Defiance Questions #2

I don't think there should be any rules in surviving a war. I feel that people should do whatever it takes to survive and not get captured by the Germans whether it be stealing, killing or ambushings. If those tactics are only for their survival then it can be justifiable. But if people do those things for no reason, then that is bad and unjustifiable.

Defiance Questions #1

During wartime like it was in the movie, taking revenge and killing those who killed their family and stealing is justifiable because they have to do whatever it takes to survive during the war. If it wasn't during the war, it would be a crime but since they, themselves are being killed and tortured for being Jewish, it's understandable. It is just because worse things have happened or will happen to Jews during that time.

Genocide Examples

An example of genocide that I heard from the speakers, is polarization. Polarization is when they split groups apart. The Nazi's split the Jews apart from everyone else. They also used symbolization by telling all the Jews to wear a yellow star on their clothes that say "Jude" which means Jew.

Jewish Life vs. Present Life

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=39000

Prior to WWII, Jewish lives were normal because they were shopping at a marketplace that everyone does in their normal life. The picture that i chose was a picture of a Kroger Marketplace that my family and I always shop at. The people in the first picture are shopping for pots and pans and other necessary utensils for every day use just like we do at Kroger. In the first picture, the things that we on sale were on the ground and stacked and not organized. At Kroger, everything is on shelves and organized and has prices on them. The people in the first picture are looking for things and it might be hard for them to find certain things. At Kroger, there are sections and signs for each thing so it's easy to find. 

Daily Life Photographs

Lodz, Poland was the second largest Jewish population in Poland before the war. It was located 75 miles southwest of Warsaw, Poland. A week after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, German troops overtook the city and renamed it Litzmannstadt. In February 1940, the Germans made a ghetto in northeast Lodz. 160,000 Jews were sent to that ghetto. Hundreds of factories were established in the ghetto for the Jews to be forced to work. The living quarters had no running water or sewer system. They were rarely given food and many starved while being forced to work for long hours. 20% of the ghetto's population died because of the bad conditions. 

Changing Views on Genocide

My views on genocide haven't changed much after learning about the Armenian genocide. I still think genocide is a horrible thing that can happen in any country at any time. I never realized there were so many stages to genocide though. The stages made me realize that it can happen anywhere and we just haven't noticed it. I was unaware that so many countries and cultures had genocide happen to them. I was surprised by how many people had died from all the genocides together.

Armenian Genocide Survivor

Kristine Hagopian was born in 1906 and her father had connections and worked for the Turkish government. When they were being ordered to go to the Armenian church to be deported, they didn't listen and stayed in their house. They barged in to their house and raped her father. In her picture, Kristine looks hurt and scared. Her father killed himself after they were captured so she must have been hurting a lot. After they were captured she and her family must have went on, not even being able to grieve the loss of their father.

Sam Kadorian was just 7 years old when they took them away to the Euphrates River. They grabbed all the boys from 5-10 years old and started slashing and stabbing at them. He got hit in the face and was left alone on top of bleeding bodies. Later, his grandmother found him and consoled him. In his picture, he looks so scared. You can see the scar on his face from when he was hit with the sword. He watched the bodies of the children float away in the Euphrates River.

Classification/ Symbolization

Classification and symbolization become a problem when people start to have different views of what they think is right or wrong with classification and symbolism. It starts to become a problem when stereotypes overpower what things really are. It also becomes a problem when the symbol is being used in a bad way.

What causes genocide?

I think that conflicts and differences of religion, power and other things is what causes genocide. When a country needs to get out of something they think that a good, fast solution would be to kill people and kill all of their problems.

Questions about genocide:

What causes people to get to a point where they feel that they have to kill to solve all their problems?

Is there still genocide happening in the world now?

How do these leaders come to power that cause genocide?

When is something considered genocide?