National Tragedy Research Articles

Indonesian political exiles in the Netherlands after 1965; Postcolonial nationalists in an era of transnationalism

This article presents brief life stories of select Indonesians who were forced into exile by the Suharto regime after the 1965 National Tragedy in Indonesia. It focuses on staunch nationalist exiles who were rendered stateless by the self-proclaimed “New Order“ for refusing to accept the overthrow of President Sukarno and declare loyalty to the military regime. Faced with a life in exile, they sought refuge in the former colonial nation of the Netherlands. After exploring a brief history of exile in the bilateral relationship, it explores the choices made by select individuals who moved to the Netherlands from a variety of other locations of initial refuge. It then explores the frameworks of support which bolster the exiles’ sense of identity as Indonesian (trans)nationalists who reside in the Netherlands, before finally locating the experiences of the exiles in the context of their changing engagement with their homeland.

Where Are They Now: The Narratives of Children Who Lost a Parent on 9/11.

There is a paucity of literature examining the experiences of children who lost a parent on 9/11. The primarily quantitative research has not allowed for a deeper understanding of how children who lost a parent on 9/11 make meaning of their experiences, especially in the context of a national tragedy. This study investigates how eight children who were between the ages of 5 and 12 when they lost a parent on 9/11 developed a personal narrative about this loss in the context of the collective narrative about 9/11. Using narrative inquiry, cases demonstrated patterns of narrative development about grief, tragedy, and collective themes of American exceptionalism, patriotism, triumph, and resiliency. These cases highlight de-personalized narratives of grief, tension between the grand narrative provided to them and their personal story of loss, and distance between the reality of their loss and the collective meaning-making of the tragedy. This study extends Bronfenbrenner's (1977) ecological systems theory by highlighting how a lack of bidirectionality between larger social and cultural systems and the individual negatively impacts personal experiences of grief and loss.

Suicide in Nazi Germany: Transformative Family History

ABSTRACT This article focuses on two lesser-known characteristics of German Jewish life during the Third Reich: the high rate of suicide amongst Jews and the extraordinary impediments to their migration. Beginning with memoir-narrative which centres on my Jewish father’s revelation that my grandmother and great-grandmother had committed suicide, the paper then outlines the reasons for and characteristics of suicide in Nazi Germany, and the phenomenon’s connection to the difficulties most Jews faced in attempting to leave Germany. I demonstrate the ways in which I have been able to reshape the family narratives told to me through historical and genealogical research, returning the given knowledge back. Researching these family and national tragedies have brought about new knowledge and transformative understandings.

BESIK GABASHVILI/ NIKOLOZ BARATASHVILI – PARALLELS AND REMINISCENCES

Poetry of Nikoloz Baratashvili was inspired by national tragedy of Georgia in the end of the 18th century. Speaking on the epoch of Baratashvili, one of the first biographers of the poet – Iona Meunargia - noted that Georgia tried to keep the atmosphere of ancient times from Ioane Petritsi to Ioane Batonisvili. By the manifesto of Georgian modernist Titsian Tabidze - «Blue Horns» - poetry of Baratashvili (especially, his first verses) had reflected enigmas of Besik Gabashvili. It`s important to study allusions and reminiscences of Besik Gabashvili and Nikoloz Baratashvili. The verse of Besiki – «I understood…» – one of the poems of the circle of «Sorrow Garden» («Sevdis Baghi») is an inspiration of lyrical narrative of Baratashvili «The Hyacinth and the Pilgrim». Characters of the Besiki`s poetical narrative – the Hyacinth, the Pilgrim, the Nightingale, the Rose - are reflected in the Baratashvili literary text – it`s a dialogue among the Hyacinth and the Pilgrim. But the context/concept is/are different: In the text of Besiki the beloved is aparted from his sweetheart (the Rose) by his own will, and the strange landscape is a new home for the belover himself. The Hyacinth is only a medium. In the text of Baratashvili main characters are the Hiacintus and the Pilgrim and their dialoge is a main theme of the verse. The most important problem of Baratashvili text is the concept of leaving/parting the native land/fatherland. Metapchorically, a native land is a Paradise, but we think, in this concrete context the author speaks about a real Fatherland (Georgia) and the tragedy of 1832 insurrection as well as the marriage of Ekaterine Chavchavadze. The Hiacintus is trubbled because of losing of freedom. Concept of Baratashvili is the same as «The Pilgrimage of Childe Harrold» - it`s a «texts of innitiation». «Mtatsminda Twilight» by Baratashvili is inspired by the verse of Besiki «Sorrow Garden». The Mtasminda Mountain is the Sorrow Garden as well. The landscape of Besiki is allegorical but the environment of Baratashvili is real mountain as well. The poet looks for Eternity. Political choice of Georgian State and its results are reflected in the conceptual poems of Besiki («For Aspindza», «The Rukhi Battle») and Baratashvili («Destiny of Qartli (Georgia).»

