Neo-Nazism

After looking at the photos on the class blog's link from the day the Holocaust Museum opened, I was curious about the neo-nazi party and decided to look it up. Here's a bit of what's on their homepage:

Although National Socialism encompasses many various issues of concern to Aryan Americans, including a healthy environment, children's welfare, and freedom of belief without fear of System persecution...the two main tenets of National Socialism embodies the Struggle for Aryan Racial survival, and Social Justice for White Working Class people throughout our land.

I think it's crazy that people still think like this. And that they're so passionate about it. Have they not realized that racism is looked down upon now? Have they really refused to accept any equality we have in our society now? I don't understand how this is still going on. It's ridiculous.

They also have a link to download all of Mein Kampf  onto your computer. They refer to it as Hitler's "masterpiece". If I wasn't so scared about their seriousness, I would find this a bit entertaining...

The Holocaust Museum Field Trip

To be honest, I didn't think I'd like the museum that much. I thought the trip was just going to be really depressing and that I'd hate it. But the museum itself wasn't that bad. I think that if we hadn't had those tour guides, I could have learned a lot from it. As it was, my tour guide just talked the whole time about stuff we already knew and then didn't give us any time to actually look at anything in the museum. One thing I remember that I learned though, was that all Jews were given new middle names; if you were a girl, your middle name became Sara, and if you were a boy, it was Jacob. (Sorry if we actually already learned that and I just didn't remember from class, Mckenna.)
My favorite part of the field trip was when we went through the art gallery. That was really cool actually. It wasn't just for the Holocaust, it was dedicated to all genocide. It was really interesting to go through at look at all of the pictures and paintings.
My favorite part of the museum was definitely the architecture and interior designing of the place. (I know it doesn't have to do with anything we were supposed to learn on the field trip, but it's honestly what I like best about the place.) The walkway over all the displays was really cool, you could look down on all the stuff. And even though we didn't get a chance to go in there, I also liked the room of reflection and prayers (I don't know what it was actually called, but it was something like that). The way they set up a lot of the display stuff was really cool too. The little room about Kristallnact had broken glass all over the floor and in the corner. I thought that was really creative.

Genocide in the Congo?

The other day in class, Mckenna mentioned that there was a genoicde watch in the Democratic Republic of Congo. If it was really that bad, you'd think I would've heard it on the news at some point. As it was, I had not heard anything about this and decided to look into it. This is what I found:

Democratic Republic of Congo

Civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo remain victims of mass killings, severe torture and widespread rape at the hands of numerous armed groups operating in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale.  Conflict in the DR Congo has resulted in an estimated 5.4 million civilian deaths since 1996.
In the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, civilians are targeted by the rebel Forces Democratique de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR). During its attacks, the FDLR burns villages and killed innocent residents. Human Rights Watch estimates that these attacks have killed more than 1,000 civilians since January 2009 .
The Congolese Army, known as the FARDC predates on civilians throughout the country, engaging in looting and gender based violence against civilians that it should be protecting.
In the Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele regions of Orientale province, more than 1,400 civilians have been killed in massacres and attacks committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony since Christmas of 2008, when the LRA established itself as one of the largest threats to civilians in the DR Congo.
While the DR Congo features the world’s second-largest peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, the presence of these peacekeepers have yet to bring peace to an area that has been embroiled in conflict since 1996.
From http://www.genocideintervention.net/educate/crisis/democratic_republic_of_congo


According to this website, this has been going on since 1996. Had anyone tried to stop it at all? I decided to look into that too and I found a report from the U.S. Department of State
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100475.htm
It's really long, so I'm not going to repost it on here, but it basically talks about the horrors occuring in the Congo. There is also a U.N. group there trying to keep the peace. The Department of State report was from 2008 though. If this problem has exsisted since 1996, why has it taken the world twelve years to even recognize it? Anyone else know any more about this or have any opinions?

