Tag: holocaust

Japanese Internment Photos in BotD

It is a shameful part of American history often brushed under the rug too easily considering what was happening on enemy soil at the time. Nonetheless, during World War II, following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the United States government thought rounding up everyone of Japanese descent would keep us safe.

Though there is little collected, some material recording this 3+ year forced relocation has survived.  In Moving Pictures: Photography and the Japanese American Incarceration, Jasmine Alinder collects some of these images to present a view from the inside of what was happening. To learn more, also check out Time of Fear in our DVD section.

A Sobering Book of the Day

The mass killings carried out by the Nazi party and their allies during World War II are horrific.  The impact certainly overshadowed other mass killings carried out by regimes in the 20th Century, but Benjamin A. Valentino is out to make sure these tragedies and their lessons do not go unnoticed.  His book, Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century, looks at all of the different places where, by his definition, at least 50,000 people are killed in a 5 year period. A brief list of mass killings:

  • Soviet Union
  • China
  • Cambodia
  • Nazi Germany
  • Armenia
  • Rwanda
  • Soviet occupation of Afghanistan
  • Guatemala

And there are probably more.  This book provides a new look at the brutality of the 20th Century, but contains lessons one should remember.

Book of the (last few) Day(s)

In addition to the weekend, other library projects kept me too busy to update the blog.  For now though, I am able to present to you a heavy one:  The Holocaust by Bullets.  Not pleasant, but interesting: the author assembled a team of history and ballistic experts to locate and examine mass graves of Holocaust victims in order to better get an understanding of how these people died, and the horrific truth of their conditions.  For resources on Holocaust fiction, visit this LibGuides bibliography. For resources on international Jewish Fiction, consult the Jewish Fiction page.