341.1: Examining One Procurement Organization’s Growth: Riding Coattails or Innovating?

The need for organ donation remains great in the U.S. Despite continued and sustained growth in donation and transplantation numbers nationally, over 106,000 people remain on the waitlist as of this publication (Organ Procurement and Transplant Network Data, 2022). Some have hypothesized that the recent growth in organ donation is a direct result of organ procurement organizations (OPO) “riding the coattails of a national tragedy” (D Goldberg, R Lynch), suggesting that in some areas, OPO growth is correlated with the rise in opioid overdose deaths. It is a fact that all too often overdoses result in cardiac arrests and subsequent anoxic brain injury that leads to brain death (BD) or the family making the difficult decision to withdraw life sustaining therapy. When this happens, donation does become an option that is presented to the family. One OPO took a deep dive into their data to understand what was driving their own OPO’s growth and to examine if this suggested trend existed in their donation service area. A 4-year retrospective data review was completed, and donors were categorized by donor type (BD vs DCD), age, and cause of death. Any donor whose cause of death (n=304) was listed as anoxia was examined closely and classified by the cause of the anoxic injury. Nine primary causes for anoxic brain injury emerged in the data. This OPO saw a 24% growth in organ donors from 2018 to 2021. This growth was realized by growing their DCD donor population by 96%, from 57 donors in 2018 to 112 donors in 2021. Of the 112 DCD donors in 2021, 5.4%% (6) donors had life sustaining therapy withdrawn because of a devastating anoxic injury that was secondary to an overdose. Of the 304 combined BD and DCD donors with anoxic injury as their cause of death during the four-year study period, 13.8% of the anoxic injuries were the result of drug intoxications. Looking at all 832 donors for the same period, overdose represented just 5% of the total donor population from this OPO. This OPO made DCD donation a strategic priority and has invested heavily in staffing, technology, and resources to increase the number of donors and lifesaving organs made available. As a result, this OPO has had record growth and has been a national leader in DCD donation. Interestingly, a query of the CDC WONDER database for inpatient overdose deaths suggest that numbers are stagnant in this OPO’s services area (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The growth experienced by this OPO is a result of hard work at all levels of the donation process to maximize every opportunity for donation, not riding the coattails of a national drug overdose epidemic.

A Horse Is a Horse

A Horse Is a Horse

Reflection of the Genocide in the Fiction

A huge amount of fiction has been created, starting from 1915 to the present day, by writers who became victims of the genocide themselves, devoted to the Armenian Genocide. The material in this article is presented from three points of view, considering: (a) the first decades of Soviet rule; (b) the return to their roots of Armenian writers who left their homeland because of the genocide and became foreign writers; and (c) foreign writers, in this case the position of a Turkish writer from within Turkey. In the first decades of the Soviet Union’s existence, the view of the historical past, in this case of the genocide, was assessed by official critics not as patriotism, but as nationalism. Under these conditions, the publication of Charents’ novel “Yerkir Nairi” was a serious achievement. Covering the national tragedy with a veil of satire, he portrayed Armenian life as it was between 1914 and 1920. His goal was to bring the remnants of the generation that survived the massacres back to life. The influence of this novel on 20th century Armenian literature is very great and had, at one time, two Armenian and four Russian translation editions. Many writers of Armenian origin have switched to foreign languages, starting with William Saroyan. Among such writers, this article presents the book “Towards Ararat” by Michael Arlen Jr. and the memoir “The Black Dog of Fate” by Peter Balakian. They were written in English, have autobiographical content and been translated into Armenian. This article shows how the authors, who were in a foreign language environment, realised that and looked for their Armenian roots. Among foreign writers, the Turkish writer Kemal Yalcin’s novel “My soul is full of you” is presented in this article. To become acquainted with the life of his Armenian teacher who had been subjected to the Genocide, the author travelled to historical Armenia and became acquainted with Armenians who, out of fear, had hidden their nationality and faith. He found out that the life of each of them was a novel. Fiction from the very beginning fought against genocide, initially revealing its essence, which consists of the destruction of homeland, civilisation, language, nationality, people and humanity in general.

