RC+KWI

**Korean War Oral History Project Rachel Choi**




 * Table of Contents **
 * **Interview Questions**
 * **Interview Video**
 * **Summary Script**
 * **Analysis Questions**
 * **Concluding Essay**
 * **Release Form**




 * Interview Questions **


 * 1) Can you provide some basic background information about you? (name/age/etc.)
 * 할머니의 기본적인 뒷배경 얘기를 해주세요. (이름, 나이, 고향, 가족관계, …)
 * 1) How was your life before the Korean War?
 * 한국전쟁 전의 삶은 어떠셨나요?
 * 1) What was life like when the war first started?
 * 전쟁이 처음 시작했을 때 삶이 어떠셨나요?
 * 1) Can you describe your brother’s shooting?
 * 할머니의 오빠께 일어난 사건에 대해 말씀해주세요.
 * 1) Why do you think your brother got shot? Generally, what were some of the reasons people were getting shot?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">그 당시에 사람들이 무작위로 총을 맞던 이유는 뭔가요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How did you feel when it happened?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">그 사건이 일어났을때 기분이 어떠셨나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What were the other neighbors’ reactions of this incident?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">이웃들이 이 사건을 듣고 어떤 반응을 보였나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What was the general opinion about communism at that time?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">그 당시 공산주의에 대한 대체적인 의견은 무엇이었나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How did you feel about communism when you were at that age?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">그 사건이 일어났을 당시에 할머니는 공산주의에 대해 어떤 생각을 가지고 계셨나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How did your opinion of communism change as you grew older?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">어른이 되가시면서 공산주의에 대한 의견이 바뀌셨나요? 바뀌었다면 어떻게 바뀌었나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Are there some other incidents that stick out in your memory of the war?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">한국전쟁 당시에 다른 기억은 무엇이있어요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How did your life change after your brother’s death? How did your family react?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">할머니의 오빠께서 돌아가신 뒤 할머니의 삶은 어떻게 변하셨나요? 가족들은 어떠한 반응을 보였나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How did you and your family’s life change after the Korean War? What losses did your family experience because of the war?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">한국전쟁 이후에 할머니의 삶은 어떻게 변하였나요? 전쟁 때문에 할머니의 가족은 어떤 손실을 입으셨나요?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What type of a country would Korea be now if the Korean War had not occurred.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">한국전쟁이 일어나지 않았다면 지금 한국은 어떤 나라가 되어 있을까요?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> My youtube account did not work properly. The file size was also too big to upload it straight to wiki. I will give Mr. Osterweil my video through USB or Bluetooth.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(183, 101, 210); font-size: 200%;">Interview Video **

- To prove that I was actually DONE with the video on time !!!!! :( !!!!!!!!!!!

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 * <span style="font-size: 200%; font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(183, 101, 210);">Summary **



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 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(183, 101, 210); font-size: 200%;">Summary Script **

This is the summary of my interview video. To me, My grandmother was always just "grandmother" type. She was always health-obssessed, she taught me lessons, she read me books, and she took care of me. However, this interview really showed me a different side to my grandmother. Through this interview, I was able to learn about her past experiences as a witness to the horrors of the Korean War.

During the interview, my grandmother described going from one of the wealthiest families in her village to one of the poorest. She described watching her brother shot by U.S. soldiers in front of her eyes. She also described the level of intensity with which South Korean and U.S. forces hunted communists, executing people on the streets. This interview was very informative and shed light on a lot of issues surrounding the Korean War.

My grandmother’s family owned a big farm in her village, HamPyung. She was only in her mid-teens when the Korean War struck. She was one of the top students in her school. Her father believed that women should have educational opportunity as men, so he planned to send my grandmother to Japan to study. Her family was rather safe during the war, but after the war, when all the communists in South Korea moved to HamPyung, her life became a living hell. One night, many U.S. soldiers and South Korean soldiers knocked on my grandmother’s door. They asked for my grandmother’s brother. Her brother came out and followed them. My grandmother followed her brother and asked the soldiers where they were taking him, but they just pushed her away with their rifle. When she was about to turn back to her house, she heard three shots and her brother was lying on the ground.

She described how her family was like after her brother’s death. Her father suffered from chronic illnesses and eventually became blind. Her mother and she had to work to feed the family. My grandmother also described how life was like for the civilians in HamPyung. U.S. Soldiers and South Korean soldiers believed that everyone in HamPyung was brainwashed to become communists. They came in and killed anyone they suspected of being a communist. They lined up many civilians against the wall and shot them. My grandmother also talked about how her village people thought about communism in general. She said just by mentioning “communism” in front of the police, the person can be shot. Since she was little, she was educated that communism is a bad thing and should never be mentioned in front of anyone.

My grandmother described how it was like in her village. She said the communists would come down from the mountains to her village and steal things from civilians during the night, while U.S. soldiers and South Korean army shot innocent civilians during the day. The soldiers stole silk and other valuable things from my grandmother’s house. When there were battle between the communists and our army in front of my grandmother’s house, she had to hide in the hole underground to avoid bullets. I also asked my grandmother how Korea would be like if there was no war. She said that Korea would be united, we would have had more resources, economy would have developed, and there wouldn’t be any separated families.

