As soon as we're finished with Swedish history, we'll be starting a large unit on the Cold War. Perhaps not surprisingly, this period of history is reflected in today's society -- locally, nationally, globally -- in so many, many ways.
I wanted to start making you aware of some media material that can help you in understanding issues of the Cold War, and which will also help prepare you for Belin.
Sports and the Cold War: "The Diplomat"
This week SVT broadcast a 50-min. documentary on the former East German champion ice skater Katarina Witt. The opening of the documentary offers some clear information about the dividing of Germany at the beginning of the Cold War. And then it also presents the importance of sports as a political tool during the Cold War. Here's the film:
http://www.svtplay.se/video/5412328/katarina-witt-socialismens-vackraste-ansikte/katarina-witt-socialismens-vackraste-ansikte-avsnitt-1
Sports and the Cold War: The Olympics
In the past, The New York Times has done these wonderful graphics that illustrate the number of medals won per country in each of the Olympic Games. There one for the summer Olympics and one for the winter Olympics (up through 2010). You can click on a particular year to see the medals won by each country. And you can also press a play button and watch the balls "grow" and "shrink" from year to year. It is then interesting to think about the various economic, political, and social issues that can help explain the success for different countries at different times.
Here are a couple of screen shots to see how the information can look.
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