Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Valkyrie

Valkyrie was a pretty good movie in my opinion; I'd seen it once before when it came out in theaters. I honestly thought the Hitler character could have been more "ruthless". I heard from a few people that they thought Tom Cruise's performance in that movie could have been better, but was decent. I mentioned it during gym today and the people who had seen the movie wished for some battle scenes, overall more action and less talk. The movie is about one of the most significant assassination attempts on Hitler within his allies in Germany. I really admired how these people recognized the wrong their regime was doing and attempted to grind it to a halt. These officers understood the consequences of siding with Hitler and decided to defy him regardless of the punishments. Overall it was good seeing it again and even better having to eat some Munchos and popcorn while watching.

Friday, December 10, 2010

The German Eugenics Programs

The German eugenics programs were intended to eradicate what the Nazi's viewed as imperfections getting in the way of establishing a master race. A wide range of people were targeted for extermination and was fairly common to see such propaganda to support such programs. This one shows the Nazi example of a pure German having to take on the weight of supporting the disabled. I cant believe the Nazis actually went through all of this and successfully murdered several million people. I would have conversations with my family and discussed the horrors millions suffered. I think everyone can agree that it's disgusting the fact that these killings took place in such an organized and planned manner. This propaganda poster says that it would take 50,000 marks over the next sixty years to care for the disabled. These posters show the ignorance and the length the Nazi government went through to carry out such crimes.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

My Family During WWII

Mexican migrant workers
My family for the most part was living in Mexico by the time World War II came along. With the United States entering the war, labor was scarce due to the enlistment of farm workers. My great grandfather and several others took advantage of the labor shortage and under a government program, were able to work in the U.S. I don't remember the name of the program. Eventually several years later in the fifties, my grandpa was of age to work in the U.S after marrying my grandma. Anyway, thats the kind of thing my family was up to during that time period. It was a good thing I had these long conversations with my grandpa this summer or else I wouldn't know.