This was basically all we talked about during our interview. I had much fun and my grandmother thought this was a creative project as well. I was able to bond more with my grandmother and learn about her other side of the past.

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 * <span style="font-size: 200%; color: rgb(183, 101, 210);">Analysis Questions **

My interviewee’s testimony shed light on what I had learned in class regarding civilians. In class, I learned that the U.S. army randomly killed innocent civilians without reason. My grandmother confessed that many civilians were shot by U.S. soldiers because the U.S. soldiers thought that the civilians in my grandmother’s village were all communists. My grandmother’s brothers and father were a few of the victims of this massacre. Furthermore, we learned in class that life after the war was very depressing and many people experienced a lot of economic problems. My grandmother’s experience after the war indicated how brutal life was even for rich people. My grandmother was very rich, but after the war, she had to share one bowl of rice with all of her family members.
 * 1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians?**

Life for my grandmother was relatively good. Her family owned a large amount of land and grew rice. Her family was very well off and they did not have many worries in regards to money. However, the war changed everything for my grandmother and her family. From a privileged life, my grandmother and her family nearly lost everything. Their house was burned down, all their food, money and other valuables were taken away and her family was under the constant threat of attack from both communist soldiers, U.S. soldiers and even the South Korean soldiers. Frequently, U.S. and South Korean soldiers would mistake my grandmother’s family for communists and attack her family. This was the reason behind the death of my grandmother’s brother. During the Hampyung massacre, my grandmother’s brother was mistaken for a communist and shot by U.S. soldiers. I believe the experience of the war really put life into perspective for my grandmother. The horrors that she witnessed allowed her to appreciate her life. When her family lost everything during the war, my grandmother realized the value of money and education. It took losing these things for my grandmother to fully grasp their value.
 * 2) Using your background knowledge try to contextualize their testimony. How do you think major events of the war affected their life at the time?**

Being a young girl, my grandmother was able to escape danger mostly by hiding. When there was trouble, my grandmother would hide in the garden of her house. Also, because she was a young girl, she wasn’t looked for by the troops. When the war started, my grandmother was not very active in the community and mostly stayed at home. Also, her parents and brothers used every measure available to them to protect her.
 * 3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger.**

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 * <span style="font-size: 200%; color: rgb(183, 101, 210);">Concluding Essay **

The subject for this interview was my grandmother, Jong-Sook Ahn. At the time of the war, she was in her mid-teens. My grandmother’s family owned one of the biggest farms in her village, allowing her family to live a very privileged life, receiving an education and planning to study abroad in Japan. However, the war brought drastic changes to my grandmother’s life. Through our interview, I was able to learn much more about the war from a civilian’s perspective. My grandmother shared with me her memories of the various events that eventually led to her family’s ruin.

This interview supplied a wealth of information about the war. My grandmother described her experience during the Hampyung massacre. She related how her brother was mistaken for a communist and shot in front of her eyes. She also described how her family fell apart after her brother died. From her memories, it can be learned that civilians were treated very badly by not only the communist regime, but also by the South Korean forces and the U.S. army. Anyone suspected of being a communist was shot in the street, and this occurred on a regular basis. The war for my grandmother’s family was devastating. Her family lost everything they owned. Their house was burned down and most of their money and valuables were taken away. Through the interview, it can also be learned that South Korean forces and the U.S. army treated civilians very poorly. South Korean and U.S. soldiers would often attack civilians who they suspected of being communists. These soldiers would also threaten civilians for food or valuables. My grandmother’s testimony gives a truly vivid picture of the horrors of this war.

I was able to learn so much from my interview with my grandmother. The interview helped me to visualize the events of the war. While learning about the war in class, it was difficult to understand the significance of each event, but as I listened to my grandmother describe these events, I was able to get a sense of the fear that my grandmother experienced. For example, a battle between the communist forces and South Korean soldiers broke out in front of my grandmother’s house. My grandmother described putting blankets around the walls of the house to block stray bullets. She described the fear that she felt as she hid in her house, trying not to be shot. I was also able to learn a lot about how civilians felt about communism. Everyone in my grandmother’s village was told that communism was bad and that anyone caught supporting the communists would be shot. My grandmother told the story of one of these executions and told me of how everyone in the village lived in fear. Most importantly, this interview provided me with a connection to the Korean War. Learning about this war in the classroom, I felt distant and I couldn’t really believe that such an event occurred in Korea. However, after the interview with my grandmother, I felt a connection to this event. I was able to feel what my grandmother had gone through and the events that she described had that much more of an impact on me.

This interview is very important to our understanding of this war. First and foremost, this interview gives us an account of the events of this war from the perspective of a civilian, allowing the audience to understand what regular people had to endure during this time. However, more important than this, this interview stands as a primary document, words spoken by an actual witness to these events. This is needed so that future generations will never forget the atrocities of war.

Going back and reorganizing the information that I received during my interview with my grandmother, I can’t believe that a person could have lived through such an ordeal. Living in the relatively peaceful environment that surrounds me, I realize that this interview, more than providing information about the war and illuminating its events, allows me to understand the value of peace and helps me to appreciate all that I have.

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 * <span style="font-size: 200%; color: rgb(183, 101, 210);">Release Form **



(Sorry! When my grandmother came to my house for interview, my printer was not working well. I wrote down what it says on release form and my grandmother signed it.)