Nazis Propaganda Write Up

Propaganda, to my understanding, is a single-way communication. In English it is often means to use it politically to alter the cognition towards the target group or individual of public to make certain group or individual benefit. In my mind, no matter in what form, propaganda dosen't always includes fairly information; in fact, the publisher of propaganda posts contains missed, selective and even faked information inside. This image, is an anti-Semitism poster published in March 1941 in Poland by a Nazi supporter describing the Jews as "lice".
In this image, the whole background is covered by complete blackness. At the center of the poster, there is a huge lice crawling over a man's face, each of them occupied at least 1/4 of the image. The lice is big and fat while the face looks skinny and it's no more than skin around bones. There are red spots in the lice's abdomen and it's legs spread wildly all on the face and the face looks exhausted and it's smiling ghost-like with broken teeth, long mustaches and a black eye. There're a sentence on the edge of the picture: ZYDZI WSZY, TYFUS PLAMISTY, if translated in English that means "Jews are lice, they cause typhus."
I think the poster means that the Jews in the Germany are the tumors in the society; the Jews take all the jobs and food away and let Germany itself become weaker and weaker; the Jews should be removed. The message the creator of this piece wishes to cause fear to Jews in the people, the author of the poster intends to let the German citizens realized that the Jews are the harmful “lice” to the Germany’s society, they suck the blood out of the Germans and causes damage to them while the Germans are still and treat them like friends. In the poster the lice (Jews) crawls on the man (Germany)’s face and sucks the blood (jobs and money and food) out of the man but the man is still laughing. This poster and its message will alter the image Jews seems to the Germans and will spread fear of Jews among the Germany citizens. The poster compared the Jews to lice and Germany to the skinny face, any German who read it will develop hatred to Jews. The Germans will be scared of Jews and will not socialize with them which will cause the Jews being separated (the 5th step of genocide: Polarization). The Germans will become the opposition of Jews and the from all the points the Jews are going to be gradually wiped out like no jobs for Jews, no settlement for Jews, limit of freedom to Jews, etc.
Yes, the poster lied to the audience to express its message. In the drawing, the Jews are described as parasitic lice sucking German’s jobs and food, but in fact, the Jews didn’t not rob any jobs or food, they had earned them by their own power, and additionally, the Jews had provided great contribute to Germany, the Jews helped the German greatly on astronomy, technology, medicines…etc. In my opinion, the image defiantly expresses a negative message about how “bad” and “filthy” Jews are but they are really not!

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

What has the novel taught you /shown you about prejudice and bias?

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is told in the point of view of Bruno, a nine-year old son of a German Nazi SS Commandant. He's young and innocent to the cruelty his father is doing to millions of Jews. When he met Shumel, he didn't prejudice based on the fact "he's Jews" and kids who are supposed to be enemies became friends. However, when you start to see things through coloured-spectaclesor hear from others but not seeing yourself, prejudice might twist your vision and your thinking.

The Auschwitz extermination camp was the camp Shmuel was at in the novel. It was used mainly for extermination in gas chambers, but many residents died of forced labor, starvation, and human experiments. At the end of the novel, Bruno and Shmuel, two nine-year old boys, are forced into a gas chamber and are killed. Children were killed out of prejudice for those who were different. Not only that, but they were forced to work on the little food and fear they were being fed. The children weren't the only ones; it was anybody thought to be different or causing Germany's then-crisis, or those who disagreed with Nazi rule.

Prejudice is a powerful thing; it can lead people to commit extreme acts with a mere push. Crises such as a war or depression oftentimes causes anger, frustration, and a need for someone to blame. This feeling can grow so great as to convince people that mass murder is for the best.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was set in the past, as the Holocaust took place during World War II, which ended in 1945. It is important for us to continue studying events like this, no matter how long ago they were. History has passed, but it happened, and events can repeat themselves. Caring about the past can help us make better decisions than our ancestors, and ensure a better future.

