please write a 10 pages blood land journals. my character is German man in Poland and 25 years old. based on the book: bloodlands Europe between hitler and stalin. by: timothy Snyder.

Bloodlands Journal

Bloodlands Journal Guidelines

You have been given an identity of someone born in 1900 who lived through the rise and fall of Fascism and Stalinism, including World War II. It is your job to flesh out your character, and based on your readings and outside research describe how that person would make their way through those very difficult times. While I have given you ethnicities, you are generally free to determine your social position and career and family life.

Each entry should explain what you did and how you are reacting to the times based on your character’s position. Sometimes events will be occurring directly to a person, but particularly at the beginning of the exercise, some characters will be responding more to events not directly affecting them. For example, a Ukrainian living in Poland may not have been directly affected by the famine in Soviet Ukraine, but will make a response. That said you are not required to reference all events, and indeed it is quite possible your character knows nothing about outside events or or hears only rumors. This is especially true for those people with characters based in the Soviet Union. Remember, it is highly unlikely that any character will have access to statistical info about arrests or such. A character may, however, have some anecdotal information like neighbors going missing and such.
2. A key to this assignment is keeping in character and it is okay to make decisions that might seem wrong in the perspective of the early 21st century. For example, given events described your character may collaborate with the Nazis or support Stalinist repression of another group. Remember people in “the Bloodlands” had few good choices during this time, and they did not know what we know looking back. They are making what they think are the best decisions at each given time.
3. Your journal should show continuity. If your character makes a decision in 1933,
the next entry for say 1937 needs to take into account what they do in 1937. That
does not mean they cannot change their mind, but if they do that is something you
need to explain.

4. As you write please be sure you make use of the information in the Bloodlands and other sources you have used. If your character suffers through the famine then draw on info from the book. It is okay to make up other characters and tell what you have witnessed.

5. One solution to the problems presented during this time was to emigrate beyond the region. This was not easy even under the best of circumstances, and so for the purposes of this assignment before the coming of World War II your character may not move beyond the borders of their original country. During the war your character may find moving the best option, but be sure such a move makes sense in the context. For example, if you a Jew in Ukraine and you have managed to survive the initial killing onslaught, there is no good reason to move westward to Poland, because it is still Nazi rule. That said as you are in hiding you might simply move in that direction.

6. You are required to write entries for each of the following

1925 first entry which serve as a baseline and allow for characters to
introduce themselves.

1933 (May) So the Famine and Hitler’s seizure of power

1938 November 10 Great Purges and or Krystalnacht.

1939 September 21

1941 July 4

1943 May

1944 August 15

1945 May 9

1948 May 9

1953 March 6

7. Additional resources. While Bloodlands is expected to be your primary resource. You should draw on at least 3 other sources to help fill out you character and provide you with background. It may be harder to find English language texts for some identities than others. There is a considerable number of Holocaust memoirs in English, many deal with Jews from Western Europe and Germany whose experiences are not directly applicable to that of people in the Bloodlines — Anne
Frank’s Diary then is not a source, but you should be able to find memoirs that are about surviving the Holocaust in the Bloodlands. Experiences of Poles, Ukrainians, and Germans will be harder to find. To help I have assembled a short list of
recommended readings as a start. If you are having trouble feel free to ask me for help.

Recommended Sources

General Sources

Rothschild, Joseph. East-Central Europe Between the Two World Wars. Seattle:

University of Washington Press, 1974.

Definitive text with country studies of all relevant countries apart from the Soviet Union. Great place to pick up basic info about the politics of ethnic minorities as well as the country as a whole.

Magocsi, Robert Paul. The History of Ukraine. Seattle: University of Washington Press,

1996.

Best survey of history of Ukraine in large measure because it incorporates the experiences of all peoples living in Ukraine so a useful start for people with characters based in Ukraine regardless of ethnicity, but try to find supplemental
material.

Jews in Eastern Europe
Mendelsohn, Ezra. The Jews of East-Central Europe Between the Two World Wars. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1987.

Gutman, Yisrael et al. The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1989.

Life under Stalinism
Hellbeck, Jochen. Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary under Stalin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Acclaimed book that should help you consider what could and could not be said and thought under Stalin.

Figes, Orlando. The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia. London: Allen Lane, 2007. Similarly acclaimed book about private life under Stalin.

Poles / Jews in Poland

Wat, Aleksander. My Century. The Odyssey of a Polish Intellectual. New York: Norton, 1990. Oral memoir of a leading Polish intellectual of Jewish heritage

Mirriam-Goldberg, Caryn. Needle in the Bone. Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2013. Combined story of a Polish Holocaust survivor and a Polish resistenace fighter.