History
-
The St. Valentine’s Day massacre—the most spectacular gangland slaying in mob history—was actually somewhat of a failure. Al Capone had arranged for Chicago mobster George “Bugs” Moran and most of his North Side Gang to be eliminated on February 14, 1929. The plan, probably devised by Capone’s henchman “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, was simple and…
-
Eva Braun is a bit of enigma. I do think that she was fully aware of what Hitler and his cronies were up to. She did first meet Hitler when she was still a teenager and would have been in awe of the man, but she did become his partner and later his wife, albeit…
-
Every once in a while I come across a story which makes me immensely proud to be a native from Geleen. Those of you who read my blogs on a regular base, know that I was born in the town of Geleen in the south East of the Netherlands. Most of the Jews who lived…
-
On may 15 1945 , Otto Frank wrote the following letter, while on board the Monowai steamship. This was exactly 5 years after the Dutch army had capitulated to the Germans. “The closer we get to home the greater our impatience to hear from our loved ones. Everything that’s happened the past few years! Until…
-
A little known Minneapolis-based funk group formed in December 1975 called ’94 East’ lost two of its former members in 2016. Both of them were iconic in the 80s but one of them became a megastar, where the other one died homeless. The two were Prince and Colonel Abrams(picture above) Colonel Abrams(which was his real name),…
-
The story of Jesus, one of the most significant figures in history, begins in the small town of Bethlehem. His early life, from birth to age 12, is marked by remarkable events and intriguing moments that have captured the attention of people for centuries. Though there are few records of these formative years, the accounts…
-
On February 11, 1938 the BBC broadcast the first piece of television science-fiction ever. A thirty-five-minute adapted extract of the play RUR, written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek, was broadcast live from the BBC’s Alexandra Palace studios. Concerning a future world in which robots rise up against their human masters, it was the only piece of science fiction to be produced until the…
-
I recall an experience from a few years ago when I was taking a web development course. One evening, I gave some of my fellow students a ride home, and in that moment, my car became a microcosm of diverse faiths—there was a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, and an atheist, all connected through a…
-
One of the most iconic pictures of women during WWII is the picture of Lee Miller sitting in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub, in his Munich apartment in 1945. “I was living in Hitler’s private apartment in Munich when his death was announced.” she said afterwards. Lee Miller however wasn’t just a lady in a bathtub. Elizabeth…
-
The one thing that always intrigued me and puzzled me is how did the Nazis get to hate the Jews en mass. After all, the Jews were neighbours and citizens, They never initiated a war against Germany, nor did they conduct any violent acts against the state. And yet Hitler and his cohorts created this…
