Writing Prompts - Walburga von Raffler-Engel
Prompt 1
Please view Walburga's film. In this source, Walburga decides to “do something” against the Germans (1:20). The 18th century statesman Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” After you have listened to her story, write an essay that both summarizes and analyzes how her life was impacted by taking this specific action. Be sure to cite specific evidence to support your analysis.
Prompt 2
Walburga makes the statement that she “thinks the whole world is guilty of this.” (6:19) What were the actions-- or lack thereof-- that prompted her to come to this conclusion? Read the excerpt below from an article in The Tennessean from 1942 quoted in The Holocaust and Other Genocides. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the concept of the danger of inaction using Walburga’s film testimony and the Tennessean article. Include an analysis of each source’s point of view and the extent to which the evidence provides support to these points of view. Be sure to cite specific and thorough evidence from both sources to support your analysis.
Associated Press. “1,000,000 Jews Said Killed by Germans” The Nashville Tennessean, Nashville, TN: June 30, 1942 pg. 12