I know that some people will disagree with the description of victim, but unfortunately Anne Frank did die as a result of the Holocaust which does make her a victim. But before that she was also a child.
This blog contains pictures to remind us of the fact that she had been a child, who lived a tragic short life.
Source
Some pieces of jewelry are bought in the spur of the moment. Often an impulsive buy, a pair of earrings for your wife because you think they look nice or a necklace for your girlfriend because although it may not be expensive it is still something nice for her to have.
But buying a ring is different, it always has a profound meaning. It indicates the love between 2 people, with a ring they show this love to the world. Or it is an acknowledgement for a great goal which has been achieved. A ring also means respect for one another.
In May 2016 staff at The Auschwitz Museum found am enamel mug with a false bottom. Hidden in the double bottom was a ring and a necklace.
Due to the passage of time, the materials had gradually degraded, and the second bottom separated from the mug exposing the hidden treasure.
I don’t care about the monetary value of the ring for there is an emotional story behind it, It is a story of hope. The owner of the ring clearly hoped that one day he or she would be reunited with the piece of jewelry. It is also a story of fear for the owner knew if the ring was taken off him or her it would be lost forever. Unfortunately the owner was never reunited with the piece of jewelry.
The ring and the cup also reveal a more sinister story.
The Nazis constantly lied to the Jews deported for extermination. They were told they were going to be resettled, with a new job and place to live
They allowed the victims take some luggage with them. Knowing well that they would take things were precious to them thus ensuring they would take the jewelry,clothing and other valuable items from them before they sent them to be gassed.
I don’t know if the owner of the ring survived, I hope they did but I fear they didn’t.
And sometimes a ring tells a story about a reluctant hero.
The story emerged in an unlikely place, a BBC show called “Antiques Roadshow” It was told by 2 women. The women were nieces of Jane Haining, the ring belonged to her.
Jane worked as a missionary for the Church of Scotland in Budapest.The mission had established a school in 1846, with funds provided by Jews converted to Christianity. Haining looked after 50 of the school’s 400 pupils ,the majority were Jewish.
As the war broke out she was actually on holidays in Cornwall, and she could have stayed there saved and sound but she decided to return to Hungary to the Mission in Budapest. She was arrested by the Nazis in 1944,accused of working among Jews and listening to the BBC. She was sent to Auschwitz, where she was tattooed as prisoner 79467. She died in Auschwitz on July 17. 194. Haining is the only Scot to be officially honoured for giving her life to help Jews in the Holocaust.
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks
$2.00
Sources
Smithsonian
BBC
Sketch artists were and are often used in court cases, especially in those were no media is allowed.
Below are some examples of court sketches from some very famous cases.
Civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo was shot and killed on March 25, 1965, as she drove African American civil rights marcher Leroy Moton in her car from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama. Four Ku Klux Klan members, Eugene Thomas, William Eaton, Collie Leroy Wilkins, Jr., and Thomas Rowe, Jr., were arrested and tried. Artist Howard Brodie drew the all-white, all-male jury that served at one of the multiple trials. While Rowe, an FBI informant, received immunity for his testimony, Thomas, Eaton and Wilkins, were acquitted in state trials. On December 3, 1965, the three men received ten-year sentences on a federal charge of conspiracy to deprive Liuzzo of her civil rights. As a result…
View original post 672 more words
It was such a glorious day for us that 2nd September 1973 in Dublin, although it rained the sun shone in our hearts, because you were ours.
Your previous master ‘the Cats of Kilkenny’ looked not after you well, so we fought them and after beating them by 7 points we took you home to us. Your new home at the Shannon was going to be marvelous.
But it was only 12 Months minus 1 day the Cats ripped you out of our midst.
For decades you were lost and wandering throughout this mighty nation of ours, but no one look after you as good as we did.
But in 1980 we nearly had you in our grasps again if it hadn’t been for the tribes men of Gaillimh. It would have been so good for you to return to the treaty city, but alas.
Then September 4th 1994, we could see you, feel you, my God we could even taste you. But no, you decided ON Ofally. Ofally of all places for crying out loud!
Our heart was in pain and it was burdened. Would you ever come home again to us?
You teased us again 2 years later, but this time you sold your soul to Wexford for a mere 2 points. Things were getting so bleak. True the Celtic tiger was roaring, but Liam all we wanted was you, why did you not understand that?
The years came and went, even a new millennium had started but you were never in sight. We saw you on telly alright ,having love affairs with Kilkenny, Galway,Clare and many other counties, but never us. We didn’t even get the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech.
But lo and behold come 2018, there you are smiling at us. Nearly we lost you again because some eejit of a referee decided ” 70 minutes isn’t long enough let’s make it as close to 80 as we can” As Bono once said” You were close and yet so far” however you decreed 45 years is a long enough walk, lets go home.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, I am an idiot.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, there are no pictures of me
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, I am a 5 month old idiot.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, my Father wanted me to be put asleep
But the Doctor refused.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, my Father then asked Hitler if he would kill me.
