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Kelly
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Also, just so children don't think the Germans had a monopoly on concentration camps, I think it's important to point out that the idea of concentration camps began during the Boer War in Africa, when the Afrikaaner women and children were imprisoned to get the Afrikaaner men to surrender. Over 26,000 women and children died in the South African camps. In memory of this, there is a statue to the Boer women and children in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Because Nazi Germany is a relatively recent phonemenon, and there are so many movies and resources about it, I worry that my children think that that kind of thing was particular to the Germans. Like Erin pointed out in the book "Little Riders" (great book, thanks for the reminder!) and Mary in her post about our Pope Benedict, there were good and holy Germans in the midst of that war.
One of my father's professorial staff at FSU was the father of one of those German officers who attempted to kill Hitler. Also, I worked with the grandson of von Staffenberg, also part of the attempt. It was still, all these years later, an emotional topic for them.
Kelly in FL
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Erin
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Kelly wrote:
| Also, just so children don't think the Germans had a monopoly on concentration camps, I think it's important to point out that the idea of concentration camps began during the Boer War in Africa, when the Afrikaaner women and children were imprisoned to get the Afrikaaner men to surrender. Over 26,000 women and children died in the South African camps. In memory of this, there is a statue to the Boer women and children in Bloemfontein, South Africa. |
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Kelly,
I didn't know this! I feel like I ahould have. History has always been a passion and I din't know 
Kelly wrote:
| Because Nazi Germany is a relatively recent phonemenon, and there are so many movies and resources about it, I worry that my children think that that kind of thing was particular to the Germans. |
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I believe that this is important and not just regarding the Germans. Many nations did terrible things in the war, including the Allies. History repeats itself continually, I really doubt that we ever learn much. My goal is to get my children to think and realize that not all is black and white. A difficult concept for the young I know.
Kelly wrote:
| One of my father's professorial staff at FSU was the father of one of those German officers who attempted to kill Hitler. Also, I worked with the grandson of von Staffenberg, also part of the attempt. It was still, all these years later, an emotional topic for them. |
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Wow Kelly this is soo interesting. Such courageous men. (What university is FSU?)Might I ask what was your father a professor of? History?
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Erin
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Kelly
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My mother-in-law is Dutch, so I've heard a lot about the Boer concentration camps, plus my dh works in Africa, otherwise I wouldn't have known about the Boer camps!
FSU stands for Florida State University. My father was Dean of the Music School there (violinist). I have none of his talent, alas  However, I *did* pick up some history from him over the years, since he had the perspective of being born in 1900. My own grandfather was born before the American Civil War. Wild, hey?
Kelly in FL
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Erin
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Kelly wrote:
My mother-in-law is Dutch, plus my dh works in Africa,
My father ... had the perspective of being born in 1900. My own grandfather was born before the American Civil War. Wild, hey? |
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Kelly
what a fascinating family history! Unbelievable, just doing the maths here. So when was the American Civil War?  I know you are all shocked but I thought it was in the 1700s? I guess not.
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Kathryn UK
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One of those books I've been meaning to read for years is The Road From Home by David Kherdian. This tells the story of his mother's escape from the Armenian holocaust in Turkey during the First World War. Over 1 million Armenians were killed. Another example of how the Nazis weren't the first to treat people with such inhumanity
The Anglo-Boer War Museum website is a good starting point for reading about the Boer war and the concentration camps. It also includes an interesting article about Emily Hobhouse, an English woman who tried to help the women in the camps.
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Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
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Kelly
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Erin wrote:
| So when was the American Civil War? I know you are all shocked but I thought it was in the 1700s? I guess not. |
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Well...1700s would make my grandfather really, REALLY old  !
The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. My grandfather was born before the war began. His father came over from Switzerland to serve as a doctor for the...ahem...Yankees. (Or "damnyankees" as my very Southern mother used to call them, I always grew up thinking that was their real name!)
Strangely enough, when I was a teenager, my aunt and uncle went to visit Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where they knew my great-grandfather had been posted. As they walked around town-lost-they stopped to ask an elderly black man if he knew where the old field hospital was. The old man actually walked them to the address, and as they strolled along, he mentioned he knew the exact address because HIS grandfather had been badly wounded in the battle at Harpers Ferry and a Swiss doctor at the field hospital had saved his life. With her jaw hanging open like a grouper, my aunt asked him if he knew the doctor's name, and the old fellow said, "Why yes!" and named my great-grandfather!
Just goes to show, you always gotta behave yourself, you'll always run into people you know, even trans-generationally!
Kelly in FL (the only Confederate state whose state capitol never surrendered)
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Erin
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Kelly wrote:
| Kelly in FL (the only Confederate state whose state capitol never surrendered) |
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Kelly
This is all so interesting. So why did Florida not surrender and what did that then mean? (sorry I know maybe this is a different thread)
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JennGM
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Kelly wrote:
| With her jaw hanging open like a grouper, my aunt asked him if he knew the doctor's name, and the old fellow said, "Why yes!" and named my great-grandfather! |
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That is such a neat story! With your father being born in 1900, how old was he when you were born? What is the age difference between your parents?
My husband's parents were born in 1928...and I thought they were old. It gives a different perspective having family during that time. The Great Depression, WWII, lots of changes.
Changing gears, but one aspect that I think about often is the closeness of America's wars. Every time we have had these large wars (I'm thinking up to Vietnam, right now) there were living generations who had suffered great losses from another war. That puts it a different spin to understanding the American homefront. 1865 Civil War ended...it was just two generations later for WWI in 1914. Think of a younng youth at 18 in the Civil War, would now be 61. And then 1937 is just twenty years...really close! When reading about the Americans being isolationists it makes my blood boil, until you start to think about the loss of lives just twenty or less years earlier in the same families and the next generation would be shipped off? I can then see their hesitance (but not sympathize with it!).
Anyway...I digress. It's just something I think about.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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Of course, I make it sound like that only America is the one in these wars. Europe has undergone much bloodshed and many wars, close together or almost never-ending. I was just focusing on America.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Erin
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Bridget,
Here is a resource that looks great and has activites such as a rationing game and military strategy game.
http://www.love2learn.net/history/wwii/wwii.htm
Also Veritas Press have a number of books in their Sixth Grade history on the 2nd World War. They look really good.
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Erin
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Nazi Germany