My Grandfather's Involvment in WWII

I saw my grandparents over Thanksgiving break and while I was visiting them, my grandpa showed me a picture of a veteran's day reunion of his platoon or troop or whatever its called. He also showed me a picture of himself in a military uniform. My grandpa can't hear very well, so I asked my grandma if he ever talked about the war. According to her, he avoided the topic whenever someone asked him for details or specifics about his time in the army. I know that he was drafted when he was 19, and that he was an engineer. Specifically, his job was to find clean water before the rest of the troops came in. My grandma has told me that while he was in Europe, the house he was staying in was bombed; he was fortunate enough to not be in house at the time that this happened. She also said that he was promoted at some point, but she is unsure about details with that because that was something he didn't talk about.
 I never really thought much about his experience in the war, but then I found out something that sparked me interest. A man that was in my grandpa's military group (whatever it's called), who was also a friend of my grandpa's, was captured by the Germans and taken as a POW. He survived and now has a book out about his time with the Germans. I intend on finding this book and reading it and finding out more about my grandpa's involvement in the war.
My mom told me that my grandpa was also in the group of soldiers that released Jews from the concentration camps and death camps after the war. It must have been pretty awful if he so utterly refuses to talk about his experiences.
While my grandma was talking to me about this that day, she also mentioned that she still has her ration book from during the war and that I could bring it in if the class was interested in seeing it.

My dad's second wife's step-dad (I know, confusing relationship) was also in WWII. He was a paratrooper and told me a story once of how he got stuck in a tree and could do nothing but hang there while the Germans all shot up at him. Miraculously, he cut himself down though and escaped. He also managed to learn a lot of German during the war and would often say random phrases to me in German.

My Thoughts Regarding Guadalcanal

In response to number five about The Pacific, no I do not think that either side can claim moral superiority. War is war. Killing is killing. No matter how it's done, it is still immoral and wrong. Yes, sometimes the tactics used for it or the context in which it is done can make it more inhumane or disgusting, but in that case as well, I don't think either side can claim moral superiority. Japan attacked us first, so we responded by going to war with them. However, according to the video, some of the ways we killed were awful. Like the Japanese guy who the Americans were playing with. That was so immoral and horrible. They do something sneaky or tricky, we play with and torture their men. No one wins here. I think both sides are equally immoral.

Hitler Avatar

Well, I attempted to make one of the avatars. Can you tell it's Hitler?

Horrible Cartoons?

So I've been thinking. In class we learned that German planes had whistles in them so when they dived to attack, they would make a high pitch whistling noise. So right before the bombs fell on you, you would hear this noise. In effect, hearing any kind of noise like this probably struck fear in all of the citizens. Well, learning about this reminded me of old cartoons like roadrunner and bugs bunny. Whenever something was falling out of the sky in those cartoons, it would make a high pitch whistling sound. Did the animators get this idea from WWII? If so, I think that is a terrible joke. This probably scared thousands of people, and here are these cartoonists putting it into their shows for children. Does anyone know about this? I'm just kind of curious.

Hitler goes to Disneyland?

So the other day in class, we were talking about how Hitler drew some Disney characters and someone asked if it was true that he tried going to Disneyland. This kind of interested me so I decided to look it up. It turns out that Disneyland did not open until 1955. Hitler killed himself in 1945, so there is no way he could have gone to Disneyland. Disney World also did not open until 1971, so he could not have gone there either.

Check it Out!!

Hey! I don't know if I'm allowed to post this, but there's an awesome website about hitler that you guys should check out!

It's called Hipster Hitler and it just has comics of hitler where he is depicted as a cool kid from our time now.
It's kind of inappropriate, but I thought I'd share anyways.

The best part is defnitely the t-shirts that hitler wears.


Has anyone seen this site before? I know not many people have, but one of my friends is going to be hipster hitler for halloween

Thoughts on the Treaty of Versailles

I think that the Allies went completely overboard with the Treaty of Versailles. It is certainly understandable that they, and especially France, are angry at Germany and want revenge, but they took it too far.

