51 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2017
    1. So I was late, and the way to leave was via the ferry across Lake Constance, ‘cause that’s near where the school was

      The story following this reminds me of my ancestors leaving Israel. My great grandfather (who I mentioned in a Macbeth response, way back, about how he died, and I regret the way I found out), my grandmother (who is still with us, but blind), and their immediate family left the middle east on a boat to France. However, they wanted to go to the U.S., so they switched ferries in the middle of the night, as they passed each other. If they hadn't, it turns out that they would've been caught in a war area, whether they went to France or stayed in the east. So that's why I'm alive today.

    2. Brown Shirts

      Are these fellow travelers, or SA officers?

    3. the headmistress of my pre-school -- I was, of course, in pre-school--who was a real Protestant type, a Vermont Protestant type, but a real Prussian Protestant type, said no, that I must stay till I have finished my duty after school, you see. So, the result of that is -- no, I mean she was a wonderful woman, she got into – Fraeulein Koeppen was her name, she got into prison eventually because she refused to teach “Mein Kampf”, but she refused to teach “Mein Kampf” in German class, because it was bad German, not because we -- you know, it was bad German. It is bad German, yeah, so she was a real -- as you call it, a real -- you know, a real type, as it were.

      The story of his headmistress, Fraeulein Koeppen.

    4. bad German

      Does that mean it was poorly written, or a poor representation of German values, or something else?

    5. I was, of course, in pre-school

      I'm guessing that pre-school means different things in Germany than here. Perhaps it means school before college, or maybe high school.

    6. t must not be forgotten that Hitler put aristocrats in the first row of soldiers in Poland

      I didn't know that. So he used potentially opposing government officials and aristocrats as forces, to further his cause and wipe them out in one fell swoop?

    7. kosherizes

      The use of this word here is interesting. It means, "To manipulate in order to fit in with the Jewish belief," which presumably comes from his Jewish background. However, the part I find interesting is the fact that he uses the idea of fitting as a Jew to describe how he escaped Jewish persecution... Yes, I do overanalyze everything. Why do you ask?

    8. when I was in Berlin, where I was at the boarding school, where we knew that some of our teachers were seen in a neighboring town, Uberlingen in Nazi uniform.
    9. swastikas were burned on the hills around the school

      Why would swastikas be burned? They're the symbol of the Nazi party, so why would they burn them? Unless, of course, the burnings are statements by resistors.

    10. Yes, I did. I don’t really know why. I did express that interest, and -- I don’t know what got into me. But anyway, my father had a very good cure, he thought, and he was right. He put me into a car, into our car, and a -- said to the chauffeur to drive to the Scheunenviertel, that’s the Jewish quarter of Berlin, yes. And there he took me and said -- and showed me these pious Jews, you know, with the peyes, and dark, you know. And said, “Do you want to be like them?” And I said, “Of course not.” So that was that.

      So, if I'm getting this right, he wanted to become a Rabbi, but his secular objections led to him deciding against it. That means he was, at some point, very invested in Jewish beliefs.

    11. I was -- I was kicked out of the -- of what we called Sunday school, cause it met on Sunday, cause I was so naughty. Yes, an effort was made to send me to religious school, and it didn’t last long

      The exact same thing happened to me. My parents tried to put me into Sunday school, but I behaved so badly they kicked me out. It didn't help that I kept on confusing Judaism and Christianity, since I had been raised with elements of both.

    12. A

      I think that this is an excellent point. However, while I would love to incorporate it, it doesn't seem relevant, so I'll have to let it go.

    13. I’m a bully by nature

      It is interesting to me that he admits that. Most people wouldn't say that outright, or even acknowledge it to themselves, but he just goes ahead and says it. He seems to be very understanding of who he is and where he came from.

    14. your character was built.

      According to Wikipedia, he puts emphasis on it building character in his other interviews.

    15. Until I was fairly old I thought French was -- France was giv -- governed by kings, because of these ladies I had

      I wonder how that happened. (Note: This sentence is intended to be read in a distinct, non sarcastic tone)

    16. So I learned French first, and English then.

      How many languages did he learn through his life? He knew German as a child living in Germany, but also learned French and English through his maids. He studied history, where knowing other languages is an enormous help. So, how many did he learn through his life?

    17. governess

      Reminds me of Doctor Who. Won't say more.

    18. It became a boarding school for the aristocracy, yes

      I wonder what his family thought of the aristocracy at that point.

    19. The queen of Greece. I used to dunk her pigtails into ink.

      That is the best story ever.

    20. 10

      Age when going to boarding school.

    21. Frau Wunderlich

      I like the sound of that name. Don't know why.

    22. Hilda

      Important to remember - He only calls her "my sister" from here on.

    23. I had my own little car which -- which I drove around the park.

      Now, that is luxury.

    24. My father once in our Berlin house, met a girl on the stairs and said, “What are you doing here?” She said, “I am the kitchen maid.” Of course, he didn’t know who these people were.

      Reminds me of that time I went off on too many tangents.

    25. 45 minutes from Berlin

      This doesn't make much sense. The street he lived on was part Berlin, part that other area. How could they be 45 minutes apart? Unless, of course, that is on foot or by horse. I doubt any scenario.

