Author: newberg.8

Facing the Facts

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The last stop on our tour was Berlin, Germany. I was excited to see this city and learn a different side of the story. As an American, the German people are presented to us as the “bad guys.” I went into the country thinking that the Germans would attempt to hide their dark past and paint themselves as somewhat victims of what happened during World War II. However, after trips to the German Historical Museum and the Bundestag of Germany, I learned that the German people aren’t trying to hide anything. Amidst all of the history, I saw first-hand how a foreign country treats their government. I was very impressed with Germany’s honest take on the history of their country, and the dedication they now have to serve their people.
At the German Historical Museum, I was introduced to my first German perspective of the war. I was impressed and surprised to see that the German museum had outlined, in great detail, what they had done to so many people. I was expecting to see the idea that the German people suffered during the war plastered all over. Instead, I saw facts detailing the rise of the Nazi party and the eventual atrocities that they committed.
When we visited the Bundestag building in downtown Berlin I had no idea what to expect. The building used to be the Reichstag, where the Nazi government used to be centered. I was surprised that the German people would allow the government to function in such a historically horrible place. Our guide told us that this was the way the government told the people they were ready to move on. They were able to take the building that was used for terrible things and turn it into the center of their people’s government.
Being an American we grow up learning to believe that we have the “best” government. As someone who knew little about the current government of Germany, the Bundestag opened my eyes to how the country views democracy and serving the people of their nation. The government is elected proportionally, meaning everyone has some sort of voice in the government. Parliament only allows people who are experts on a topic to vote on certain bills. It seems that the people trust their government because they are doing their job and representing the people. I thought it was fascinating to hear about the government’s dedication to helping their people. It was something I didn’t know about before and I’m glad to have learned.

Me on the roof of the Bundestag.

Germany was not afraid to show their dark past to the world. The country realized what they did and decided to learn from the mistakes and move on. I admire Germany’s dedication to truth and education. I hope they continue to show the truth and educate generations to come.

Collective Responsibility

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Poland was home to 457 concentration camps during World War II. These camps were responsible for killing millions of people whom the Nazi regime thought to be inferior to their Aryan race. In the past, historians have called these camps “Polish death camps.” However, on February 6, 2018 the President of Poland signed a law to prohibit the use of the term “Polish Death camps.” When I heard this news earlier in the spring semester, I wondered what the intentions of such a law are that so blatantly changes history. My interactions with our tour guide at Auschwitz as well as walking around Krakow showed me that is just what the Polish government is trying to do: change history.

On our way to Auschwitz our guide told us that we have to remember that Poland was occupied during the war, and that the camps were German. While I see her point, it is hard to understand how an entire country turned their heads as they saw millions of people entering their country. She also discussed the idea of “collective responsibility,” that Everyone around the world needs to take responsibility for the atrocities the Nazis committed. I think this goes directly against what she said regarding the occupation of Poland during the war, as well as the government’s stance on Polish Death Camps. I think the world has to take responsibility, but then so does Poland. The country can not have it both ways.

At Auschwitz, we had time to ask our guide some questions. A classmate asked what knowledge the Polish people had about the camps, finishing the question with “did Poles ever work here?” The answer shocked me. She told us that the Poles knew about camps, Auschwitz specifically in this case. What shocked me even more was that the Polish people worked at Auschwitz. This answer goes against what the Polish Government is saying about the death camps in Poland. Poland has the strong stance that Nazi Germany was the group responsible for the death of millions, but there is record of Polish people helping in the process. The Polish people helped to murder 1.1 million people at Auschwitz. The Polish people were complicit and collaborators with the Nazis, proving that these should be called Polish Death camps.

Polish people carried out horrific acts against their Jewish neighbors. On July 10, 1941, an estimated 340 Polish Jews were killed in the town of Jedwabne. Their murders were carried out by 40 of their Polish neighbors.  Poles killed towns of Jews, and the country now is trying to sweep that under the rug by saying the Germans forced them. However, we learned that this was not the case. However, the Nazi takeover of Poland gave the Poles the platform to kill rather than forcing them to. The Polish people were not forced to kill their neighbors; they did it on their own.

After we left Auschwitz, I wasn’t sure if the views our tour guide expressed were her own or if others in the country believed as she did. Then, on my way to dinner one night, I saw a flyer in a storefront window (shown below) reminded the viewer that concentration camps were Nazi German. I was shocked to see the flyer and realized the government is forcing people to believe this false narrative they have created. The poster contained an internet address(Germandeathcamps.org). The website rehearses the government narrative that the Nazis ran the camps and forced Poles to be complicit.

The poster preaching Nazi death camps. I saw this in the town square in Krakow, Poland.

History is necessary to ensure that events don’t repeat themselves. Poland is taking a black mark out of their history book and shredding it. Kids in Poland will grow up learning that their country was not involved in the Holocaust. Poland needs to take responsibility for their role in death camps. The Polish government should be helping to educate about the Holocaust instead of altering their story. Poland, you preach collective responsibility, now own it.

