Normally this is the time of year when a town is gearing to host the Winter Games. They were scheduled to be held in the German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1940, but upon that nations attack against Poland in September 1939, the games were canceled.
Also, the 1944 Winter Olympics were given to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in the summer of 1939, but were canceled because of the escalation of the war.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Trivia Recent News
Jan. 2010: One of Hitler's lost photo albums will be 'returned' to Germany, containing photos of many works of art that were stolen by the Nazis. It is hoped that this (along with another album recently recovered in 2007) will aid in the search for artifacts still missing. Previously, only 19 of the original 31 albums Hitler had made to plan for a major art museum were found.
When private John Pistone went to the former 'Eagles Nest' of Aldolf Hitler in the closing days of World War II, he found a nice souvenir. Pistone took home a 12-pound album filled with pictures of paintings and other artwork. It has been in the family since and is being returned by his son.
When private John Pistone went to the former 'Eagles Nest' of Aldolf Hitler in the closing days of World War II, he found a nice souvenir. Pistone took home a 12-pound album filled with pictures of paintings and other artwork. It has been in the family since and is being returned by his son.
AntiSemitism Recent News
Jan. 27, 2010: Not quite 70 years ago, but 65 years ago, today the Red Army liberated Auschwitz. In 2005 the United Nations declared this date as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The ceremonies held today included survivors and their descendants, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Polish leaders. One survivor remembered that day.
"It was all covered in snow and it was very cold. There was no gong as usual for breakfast that morning but the previous night there had been the usual terror, or even worse - the roll call, the screaming of the SS men. I left the barrack to see what was going on (and) there were dead bodies everywhere because the Germans had shot anyone still able to move or who tried to flee."
By war's end at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, but also non-Jewish Poles, Gypsies and others, died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau or from starvation, disease and forced labor. Some 6 million Jews overall were killed in the Holocaust.
"It was all covered in snow and it was very cold. There was no gong as usual for breakfast that morning but the previous night there had been the usual terror, or even worse - the roll call, the screaming of the SS men. I left the barrack to see what was going on (and) there were dead bodies everywhere because the Germans had shot anyone still able to move or who tried to flee."
By war's end at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, but also non-Jewish Poles, Gypsies and others, died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau or from starvation, disease and forced labor. Some 6 million Jews overall were killed in the Holocaust.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Frame Of Reference
I received a recent note regarding this blog, which will probably alter the tone of future posts as I wanted to make this approachable by the modern audience.
"... since I'm not really familiar with the history at all... it is a blur of stuff that I really can't picture or at least draw on some background information. It isn't that it was "high brow" and really went over my head, as it is... a puzzle that I can't piece together because I don't really 'get the picture'..."
Not having a context to piece together the events is likely troublesome for most readers. We didn't grow up in those times and have no real cultural mindset to view 'current' headlines from 70 years ago. But picture them this way. The current conflict in the Middle East with terrorism is much the same. A faraway place that is shaping world events. Few of us pay attention to exactly where and why these conflicts are. Those that do have little understanding as to why the U.S. had to get involved and believe we have no business over there. Our current economy is such a mess that we should probably focus a lot of the money spent on military efforts over there here instead.
The same held true for Americans who read their newspapers 70 years ago. Full of names and events and places that had little bearing on their day to day lives. Who was this Hitler guy and why was he stirring up so much trouble in Europe?(Some Americans while finding National Socialism alarming, saw him as a legitimate leader of his country and supported socialism themselves). Why does our government care so much about getting involved when we should just stay out of it?(Much of America was still locked in an attitude of isolationism). Persecution of the Jews; maybe they were meddling in affairs they had little right to.(Americans at the time were fairly antisemitic themselves). What do we owe Britain and France, didn't the last war do enough to bail them out?(Of course they were still stinging from the casualties taken only the generation before). We just ended the Great Depression, spending money and industry on another war instead of feeding and housing our own is ridiculous.(Again, the root cause of this attitude was isolationism and really tough economic times, much like today).
So times then were little different from times today, just less technology. Although the advancements in wireless radio and instruments of warfare, particularly airplanes and tanks, were quite a cultural shock much like computers and internet today. The conflicts and threats to world and American security seemed far away, but were no less a threat than modern-day terrorism. It has only been made public in most recent years that Hitler's plan for conquest included the United States eventually.
I hope that my 'headlines' are read from a perspective that while the battles and locations may seem foreign and strange that we would fight in these countries, but the political and social situations then were little to no different than todays.
