Copy of Refugee Historical Context Slides Ch 1-6.pptx

Refugee Novel Historical Context for Ch 1-6

1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT Throughout the novel , there will be references to people, ideas, and events in history for which you may need a little more context. After each set of chapters, I will share some historical context to help you better understand thes e references. Some historical references made in this chapter set include: The Sturmabteilung Civil Service Law Concentration Camps Kristallnacht The Star of David Food Crisis in Cuba Riots in Havana Cuban Revolution The Arab Spring Syrian Civil War CHAPTERS 1 - 6 © Presto Plans

2. Also known as Brown Shirts (because of how they dressed) as well as storm troopers or SA, the Sturmabteilung was a Nazi military force that played a significant role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, as well as the enforcement of Nazi ideology. They were founded in the early 1920s and dissolved in 1945. It is the Sturmabteilung who attack the Landau home. THE STURMABTEILUNG CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Josef) “Some of them wore regular clothes: white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, gray slacks, brown wool caps, leather work boots. More of them wore the brown shirts and red swastika armbands of the Sturmabteilung , Adolf Hitler’s ‘storm troopers.’” © Presto Plans

3. Civil Service Law in this context refers to the Civil Service Restoration Act of 1933, a law that made it illegal for Jewish people to hold civil service jobs, including practicing law (like Josef’s father). This is one of the first of many such racist laws passed in Germany. “‘Aaron Landau,’ one of the Brownshirts said to Josef’s father, ‘you have continued to practice law despite the fact that Jews are forbidden to do so under the Civil Service Restoration act of 1933. For this crime against the German people, you will be taken into protective custody.” CIVIL SERVICE LAW CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Josef) © Presto Plans

4. Concentration camps were used by Nazi Germany to imprison Jewish people (on the basis of their ethnoreligious identity) without trial. Between 1933 and 1945, many Jewish people were sent to concentration camps, such as Auschwitz (as shown in the image on the right), and often were victims of forced labor, horrific torture, and mass murder. “The Nazis laughed again. ‘Six months and eleven days!” the Brownshirt said. ‘Not that he’s counting.’ The Brownshirt suddenly turned serious. ‘Perhaps you’re close enough that we should take you to a concentration camp too, like your father.’” CONCENTRATION CAMPS CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Josef) © Presto Plans

5. Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a night of coordinated violence by the Nazi Sturmabteilung against Jewish people (many of whom were taken to concentration camps) on November 8, 1938. It is named after the sound of glass breaking that night—and the broken glass that littered the streets. “In the days to come, Josef learned that his family wasn’t the only one the Nazis had attacked that night. Other Jewish homes and businesses and synagogues were destroyed all over Germany, and tens of thousands of Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. They called it Kristallnacht , the Night of Broken Glass.” CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Josef) KRISTALLNACHT © Presto Plans

6. The Star of David is the symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism (the Jewish religion). During Nazi Germany, Jewish people were forced to wear armbands with this symbol to identify them, as shown in the picture to the right. The Star of David is contrasted in this quote with the armband of the Hitler Youth, which bears a swastika—the racist symbol of the Nazi party in Germany. “But when he’d removed the coin, his armband had slipped out too. It fluttered to the floor, the Star of David, landing face up for all the world to see…Josef lifted his eyes from the black shoes to the white socks, brown shirt, and red Nazi armband of a Hitler Youth.” CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Josef) THE STAR OF DAVID Photo by Adam Jones, Ph.D. © Presto Plans

7. By 1994, Cuba was struggling to provide food for its citizens after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Cuba depended on for much of its economy. FOOD CRISIS IN CUBA CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Isabel) “[A] few years ago, in 1989, the Soviet Union had fallen, and Cuba had hit rock bottom…Without Russia’s gas, they couldn’t run the tractors to change the fields over to food, and without the extra food, the Cuban people began to starve.” © Presto Plans

8. The hungry citizens in Cuba began to riot on the Malecón, a roadway along the sea in the city of Havana (shown on the right), and this prompted Fidel Castro’s announcement that anyone who wanted to leave Cuba could do so without punishment. RIOTS IN HAVANA CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Isabel) “Isabel couldn’t believe what she was hearing. People caught criticizing Fidel Castro were thrown into jail and never heard from again. But now the streets were full of people yelling, ‘Down with Fidel! Down with Fidel!’” © Presto Plans

9. The Cuban Revolution was an effort to overthrow the dictatorship of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista in 1959. The uprising was led by Fidel Castro, who became the leader from 1959 until 2008. Another key player in the revolution and Castro’s new government was Che Guevara, whose famous image is shown on the right. CUBAN REVOLUTION CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Isabel) “[Isabel] worked her way to one of the cars stuck in the riot, an old American Chevy with chrome tail fins, still around from before the Revolution in the 1950s.” © Presto Plans

10. The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government and pro-democracy protests and uprisings that spread throughout the Middle East in the early 2010s. Aimed at dispelling corrupt and authoritarian governments, the Arab Spring led to large-scale conflicts, such as the Syrian Civil War described in the novel. THE ARAB SPRING “Aleppo had been an amazing city to grow up in. Until 2011, when the Arab Spring came to Syria. They didn’t call it that then. Nobody knew a wave of revolutions would sweep through the Middle East, toppling governments and overthrowing dictators and starting civil wars.” CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Mahmoud) © Presto Plans

11. The Syrian Civil War began in 2011 as part of the broader Arab Spring. The four big players in the conflict are the Syrian government (led by President Bashar al-Assad and backed by Russia), the anti-government rebels (backed by the United States), the ISIS militant group, and a military force fighting on behalf of the Kurdish people (an Iranian ethnic group) who are living in Syria. SYRIAN CIVIL WAR “Random death from a fighter jet’s missile or a soldier’s rocket launcher might come at any moment, when you least expected it. To walk around getting noticed by the Syrian army or the rebels fighting them was just inviting trouble.” CHAPTERS 1 - 6 (Mahmoud) © Presto Plans