The Helmuth Huebener Group

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#huebener

The Helmuth Huebener Group






Helmuth Huebener and his friends, Karl Heinz Schnibbe, Rudolf Wobbe and Gerhardt Duewer, were known as the Huebener group. They defied the Nazi regime by distributing leaflets to expose the lies and deceit of Nazi propaganda. This was viewed as a crime by Nazi authorities and was severely punished. Helmuth Huebener was seventeen years old when he was sentenced to death. Karl, Rudolf and Gerhardt were imprisoned and sent to forced labor camps in Russian and Poland.



From 1941 to 1943 they distributed their leaflets to working class sections of Hamburg, a busy industrial city, situated in northern Germany on the Elbe and Alster Rivers. Hamburg was Germany's second largest city and its biggest port.



Sons of working class families, Helmuth and Gerhardt were administrative apprentices in social administration. Karl-Heinz was apprenticed to a house painter and Rudi (Rudolf), the youngest member of the group, was a mechanic's apprentice. Full of youthful idealism and exuberance, the Huebener group may not have been fully aware of where their activities would take them.



"Come and visit me. I have something to show you", Helmuth told Karl at a meeting of young people at St. Georg's. Karl had no idea of what he would find when he arrived at the apartment later that night. It was dark and quiet in the apartment; Helmuth's grandparents were already asleep. Helmuth showed Karl a small radio. "The radio has short wave and we can listen to foreign broadcasts."



"Man are you nuts?" Karl said. "Don't you know that's illegal?" He was feeling nervous, knowing that listening to foreign broadcasts was strictly forbidden and severely punished.



"Hitler is making a lot of good things illegal. But we are not sheep, we don't have to obey all the crazy laws." Helmuth said, turning on the radio.



A feeble light illuminated the numbers on the short wave dial and they listened to the German language broadcast from the Britain. The broadcast contradicted all the boasts of German victories they were hearing every day.



"Do you realize that we are being told lies. They tell us that hundreds of Russian soldiers are being killed, but they don't mention how many German soldiers are also losing their lives".



"Think about it, Germany has no raw materials and is dependent on other countries. When the Allies will start to win, Germany will have nothing. Hitler is leading us to destruction. Don't you think people have the right to hear the truth".



The British had already begun to bomb Hamburg. After the broadcast, Helmuth showed Karl a leaflet he had written.



"I know you'll want to help me distribute these", he said handing the leaflet to Karl. Karl picked up the red paper and felt it burn his hand, He could not believe what he was reading.





Who is Lying ??????????????????

The official report of the German

High Command of the Armed Forces



Quite a while ago they claimed

The roads to Moscow, Kiev

and Leningrad were opened



And today-six weeks after

Germany's invasion of the USSR,

Severe battles are still occurring

Far from these places.

This is how they are lying to us!



"This is crazy", Karl said. "Don't you know how dangerous this is?"



"It's only dangerous if we are not careful and we will be careful. People need to be told the truth".



"But how is this going to help anybody?" Karl asked.



"What we can do is warn people and wake them up. When enough people hear the truth, who knows what can happen".



Karl was reluctant but he agreed to take seven leaflets. The streets were very dark because of the blackout. Britain had begun their bombing raids on Hamburg. Karl felt sick to his stomach with fear, and looked around him. When he was sure there was no one to see, he placed a leaflet in the telephone box at the entranceway of an apartment house. When he had gotten rid of all the leaflets, he let out a sigh of relief and dashed home as fast as he could.



Two policemen were on the street where Karl lived. Passing them he mumbled "Heil Hitler" and wished them a good evening.



"Where are you going so late?" one of the policeman asked.



"Oh, I was just visiting a friend", Karl answered in as strong a voice as he could muster.



"Well, good night then. Let's hope there will be no more air raids."



Opening the door to his apartment, he felt a wave of relief. He did not want to distribute any more leaflets. If Helmuth asked him at that moment to distribute more leaflets, he would turn him down. But the next morning he felt differently and told himself that he would be willing to do it now and again. If he were careful, nothing could go wrong. HE did not tell his mother what he had done.



Karl was to learn later that Rudi was involved. He did not know about Gerhardt until later. Helmuth tried to protect his friends by not telling them everything. At that time Karl did not know that Helmuth had already written and distributed short leaflets.



The President of the church knew about Helmuth's good stenographic and typing skills and asked him to type letters to soldiers on the front lines. He gave Helmuth a typewriter and access to paper. Helmuth typed his first leaflet on red paper so it would be noticed and made ten copies.





Down with Hitler.

People's Seducer

People's Corrupter

People's Traitor

Down with Hitler.



He put them in the telephone boxes of apartment buildings with the notice, "This is a chain letter, so pass it on." The first leaflets were very short and contained brief messages, but listening to the radio broadcasts gave him the idea of writing news reports. With carbon paper he typed seven or eight copies at a time. Realizing that if the information campaign was to be successful, he would need the help of his friends.

Helmuth, Karl and Rudi saw one another often at the church. Karl and Rudi looked up to Helmuth who often had answers to difficult questions. They knew he read a lot of books and knew a great deal about religion as well as history. Karl began to call Helmuth the "professor" because he seemed to know so much. On his part, Helmut trusted Karl and Rudi. They met regularly in the church and often went to a small restaurant afterwards. That is where they told one another about their experiences with the Nazi Youth.



The three boys were forced to join the Hitler Youth against their will. Strong individualists, they shared an intense dislike of Nazi Youth activities, the pressures to conform, the persecution of Jewish people, and the ugliness and sheer brutality of what they saw around them. Helmuth, Karl and Rudi came from religious families and much of what they saw around them contradicted their beliefs. Hamburg was a working class city with a strong tradition of Social Democracy and many Mormons were Social Democrats who had opposed Hitler. Helmuth thought that the Mormons who supported Hitler were mislead and misinformed like the President of St. Georg's who was a member of the Nazi party. Helmuth still had respect for the President and knew he was a good and caring man. He could not understand what made him have so much faith in Hitler.



Living in Hamburg, where there was still a strong belief in democracy, Helmuth, Karl and Rudi were skeptical and aware of the cruelties imposed by Hitler. Hamburg never went completely over to the Nazis like other German cities; the city had too many Social Democrats. Hamburg was a sprawling city with many bridges that cross the rivers and canals. Nazi patrols were everywhere. Whenever a flag patrol came along, everyone was expected to stop and raise his or her hands in salute. Helmuth avoided the patrols and when he saw them coming, he would turn and walk the other way. From the corner of his eye, he could see that there were other people managed to avoid saluting too.



As teen aged boys, Helmuth, Karl and Rudi lived with their families. Helmuth's mother worked as a nurse and when she married for the second time, Helmuth moved in with his grandparents. He was not happy with his new stepfather who was avid Nazi. Rudi lived with his widowed mother, who had strong religious beliefs and encouraged Rudi to be respectful of other people. Their family doctor was Jewish and she refused to find another doctor, even after people were warned not to go to Jewish physicians. Karl's parents were social democrats.



One evening when Helmuth, Karl and Rudi were walking home from church they defiantly began to sing American songs. They heard the loud voice of a Nazi Youth Patrol ordering them to stop.



"How dare you sing English songs?" the Nazi Youth demanded to see their identification papers and warned them never to sing English songs again.



