Monday, April 21, 2014 (Vanessa)

Week Fifteen, Day 1
How Did World War I happen?

• Four terms you need to learn: appeasement (allowing Hitler to continue his plans), liebensraum (living space, Germany's policy of regaining the plans that were lost after Treaty of Versailles), anshluss (annexation of Austria), volksgemeinschaft (people's community, strength in joy).
• How did a country with no money, no jobs--a country which collapsed--have a wealth? Everybody had a job, cars, luxury, and wealth after Hitler ruled.
• The Sudentenland was a problem. The ruhr was a problem. The rhine was a problem. The saar was a problem.
• They were not treated well. They were not happy of being taken away.
• Germany only came in when Russia declared war on Austria, because of the Treaty. Russia declared war on Austria, because Austria declared war on Serbia (Franz Ferdinand's murder). This was due to the alliances made back then. This was what was meant by Domino Effect and Causal Relationships.

Monday, April 14, 2014 (Vanessa)

Week Fourteen, Day 1
Was the Treaty of Versailles a Mistake? (Part 2i)

• There were a lot of Hitler symbols, meaning that back then, people really respected Hitler.

• People used a lot of animals as their helping hands. The examples were cows, horses, and dogs.
• A lot of children were walking together by themselves.
• "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" means "One Folk, One Right, One Leader".
• Things seemed to be going in the right direction.
• Everybody that did not work in a factory had a job. These jobs were the military.
• The shovel carriers were the largest division of the military.
• In 1933, everybody had to participate in building the country into a better place.
• They were learning how to plow, prepare the land by digging it with a shovel, take away weeds in order for the plants to not be destroyed, etc.
• They were harvesting crops, and the crops were humongous. If seven people harvested the same amount of crops, Germans would not be suffering from starvation. 
• Volksgemeinschaft: People's community. This expression became popular during the First World War. This concept was developed by Ferdinand Tönnies. [source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksgemeinschaft]

April 7 - 11, 2014 (Vanessa)

Week Thirteen, Day 1 and 2
Was Appeasement a Mistake?

• Everybody's job was to produce. Everybody had to help everybody. If someone was worse than you were, you had to help them.
• These people worked to help building houses, road, etc.
• If someone did not have a job, there would immediately be a job open for them.
• Everybody built all of German all the time. And as time flies, there were more money, and also taxes.
• Step 1 (March 1936) - Germany retook Rhineland.
• Step 2 (March 1938) - Austria annexed.
• Propaganda. The victors write the stories you learn. They are not always true. The truth always land somewhere in the middle. You do not know whether something is true unless you ask the person. That is the difference between truth and hearsay. Hearsay is similar to gossip.
• Step 3 (September 1938) - Sudentenland retaken.
• Step 4a (March 1939) - Hitler took Czechoslovakia. Europe's response was nothing. It was clear Poland would be next. Britain and France promised to help Poland if invaded.
• Step 4b (August 1939) - Hitler allied with Russia.
• Nazi-Soviet Pact: mutual security and agreed to divide Poland.

Week 14 day 1

Today, we watched a non-propaganda movie made by American in 1938. In the movie, I saw:

• German city
• old buildings
• people selling foods and flowers in the market
• many Nazi Flags (the design of the Nazi Flag is different from the current flag)

• horses helping farmers pulling carts
• a group of small students walking home from school, carrying backpacks
• everyone had a job
• entire population works on rebuilding Germany, everybody was busy building something
• by 1933, everybody was learning how to plough and plant so Germany could have enough stock of foods and no one needed to starve if they work together
• they prepared sticks to grow beans, put strings, water the crops then pulled the beans in order to harvest it
• Volksgemeinschaft was the program found by Hitler that recovered the economy of Germany
• Volksgemeinschaft means people's community. This expression becomes popular during WW1 as the Germans rallied in support of the war.

About the swastika on the middle of Nazi Flag

• was introduced by Hitler in mid-1920
• the word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika - su means good, asti means it is and ka is a suffix
• swastika literally means it is good.

That's it for today! :D

Friday, April 4, 2014 (Vanessa)

Week Twelve, Day 2
Hitler's War (I)

• Hitler announced his rearmament policy to his military leaders, in 1933. It was the first priority, and would be secret.
• He would have been a world hero, because in 1934, he was already a hero. What he did was amazing. The people loved him, because he could do no wrong. 
• We would have gone down in history as one of the greatest heroes on earth, but yet he was also one of the most despised people. Why did people hate Hitler so much? Stalin was so much worse than Hitler, so why?
• The reason was because Hitler was a liar. He was not after the salvation of German people. His objective was revenge and domination.
• He wanted everybody to love and trust him. In order to do that, he needed to do the nicest things. 
• Everybody in the world felt guilty for what happened to German. Everybody knew it was wrong and evil. They felt guilt and all of these emotions.
• Hitler was going to get it back. At first, he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Everyone thought he was nice.
• In 1935, he started to make an announcement. 
• Why did Germans lose World War II, other than the fact that Hitler was absolutely insane? Russia and America had higher level of productions, than Germany.
• In 1838, Hitler took over command of the armed forces. He said that he wanted to take control of the world, and it was his biggest mistake.
• In 1939, war against Britain and France began. Germany had fewer tanks than Britain, and production was slower.
• Hitler's Foreign policy - Step 1 (November 1936): Hitler made alliances with both Italy and Japan.
• Hitler's Foreign policy - Step 2 (March 1938): Hitler annexed Austria, and sent the German army into Austria unopposed.
• Hitler's Foreign policy - Step 3 (September 12, 1938): Germany took over Sudentenland. 
• Sudentenland was a part of Slovakia. Germans were trapped with Slovakia, and they were not happy.
• Hitler announced that Germany was ready to move into the Sudentenland area of Czechoslovakia to protect Germans there.
• They signed an agreement. They said that they got Hitler's promise, and Hitler would not do any harm anymore. Everybody was very happy about this.
• Key word: appeasement. Appeasement meant when you allowed a bully to bully you, and you would not fight back. 

Notes from Vanessa's presentation

• Adolf Hitler was a German politician. He was also a dictator who led the Nazi Party. 
• Hitler started to have the throne in 1933. In 1939, Germany was fighting with the rest of the world, and it lasted for 6 years.
• A lot of people said that Hitler planned all up. They said it was his personal war, and he had carefully planned it. 
• Instead of admitting it, Hitler said the total opposite. He said that he did not intend it to happen. He had once said: "It is not true that I wanted war in 1939. It was brought about by those international statesmen working for Jewish interests. After my experiences of the First World War, I never wished for a second war against England."
• Still, people did not believe his words, and thought he was the one who caused all the chaos to happen.
• Due to knowing that his nation was about to lose, Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, in Berlin, Germany.
• He was only married to his wife less than 40 hours, before his death.