...Primo Benzina AG was a retail chain of petrol stations offering petrol, snacks, restaurant meals, and high-quality service in central Europe. In 2006, the company began operations with two outlets in Stuttgart, Germany, and another two outlets in Basel, Switzerland. The company grew rapidly from four outlets and sales of 2.4 million euros in 2006 to 24 outlets and sales of 38.1 million euros in 2009. Yet the company's rapid growth in revenues was accompanied by declining profitability and a substantial increase in receivables, inventories, and capital investments in new retail outlets. The resulting cash outflows were financed by short-term loans from Dresdner Bank and by slowing payments to trade creditors. Dresdner Bank reluctantly increased the maximum amount available to the company under its term loan to 12 million euros from 10 million euros. In early 2010, Otto Schroder, Chief Executive Officer, and Annegret Heuermann, the company's Chief Financial Officer, completed a review of the company's financial situation. The company's executives were unsure whether the new credit limit would permit the company to implement its growth strategy, since the company now had a limited amount of cash available to finance additional outlays for working capital and capital expenditures. The teaching objectives are to: (1) assess the company's business strategy and its implications for future financial performance; (2) develop cash flow statements and evaluate the impact of operating, investment...
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...Primo Levi’s work entitled “If This Is a Man,” talks about the manner in which prisoners in Auschwitz were subjected to extremely inhumane treatment by the Nazis. The book is quite different from the normal holocaust books, as it emphasizes on the duty to prevent recurrence of such tragic incidences. Primo was an Italian Jew, who was detained for his political acts during the 1944. He was punished not for his politics that could almost certainly have implication of execution, but for his faith. Consequently, his reality became that of a captive in a Nazi work camp. However, because he was as a chemist, he was able to spend some time working inside, and this was most probably the reason he survived till the Red Army freed the camp in 1945 (Levi,...
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...length, double-spaced, with standard 1” margins, and good use of the text/s or film/s discussed, indicate and identify quotations in the accepted academic way (which I or the Writing Lab will be glad to make clear if necessary) without resort to unnecessary foot- or endnotes. Note that you also have the option of writing on an idea of your own as long as you deal with a work on the syllabus and run it by me first, and that you may expand your presentation, if you have given one. 1. “Primo Levi entitles his first book If This Is a Man (Si questo e un uomo), but it became well known and read widely in translation from the Italian as Survival in Auschwitz aspects of the book.” Discuss. 2. Discuss the possible significance in the narrative as a whole of the episode in Elie Wiesel’s Night (pp. 58-9 in the Hill and Wang edition) where Elie finds his Kapo Idek having sex with a young woman in the empty warehouse. 3. In the last three paragraphs of Chapter 13 of Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi describes a man called Kuhn praying aloud, “thanking God that he has not been chosen” in “the great selection of October 1944.” In the title story of This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen Tadek writes of “naked, sweat drenched men” crowding the barrack aisles, and “directly beneath me [. . .] a rabbi” reading from a Hebrew prayer book and “wailing loudly, monotonously” (Penguin, p. 31). Compare the perspectives in these two scenes and the tone and attitudes of each narrator...
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...1. How does their story of survival compare to that of Primo Levi? 2. Why do you think Art Spiegelman draws the characters of his book as mice, cats, pig etc.? 3. Maus 4. What was Vladek like? 5. Vladek is an older person with a very précised in what he want and he son see this as being annoying. He feels you need to be aware of everything. He does not trust people specially his second wife Mala. He has hearth problems and he is diabetic. Sometime he used his sickness to his advantage. 6. During the Holocaust, he exhibited a spectacular resourcefulness, work ethic, and presence of mind that often enabled him to secure food, shelter, and safety for himself and his family. He was a shrewd businessman, and in the most troubling times he saved everything of use. In 1978, he still saves everything and tries to exchange those things that he no longer needs. Once so resourceful and competent, he is still constantly working on small projects, some of which he is incapable of completing. Vladek's personality is largely dominated by his Holocaust experiences. 7. What do we know of his life before the holocaust? 8. He was a happy bachelor living his life in the small city of Czestochowa. He used to sell textiles. Vladek was organized person his apartment was small but organized. He met Anja and soon he felt in love with her. When Anja take him to her house to meet her parent, he checks her clothes to see what kind of wife she will be. To his surprise she...
