Belarusian education in General District Latvia (1941–1945)

The article deals with the Belarusian school system in Latvia under German occupation. Belarusians were one of the most numerous minorities in that country, both in the inter-war period and during World War Two. In German-occupied Latvia, Belarusian nationality was declared by more than 50,000 people. For political reasons, the occupation authorities allowed Belarusian schools to operate in areas with significant Belarusian population. As a result, thirty-five primary schools, two middle schools, and one secondary agricultural school, employing about a hundred teachers in total, were opened. These schools were attended by a few thousand pupils, the majority of which were children of petty and landless peasants. The Belarusian school system struggled because of numerous material issues.

Mussolini between Hero Worship and Demystification: Exemplary Anecdotes, Petite Histoire, and the Problem of Humanization

Mussolini is considered in this article as a figure around whom narratives have been developed for a century or more. Several biographies were published shortly after he came to power and many others have appeared in the decades since his death in 1945. This article explores the place of anecdotes in the construction of a legendary Mussolini in the 1920s and in the demystification that marked the period after World War Two. It is shown that early biographies were marked not only by hero worship but also by a commercially driven need to humanize and to amuse. After the war, humanization persisted as former Fascists and associates of Mussolini spread stories and anecdotes that made the dictator appear not as an evil tyrant but as a flawed and fallible human being. The agenda here was to make support for Fascism and its leader forgivable. A comparison of the anecdotes shows that both adulatory and demystificatory ones reserved a place for minor stories or petite histoire. The resulting image, which placed some emphasis on his sex life, proved influential. It presented a challenge to historians and found its way into the biographical films that were made for cinema and television between the 1970 and the 2000s. It is suggested that, via anecdotes, Mussolini occupied an ambiguous and continuous place in the moral universe of Italians, functioning variously as a political and a gender exemplar.

Japanese Immigrants In Sarawak Before World War Two: Assimilation Through Inter-Ethnic Marriages

The arrival of Japanese immigrants, especially karayuki-san, traders, and farmers in Sarawak between the 1880s and1940s, has rarely been given sufficient attention by scholars. For the most part, not only did the Japanese immigrants successfully integrate into the economic eco-system, but they also assimilated with the locals through inter-marriages. Archival records, primarily obtained from the Sarawak State Archives, suggests that families of inter-ethnic marriages went through a life of hardship, especially when Japanese spouses or relatives were imprisoned in the internment camps soon after World War Two ended. For the most part, the research mainly focuses on Seiji Kuno or otherwise known as Mohamed Towpik Kuno, who married a local Malay woman and embraced Islam. The life of Kuno depicts the extent to which a Japanese immigrant became absorbed into the dominant culture of the mainstream Sarawak society. Kuno’s general attitude towards the local society, his service to the community in various capacities, his attitude towards political matters and finally, his religious inclination showcased the extent to which assimilation had taken place voluntarily. Apart from Kuno, the research also examines other personalities’ lives, like Sunao Miyaji, who was married to Lamah Binti Bakar, and Maria Osaichi and Oasa, who were Japanese immigrants married to Chinese Sarawakians. It is against this background that this research argues that marriages between Japanese immigrants and locals in Sarawak before World War Two was indeed a cause for further assimilation into the host culture between spouses, family members and the broader community. At the same time, the research posits that cemeteries involving Japanese immigrants should be promoted as tourist destinations as they reflect Sarawak’s rich multicultural heritage and history of assimilation with foreigners.

E-Motions: Assessing Emotional Quotient of Adolescents During Pandemic

The coronavirus COVID 19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and greatest challenge we have faced since World War two. This study aims to assess the Emotional quotient of adolescents during pandemic by studying the affect on each attribute of Emotional Intelligence and also to study the reason behind the decreased elements of emotional intelligence during Pandemic. The study of this project started with two surveys. In first Survey, the child had to assess whether the pandemic has had positive/negative/no impact on him/her in the respective areas by comparing with pre-lockdown experiences. Second Survey was conducted for Parents. The test was for measuring Emotional Intelligence of their children with regards to the coronavirus pandemic. Both the survey was conducted on Google Forms with more than 150 responses from students of grade 10 to grade12 studying in Delhi NCR and their parents. The results of all the surveys suggests that all attributes of Emotional Intelligence have shown increase except one major attribute- Self Regulation, which has undergone a decrease during pandemic. Some elements like Commitment, diversity, Communication have deceased during these crucial times. But adolescents have been able to navigate their emotions well during this tough times. Increased levels of empathy, optimism shows that this pandemic has opened our hearts, made us more sensitive to others and our environment.

A Precis on How Democracies Die as a Consequence of America’s, Failure of Government Working for the People while Serving the Interests of the Wealthy

This precis speaks to the failure of the United States government to sustain the wealth of the middle-class after the post-World War Two years’, while serving the wealthiest Americans. It will document how the country has become polarized and fractured along ideological and cultural lines. This situation has created a segmentation of the country that has competing visions, purpose and meaning which is tearing it apart.It will also focus on the inequality in the country that has emerged from the Oligarchy’s domination of the political and free market space-government of the 1%, by the 1% AND FOR THE 1%. Their mantra is to keep the government out of business and have business in the government.