Undrowned Story: The Landscape on the Volgo–Baltic Waterway as the Volga Hydropower Cascade Submersions Memorial

Vast territories along the Volga River basin were intentionally submerged in the 1930s to 1980s for the sake of creating the Volga hydropower cascade. Many people suffered displacement, and hundreds of cultural and historical sites were destroyed or left under water. However, these events were never recognized as a national tragedy in the official public narrative. This article is dedicated to a grassroots project aimed at creating a ‘lieu de mémoire’ for this difficult heritage by preserving the ruins of a submerged church. The ruins marking the transformed landscape bear memories of the events that accompanied that transformation as well as the role of an individual and local community in commemorating the traumatic events. Intentionally preserved ruins are extremely rare for Russia, yet they powerfully link tangible and intangible heritage and give voice to repressed narratives.

THE LATE XXth AND EARLY XXIst CENTURY WORLD LITERATURE AS A FACTOR IN SHAPING THE HISTORICAL MEMORY OF FUTURE TEACHERS

It is noted that fiction for various reasons loses its educational role among future teachers, and a certain educational potential of modern world literature is virtually unfamiliar to students. It has been proved that modern foreign literature, which actualizes Ukrainian issues, can become an effective means of educating spirituality, national-patriotic feelings and historical memory in future teachers. The interest of foreign authors in Ukraine, its historical past, raising of important issues of national identity, historical memory of Ukrainians is a stimulus for students to get acquainted with these literary works and to read them deeply. The object of study may be the novel "Chornobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future" by the Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich , as well as Taisa Bondar (the novel "In the Name of the Father and the Son"), Ivan Shamyakin (the novel "The Evil Star") , the American writer Irene Zabytko ("The Sky Unwashed"), representing diaspora literature, the novel by the Irish writer Darragh McKeon "All That is Solid Melts into Air", the literary work of the French illustrator Emmanuel Lepage "Springtime in Chernobyl", journalism of the American-English scholar Serhii Plokhy ("Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe”) and others. These authors are thematically united by the Chernobyl accident, which they portray as a global catastrophe, as a national tragedy of Ukrainians, a huge psychological trauma for people. The writers emphasize that the Chernobyl explosion happened not only due to neglect of safety rules, problems with the construction of the reactor or staff errors, but also largely due to the socio-political system and the authoritarian regime of those times. Today, more than ever, these problems are urgent, especially taking into consideration the events that took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a result of the invasion of Russian troops. Unfortunately, there is a great threat of a repeat of this catastrophe. Therefore, the artistic and journalistic works of the “Chernobyl discourse” must be read carefully and in a new way, in order to prevent a recurrence of the Chernobyl disaster. The lessons of Chernobyl must not be forgotten and should never be allowed to happen today. Such issues are perhaps the most capable of shaping the national memory of youth, national consciousness and high spiritual values.
 Keywords: modern world literature, future teachers, historical memory, education, Chernobyl discourse, writers.

Untreated Mental Illness Has Created a National Tragedy: A Pandemic of Homelessness.

Untreated Mental Illness Has Created a National Tragedy: A Pandemic of Homelessness.

