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Post to the discussion bulletin board

Hand in final essays

 

 

HSTEU/SCAND 454: Baltic History
Fall Quarter 2008
Assignments
Source Analysis

We will discuss the methods of primary and secondary source analysis in class.  Each student will analyze at least one source from the reading assignments.   

Prepare one 5-10 minute oral presentation about a primary source in the class reading assignments, and present it in class on the due date for that reading assignment (guidelines for source critical writing will be provided in class). You may do extra presentations for extra credit.   

Then write it up and post it on the discussion bulletin board for further comments and suggestions by your colleagues (you may post more than one source analysis, if you wish).   Read at least one other student's essay, and post comments and suggestions. 

Revise and expand your essay.  Your final version should include bibliographical references to relevant publications.  Upload it to the final essays dropbox (different from the discussion bulletin board!) by the last day of lectures.   

Film Reviews

View at least three of the following films, from three different time categories.  (More than 3 films = extra credit.  Films not in this list may also be included, with the instructor's permission).  For each, write a  brief response (about 250-500 words) from the informed historian's point of view.  You may include bibliographical references to assigned readings and other published sources related to your analysis of the film. 

Your response should demonstrate "historical literacy," as described by Scott Alan Metzger in the reading assignment for week 1, and discuss the film's possible use in teaching and learning history. Consider, for example, any or all of the issues discussed by Metzger: content knowledge, narrative analysis, historical cultural positioning, historical empathy, and/or presentism.  

Post these responses on the discussion bulletin board for comments and suggestions from your colleagues in the class.  Then, post comments on five essays by your peers (Note that you do not have to see a film to comment on an essay about it). 

Choose one of your response essays to revise and expand.  The review should include bibliographical references to relevant published sources.  Post a draft of the expanded essay to the discussion board before December 1 for further feedback. Upload it to the final essays dropbox by the last day of lectures.   

War for independence, 1918-1920

  • Defenders of Riga (2008) Latvian with English subtitles.  One screening only, at Varsity Theater, 4329 University Way NE, Saturday, October 4; student admission $5. [Link to trailer]
  • Names in Marble (2002) 90 min., Estonian with subtitles in English and other languages.  Set during the War of Liberation that ensured Estonia's independence, the film tells about a group of young men who head to the front lines to fight the army of Soviet Russia. Media Center - Odegaard DVD SLA 005 [Link to Trailer in Estonian]

Independence, 1920-1940

  • Child of Man (1991) 95 min., Latvian with English subtitles.  A six-year-old boy plots to stop his "sweetheart", a grown-up woman in his pre-World War II Latvian village, from marrying. Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 092
  • Lithuanian Basketball (2004) 120 min; In Lithuanian, subtitles in English and other languages.  A documentary about Lithuanian basketball, including: history from 1920s to 2004 Olympics; top ten events; information about players and coaches; greatest victories; and memorable music and songs. Media Center - Odegaard DVD SLA 285

World War II, Soviet Occupation

  • Dangerous Summer (2000) 112 min., Latvian with English subtitles.  The story of two young lovers in Latvia in June 1940 with warclosing in on all sides. Roberts is a radio journalists andIzolde a German-Latvian with ties to the establishment.  TheForeign Minister, Munters, tries to use Izolde to help him steal the Latvian national wealth deposited abroad but the plan backfires when Izolde puts off leaving the country after the Russian invasion. Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 105
  • Feelings. 90 min., Lithuanian with English subtitles. The setting is Lithuania at the end of the Second World War. Two brothers, Kasparas and Andrius, are divided by war. Kasparas  lives in German-occupied territory, while Andrius lives in a part of the country where the Germans have withdrawn. The brothers are also divided by their ideals. Andrius and his wife are dedicated to political idealism and Lithuanian nationalism, while Kasparas decides to focus on his newly-born children. Although the brothers have different goals, they are united in their struggle to survive.  Media Center - Odegaard DVD SLA 267
  • Utterly Alone (2004) 90 min., Lithuanian with English subtitles.  A true story of the Lithuanian resistance movement and of freedom-fighter Juozas Lukša-Daumantas and his family -- two  brothers were killed when they were fighting in the underground, another two were exiled to Siberia, his father was broken by the loss of his sons. As a representative of the underground movement in the West, Juozas Lukša-Daumantas told he truth about the situation in Lithuania and asked for the Western support; he also met and married a Lithuanian girl. He returned to Lithuania and continued fighting against soviet occupation until he was killed at the age of 30. Media Center - Odegaard DVD SLA 104
  • Soviet Story (2008) 86 min., English.  Documentary of Stalinism in East Europe, directed by Latvian filmmaker Ervins Snore.  Winner of Mass Impact Award at the 2008 Boston Film Festival.  [Link to Trailer]