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...Why Choose to Go On Living? Even in the most terrible conditions imaginable, suffering is not meaningless, and one can choose to endure circumstance through discovering purpose. The idea that anyone could have survived the brutal conditions endured within the concentration camps during the holocaust is somewhat inconceivable, and yet, we have first-hand accounts from survivors of what took place within these prisons. Throughout the writings and memoirs of these individuals we discover the nuances and underpinnings of what camp life was like. In the book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Psychologist Victor Frankl describes his experiences in the Nazi death camps and implies that his wife symbolizes love and purpose. This essay will give four instances from the book that will explain the ways in which the author shows his wife as a symbol for love and purpose, and in the process citing the book, as well as academic sources. The first instance in which his wife symbolizes love in the novel is shown by Frankl’s revelation of the true meaning of love. As noted by Wünschmann, “Concentration camp incarceration was equivalent to 'social death'; the prisoners were physically isolated from society and, if released, carried a lasting stigma.” (578). Frankl experienced this as he writes about his day-to-day life being a prisoner in concentration camps. He writes about the thoughts of his wife which in turn brought up strong feelings of love and helped him to push through the day. Frankl notes...
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... The conditions that Levi faced at Auschwitz and how he handles shows the struggle of the basic survival instinct. The entrance sign that was at Auschwitz had the phrase on it “Arbeit Macht Frei” which roughly translates to “work will set you free.” This phrase has been seen in almost every documentary about Auschwitz. It was to inspire hope in the arriving prisoners, but it was nothing more than a lie to keep them motivated to work. Near the end of Levis days at Auschwitz, he and the remaining prisoners are left to fend for themselves as the Soviets approach. It was the winter season and with conditions rapidly deteriorating at the camp, many began to die from illness. When scene, however, easily depicts the main theme of survival from Levis perspective. While walking, he finds “an old Hungarian” that had died while trying to dig for potatoes located under the ice. (Levi 168) This clearly is a defined symbol for the reality of these concentration camps. It’s all about survival. The man, filled with hunger, fights in the bitter cold for food in the hopes of survival, but it’s in this choice that he freezes to death. What is left is a haunting image of survival at its core. Textbook accounts rarely dive into these haunting images, but rather stick with numbers and general conditions of all the prisoners. Levi gives us a personal, real, firsthand account of the truth. From his perspective, we uncover the truth as it unfolds with Levi. We see him through his experiences at the camp...
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...Alexia Gonzalez Political Science 4823: The Holocaust/ the Shoah Final Paper December 12, 2013 The Comparative Analysis of the Holocaust Ethnic cleansing and genocide are considered to coexist in a spectrum of assaults on nations or religio-ethnic groups. These threats were more prominent during the 20th century which caused massive violations of human rights and jeopardized the overall security of humans. Determinants of ethnic cleansing and genocide root from socio-political factors influenced by deeply embedded ideologies which are manifested by political leaders of specific regime types. During World War II, German authorities targeted Jews and other minority groups like the gypsies and Pols due to their perceived racial inferiority. The German ideology in attempt to eradicate these auxiliary groups led to the conflict known as the Shoah. The Shoah is the biblical word meaning destruction and it is the standard Hebrew term for the murder of European Jewry. The Shoah was the systematic, bureaucratic and state sponsored persecution of six million Jews. Comparable to other ethnic based genocides, Germans believed they were racially superior and that Jews were inferior; and deemed a threat to the “German racial community” resulting in their mass murder. Various interpretations of the Shoah has given rise to similar attitudes and opinions regarding its historical events. The Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database, is one of the largest resources of its kind which includes...