The part about limiting Germany's army and navy, and not letting them have any heavy artillery is pretty reasonable. The Allies want to make sure that Germany cannot attack again in the future with such force as they did in WWI. Although, to Germany that must have been pretty degrading. It is like they are a child who is being punished; they had this toy (their military) and they misused it, and now it is being taken away from them.

Also, taking away a lot of Germany's land is somewhat understandable. If it is land that they took during the war, then yes, they should give it back. It only makes sense. Not allowing Germany to have any colonies is a bit harsh though. I cannot see any legitimate reason France or Britain would not want Germany to have any colonies, other than the fact that they want the land for themselves. And in that case, it is completely unfair to the citizens of those lands to have their country's ownership negotiated over without them ever having a say in the issue. That was completely unfair of France and Britain, not so much as from Germany's point of view, but from the view of the colonies.

One section of the treaty that is unfair to Germany is the "Guilt Clause". I think that it is mostly Germany's fault that the war was as horrible as it was, because they were the strongest force of the Central Powers and did the most damage, but they are certainly not to be blamed for the entire war. First of all, this whole thing started with Serbia and Austria-Hungry. Austria-Hungry was first to declare war on Serbia. Sure, Germany gave AH the "blank check", saying they would support AH unconditionally, but that does not mean that Germany started the war. Austria-Hungry did. And therefore, Germany should not be blamed for the entire war.

The most ridiculous portion of the Treaty of Versailles is definitely the financial part. The Allies set an impossible cost on the war that Germany was expected to pay. There is no way that any country could have been able to pay that. And even if they could, they would be so utterly broke afterwords that the country would collapse. I know Germany had a lot of problems after the war, but I am surprised that they even survived at all. That was probably the intention of this part of the treaty though, to destroy Germany.


I don't understand how this treaty was actually approved. France and the other Allies definitely wanted their revenge, but how did they get away with it? Shouldn't someone have stood up for Germany? I know Woodrow Wilson didn't think Germany should be punished like that, but why did no other country realize how unfair the treaty was and try to change it? Or did they and then the Allies stopped them? It just seems crazy to me that this happened and no one stopped to think of how unfair the treaty was or how much damage it would actually do to Germany and its citizens. Because that is who the treaty was hurting the most, Germany's citizens. Not its leaders or war generals like it should have, because that is who the revenge should have been aimed at.

My Propaganda

Okay so I tried to work this toondoo thing. I'm really bad at technology though. It doesn't look like how I wanted it to, but I think everyone gets the idea of it, or of what I was trying to get it to look like, right?

By pokaspotedzebra | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

What Creates a World War?

Countries are so diverse. They have different holidays and cultures, their geography differs, the language they speak is defferent. They also govern their countries differently and have different resources naturally available to them in their land. Especially those last two reasons are why countries don't get along sometimes. And when they REALLY don't get along, war can start.
When war starts between two countries, their allies often will help finance the war, provide them with weapons, or even send troops to help fight. When many countries start doing this, it becomes a world war. In order to create a world war, there needs to be at least two sides involving at least two countries that then get their allies involved in the war.
I think that another world war today is very possible. The U.S. doesn't agree with how other countries are run, for example, North Korea, and if North Korea did something we didn't agree with, we could start war with them. Depending on what other countries want, they could decide to join sides and help fight. North Korea was just an example though. We are also very dependent on other countries for resources such as oil. When coutries are so dependent and desparate for such resources, they may be greedy and drastic with their actions. If our import of resources was for some reason denied or anything got in the way of our agreement with other countries on that, we could intervene and start war. Once again though, depending on the opinions of other countries, it might not turn into a world war. It depends on the web of alliances and how many countries choose to get involved. Another world war in the future is very possible though.

Woop Woop!

Yayy for practice blogs :)

Yay for hyperlinks too!