But despite the rhetorical agreement amongst all of the occupying Allied powers, de-Nazification in Eastern vs. Western Germany had a very different character. Soviets were less interested in prosecuting war criminals and more interested in eliminating all individuals and aspects of culture deemed counterrevolutionary (Mazower 238). Destroying German capitalism and private ownership of agriculture was the priority, not feeding the hungry or finding former Nazis. However, Western de-Nazification was hardly superior -- it was done on a case-by-case basis, did not exclude former Nazis from public life, and most Germans believed that lower-level officials were prosecuted, while those really responsible for war crimes were set free in the American zone (Mazower 239). Interestingly enough, the French were probably the most successful in their de-Nazification efforts, given that they focused on German youth, and changing German culture more than former Nazis (Mazower 240). Massive financial outlays, meager social changes, and "back-pedaling" upon their previous agreements for major reforms was characteristic of the Western efforts, while the Soviet occupation caused...
Mazower, although not complimentary to the Soviet efforts, notes that economic conditions were not substantially worse in the East, despite the wastefulness of the dismantling of the capitalist industrial system (Mazower 239). Then, disputes over reparations caused the fragile alliance between Germany's occupiers to unravel. The U.S. had experienced an economic boom as a result of World War II, Russia, in contrast, had suffered devastating casualties and while the U.S. may have wanted to avoid the post-Versailles mistake that generated the economic suffering in Germany that helped give rise to Nazism, Russia felt that Germany 'owed' Russia something (Mazower 243). The uncomfortable question of who to support given the choice between leftists anti-Nazis and anti-communist conservatives made the U.S. reluctant to take too strident a position upon the subject of de-Nazification, while Russia was only too eager to exploit Eastern Europe's weaknesses in the name of anti-Nazification for its own benefits.
The lack of action over Rwanda should be the defining scandal of the presidency Bill Clinton. Yet in the slew of articles on the Clinton years that followed Clinton's departure from power, there was barely a mention of the genocide." The UN, pressured by the British and the U.S., and others, refused to use the word "genocide" during the event, or afterward when it issued its official statement of condemnation
During this penultimate period of violence under Rojas, the violence that wracked Colombia assumed a number of different characteristics that included an economic quality as well as a political one with numerous assassinations taking place. These were literally contract killings there were sponsored by opposition forms. There were also horrendous genocidal acts that were carried out by gangs combined with authentic revolutionary fighting in some regions of the country. The fourth
Cultural relativism contends that no one culture possesses a more correct value system than any other. "There is no one standard set of morals," Sullivan (2006) argues, which one can use as a base to: "objectively judge all cultures, so comparing morality between cultures -- which retain independent and distinct histories and influences -- is basically futile" (¶ 9). As the movement is rooted in the world community's response to
tomorrow / Bright before us / Like a flame. (Alain Locke, "Enter the New Negro," 1925) From the 1920's Alain Leroy Locke has been known as a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Through his writings, his actions and his education, Locke worked to educate not only White America, but also the Negro, about the beauty of the Negro heritage. He emphasized the idea that no single culture is more
Seize the Moment -- Richard Nixon Nixon's Life and Legacy The book by Richard Nixon, Seize The Moment, was published eighteen years after Nixon had resigned the presidency of the United States. The former president was caught up in a cover-up of the Watergate scandal in 1973, and even though he had asked for the resignation of his two top aides, as the investigation into the botched burglary at Watergate continued it
In "Piaf," Pam Gems provides a view into the life of the great French singer and arguably the greatest singer of her generation -- Edith Piaf. (Fildier and Primack, 1981), the slices that the playwright provides, more than adequately trace her life. Edith was born a waif on the streets of Paris (literally under a lamp-post). Abandoned by her parents -- a drunken street singer for a mother and a
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