Category: world war ii

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We Must Remain Ever Vigilant of Ourselves

The generational trauma of oppression impacts everyone involved: the oppressed and the oppressor alike. While the trauma does not impact each in the same manner, it creates psychological trauma that each must endure. Lillian Smith points this out in Killers of the Dream when she writes “that the warped, distorted frame we have put around every negro child from birth is around every white … Read More We Must Remain Ever Vigilant of Ourselves

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You Can Never be Apolitical

In Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home, Nora Krug traces her family’s history and digs deep into the role her family members played during World War II, specifically asking if they were active participants in the violence that the Nazis enacted on others. She grapples with her uncle Frank-Karl’s involvement and the ideologies he imbibed from a young age, as part of the … Read More You Can Never be Apolitical

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Fascism in Literature Syllabus

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about constructing a fascism in literature syllabus. Right now, I keep going back and forth on whether or not to focus specifically on American literature or to expand it and make it a world literature course. For this post, I am doing the latter because I feel that reading novels about fascism in a broader context … Read More Fascism in Literature Syllabus

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How Do Individuals Descend Into Brutal Savagery? Part II

In Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz, József Debreczeni provides a detailed and graphic recounting of his time in Nazi concentration camps during 1944–1945. While in Eule, Debreczeni speaks with other individuals about the ease with which people fall into savagery, becoming part and parcel of the atrocities, violence, and murder enacted against their neighbors. Debreczeni contemplates how people who have given the … Read More How Do Individuals Descend Into Brutal Savagery? Part II

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How Do Individuals Descend Into Brutal Savagery?: Part I

Last year, I read multiple books about World War II, a few of which I included in my Reverberations of World War II course during the fall. These included novels by Anna Seghers, Victor Serge, Magada Szabó, and more. Along with these, I also read some memoirs that detailed individuals’ experiences in the concentration camps in occupied territories during the war. These included Dr. Miklos Nyiszli’s Auschwitz: … Read More How Do Individuals Descend Into Brutal Savagery?: Part I