Helmuth remarked, "Have you noticed that that our country is being run by threats and brutal force".



"Everywhere you go you see signs that say "Forbidden", Forbidden on pain of death" "Not permitted" "What kind of country is this, anyway?" Karl added.



"This country is headed for destruction," Helmuth said in a soft voice.



As young men, the four boys were forced to become members of the Hitler Youth. Helmuth detested the boring meetings, the constant saluting to Hitler, and he avoided going to the meetings. Karl also did not want to go but his father cautioned him that it was dangerous not to attend the meetings and he went against his will, but he refused to wear the uniform and was expelled. Rudi stopped going to meetings after Nazi Youth patrol tried to stop him, because he did not salute. Angrily, Rudi drove his bicycle into one of the members of the patrol, knocking him down. He rode quickly away. That was the last time he had anything to do with the Nazi Youth.



The persecution of Jewish people was deeply disturbing to the boys. It was senseless, cruel and tragic. They saw first hand the increasing brutality and the beatings.



They had Jewish friends who were disappearing. As a painter's apprentice, Karl-



Heinz worked in the neighborhood where many Jewish people lived. He had just become a painter's apprentice, when he saw the shattered windows of shops owned by Jewish people. Clothing and other goods were lying in the gutter. Until that night in 1938, that became known as Crystal Night (Krystallnacht), no one thought the Nazis would do go to such violent extremes. The day he saw an old man being brutally beaten by a policeman, he knew he hated everything the Nazis stood for. Rudi remembered the horrified look on his mother's face when she told him that their family physician had been arrested and sent away.



Helmuth brought a packet of letters he had typed for the president of St. Georg's and saw the sign on the door forbidding Jews to enter. He wanted to tear the sign down. Soon after, the President asked that a radio be brought into the church so everyone could listen to Hitler's speeches. Karl's father who told the President "This is a church of God not a political meeting" and the President relented.



Helmuth discovered that Nazi spies monitored the meetings at the church. One evening Helmuth saw a few Nazi youth enter the church and recognized them. Afraid they had come to make a disturbance, he confronted them. "What are you doing here, You boys are not interested in our church services". He was surprised that the Nazi Youth left quietly. But it was becoming obvious that people were becoming increasingly fearful, there were very few outspoken objections to Nazi policies.



After he distributed his first seven leaflets, Karl saw Helmuth at church on Sunday." Well how's it going? Helmuth asked laughing. If I know you, I know you did everything perfectly". Both of them were laughing so hard, that Rudi came up and asked what was so funny. Rudi was two years younger than Karl. He had no idea that Helmuth had already spoken to Rudi. Helmuth invited them both to come to his apartment. The best nights for listening to the broadcasts together were Friday or Saturday nights. Karl's' mother allowed him to stay out later those nights; during the week he went to church with his parents. The boys met again on the following Saturday and Helmuth told described his plan. He wanted to conduct a full fledged informational resistance.



"What do you mean?" Karl asked.



"I mean that the leaflets should report the news we hear from the British. People



have a right to know the truth".



"You don't think that the three of us can overthrow the government do you?" Karl took a deep breath. Helmuth was surely going to get them all in trouble.



"No, but we can keep people informed and show them that there is opposition. They will begin to talk to one another and who knows what will happen"



"I'll have to think about it," Karl said.



Rudi was also hesitant.



"Most people do not have short wave radios, unless we tell them what is happening, how else will they know?" Helmuth insisted.



Everyone was quiet, then Rudi said, "OK I'll help you." Helmuth went into the next room and returned with a pile of papers. He showed them his shorthand notes of the broadcasts and explained how he would prepare the leaflets. Both Karl and Rudi had already seen the shorter handbills. This was the first letter sized leaflet that described the brutal treatment given to Russian prisoners of war.



"Who else knows about these leaflets?" Karl asked.



"No one, only us" but Helmuth told them he planned to ask Gerhardt, his friend at work. The boys agreed not to mention the leaflets to anyone and if one of them was caught, they agreed he should take the blame.



When there was a new leaflet to distribute, Helmuth announced to Karl and Rudi, "Isn't it time for us to get together to do something?" That was the signal that more leaflets were ready for distribution. At first there was a new leaflet every other week and then every week. Sometimes there were two in a week. Helmuth even got hold of a stamp with an eagle and a swastika and made the leaflets look like the Nazis made them. Gerhardt joined the group and the boys were assigned different neighborhoods. They were distributing about sixty leaflets at a time.



Wandering about the darkened city, they were careful not to be seen as they tacked the leaflets to the bulletin boards in the entranceways of the apartment buildings.



Crossing over the bridges, they went all around Hamburg and got to know which times were the safest to put up the leaflets. When there were air raids, they went to the air raid shelters, but they resumed their work as soon as the all clear sounded. It was tense work, because they never knew when they would be seen or reported. Rudi was less careful than Helmuth or Karl and kept his leaflets in a secret hiding place behind a strip of wallpaper that had become loose. This was like a pocket and when he was ready to leave work, he took leaflets out and distributed them on his way home. He did not always until dark.



Karl almost got into trouble when he was chatting with friends in a nearby café and showed them a leaflet. They were shocked and scolded him. Grinning, Karl told them it was a joke and put the leaflet away. From then on, he did not take any more chances.



For almost two years, Helmuth, Karl, Rudi and Gerhardt distributed the leaflets to apartment buildings all over the city. People were getting desperate as the bombings intensified. There was rubble and bombed out buildings everywhere. And the Nazi patrols were always on guard. But no one was caught.



There were many French prisoners of war working in the factories of Hamburg decided to have one of the leaflets translated into French. Helmuth knew an apprentice who spoke French and before he had a chance to discuss the idea with his friends, he showed the leaflet to the apprentice and asked him to translate it. The apprentice read the leaflet and threw it back at Helmuth. He reported him to the Gestapo that very afternoon in February 1943.



A notice was posted at the church announcing Helmuth's arrest.



Karl felt sick, he knew he and Rudi would soon be arrested too. The boys had agreed that if one was arrested, he would take the blame and not involve the others. But the following Monday a green paddy wagon, the "Green Minna" came for Karl. There were 20 or 30 other prisoners in the wagon. They were taken to the prison.



The prison guards were sadistic individuals and never missed an opportunity to humiliate a prisoner. The Gestapo wanted the prisoners to feel less than human and they let the prisoners know they could do whatever they wanted. Karl steeled himself to become callous and ignore the cruel comments. He knew that if he let himself care too much, he would go to pieces. He tried to concentrate on something else to be able to stand the long waits and the intense fear; he tried thinking about visits to his aunt in the country.




The prisoners had to wake up at 5 in the morning. They had to make their beds perfectly or they would be punished. A Dutch prisoner showed Karl how to make his bed. Breakfast was a thin crust of bread and ersatz coffee. After breakfast the prisoners were manacled together and taken back to the Green Minna to Gestapo headquarters. The prisoners included physicians, scientists, teachers as well as workers, it didn't matter, everyone was treated the same.



When Karl saw Helmuth a few days later, he was shocked at the black and blue marks on his face. But Helmuth managed to wink at him and even grin. During the long waits before they were questioned by the Gestapo and wondered where Helmuth was. "A member of our branch Helmuth Huebener has been arrested by the Gestapo. I cannot give you any details to the Frenchmen who were working in Germany.



