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Defying Hitler: The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule: A Review

While on a week-long camping trip, I took the opportunity to finally read "Defying Hitler," which I had been meaning to get around for quite some time.

Well, I finished it, and holy cow it was so good! I highly recommend it. (You can find it HERE on amazon)

It follows the stories of roughly twenty or so Germans who defied Hitler, both men and women, Jews and non-Jews, ordinary citizens and military commanders, in their quest to resist the Nazis. Some want to assassinate Hitler, some wanted to have a military coup and remove Hitler and give him a trial, and still other thought it would be impossible to remove him. Regardless, they all were united in their efforts to resist.

It's a very easy, engaging read, almost like a novel. It is full of stories about people and crazy assassination attempts gone awry.

For example, there are three extremely memorable assassination attempts in the book, although there were tons more.

One time, a guy offered to be a suicide bomber. He had a bomb on a ten-minute fuse under his vest, and was showing Hitler around... I think it was a museum? and then Hitler left abruptly in the middle of the tour, and then the guy had like two minutes to dismantle the bomb in the bathroom before it blew him up. So Hitler survived that attempt because the bomb never had the chance to go off.

Another time, there was going to have been a bomb in a military meeting, except at the last minute, it was decided that junior officers couldn't attend, and because the man with the bomb was only a junior officer, he couldn't get into the meeting and blow up Hitler. So Hitler survived that plot as well.

And another time, a bomb was smuggled into a meeting in a suitcase, and a few minutes before it was going to go off, the man who brought it in left the building, and drove home, and the bomb went off. It totally destroyed the table, and completely shredded Hitler's pants, and wounded some of his officers, but Hitler was totally fine, only a few bruises. Well, and a ruined pair of pants. But Hitler survived that attempt as well!

And guess what, after the attempt that demolished Hitler's pants, he got on the radio to assure the German people that he was still alive and well. He said that his survival must be a sign from providence that he was meant to continue with his plans! So, that plan super back-fired!

However, in the end, almost none of the conspirators survived. Almost all of them (I think all but two, but I can't exactly remember) got executed or sent to the concentration camps. They had risked everything -their fortunes, their lives, their family's lives. And they still didn't succeed.

Which makes me wonder, if a ruthless dictator took over America and started doing what Hitler did, would I be brave enough to resist? Or would I be one of those who kept their heads down and waited for it all to blow over?

And how could Hitler take over a nation? Sure there were resistors, but not enough to prevent his taking power. Not enough to prevent a second world war. Not enough to prevent the mass murder of six million Jews.

Ultimately, I think Hitler could not have come to power and did what he did if:

(1) the German people had been classically educated, instead of trained on the conveyor belt.
(2) people had not been timid in their resistance but instead have acted decisively.
(3) people would not have let Hitler get little victories, like boycotting Jewish shops, and making Jews wear arm bands. Hitler had to do the little things before he could do the big things, like killing people in the concentration camps.

In conclusion, "Defying Hitler" was a really great book that was very thought-provoking, very fun to discuss, and highly relate-able to our world today.

Camp Na-No-Wri-Mo Update

This month, I've been writing the first draft of a 65,000 word novel with ywp.nanowrimo.org, which is a really amazing writing platform that people under the age of 18 can use.

I have written 21750 words so far and am 33% of the way done. I'm super excited about this, I don't think I've ever reached past the 17,000 word mark when writing a "novel" before (at that length, it's more of a novelette than a novel or a novella).

A Letter To The World, From Elisabeta



















Dear World:

This is Elisabeta. I don't have a middle name, and I don't have a last name.

This year, Liliana has been discovering and chasing her dreams. I think it's about time I do the same.

And guess what, I love politics! And setting records! And breaking tradition! And being awesome! And making a difference!

As a result, I have decided to run for president of the USA. Don't worry, I was born in the USA, I'm thirty-five (in twenty years), and I love the American Dream. So I'm good to go!


My platform:

Stop micro-managing the economy
Lower taxes for everyone
Encourage American entrepreneurship by cutting red-tape so it's easier to start a small business
Finish the USA-Mexican wall that Trump started
Cut red-tape for educationalists
Start a trend for localism-- everything done on the most local level possible, from business to education to government to policing to corona virus management, you name it.


A little bit about me:
I'm thirty five (in twenty years); I love fashion and writing and reading and hanging out with friends, I'm super mature and responsible (ask Liliana if you don't believe me; my room is WAY cleaner than hers ;-)); I love history, government, and politics, and I'm very interested in the business that Liliana is working on starting.

My ideals are: honesty, justice, integrity, honour, freedom, entrepreneurship, private ownership, hard work, and innovation.

My favourite quote is by Mae Jemison: "Never limit yourself because of others' limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination."


In Short:


I'm running for president of the USA.
I'm going to do a lot of awesome stuff to make America freer
You should vote for me



Sincerely,
Elisabeta


Fashion Shoot With Elisabeta: One Base Outfit, Many Looks

Hey guys, long time no see!

Even though I posted just last Friday, it feels like I haven't posted in forever, since I usually post almost daily.

Today I decided to do a fashion shoot with Elisabeta. I took one base outfit (black slacks, white blouse) and used accessories and hairstyles to get different looks out of it.

It was a lot of fun, and I think I would like to do this with myself soon!

I started with one base outfit and eight accessories: shoes, hair things, layering pieces, bags.





Outfit one: base plus a double-sided blazer, sandals, and a skinny braid in her black hair.

























