Ireland
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“Le Dernier Métro” (The Last Metro) is a 1980 French film directed by François Truffaut. It is a poignant drama set in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. The film captures the struggles of a Jewish theater owner and his wife as they attempt to keep their theater running amidst the horrors of occupation and…
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Many people believe that Adolf Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945. However, the statement that “Hitler died on 20 May 1956 in a traffic accident at the age of 74 in Nidwalden, Switzerland” is also true—depending on which Hitler you’re talking about. Before I receive a flood of emails and comments telling me I’m…
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The 12th of July is the day when a whole bunch of protestants in Northern Ireland go Dutch. It is an event that truly intrigues me, because it basically goes against everything the Dutch stand for. So what is it all about? On the 12th of July every year. The day commemorates Protestant king William…
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(Originally posted on July 7 2022) Tuam is an idyllic town in Ireland. It is the second-largest settlement in County Galway. Unfortunately, since 2014, it has become known for all the wrong reasons. The Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home (also known as St Mary’s Mother and Baby Home or simply The Home) in Tuam,…
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So many people think that the Holocaust only lasted as along as WWII. But they could not be further away from the truth. It could be argued that the foundation of the Holocaust goes back to 1879, when Wilhelm Marr becomes the first proponent of racial anti-Semitism, blaming Jews for the failure of the German…
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Vere Thomas St. Leger Goold was born in 1853 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, into an aristocratic family with a strong military background. The Goolds were part of the Anglo-Irish upper class, and young Vere was afforded all the advantages of a privileged upbringing: access to elite education, exposure to genteel society, and the leisure…
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(First published in 2019) Ireland remained neutral throughout World War II, but that is not to say there was no contribution from the Irish during the war. Many young Irish men did join the British army and also partook in Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day. However, this blog is not about any of…
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The boy who walked through shadowscarried no bitterness in his hands. He had seen the gates of Bergen-Belsen,seen hunger wear a human face,seen silence settle over namesthat should have lived for generations. Yet from those ashes of memory,he chose not vengeance,but witness. He crossed years and countries,telling the story again and again,so that forgetting would…
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f you have ever stood on the terraces of Croke Park on a blistering August afternoon, you know that hurling is not just a sport; it is an opera of speed, leather, and ash. Dubbed the fastest field sport on earth, its ancient origins stretch back three millennia, woven tightly into the fabric of Irish…
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When I was a young boy, Count Dracula scared the crap out of me. Having an older brother pretending to be the blood sucking Count didn’t help either. The fear was so real that to this day I still have a phobia for Bats. Little did I know then I would end up living in…
History of Sorts 