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...different accounts of the same event: the Holocaust. There are very basic and obvious differences between Alicia Jurman and Primo Levi, which are shown in the table below. Although these differences seem minor, they had a major affect on the differences between the events Alicia and Primo faced. Age Gender Country of Origin Concentration Camp v. Hiding Alicia Jurman 9 yrs - 15 yrs Female Poland Hiding Primo Levi 24 yrs Male Italy Concentration Camp - Auschwitz Alicia was only nine years old when Poland was invaded by the Germans. Alicia’s young age during the Holocaust earned her the right to be called a “child hero”. It is possible that her young age added to her determination. She knew she was in constant danger, but it did not seem that she had a full understanding of just how serious that danger was. Primo was also very young, and even described how his young age contributed to his naivety: “I was twenty-four, with little wisdom, no experience and a decided tendency….. to live in an unrealistic world of my own…..I cultivated a moderate and abstract sense of rebellion”. Although Primo discussed his immaturity, it still seemed that he had a better understanding of the gravity of the situation. The gender differences also played a role in the different experiences. As a female, Alicia was more able to go into hiding. Even if Primo had escaped, it was too risky for men to hide. Most men, especially young men of Primo’s age, were either in the army or...
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...The novel, Survival in Auschwitz, explains Primo Levi's experiences and thoughts during his time in the concentration camp. Levi expresses his sufferings to explain how the prisoners were not treated like people by the Germans. They were de-humanized by stamping each individual with numbers, had harsh living conditions and forcing them away from their families. The actions taken place on each individual were not how people should be treated. The German's goal was to deprive any positive human qualities that the Jews consisted. The easiest way to do so, was to strip them away from their family. "In an instant, our [their] women, parents, and children disappeared. We [They] saw them for a short while as an obscure mass at the other end of...
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...philosopher Socrates lived and breathed for justice. He ironically died for unjust reasons of course but he still lived for what was right. Two thousand four hundred years after his death however, the Nazis managed to destroy the very essence of justice, and life, for millions of their victims. In Auschwitz, as with all concentration camps, justice was non-existent. There are very important things missing from Auschwitz that Socrates would have considered essential for justice to exist. Let us start by confirming above all things that the main point of punishment is a consequence of wrong doing: the degree of punishment agreeing with the degree of crime (hopefully but not always the case). That is the basic idea of justice in my mind. For Primo Levi and twelve million others of the Nazi’s victims in the concentration camps, this was most certainly not the case. Yes the Nazi’s did have political and criminal prisoners that somewhat earned their spot there but the large majority of the prisoners never did anything wrong whatsoever. This is the first and most clear way in which justice was destroyed. Their crime was existing, whether they Jewish, gypsy, handicap, or what have you. On top of that, the crimes against humanity that the Nazis committed were so horrible, so grotesque and unspeakable, that the only deserving victims of such treatment were the ones responsible for it. Socrates stated "Happiness surely does not consist in being delivered from evils, but in never having them...
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...Survival in Auschwitz In the book Survival in Auschwitz, the author Primo Levi illustrates the hardships himself and others endured during the capture of Jews in 1943. Originally titled If This Is a Man, Levi expresses captivating images and vivid emotions of his experience of inhumane treatment. The memories indicate the intense and extreme situations all Jews suffered in the totalitarian state of Nazi control. Levi learns an immense amount of survival tactics in order to breathe every waking day of his new life. The weak were tested physically and emotionally as the path of death was effortless, while the road to survival seemed impossible and unachievable. Throughout the narrative, Primo transforms from an apathetic victim to a progressive survivor in the German concentration camp at Auschwitz. The concept of black marketing, knowledge in chemistry and his spirituality all contributed toward the survival of Primo Levi and others in Auschwitz. According to Primo Levi, illegality, deceit, infidelity and sin were all relevant in the concentration camp. These characteristics made up Auschwitz and were used as necessities in order to survive such horrid conditions. Those who were captured and sent to German camps quickly noticed that this was a place where happiness was extinct. Little pieces of bread, shoes or soup bowls were perceived as rather large when consumed and used by other prisoners. The smallest amount of food attracted any inmates, creating trust issues...