Holocaust

  • Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness (2005) 85 min., English.  This documentary tells the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, consul to Lithuania during World War II. Sugihara defied Tokyo authorities and wrote transit visas that allowed hundreds of Jewish families to flee Europe through Russia to Japan and other countries. Includes home movies, photographs, film footage, and interviews with Holocaust survivors who owe their lives to Chiune Sugihara.  Media Center - Odegaard DVD WGBH 009 [Link to trailer]
  • There once Was a Town (2000) 90 min., English.  In 1941 the German army invaded Eishyshok, Poland (now Lithuania) and murdered nearly all 3,500 Jewish residents. Edward Asner, a descendant of an Eishyshok family, narrates this chronicle of the journey of four survivors and their families as they return home. Media Center - Odegaard VHS HOV 168
  • Partisans of Vilna (1987), 130 min., Hebrew, Yiddish and English, with English subtitles.  Feature-length documentary film that explores Jewish resistance  in Vilna, (Vilnius) Lithuania, during World War II. Discusses the moral dilemmas facing the Jewish youth who organized an underground resistance in the Vilna ghetto and fought as partisans in the woods against the Nazis. Features interviews with surviving partisans interspersed with archival footage. Media Center - Odegaard VHS NCJF 006

Soviet Deportations

  • Greetings from Siberia (2004), 66 min., Latvian and Russian with English subtitles. A documentary film about Latvians who were deported by the Soviet Union. In 1941, the Soviets seized 15,000 Latvians, including 4,000 children, and transported them to Siberia in cattle cars.  In 1949, another 42,000 Latvians were deported to Siberia. The film includes interviews with survivors of this tragedy. Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 253
  • Children of Siberia (2001) 53 min., Latvian with English subtitles. Documentary on the forced evacuation of 15,424 people from Latvia in 1941. This film looks at the 4,000 children that were sent, in particular the ones that were still alive in at the end of the 20th century. Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 235
  • Once there was Siberia (2005) 51 min., Latvian and Russian with English subtitles.  A documentary film about Latvians who were deported by the Soviet Union. On June 14, 1941, the Soviets seized 15,000 Latvians, including 4,000 children, and transported them to Siberia in cattle cars. During the next several years, half of the deportees died. The film includes interviews with survivors of his tragedy. Media Center - Odegaard DVD SLA 253
  • Siberian Diaries (2001) 209 min. counts as two reviews, Latvian and Russian with English subtitles.  Four documentary films about Latvians who were deported to Siberia by the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1956. During this period, at least 19,000 Latvians were imprisoned. About 4,000 of the victims were children. The films include interviews with the survivors of this tragedy. Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 259 v.1  and  v.2

Late Soviet Period

  • Is it Easy to Be Young? (1986) 85 min., Latvian and Russian, dubbed and subtitled in English.  Documentary film exploring alienated youth in the Soviet Union. Media Center - Odegaard VHS IFEX 002
  • I Am (2000) 28 min., Lithuanian with English subtitles.  Documentary filmed in the Bernadine church in Vilnius, Lithuania and in a KGB prison in Siberia about a Lithuanian priest who published underground newspapers in the 1970s .  He was arrested in 1979 and kept in the Vilnius KGB prison for 18 months, then sent to a Siberian prison for five years.  Includes footage of him presiding at a Catholic mass in Vilnius in 1999. Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 135
  • Dienoraščio akimirkos (1998) 56 min., Lithuanian only.  Biographical film about the life and times of Vytautas Landsbergis, the first Lithuanian president following their independence. Includes footage (some rare) of events from 1940 to present.Media Center - Odegaard VHS SLA 104
  • Baltic Requiem (1991), 90 min., various languages with English subtitles.  Possible screening this quarter. 
  • Singing Revolution (2007), in English.  Film to be acquired by the UW Libraries when the DVD is released in October 2008. [Link to trailer]
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Last Updated 10/23/2008   

Contact the instructor at: guntiss@u.washington.edu