Perception isn’t Reality

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Obi-Wan Kenobi says “Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view.” This quote offers a lot of commentary on the historical and national biases that I encountered in France. My classmates and I visited many sites in France that left us wondering: “Is this what the French are taught in schools? I this really what they believe?” Sites like the French Military Museum and the Caen museum and memorial left me with questions about how history is taught worldwide.
During the interwar period, countries spent a lot of time and money preserving the war. Countries like the United States and Germany spent a great deal of time researching technology and war tactics during this time. The French did not spend nearly as much time or money in their research. The German Army captured Paris in May of 1940, forcing the surrender of France. With Paris and France under German rule the French were now out of the fight. The truth of the French War was that they lost early. This fact was what struck me as we walked through the French museums praising the work their country did.
Within the French Military museum, Les Invalides, the text on the walls praised the French army for helping with the Dunkirk evacuations The Dunkirk evacuations took place in 1940 when the German Army forced the French north to the Dunkirk pocket. The British came to aid the evacuation of French and British troops from the country. The museum said that thanks to the French resistance the British were able to rally and later fight the German forces in Africa and Italy. We never learned about this, and I found it very shocking that the French took credit. The French were defeated and relied heavily on the British Navy to save thousands of their men. The museum also discussed the concept of “Free France.” The museum explained that the Free French state offered help to the Allies. There really was no “Free French State.” Charles De Gaulle was the leader of the resistance in France but he did not have an organized state to back him up. While the resistance did help liberate France they did not play as much of a role as this museum said.
At the Caen museum the exhibits gave off the impression that the French were the victims of the war. The museum tried to downplay French collaboration with the Nazis. The museum gave great insight into the resistance and less about the government that they had during the time of the war. I was expecting them to take credit for Vichy but they hardly mentioned it. They cared a lot about the resistance and how they hoped to defeat the Germans. The glossing over the Vichy regime was very shocking to me.
These differences in the French view of history made me think about how history is taught depending on location. The French likely do not want to be seen as the country who lost the world war within weeks. The French said these things in the museums because they believed that what they did was enough for the war effort. I think this also shows that what we are taught in America could also be nationally biased. We are taught things that we did correctly in our history classes. We fail to mention some of our moral downfalls during the Second World War, because they reflect poorly on our nation. One needs to think and analyze the author they are reading to determine the biases they might have. The French are just like any other country; they are just telling the truth based on their point of view.

Humans at War

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Throughout the spring semester my classmates and I learned that World War Two was the “people’s war” for the British people. It is known as such because the war effort was aimed towards innocent civilians, and because ordinary people helped to win it. This was unlike any other war to date. The Germans hoped to break the morale of the British citizens, leading them to beg their government to stop pursuing the fight. Our group gained insight into who and what was targeted by the German war effort by visiting sites such as the imperial war museum and Bletchley Park.

​On May 12, we toured the Imperial War Museum, and one of the exhibits within the museum explored what family life was like during the war. The aim of the exhibit was to humanize the people impacted by the war. The Allpress family was a working class family and the exhibit shows that these people could have been anyone. The family was rather large, and had two sons who served in the British army. Along side the two sons the four daughters joined the Women’s Volunteer Corps in London, which helped the war effort by creating awareness about bombing precautions and procedures. This ensured every citizen had the information needed to survive an air raid. This exhibit helps one to understand how dedicated the British people were to winning the war. They were willing to help in any way that they could. Both men and women knew they could help their country by fighting or volunteering. The exhibit explained rationing during the war. The exhibit had a replica of the family kitchen. The kitchen was small and bare showing the harsh reality that was rationing. This rationing lasted years after the war. The text in the exhibit would ask you to guess how much food was given to a person in a week; once you guessed the answer illuminated to show the actual amount that was given. Having a prediction then seeing the answer was very shocking. The reality of what the people of Britain went through was completed by a replica of a bomb shelter. Sitting in the bunker gave you a sense of the fear that the country must have had during the bombings. The bunker was not large but it made the English feel safer. One walked away from the exhibit with a new understanding of the effort given by the British people to aide the war effort, and the dangers happening around them.

​ Michael Hanscomb, who was a young boy when the war broke out talked to our group at dinner one night. He told us that they never feared the bombs, but rather just rolled along with them. Even though London suffered constant bombing he never feared the possibility of being struck by one. This view was likely not shared by everyone living in London. A question I never thought to ask was answered during Hanscomb’s speech. “Who would help those trapped by the rubble”? Average citizens helped save their neighbors, and it happened quite often. Mr. Hanscomb enlightened us about his efforts with his father to help those trapped by the bombs. He remembers going out frequently in his scout uniform so he wouldn’t be told to go home. Mr. Hanscomb’s first-hand accounts of the bombs gave us an insight into what the average citizen encountered after an air raid. His story of his friends making the bombings into a sort of game gives you more insight into British views. The young boys would search for scraps of metal and would win by finding the largest piece. This story proves that the British, or at least Hanscomb didn’t see the bombings as something to fear, but rather just a part of the times they were living. Hearing the first-hand accounts about the bombings of London put a face and voice with the suffering of the Londoners.

​On the other side of the war effort was Bletchley Park. The Park was the center for decryption. Enigma was the German intelligence coding operation. Bletchley was an essential operation for the success of the Allied war effort. The Park was the workplace for 9,000 people during the war. These people were regular citizens. The women would work to decrypt a message which was sent for translation. A lot of times the workers would work twelve hour shifts and would decode as many messages as they could. On the busiest day at Bletchley the workers decoded 18,000 messages. They often didn’t know what the message said because another hut would translate the message, which was sometimes across the park. While on the tour we met a guy who said his mother was a worker at Blecthley park. He did not know any more than that because she had signed the secrecy agreement, and even after it was lifted she still did not talk about her time there. Her entire life she went without discussing her time at Bletchley. Not even her son knows the details of what she did. Her dedication to keep her secret highlights the determination of winning the English people had.

​London was a very eye-opening experience in the respect that we got to see the places where people struggled as well as succeeded. First-hand accounts and the locations we visited humanized the victims and heroes of the war. Seeing the faces and reading stories showed our group that World War Two truly was the “people’s war”.