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...The Gray Zone by Primo Levi – Summary In the chapter, the gray zone, the author Primo Levi describes the human relationships inside the Lager. In describing the gray zone, Levi discusses the different roles of prisoners assigned by the Nazi. The prisoners that did the work were seen as being more privileged which at the end of the day helped them get more food and live better. Therefore, the concept of the gray zone is analyzing the difference between the privileged and the non-privileged in the Lager. The difference can be seen by the tasks that the prisoners carried out, for example, one of the groups were seen as, “Low ranking functionaries... sweepers, kettle washers, night watchmen, bed smoothers... checkers of lice and scabies, messengers, interpreters, assistants’ assistants. In general, these people poor devils like ourselves, who worked full time like everyone else but who for an extra half liter of soup were willing to carry out these and other ‘tertiary’ functions.” This group was seen as harmless and not much different than the underprivileged. The other group of prisoners in the Lager was seen as the enemies to their own people. They were referred to as the Kapos who were “free to commit the worst atrocities on their subject as punishment for any transgressions, or even without any motive whatsoever: until the end of 1943 it was not unusual for a prisoner to be beaten to death by a Kapo without the latter having to fear any sanctions.” The prisoners that became...
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...PART I Night In 1941 Ellie lived in Transylvanian, there he studied Talmud and other Jewish studies, such as Kabbalah. After learning with Moshe the Beadle, the Hungarians evacuated all foreign Jews as-well with Moshe. Moshe was able to escape and returned several months later, and explained the brutal treatment that they encountered, but most people did not believe him. 1944 the Nazis gained power in Hungry, and all Jews were crowded into a small ghetto. After a while the Nazis started to deport all the Jews in the ghetto to Auschwitz. On the train the Jews were packed in, with almost no air to breathe, everyone was thirsty and hungry. After some days of traveling the Jews arrived in Czech, and a German officer takes over the train. The officer warned everyone that to give of their valuables or get shot. The train doors were then nailed to prevent people from escaping. Madame Schächter, was the first person to go crazy on the train, she starts to yell about a fire, which is not there. After some time a few boys beat her to silent as her son watches in fear, but the next night she started to yell once again. The Jews arrive in Auschwitz, but it was not as they have been told. They were told although it is a labor camp; the families will be kept as one. As the train traveled through the barb wire they see chimneys of smoke, and there is terrible smell, which they later find out that it is human flesh. The camp that they arrived in is the processing camp for Auschwitz. At Birkenau...
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...BGI COURSE SYLLABUS |Course Number and Title |MGT 553 Finance, Accounting, and the Triple Bottom Line I | | | | |Instructors |Kate Lancaster, PhD, CPA | | |kate.lancaster@bgi.edu | | |(W) 805.756.2922, (H-MB) 805.772.7452 | | |(H-BI) 206.780.1015, (C) 805.440.4618 | | |Toni Smith, PhD, CPA | | |toni.smith@bgi.edu | | |603.659.5108 | | |Brian Setzler, MBA, CPA | | ...
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...LEZIONE 9 MASCIANDARO La grande crisi ha una caratteristica particolare: siamo partiti da uno spicchio del settore creditizio che ha avuto dei default, poi la crisi si è diffusa a tutto il settore dei mutui e al sistema bancario (rimanendo sempre negli stati uniti) e successivamente si è diffusa a tutto il sistema finanziario. Come mai c’è stato questo effetto domino? Qual è stato il fiammifero? Qual è stata la benzina? Il fiammifero è stato rappresentato dai crediti subprime ad alto rischio (credito erogato a un soggetto che non ha caratteristiche reddituali e patrimoniali per meritare il credito) ciò dovuto a una deregolamentazione che ha caratterizzato il settore creditizio che permetteva (anche a soggetti poco meritevoli) di accedere ai mutui (cd soggetti ninja, no assets no income). In termini macro: Il mercato dei crediti SB crebbe più di sei volte, passando dai 94 miliardi di dollari del 2001 ai 685 miliardi del 2006, con un valore totale nel quinquennio pari a 2601 miliardi di dollari. I prestiti SP divennero un comparto rilevante del complesso dei mutui erogati alle famiglie americani: si passò dall’ 8% del 2001 al 20% del 2006. Dunque: mercato SB mostrava una crescita di quantità e di qualità (?)…la qualità di questi mutui era crescente: si concedeva il mutuo a un soggetto ninja che a sua volta comprava una casa e il valore di questa continuava a crescere (diventava più ricco, solido) gli venivano concessi maggiori crediti. Quindi, in sostanza, cosa succede se uno...
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