Treaty of Versailles

Part of Treaty of Versailles

80. Germany will respect the independence of Austria.
81. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Czechoslovakia.
87. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Poland.
119. Germany surrenders all her rights and titles over her overseas countries.
159. The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduced not to exceed 100,000 men.
181. The German navy must not exceed 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines are to be included.
198. The Armed Forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces.
231. Germany and her Allies accept the responsibility for causing all the loss and damage to the Allied Powers.
233. Germany will pay for all damages done to the civilian population and property of the Allied Governments. [The figure was later set at $33 billion].
428. To guarantee the execution of the Treaty, the German territory situated to the west of the Rhine River will be occupied by Allied troops for fifteen years.
431. The occupation forces will be withdrawn as soon as Germany complies with the Treaty.

The WWI finally ended at 1918, Nov 11th. Then the allies forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles. There were 440 clauses in the Treaty and 414 of them is very harsh on Germany.

The Treaty of Versailles is bit harsh to Germany although Germany affected the war greatly, there were many other countries who involved in ti the war. Others had destroy countless cities and killed countless people too. Allies did the same thing, they are as well should be responsible for that but because only because they won the WWI, the Germany become the main loser. Clause 233 made Germany pay all the reparation fee during the war for all the damaged countries, which was about USD 33,000,000 dollars which gave Germany a massive debt which Germany had fully paid in 2010. Other clauses made Germany returned part of land that was occupied during the war. Clause 159, 181, 198 made Germany cut down their military forces harshly, leaving 100,000 soldiers and several ships. Many innocent Germans lost their jobs, houses in their fatherland and all Germans' self-confidence was defeated immediately. Because of the debt, Germany government add taxes on everything and when the worldwide depression hits, Germany was affected hardly: a glass of beer may cost 1,000,000 marks, a loaf of bread may need a truck of money. In 1914 the exchanging rate from USD to DEM was 1:4, in 1923 it was 1:1,000,000,000,000. The Treaty of Versailles made the Germans' life much harder that time.

Treaty of Versailles was way harsh on Germany but not on the other Axis Force countries, some of them just lost part of their land but non of the clauses to them was as harsh as to Germany. It wasn't just Germany's fault.

No Man Is An Island

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

These words by John Donne from the 1624 Meditation 17,
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

How do these texts explore similar themes?

In all 3 texts, the main exposing idea is we live in a society that includes many, many of us, every one is connected to each other. Every one should help each other but not abandon or mistreat them. Like John Donne's "No Man Is An Island", every man is a piece of the whole and every man's death decreases the contient and make it worse. In the video "MANKIND IS NO ISLAND", it shows us how many people is affected by poverty deeply and therefor they sleep on benches or even on the ground, some of them are begging for money. But the people who walked by them did not help, they ignored the poor people and went on what they are doing. The same thing happend in the picture book The Island by Armin Greder. It's about a man was washed onto an island asking for help, but only one man stood out and spoke for the man, at last, the man was sent back to the ocean and the man spoke for him got punished too; it's just because the man was different from other villagers. It presents the now world, where people are busy making money and have no time and no mind in helping the poor people. Because of the "difference", no one gives a hand to the ones who are suffering. But despite the skin-colour, languages, opinions, we are all the same. We are all one specie -- humans.

How do the texts provide insights into prejudice and "otherness"?

John Donne's poem describes a respectful world, however, the video and the picture book describes more of a modern world. In The Island, the man is prejudged as "other people" because he is thin and naked while the islanders looked fat and wearing clothings. Islanders refused to treat him like themselves based on his looking. As a result, the islanders dehumanized the man with animal-treatment and spreading rumors. In the video, the poor people lied down on ground begging for money but people walked past them and never returned.

Why do people make distinctions between "us" and "them"?

Because all people is scared of differences, its a kind of self-protection, and selfish too. The people judge us by knowing where we come from, what religion do we believe, what language do we speak... etc. When they don't know enough information of how we are, people will automatically be suspicious about us and when they don't trust us, they'll try to make their profit as large as they could. All in all, it's just a human nature.

Do governments have a duty of care to their citizens and as such should they provide free access to books in the form of libraries?

'We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.…

Do governments have a duty of care to their citizens and as such should they provide free access to books in the form of libraries?

My answer is: Yes.

