Primary sources are documents written by those who experienced a particular event first hand. They help students understand what it was like to live through certain occasions and allows them to comprehend what all is happening besides the fighting in the war. These sources give insight and more detailed experiences that one would not learn through a textbook or even in school. Textbooks tend to leave out significant events that are important in the history of the United States. "A Breath of Freedom", Tadeusz Borowski, and the film "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" are examples of sources that challenge the traditional Ideas of World War II. "A Breath of Freedom" allows the reader to understand the personal experiences of the soldiers while fighting overseas. When reading about World War II through, for example, a textbook, it only …show more content…
The film "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" shows a different perception of the everyday German civilians during the Nazi regime. When one thinks of an everyday German civilian during the time of World War II, most think that the civilians were happy with the idea of Hitler and Nazism. However, there were many civilians who did not support Hitler, but students are not taught that there were German people against the regime. The film shows the German civilians in a different way through the eyes of the White Rose. The White Rose was a group of non-violent students who were against the Nazi regime. They protested with the use of anonymous anti-Nazism leaflets. As seen in the first few minutes of the film, Scholl and her brother were at a University spreading the leaflets throughout the building. The film is about Sophie Scholl and her brother, who was caught handing out anti-Nazi leaflets and, after hours of questioning, are eventually sentenced to death. Sophie Scholl died for what she believed in and did not give in. Not many civilians had the bravery to stand up against Hitler because they knew of the harsh consequences that would
Alysia Sombillo Mrs. Ray World History, period 1 10-27-15 Primary Source Analysis Analyzing a Primary Source The author of “Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette,” is Jeanne- Louise-Henriette Campan (also known as Madame Campan). Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan was a French educator, writer, and lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette.
Wiesel succeeds in demonstrating that the Holocaust and the period of time which surrounded it “would be judged one day.” He composes his experiences into a heart rending memoir: from Night; believing that he needed to be the “bear witness.” The word “night” means the period of darkness in each twenty-four hours. The use of the metaphor night marks the end of most people’s normal lives. During 1933 all Jews, homosexuals, and Roma (Gypsies) were sent to concentration camps.
“I remember, May 1944: I was 15-and-a-half, and I was thrown into a haunted universe where the story of the human adventure seemed to swing irrevocably between horror and malediction” Elie Wiesel. Millions of innocent people were taken captive by the Germans during World War two. They suffered terrible cruelties at the hands of German soldiers and many of the survivors have gone on to tell of the atrocities they faced. Elie Wiesel, one of the many survivors of the holocaust, retells his story in his novel, Night. In his novel, Wiesel reveals how atrocities and cruel treatment can turn innocent people into brutes.
The Holocaust is considered one of the world’s most explicit examples of inhumanity. The German Nazi regime and their collaborators organized and executed the systematic extermination of millions of Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies. The few that survived set forth on a quest to reconstruct their lives, but were often hindered by the trauma they sustained. Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, struggled with his emotions from the war and sought solace by writing about his experiences as well as founding an organization responsible for catching Nazi war criminals. One of his most famous works, The Sunflower, recounts his interaction with a Nazi soldier lying on his deathbed.
A primary source gives you a type of feeling and comprehension of an event, unlike a secondary source. I agree with the statement, “Reading the letters of Civil War soldiers gives a perspective on the conflict in a way that no secondary source account could ever capture.” The soldier’s letters provide a firsthand experience. None of the details are interpreted in someone else’s mind. The audience is able to comprehend the material for themselves.
“She saw it so clearly, her starving mother, her missing father, her dead brother” (Zusak 111). This thought had occurred to Liesel during the book burning. After witnessing all the Hitler supporters chant and scream Liesel had realized on harsh fact, she was truly alone. Not only, but also Liesel had come to realization she has truly lost her freedom and rights as a human being. “A collection of men walked from a platform and surrounded the heal “Heil Hitler” they chanted “Die Judens”(Zusak 113).
Sophie and Hans actually did some really risky things. They wrote things like "Down With Hitler", "Hitler Mass Murderer", "freedom", and drew crossed-out swastikas while there were police around. They got caught and arrested and ended up being guillotined. This element of the book was
The group believed this built a foundation for the new Europe. Soon they were caught throwing the leaflets in the air in the university and brought into custody by Jakob Schmid. The police were called and her and her brother were taken into Gestapo custody. The rest of their friends and members were arrested and charged with
Historians use secondary sources more often because lots of primary evidence are put together in secondary sources, most secondary sources show all points of views, and lastly, secondary sources uncover background historical information. To start off, secondary source is a combination of primary evidence and research. This lets the historian explore many first hand evidence(s) and research under a certain topic. For example, the Creating Canada textbook is a secondary source, and has variety of primary evidences like pictures and letters. The textbook provides a picture of child labour from WW1, which is the primary source; the text beside the child labour picture is the secondary detail (Creating Canada, 189).
Produced in 2005, Marc Rothermund’s Sophie Scholl – The Final Days illustrates how life is a matter of choice and not chance. Using symbolism, Sophie Scholl confronts the major social issues inflicted by Nazi Germany in the mid twentieth century. One social issue, the freedom of thinking, is the main theme within the film. The producers strive to exemplify this as they demonstrate the courage and strength of Sophie and Hans Scholl. Freedom within Germany was almost non-existent as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis slowly went into denial after the defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad.
From the small town of Sighet in Transylvania to the huge concentration camps of Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel, the author and victim of the book Night, the horrifying experience of the Holocaust. Wiesel is a 15 year old Jewish boy who was captured by the Germans or “Nazis” during WWII. He went through an overwhelming amount of trauma, like when he got separated from his mother and sisters and watching his father suffer an unbearable amount of pain that eventually killed him. The fact is, power is a tool that can corrupt itself and others, it can ruin people’s lives and it can do that without people even realizing it.
Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night tells the personal tale of his account of the inhumanity and brutality the Nazis showed during the Holocaust. Night depicts the story of a young Jew from the small town of Sighet named Eliezer. Wiesel and his family are deported to the concentration camp known as Auschwitz. He must learn to survive with his father’s help until he finds liberation from the horror of the camp. This memoir, however, hides a greater lesson that can only be revealed through careful analyzation.
It is a common assumption among numerous people in the world that the Holocaust never existed. In fact, almost fifty percent of the world population never even heard of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel helped people around the world learn about the Holocaust through his book “Night.” He wanted people to see the bravery, courage, and guilt of the Jews through his book. “Night” shows the horrific and malicious acts in the German concentration camps during the Holocaust.
The Holocaust was a horrible event in history that will scar humanity forever. With the events of the Holocaust being experienced by millions there are many different perspectives of said events. One such perspective is presented in Night, a memoir written by Elie Wiesel about his experiences as a young Jewish boy during the Holocaust. Another perspective is presented in Schindler’s List, a film directed by Steven Spielberg (based on the novel Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally) about Oskar Schindler, a gentile who saves over one thousand Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Both pieces show heart wrenching stories of the abuse of a group of people in different ways, each using different mediums to convey their points.
In terms of primary sources in historical research, understanding the context is essential. Historical context essentially helps bridge the gap between you and the person who recorded the data. Different forms of context include understanding the language or dialect from that period, the purpose for recording the information and the political climate of that time; essentially anything that helps the reader to understand why the document was recorded and how to interpret its data. Many times, sources are not written with the intention of them being studied 500 years into the future, they are written more as personal letters or for posterities sake, so they cannot always be taken as bluntly factual. One of the more difficult facets of reading historical writings is the language.