The purpose of this assignment is to write about the past by using information in a primary source. In particular, this assignment you will write about the Sook Ching based on information from an oral history. The National Archives of Singapore has digitized some oral interviews that were recorded in the past, and some of these interviews are with people who survived the Sook Ching.
For this assignment, write about one person’s memories of going to a mass screening where Chinese were selected for execution, but who somehow got away. What happened? How was this person (or his/her family members) able to avoid being chosen for execution?
To do this, begin with an introductory paragraph about WW II in Singapore and the Sook Ching (you can write that based on information we covered in class and information you find online), and then transition to talking about the interview by saying something about the interview at the end of that opening paragraph.
Then when you talk about what you find out in the interview, first provide some details about the person, and then relate their story about the Sook Ching.
Due by Thursday, March 7.
Here are instructions on how to use the National Archives of Singapore Oral History Interviews website:
1) Go to the website and click on “advanced search.”
2) For the search terms, write “mass screening.” To make the search process easier, you can select “Japanese Occupation of Singapore” under the “project title,” and you can choose which language you want (under “recording language”). Then click “search” at the bottom of that page.
3) Choose one of the people who appears in the search results.
4) Press the play button and listen. If it doesn’t work, try a different browser. And if absolutely nothing works, try looking at the “transcript.”
I tested the one out here in Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox and it worked in all of them. However, if you find that it doesn’t work, try using a different browser.
