History
-
Someone asked me recently when I will stop telling Holocaust stories? I replied “there were 11 million victims, once all of their stories are told I’ll stop.” I won’t be able to tell all 11 million personal accounts but this is one of them. Thomas Pfeffer was born on November 22, 1936 in Amsterdam, the
-
In the Middle Ages, animals who ‘committed crimes’ were subject to the same legal proceedings as humans. Famously, in 1457, seven pigs in Savigny, France were tried for the murder of a five-year-old boy. The proceedings were complete with a defense attorney for the pigs and a judge, who ultimately ruled that because people witnessed
-
I do consider myself to be a “word artist” but the images that Cassini send back to this little blue planet. the 3rd rock from the sun. have left me speechless. Although in the media it is called Cassini the actual name of the spacecraft is ,’Cassini-Huygens’, named after astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. It was a collaboration between NASA,
-
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
-
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
-
d Don’t worry I haven’t suddenly turned Italian and although the music in this blog will be in Italian, the text won’t be. The thing is every once in a while I like to deviate from my usually heavier historical subjects to a more light-hearted one. I love Italy, I had the chance to visit
-
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
-
It is seldom that 3 random words can send shivers down your spine but the words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ do. Just three ordinary words used many times in daily life and yet they also mean total horror. The literal translation is Work makes free, I know they are often translated as works set you free,
-
(First published September 2, 2018, and updated March 23, 2024) The position of Ireland during World War II was a bit of a tricky one. A lot of people actually were pro-German, not so much because they agreed with the German policies but more because they were at war with Britain, and there was still
-
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
You must be logged in to post a comment.