Same ram same screen ipad mini will be significantly lighter but also has that smaller screen if your buying used ipad 2 is older so you never know what kind of battery life you will get with it not that it is pricey to change it.
Ipad mini has better 5mp camera than vga of ipad 2, ipad mini is also lighter and very thin at 7.2mm. Ipad mini also has siri. So if you don't want a bigger screen mini is the best.
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.