Vergangenheitsbewältigung in The Reader :: Reader

Vergangenheitsbewältigung in The Reader   Germanys history is different from any other countries in the world. From 1933 to 1945 Adolf Hitler and the Nazis ruled the people. Everyone was forced to hound the Nazis rules and individuals were stripped of all of their freedom. The Nazis were also committing mass executions of certain classes of people. Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, handicapped, and other groups of people were treated unfairly and stripped of all their rights. This cruel treatment attracted the attention of countries from all around the world. The events taking place in Germany and neighboring countries led to the outbreak of World War II. Many Germans are not proud of their countrys history. It is hard for individuals to do, save everyone must cope with it. Coping with the past, or Vergangenheitsbewältigung, has influenced the way people in Germany have lived their lives.   In The Reader there are many examples of individuals having to cop e with the past. Hanna Schmitz was a member of the SS during the Holocaust. She served in concentration camps in Auschwitz and a camp near Cracow. Although Hanna never killed anyone herself, she was involved in taking people to be executed. She must go to court for her actions while being in the SS. When Hanna was a guard she would pick certain girls to read to her. Yes she had favorites, always one of the young ones who was weak and delicate, says a subsister of the Holocaust during Hannas trial (Schlink 116). Hanna knew the younger, weaker girls would not tell anyone what they were doing for her. Hanna was illiterate so she enjoyed being read to by the girls. Hannas entire life is being influenced by all the actions that happened in her past.   Hanna is involved in a love affair with a boy less than half her age named Michael Berg. Their relationship is kept secret from people and is quite an strange, mostly because of Hannas past. Their relationship is based ar ound the same principles as Hannas special prisoners in the concentration camps. After many meetings together Hanna and Michael do not subsist each others names. When Michael asks Hanna about her name she suspiciously replies, Why do you want to know?

Crazy Horse :: Battle of the Little Big Horn

When I think back of the stories that I have heard about how theNative American Indians were driven from their write down and forced to live onthe reservations one particular event comes to my mind. That event is theBattle of the Little Big Horn. It is one of the few times that the OglalaSioux made report with them being the ones who left the differencefield aswinners. When stories are told, or when the media dares to tamper withhistory, it is usually the American Indians who are looked upon as the badguys. They are portrayed as ferals who spent their time raiding wagontrains and scalping the white settlers just for fun. The media has lead usto believe that the American government was forced to take the land fromthese savage Indians. We should put the blame where it belongs, on the U.S.Government who lied, cheated, and stole from the Oglala forcing Crazy Horse,the great war chief, and many other leaders to surrender their nation in roll to save the lives of their people. In the nineteenth century the most dominant nation in the westernplains was the Sioux landed estate. This nation was divided into seven tribesOglalas, Brule, Minneconjou, Hunkpapa, No Bow, Two Kettle, and theBlackfoot. Of these tribes they had disparate band. The Hunkpatila was oneband of the Oglalas (Guttmacher 12). One of the greatest war chiefs of alltimes came from this band. His name was Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse was not given this name, on his give up date in the fall of1841. He was born of his father, Crazy Horse an Oglala holy man, and hismother a sister of a Brule warrior, Spotted Tail. As the male child grew olderhis hair was wavy so his people gave him the nickname of Curly (Guttmacher23). He was to go by Curly until the summer of 1858, after a battle withthe Arapahos. Curlys brave charged against the Arapahos led his fatherto give Curly the name Crazy Horse. This was the name of his father and ofmany fathers before him (Guttmacher 47). In the 1850s, the countr y where the Sioux Nation lived, was beinginvaded by the white settlers. This was upsetting for many of the tribes.They did not understand the ways of the whites. When the whites tore intothe land with plows and hunted the sacred buffalo just for the hides this