Phillip Riteman Follow-Up This morning, we had the opportunity to listen to a speaker talk about one of the most significant events of the 20th Century. This event happened in his lifetime which means that it could happen (and is happening) in ours. In the next twenty minutes, please do the following two activities: Part One: Write two – three paragraphs outlining what you learned from Mr. Riteman today. Try to write it as objectively as possible (more about his story, less about your opinion. Save that for the next one). Part Two: Write two – three paragraphs outlining what you personally took away from the presentation; emotionally and otherwise….

Primary/Secondary Sources What’s the difference?

Evaluating Sources On a piece of paper, copy the chart below. As we go through each source, identify the type, write down its merits, weaknesses and what this source offers that makes it unique. An example is below: Source Type Merit Weakness Unique because: Letters Primary First hand account - ‘live’ in the time Emotional bias? Honesty? - Letters are written honestly and are full of bias that is genuine and therefore real and true to the time.

Primary Source Examples First-hand accounts Music Photography Government Documents Art Journals

Phillip Riteman

A Quartet for the End of Time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrGzES0UNk Olivier Messiaen Cello, Violin, Clarinet, Piano Why is this a quartet for these instruments?

Photographs

Statements from the Nazi’s re: The Jewish Question Adolf Hitler, quoted in "Hitler," by Joachim Fest, Vintage Books Edition, 1974, p. 679-680: - Nature is cruel; therefore we are also entitled to be cruel. When I send the flower of German youth into the steel hail of the next war without feeling the slightest regret over the precious German blood that is being spilled, should I not also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin?

The Goebbels [Reich Propaganda Minister] diaries, March 27, 1942. 
The Goebbels Diaries 1942-1943 - L.P. Lochner, Doubleday & Co., 1948, p. 147-148:Beginning with Lublin, the Jews in the General Government [Nazi occupied Poland] are now being evacuated eastward. The procedure is a pretty barbaric one and not to be described here more definitely. Not much will remain of the Jews. On the whole it can be said that about 60 percent of them will have to be liquidated whereas only 40 percent can be used for forced labor.

Journals from Survivors http://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/viewer/wlc/artifact.php? RefId=2002WW4Z

Sketchbook from Survivor http://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/viewer/wlc/artifact.php? RefId=20046E4U

Government Art

Secondary Sources Textbooks Other books Films Written accounts

IB History Texts

Documentaries

Movies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAH3RTRlCHY

Alternative Texts

Written accounts Re-examine the two pieces of work you wrote at the beginning of class. These are Secondary Sources. What are the flaws of calling this document a secondary source? You were asked to be objective in the first one and to include emotion and personal response in the second; did you achieve this? Is it even possible? Life is full of emotion and this transfers to writing; bias is only a problem if you choose to believe it’s not there.

Truth? There is no one truth so how can there be one account of history? Some sources (ie – Philip Riteman) are more valid than others. When it’s not obvious, how do we make this evaluation. How many sources do we need before we approach an acceptable amount of information to develop some understanding of history? What role does our own perception and the limitations of our own knowledge play in our understanding of history?

Why study history? No matter how much we study, our knowledge of history is limited. We can never understand it. The best we can do is to listen to stories and use our education and the ethical obligation that comes with education. Our responsibility as historians is to live in a way that honours the past by avoiding its mistakes.