History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett
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History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett |
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Updated as of 2 October 05 Today in History: On October 2, 1780, Major John Andrι, a British spy associated with Benedict Arnold, was executed on this day in history. Quote of the Day: "In my view we are much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. This is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys." A senior figure at a military-sponsored think tank as told to James Fallows in "Bush's Lost Year" in The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 2004) Take the Ann Coulter Quiz Where are you politically? Take the Neocon Quiz and find out. "History is Far too Important to be left to History Professors" Teaching isn't such a novel idea
Bibliography:
History of Disease Contemporary Terrorist Organizations Map of Islamic Terrorist Cells in the U.S.A.
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Rescue, Resistance, and the Ambiguity of GoodThe HolocaustSpring 2007The HolocaustWhat About Resistance? Most Jews did not know about what was about to happen. European Jews thought that this persecution would pass too. Resistance was rare with the exception of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Few Jews could expect help from the outside. The Germans used a policy of Collective Responsibility. There has to be hope of success.Sobibor FightersThe Allies Know and When Did They Know it? Word reached the WJC in 1942 and was passed to the British and Americans. The British broke the Enigma Code and knew what the Germans were doing in the West. Escapees, especially Rudolf Vrba, passed photos to the West. German soldiers took photos and it was the worst kept state secret.What Could The Allies Have Done? Bomb Auschwitz? Distribute literature to Germany? Execute German POWs? Destroy German Cities? Bomb the Railroads leading to Auschwitz? Win the war as quickly as possible? Encourage Jews to flee the Nazis?Aerial View of AuschwitzShould the Allies Have Tried to Bomb Auschwitz? What should they have done? Historians are divided too. How do we feel today? Was bombing practical? Was winning the war first more logical? How do you feel?Division of War Criminals and Perpetrators The Planners or CEOs of the Holocaust. Concentration or Death Camp Commandants. The Civil Servants who made the process work. The Ordinary men, including the police, soldiers, railroad workers, and the SS guards.Concentration/Death Camp Commandants Most were trained at Dachu, the first concentration camp in the system. Many were veterans of World War I. More had a background in the T4 Program. Most saw themselves as soldiers serving the interests of the Reich.The Civil Servants and the Holocaust They saw themselves as competent and inner directed. They did not belong to the Nazi Party. They did not buy the Nazi Rhetoric. Most were not Anti-Semites. They did not read Anti-Semitic literature either. They were not robots. Yet they made the system work.What About the Men of Reserve Police Battalion 101? Many were middle age. They came from the least Nazi region in Germany. Most had a steady job before the war. They received their education before Hitler came to Power. Only 25 Percent were Party members. Most were from the lower economic classes.Factors That Influenced Rescue The level of German control. The Status of the Jews before the war. The level of Anti-Semitism before the war. Local attitudes toward the Jews. The likelihood of rescue. Geographical factors.Why Did Rescuers Take The Risk? They knew the intentions of the Nazis. They believed what the Germans were doing was a crime. If the Nazis could do this to the Jews, then they could do it to them. Many helped without being asked. Many rescuers volunteered knowing the risks.Factors That Influenced Individual Rescuers Patriotism and the respect for the law. A sense of egalitarianism. Christian values. Hatred for the Nazis. Political activism.The Story of the DanesVarian Frey: The Forgotten Hero Harvard-educated Classicist. He saw the Nazis first hand in Berlin. Responded to the trapped refugees in Marseilles by working for the Emergency Rescue Committee. In thirteen months he rescued over 2,000 people. In 1996, the Yad Vashem listed him as a Righteous Among the Nations.Primo Levis Gray ZoneWho is Kurt Gerstein?The Ambiguity of Good: The Strange Case of Kurt Gerstein He was born in 1905. He was extremely religious. Like many he was initially swept up with the enthusiasm of the Nazi movement. When the Nazis attacked the Churches, he left the movement. Spent time in Dachu and later joined the SS. He witnessed the first use of Zyklon B gas. He told the Swedes, the Church and the Dutch.What Did The Church Know?The Origins of the Term Genocide A new word was needed to explain the startling and horrific nature of state-sponsored mass murder and cultural extermination. In 1944, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, wrote Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. In the book he used the term Genocide to describe the destruction of European Jewry. Subsequently after the war and the Nuremberg Trials, the U.N. Genocide Commission, the Eichmann Trial, the world give this event a new name the Holocaust. For all practical purposes, World War II was a race war.Evolution of War Crimes Trials Ever since the Thirty Years War rules have been on the book. The Red Cross got involved in 1864. In 1925 most nations signed a chemical and bacteriological war convention. In 1929, the treatment of wounded and sick POWs was agreed upon. The Hague Conventions limited the types of weapons that can be used.Limitations Since 1914 Limitations were on the books concerning fighting. Weapons to be used. Treatment of prisoners. But no rules to enforce the laws already on the books. After Germany failed to try their own criminals, it seemed that the system was broke.Allied Warnings to Germany in World War II In 1941, FDR warned Germany of shooting hostages. The governments-in-exiles warned the Germans too. The St. James Declaration in 1942 warned Germany of serious consequence for violations of civilized protocols. In 1943 the UNWCC was organized.Collecting Data on War Crimes The Moscow Declaration in 1943 made it clear that there were two kinds of criminals and two forms of action. Summary Court-Martials and Summary Executions. Cordell Hull wanted to take out the key leaders and shot them. At Teheran Stalin wanted to just execute 50,000 Nazi officers. Most people would have agreed.The Allies Seek Solutions The Allies looked for precedent the Axis criminals. The sought direction from the Treaty of Fontainbleau (1914). Stalins Show Trials. The Trials of the Conspirators on July 20, 1944.Possible Solutions Some wanted the criminals to go away (and sin no more). Others wanted to avoid the appearance of vengeance. But overall the Allies wanted Justice. For the Americans, it was clearly an ex post facto law.The London Conference (June 1945) Location of the trials in Nuremberg. All charges were defined by the London Charter. They included: Crimes Against Peace, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity. Crimes Against Humanity included Genocide.Conclusion of the War Most Nazis still alive were incarcerated. They would go on trial in Nuremberg between 1945-46. All told, 21 would go on trial. Only Robert Ley and Herman Goring beat the hangman.Nuremberg Started in Nov. 1945. The Allies served as Judges and Prosecutors. All the Germans pleaded not guilty. The trials lasted 11 months. Twenty-one criminals were in custody (Bormann was tried in absentia making 22). Three were acquitted, Eleven to death, and six to prison sentences.Those That Received the Death Sentence Hans Frank Wilhelm Frick Hermann Goering (committed Suicide) Alfred Jodl. Ernest Kaltenbrunner Wilhelm Keitel Alfred Rosenberg Fritz Sauckel Arthur Seyess-Inquart Julius Streicher Joachim von Ribbentrop (Martin Bormann)But There Were Other Trials Too Doctors involved in Medical Experiments. The Einsatzgruppen officers who served in the East. As well as the German industrialists. And the NSDAP.
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