Category: world war ii

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The Continuation of History and the Search for Stability Amidst War and Chaos

Amidst calamity, whether that be war, famine, environmental disasters, or anything that disrupts individuals’ existence, life moves forward, history moves forward. This constant progression of time has become a recurring theme so far in my “The Reverberations of World War II” course, specifically in Anna Seghers’ Transit and Victor Serge’s Last Times. Each of these novels focuses on individuals fleeing the advancing Nazis. They move from Paris … Read More The Continuation of History and the Search for Stability Amidst War and Chaos

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Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s “Grass” and The Power of Comics

Last fall, I picked up Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s Waiting, a graphic novel, loosely based on Gendry-Kim’s mother, as sisters, separated from one another during the Korean War, reunite during one of the family reunions between North and South Korea. Gendry-Kim’s writing and illustrations powerfully depict the emotions of the sisters, and her use of the graphic medium, through black and white illustrations, conveys the pain and suffering of … Read More Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s “Grass” and The Power of Comics

The Transmission of Hate in Anna Segher’s “The Seventh Cross”

While the normality of life amidst the tyranny of fascism caught my attention in Anna Seghers’ novels, I also noticed how Seghers, in The Seventh Cross, details the ways that youth become indoctrinated into fascism and oppressive political ideologies. There are multiple scenes in The Seventh Cross that involve the Hitler Youth or young men joining the SA and SS, specifically George Heisler’s younger brother Heini.  Early during his … Read More The Transmission of Hate in Anna Segher’s “The Seventh Cross”

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Everyday Existence in Anna Seghers’ Novels

In preparation for my Black Expatriate Writers in France class last spring, I read Nicolas Hewitt’s Wicked City: The Many Cultures of Marseille and came across a reference to Anna Seghers’ novel Transit. Hewitt’s book deals with Marseille’s history during the nineteenth century to the present, not spending much time on specific literary works; however, he does provide a few pages Seghers’ novel in relation to refugees escaping the Nazis … Read More Everyday Existence in Anna Seghers’ Novels

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The Reverberations of World War II Syllabus

Since childhood, I’d been fed the constant patriotic narrative of World War II, imbibing the events in which the United States had direct involvement from Pearl Harbor to D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge and more. I never really veered from those stories until I started looking deeper into World War II a few years ago, specifically the connections between Jim Crow and the … Read More The Reverberations of World War II Syllabus