Transcript Primary and Secondary Sources

Phillip Riteman Follow-Up
 This morning, we had the opportunity to listen to a
speaker talk about one of the most significant events of
the 20th Century. This event happened in his lifetime
which means that it could happen (and is happening) in
ours. In the next twenty minutes, please do the following
two activities:
 Part One: Write two – three paragraphs outlining what you
learned from Mr. Riteman today. Try to write it as objectively
as possible (more about his story, less about your opinion.
Save that for the next one).
 Part Two: Write two – three paragraphs outlining what you
personally took away from the presentation; emotionally
and otherwise….
Evaluating Sources
 On a piece of paper, copy the chart below. As we go
through each source, identify the type, write down its
merits, weaknesses and what this source offers that
makes it unique. An example is below:
Source
Type
Merit
Weakness
Unique
because:
Letters
Primary
-First hand
account
- ‘live’ in the
time
-Emotional
bias?
-Honesty?
- Letters are
written
honestly and
are full of bias
that is genuine
and therefore
real and true to
the time.
Primary Source Examples
 First-hand accounts
 Music
 Photography
 Government Documents
 Art
 Journals
Phillip Riteman
A Quartet for the End of Time
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrGzES0UNk
 Olivier Messiaen
 Cello, Violin, Clarinet, Piano
 Why is this a quartet for these instruments?
Photographs
Statements from the Nazi’s re:
The Jewish Question
 Adolf Hitler, quoted in "Hitler," by Joachim Fest,
Vintage Books Edition, 1974, p. 679-680:
-
Nature is cruel; therefore we are also entitled to be
cruel. When I send the flower of German youth into the
steel hail of the next war without feeling the slightest
regret over the precious German blood that is being
spilled, should I not also have the right to eliminate
millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin?
 The Goebbels [Reich Propaganda Minister] diaries,
March 27, 1942.
The Goebbels Diaries 1942-1943 - L.P. Lochner,
Doubleday & Co., 1948, p. 147-148:Beginning with
Lublin, the Jews in the General Government [Nazi
occupied Poland] are now being evacuated eastward.
The procedure is a pretty barbaric one and not to be
described here more definitely. Not much will remain of
the Jews. On the whole it can be said that about 60
percent of them will have to be liquidated whereas only
40 percent can be used for forced labor.
Journals from Survivors
 http://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/viewer/wlc/artifact.php?
RefId=2002WW4Z
Sketchbook from Survivor
 http://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/viewer/wlc/artifact.php?
RefId=20046E4U
Government Art
Secondary Sources
 Textbooks
 Other books
 Films
 Written accounts
IB History Texts
Documentaries
Movies
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAH3RTRlCHY
Alternative Texts
Written accounts
 Re-examine the two pieces of work you wrote at the
beginning of class. These are Secondary Sources.
 What are the flaws of calling this document a secondary
source?
 You were asked to be objective in the first one and to include
emotion and personal response in the second; did you
achieve this? Is it even possible?
 Life is full of emotion and this transfers to writing; bias is
only a problem if you choose to believe it’s not there.
Truth?
 There is no one truth so how can there be one account of
history?
 Some sources (ie – Philip Riteman) are more valid than
others. When it’s not obvious, how do we make this
evaluation.
 How many sources do we need before we approach an
acceptable amount of information to develop some
understanding of history?
 What role does our own perception and the limitations of
our own knowledge play in our understanding of history?
Why study history?
 No matter how much we study, our knowledge of history
is limited. We can never understand it. The best we can do
is to listen to stories and use our education and the ethical
obligation that comes with education. Our responsibility
as historians is to live in a way that honours the past by
avoiding its mistakes.