Helmuth Huebener was seventeen years old when he was executed. He was the youngest resistance fighter to lose his life in Ploetzensee, the infamous Nazi center of death. The other members of the group were imprisoned and sent to forced labor camps in Poland and Russia.





When Truth was Treason: German Youth Against Hitler, The Story of the Helmuth Huebener Group based on the narrative of Karl Heinz Schnibbe with documents and notes, compiled by Blair R. Holmes & Alan F. Keele U. of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1995

Jacques Lusseyran II

In 1943, the work of the "Volunteers of Liberty" caught the attention of the "Defense de la France"; an official Resistance group connected with Charles deGaulle and the Free French forces. The "Defense de la France" had more funds, its own print shop, trucks disguised as delivery wagons, an organized editorial board, a radio transmitter and a channel to the deGaulle government in London. The "Defense de la France" had everything the Volunteers lacked.




When Jacques was contacted by a leader of Defense de la France, he agreed to meet with him. Accompanied by Georges, they met Phillipe, the leader in the back room of a small restaurant. Jacques immediately liked the relaxed manner of the big man with the warm friendly voice, calm manner and keen sense of humor. Phillipe had solutions to difficult problems and talked of the advantages of merging the "Volunteers of Liberty" with the Defense de la France". Their main task would continue to be the distribution of a secret newspaper. "Le Tigres" was to become a real newspaper called "Defense de la France.



The "Volunteers" merged with the "Defense" and for the next six months, Jacques and Georges met with Philippe every day. They planned a complicated system of drop-offs, mailboxes and hidden communication and both Jacques and Georges became members of the executive committee.



As part of a major group, Jacques no longer felt alone or isolated, but he found the work to be harder and more demanding, One hundred thousand copies of "Defense de la France" a two page newspaper were to be printed and distributed all over France. Every article was carefully reviewed for its power to impress readers and make them aware that there was an active French resistance. The paper was filled with articles telling people of the brutal treatment and torture of arrested resistors, the slaughter of Jews in the death camps and appealing for

passive resistance to Nazi orders.



On February 16, 1942 the Nazi government issued the order, demanding that all young Frenchmen over 21 years be sent to Germany as forced labor. Thousands of young men were sent to Germany, the only exceptions were students and heads of families. The order strengthened the Resistance movement and the "Defense de la France" grew. Eighty young people, including Georges became professional underground operators. Francois was placed in charge of resistance in Brittany.



The members of the "Defense de la France" were young men and women who carried the secret to all parts of France at the risk of their lives. Georges and Jacques were responsible for the distribution of the newspaper in Paris. The two friends agreed that if one were arrested, the other would carry on the work.



The office where the newspaper was printed came under Gestapo suspicion and for three days, everyone who came out of the office was followed. The young people working with Jacques learned how to avoid being followed, they would go into a bakery and leave by the back door, board a subway train and exit at the next stop. They led the spies down false trails, while the equipment was packed up in small trucks with signs, "fragile" "meteorological" or "optical" equipment" were pasted on the outside of the trucks and a new print shop was prepared and the distribution of "Defense de la France" was resumed.



The government of Free France, established in Algiers, asked resistance groups to coordinate their efforts as much as possible. Jacques met with leaders of other groups including the famous writer, Albert Camus, who worked for the group called "Combat ". The work was dangerous; the students could be betrayed at any time. Still in charge

of recruitment, Jacques was taken by surprise a young man named Elio, who came to his home without prior notification.



The group was looking for someone to coordinate the distribution of the newspaper to the industrial and mining communities in the north and Elio, a native of the north was willing to give up his studies to devote himself full time to the resistance movement. Elio had good recommendations, but something about him aroused Jacques' suspicions. His heavy handshake and low voice lacked honesty and conviction and Jacques did not trust him. Phillipe said they could not afford to be too cautious and against his better judgment, Jacques reluctantly agreed and Elio joined "Defense de la France, " went to the city of Lille in the north and established a network for the distribution of the newspaper.



Thousands copies of "Defense de la France" were being distributed throughout France. Jacques and Georges were busy with distribution activities in Paris until the morning in July 1943 when two officers and four armed soldiers knocked on the door of the apartment in the Boulevard Port Royal. Heading straight for Jacques' rooms, they sent his Braille papers flying. Jacques worried that his parents would be arrested too. They knew of his activities and never did anything to discourage him. He felt relieved that he was the only one arrested.



At Gestapo headquarters, Jacques discovered that the Nazis had a record of every one of his activities from the day Elio joined "Defense de la France". When they took him to the Fresnes prison, his suspicions were confirmed. It was a mass betrayal; every one of his friends except Philippe had been arrested.



He was taken from Fresnes to Gestapo headquarters 38 times, he was threatened with death, beaten, and questioned from 7 o'clock in the morning to 7 o'clock, but he was resolute and determined not to give them any information. In July, he was sent to Buchenwald. Starved and sickly, Jacques tried to keep up his spirits and those of his friends. Knowing German and Italian, he even translated for other prisoners.



The United States Third Army liberated Buchenwald in April 1945. Jacques was one of thirty survivors of the 2,000 people who were arrested at the same time he was. He and Phillipe were the only leaders of the "Defense de la France" to survive the war. The newspaper of the "Defense de la France became the "France Soir", one of the most important daily newspapers in France.



Jacques returned to the university and his studies and his fight to be admitted to the Ecole Normale Superieur. Finally admitted to the elite school, graduated and took a teaching position in Paris. In the 1950's he moved to the United States and taught Literature at Western Reserve University and the University of Hawaii. He was tragically

killed in a tragic automobile accident when he was only 47 years of age.

Jacques Lusseyran

Jacques Lusseyran
Faces of Courage: Young Heroes of World War II.


http://www.dogpile.com/search/web?fcoid=417&fcop=topnav&fpid=27&q=Jacques+Lusseyran&ql=

Sally M. Rogow.

Vancouver, BC: Granville Island Publishing, 2003.

162 pp., pbk., $16.95.

ISBN 1-894694-20-1.



Subject Headings:

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)-Juvenile literature.

World War, 1939-1945-Jews-Rescue-Juvenile literature.

Jewish children in the Holocaust-Juvenile literature.

Teenagers-Europe-Biography-Juvenile literature.



Grades 6-10 / Ages 11-15.



Review by Harriet Zaidman.



** /4













excerpt:





The following Monday, Karl was arrested and put in a green paddy wagon with twenty other prisoners. Rudi and Gerhardt were arrested a few days later. They were in the same jail, but they were not allowed to see one another. Despite the rough treatment and the cruelty of the guards, not one of them betrayed the others.?



Helmuth stood up in the courtroom. “You have sentenced me to die, even though I have committed no crime. But I must tell you that your turn will come. Germany will lose the war.” Karl was amazed at his courage.



Everyone was silent as the four boys were led out of the courtroom. Karl, Rudi and Gerhardt were sent to slave labor camps in Poland and Russia. Helmuth Heubner was seventeen years old when he was executed by guillotine. He was the youngest resistance fighter to lose his life in Ploetzensee, the infamous Nazi center of death. (Pp.131-132).





