Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1922 • His father, Kurt Sr. , was a successful architect • His mother, Edith, was the daughter of a wealthy local brewer •
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. During the Depression, the Vonnegut family’s economic fortune drastically changed • The change caused Kurt Sr. to ‘virtually … give up on life and Edith to become addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs’ (Allen) •
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. As a teen, Vonnegut wrote for his school paper • As a young adult, he studied chemistry at Cornell • At 20, Vonnegut was conscripted to serve the Allies in WW 2 •
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge Dec. 16, 1944 - Jan. 25, 1945 • Fought on the Western front • German forces took advantage of unprepared, under-armed Allied forces to create a ‘bulge’ in the Allied line • Ultimate goal was to capture the port of Antwerp to block Allied supply lines (Cowley and Parker) •
Front Line Allies Axis
The Battle of the Bulge Line was held by American troops - most fresh to the front • Initial battle resulted in largest mass surrender of Allied troops in WW 2 • 422 and 423 infantry regiments both surrendered and were taken as POW’s within three days (Cowley and Parker) •
Take a look at this…
The Fire Bombing of Dresden
The Bombing of Dresden February 13 - 15, 1945 • German town of Dresden heavily bombed by British and American air force • Bombing and resulting firestorm resulted in the total destruction of the city and an estimated 22, 000 - 25, 000 civilian deaths •
The Bombing of Dresden It is not possible to describe! Explosion after explosion. It was beyond belief, worse than the blackest nightmare. So many people were horribly burnt and injured. It became more and more difficult to breathe. It was dark and all of us tried to leave this cellar with inconceivable panic. Dead and dying people were trampled upon, luggage was left or snatched up out of our hands by rescuers. The basket with our twins covered with wet cloths was snatched up out of my mother's hands and we were pushed upstairs by the people behind us. We saw the burning street, the falling ruins and the terrible firestorm. My mother covered us with wet blankets and coats she found in a water tub. We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from. I cannot forget these terrible details. I can never forget them. — Lothar Metzger, survivor.
Why Dresden? By winter of 1945, Battle of the Bulge was won by Allies • Germany was in retreat, but not yet defeated • Point of View: • • Was the attack on Dresden, an undefended city filled with refugees, an attack on German morale? • Was the attack on Dresden an attempt to ruin German munitions factories, communication lines, and railway lines?
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Vonnegut returned from the war to discover his mother had died from an intentional drug overdose • He married childhood sweetheart Jane Cox shortly after his return and began working at General Electric •
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Vonnegut began writing short stories in his spare time • In 1957, Vonnegut adopted his sister’s children and began writing for financial support • He published several successful novels before writing Slaughterhouse Five in 1969, commemorating his experiences in Dresden •
So it goes…
Works Cited Allen, William Rodney. “A Brief Biography of Kurt Vonnegut. ” Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. Web. Cowley, Robert and Geoffrey Parker. “The Battle of the Bulge. ” The Readers’ Companion to Military History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 1996. Web. Metzger, Lowthar. “The Firebombing of Dresden: An Eyewitness Account. ” Timewitness, 1996. Web.
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