Ulusal Anma Konuşmaları ve Politika: Obama ve Dr. King’in Mirası

Eulogy is a key rhetorical tool for the public to come to terms with national tragedies. While eulogies can bring the nation together during times of hardship, they can also undermine political mobilization by placing excessive emphasis on national unity. This paper will analyze this political aspect of national eulogies by providing a close reading of two pivotal political figures in American politics. These figures are the President Barack Obama and the African-American political activist Dr. Martin Luther King. The paper argues that Obama’s eulogy is deeply depoliticizing as he shifts the focus from politics to theological reasoning. King’s eulogies, on the other hand, are more political as he underlines the theme of individual responsibility. Yet King’s discourse also loses its political salience when he taps into the theme of equalizing power of death. This analysis is important to understand the ambiguous nature of eulogies, which makes these speeches oscillate between being a conservative and transformative rhetorical tool in politics.

Мифологизация Талергофа: от коммеморации к политическому мифу

The problem of the development of the political myth around the Austro-Hungarian internment camp Thalerhof, which operated during World War I near the Austrian city of Graz, takes an important place in the study of the history of the Rusyn people. Given the possibility of a comparative analysis of German and Ukrainian lists of prisoners of the camp, we offer a new assessment of domestic and foreign sources on the subject under study, which for a long time served as the basis for the development of a widespread historiographical image of the camp. As a result of the study, the key milestones and episodes of V.R. Vavrik’s development of the political myth around Thalerhof as a concentration camp for the extermination of representatives of the Rusyn population are clarified. The research shows that other well-known inter-war assessments of the nature of the Thalerhof camp, usually referring only to the works of V.R. Vavrik, substantially exaggerated the extent of the tragedy due to a lack of alternative data. The results of the work indi-cate that the history of Thalerhof cannot be elevated to a higher rank than the national tragedy of the Rusyn population of Galicia and Bukovina. It was also defined that the history of the camp has become a politicized myth about the intentional “genocide” and “Calvary” of the Rusyn population, necessary for narrow political circles to solve the problems of nation-building and, unfortunately, taken seriously by the absolute majority of national historians. The study expands the field for substantive discussions of the history of one of the most politicized camps of the World War I and offers a different approach to the assessment of the events of the studied period.

Zimbabwe in Creative Imagination: Environmental Crisis and Human Migration as National Tragedies in Shimmer Chinodya’s Dew in the Morning

Zimbabwe in Creative Imagination: Environmental Crisis and Human Migration as National Tragedies in Shimmer Chinodya’s Dew in the Morning

“Teach Your Daughters to Wail and One Another to Lament”: Jewish Prayers and Liturgical Texts for Female Victims of Sexual Assault

AbstractThroughout generations, various prayers have been composed to express religious and cultural experiences of the Jewish community, such as holidays life-cycle and national tragedies. However, some social issues, such as sexual assault, have been excluded from this canon. This article uncovers Jewish prayers and liturgical texts dedicated to female victims of sexual assault. Drawing on a qualitative inquiry based on content analysis and interviews with the prayers’ authors, I demonstrate how these texts (re)position sexual assault victims in Jewish liturgy by including new phrasings and references to God; by removing masculine violence related to God; by mentioning biblical female characters who experienced sexual harassment; by denouncing of patriarchal abuse; or by sanctifying the woman’s painful body, which is incorporated as an important agent in the ritual’s structure. Therefore, I suggest considering these texts a political mean to voice women’s traumas and to incorporate them into the religious sphere, thereby rectifying a long-silenced discourse.

A Radical New Approach for Mental Health Diversion.

The criminalization of mental illness is a national tragedy. Over the past three decades there have been numerous programs and initiatives designed to reduce the number of people with mental illness incarcerated in jails and prisons. Despite such efforts, incarceration rates have not fallen and have actually climbed in many jurisdictions. One major consequence of the criminalization of mental illness has been a large increase in referrals for evaluation for competency to stand trial and, consequently, in the need for competency restoration services. Many states have been unable to keep up with the demand for such services, causing patients to languish in jails with their criminal proceedings suspended, awaiting transfer to a state hospital. Expedited Diversion to Court-Ordered Treatment (EDCOT) is a new model for diversion that has great potential to drastically improve the diversion process, bypass the competency restoration system, and reduce the criminalization of mental illness. Successful implementation of EDCOT would result in more humane treatment of people with mental illness, without jeopardizing public safety; furthermore, it would pay for itself with the savings from reductions in the use of competency restoration services.