    26. luxury

      Understatement of the century.

    27. Bismarck
    28. Franco-Prussian
    29. And he was offered nobility, which was very rare for a Jew. But he refused it. Like my other grandfather refused it too. These people were good liberals, the aristocracy was not -- was not something they desired.

      This reminds me of a philosophical problem my father shared with me. A man is put in prison for a crime he didn't commit, and he always protested his innocence. Years later, the case is reopened, and they discover the truth. He is offered a pardon, but he refuses it. According to him, accepting that pardon acknowledges that they had the right to put him in there at all. Substitute the prison system for the system of aristocracy, and it's the exact same problem.

    30. [indecipherable]

      All of these are very annoying, since they both omit information and don't indicate how much time or information they represent the absence of.

    31. characterize

      Mosse seems to have difficulty with this term. The definition is roughly "Identify via details." It may simply be a result of him being put off by not having English as a first language, but with the interview being 50 years after first encountering it, I doubt that. Another cause may be that, being familiar with so many languages, a contradiction in meaning between them may make a concrete answer pertaining to characterization difficult.

    32. I thought that was more comprehensible

      Reminds me of a doctor who story I read. Without the main plot of aliens, a boy and his family emigrated from Germany, and although his father had planned and rehearsed a long speech about how he was from a long line of so-and-so's, which would translate to Smith, he forgot every bit of the speech when he went up to the immigration desk from being seasick, and so said the first thing he saw, which was "Heftmaschine," or stapler. That definitely doesn't translate to English, so his whole family is made fun of for their undeniably German name. After the whole plot is resolved, the Doctor says "Well, Mr. Heftmaschine - amazing name, by the way. Never change it. It's time we were off." It is this small line that provides final resolution for the story (there was a motif of "the truth is relative, and rarely true enough for some"), because now the boy can see everything in a better light.

    33. grandfather Mosse

      Hans Lachmann-Mosse, according to Wikipedia.

    34. I was born in Berlin

      Later on, we see he receives a scholarship for everyone from a certain area of Germany. He has to prove his home was somewhere in that area, and he showed them that the street he lived on went through both Berlin and that area, and that he technically lived in both. He received the entirety of the money, because no one else qualified. What I find interesting was that they said he also had to prove he was born in that area. I wonder if he simply said nothing about it, and simplifies it to Berlin, or if there's more going on.

    35. George L. Mosse

      General Comments on Source: This source perfectly fits the entire project. It features a German Jew born to a wealthy family residing over a newspaper and advertising organization. With Hitler's takeover, they were forced to emigrate to Europe, and eventually America, and Hitler took over their company. Mosse grew up to become a skilled presenter, and a specialist on the holocaust and the Nazis, as well as other sections of history.

  2. Sep 2016
  3. www.simonandschusterpublishing.com www.simonandschusterpublishing.com
    1. Life Magazine said that orson Welles’s 1948 film adaptation “doth foully slaughter shakespeare.”

      Funny.

    2. and several murders, apparitions, and a suicide later, you exit darkness, invitation to a coronation in hand. at the very least, you feel entertained. With any luck you will feel flat out elevated.

      This language feels oddly modern.

    3. acbeth becomes convinced that he can only become king of scotland by killing duncan, the present king.

      Why does he default to death, and what does it say about his character?

    4. Donalbain

      Why isn't he mentioned very much?

    1. When the witches show Macbeth the future, he sees a line of kings descended from Banquo that seems to 'stretch out to the crack of doom'. This flatters King James with the promise of a long-standing dynasty

      This is really cool to me. Shakespeare used his writing to appeal to a specific person's single desire.

    2. the witch scenes would have been taken very seriously.

      I don't doubt it, but it would be difficult to find an audience today who would do the same.

    3. James was also very interested in the supernatural, and had written a paper called Daemonologie on the subject. During his reign as King of Scotland, James is known to have been directly involved in some witch trials at North Berwick. Women were regularly burnt as witches, and Shakespeare presents his witches unequivocally as powerful and evil emissaries of the devil.

      I wonder if Shakespeare was conflicted about what light to portray the witches in to please James.

    4. Holinshed does include a Banquo in his version, but he is also a traitor who assists Macbeth in the murder.

      So, there is room for interpretation in even the real history.

    5. In reality, Macbeth was succeeded by his own stepson, not by Duncan's son, Malcolm, who came to the throne later.

      Does this mean that Malcom succeeded Macbeth's son, or something else? And why didn't Shakespeare show Macbeth's son in the play?

    1. Mary Queen of Scots, was a beautiful and charming woman,

      Why is this relevant to James? She died when he was a baby? Feels like fluff.

    2. Guy Fawkes and his men tried to blow up James and his parliament in 1605. The conspirators were betrayed, and horribly tortured on the rack until they confessed. They were then executed in the most brutal fashion as a warning to other would-be traitors.

      Now I understand what that Sherlock episode was referring to!

    3. are often seen to embody the generally happy, confident and optimistic mood of the Elizabethans. However, those he wrote during James's reign, such as Macbeth and Hamlet, are darker and more cynical, reflecting the insecurities of the Jacobean period.

      Reminds me of the idea that the mythology of older civilizations reflected their quality of life.