Personal stories of resistance and sacrifice inspire young adults. Teens think about how they, themselves, would react to situations of stress, war, terror and other abnormal situations; role models put their imaginings into concrete perspective. Faces of Courage is a collection of short stories about resisters in World War II. Three of the stories are based on accounts of real people; nine are based on accounts of how many people, young and old, acted under the Nazis including Jews, Christians, Gypsies (Rom) and the disabled. The smallest act of resistance was punishable by death, and many died because they dared to defy barbarism. Whether the story is an actual account or not, the example set by the ordinary heroes of these stories is inspiring. It’s hard to distinguish between the stories that are true and those that are not. The postscripts to the fictional accounts are as sad and plausible as those of the true stories.



But each shines the light on young individuals or groups whose humanity overcame their fear of tyranny and death. It’s almost unimaginable that people procured printing machines to produce anti Nazi leaflets and newspapers and then distributed them clandestinely, but brave souls knew that their countrymen needed a banner under which to rally. Individuals acted alone or combined secretly to help others by hiding them, feeding them, guiding them to safety. Disguising the truth and lying became polished skills to prevent information from leaking out when neighbours or family could not be trusted. People displayed bravery that they never would have shown in other times, their courage a testament to their fundamental convictions of brotherhood and opposition to racism and brutality.



“I’ve come to deliver your chickens,” he said to the man who opened the door.



The man nodded. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said and took the chickens. Yojo went back to the wagon, brushed the hay to one side and lifted the blankets. The pilots shivered as they climbed out of the wagon. Their clothes were wet. Fred turned to Yojo, grabbed his hand, shook it and made a victory sign.



Inside the house, a woman gave them towels and dry clothes. After a dinner of spicy stew and bread, the man in charge of the safe house spoke to the pilots in English. He took their pictures for fake French identity cards....Yojo and the pilots were also given thick woolen socks, sweaters and climbing boots with heavy spiked soles. (p.72)





Enough praise can never be awarded to those who resisted the Nazi terror, and that’s why this book will be part of the growing body of literature that reminds us about these brave people. Faces of Courage can be used as part of a classroom unit about the World War II and the Holocaust. The writing style is occasionally too earnest and the dialogue slightly artificial, but teens will ignore these faults because the content will touch their souls. Each story can be used as a starting point for historical research and discussion. The cover of the book shows three youths standing in a village square, defiantly facing Nazi soldiers. The pen and watercolour sketch is not appealing, considering the high level of illustration that is being produced these days. The rough quality of the drawing chosen seems inadequate to the material. A woman and girl who stand at the bottom of the sketch have a more modern appearance than one would expect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lusseyran
Jacques Lusseyran From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search Jacques Lusseyran (1924-1971) was a blind French author and political activist.




Lusseyran was born on September 19th, 1924, in Paris, France. He became totally blind in a school accident at the age of 8. He soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships, particularly with one boy named Jean. At a young age he became alarmed at the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and decided to learn the German language so that he could listen to German radio broadcasts. By 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, he had accomplished this task. Germany invaded France in 1940. In the spring of 1941, at the age of 17, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with 52 other boys. He was put in charge of recruitment. The group later merged with another Resistance group called Défense de la France. In July 1943 he organized and participated in a campaign to drop pro-resistance leaflets on trains, and claimed to carry tear gas canisters to stop people from interfering, though he never used them.



On July 20, 1943, Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a member of his resistance group. His knowledge of German helped him understand more of the situation than most French prisoners. He was sent to Buchenwald with 2000 other French citizens, where, because he was blind, he did not have to participate in forced labor as most other prisoners did. Soon most of his childhood friends and fellow resistance operatives were arrested, and he met some of them in the concentration camp. Lusseyran helped to motivate a spirit of resistance within the camp, particularly within the French and German prisoners.



In April 1945, he was liberated, surviving German massacres of the concentration camps in which some of his friends were killed. Many of his friends had died during the course of the war, including Jean. After the war, Lusseyran taught French literature in the United States and wrote books, including the autobiographical And There Was Light, which chronicles the first 20 years of his life. He died together with his third wife Marie in a car accident in France on July 27, 1971. He is survived by his four children.



[edit] BooksAgainst the Pollution of the I: selected writings of Jacques Lusseyran. New York, NY: Parabola Books, 1999. ISBN 0-930407-46-6.

And There Was Light: autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, blind hero of the French Resistance. New York, NY: Parabola Books, 1998. ISBN 0-930407-40-7.

[edit] External linksStories of the teenage resistance
_________________________________________________________________________
http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm
 
Lesson Plan
 
Lesson Plan for


Faces of Courage: Teenagers Who Resisted

by

Sally Rogow, Ed.D.



Objectives:



Develop an understanding the importance of resistance in the face of oppression.

Develop an understanding of discrimination and exclusion.

Recognition of the many young people who bravely resisted the Nazis and who risked their own lives to rescue others.



Teaching Strategy:



Edelweiss Pirates and Annaliese



Present and discuss the enormous pressures imposed on German young people to conform to Nazi doctrine.

Discuss the issue of bullying and why it was so common in Nazi Youth groups for conformity.

Discuss the differences in Nazi attitudes towards girls and boys and the pressures on young German girls to conform.

Discuss how the Nazis violated the rights of their own people with their policies.

Discuss how racial propaganda was used to perpetuate the idea of "Aryan" superiority.

Louise and Jacob



Discuss what life was like in hiding with no adults to provide food or shelter?

Discuss the importance of personal identity in survival. How did these young people maintain their Jewish identity?

Discuss the realities of hiding and the importance of being part of a group.

Discuss how the Nazis used the men of the occupied countries as laborers in Germany and other occupied lands.

Discuss how Jacob's determination in a hostile environment helped him to survive.

Jacques Lusseyran and Jean:



Discuss the difficulties of organizing effective resistance in France in World War II.

Present information about French collaboration with the Nazis.

Present and discuss what the Nazi occupation meant for the people in Paris.

Karl and Noni:



Present background information.

Nazi racial and genetic theories made outcasts of young people with disabilities. Thousands were murdered by starvation, poisoning and gassing in Germany's psychiatric hospitals and institutions in which many people with disabilities were forced to live. Use your judgement in describing the euthanasia program.





Discuss attitudes towards people with disabilities and how exclusion and discrimination isolates people with disabilities.

Yojo



Discuss the reasons why Gypsies were persecuted by the Nazis.

Explore the role of Gypsies in the Resistance movement.

Explore the reasons why so little attention is being given to the persecution of the Gypsies by the Nazis.

Maria



Explore the importance of the Greek Resistance.

Discuss the status of women in Greek society.

Explore Nazi attitudes towards the Greek people.

Explore the role of young people in the Greek resistance.

Kirsten



Explore how the rescue of the Jews helps to mobilize the Danish resistance.

Explore the reasons for the determination of the Danish people to rescue the Jewish population.

Discuss the role of the Danish church and government leaders in the rescue of Jewish people.



Questions for Discussion:



Why was it so difficult to organize resistance during the Nazi occupation?

Why were bullies so dominant in Nazi Youth groups?

Why did the French government collaborate with the Nazis?

Why do you think everyone knew about the American pilot in the small French farming village?

Why were the families of children and young people with disabilities so powerless during the Nazi era in Germany?

Do you think attitudes have changed towards people with disabilities?