Do National Tragedies Create Change? Kent State Shooting and the Actions Taken After.

Do National Tragedies Create Change? Kent State Shooting and the Actions Taken After.

The Cultural Politics of National Tragedies and Personal Sacrifice: State Narratives of China’s ‘Ordinary Heroes’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Cultural Politics of National Tragedies and Personal Sacrifice: State Narratives of China’s ‘Ordinary Heroes’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Czechoslovak national tragedy of the 1938 year

The article deals with the problem of the internal situation in Czechoslovakia, its political and economic development in the specified period. Particular attention is paid to the efforts of Czechoslovakia aimed at preventing the division of the country. The leadership of Czechoslovakia entered into international treaties, strengthened the state’s defenses, and modernized the army. The article also touches upon the international relations of Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy on the further fate of Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 30s. XX century. The leadership of Czechoslovakia and its president Edvard Beneš felt the threat looming over the country from Germany, so they took certain steps to preserve the integrity of the Czechoslovak republic. The reform of the army began in the country, it was modernized, equipped with new equipment, weapons, aviation. A new line of fortifications was built along the borders. The diplomatic department of Czechoslovakia was also not idle. Consultations were constantly held with the USSR, Great Britain, France and Germany on the issue of preserving the country’s sovereignty, international treaties were concluded on assistance in the event of an attack by a third party. But, despite all these efforts, at the end of September 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided by force, the Sudetenland was torn away from it, fascist troops were brought into the country, and the leaders of the state were leaders of the fascist party. All these changes were enshrined in an international treaty - the Munich Agreement. Germany, Italy, France and Great Britain took part in its signing. Representatives of the Czechoslovak Republic were not even invited to the conference. The Czechoslovak side was familiarized with the terms of the agreement only after their adoption. Czechoslovakia could not in any way influence the decisions of Hitler, Mussolini, Deladier and Chamberlain. As a result, throughout the Second World War, Czechoslovakia existed as two separate parts: the Protecto-rate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic.

“THE POETRY OF BREAKING”: THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MUSEUM IN THE PROJECTS OF DANIEL LIBESKIND

Raising of problem. The study of the creativity of masters of architecture of the late XX − early XXI centuries, as a rule, occurs in line with the consideration of the characteristic features inherent in one or another author. Most of the scientific works state that the structure belongs to a certain trend, direction, style. But the choice of artistic means by the architect remains unclear, which is reflected in the discrepancy between the figurative solution and the purpose of the building in the perception of the consumer. Therefore, it is relevant to consider the creativity of architects, in whose works artistic and semantic characteristics acquire an organic fusion. Among such masters is Daniel Libeskind, who made the complex language of deconstructivism the only one possible for his architectural work. The article is devoted to the consideration of the origins of the artistic language of the outstanding architect on the example of his museum projects, which constitute a significant part of his work. Purpose is to analyze the characteristic features of the artistic language of Daniel Libeskind on the example of museum projects. The research was carried out on the material of the master's works dedicated to the national tragedy of the Jewish people − the war and the Holocaust. Conclusion. The circumstances of Daniel Libeskind’s personal life, as well as his passion for philosophy and music, had a great influence on his work. The Libeskind’s artistic language is very individual: within the framework of one project, he combines dissonance and harmony, the tragedy of war and the desire for a peaceful life. The compositional means the architect uses to embody these categories are: asymmetry, contradictory combinations of volumes and spaces, virtuoso interweaving of lines and planes. The artistic language of all Libeskind’s museum buildings has similarities that can be traced in each project, namely broken, non-parallel lines, pointed forms, invasions, contrast and script.

Russian Liberalism in the 19th century: an Attractive Course of Development or a Road to National Tragedy

Russian Liberalism in the 19th century: an Attractive Course of Development or a Road to National Tragedy