History
General history issues, although a lot will be about WW2
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Just to make it clear for all non-Irish, it is Saint Patrick’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day. Not Paddy’s Day, St Pat’s Day, St Paddy’s Day, etc. These are just some impressions of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations during World War II. Above is a photograph of St Patrick’s Day in Brooklyn, 1943. St. Patrick was…
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When it comes to atmospheric Rock ballads, it really doesn’t get much better than this, An underrated classic from an underrated band. Can’t see the wood for all of the treesCan’t hear the wind for the breeze that whispersVoice in your head, you like what it saidSo what can you do but listen to it?…
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The text of the letters below, are the innocent words of an 11-year-old boy, The contents seem harmless enough, not complex at all, but with childish wisdom. However, put in the context of the time the letters were written, it makes the text devastatingly heartbreaking, with no coming back. Dear Mommy, How are you? I…
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A few months ago I had the pleasure to interview Jim Peterik known from Survivor, but also from “The Tides of March”. However, this blog will not be about the band, although the name is clearly inspired by the actual event called Ides of March. Julius Caesar must be without a doubt the most well-known…
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One might be forgiven for thinking the photograph above is of a Nazi train deporting victims to the East. However, that is not the case—it is an image of deported Polish families to Siberia as part of the Soviet Union’s relocation plan in 1941. I believe that the USSR, particularly Russia) received too much credit…
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Today marks the 81st anniversary of the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. Rather than posting photographs, I thought it would be better to read the testimonies of two who survived. On March 13-14, 1943, the SS and police carried out the operation, shooting some 2,000 Jews in the ghetto. The SS transferred another 2,000 Jews,…
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The German Reich Commissioner , in the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart issued the second metal ordinance (Metallgutverordnung) on July 23, 1942. This meant, among other things, that the church bells would be requisitioned for the benefit of the German war industry. On October 11 of the same year, Seyss-Inquart referred to his decision in a speech.…
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My interview with Jackie Young, a Holocaust survivor: Jackie Young (born Jona Spiegel) was born in December 1941 in Vienna, Austria, but raised by adoptive parents in England. He talks about slowly learning about his own past, which his adoptive parents had kept from him despite his own faint memories and hints mentioned by relatives.…
History of Sorts 