Hitler said no problem.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, I was born blind and one leg and one arm.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar,, I am an idiot, at least that is what the Nazis called me.
I am Gerhard Kretschmar, the first T4 Victim
They say a picture paints a thousand words.But ever since I have been doing blogs about the holocaust I have seen many pictures that have left me speechless, and none more so then the suffering of children.
On August 18 1939, Wilhelm Frick ordered all physicians, nurses and midwives to report children under the age of three who showed signs of severe mental or physical disability. This was the first phase in the Nazi Germany’s child euthanasia program. The so called T4 program.
The key document was a circular from the Reich Minister of the Interior of 18 August 1939, Ref: IVb 3088/39 – 1079 Mi, which was marked “Strictly Confidential” and specified the groups to be included and how they were to be assembled. After that, doctors and midwives together with maternity hospitals, obstetric departments and children’s hospitals, except where a senior doctor was not present or did not get the instruction, were required to report in writing to the appropriate health authorities:
if the newborn child is suspected of being afflicted with the following congenital disorders:
1) Idiocy and mongolism (especially cases combined with blindness and deafness),
2) Microcephaly
3) Hydrocephalus, to a severe or advanced degree
4) Malformations of all kinds, particularly the absence of limbs, severe midline defects of the head and spine, etc.
5) Paralysis, including cerebral palsy
A template of a reporting form was enclosed with the circular, which had to be sent by public health authorities as required to their higher administrative authority. Uniquely, a reward of 2 RM for each report was given to the midwives and nurses affected “for professional services rendered”.
At the start only children under the age of 3 were to be reported. The prescribed registration form gave the illusion that registration was only being sought with the aim of providing special medical care, in fact they were designed to determine if a child would be killed or not, the technical term was if they were eligible for euthanasia, as if that was a good thing.
Three experts were appointed from the National Committee who had been heavily involved in the preparatory committee, Werner Catel, Hans Heinze and Ernst Wentzler. Hefelmann who remarked later,that Professor Heinze and Dr. Wentzler supported euthanasia with great enthusiasm and Professor Catel with conviction, and so they agreed without any pressure to so act as expert assessors.
But it wasn’t only Physicians who killed children,some nurses killed children, saying that they were under orders.
Below is a picture of Richard Jenne- the last known child murdered in the T4 program.
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks
$2.00
In the years 535 and 536, several remarkable aberrations in world climate took place. They were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2 Millennia.
Including bizarrely low-temperatures, with snow fall during the summer months in some locations; widespread crop-failures and famine; greatly decreased levels of sunlight; and also causing geopolitical problems.
While it’s currently believed that the event was caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil formed either, due to a large volcanic eruption in the tropics, or the disintegration of a large amount of space-debris in the upper atmosphere, it is still unclear.Evidence does point towards the volcanic explanation though — owing to the presence of substantial sulfate deposits in glaciers around the world corresponding to the years in question.
There is some documented evidence from the time.
The Gaelic Irish Annals record the following:
“A failure of bread in the year 536 AD” – the Annals of Ulster
“A failure of bread from the years 536–539 AD” – the Annals of Inisfallen”
Further phenomena were reported by a number of independent contemporary sources:
Low temperatures, even snow during the summer (snow reportedly fell in August in China during the Northern and Southern dynasties, which caused the harvest there to be delayed) Crop failures
“A dense, dry fog” in the Middle East, China and Europe
Drought in Peru, which affected the Moche culture”
It caused famine in Ireland but also in other countries around the world.
Tree-ring analysis work done by the dendrochronologist Mike Baillie — of the Queen’s University of Belfast — has shown that there was “abnormally” low growth in Irish oaks in the 536 growing season. This was followed by a partial recovery and then another drop in growth in 542.
Tree-ring analysis of tree-stands in Sweden, Finland, California, and Chile, all confirm these findings.
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks
$2.00
Today marks the 80th anniversary where the Jews in Germany even lost control of their own names.
On 17 August 1938, the Nazi regime decreed that by January 1, 1939, Jewish men and women bearing first names of “non-Jewish” origin had to add “Israel” and “Sara,” respectively, to their given names (Namensänderungs verordnung). For their children, only a restricted number of “Jewish” first names were allowed.
The law had already been discussed in 1934. The Nazi lawyer Wilhelm Frick had voiced his concern that the Jews could disguise their identity by changing their names.On July 19 1935 he had introduced a design to Hitler, whereby it was easier to identify Jews by adding something specifically Yiddish to their names.
Less then 2 years later a decree was passed requiring Jews bearing first names of “non-Jewish” origin to adopt an additional name: “Israel” for men and “Sara” for women.
