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John Lennon and the UFO Over New York: The Strange Encounter of August 23, 1974 On the evening of August 23, 1974, John Lennon, the former Beatle and one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, claimed to have witnessed something extraordinary in the skies over New York City. What might have been…
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The Freckleton air disaster remains one of the most devastating aviation tragedies of the Second World War—not because it was the result of enemy action, but because a catastrophic accident brought the dangers of wartime aviation directly into the heart of a peaceful Lancashire village. On Wednesday, 23 August 1944, an American B-24 Liberator bomber…
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On 15 November 1943, Himmler ordered that Romani and “part-Romanies” were to be put “on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps.” Between 1933 and 1945, Roma and Sinti in Europe were targets of Nazi persecution. The Nazi regime, building on long-held prejudices, viewed Roma as “a-socials” (outside “normal” society) and as…
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After setting up this blog a few years ago, I am amazed that I still come across stories of heroes I had never heard of before. Ernst Sillim was born in 1923, the first of five children. Shortly before that, his father, Albert, a stockbroker, and his mother, Annie, moved from Amsterdam to a house…
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Captain Brian Brownscombe was murdered by a Nazi officer after being taken prisoner.Brian “Basher” Brownscombe was a son of Herbert Henry and Edith May Brownscombe of Watchet, Somerset.He served with 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance. The medical officer had been awarded the George Cross after keeping a wounded soldier afloat for five hours, following the disastrous Sicily…
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Jews began to live in Kielce in an approved legal status in the mid 1800s. They had a decent life except for violent pogroms, the last in 1918. A few Jews left to prestate Israel, and a few went to the USA, but most stayed because they had hope the situation would resolve. No Gentile…
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One of the most extraordinary episodes in Irish history saw a French naval flotilla sail to the Northern coast of Mayo in 1798 to help Ireland in its long fight to break with Britain. The 1789 French Revolution had been a huge source of inspiration for Irish nationalists and in the wake of the second…
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Many people have claimed that we had endured summers as worst as what we have experienced so far this year. I had an opportunity to fact check to determine whether the information is correct, both through YouTube and other online and primary sources, but also with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). This is what…
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Churchill’s speech commonly known as “The Few” was delivered in the House of Commons on 20 August 1940, during the Battle of Britain. It is formally associated with his speech on “The First Year of the War.” The famous line about “the Few” referred principally to the RAF fighter pilots, although Churchill also deliberately paid…
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Suicide: A Difficult but Important Topic in the Context of the Holocaust Suicide can be a controversial topic, but in the context of the Holocaust, I believe it’s an important subject to address. I’ve said before that I don’t believe the often-cited number of six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust is entirely accurate. I…