Question remaining in my mind

After this semester, I feel that I have learned quite a bit about Germany.  However, one question still remains in my mind.  During class, we discussed in depth about current culture.  However, I am really intrigued by the time periods of Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach.  What was their influence on German society and culture, both while they were alive and after they died?  I felt that there was still more to learn in that area that we didn't really touch on in class.

The Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF)

This group officially was formed in 1970, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof.  After them came two more generations of the group.  The second operated in the mid to late 1970s, and the third in the 80s and 90s.  They claimed to have been dissolved on the 20th of April, 1998.

The group began forming in the late 1960s, when student protests began.  The students were arguing against the conservative groups running the government and media at the time.  There were many people running the government that had been involved in the NAZI regime. They felt that the governement was too authoritarian. Then, peaceful protests against the government turned into riots.  The RAF then formed.  They were put in jail but granted pardon by the government.  However, the government soon revoked this pardon and only one of the group obeyed.  The rest went underground, fleeing first to France, then to Italy.  Mahler visited them there and encouraged them to come back to work as urban guerrilas.  The group was eventually caught and arrested in 1972.

The group had many things happen to them while they were in prison.  They went on hunger strikes to protest the treatment they had received.  One of the members died of hunger, Ulrike Meinhof killed herself in her cell, the rest were on trial.  The trial was one of the biggest, most controversial trials in the history of Germany.  Eventually, the rest of the group was convicted to life in prison.  They also were responsible for the hijacking of Lufthansa flight 181 on October 13, 1977.  The hijackers demanded that the 10 prisoners be released.  After the hijacking failed, the prisoners were found dead in their cells. 

I wonder, as I learn about this, how the people of Germany felt as this was going on.  Was there a fear, as there is today?  Many people in America, especially after September 11, 2001, had a great fear.  Was there this fear as they walked out of there house that the RAF could be planning another attack?  It seemed, however, that many of the population were sympathetic to what they stood for.  So was it just the government that was afraid of them?

Reactions

As I started watching this movie, I noticed that I first took sides with the students.  I felt that they had the right to make their point but the government kept trying to shut them up.  It felt a little frustrating to me and I wondered how a government can  take those freedoms away from people. I'm not sure how it went in real life, and if the government was really trying to keep the students quiet, but I guess I can see how that forms terrorists.  They start getting frustrated at not being heard and need to come up with different means to be heard. 

I also noticed that throughout the film, I felt like I understood the RAF's position in why they would want to do what they did.  However, I didn't agree with the way they did it and I know I could never do that.  However, I do feel that if someone doesn't feel like they're being listened to and if they feel that what they say is important, they'll do something drastic to get their point across.  This then can be spun out of control quickly. It was surprising to me at how quickly I felt like I agreed with the RAF point of view. 

However, as things started getting more and more violent, I started feeling a little distressed.  It was scary to me at how powerfully they felt that they needed to be listened to and the drastic means they went about being heard.  They were ready to do anything, the more powerful the better.  Usually, terrorists are portrayed as terrible people and crazy, insane people.  However, this didn't seem to be the case.  They seemed like perfectly normal people.  This seemed good, however, because it's probably closer to the truth.  Political terrorists like that probably aren't generally crazy people.  They're just people that have a strong point of view and aren't being listened to.  It's impossible to listen to every point of view, however it seems that they only do it to be heard.  After viewing this film, I was left with this question: What can we do to prevent this?

Twelve reasons why the EU will help Germany

1. People in the EU are free to move to other countries to work, thus giving Germany a large work force.
2. Treaties between countries will help maintain peace.
3. The EU also provides Germany with an easy and cheap way to trade between countries.
4. Germany can show that it is more interested in a good economy than having a strong military power.  This helps Germany gain a good reputation
5. Countries in the EU can work together to solve global issues.
6. The EU can support Germany should they have an economic downturn.  This also gives Germany more stability.  (As shown recently with Greece)
7. The countries in the EU offer a diverse range of products.  This allows Germany to get almost anything easily.
8. Free travel between countries encourages people to travel to Germany.  They then spend their money there and boosts Germany's economy.
9. The EU allows Germany to show the world that they are a productive country, not wanting to cause trouble.
10. With all of the countries using the same currency, it's easier to be globally competitive.
11. Unifying with the EU gives them more power in voicing opinions and seeing global changes happen.
12. The EU has an aim to protect the environment.  This helps Germany keep their country clean.

Rulers and Government in the 19th Century

19th Century Rulers and Gov't Presentation

Literature in the 19th century

Presentation-19th century writers

Best Blogs

I looked through all the blogs and rated them on overall appearance (30pts), completeness (20pts), solid writing (20pts), and the images and sources used (10pts).  I also chose my own criterion from which to rate the blogs, and that was if the colors chosen and pictures used created a nice effect (20pts).  Here are the top three blogs:

1. Danielle Ostendorf 100 pts

• Appearance was great!
• It looks like she had put quite a bit of effort into it.
• All of the posts were there.
• The text was thorough and complete.

2.  Jenita Teachout  98 pts

• Very well organized
• Easy to read
• Neat appearance/everything was included

3. Matthew Steinborn 95 pts

• I really liked how he took out all of the mess along the edges of his blog.  It made it look a lot neater.
• All of the posts seemed to be there
• The color scheme was nice
• May be lacking some images, but overall it wasn't a negative effect.