What is the importance of learning about rescuers and resistors?

Are these stories relevant to changing attitudes about people with disabilities?

Why is so little known about resistance groups in Germany?.

Terms



"Euthanasia", defined as "Mercy killing"..It was the euphemism for the mass murder of thousands of people with disabilities in Nazi Germany.





Thinking skills

Comprehension of the nature of discrimination based on race, religion or physical or mental disability or difference.

Understanding of the plight of resistors in Germany and countries occupied by the Nazis.

Understanding the risks of joining organized resistance groups.

References:



Dornblaser, Irene L. Land That I Love: The Escape of a Nazi Youth. Columbus, Ohio, Warthurg Press, 194



Hoffman, Peter, The History of the German Resistance. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.1988.



Lusseyran, Jacques, And There was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind hero of the French Resistance. New York, Little Brown and Co. 1963.



Perrault,G. and Azema, P. Paris Under the Occupation. New York City:The Vendome Press, 1989



Peukert, D. (1987) Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in Everyday Life. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.



Rings, W. Life With The Enemy: Collaboration and Resistance in Hitler's Europe 1939-1945, 1982. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1092



Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, Isabel Fonseca. Vintage Books, Division of Random House, NY, 1995.



Gypsies of the World: A Journey into the Hidden World of Gypsy Life and Culture, Neboojsa Bato Tomasevic and Raijko Djuric, NY Henry Holt. 1988



Crossing, Jan Yoors, NY Simon and Shuster, 1971



Gypsies An Illustrated History, Jean Pierre Ligeois, Al Saqi Books, London, England, 1986



Harrington, Lyn, Greece & The Greeks, Thomas Nelson, New York, 1962

Hart, Janet, New Voices in the Nation: Women and the Greek Resistacne, 1941-1964. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1996



Darkness Over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of Jews, by Ellen Levine, Holiday House, New York, 2000

The Rescue of the Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress, Leo Goldberger,(Ed.) NY: NYU Press.1987







Faces of Courage:Teenagers Who Resisted

Jacques Lusseyran




Jacques Lusseyran was only seventeen years old when he organized the "Volunteers of Liberty" (Voluntaires de la Liberte) an underground resistance group of university and secondary school students. The "Volunteers" became part of the "Defense de la France", a major underground resistance network affiliated with Charles De Gaulle and the free French government. The Germans occupied Paris from June 14, 1940 until August 25, 1944.



Blinded in an accident when he was eight years old, Lusseyran was a brilliant student and courageous leader who led a double life as resistance fighter and brilliant student until his arrest by the Gestapo and internment at the Buchenwald concentration camp.



The story of Jacques Lusseyran is based on historical accounts of the French resistance and his own autobiography.



Jacques and his family were living in Toulouse when the German army marched up the Champs Elysee, took over the center of the city and threw Paris into chaos. Thousands of people crowded the roads trying to leave and those who remained were relieved that there was no destruction, bombing or shooting. Jacques' father, an engineer, was ordered to return to Paris in September 1940.



The family settled in an apartment on the Boulevard Port-Royal in the Latin Quarter, a part of the city known for centuries as the place where poets, writers, and artists lived, worked and met with one another in the cafes that lined the streets. After the Nazi occupation, the city was wrapped in a silence, broken only by the ringing of the church bells. The familiar sounds of automobiles, buses and trucks had vanished along with the lively chatter that made the streets of Paris so lively. The silence made the streets seem wider and the houses taller.

Jacques Lusseyran

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#jacques


Jacques Lusseyran was only seventeen years old when he organized the "Volunteers of Liberty" (Voluntaires de la Liberte) an underground resistance group of university and secondary school students. The "Volunteers" became part of the "Defense de la France", a major underground resistance network affiliated with Charles De Gaulle and the free French government. The Germans occupied Paris from June 14, 1940 until August 25, 1944.



Blinded in an accident when he was eight years old, Lusseyran was a brilliant student and courageous leader who led a double life as resistance fighter and brilliant student until his arrest by the Gestapo and internment at the Buchenwald concentration camp.



The story of Jacques Lusseyran is based on historical accounts of the French resistance and his own autobiography.



Jacques and his family were living in Toulouse when the German army marched up the Champs Elysee, took over the center of the city and threw Paris into chaos. Thousands of people crowded the roads trying to leave and those who remained were relieved that there was no destruction, bombing or shooting. Jacques' father, an engineer, was ordered to return to Paris in September 1940.



The family settled in an apartment on the Boulevard Port-Royal in the Latin Quarter, a part of the city known for centuries as the place where poets, writers, and artists lived, worked and met with one another in the cafes that lined the streets. After the Nazi occupation, the city was wrapped in a silence, broken only by the ringing of the church bells. The familiar sounds of automobiles, buses and trucks had vanished along with the lively chatter that made the streets of Paris so lively. The silence made the streets seem wider and the houses taller.



Ever since he lost his sight in an accident when he was eight years old, Jacques relied on sounds to bring him information and create images in his mind. Without sight, Jacques learned to concentrate his attention to sounds, touch and smell. His family encouraged his independence and never isolated him. He mastered Braille reading and

writing in six weeks and returned to his school his friends. When his family lived in Toulouse, he was as much at home on country roads and mountain hikes as he was on the streets of Paris.



Life in Paris in the autumn of 1940 had become a struggle; food shortages forced housewives to stand in lines for hours waiting to purchase their share of the meager food supplies. The fuel shortage caused constant cold and Paris clocks were turned to Berlin time. Logic seemed to have vanished along with the hustle and bustle of the streets.



No one was talking about the occupation. People turned away from one another when the words "Nazi" "Gestapo", "torture" or "killings" were mentioned. Jacques wondered if people were simply afraid to talk or

afraid to face the reality of the occupation. But like other boys, he was eager to get on with his life. Blind students were required to take a special exam to prove they could keep up with their studies A good student and well prepared, Jacques passed the exam and was accepted to the Louis Le Grand Lycee, a well known secondary school in the Latin Quarter. Impatient to begin his studies he had to wait a month before the lycee opened. The new fascist government had closed all the schools in Paris.



Jacques spent his time rediscovering the Paris streets with his friends, Jean and Francois. His parents gave him the two small rooms in the back of their apartment. A long corridor separated the rooms and this gave Jacques the privacy he needed to study and meet with his friends. Jacques arranged his furniture and stacked his Braille books

neatly against the walls.



The school opened in October and school life resumed in a normal fashion, in spite of the new rules imposed by a government eager to conform to Nazi ideology. The principal read announcements from Marshall Petain and other government officials over the loudspeaker.

Jacques walked to the lycee with Jean and Francois every morning, and could never understand why he attracted so much attention. Groups of other boys seemed always to be trailing behind him and when he reached the school, the concierge greeted Jacques by shouting, "It's the Lusseyran parade".




Enrolled in philosophy, psychology and history classes, Jacques found his history class to be the most interesting. His history teacher commanded Jacques' attention with his rapid speech and warm resonant voice. He told class about the war and Hitler's ambitions. One by one, the Germans occupied Austria, France, Holland, Denmark and Norway. Hitler's plan was to make all of Europe subservient to Germany and 85% of the agricultural and industrial production of France was being sent to Germany.