"... since I'm not really familiar with the history at all... it is a blur of stuff that I really can't picture or at least draw on some background information. It isn't that it was "high brow" and really went over my head, as it is... a puzzle that I can't piece together because I don't really 'get the picture'..."
Not having a context to piece together the events is likely troublesome for most readers. We didn't grow up in those times and have no real cultural mindset to view 'current' headlines from 70 years ago. But picture them this way. The current conflict in the Middle East with terrorism is much the same. A faraway place that is shaping world events. Few of us pay attention to exactly where and why these conflicts are. Those that do have little understanding as to why the U.S. had to get involved and believe we have no business over there. Our current economy is such a mess that we should probably focus a lot of the money spent on military efforts over there here instead.
The same held true for Americans who read their newspapers 70 years ago. Full of names and events and places that had little bearing on their day to day lives. Who was this Hitler guy and why was he stirring up so much trouble in Europe?(Some Americans while finding National Socialism alarming, saw him as a legitimate leader of his country and supported socialism themselves). Why does our government care so much about getting involved when we should just stay out of it?(Much of America was still locked in an attitude of isolationism). Persecution of the Jews; maybe they were meddling in affairs they had little right to.(Americans at the time were fairly antisemitic themselves). What do we owe Britain and France, didn't the last war do enough to bail them out?(Of course they were still stinging from the casualties taken only the generation before). We just ended the Great Depression, spending money and industry on another war instead of feeding and housing our own is ridiculous.(Again, the root cause of this attitude was isolationism and really tough economic times, much like today).
So times then were little different from times today, just less technology. Although the advancements in wireless radio and instruments of warfare, particularly airplanes and tanks, were quite a cultural shock much like computers and internet today. The conflicts and threats to world and American security seemed far away, but were no less a threat than modern-day terrorism. It has only been made public in most recent years that Hitler's plan for conquest included the United States eventually.
I hope that my 'headlines' are read from a perspective that while the battles and locations may seem foreign and strange that we would fight in these countries, but the political and social situations then were little to no different than todays.
1940: The fire begins
1940, the year that really started it all. After the success in September 1939, against an inferior army in Poland, Germany set it's sights on foes in the west that were at least equal, and in terms of the number of tanks and airplanes they were superior. Britain and France had declared war on Germany that fall so they were obvious targets. Norway also became a strategic scapegoat to impress an embargo against Britain. The Atlantic Sea War began in earnest after the United States pledged it's support of Great Britain with supply ships. U-boats prowled a blockade in the English Channel and the North Sea. To conquer Europe, Germany declared free game on all who dared cross them. Their philosophy of eminent domain stemmed both from the economic slump caused by the Treaty of Versailles after the Great War 'to end all wars', and from several centuries of glorifying the warfare class since stories of Charlemagne and recent rulers like Frederick the Great and Kaiser Wilhelm. Nazi ideology had been building for most of the previous decade under Hitler, touting belief not only in their own supposed superiority, but also in an all-or-nothing effort to prove to the world that Europe belonged to the rightful victor from glorious battle. The torches were set to fire all of western civilization into a bonfire of pride and desperation.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Antisemitism Recent News
Jan.21, 2010: Polish regional police officials on Thursday returned the historic "Arbeit macht frei" sign to the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, local media reported. The sign, which means "Work sets you free," was stolen on December 18 and recovered two days later. Police returned the sign during a ceremony in Krakow after conducting tests on it. Five men have been remanded in custody in Poland on suspicion of organizing and carrying out the theft of the sign. Swedish authorities said on January 5 they had been asked to assist the Polish probe into the theft.The sign hung over the entrance of the camp where Nazis killed some 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, during World War II in occupied Poland. The sign had been defaced and cut into three pieces, allegedly in preparation for shipment to a buyer. Published reports have suggested that there was a plan to ship the sign to a group of Swedish neo-Nazis.
Deportations Begin
Antisemitism
Early Feb.: The first deportations of Jews from Germany began.
Recent News
Jan.12, 2010: The heroic woman who braved the wrath of the Nazis to feed, clothe and hide Anne Frank and her family for two years during the Holocaust has died at the age of 100. An office secretary in the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II, Miep Gies also saved the young teenager’s notebooks and papers, locking them in a drawer to hold them safe until her hoped-for return after the war. Gies, who refused to read the young girl’s papers out of respect for her privacy – which she said was “sacred” – gave the diary to Anne’s father Otto, the family’s sole survivor of the war. He later published the diary as a book in 1947, titled simply, The Diary of Anne Frank. It has since been published in at least 65 different languages and is required reading for students around the world as a way to understand the Jewish experience of the war.
