a variety of ways. First, I feel lucky for everything that I have. Also, it made me feel depressed and sad at times when the book talked about rape victims and what the Japanese did to pregnant women. I also felt intrigued when learning about survivors of the Rape of Nanking. I think that is something that I would like to continue learning about. I would like to continue learning about it because it in neat to learn of personal accounts of war. I think that this topic was very brutal, sickening, and horrific because everyone who was killed was innocent. I do not think that mass killings should ever happen again.
Vlazny- I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree
ReplyDeleteI thought this book was very well written and included a lot of different themes in it. The theme I thought was most apparent was the theme of hope. I thought it was amazing how she kept pulling through all the horrors she was experiencing to find the strength to keep going, and always keeping some hope alive that she and the other Schindler's list people would survive. Even though she considered jumping on the fence just to end her misery, she didn't, although she thought every day that she was next to go into the crematory. I also thought that it was very inspiring how the man she met was so depressed and desolute after working as someone who pried the gold out of the victim's death after they were dead, but she told him he had to stay strong for her. And whenever she thought of backing down, she thought of her promise to him. I also thought that it was very tragic how neither of them ever really heard from their loved ones again. This memoir really made me think about how "one death is a tragedy millions is a statistic." It really brought a closer look to the Holocaust and told the tragedies of the lives of many so that the reader could feel some of the pain they did.
Winstel- The Rape of Nanking
ReplyDeleteI think this book over all was good and intertaining. It is horrible what happened to the Chinese. I don't think that I would be able to live through that. I am also glad that it only lasted six weeks because if it was any longer I thik that the chinese race would have parished. I liked reading the personal stories of people was intertaining but to think that it really happened to them makes you sick. The book was very detailed and I liked my topic. I would have hated to be living in that time if I was Chinese. I think that it is horrible, frightening, and brutal the way the Chinese were treated.
St. Pierre- Alive In the Killing Fields
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this book my feelings were very mixed. Sometimes I felt that the Cambodians were letting their race be demolished. On the other hand I felt the horiffic events that the Cambodians had to suffer through. Throught the book I learned that the people who go through this type of treatment are the ones who know how terrifieng life can be. This kind of tourture is something man kind can and should not think of. If I was a survivor of the Cambodian Genocide I would have found anyone related to the Khmer Rouge and asked them if they are sane. Lets face it, who would really want to harm someone so much and think that it is funny? In my opinion the day the Khmer Rouge surrenderd should be a national holiday all over the world to support those who were lost in the fight.
Perry - Survival in Auschwitz
ReplyDeleteThis book really helped me see into one mans specific life at a Concentration Camp, rather than just hearing the statistics that went along with this unfornate men. Primo Levi gave those large numbers some meaning to me. He did so by simply expressing himself throughout the story, and changing the mood as the story went on. His mood changed reflecting the amount of time he had been at the camp. The longer he stayed there, the more robotic it sounded of him writing, and leaving out some details that he might've included in the earlier parts of the book. For example, he might've mentioned the expression of the guards faces, along with many other features, earlier in the book, but later on he neglected to paint an image as vividly as his mood changed. It was almost like you were feeling his pain, eventhough you know deep inside that you will never have to go through anything that Levi had to go through. Mainly this story gave some of those large statistics life to me. They made the huge numbers have meaning.
Austin Wesstrom- Hitler and Naziism
ReplyDeletein the last section i read it told me that they where experimented in torturous ways like put into a block of ice, different types of gases, and more horrifying ways. also they had trials for other people who played a role in the holocaust. they were sentenced to death five years in jail 10, years in jail, 20 years, and life in jail. depending on what they did. that was all of what i read in the last part.
GSmith-The Trail Of Tears
ReplyDeleteOverall, my book was really boring but it gave me a lot of information. It was boring because it was extremely slow and a vast majority of my paper had facts from this book. It was very helpful with writing my paper. Overall, I think the genocide project was fairly easy, there were just a large number of steps to it. The process was long but I'm glad I got it done.
Ravida-Rwanda:Country Torn Apart
ReplyDeleteAfter reading my book, I found it to be a little boring in the beginning but towards the end was very interesting. In the beginning, it talked about the events leading up to the genocide but to me it was kind of dull. Once it got towards the actual genocide, the information was really fascinating to me. By reading this book, it made me really see how other countries are like. Some countries aren't as safe as the United States. I never knew how much two different ethnic groups dislike each other like the Hutu and the Tutsi people. I think that it would be interesting to research the entire Hutu-Tutsi relationship one day and find out exactly how all of this origionally began.
