Nazis and Fascists and Poland... oh my!

I have no idea why this exists, but it's a manatee extolling fascism, so it pretty much has to be on our blog, yes? 

It's a little more complicated than Call of Duty, eh? 
So, we're knee deep in the war now. Pretty heady stuff. To quote the immortal Ron Burgundy "That escalated quickly!" All Germany does is cross one or two little lines on a map and all hell breaks loose. Stupid Hitler.
We're covering a lot of ground very quickly here, as is our nature in the world of WHAP, but we know that many of you find this time in history pretty darn fascinating. The period leading up to WWII and the fighting itself is a subject that really captures people's imaginations. What's even crazier is that we have not even made it to the Pacific theater yet. From an American point of view, the Pacific front was far, far deadlier than Europe.
As we continue on, remember to not oversimplify the causes of the war. It wasn't as simple as Hitler rolling a few tanks into Czechoslovakia. There were myriad decisions before that event that lead to the path to war. Cries against Chamberlain's appeasement policies are still invoked to this day as one of the dumbest decisions ever made.

If you are interested in learning more about America's involvement in the war and going to an OUTSTANDING museum experience, you have to check out the National WWII museum in New Orleans. Here's a link. This place is fantastic. You will learn a ton and it is super interactive. Obviously, this would be a stellar Humanities Experience. For all you writers out there, here is a link to a national essay contest that the museum is sponsoring: essay
The essay topic is outstanding... you are responding to a letter written by an African-American solider asking if he should fight given that his country really only thinks of him as "half a man". First prize is $1000! Plus, no matter what, entering a national essay contest always looks groovy on the ol' college application.

Mandatory WWII memes:

Historical soundtrack playlist week continues!
I am sorry I forgot to post yesterday. I am going to blame it on all the meds I'm on for this plague like illness I somehow contracted. So, since I dropped the ball, I owe TWO SONGS TODAY!
First up, a bit of a downer song. Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer". Not too hard figure out, but this song uses the voyage of Cortez as a metaphor for western exploitation of indigenous populations. It is a powerful, powerful song that has been covered by tons of artists including the Dave Matthews Band and Florence and the Machine.

Our second song is not that much more cheery, but it is much more uplifting. This is "Biko" by Peter Gabriel. It tells the story of Steven Biko who was imprisoned, tortured and killed for opposing the racist Apartheid government of South Africa (we'll talk more about this later this semester). Again, very powerful, very moving. As you'll see from the video, they later made a film of Biko's life starring Garafola's favorite actor, Denzel Washington. I recommend that film as well.