Incidents of Nazi brutality were becoming more and more obvious and they were happening to people Jacques knew. Francois was almost in tears as he told Jacques of Mr. Weissberg's arrest. Weissberg was Francois' good friend and tutor and when he arrived for his weekly biology lesson, Weissberg's rooms were empty. The concierge told Francois that the Gestapo had arrested Weissberg that morning. Weissberg was Jewish. Soon after Jacques heard about other Jewish friends who were taken away by the Gestapo.



The French police were acting like Nazis, there were book burnings, arrests and racial laws. Paris newspapers were censored and carried only German news. Some boys at Louis Le Grand joined Nazi youth clubs and boasted that the Nazis were good for France. Jacques' school was closed for a month after a demonstration by university and lycee students. Twenty students were shot and killed.



It was freezing cold in his little room; Jacques felt his fingers stiffening and had to stop reading. The frightening events that were happening around him dominated his thoughts; something had to be done to arouse the conscience of the French people. The idea of forming a resistance group of young students took shape in his mind.



Knowing his friends as well as he did, Jacques was not surprised that Jean and Francois readily agreed and they began to organize a resistance group made up students from Louis le Grand and the university. In school the next say, they spoke with trusted classmates.



A few days later, ten boys crowded into Jacques' room, and the next week 52 boys showed up. The student resistance group called the "Volunteers of Liberty" became a reality.



From now on there was to be no turning back and no giving in to fear. Jacques warned the boys to say nothing about the meeting, even to their families. Gossip was dangerous and would give them away. No more than three boys would meet with one another at any one time. A Central Committee was formed to keep the students in touch with one another. Their task was to inform the French people about the brutality of Gestapo arrests, the persecutions and torture of captured resistance fighters and the arrests of Jewish people. News of the War was to be gathered by listening to forbidden radio broadcasts from England and Switzerland. The "Volunteers of Liberty" planned to write and circulate a secret paper that they called "Le Tigres". Before they could begin, more students had to be recruited.

Jacques was elected to the Central Committee and went to the first secret meeting with Francois. The meeting was held in an old apartment house in a working class section of the city, the old building was chosen because there were always people coming in and going out and the arrival of strangers was not likely to arouse suspicion. Jacques was to be responsible for interviewing everyone who wanted to become a "Volunteer". The other boys trusted his ability to judge people.




The "Volunteers" sent word out about the secret resistance group to the lycees and university. Students who wanted to join were watched for several days or sometimes weeks by one of the original 52 members. Those who were considered trustworthy were told "to visit the blind man."



Jacques conducted the interviews in his rooms. Two short rings and one long ring of the doorbell told him that a perspective volunteer had arrived. The rules were strict. No one was interviewed if he was not expected or did not appear within five minutes of the specified time. No one was given Jacques' name. Forced to rely on his instincts, Jacques knew he was not infallible and was constantly on guard. It was too easy to be trapped by an informer or spy. He planned the interviews carefully and discussed nothing of importance for the first 10 minutes. Sometimes he conducted the interview in the dark because he forgot to turn on the light.



Taking his time, Jacques listened intently to the words and the silences. Elaborate explanations and well-rehearsed speeches aroused his suspicions. He knew they covered lies and deceit. He also knew that anger was a difficult emotion to disguise. If Jacques considered a boy trustworthy, he gave his name to the Central Committee and he was admitted to the "Volunteers of Liberty". At first, only young students between 17 and 19 appeared, but after a few weeks, older students from the university began coming. Jacques interviewed 600 young men in less than a year



The Volunteers did not think of themselves as a professional group, they were simply young students eager to liberate their country from the terror of Nazism. They wrote, mimeographed and distributed their bulletin, "Le Tigres", to houses all over Paris. One boy watched the exits while the other went from floor to floor, carrying his shoes in his hands and slipping the paper under doors.



The French government no less than the German characterized the Resistance as a gang of terrorists. Denouncing them was seen as a civic duty, for which informers received money. Jacques and the other leaders were aware of the dangers; resistors who were caught were arrested and punished severely. It was also disappointing that so few of Jacques' classmates were willing to join the Volunteers, only 6 boys of the 90 enrolled in the elite classes at Louis Le Grand joined. In every class, there were 2 or 3 boys willing to report them to the police. Some of the

teachers were also Nazi collaborators and they had to be careful never to talk about their activities at school. There were many narrow escapes.



Surveys, discussions, choosing articles for the bulletin and frequent Central Committee meetings kept Jacques busy. Meetings were never held in the same place. Always by Francois or Jean, Jacques traveled on the routes set up for safety. Schoolwork occupied his daytime hours, but at 5 PM, Jacques became a resistance fighter and

sometimes did not return home until 11 PM.



Keeping up his grades while devoting so much time to the "Volunteers" took all his energy, but he succeeded and graduated from Louis Le Grand in the Spring of 1941. He enrolled at the University and planned to take the special exam to qualify for "Ecole Normale Superieur", the highest institution in the French educational system. The Vichy government and its Nazi racial laws, declaring students with disabilities to be ineligible, dashed his hopes Disappointed and angry, Jacques wanted to fight the ruling, but he knew that he would put the "Volunteers" in jeopardy by calling attention to himself, so he put his ambitions aside and decided not to appeal the ruling.

Sophocles

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sophocles.aspx
"Sophocles." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved May 19, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404706059.html


Sophocles

Further Reading


The bibliography on Sophocles is extensive, and in recent years some very stimulating and imaginative interpretations have appeared. Among the most significant works are C.M. Bowra, Sophoclean Tragedy (1944); Robert F. Goheen, The Imagery of Sophocles' Antigone (1951); Cedric H. Whitman, Sophocles: A Study of Heroic Humanism (1951); Sinclair M. Adams, Sophocles the Playwright (1957); Bernard M.W. Knox, Oedipus at Thebes (1957); George M. Kirkwood, A Study of Sophoclean Drama (1958); H.D.F. Kitto, Sophocles, Dramatist and Philosopher (1958); and Michael J. O'Brien, ed., Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex (1968). □


The Greek tragedian Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) ranks foremost among Greek classical dramatists and has been called the poet of Greek humanism par excellence.



The son of Sophilus, a well-to-do industrialist, Sophocles was born in Colonus near Athens and grew up in the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens. Nothing concrete is known about his education, though it is known that he had a reputation for learning and esthetic taste. He was well versed in Homer and the Greek lyric poets, and because of his industriousness he was known as the "Attic Bee." His music teacher was a great man of the old school, Lamprus. Tradition says that because of his beauty and talent Sophocles was chosen to lead the male chorus at the celebration of the Greek victory at Salamis.



In 468 B.C., at age 28, Sophocles defeated Aeschylus in one of the drama contests that were then fashionable. During the remainder of his career he never won less than second prize and gained first prize more than any other Greek tragedian. He was also known for his amiability and sociability which epitomized the ideal Athenian gentleman (kaloskagathos). In public life he distinguished himself as a man of affairs. In 443-442 he held the post of Hellenotamias, or imperial treasurer, and was elected general at least twice. His religious activities included service as priest of the healing divinity, and he turned over his house for the worship of Asclepius until a proper temple could be built. For this he was honored with the title Dexion as a hero after his death. He is reported to have written a paean in honor of Asclepius. Sophocles had two sons, lophon and Sophocles, by his first wife, Nicostrata, and he had a third son, Ariston, by his second wife, Theoris.

