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In the spring of 1919, as the Irish War of Independence was beginning to spread across the island, an extraordinary and largely anomalous episode in revolutionary history unfolded in the mid-west of Ireland. For two weeks, from 14 to 27 April, Limerick was effectively governed not by the British authorities or the newly established Dáil…
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Now, I don’t want to sound like an old fogey or make the mistake my parents made by dismissing my music taste. There has always been a generational divide in musical taste, but no one can deny that the current popular music lacks quality compared to the music from days of yore. Without even listening…
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The photo above is the gate at Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The phrase on the gate says “Jedem Das Seine” which is the literal German translation of the Latin phrase suum cuique, meaning “to each his own” or “to each what he deserves.” Buchenwald was a concentration camp established on Ettersberg Hill near Weimar, Germany, in…
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(Originally posted on December 28, 2018) For the size of the country it is astonishing how many football greats come from the Netherlands. Names like Johann Cruijff, Johan Neeskens, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Arjen Robben to name but a few, but the name Sjaak Swart certainly belongs in that list. Sjaak (Sjakie) Swart…
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It is a lesser-known, or perhaps lesser-acknowledged, fact that the entire Wehrmacht, including the Navy and Luftwaffe, was involved in the Holocaust. It wasn’t only the SS. The Luftwaffe was directly involved through bombardments and indirectly through experiments carried out on their behalf. The aerial bombardment of the village of Vorizia by the Luftwaffe is…
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I know this blog may not sit comfortably with everyone, but I believe it’s important to look at the Holocaust from every possible angle if we are to understand its full story. What follows is a glimpse into that story, seen through the words of a man who once stood guard at Auschwitz. The letter,…
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Love her or loathe her, but there is no denying she is a musical icon Madonna (born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur whose extraordinary popularity during the 1980s and 1990s enabled her to achieve a level of power and creative control that was almost unprecedented…
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“The Queen Remembered” Eight years ago today, the world dimmed a little when we lost the incomparable Aretha Franklin—a voice that defined an era and a soul that lifted countless hearts. On this solemn anniversary, we once again celebrate not just her extraordinary talent, but the lasting legacy she left behind. A Voice Like No…
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August 16 is not a good day in Music History. On August 16,1938, legendary Blues musician Robert Johnson died at the age of 27. Making him of the first member of the elusive club of 27. Johnson’s death was not reported publicly. Almost 30 years later, Gayle Dean Wardlow, a Mississippi-based musicologist researching Johnson’s life,…
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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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