Outfit two: same base, plus the double-sided blazer, her gray scarf used as a headband, and white and black sneakers.























Same base and headband and shoes, now with a scrunchie, and purse.






















Outfit four: same base and sneakers; now with a floral hair clip, and her scarf tied around her neck.


















Outfit five: same base and clip and sneakers; now with her scarf tied around her waist as a belt.






















Same base and shoes, now with a scrunchie and purse; in her hair is a pearl headband.


















In the last outfit, we have the same base and shoes, and the purse.

Elisabeta says, "Don't I look like I could be the next Madam President? Maybe I should join the 2020 race!"

July Journal Entry #1

Hola, folks!

Alright. It's been a while since I've posted... so I'm going to catch you up to date.


Wednesday, July 1
Wednesday was pretty ordinary. I worked on my Camp Na-No-Wri-Mo novel, and wrote about 4,300 words (my goal for Wednesday was 3,716). I ate, I slept, and basically just wrote my novel. Oh, and my bedroom floor was almost clear. :-)

AND I put thorn guards in my bike tires... almost all on my own! ~listens to applause~



Thursday, July 2
Yesterday was sort of an adventure. I wrote in my book (about 2,500 words of my 3,716 words goal), I ate, I drank a lot of water, I did some extra work for money, I weeded in our family's garden.

I also wrote and sent out The Young Scholar's Gazette (a little bi-monthly magazine I do just for fun that I send to a few of my friends), which took me like three hours and is why I didn't make my word count goal.

And then in the evening, I made some doll shoes!


We will now talk about doll shoes.

So, I used a pattern by HappyBankkyCraftyMom and foam I got at HobbyLobby, a hot glue gun, and cardboard I found in our recycling box.

(looking everywhere for my camera so I can take pictures of the really cute doll shoes I made)

(finally found my camera)

Elisabeta's blue shoes! She absolutely adores them. I think they are her favourite summer shoes.
Okay, so I made a darkish-grayish blue pair first. I really like how they turned out, and I love the pattern! Really easy to use, with a simple and classic design.















The white shoes are SO impractical, but they're still really cute!
The second pair are white with pom-poms for a fun touch. A bit more playful, they are also not that great to play in because they are white (what on earth was I thinking of?) but that's fine because Elisabeta doesn't really play that much. She likes reading, writing, making sarcastic comments, looking beautiful, and taking naps. She definitely doesn't like mud.

Once Upon A Time: Chapter Six

"You're not going to eat us?" Sweetie squeaked.

"Oh, not yet." the fox replied, his golden eyes glowing in the candle light.

Not yet? How reassuring the three travellers thought, though none of them said it aloud.

"But, we're on a quest!" James protested. "It can end in the lion's den."

"The lion's den?" the fox raised it's eyebrows. "This is far from a lion's den. It is a magician's lair, a fox's home, a place of comfort, practicality, and pranks." He seated himself at the table. "Come, eat."

Sweetie and Cicero looked warily at each other and James declared, "Well I'm famished!"

"Hi, Famished." Cicero whispered under his breath.

But the three travellers sat down at the table. No sooner than they did, the fox asked, "So, about this quest?"

"We're going to go kill the dragon." James volunteered.

"He burned our marshmallows and melted our polyester tent." Sweetie complained.

"I wasn't scared of him." Cicero bragged proudly.

"Yes, you were!" James and Sweetie said at the same time.

"A dragon..." the fox stared into the distance. "How interesting. What a quaint little quest you have assigned yourselves." He grinned mischievously. "Whelp, good luck on your utterly hopeless quest. Tata." So saying, he snapped his claws, and he and his extraordinary lair vanished into thin air.


To be continued...

Once Upon A Time: Chapter Five

"STOP!" the tenor voice of the fox boomed through the night. His paws were on the mouse, which was now on the ground.

Cicero pumped his wings in vain, but was drawn towards the earth at the same time as James and Sweetie involuntarily took a step towards the fox.

"I am the wizard of the forest," he proclaimed. As he spoke, his eyes glowed more fiercely and turned green, then blue, than purple, then red, than back to the original yellow.

Cicero swivelled his head around. "Who... are... you?" he asked slowly.

"THUNDER!" barked the fox. "Did I not just tell you?" he asked, calming down a bit.

The three travellers were silent.

"You will dine with ME tonight." the fox drawled.

So saying, he turned around and trotted quickly into the trees. The three heroes found themselves dragged along.

"Where are we going?" Sweetie asked. "I hope it's not a scary place... I hate scary places."

James shrugged as he was dragged into a tree. The fox turned around, smirked, and kept going, so quickly that James did not have time to pick himself up but was dragged around the forest on his stomach.

Finally they reached a cave. The fox, having arrived there a second before them, smirked at them again. "You are my guests. Be not afraid," he counselled.

"What if we're dinner?" Sweetie whispered. "I hope we're not... I hate being dinner."

From the outside, the cave looked tiny, barely large enough to hold the fox and his dinner companions. But from the inside, it was ginormous. And luxurious, James noted dryly. A large chandelier of glass hung from the ceiling. A table of polished oak sat in the middle of the room. Candle light flickered against the reddish walls, giving it a warm, homey feeling.

A few plump chicken and a dozen skinned mice sat on fancy platters on the oak table. "Welcome to dinner." the fox said grandly.

"You're not going to eat us?" Sweetie squeaked.

"Oh, not yet." the fox replied, his golden eyes glowing in the candle light.


To be continued...