Teaching
History Online
Number
139: 30th May, 2004
Introduction
1.
D-Day:
Letters and Articles
2.
Encyclopaedia
of the United States: 1840-1980
3.
Deadly
Medicine
4.
Cold
War Oral History Project
5.
Special
Operations Executive Obituaries
6.
Camp
X Historical Society
7. Online
History Simulations
8. Why
History Matters
9. The
Stalin Organ
Introduction
Spartacus Educational
publishes Teaching
History Online every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the history classroom. Members
of the mailing list are
invited to submit information for inclusion in future editions of
Teaching
History Online. In this way we hope to create a community
of people involved in using the Internet to teach history. Currently
there are 41,900 subscribers to the newsletter.
John Simkin
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=829
D-Day:
On June 6 1944, the largest armada in history launched an assault
on the Normandy beaches. It was the decisive moment in the second
world war. So how did it feel to be there on that tumultuous day?
To mark the 60th anniversary of D-day, the Guardian has unearthed
a series of letters written home by the combatants. This website also
includes a dispatch from Martha Gellhorn, the American war correspondent
who joined the landings and several articles by David Woodward, the
Manchester Guardian war correspondent, who was one of three journalists
who were landed in France from the air.
Encyclopaedia
of the United States: 1840-1980:
An organic encyclopaedia on the USA between 1840-1980. The encyclopaedia
is being created in sections. So far the following sections are available:
American Civil War (262), Political Figures (170), Political Events
(62), Slavery (156), Women's Suffrage (116), Business Leaders (54),
Scientists (20), Supreme Court Judges (18), Trade Unions (68), Journalists
(84), Newspapers & Magazines (36), European Immigration (270),
Artists and Illustrators (28), Cartoonists (56), Photographers (50),
Novelists & Poets (58), the First World War (86), Crime &
Criminals (26), McCarthyism (110), Roosevelt and the New Deal (56),
and the Struggle for Civil Rights (246).
Deadly
Medicine: From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany’s government led
by Adolf Hitler promoted a nationalism that combined territorial expansion
with claims of biological superiority - an “Aryan master race”
- and virulent antisemitism. Driven by a racist ideology legitimized
by German scientists, the Nazis attempted to eliminate all of Europe’s
Jews, ultimately killing six million in the Holocaust. Many others
also became victims of persecution and murder in the Nazis’ campaign
to cleanse German society of individuals viewed as threats to the
“health” of the nation. This special online exhibition on
the subject has been produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum.
Cold
War Oral History Project: The History Department of the European
Virtual School has just launched a Cold War Oral Project. The plan
is to start threads where people can provide first-hand accounts on
important Cold War events. This will include people’s accounts
of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the building and pulling
down of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, Communism in
the Soviet Union, the decline of communism in Eastern Europe, etc.
It is hoped that people will post their recollections from all over
the world. This is something that students could get involved in by
interviewing parents or grandparents about these events. If you want
to become involved in this project register
with the International Education Forum and join the debate.
Special
Operations Executive Obituaries: The SOE had many characters who
also went on to make a name for themselves after the war. This section
of the 64, Baker Street website contains the obituaries of some of
those individuals who served so bravely during the Second World War.
This includes Lise de Baissac, Walter Freud, T A Sandrock, Anthony
Simkins, Leo Marks, Derek Dodson, Peter Johnsen, Peter Wand-Tetley,
Paul Getty, Jim Davies, Arthur Knight, Hardy Amies, Geoffrey Gordon-Creed,
Gordon Nornable, John Bunting, Reginald Hibbert, Ole Lippmann, Arthur
Sclater, John Mott, Frederick Bradnum and Hugh Verity.
Camp
X Historical Society: This organization was established in recognition
of the courageous men and women who served in the British Security
Coordination (BSC), Special Operations Executive (SOE), and the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS) - those men and women who were trained
in subversive warfare and covert techniques, those who fought behind
enemy lines, who lived in the shadows, or who served at Camp X. The
Society, established in November 1998, is a registered not-for-profit
(charitable) Historical Society within the Province of Ontario, Canada.
The Society’s primary mandate is conducting research for the
purpose of documenting the Camp’s history, the conservation of
artifacts, and community education. The Society spends a considerable
amount of time and resources working with veteran agents and former
Camp X staff and instructors in an effort to document and catalogue
properly their experiences for historical research purposes and to
preserve the memory of the Camp for future generations.
Online
History Simulations: In their book Simulation in the Classroom,
John Taylor and Rex Walford argue that an educational simulation has
three main components: (1) Students take roles which are representative
of the real world and involve them making decisions in response
to their assessment of the situation that they have been placed in.
(2) Students experience simulated consequences which relate to their
decisions and their general performance in the simulation. (3) Students
monitor the results of their actions and are encouraged to reflect
upon the relationship between their own decisions and the resulting
consequences of their actions. In the History Forum's latest seminar,
John Simkin looks at why history teachers should use simulations in
the classroom. If
you have views on this subject, register
with the History Forum and join the debate.
Why
History Matters: In the summer of 2001, the Internet Archive held
a contest in which contestants created short films demonstrating why
access to history matters. The Internet Archive is sponsored this
event in order to promote the use of public-domain materials and therefore
support the growing need for digital access to these materials and
the role of Libraries in offering that access. Submissions were judged
based on creative use of materials (particularly use of public-domain
materials), artistic direction and articulate content. Production
quality was considered within the technological and time limitations
posed by this contest. At the Internet Archive website you can now
look at the best of these films.
Book
Section
The
Stalin Organ: Gert Ledig was born in Leipzig and grew up in Vienna.
At the age of 18 he volunteered for the arm, and was wounded at the
battle of Leningrad in 1942. He later reworked his experiences in
the book, 'The Stalin Organ'. Switching between the German and Russian
lines, Ledig brings us the experience of war from both sides of the
conflict. Gert Ledig describes in horrifying detail the graphic and
resourceful violence that maims and kills soldiers. In 'The Stalin
Organ' Ledig has written an absolutely authentic and powerful account
of the horrors encountered in war.
(Gerd Ledig, Granta Books, ISBN 1 86207 652 9)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
