Backseat

 

Karl Linnas

Karl Linnas

Karl Linnas was born on August 6, 1919 in Tartu, Estonia.

His Father was, August Linnas the Head of a Printing House and his Mother, Ida (nee Park.)

In 1937 he graduated from the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Tartu.

He then went to the University of Tartu and studied Mathematics, but he didn’t graduate.

In 1939, he graduated from the Military School's Infantry Class Course specializing  in heavy machine guns.

In June 1940 Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and later annexed into the USSR on August 6, 1940.

In 1941 the Soviets deported 10,000 Estonians to Gulags in Central Asia where most died.

The Soviets occupied Estonia until the Nazi German Invasion in June 1941.

In September 1941, Linnas became the Commandant of the Tartu Concentration Camp held this position until January 1942, when Estonia was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ostland (English: 'Reich Commissariat of Eastland.”)

The Tartu Concentration Camp became the largest Concentration Camp and later Extermination Camp in German-Occupied Estonia.

Estonian Jews, Foreign Jews, Communists, Roma and Sinti were held Prisoner in the Tartu Camp.

Linnas had Groups of 30 to 40 People (including the Elderly and Children) brought to the Jalaka Line (an anti-tank ditch) where they were shot and left in the ditch.

Later Linnas had other Prisoners dig-up the dead bodies and burned them.

In December 1941 the Germans had declared Estonia to be “Judenfrei” (English: Free of Jews.)

There had been 4,500 Jews in Estonia before the Soviet and German Occupations.

The Germans and their Estonian Collaborators (like Linnas) murdered 1,000 Estonian Jews.

The rest had been deported by the Soviets to the USSR in 1940 or 1941 or had fled to the USSR by themselves when the Germans invaded in June 1941.

Once the Estonian Jews were murdered the Germans deported around 10,000 Jews from other parts of German-Occupied Europe to German-Occupied Estonia to be killed.

Many of these Foreign Jews went right from the Cattle Trains to their deaths within an hour.

1,000 Roma and Sint were also murdered by the Germans and Estonian Collaborators as were 15,000 Soviet Prisoners-Of-War.

4,000 Men, Women and Children were murdered at the Tartu Concentration Camp during the time that Linneas was Commandant there.

In January 1944  Linnas fought in the Estonian Collaborating Estonian Auxiliary Police (German: Estnische Hilfspolizei and Estonian: Eesti kaitsepataljonid) where he was wounded.

Linnas, his Parents and his Sister then fled west with the retreating Germans  - not wanting to live under Soviet Occupation again.

After the War in May 1945 Linnas lived in a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany until he immigrated to the United States in 1951 (under the American Displaced Persons Act of 1948.)

Linnas hid his Nazi Crimes from American Immigration and became a US Citizen in 1960.

He lived in Greenlawn on Long Island in New York where he worked as a Surveyor.

In October 1961 the Soviets sent an Extradition Request to the Americans for Linnas to be tried for his Nazi Crimes during the War.

The Americans (at the height of the Cold War and fearing the Soviet Communists) refused to extradite Linnas to the USSR.

In 1962 the Soviets sentenced Linnas to Death in Absentia for his role of the murder of Men, Women and Children at the Tartu Concentration Camp (the Soviets said he had murdered 12,000 People.)

In 1979, the United States Immigration and Customs Department accused him of providing false information when entering the Country back in 1951.

That was through the work of the newly created Office of Special Investigations (OSI), established in 1979 within the US Department of Justice which was given extraordinary power to investigate alleged War Criminals in the US.

In 1981, the Federal District Court for the City of Westbury stripped the 62-year-old Linnas of his U.S. Citizenship for hiding his Criminal Past from Immigration 30 years earlier and ordered Linnas to be deported to the Soviet Union (his Native Estonia had been Re-Occupied by the Soviets from 1945-1991.)

His Case was handled by Prosecutor, Rudolph Giuliani (who would later be the Mayor of New York City.)

His Lawyer was Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

In 1986, the US Federal Court of Appeals upheld the Deportation Order,

In April 1987, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the Linnas’ Appeal and he was Deported from the United States to the USSR in 1987.

He was flown from New York City  to Prague, Czechoslovakia and from there went to Tallinn, Soviet-Occupied Estonia and kept at the Central Prison.

In June 1987 his health deteriorated and he was sent to Leningrad (Present-Day; Saint Petersburg.)

