dirkdeklein

  • From the 1920s onwards, the Nazi Party targeted German youth as a special audience for its propaganda messages. These messages emphasized that the Party was a movement of youth: dynamic, resilient, forward-looking, and hopeful. Millions of German young people were won over to Nazism in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. In January 1933, the…

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  • The Emma Nutt case

    You all have to forgive me for the cheeky title of this blog, but I just couldn’t resist the pun.Fact is though that Emma Nutt was a pioneer and she probably didn’t realize it herself. The first telephones were hard enough to use without the added harassment of the teenage boys who worked as the earliest switchboard…

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  • On September 2, 1945, representatives from the Japanese government and Allied forces assembled aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay to sign the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, which effectively ended World War II. The document was prepared by the U.S. War Department and approved by President Harry S. Truman. Eight short paragraphs formalized the “unconditional surrender to…

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  • The Slovak Invasion of Poland

    You don’t have to be a history buff to know that 1 September 1939 was the date when the Germans invaded their neighbour, Poland. What often is forgotten is that it wasn’t only the Germans who invaded Poland on that day. The Germans got a  helping hand from the newly formed Republic of Slovakia. And…

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  • The role of Finland during World War 2 is a strange one. They were part of the axis powers, not so much because they were great fans of the Nazi regime, but because they saw a powerful ally in Germany to fight the soviets. There were about 2000 Jews in Finland during World War 2,…

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  • Sex and WWII

    ++++ Contains some nudity+++++ We watched the 2001 World War II drama “Enemy at the Gates” a few nights ago. There was one scene where the characters played by Rachel Weisz and Jude Law had sex whilst surrounded by other soldiers, in the sleeping quarters. This made me wonder how often something would happen for…

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  • The Wives of the Monsters

    The athlete Meryll Frost is credited with the phrase, “Behind every great man there’s a great woman,” but that is not what he actually said. What he really said was, “They say behind every great man there’s a woman. While I’m not a great man, there’s a great woman behind me.” In this blog, I…

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  • Rest in Peace Greg Iles

    The sad news broke today that author Greg Iles passed away on Friday August 15, 2025. Greg Iles was my all time favourite author. Greg Iles (1960–2025): A Tribute Born in Stuttgart and raised in Natchez, Mississippi, Greg Iles transformed the landscapes of the South into electrifying narratives that traversed genres and generations. From his…

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  • Is Vladimir Putin gay?

    Let me start by saying I couldn’t care less if Putin is straight, gay, bisexual or otherwise. My philosophy is live and let live. But looking at some of the anti LGBT rhetoric that comes out of Putin’s mouth ,one has to wonder why is he so afraid? Is he afraid he might become gay…

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