I stringly agree with the point of that governments have a duty of care to their citizens and as such should they provide free access to books in the form of libraries. Books are such amazing things that you can learn every piece of information you want. And libraries are the places that provide books, to let people think creatively, reason critically, learn enthusiastically, and live ethically. Internet is a effective way to search information, but from the books, you can get unique ideas and thinks. All in all, I can't think of a reason that the government should close down the store of wisdom: Libraries. Without libraries, people may lost connection to the world. Without libraries, poor children will never have any chance to learn. Without libraries, the whole world will change due to the miss of wisdom and educate.

I also felt chill when I heard this message. The government has no reason to shut down a place like this. "There is no friend as loyal as a book. " -- by Ernest Hemingway. Why the government are getting rid of humans' loyal friends? Any way, I hope that governments support the libraries more than destroing them. I hope, one day, I can see that every one has a smily face in and out the library.

Me in 3 Objects

This is a dictionary, or more accurately, an electronic dictionary. It has a hard black cover and nice screen and little keys inside. It translates many other languages, including English. My mother bought it for me when I graduated from 5th grade in Chinese elementary school. She thought if I had any problems with English in the school, I could help myself with the dictionary. I used it a lot in 6th grade because this was my first year in ISKL. In ISKL, people use English everywhere. Teaching, learning, reading, listening, talking, and the books, the bulletins are all in English. This is totally different from my previously school (A Chinese school in Shanghai, China). They only had English in English text books. Even in the English class, people were still speaking Chinese. I was absolutely strange about this place but I got used to it pretty soon. I started to borrow the books form the library. I always gave it a long "holiday" and fully charged its battery. Now it became my best friend on reading books, I love my dictionary!

This is a flash drive, but some people call it thumb drive, too. Like its name, thumb drive are just as small as someone's thumb but it can also has a great volume of information storage. I have a special emotion and memory with thumb drives, since I was small, when I first know what a computer is, when I saw my mom using a thumb drive, I decided I have to get a thumb drive for myself. Now, I've been using 5 thumb drive. The funny thing is, all of my thumb-drives cannot live for very long. The first and second were small-capabilities, one was 128MB and one was 256MB. They are the two who are still alive except the second one is a bit too "old". The third one is covered with leather, 2GB, enough for my daily usage, but when 6 months later since I came to ISKL, something happened. One Friday, I accidentally left the thumbdrive in the pocket of the school short and I just went for computer. That night I washed the short without noticing my thumbdrive was inside. Before washing, my dad even asked me "Do you left any thing in the short like money or phone?" And I answered with confidence "No, of course NOT!" Then I started to wash, in the middle I felt there was something hard in my pocket and I took it out and -- my thumb drive!!! I screamed out loud and my parents all went to see what's happening. My dad was criticizing me for not careful and my mom got the hair-drier tried to dry it. And the miracle was, it was completely out of dangerous. It didn't die and the info. was not still there. I was so happy until two weeks later, when I was trying to do a project in Humanities, the computer suddenly shows [The Computer Cannot Open the File]. At first I thought the computer was error and I unplugged and replugged it, but the computer than shows [The Drive Did Not Format] and I started to worry about this. The result was, it is completely out of use. I was so sad! Not only because the thumb drive, but also the file inside it, I needed it for my project! After this evidence, I learned one thing: Never put your electronic devices into the pocket of your shorts that is going to be washed. After infinity Sorrys, my dad finally gave me another 2GB one, it was red and has rubber protecting the core, you can also make it a bracelet. At first it worked very well and I liked it very much. But one day after a after-school-activity, when I got on the school bus, I realized that it was gone, there was no sign and it just gone. The second day, I tried my best to find it but it was useless, oh my god, that was my forth one! I was almost mad with them! I was scared to take any other of them to the school. After the summer holiday, I re-picked up some of my confidence and promised to protect the thumb drive well if I can get another one, my parents agreed. So this is my fifth one, the one I am still using, it is the same type as the red one but this one is white. Now I've used it for a month and it is still brand-new. That's all about my flashdrives and one most important thing, I like my thumb drive very, very much!

