Is there any equivalence of __DIR__ in Makefile?

There is the CURDIR variable. See here . CURDIR contains the current working, and was introduced in GNU make 3.77.

With older versions of gnu make, you may need to use ${PWD}.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.