World War II

-the Holocaust: the massacres of the Jews by sending them to concentration camps and let them work to death or lead them straight into the gaschambers.

2. English words

 -resettle: live somewhere else; hervestigen

-estimate: judging how many something is; schatten

-urgently: important; dringend

-contaminated: made dirty; vervuild

3. Summary

The Nazis crowded Jews into ghettos. In new captured areas, the Einsatzgruppen were sent to shoot the Jews that lived there. In 1941 the Nazis worked on a plan called 'The Final Solution'. Ghettos were emptied and Jews were send to concentration camps where (estimated) 5 to 6 million Jews died. Horrible things happened in the concentration camps. Auschwitz was the most important camp and is now a museum.

2.28 DUTCH RESISTANCE

1. Historical terms

-give and take: if you give someone what they want, they will give something you also want back. In the WWII there was no give and take: they simply announced the rules; no agreement, it is like it is.

-passive resistance: that people are against something (in this case the Nazis) but they don't 'show' it with violence but just don't do some things that are pro-Nazi.

-the SOE (Special Operations Executive): a British organisation that helped to set up and supply resistance groups that carried out sabotage work.

-sabotage: destroy or stop things out of protest or to slow down something

-divers: people who went hiding from the Nazis (they could be prisoners, Jews or people who didn't want to do work that was forced by the Nazis).

2. English Words

-newsreels: a short documentary film; journaal

-leaflets: paperbacks; folders

3. Summary

The Dutch government wanted to make agreements with the Nazi occupiers, but the Nazis didn't use the idea of 'give and take'. Who didn't agree with them, were send to camps or were killed. It was hard for resistance groups to operate, because the Netherlands is a flat, open country. But with help of the SOE, groups were set up to try to sabotage the Germans or sheltering hiders.

Sources: lots of radios were hidden in small spaces, like tea boxes or books.

2.29 BOMBING CIVILIANS

1. Historical terms

-civilian morale: the safety of the people who live in the city/town

2. English Words

-deliberately: with purpose; met opzet, expres

3. Summary

The Germans began mass bombing in the Second World War, deliberatly. Their aim was to scare people, break the civilian morale and make the streets full of refugees. Later, the Allies bombed German 'back' and destroyed main industrial centres. The bombs were bigger and more destructive.

2.30 LIBERATION

1. Historical terms

-Operation Market Garden: The aim to liberate the northern part of the Netherlands, which failed at the Rhine in Arnhem.

-D Day: The day that Allies landed on a French beach. From that day on (6 June 1944) more and more of Europe was getting liberated.

-VE Day: 8 May 1945, the day that is seen as the day that whole Europe was liberated from the Germans.

-collaborators: people who actively helped the Nazis.

2. English Words

-advancing: progressing; vooruitgaand

-appalling: terrible; verschrikkelijk

3. Summary

The Allies liberated most of Europe after D Day. Later VE Day was celebrated. Although the northern part of the Netherlands was liberated, the nothern part wasn't. The winter in the north was pure terror. People starved and to still survive, they ate tulip bulbs. This was the 'Hongerwinter'. ON 7 May 1945 Germany surrendered. But the consequences of the war weren't small. The economy had to rebuild, refugees to give a home and lots of other major problems. Some people didn't have a home or family anymore.

Some people worked in the resistance, others collaborated with the Nazis and many people tried to just accept the Nazis and live with it. After the war, many collaboraters were executed or punished.

2.31 HIROSHIMA

1. Historical terms

-Hiroshima: an important city in Japan.

2. English Words

-vicious: evil; hatelijk, kwaadaardig

3. Summary

The Japanese kept fighting after the Germans surrendered. The USA demanded Japan to surrender or they would drop an atomic bomb on them. The Japan wouldn't surrender, because their code of behaviour was 'self-sacrifice or suicide rather than failure'. So the USA dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki. The destruction was enormous.

The Japanese kept fighting after the Germans surrendered. The USA demanded Japan to surrender or they would drop an atomic bomb on them. The Japan wouldn't surrender, because their code of behaviour was 'self-sacrifice or suicide rather than failure'. So the USA dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki. The destruction was enormous.

2.32 THE UNITED NATIONS

1. Historical terms

-The United Nations: an unity of 51 members that was set up to avoid war and worldwide problems.

-Security Council: This 'part' of the UN runs peace keeping and can make decisions and raise an army. There are five pernament members (USA, USSR, France, Britain, China)

-Secretary General: Is elected by General Assembly and is the 'face' of the UN. It is involved in diplomatic missions.

-General Assembly: It's the real power in the UN and it has 15 members. If a decision must be made, nine countries have to agree. Every nation can give one vote. The General Assembly has many other 'parts'.

2. English Words

-veto: reject; tegenstem

-agencies: representation; vertegenwoordiging

-disputes: debate; twist

-intervene: step between; ingrijpen

-scourge: afflict; teisteren

3. Summary

The UN was set up in 1945 and exists out of many different parts, the major one is the Security Council. The main goals of the UN are:

1. To maintain international peace and security;

2. To develop friendly relations among nations;

3. To achieve international co-operation in solving problems;

4. To act as a centre for collective action.

During the Cold War it was hard to make decisions, because the Soviet Union saw the UN as an US-dominated organisation, so it vetoed American proposals. The USA did the same with the Soviet Union. After the Cold War the work of the UN began to be easier. It has mounted peacekeeping operations in many lands.