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is one of the famous science fiction by Jules Verne. This book is talking about in the year of 1866, there was a "Sea Monster" attacking the ships in the sea and the US government decided to form a assemble to capture the mysterious "Creature". A French marine biologist Professor Pierre Aronnax, his loyal assistant Conseil and a Canadian fisher master Ned Land were invited to join the assemble and they all agreed. They traveled a long time and finally found the creature. During the battle, three of them fell into the sea. They noticed that they were just on the creature and its made of hard metal, it's not a marine creature but a submarine named Nautilus. They also met the submarine's creator & captain Captain Nemo. They followed Captain Nemo and traveled almost the whole world with the submarine the Nautilus. I love this book, I read it more than 10 times and the books seems to be so old because I always flip the page.

My Name

Yijia Yan, this is my name. "A serious and good man." No fancy words or deep meanings, ordinary just like a drop of water in the ocean. The name made me think about the number "1". There were 5 ones at the my time of birth and it makes me to throw my full effort every time to get the best, the first place. The color gray, is another thing I always think about. The name is very normal just like the color grey, so ordinary that no one were going to mention.

Yijia Yan, a simple name in China, but there was a great story behind it. My name "mission" didn't start until my mom has been pregnant for 8 months. Before that, my dad always used the excuses like "I have got business." or "I'm busy." or something else to avoid it. Is making my name really that hard? Since then all my grand parents, and also my dad went to the library searching for the words that have deep meaning for my name. But at last, the words were either too deep, or too hard to write. Finally, my mom gave me the birth on October the first which was China's national day. It suppose to be a happy day but unfortunately, I still didn't have a name. That's when my dad gets hot-headed, the nurse was pressing on dad to think a name to fill up by birth certification. All in a sudden, the lightning of wisdom flashed through my dad's brain. "Yan Guoqing" (Celebration of nation), it sounds like an old dirty tractor booming with black smoke but dad thought that would be a good name for me. I cried so hard ← a little confused here. do you mean as a baby I cried so hard??when I heard that name and successfully kicked that name out. Then, the real lightning finally flashed across my dad and he gave me the name "Yijia". That's how I get my name. When I became bigger, I asked dad for the meaning. "Both my and your mom's name have got an one inside, the capital one in my name was too hard to write so I just gave you the one with only one draw," Dad replied, "And also I want you to be a good man, so I gave you "Jia" for good. Simple, but nice." Yijia Yan, "Be a good man", simple, but nice.

Yijia Yan, a tricky name, most of people can't pronounce it well and some used it as a tool to tease me. I am not a vegetarian but I don't like ducks, especially salted ducks. Why? Because I was a "salted duck"! Because of the pronunciation of my name, I started to be teased in my elementary school. One day, a guy in my class who likes joking gave me a "nickname": "salted duck" because that's really close to the sound of my name. At first, I didn't care about these people but gradually, more people started to call me "salted duck" and that really annoyed me. I wanted to fight back but it seems there were no weakness about their name. That made me thought my name was the worst one in the world, I wanted to change a name, whatever another one, but when mom and dad asked me what I want to be called, I suddenly got no idea. So I kept my name and still now. Once upon a time, I almost fought with someone. That was one day in G3 at lunch break, the one guy who I don' really like started to calling my nickname once and once around me annoying like a mosquito and I was just kept quite and do my own work. But he didn't stop, he kept buzzing around, finally I was at the max point and when I was just going to explode, teacher came in. In that time teachers were like the kings and all the students were like the slaves, no one wanted to get into some troubles even they hated the teacher so much. So both of us sat down quietly and started reading books acting like nothing just happened. Teacher didn't not know and "war" and every one was safe. The next day the guy apologized to me initiatively and I also forgave him. I gradually got used to my nickname and I didn't care about them anymore. My nickname kept till the end of grade 5, when we were going to be separated. The classmates said sorry for calling my name and said they did it as a joke. Yeh, joke. But it really made me sad when I was young. Maybe that's why now I am so patient and calm when people pronounce my name funny like "Asia" or "Yijei".

Yijia Yan, that is my name. It’s ordinary, it’s hard to pronounce and it may let others tease me. But, it contains the best wishes from my parents, it leads me towards success and the most important is that it tells me how to behave myself. Yijia Yan, a simple but nice name, is just perfect to me.