The duty of remembering and some bibliography

Today seven students have come to class and we've finished watching the documentary about Mauthausen. The last part explains what happened when the camp was freed by the USA Army. The prisoners felt that moment as a new beginning, as if a new life started for them. When the USA soldiers took the control of the camp, they discovered thousands of corpses the Nazis didn't have time to burn in the crematories. The prisoners also discovered that, while they had been starving, the warehouses of the camp were full of food. Many former prisoners died of binge eating, because their bodies couldn't assimilate the food, after such a long time of hunger and privation. The USA soldiers helped the prisoners find Ziereis, the commander of the camp, who was shot. Before dying, Ziereis said that he had no responsibility of what had been happening in Mauthausen, because "he only followed orders". 

The Spanish prisoners could also recover the photographs Anna Poitner had hidden in her house. Those pictures were decissive for the Nuremberg  Trials, where 23 prominent Nazi leaders were judged. Francisco Boix was witness for the prosecution, because the pictures he took showed what had happened in the camp and that many Nazi leaders had visited the camp. His testimony was crucial to condemn Albert Speer and Ernst Kaltenbrunner. 

One of the pictures taken by Frabcisco Boix, where Himmler, Kaltenbrunner and Ziereis appeared

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_192-029,_KZ_Mauthausen,_Himmler,_Kaltenbrunner,_Ziereis.jpg

After the end of WW2, the Spanish survivors of Mauthausen couldn't come back to Spain. Seven of the men of the documentary settled down in France and Francico Comellas stayed in Austria, very close to Mauthausen. On the 16th May 1945 all the prisoners made an oath to tell the world what had happened there and committed to fight for a new world, free and just. That's why many of them joined associations and participated in conferences and went to schools to tell their story. They felt obliged to remember, to keep the memory of those who had been killed in the camp. The return to the ordinary life wasn't easy. Nightmares with the camp were common and the Spaniards also suffered the exile and oblivion, even when the dictatorship finished in Spain. Their story was ignored by all the democratic governments until very recently. The monument to the 7,000 Spanish prisoners dead in Mauthausen was built with the donations of private people. The first official recognition of the resistance of the Spanish deported was made by president Rodríguez Zapatero in 2005. Zapatero participated in the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the end of WW2 and visited the camp. Here you have a chronicle of the ceremonies of 2010 and 2013 (this last one, very painful): 

http://www.publico.es/espana/311381/el-gobierno-homenajea-a-las-victimas-espanolas-del-holocausto-nazi

http://federacion.republicanos.info/2013/05/17/memorial-de-mauthausen-2013/

The documentary ends with two reflections: Ramón Milà, one of the youngest prisoners, said that humanity hasn't learned from what happened in the camps and similar horrors repeated later and continue to happen. In different parts of the world, people continue to treat their peers as if they were not humans. Finally, Francisco Comellas deposited two stones of the quarry in the memorial dedicated to the Spaniards who died in Mauthausen and remembered that all they went through there had been organized by the Nazis with the cooperation of the Spanish Fascists. The oblivion of the fight of the Spaniards against the Nazis continues to exist.

Drawings made by Ramón Milà

Source: http://holocaustoenespanol.blogspot.com.es/2010/05/supervivencia-testimonio-y-arte.html

As I said when we started to watch the documentary, only two of the 8 former Mauthausen prisoners who participated in the film are still alive.  Both, Ramón Milà and Manuel Alfonso, still live in France. Some of the others, like Josep Egea, Mariano Constante, Antoni Roig and Francisco Batiste, returned to Spain after the end of dictatorship and died here. Some of them wrote about their experiences in Mauthausen or helped to write books about the camp. Here you have a list of these books, just in case you're interested: 

- CONSTANTE, Mariano, Los años rojos, Ed. Círculo de lectores, Barcelona, 2005.

- CONSTANTE, Mariano y RAZOLA, M, Triángulo azul. Los republicanos españoles en Mauthausen. Gobierno de Aragón y Amical de Mauthausen, 2008

- TORAN, Rosa,. Joan de Diego: tercer secretari a Mauthausen. Ed. 62, Barcelona, 2007

- ALFONSO ORTELLS, Manuel, De Barcelona a Mauthausen. Diez años de mi vida, (1936-1945), Editorial Memoria Viva, 2007

- BATISTE, Francisco, El sol se extinguió en Mauthausen (Vinarocenses en el infierno), Editorial Antinea, Vinaròs, 1999

- ROIG, Montserrat, Els catalans als camps nazis, Edicions 62, Barcelona,

- BASSA, David y RIBÓ, Jordi, Memòria de l´infern, Edicions 62, Barcelona,.

- TORAN, Rosa, Vida i mort dels republicans als camps nazis, Proa Edicions, Barcelona, 2002

- SERRANO I BLANQUER, David, Les dones als camps nazis, Pòrtic Edicions, Barcelona, 2003

- SERRANO I BLANQUER, David, Un català a Mauthausen. El testimoni de Francesc Comellas, Pòrtic Edicions, Barcelona, 2001

- BERMEJO, Benito, Francisco Boix, el fotógrafo de Mauthausen, RBA Editores, Barcelona, 2002

-WINGEATE PIKE, David, Españoles en el holocausto: vida y muerte de los republicanos en Mauthausen, Ed. Mondadori, Barcelona, 2003
- TORAN, Rosa, Los campos de concentración nazis. Palabras contra el olvido, Ed. Península, Barcelona, 2005

Many of these books are in Catalan, because many of the survivors of the camps came from this region, The first book to tell the story of the Spaniards in Mauthausen, Els catalans als camps nazis, was written by the journalist Montserrat Roig at the beginning of the 70's. Other historians have continued this work

I also want to recommend you some other books we´ve talked about today. They are very important books, because their authours, who also survived to the Nazi camps, made deep reflections on human nature. They are the following: 

- LEVI, Primo, Trilogía de Auschwitz (Si esto es un hombre, La Tregua y Los hundidos y los salvados), Muchnik. El Aleph Editores, 2005

- FRANKL, Viktor, El hombre en busca de sentido, Ed Herder, Madrid, 2004

If you want to read any of these books, just ask them to me. I have almost all of them at home.