Style and Contributions to Theater


Of approximately 125 tragedies that Sophocles is said to have written, only 7 have survived. Since we have but a fraction of the plays he wrote, general comments on Sophoclean drama are based on the extant plays. However, Plutarch tells us that there were three periods in Sophocles's literary development: imitation of the grand style of Aeschylus, use of artificial and incisive style, and use of the best style and that which is most expressive of character. It is only from the third period that we have examples.



It is often asserted that Sophocles found tragedy up in the clouds and brought it down to earth. For Aeschylus, myth was an important vehicle for ideas, for highlighting man's relation to the gods. Sophocles dealt with men and showed how a character reacts under stress. The tragedy of Sophocles has been described as a tragedy of character as contrasted to Aeschylus's tragedy of situation. Sophocles's principal subject is man, and his hero is suffering man. The protagonist is subjected to a series of tests which he usually surmounts.



It was Sophocles who raised the number of the chorus from 12 to 15 members and initiated other technical improvements, such as scene painting and better tragic masks. He abandoned the tetralogy and presented three plays on different subjects and a satyr play. A supreme master in the delineation of character, he is credited with the invention of the heroic maiden (Antigone, Electra) and the ingenuous young man (Haemon). Sophocles's choral songs are excellent and structurally, as well as situationally, beautiful.
The Plays


The dates of the seven extant plays of Sophocles are not all certain. Three are known: Antigone, 442/441; Philoctetes, 409; and Oedipus at Colonus, 401 (posthumously). C. H. Whitman has argued for 447 for the Ajax, about 437-432 for the Trachiniae, about 429 for the Oedipus Rex, and 418-414 for the Electra.



In the Ajax, the hero, whom the Iliad describes as second only to Achilles, is humiliated by Agamemnon and Menelaus when they award the arms of Achilles to Odysseus through intrigue. He vows vengeance on the Greek commanders as well as on Odysseus, but the goddess Athena makes him believe that he is attacking the Greeks when he is in fact attacking sheep. When he realizes his folly, he is so appalled that he commits suicide. Menelaus and Agamemnon try to prevent a proper burial, but Odysseus intercedes to make it possible. In the Ajax, Sophocles is pointing up the tragedy that may result from an insult to a man's arete (Homeric recognition of a man's excellence).



The Antigone is one of three plays on the Oedipus theme written over a period of some 40 years. Antigone is the young princess who pits herself against her uncle, King Creon. She defies his cruel edict forbidding burial of her brother Polyneices who, in attempting to invade Thebes and seize the throne from his brother Eteocles, slew him in mortal combat and, in turn, was slain. Against the pleas of her sister Ismene and fiancé Haemon, Antigone goes to her death holding to her defiance.

The Antigone has been interpreted as depicting the conflict between divine and secular law, between devotion to family and to the state, and between the arete of the heroine and the inadequacy of society represented by an illegal tyrant.




In the Trachiniae, Heracles's wife, Deianira, worries about the 15-month absence of her husband, who has acquired a new love, Princess Iole, and is bringing her home. In her sincere attempt to regain her husband's love, Deianira sends him a poisoned robe which she falsely believes has magical powers to restore lost love. Her son Hyllus and her husband, before dying, denounce Deianira, who commits suicide.



In this play Sophocles poignantly raises the question, "Why can knowledge hurt?" He stresses the dilemma of the person who unintentionally hurts those whom he loves. The question of the role of knowledge in human affairs prepares us for the Oedipus, his greatest play and the work that Aristotle considered the perfect Greek play and many have considered the greatest play of all time.

Oedipus Rex is a superb example of dramatic irony. It is not a play about sex or murder; it is a play about the inadequacy of human knowledge and man's capacity to survive almost intolerable suffering. The worst of all things happens to Oedipus: unknowingly he kills his own father, Laius, and is given his own mother, Jocasta, in marriage for slaying the Sphinx. When a plague at Thebes compels him to consult the oracle, he finds that he himself is the cause of the affliction.




No summary can do this amazing play justice. Sophocles brings up the question of justice. Why is there irrational evil in the world? Why does the very man who is basically good suffer intolerably? The answer is found in the concept of dikē—balance, order, justice. The world is orderly and follows natural laws. No matter how good or how well intentioned man may be, if he violates a natural law, he will be punished and he will suffer. Human knowledge is limited, but there is nobility in human suffering.

The Electra is Sophocles's only play that can be compared thematically with works of Aeschylus (Libation Bearers) and Euripides (Electra). Again Sophocles concentrates on a character under stress. Described as the most grim of all Greek tragedies, Electra suggests a flaw in the universe. It is less concerned with moral issues than the other two Electra plays. An oppressed and harassed Electra anxiously awaits the return of her avenging brother, Orestes. He returns secretly, first spreading the news that Orestes was killed in a chariot accident. Electra is constantly at the tomb of her father but is warned by her sister, Chrysothemis, about her constant wailing. Clytemnestra, disturbed by an ominous dream, sends Chrysothemis to offer libations at the tomb. A quarrel between Clytemnestra and Electra demonstrates the impossibility of reconciliation between mother and daughter. A messenger announcing the death of Orestes and carrying an urn with his ashes stirs up maternal feelings in Clytemnestra, despair in Chrysothemis, and determination to wreak vengeance on her mother and Aegisthus, her mother's consort, in Electra. The appearance of Orestes rejuvenates Electra, and together they do away with Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. The chorus rejoices that justice has triumphed.




The Electra of Sophocles may have been written as an answer to Euripides's Electra. Matricide and murder are fully justified, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus are completely and utterly evil, and Electra avenges her father's death relentlessly and almost psychopathically.

In the Philoctetes, Odysseus is sent with young Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, from Troy to the allegedly uninhabited island of Lemnos to bring back Philoctetes with his bow and his arrows to effect the capture of Troy. Urged by Odysseus to do his assignment, Neoptolemus, after gaining Philoctetes's confidence suffers pangs of conscience over the old man and refuses to deceive him. He returns Philoctetes's weapons and promises to take him home. A deus ex machina finally convinces Philoctetes to return to Troy voluntarily. The Philoctetes clearly shows how man and society can come into conflict, how society can discard an individual when it does not need him, and how the individual with technological knowhow can bring society to its knees.




The Oedipus at Colonus, produced posthumously, is the most loosely structured, most lyrical, and longest of Sophoclean dramas. It brings to a conclusion Sophocles's concern with the Oedipus theme. Exiled by Creon, in concurrence with Eteocles and Polyneices, Oedipus becomes a wandering beggar accompanied by his daughter Antigone. He stumbles into a sacred grove of the Eumenides at Colonus, and the chorus of Elders is shocked to discover his identity. Oedipus justifies his past and asks that Theseus be summoned. Theseus arrives and promises him asylum, but Creon, first deceitfully, then by force, tries to remove Oedipus. Theseus comes to the rescue and thwarts Creon. The arrival of his son Polyneices produces thunderous rage in Oedipus, who curses both him and Eteocles. Oedipus soon senses his impending death and allows only Theseus to witness the event by which he is transfigured into a hero and a saint.