Shue- Killing the White Man's Indian
ReplyDeleteThis book gave me an entirely new perspective on the Indian civilizations. Its focus on their struggles after European conquest, during the beginning of the country of America, was new to me. I had never before thought of how hard it was for them, for instance, to catergorize themselves during the times of black and white segregation. They, right in the middle of it, were unwanted from both sides and didn't want to be on either side, so they were outcasted by both. Also, I did not know how difficult it was to become a pronounced tribbe, with a reservation and specific rights and freedoms. The Indians have had a long history of strife ever since the "white man" has entered it. Along with my perception of the Indian culture as a whole from this book, I also believe that the title shows something itself. I think that the title "Killing the White Man's Indian" symbolizes the change that is now coming to everyones views on Indians as a whole. It is saying that Indians are now intermingling with the rest of America, killing how we thought of them, such as with beads and feathers, and leaving people just like us, people with a rich and cultured background.
Patel-Rwanda Country torn apart
ReplyDeleteI thought this book is really boring. It was informaional and gave me excellent informaiton but I nearly fell asleep. I think that if we were going to get information from a book I think that it should have more syle or vivid descrpitions. This topic of the Rwandan genocide really opened my eyes to what happens everywhere around the world, and not just the United States. It was sad to heard about how the Hutus revolted against the Tutsis and killed almost all of them. I learned that things can get out of hand with politics. The Tutsi took over the government and the Hutu felt oppressed. When the civil war started and Hutus took office.Then the Hutu president was mysteriously killed and the genocide started. I also learned that even kids can be affected by politics. Even thought the Tutsi children did nothing, the Hutus still grusomely killed them. All in all, I thought that this genocide project was easy. It was time comsuming but putting the final product together was easy.
My book was very sequencial, taking me through Stalin's life like a story. I found it very similar to Hitler and his story just different country and different reason to wreak havoc. They were both whack jobs who grew up in poverty with crazy views and quite power hungry. They both stopped at nothing to carry out their final plans. I just find it crazy that he actually in one way or another was responsible for killing into the 20 millions and sentencing even more to their death or exile, almost if not more than Hitler and the Nazis. The worst thing was that it was his own people, all Russians just to become more industrialized. He forced everyone to work, and hard for so little you might as well have been told to give yourself a pat on the back and to get back to work. Whether in or out of jail the conditions were very similar long hard days of work, work, work under harsh conditions.
ReplyDeleteSawyer-The World Must Know-120-155
ReplyDeleteWhile researching the Holocaust and reading about it I have learned how much life has changed over time and I realized how lucky I really am. Life during the Holocaust was not easy at all. People were tortured by the Germans and most were killed. Now our lives are so much better. We do not have people by our sides everyday telling us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. I feel so lucky that I did not have to go through that emotional time. I have food and water to eat and drink everyday and i do not have to worry about not doing something right and being killed. Even after doing this project i still want to know more about Hitler. I want to know what made him want to do this to people and make them suffer. I don't understand what was so bad about people who were not like him that he had to create these camps and kill innocent people. Overall I thought this was a good project. It really taught me to be thankful for everything I have because the victims of the Holocaust had nothing.
Reeser- The Rwanda Genocide
ReplyDeleteI have realized that people commonly confuse the words civil war and genocide. The words are not at all interchangeable. The term genocide is used when there is massive brutal man slaughter because of hatred of another group for race, gender, or ethnicity. I believe people back in the day didn't realize how much that word actually means. For example in the Rwanda genocide the United Nations didn't intervene simply because they thought that it was just a civil war, but they were wrong. Since they made such a horrible mistake the rest of the world had to suffer. I think because of the whole world watching the genocide they now know the true definition of the term genocide. The sad part though is that we had to let a brutal genocide occur just so that we could figure out what genocide really means. I think that we should forgive some things that went on during the Rwanda genocide but never forget. The images of a terrifying genocide should never be replayed again.
Rehman-The Story of Blima
ReplyDeleteReading this book really helped and showed me more into the Holocaust. I knew a lot of information about the Holocaust before this project, but this book gave me a new look on it because of Blima. By this I mean in the story when Blima went away to the concentration camp she expected the worst possible, but after going and being there yes it was bad but she had the support of the lady that helped her through it all because the lady was in charge of what Blima did so therefore Blima did not get punished. From the lady doing this in the book it showed me that not everyone who was helping the Nazis in these concentration camps were bad, but they actually wanted to help the Jewish people so they tried to the best of their ability. This genocide though was very sad because since Hitler had the "Final Solution" and was going through on that promise over six million Jews and other non-perfect people died just because of Hitler disliking them. Also the people that did survive the Holocaust have those memories with them forever and had to leave on remembering that no matter what happens to them in the future because many family members were lost and some people were left with nothing except themselves being alive. It was a very sad thing and this project helped me see more about what happened to others through this makes me think of how lucky we are right now to be here and have ours families and hopefully we do not go through this again.