Early Feb.: The first deportations of Jews from Germany began.
Recent News
Jan.12, 2010: The heroic woman who braved the wrath of the Nazis to feed, clothe and hide Anne Frank and her family for two years during the Holocaust has died at the age of 100. An office secretary in the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II, Miep Gies also saved the young teenager’s notebooks and papers, locking them in a drawer to hold them safe until her hoped-for return after the war. Gies, who refused to read the young girl’s papers out of respect for her privacy – which she said was “sacred” – gave the diary to Anne’s father Otto, the family’s sole survivor of the war. He later published the diary as a book in 1947, titled simply, The Diary of Anne Frank. It has since been published in at least 65 different languages and is required reading for students around the world as a way to understand the Jewish experience of the war.
Western Front
Jan. 10, 1940: Belgium. A German military plane crash-lands near Mechelen-sur-Meuse. Belgian soldiers capture the pilot trying to burn his papers detailing operation plans and maps for a German airborne attack on the west to begin on Jan 14. Upon receiving the news from his aides, Hitler explodes, "It's things like this that can lose us the war."
To catch up
Here are some of the events from the past months.
In November 1939 the Atlantic Sea War started heating up as Germany's U-boats targeted more shipping while the Luftwaffe mined the seas off the coast of Britain. In Germany the 'Krystal Nacht' targeted Jews and in December it was made law that all businesses and firms had to be Aryanized.
Atlantic Sea War -Britain gains a few scores against Germany.
Dec.13: Britain scores a strike back at Germany when HMS Salmon torpedoes the cruisers Leipzig and Nurnburg.
Dec.15: Leipzig torpedoed again by HMS Ursula.
Dec.17: Germany's battleship Admiral Graf Spee hunted by HMS Exeter, Ajax and Achilles. Captain Langsdorff believing a superior force awaited him, scuttles the ship and three days later shoots himself.
Look at these battles in the Atlantic as much like today's pirate raids from Northern and Eastern Africa. Merchant ships and even cruise lines avoid these waters now due to the increased pirate raids that hold the crew, cargo, and passengers ransom. I'm sure the crews and passengers 70 years ago felt the same concern.
In November 1939 the Atlantic Sea War started heating up as Germany's U-boats targeted more shipping while the Luftwaffe mined the seas off the coast of Britain. In Germany the 'Krystal Nacht' targeted Jews and in December it was made law that all businesses and firms had to be Aryanized.
Atlantic Sea War -Britain gains a few scores against Germany.
Dec.13: Britain scores a strike back at Germany when HMS Salmon torpedoes the cruisers Leipzig and Nurnburg.
Dec.15: Leipzig torpedoed again by HMS Ursula.
Dec.17: Germany's battleship Admiral Graf Spee hunted by HMS Exeter, Ajax and Achilles. Captain Langsdorff believing a superior force awaited him, scuttles the ship and three days later shoots himself.
Look at these battles in the Atlantic as much like today's pirate raids from Northern and Eastern Africa. Merchant ships and even cruise lines avoid these waters now due to the increased pirate raids that hold the crew, cargo, and passengers ransom. I'm sure the crews and passengers 70 years ago felt the same concern.
First Post
As my first post, let me explain that the decision to move over from Facebook had more to do with practicality then not wanting to irritate old high school friends with postings that had little to do with day-to-day catch-up activity. Their news postings left little room for detailed entries, and I wanted an easy website to refer new gaming and reenactment friends to. So welcome to the first posting of what I hope to be at least a weekly, if not everyday blog in honor of the world-changing events of World War II. Most of the postings will be centered around the European war and not the Pacific as that is my main center of interest. I may occasionally enter a few brief descriptions of events in the Pacific only where they had an impact on the Europe half of the war. This is not to slight those brave men and women who served and died in those great ocean and island battles, but it's mainly an issue of time and focus, plus I know a lot more about the Europe conflict from the hobbies and the studies and reading I've researched for writing my book. I have to admit that what I know about the Pacific is mainly garnered from movies and TV programs, with the occasional book read like the biography of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. I did not want in my ignorance to say anything that dishonored those who fought there for either side.
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