I would also like to say that it has been a real pleasure for me to spend almost 3 hours with you today, talking about so many interesting things. I wish we could repeat this soon. 

The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

Source: http://libriaurei.net/2012/09/26/the-declaration-of-the-rights-of-man-and-the-citizen/

This is the text the French revolutionariesof the National Constituent Assembly approved on the 26th August 1789. It reflects many of the ideas of political liberalism developed by the enlightened philosophers. Can you find these ideas?

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.

14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.

15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.

Source: http://www.hrcr.org/docs/frenchdec.html

Books of Grievances

Source: http://www.emersonkent.com/history_dictionary/cahiers_de_doleances.htm

The Books of Grievances (Cahiers de Doléances) were documents written everywhere in France before the opening of the Estates General in May 1789. Louis XVI ordered to write them to know the opinion of  his subjects and to have some guidelines for the debates in the meeting of the estates. These books are an extraordinary source of information, because they collected the concerns and demands of the different estates. In general they reflected the criticism to the structrures of the Ancien Régime and the desire for change. The most interesting books of grievances were the ones written by members of the Third Estate, but also the books written by the nobles contained demands for reform and surprisingly they were aware of the necessity of a tax reform, including the contribution of the privileged to the State finances. 

Here you have more information about the Books of Grievances: 

http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/The+Cahiers+de+Doleances+of+1789

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahiers_de_dol%C3%A9ances

http://www.emersonkent.com/history_dictionary/cahiers_de_doleances.htm

On the following links you will be able to read books of grievances of the different estates: 

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/cahiers.html

http://history.hanover.edu/texts/cahiers3.html

Common sense

Source: http://dorrys.com/pen-mightier-sword/

Prior to the Declaration of Independence of the 13 colonies of North America, there was another influential document written by Thomas Paine in January 1776. This document was a 47 page pamphlet called Common Sense and had a huge success, because it explained in an easily understandable language some of the political ideas spread by the enlightened philosophers and used those ideas to support the demand for independence many North American colonists agreed upon. Common Sense talked about the social contract between the people and the government, the need for a representative government (elected as a result of general will), criticized monarchy and considered Parliamentary Monarchy a contradiction due to its origin (limiting the powers of the king, but preserving an institution based on inequality) and proposed to write a document (he called it "charter") to include the rights of the citizens (freedom, property and religious tolerance). Paine also gave different arguments to justify the independence from Great Britain. Paine´s pamphlet had an important distribution in the colonies and contributed to increase the desire for independence. When the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in June 1776, the environment to break ties with Great Britain was much more favorable. 

Here you have a short summary of the pamphlet: 

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/commonsense/

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thomas-paine-publishes-common-sense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_(pamphlet)

And this is the complete text: 

http://www.constitution.org/tp/comsense.htm

The legality of the USA Declaration of Independence

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trumbull's_Declaration_of_Independence 

Today we have talked about the USA Declaration of Independence and about how its content was closely related to many of the ideas of Enlightenment. Last week there was a curious debate in Philadelphia about the legality of the Declaration of Independence. British and North American lawyers discussed about the content of the document written by Thomas Jefferson and defended different positions according to the historical moment where the Declaration was written. Here you have the BBC report about this debate and the conclusions of every part: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15345511

And the following links include a lot of information about the Declaration: the full text, biographies of the signers, the historical context, the influences Jefferson received, a timeline of the independence process and the Revolutionary War and so on:

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html

http://www.founding.com/the_declaration_of_i/

And you? What do you think? Is it legal to rebel against a government that doesn´t respect people´s rights? Can something legal be unfair? Or, on the other way around: can something illegal be fair?

Louis XV´s speech about the king´s power

Louis XV of France

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_XV_France_by_Louis-Michel_van_Loo_002.jpg

This year we are going to start commenting on historical documents and the blog will have a section with original texts related to the contents we´ll study. The first one is an extract of a speech King Louis XV of France gave before the parlement of Paris in 1766:  

In my person alone lies that sovereign power whose very nature is the spirit of counsel, justice and reason. From me alone the courts receive their existence and authority. The fullness of this authority, which they exercise in my name only, remains permanently vested in me, and its use can never be turned against me. Legislative power is mine alone, without subordination or division. It is by my sole authority that the officers of my courts effect not the creation of the law, but its registration, promulgation and execution, and that they have the right to remonstrance, as is the duty of good and faithful counsellors. Public order in its entirety emanates from me. I am its supreme guardian. My people are one with me, and the rights and interests of the nation – which some dare to make into a body separate from the monarch – are of necessity united with my own and rest entirely in my hands.

Louis XV´s speech before the parlement of Paris, 1766

Source: FURET, François, Revolutionary France, 1770-1880, Blackwell Publishing, 2004

Could you explain the relation of this speech with what we have studied this week? Do you think Louis XV´s power was as he described it?