Snellular-
ReplyDeleteI think that leaders should no get to an elected at a ridiculously young age, as Nero wass when he became the emperor of Rome at just 17 years old. His desicions affected Rome negatively and his need for scapegoats left Christains persecuted and Judea in war. Maybe if he had been a bit older or the Roman Senate had been more strict on who became emperor, those things along with the Great Fire of Rome would have never happened. His rule marked the end of the Roman silver age, and Rome would be on the decline ever since. The Senate's order for his suicide was one of the last cases the Senate was able to convict an emperor. I think that the life of Nero tells us to beware of those who are not experienced and are too young to rule. His tyranny left a belief that would last for 300 years, the belief that Christains were devils. Countless people died as martyr's following Nero.
Rose - Season of Blood
ReplyDeleteThe story begins with a group of documenters from BBC to film the events taking place in the country of Rwanda. The documenters don't realize what the level of distress they'll experience years after they leave the country. The group of men face many near death experiences, including but not limited to IEDs (roadside bombs), the Interhamwe (Hutu army - aka. the dominant army in the war), and more. They are constantly heartbroken when they see tribes of "refugees" (aka survivors) starving and hiding in fields just to avoid being killed. They come across packs of children trying to do the same - avoid the fate they all face if they don't try to escape. All in all, the book, while providing a somewhat historical outlook on the genocide, also gives a look through the narrators eyes of what he saw on the ground - and what happened not only to them, but to everything they were surrounded by.
Yarrish - Life in a Nazi Concentration Camp
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this book, I know a lot more about the Holocaust than I did at the beginning; even after reading "Night." I learned a lor more about how the prisoners were treated and what they were given at camp. It gave me a more refined knowledge of the situations that the prisoners were put in. I really felt an emotional connection to all of the people who died during this time and all of the people that lived to tell their stories. I think the author did a good job with this book; it really provides a lot of good information along with personal accounts.
Rigatoni-The Aftermath of the Chinese Nationalists Revolution
ReplyDeleteWithout this book I could have never written my research paper. I found that if you only read about your topic too specifically, you miss out on the connecting events before and after. My advice, read a book broader or more general of a topic that relates to your focus. The research paper itself was not difficult, especially after the first time, the articles and chapters begin to make sense. You really feel confident that you know what you are writing about. As for me, I felt like an expert. In my opinion I think writing research papers are fun, but I hate all the preparation we had to do before we even started to write the first draft. For instance I don't think we needed to pick subtopics at all, I think we should have just started writing an outline then read it through and edited from there. Otherwise I think the project drags out and takes longer than it needs to.
Wagner- No Pretty Pictures a child of war
ReplyDeleteWhen I first found out about this project, I did not like it. But when we started doing it, it was easy and it did not seem like it was all that much work. I liked how everything was broken up according to due dates. That is the kind of strategy I use for every project. Its just easier for me to do it like that. For the book, I think that it was a good idea but I would make one change. I would have it so that getting the book is the first thing that we do before anything so that we can actually use the information in it. We got our book after our first draft was done so that does not give us much time to put any of it in the paper. About my book; I liked my book a lot. It showed me what life was like outside of the concentration camps. What life was like on the run from the Nazis and the constant worry of being caught. This is what the Jews that were not taken to the concentration camps had to do. This gave me a whole different perspective of the war during that time. It did not even seem that it was hard for Anita and her brother. Even when they were in the concentration camps (about a month or 2) they were not treated badly, except for the food. The food there was just like other camps and given in the same small portions. Other then that, it wasn't very difficult for them. The only penalty they received was terburculoses which they were allowed to stay in a good hospital for kids with the same disease. They were treated like royalty. This is why my perspective of the Holocaust changed after reading this book. (Sorry for it being late.)
ksmith-Genocide of Cambodia
ReplyDeleteThis book really gave me a lot of information about all the horrible events throughout history. I can really relate to the book "Night" because a lot of sections in the book were about the Holocaust, so I learned a lot about that topic. The book really helped me in understanding my topic, The Genocide Of Cambodia, without it I'd be lost. This book made me realize how lucky I am to have a safe life like I do. So many people were killed in genocides, and there were cruel leaders with no hearts towards there enemy, but that's war. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about events throughout the 20th century, and it's in chronological order. This book is a huge help towards my topic, and I'm sure someone could easily find their topic in it too. All of the genocides in the book related some how, and all were grusome and terrible with treatment towards others. All I wonder is, how many people were killed in the 1900's?