The Great Depression: My Grandfather's Life

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According to Kevin Spacy, "People have different reasons for the way they live their lives. You cannot put everyone's reasons in the same box." This is the only way I can describe my Grandpa, Raymond's way of life. He did not have the same privileges' as others did during his life, and he had to work for himself and provide a good life for his family, no matter what it took to do that. My grandfather, Raymond Hause, lived a life filled with hardship and happiness between the years of 1932 and 2004. He was a child during the Great Depression and World War II, his life from there was filled with war and hardships as he lived the life of a poor immigrant. Children during the Great Depression had it rough. They had to mature sooner due to the …show more content…

Suicide rates were at an all time high, rising to 17 suicides per every 100,00 people (Psychological Impact of the Great Depression). The Great Depression had strong impacts on the lives of people as well, causing a huge need for social adaptation. There were many disputes during the Great Depression; families lost finances, food, and many other basic needs. This caused stress among families. It was shown that domestic abuse and child abuse had increased during these hard times; this fact was argued by professional historian Harvey Green (Psychological Impact of the Great Depression). The way parents handled the Great Depression impinged on their children, if a parent got depressed and sanctioned himself or herself away from society then it was likely a child would do the same or act out in hopes of gaining attention. Most children did not have time to be children, most children of the Great Depression had to work at home, (that is if they had a home), while if they did not have a home they were forced …show more content…

Finally, being able to get out of the economic depression that was the Wall Street Crash of 1929, we came together more as a nation. The United States went to war with the Axis powers, which included Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. This war front was mainly caused by German dictator, Adolf Hitler, who led the Axis powers along with Mussolini, Italian Dictator, and the, then, Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. Hitler was an extreme dictator who believed and attempted mass genocide, he had an army referred to as Nazis who would kidnap Jewish families and bring them to concentration camps to die. On September 1, 1939, 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland; this was the beginning of World War II. Poland was soon over run by the German Blitzkreig by September 20. The German army was dominate in the beginning World War II as they had strong technologies and armed forces. During the spring of 1940, Germany took hold of Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands', and in June, France was taken as well. During the 1940's the U.S.'s relationship with Japan was unstable since the U.S. prohibited the trade and exportation of steel, scrap iron, and aviation gasoline to Japan when Japan's troops entered northern Indochina. Nothing but trouble would ensue after the U.S.'s prohibition of exportation with Japan. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed an American naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Days

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