"Many are the wonders of the world," says Sophocles in the first stasimon of the Antigone, "but none is more wonderful than man." Sophocles's humanism is nowhere more concisely manifest than in this famous quotation. Man is able to overcome all kinds of obstacles and is able to be remarkably inventive and creative, but he is mortal and hence limited, despite an optimistic, progressive outlook. Suffering is an inherent part of the nature of things, but learning can be gained, and through suffering man can achieve nobility and dignity.

Welcome to Sarajevo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Sarajevo
Welcome to Sarajevo From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search Welcome To Sarajevo




Directed by Michael Winterbottom

Produced by Damian Jones

Channel Four Films

Miramax

Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Starring Stephen Dillane

Woody Harrelson

Marisa Tomei

Goran Višnjić

Emily Lloyd

Kerry Fox

Music by Adrian Johnston

Distributed by Miramax

Release date(s) 6 November 1997 (1997-11-06)



Running time 103 minutes

Country United Kingdom

Language English, Serbo-Croatian

Budget USD$ 9,000,000



Welcome to Sarajevo is a British war film released in 1997. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and is based on the book Natasha's Story by Michael Nicholson.



Contents [hide]

1 Plot

2 Cast

3 Style

4 Soundtrack

5 Award Nominations

6 References

7 External links





[edit] PlotIn 1992, ITN reporter Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) travels to Sarajevo, the besieged capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He meets American star journalist Jimmy Flynn (Woody Harrelson) on the chase for the most exciting stories and pictures. Henderson and Flynn have friendly arguments and differences in the intervals between reporting. They stay at the Holiday Inn, which was the primary hotel for the press in Sarajevo during the siege. After a previous translator proves corrupt and inept, ITN hires Risto (Goran Višnjić) to be Henderson's translator. Their work permits them blunt and unobstructed views of the suffering of the people of Sarajevo. The situation changes when Henderson makes a report from an orphanage located on the front lines (Ljubica Ivezic Orphanage) in which two hundred children live in desperate conditions. After increasingly brutal attacks fail to make the lead story in England, Henderson makes the orphanage his lead story to try to bring full attention to the war.

When American aid worker Nina (Marisa Tomei) organizes a UN-sanctioned bus-borne evacuation of several orphaned Sarajevan children to Italy, Henderson convinces Nina to include a Bosniak girl from the orphanage, Emira (Emira Nušević), to whom Henderson had made a promise to evacuate. Nina knows this is an illegal act -- Emira's mother is still alive and signed no papers authorizing the evacuation -- but the orphanage director allows it because of the desperate circumstances. Henderson and his cameraman accompany the evacuation under the pretense of covering it as a news story.




Despite a UN escort, Bosnian Serbs hinder the evacuation at several points along its route. The final harassment is the worst -- a group of Chetniks halt the bus, forcibly disembark the Bosnian Serb children and put them on their armed lorry, presumably to repatriate them.



When Henderson finally makes it to London with Emira, Emira quickly becomes a member of Henderson's family in a comfortable London home. After an ambiguous interval of perhaps 100 days, Henderson receives word from his former producer, who is still in Sarajevo, that Emira's mother wants Emira back. Henderson returns to Sarajevo, now riven not only by the siege but also by internal organized crime, and seeks out Risto, who has become a Bosnian-Herzegovinan soldier. Henderson recruits Risto to find Emira's mother. They nearly succeed, but the unstable situation unravels around them and they are forced to retreat. When Risto is killed by a sniper in his own home, Henderson falls back on Zeljko (Drazen Sivak), a concierge at the Holiday Inn who Henderson had helped in previous Sarajevo tours. Zeljko negotiates the streets and road-blocks that lead to Emira's mother. As prelude to signing the adoption papers, she outlines the reasons she wants Emira back. She cannot in good conscience bring Emira back to Sarajevo, though, and she signs the papers.

A running joke in the movie is the designation by a UN official that Sarajevo was only the 14th worst crisis in the world. In the middle of the movie, Harun, a cellist friend of Risto, says that he would play a concert on the streets of Sarajevo once it is designated the worst place on Earth. Though he acknowledges the danger, he claims that "the people will die happily listening to my music." The movie ends with Harun holding a "concert of peace" on a hill overlooking Sarajevo, playing his cello to hundreds of Sarajevans. Among the attendees are Henderson, Flynn and several children from the orphanage. Henderson gives Harun a sad smile; the concert is beautiful, but it also means that Sarajeva had, indeed, become the worst place on Earth.




The closing credits say that Emira still lives in England.

CastStephen Dillane - Michael Henderson


Woody Harrelson - Flynn

Marisa Tomei - Nina

Emira Nusevic - Emira

Kerry Fox - Jane Carson

Goran Višnjić - Risto Bavic

James Nesbitt - Gregg

Emily Lloyd - Annie McGee

Igor Dzambazov - Jacket

Gordana Gadzic - Mrs. Savic

Juliet Aubrey - Helen Henderson

Drazen Sivak - Zeljko

Vesna Orel - Munira

Davor Janjić - Dragan

Vladimir Jokanović - Emira's Uncle

[edit] StyleMichael Winterbottom portrays the events with brutal realism. In the opening sequence, there is a sniper attack on a wedding procession. Other shocking sequences include Henderson stumbling upon a massacre at a farm-house, a Bosnian-Serb officer nonchalantly executing groups of Bosniaks and Henderson's arrival in the immediate aftermath of the first of the Markale Massacres.



This was the first feature film about the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shot just a few months after the war on locations in Sarajevo and Croatia, the film uses real ruins and war debris to give the film a feeling of authenticity, and many scenes of the characters witnessing and reporting on street carnage were intercut with actual video footage of the events.



[edit] SoundtrackTwo widely known pieces of music were used in the film, among the others. The first one is Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin. It was used in ironical sense, since in the background, real scenes of the siege of Sarajevo were shown, with people being wounded by bombs, blood everywhere on the streets etc. The second widely known piece is Adagio in G minor by Remo Giazotto, which is based on a fragment from a Sonata in G minor by Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni and has been used in many films and advertisements. House of Love's "Shine On" (Creation, 1987) and Stone Roses' "I Wanna Be Adored" (Silvertone, 1989) were among the hip and colorful English independent rock classics that contrasted sharply with the dark barbarism affecting the people of Sarajevo, in a sense continuing the use of the song in a war movie the way 1960s rock anthems were employed in such Vietnam War movies as Apocalypse Now or Platoon, but updating the anthems to those closer to the era the film is portrayed in.

Films by Michael Winterbottom




1980s Rosie the Great (1989)



1990s Forget About Me (1990) ·Under the Sun (1992) ·Love Lies Bleeding (1993) ·Family (1994) ·Butterfly Kiss (1995) ·Go Now (1995) ·Jude (1996) ·Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) ·I Want You (1998) ·With or Without You (1999) ·Wonderland (1999)



2000s The Claim (2000) ·24 Hour Party People (2002) ·In This World (2003) ·Code 46 (2003) ·9 Songs (2004) ·A Cock and Bull Story (2006) ·The Road to Guantanamo (2006) ·A Mighty Heart (2007) ·Genova (2008) ·The Shock Doctrine (2009)



2010s The Killer Inside Me (2010) ·The Trip (2010) ·Trishna (2011) ·The King of Soho (2012) ·Bailout (2012)