Digital Modules

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repositorio.grial.eu/handle/grial/118

Digital Modules produced during Multicultural Interdisciplinary Handbook
(MIH Comenius Multilateral Project)

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    European migrations to the United States
    (UPEC - University of East Paris Créteil - IUFM, 2011) Mesnard, Eric
    Between 1850 and 1930, the US greeted millions of migrants and its population increased from 23 to 130 million inhabitants. Most of those migrants were European. Thanks to these men and women who dreamt of a “promised land”, the “new country” grew.
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    The liberation of Nazi camps by the Allies
    (UPEC - University of East Paris Créteil - IUFM, 2011) Mesnard, Eric
    When soldiers of Allies army freed Europe, they discovered the scale of atrocities committed by the occupants, but, it took several weeks to understand the realities of the Nazi concentration camp system and the specificity of the Genocide that suffered the Jewish populations in Europe. “The sites liberation and the liberation of people should be distinguished. Indeed, many times, as the back of the front line, the SS commander decided the prior evacuation of camps with all their inmates…” (François Bédarida, « le phénomène concentrationnaire » in Bédarida François, Gervereau Laurent, La déportation. Le système concentrationnaire nazi, Paris, Musée d’histoire contemporaine/ BDIC, 1995). In the East, Soviets « freed » killing center (Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka) which had been destroyed by the SS in 1943. In July 1944, Soviet armies passed through Treblinka and Sobibor without knowing that hundreds of thousands of Jews were gassed and burned. When Soviet soldiers got in the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau on the 27th of January 1945, they only found 7 000 survivors because on the 18th and 19th of January, the SS evacuated the camp with 58 000 prisoners who suffered the hardships of the “walks of death”. However, testimonials and the study of facilities confided to an inquiry commission allowed the awareness of what really happened at Auschwitz (« 1945: Libération des camps et découverte de l’univers concentrationnaire; crime contre l’humanité et génocide » Mémoire vivante n° 43, octobre 2004). In the West, American troops entered the Natzweiler-Struthof camp (Alsace) where inmates were evacuated. In spring 1945, the allied troops advanced rapidly. The evacuations of prisoners by the SS happened in appalling conditions. In April and May 1945, discoveries kept going…and, gave liberators nightmare visions: “It’s wrong to say that we didn’t know about Nazi concentration camps’ horrors before their liberation…But there is a difference between knowing and seeing… Now we cannot look away any longer. The abomination is under our eyes with all its nauseating details. Doors of Hell are open. ” Allies, that were sure to win against the Nazi Germany, decided to spread by the press, screened news and the radio, images of mass graves and evidence of survivors. But, the specific fate of Jewish wasn’t taken into account. When the extermination is evoked, it was associated with “Nazi crimes” as well as the economic European looting and the “deportation of workers” in Germany.
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    The Revolution of 1848
    (UPEC - University of East Paris Créteil - IUFM, 2011) Mesnard, Eric
    At the beginning of the year 1848, Louis-Philippe of Orleans (1773-1850) was the king of France. He was crowned after the Revolution of 1830. At first, inspired by the ideals of the Revolution, the king was seen as a personification of hope for the monarchy but soon the July Monarchy (1830-1848) faced numerous demonstrations which were roughly suppressed (the Canut revolts in Lyon in 1831, uprisings in Paris in 1832 and in Lyon in 1834). The republican Opposition got organized gathering support stemming from the social discontent. The conservative direction of the July Monarchy became more pronounced from 1848: Guizot, who was the secretary-general of Louis-Philippe the First, answered the requests concerning the expansion of the equal suffrage and the demands of the poorest in the following fashion: “Get richer by working and by saving money”. From 1846, the economic crisis (the rise of bread price, food shortage, unemployment) strengthened the unpopular regime. As political meetings were forbidden, Republicans organized, all over France, banquets to claim their main demand: the universal suffrage. On 22 February, 1848, a planned banquet was forbidden. This provoked demonstrations during which the troops shot at the crowd. This was the beginning of the French Revolution of 1848. A provisional government stood at the head of the republic proclaimed on 24 February, 1848. It decided to hold an election of the constitutional assembly through Universal Male Suffrage. In huge euphoria, the freedom of the press and assembly, the right to work, the abolition of death penalty for political offences and the abolition of slavery in colonies were proclaimed. The number of political clubs and associations increased in cities, also in Paris. They discussed prospects of a democratic and social republic; some women asserted their equal rights. However, the hopes for a democratic republic emerging from the French Revolution of 1848 fquickly faded: During elections on 23 April, the “Party of Order”, which gathered moderate and monarchist republicans, won thanks to rural votes. National workshops were closed on 22 June. This led to a murderous confrontation between the troops and the French people who held barricades on the 23 and 26 June. On 10 December 1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte’s success in the presidential election confirmed the victory of those who wanted to put an end to the “48’s spirit”…