Slide 1 – Isaac

1. Slide 1 – Isaac Hello, I am Klaus Schmidt. I was born in Munich, Germany in 1914, which marked the beginning of world war one. Slide 2 – Blake I vividly remember the day when my mother received the letter, informing her of my fathers death. It was the saddest day of my life. I remember in my adolescence when my country was poor in wealth, and sad at heart.

2. Slide 3 – Isaac However, when Hitler rose to power, he raised my people’s hearts with speeches of revenge, and another Reich. I remember at that age, that I wanted to be a part of that Reich. I quit my teenage job, and joined the army. The training was rough, but I survived. Slide 4 - Blake On Kristallnacht, I killed two Jews and was promoted to the rank of Gefreiter. I could not wait until I gained more land for the father land.

3. Slide 5 Isaac I was finally assigned to a war mission. The operation was codenamed Barbarossa. The object was to invade Russia. I was originally going to go to Leningrad, but I was transferred to the sixth army to go to an industrial city called Stalingrad. It was very important to the Russian economy, so we had to destroy it. Slide 6 Blake On the march there, a heard a speech from Hitler blaring from a truck. It made whatever feelings of fright that were in me left go away. (Podcast)

4. Slide 7 Isaac When I first got to Stalingrad, The first thing that I saw was a huge pile of bodies. I also saw my friend Rolf get shot. The casualties were huge on both sides. Slide 8 Blake Because of Stalingrad’s close city terrain, the Russians were forced to fight in close quarter battle. Our commanders told us to be careful and stay away from corners. They also told us to keep away from wide open places, because the Russians had good sniping soldiers as well. We had to keep the fight in medium range.

5. Slide 9 Mrs. Hopper In many tribes the tradition of lion killing has stopped. When I was in Kenya in 2006, the Masaii tribe I visited continued the custom of lion killing as group of warriors, not individually. Once the lion is killed, the young men become warriors and are allowed to marry. Slide 10 Mrs. Davenport The Masaii are known for their jumping dance or “adumu,” which means to jump up and down in a dance. The warriors from a circl and one or two at a time, they enter the center to begin jumping. Their heels never touch the ground. Eunoto is the coming of age ceremony of the warrior, and can involve ten or more days of singing, dancing and ritual.

6. Slide 11 Mrs. Davenport show video Slide 12: Mrs. Hopper The Masaii are truly a unique tribe that have maintained their traditions for hundreds of years. It is an interesting social issue to think about if the tribe should continue some of the traditions. Conservationists and human rights groups are working with the Masaii to help and discuss alternatives to lion killing and women’s rights.