19th Century Literature

http://prezi.com/p8ohm0z32wwc/19-century-german-literature/

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chapter ten begins in protecting the supply drop.  They have a royal time eating their share of the drop and collecting things from around the shelled town.  They find an officer's quarters filled with food and cigars and roast their succling pig that they also find near there.  The enemy spots the smoke and they try their best to finish up cooking, afterall it would all be a waste if they couldn't eat what they risked their lives to make.  Barely they make it back alive and they all have a hearty good time eating, and afterwards they have a good long night of the shits.  Afterwards, they get split up and Paul and Kropp get injured and taken on train.  Paul bribes the seargant into placing them in the same cart.  When they get to the church where they stay, they realize just how bad and everlasting things are.  Kropp gets quite down on himself and doesn't want to go on as a cripple.  It is up to Paul to stay close and make sure he is alright.  Another soldier meets up with his wife and they all collude to make sure that her visit "goes well"

Five Talking Points on All Quiet On the Western Front

1. Senselessness of war
2. Rest of the country thinks their life is worse
3. Death and injury
4. "Luck"
5. Going back to a normal life

1. The senselessness of this war is seen in the slaughter of so many young men.  Men that are barely old enough to know anything of a happy life.  Men that aren't men at all but merely boys.  They don't know why they're fighting these other countries.  They have no quarrel with any of them and have barely even met anyone from these other countries.  They discover that it dying for your country is completely overrated.  Dying for the fatherland means nothing to them because they have nothing to gain for it.  Even if they live through and win the war, what do they personally gain from it? A lifetime of post traumatic stress syndrome? Not worth it.
2. When Paul goes back to visit his hometown, everyone there thinks that the hard times they are struggling are much worse than the war.  They have no idea that their lives are so many times better.  On the front they have constantly worry about if they are about to get shot, blown up, lose a leg, or go insane.  There is barely enough food to be fed to the troops and that is one of the misconceptions the townspeople have.  They don't understand that the troops have to portion out a loaf of bread that is barely enough to feed them let alone the rats that are trying to eat it as well.  The townspeople say that it's just the way of war.  Most of which have never been at war and have certainly never been in this traumatic of a war.
3. Throughout the book they discuss so frequently about death.  Around every corner there is death and injury.  There was so much death and injury in this war that there was no way to keep up with medical supplies or even doctors.  Noone was given a close look, an amputation was their first resort because it was the easiest.  There was so much of it that even after being treated and fixed up that because of the vast amounts, nobody had a good job done on them and often died afterwards.  Character after character died off until, literally, there was noone left.
4. Paul talks about playing cards in one bunker, going to the next for a bit and returning to the first bunker completely gone and then going back to the second bunker and finding that bunker burried from a near fatal shell as well.  The sheer luck of one person not dying in a battle was so immense.  There was no super soldier, or actively avoiding injury and death, it was pure and simple luck that kept soldiers alive.
5. After everything that had happened, after everything they had seen, there was no way any of them could go back and live out a happy life.  They were too young to have experienced love, or made a career for themselves, or even had a chance to think about such things.  What were they supposed to do.  After being in this kind of war, after seeing the things that they have seen, going back to a normal life would not be possible.  At the end of the war, this "lost generation" is exactly that, lost, never to find happiness again.  And how could they? How could they look into the eyes of another person and feel any kind of connection?  There is no possible way to describe the things that they have gone through and it is too much to even ask of.

Kat

Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky

Kat was a soldier in the book, All Quiet On the Western Front.  He was there from the very beginning. When Paul and the rest of the gang came in as new recruits, he was already a veteran.  He taught them what to listen for, when to drop down, how to stay alive and many other important things.  He was their leader, he was their mentor, he was their protector, and he was their friend.  He was always out looking for food and supplies to keep his men fit.  None of them could explain how he could do it, but "magically" he was always able to find to find food.  When things were the bleakest, they would always look to him for guidance and like a father or big brother he would care for them.  When the troop morale was down, he lifted their spirits.  In the times that he, himself, was bleak, you could tell things were at a very low point.  Kat was the reason for Paul to go on. Kat was why Paul made it.  Kat and Paul had a deep connection. Without ever talking, at times, they connected and were so very close.  Kat had no real position on whos fault was whos for the war, all he knew was that it was happening and they were in it. Noone on either side had any reason to be fighting, but they were.  It was us or them to him.  Kat's death was very unexpected to me.  I'm glad that it waited until the very end of the book because without Kat, Paul was miserable.  Without Kat, even I felt no reason to go on.  If the end of the book wasn't but a few pages away, I don't think I could've gone on with it. To me, Kat was the most important part to this story.  He was the reason that Paul went on, and his bond with Paul was so immense that without Kat, the story was too tragic.

Group Evaluation

FDP Group Project

 

Working on this group project was a fairly fun project. It was rather hard to do considering the group size though. Working with such a large group was difficult to do in such a short notice because of having to find a time for every group member to get together. This was a goal that we were not able to fully achieve. Having so little free time for everyone to get together forced us to meet more than one time; the second time being the day that the project was due. Only after we were finished working on our project, did I think it was appropriate to do this part. Having class immediately after and all the way up to this class gave me no time to work on this. It was for this reason that I believe many people, including I, were not able to have this part of the project done and posted in time.

