Introduction to the power of History

1. History changes
us

2. “History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”
David McCullough, American historian (1933- )
“History gives answers only to those who know how to ask questions.”
Hajo Holborn, German-American historian (1902-1969)
A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.”
Robert Heinlein, American author (1907-1988)
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana, American philosopher (1863-1952)
“If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything.”
Howard Zinn, American historian (1924-2010)
“Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.”
Confucius, Chinese teacher and philosopher (551-479 BC)

3. “The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had
thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even
who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”
Alan Bennett, English playwright (1934- )
“Study the historian before you begin to study the facts.”
Edward Hallett Carr, British historian (1892-1982)
“History is an aggregate of half-truths, semi-truths, fables, myths, rumours, prejudices, personal narratives, gossip and official
prevarications. It is a canvas upon which thousands of artists throughout the ages have splashed their conceptions and interpretations
of a day and an era.”
Philip D. Jordan, American historian (1903-1980)

4. The Syllabus
• RISE: Conditions in which authoritarian states emerged: economic factors;
social division; impact of war; weakness of political system
• RISE: Methods used to establish authoritarian states: persuasion and coercion;
the role of leaders; ideology; the use of force; propaganda
RULE:
• Use of legal methods; use of force; charismatic leadership; dissemination
of propaganda
• Nature, extent and treatment of opposition
• The impact of the success and/or failure of foreign policy on the maintenance of
power
• Aims and impact of domestic economic, political, cultural and social
policies
• The impact of policies on women and minorities
• Authoritarian control and the extent to which it was achieved

5. Why do I care?
Why should I care?

6. History teaches, guides, supports, improves us
Biggest lesson we can learn from history is what do we do in the midst of crisis,
what decisions can we make.
History won’t tell u the exact answer because every situation is different,
spontaneous but it will help you to develop the ability to think critically and find an
answer.
Its lessons from past crises and the choices of people will guide you in your
moment(s) of need.

7. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-
came-for-the-socialists
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was
not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I
was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not
a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller

8. Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent
Lutheran pastor in Germany. In the 1920s and
early 1930s, he sympathized with many Nazi
ideas and supported radically right-wing political
movements. But after Adolf Hitler came to power
in 1933, Niemöller became an outspoken critic
of Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church.
He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from
1937 to 1945, in Nazi prisons and concentration
camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered
for his postwar statement, which begins “First
they came for the socialists, and I did not speak
out…”

9. Elie Wiesel
The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must
never be a time when we fail to protest.
We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by
changing the world.

10. Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer,
professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust
survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and
English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a
Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald
concentration camps.In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary, thus
extending the Holocaust into Northern Transylvania as well.[a] Wiesel was 15, and
he, with his family, along with the rest of the town's Jewish population, was placed
in one of the two confinement ghettos set up in Máramarossziget (Sighet), the
town where he had been born and raised. In May 1944, the Hungarian authorities,
under German pressure, began to deport the Jewish community to the Auschwitz
concentration camp, where up to 90 percent of the people were murdered on
arrival.[17]
Immediately after they were sent to Auschwitz, his mother and his younger sister
were murdered.[17] Wiesel and his father were selected to perform labor so long as
they remained able-bodied, after which they were to be murdered in the gas
chambers. Wiesel and his father were later deported to the concentration camp at
Buchenwald. Until that transfer, he admitted to Oprah Winfrey, his primary
motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still
alive: "I knew that if I died, he would die."[18] After they were taken to Buchenwald,
his father died before the camp was liberated.[17] In Night,[19] Wiesel recalled the
shame he felt when he heard his father being beaten and was unable to help.[17][20]
Wiesel was tattooed with inmate number "A-7713" on his left arm.[21][22] The camp
was liberated by the U.S. Third Army on April 11, 1945, when they were just
prepared to be evacuated from Buchenwald.[23]

11. https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=k68tJJYjOTA

12. https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=scCvi3vY4jQ