• Josef Jakobs (30 June 1898 – 15 August 1941) was a German spy and the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. Captured shortly after parachuting into Britain during the Second World War, he was convicted of espionage under the Treachery Act 1940 and sentenced to death. Because he had broken his…

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  • The Omagh Bombing

    The Omagh bombing, which took place on August 15, 1998, stands as the deadliest single atrocity of the decades-long sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Just four months after the historic signing of the Good Friday Agreement, a car bomb exploded in the busy centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, in an attack…

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  • Kissing Evil

    A Spontaneous Act of Impulse On August 15, 1936, during the Summer Olympics in Berlin, officials, athletes, and spectators witnessed an unusual and unforgettable moment. At the men’s 1500-metre freestyle swimming final, a 43-year-old American tourist named Carla de Vries from Norwalk, California, made her way close to Hitler’s box. Clad in a red hat,…

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  • The title is a line from a song by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott, “Out in the Fields.” Although the song has nothing to do with the Holocaust, the particular line I used for this title was a reality for millions. Millions were murdered for no reason other than hate and a warped sense of…

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  • Just Some Old Jokes

    Philogelos (Greek: Φιλόγελως, meaning “Lover of Laughter”) is the title of the oldest surviving joke book in the world. It is a collection of roughly 260 jokes, preserved in Greek and traditionally attributed to Hierocles and Philagrios, probably compiled around the 4th century AD, although many of the jokes are considerably older. Here are just…

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  • Some lives are difficult to describe without resorting to words such as hero, martyr, or saint. Maximilian Kolbe is certainly one of them. Yet I use the word martyr reluctantly, not because the word is inappropriate, but because it can sometimes carry connotations that obscure the extraordinary nature of what Kolbe actually did. He did…

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  • The Buchenwald Trials

    The Buchenwald Trial was a war crime trial conducted by the United States Army as a court-martial in Dachau, then part of the American occupation zone. It took place from 11 April to 14 August 1947. On 14 August 1947, the Buchenwald main trial United States of America vs. Josias Prince of Waldeck et al. ended. All…

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  • Following the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, the Soviet declaration of war and the Nagasaki bombing on August 9, the Emperor’s speech was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, and did reference the atomic bombs as a reason for the surrender. The broadcast was recorded a day earlier but was broadcast…

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  • I know that in recent months I have done several sexually themed blogs. But they were all in a historical context, as this one will be. The blog will contain a depiction of the female genitalia. As the title suggests, a part of this blog will relate to medical science during the Third Reich. Thus…

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  • Throughout history, we have gone through several eras, and I believe we have now arrived at the era of hypocrisy. If we ever need a prominent example, it is the continuous praise of the merits of the musical The Greatest Showman. Some people often use the song “This is Me” to validate an inclusive society.…

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