Having had that said, working on the FDP gave me an insight on how the government works in Germany. There was a lot of extra searching that had to be done to be able to understand what it was that we were learning about our own party. It’s interesting to see such a small political party that has a fairly important role. Being a “kingmaker” party makes them an important party for other parties. In our research we found that the FDP has been in a constant struggle to keep enough votes to stay in parliament. As a constantly struggling party it was interesting to find some of the ways, in the past and even in very recent months, that they have attempted to reach out to get votes.

If I were a voting person, I do not know if I would choose to vote for the FDP. The party isn’t focused on who I am, a construction-worker-type. Also, as a party that is constantly struggling for more votes, I am not sure if I can always count on a party that goes to such lengths to get votes. Having a soon to be political leader be on a tv show or holding “skeptical” meetings just to get more votes doesn’t seem like a party I would put my faith in.

FDP

(1)

"As much government as necessary, as little government as possible," (2)

Overview

• Histroy
• major events
• current standing

History

• Theodor Heuss first chairman 1948
• Heuss was first president of federal republic of germany from 1949-1959
• free democratic party is a centrist german party that advocate individualism, captialism and social reform.
• It was established in December 1948 at a conference attended by delegates from liberal parties in American, British and French zone occupation.
• Formed from nine regionally organized parties: BDV, DemP, DP, DVP (Northern Württemberg-Baden), DVP (Southern Württemberg-Hohenzollern), FDP from the Brtitish Zone of Occupation and The Free State of Bavaria and the LDP from the State of Hesse and Berlin West.

Major events

• 1970 to 1990s Hans-Dietrich Genscher led the fdp as the forgein minister of germany
• During the 2002 elections, Juergen Moellemann published an anti-Semitic pamphlet and was forced to leave the FDP before commiting suicide in 2003.
• Guido Westerwelle 2009 best result in federal election and second-longest serving chairman
• 2009 party support collapses (dropped to as low as 5%)
• 2011 Guido Westerwelle stepped down after party was wiped out in select states.

Guido Westerwelle(3)

Phillipp Rosler(4)

Current Standing

• Guido had to step down from vice-chancelor in 2011 due to being unable to lower taxes as promised in 2009 election
• Phillipp Rosler succeeded Guido as chairman of FDP and vice-chancelor in May 2011
• "kingmaker"

Fun Facts

• Guido on Big Brother germany in early 2000s
• Guido first openly gay vice-chancelor and foreign minister

References

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FDP-Logo_2011.svg, 17 Sep 12
2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Democratic_Party_(Germany), 17 Sep 12
3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Guido_Westerwelle_(Foreign_ministry_in_Stockholm,_2010).jpg, 19 Sep 12
4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roesler-klein.jpg, 19 Sep 12

Saxony-Anhalt Group Project

1. Saxony-Anhalt

1.1 Saxony-Anhalt is bordered by Brandenburg in the nottheast, Saxony and Thuringia in the south and Lower Saxony in the northwest.
It has a population of 2.34 million people, as of 2010.
Anhalt's size is 20,445 sq. km

1.2 Anhalt's economy nearly collapsed in 1990. Since then, their economy has transformed into a modern market economy. Today, Saxony-Anhalt has the lowest rate of unemployment throuighout Germany.
The main industrial sources of revenue in Saxony-Anhalt are: Chemical plants, wind farms, and farming, due to their extremely abundent soil.
Saxony-Anhalt has numerous trade partners around the woeld, due to their dealings with chemical plants and farming.


1.3 Saxony-Anhalt offers a unique geography. There are vast plains, tall mountains, numberous vinyards, and also rural and metropolitain cities.
The biggest cities are: Magdeburg, which is the capital city, and Halle.
Some smaller cities are: Altmark, and its bordering cities.

1.5 Saxony-Anhalt joined the federal republic in the year 1990. Before 1948, Anhalt was ruled by the US Army, as well as the Soviet Union.
Saxony-Anhalt was named after Anhalt Castle, which is near Hazgerode. The origins of the naming of the castle remain unknown.

2. Saxony-Anhalt offers a very old fashioned and unique architecture. There are old cathedrals and monuments which use a more Gothic type of architecture.The Cathedral of Magdeburg, and the market places of both Halle and Wittenburg were among the most impressive looking building structures that I found.
One thing that I found interesting about their local customs is their religion. The religion is mainly Luthern, but under a Communist rule. Due to this rule, more people are leaving churches rather than attending them. As of 2010, over 80% of the population no longer attended church in Saxony-Anhalt.
The most famous person from Anhalt, is Martin Luther. Mathin Luther founded the Luthern belief, which he based off of Christianity.
Hugo Junkers is also another famous man from Anhalt.

3. The resources used in this blog were: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LandkreiseSachsenAnhalt2007.png
www.sachsen-anhalt.de/index.phd?id=21182
www.citypopulation.de/Deutschland-Sachsen-Anhalt.html