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks
$2.00
Sources
USHMM
Wikipedia Germany
August 16 is a date like any other date, except when it comes to music. Several events on this date have had a massive impact on the music industry. In fact in musical terms it just doesn’t get bigger than this .
Nowadays the name Al Hibbler will mean very little to most.But if I will mention the song ‘Unchained Melody’ it will trigger a lot of memories to many, especially the pottery scene in the movie ‘Ghost’ the version of the song was by ‘the Righteous Brothers” and a great number of people may think theirs was the original but it was Al Hibbler who brought the song to the number 1 spot of the charts for the first time in 1955.It was composed by by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, was involved in the civil rights movement. He got arrested in 1959 in New Jersey and in 1963 in Alabama partaking in protest marches with .This didn’t make him very popular with major record labels notoriety and they did not carry his work, but Frank Sinatra supported him and signed him to a contract with his label.
Robert Elroy Johnson is without a doubt the undisputed King of the blues. Legend has it that he made a deal with the devil for his talents.
As a young man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi, he had a burning desire to become the greatest blues musician. He was instructed to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery Plantation at midnight. There he was met by allegedly the devil who took the guitar and tuned it. The devil played a few songs and then returned the guitar to Johnson, giving him virtuosity of the instrument.All Robert had to give in exchange was his soul.
That soul was taken on August 16,1938 when he was aged 27, which also makes one of the first musicians to make it to the list of the the club of 27, the cause of his death has never really been solved. Popular believe is that he was poisoned during an altercation in a bar with the jealous husband of a woman with whom he had flirted. It is said he was given a given a poisoned bottle of Whiskey after another bottle was knocked out of his hand.
He only recorded 29 songs but there is yet another legend about a 30th song never recorded. This ‘missing’ song is the plot line of the 1986 movie ‘Crossroads’ in all honesty the movie isn’t great but the music is fantastic, especially the guitar duel between Ry Cooder and Steve Vai is something else.
Love her or loathe her there is no denying Madonna’s place in musical History, she is without a doubt the most influential female artist in decades.
Born Madonna Louise Ciccone on August 16, 1958 she became the leading female singer in the 80’s,90’s, and early 21st century. Although her acting and directing careers both turned out to be fiasco’s, when it comes to music there is no other like her. Staring off with poppy songs like ‘Borderline’ or ‘Like a Virgin’ she constantly reinvented herself and did not shy away from controversies.
She herself was influenced by 2 other strong female performers,Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde.
The Beatles have been and still are one of the most influential bands ever, Their fame did not diminish after they split up. Kids nowadays still know them, and if you were to ask ,anyone to name the 4 band members people would say”John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr” however as the picture above indicates this wasn’t the original line up.
The original drummer was Pete Best but he was replaced by Ringo Starr on August 16,1962. There was no official reason given why he was sacked but according to Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager,Lennon, McCartney and Harrison thought that Best was “too conventional to be a Beatle” and added that “though he was friendly with John, he was not liked by George and Paul”
Originally the Beatles had been a 5 piece band, the original bass player Stuart Sutcliffe died in 1961, in Hamburg.
I am not going to say too much about the King, because I don’t think there is anybody on the planet who hasn’t heard of them.
This is me personal memory of the day he died on August 16,1977.
I came home from school that day and my mother sat at the kitchen table, and she asked me “Guess who died today?” I replied “I don’t know, just tell me” She said ‘Elvis’. I was 9 at the time and pretended not to care. But I went up to my room and cried my eyes out, it felt I had just lost my best friend.
Leaving you with one of my favourite Elvis songs.
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks
$2.00
One of the things I can’t comprehend is the fact that no one appear to be seeing through the lies and hypocrisy of the Nazi regime.
They saw they Jews as vermin and filth. And everything Jewish was forbidden, Jewish books were burned, Jewish music was banned. Basically in the eyes of Hitler and his cronies the Jews were a contaminated and tainted race.
Here is the thing if I find something tainted and contaminated I want nothing to do with it, and want to stay as far away from it and everything it came in contact with.
That is also the message the Nazi spread. However they were not afraid the steal art and valuables belonging to Jews. They even would go as far as taking the gold teeth or gold dental caps of those they had murdered in the gas chambers, to remelt the gold and use it again.
They had an organisation dedicated to steeling art and valuables. The ‘Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg’ or Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce, were tasked to to confiscate:
They must have been one of the busiest Nazi task force by their own estimates until 17 October 1944, they transitioned, 1,418,000 railway wagons containing books and works of art as well as 427,000 tonnes by ship.Neuschwanstein Castle was the ERR’s principal storage facility, but they also used salt mines and other places.
Some of the art was only found decades after the war and some was never found. Below are and valuables just some impressions of the are recovered by the allied troops. The first picture is a famous picture and although it is not graphic it is nonetheless harrowing for it is a picture of gold rings, of victims of concentration camps.
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks
$2.00
