Christopher Christley Mrs. Simmons English 12 CP 21 February 2023 Mutability of History History is something we all know about; we learn about history from a very young age, learning about 9/11, the holocaust, etc. What we learn is what we know to be true, but what about what we don’t learn? What hasn’t been taught, what’s been hidden from us in fear of us knowing the truth? George Orwell’s 1984 perfectly encapsulates the dangers of the mutability of our history, manipulating peoples’ perceptions and seeing the effects of it today through USSR/Russian History and even the United States history. Why is history so important to us? We understand the concept of learning from our mistakes, but history also shapes our fundamental beliefs and morals. …show more content…
Not only does it outright say history has been destroyed: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten …” (Orwell 128). 1984 shows a unique way history can be manipulated through the speech itself. Newspeak in 1984 was the Party’s way of changing communication to restrict how people could talk. Speech is important; many phrases hold some historical significance, for example: “Never Forget” referencing the tragedy of 9/11, or even simple phrases like “Turn a blind eye” referencing events in the Battle of Copenhagen. Eliminating speech eliminates history, or at the very least, limits our knowledge of …show more content…
The USSR was the worst communist regime in history and even competes with Nazi Germany in terms of death count, but I want to focus on something not many know about, the Holodomor. The Holodomor’s meaning as a word says what happened: “Holodomor literally means ‘death by hunger’” (Mohn). While history is inconclusive, many historians have concluded that the Holodomor was a deliberate genocidal famine caused by Stalin. Ukrainians starved to death; many resorted to eating grass and horsehide to survive, and some went to the extreme of cannibalism; however, this was rare, but people would die in the process due to refusing to take practice it. The United States today seems to recognize the Holodomor as a genocide; opening the Holodomor memorial in 2010 in Washington, D.C. Ukraine today has a holiday to commemorate the tragedy on the fourth Saturday of November. Russia, on the other hand, to this day does not even acknowledge the genocide. The USSR and Russia hold the “belief” that the Holodomor was due to poor harvest. The Holodomor has been widely forgotten among the world and especially Russia, to save face. This is almost the exact scenario 1984 lays out, an authoritarian country hiding its horrors to protect
This work guides the reader along a path of history that is often misconstrued
Courtney Lachney The Progressive Era Critical Thinking Activity Essay Rubric History shows how humans grew. It shows where we all originated from and how we made up our laws and such. History has brought about a lot of change. There are so many different ideals and beliefs that originated in the past. There were so many wars and killing sover things that were sometimes for the worst.
Usually the information conversed in history classes reflect the building blocks of what is occurring in our society and world of today. As the world changes around us, our picture frame in history changes as well. “It’s written and rewritten in each generation. The events of the present, of the contemporary age, always help us reframe the events of the past. And the events of the past always help us to reframe the age we’re living in.
One of the most horrifying episodes in human history was the Holocaust, which took place during World War II and involved the systematic torture and death of millions of people. However, it is more than just a historical occurrence, it serves as a clear warning about the capacity for evil that resides inside everyone. Human nature, both good and bad, is laid bare in the crimes done during the Holocaust. The Holocaust is a blot of human civilization that tells us much about our nature, including our capacity for cruelty, indifference, and survival.
The Holocaust, which occurred during the Second World War, is one of the most devastating and catastrophic events in human history. It is a tragic event that left an everlasting scar on the face of history. This major historical event resulted in the mass murder of millions of people, primarily Jews, by the Nazi regime. The historical relevance of the Holocaust cannot be overstated. It is a reminder of the dangers of authoritarianism, fascism, and anti semitism.
“In that inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in history, I prefer to try to tell the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of the slaves, of Andrew Jackson as seen by the Cherokees…” (Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, pg. 10). Society as a whole expects historians to be impartial, to report the events of the past as they happened, without incorporating their own thoughts into these events. We choose to believe that they are politically neutral, that they have no bias, and that they report history fairly and that everything occurred the way they say. However, as historian Howard Zinn points out in A People’s History, most historians have succumbed to the disturbing trend of glossing over and sugarcoating some of history’s most horrific events, excusing them as necessary for “progress,” and then moving on.
They both included mass murdering of over 1 million people. The Holocaust killed over 6 million Jews, 1.1 million children, soviet civilians around 7 million (including 1.3 Soviet Jewish civilians, who are included in the 6 million figure for Jews).Over 16 million people were killed in the Holocaust. The goal of the holocaust was meant to kill all Jews, Homosexuals, and disabled people. This was resolved by the russians gaining an
History is a novel idea that has been a continuous idea throughout our time in class. We have gone over what history means to us, the students; as well as the authors and filmmakers we have studied. For me, before this class, History merely meant what we
America has gone through a lot as a country. Without its past, it wouldn’t be what it is today. The main point of learning our history is to be knowledgeable of what has constructed our present, such as America’s wars, segregation, slavery, and everything that has molded the United States of America into the country that it is today. Our founding fathers took great care in giving us a Constitution, to make sure we all have equal rights and responsibilities. History has molded our present and determined our future as a country.
The Holocaust Research Project The Holocaust was the world’s largest known genocide with over 11 million victims. (Bachrach 10) The first kidnapping spree of Jews started in Germany on January 30, 1933, which later spread to Austria, Poland, and eventually Czechoslovakia. (Altman 5) People in Germany were not very aware of what was happening until November 9, 1938, when over 30,000 Jews were killed and 190 synagogues were burned to the ground. (USHMM “Holocaust Overview”)
The Tragedy of Human Evil: Exploring the Holocaust's Legacy on Humanity The Holocaust was one of the most devastating genocides in the world that occurred around World War II, led by Adolf Hitler. The Nazis persecuted millions of Jews as well as millions of other minority groups like the disabled and homosexuals because they saw them as threats to their vision of the pure Aryan race. This genocide was carried out through many vicious methods, for example, gas chambers in termination camps, ghettos, mass shootings, and concentration camps. They created laws to ensure that Jews were alienated from the rest of Germany and Europe.
The Holocaust was one of the worst examples of genocide that has occurred in the world and throughout history. Millions of people died during the Holocaust, including Jews and gypsies as well as homosexuals and those with mental illnesses. When people think of or remember the Holocaust, they typically relate it to concentration camps. The camps were used to house and execute prisoners and also perform hard manual labor. Every aspect of daily life in the camps was horrific as the conditions were brutal, both mentally and physically.
Major events that happen in the past stay relevant to society today no matter how long ago those events may have happened, so sometimes instead of avoiding discussions about past conflicts we can continue to speak up and develop a better society together through those
Over the course of many decades, genocides have taken place all over the world. One of the most famous massacres is known as the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a time in the 1900s when millions of people died under the name of Adolf Hitler. As a consequence of Adolf Hitler’s actions, the Holocaust shows the effects of social hate and continues to serve as a lesson in the world today.
History does not always convey the absolute truth. It offers only one side of the story. The strong and powerful voices always drown out the sounds of the weak and beaten. The winner’s word will always be taken over the loser’s. The content that lies within the textbooks was not written by the defeated.