Readings from Geert Mak's Amsterdam

Out of the reading from Geert Mak’s book, Amsterdam, I was struck with the Dutch’s inconsistency between being culturally tolerant and being the chief deporters of Jews during WWII from Amsterdam. It is clear that the Germans did take advantage of the Dutch ability to effectively strategize and organize themselves and their city. Thus, by gradually directing them towards their goal of deporting Jews, they would leave the Dutch to manage the raids and train stations by themselves. This is similar to a concept I learned in psychology where people could be gradually groomed to perform a specific task they would originally object. For example, a person being trained to be a prison torturer could start out as guarding the door to the torture chamber so he would be partly desensitized before being allowed to commit torture himself. My first question is – if the Dutch were fully aware of the consequences of their actions, would they still have gone along with it?

Another aspect of the Dutch the book mentioned about was their avarice. This was portrayed in the most sadistic way during the deportations in WWII where fellow Dutch would literally hand over Jews who could no longer “bribe” their hosts to hide them from the raids. My second question is – how did their “legendary avarice” come about and how was it promoted in their culture?

Lastly, chapter 10 focused mainly on how Amsterdam developed after the Germans left and the internal turmoil the Dutch faced as they adapted modernity. Thus, my last question is - with all their rich history and new developments, how were they able to maintain and promote the peaceful habitation of their citizens?

Background Info

Hey, my name is Belinda Luk and I just got back from shadowing rural doctors in Eastern WA so forgive me if this blog tends to ramble (sitting 8 hrs in the car will do that to you...-_-zZ) I'm a junior (3rd year senior by credits tho... O_O) majoring in CMD Biology with a minor in music. I think UW is trying to keck me out, but I'm going to try to stretch it for one more year! From my spring break activities, you can probably tell that I'm a premed student who's starting to look at schools and hoping to start the application process this year (hoping to get much of that done before we go to Amsterdam).

This quarter along with our seminar, I'm finishing up the biochem series (BIOC 442), taking Histology (BIOL 403) along with piano lessons and research. Unfortunately, my histology class conflicts with the first 30 min. of our seminar so if you see me huffing into class late, you'll know why! As for research, I work in the Oncology Dept. of the VA medical center under Dr. Daniel Wu. We are studying how a protein called survivin interacts in the cell and manifests as cancer. W hope to understand its mechanism in order to create a drug to manipulate it and prevent cancer! (^_^)V

As a premed, you can probably understand that my life is pretty crazy with classes and extracurricular activities, so I have lots of ways to relax and "blow off steam." My main one is classical music. Apart from piano lessons in UW, I go to Meany and Benaroya Hall with friends to listen to concerts at night (if you're intersted, call me up!) I also play the cello and the pipa (Chinese lute), which keeps me pretty busy. On Friday nights, I hang out with my church youth group. Weekends are usually reserved for playing catch-up in school with an occasional free movie with family. In school, I tend to draw and watch anime (currently, I'm into Bleach and Naruto!) especially when i'm suppose to be paying attention in class! <(^_ ^ ;)

In terms of our class, I would like to connect the research to my medical interests. I've worked long enough in the research lab to understand the scientific aspects so I'm interested in studying the social aspects of healthcare. Other than that, I'm not too sure about the details until I do a little more researching about Amsteredam myself!

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