He was operated on twice at the Hospital Prison there.

Linnas had Stomach, Liver and Heart Disease.

Because of his ill-health the Death Sentence imposed on him in 1962 was changed to Life Imprisonment.

On July 2, 1987 at the Prison Hospital in Leningrad, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Present-Day: Saint Petersburg, Russia) Karl Linnas died.

He was 67 years old.

His body was cremated and his Daughter, Anu, was allowed to bring the remains back to the United States on July 4, 1987.

His remains were scattered in an unknown location.

Karl Linnas became the Second War Criminal handed over by the American Authorities to the USSR (the first was Fyodor Fedorenko who was a Guard at the Treblinka Death Camp, fled to the US after the War, was deported from the US in 1984 and shot by the Soviets in July 1987.)

Estonia became independent of Soviet Occupation on August 20, 1991.

The Soviet Union collapsed on December 25, 1991.

 

Ok

 

76 Days

From Yahoo/Politico:

“Congress ends record-shattering DHS shutdown”

On the 76th day since Department of Homeland Security funding lapsed, Congress passed a bill Thursday restoring the flow of federal dollars to most of its agencies — without solving any of the policy disagreements that led to the record-breaking shutdown.

The House approved by voice vote the partial DHS funding measure the Senate passed more than a month ago. President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the bipartisan legislation, fully funding the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with other offices within DHS that don’t deal with immigration enforcement. Now congressional Republicans turn their attention to enacting tens of billions of dollars for Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a party-line package. They jump-started the process this week with the adoption of a framework unlocking special budget power to skirt the Senate filibuster.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Thursday that Republicans are “absolutely horrified” to be funding the immigration agencies separately. “The idea that we’re isolating Border Patrol and isolating ICE is offensive to the men and women who serve,” Roy said on the House floor before the bill was passed. “It is absolutely ridiculous that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have done this to those men and women.”

Trump is demanding that the party-line bill, which would fund the controversial agencies for the remainder of his term, land on his desk by June 1. ICE and Border Patrol have been operating largely as normal during the shutdown due to funding previously provided in last year’s GOP megabill. The upshot of the two-track approach to funding DHS is that there will be no changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, which led to the shutdown stalemate that began in February after federal immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

In the more than 10 weeks since DHS funding lapsed, Democrats have remained largely united in refusing to support funding for the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement activities without new guardrails. Republicans, meanwhile, are doubling down on funding those agencies without strings — emphasizing a blunt partisan divide five months before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

House GOP leaders sat on the bipartisan package for weeks, scoffing at the late-night decision Senate leaders made last month to fund DHS through the two-step maneuver without consulting their House counterparts. “You don't dump things on the other chamber in the middle of the night without talking to the speaker about it,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters this week. “This is created by bad management in Senate leadership and by not being transparent and open with us in the House.” But pressure from the White House and some Republican lawmakers prompted House GOP leaders to ultimately pass the package unchanged, even after floating the idea of tweaking the bill and sending it back across the Capitol.

Trump administration officials have grown increasingly antsy to see the legislation enacted after nearly draining the $10 billion fund they have been tapping to cover paychecks for DHS workers. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned last week that his department would run out of payroll money in the coming days. Under the package, all of DHS except ICE and Border Patrol will be funded through September, the end of the fiscal year. The legislation includes some new guardrails on immigration enforcement tactics negotiated early this year. But it does not contain any of the additional rules Democrats sought, including barring immigration officers from wearing masks and requiring judicial warrants to make arrests or enter private property.

The end result of the funding lapse is largely what top Democrats have advocated for months as a fallback plan if Republicans wouldn’t agree to any new enforcement restrictions. Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House’s top Democratic appropriator, introduced a bill more than two months ago to fund all but ICE, Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the Secretary at DHS. "It is about damn time that you come forward and do this," DeLauro said on the House floor Thursday before the measure passed. "I proposed it 79 days ago." Instead, House Republicans repeatedly passed legislation to fund all of DHS throughout the shutdown, daring lawmakers on the other side of the aisle to oppose it. While a few Democrats broke ranks, the Republican attempts were met with consistent opposition among Democrats in the Senate, where the bills inevitably ran up against the filibuster.

Off the Hill, TSA agents and other DHS workers who aren’t considered law enforcement personnel worked for weeks without pay, until Trump directed DHS to temporarily cover their paychecks last month. Since the funding lapse began, more than 1,100 agents have quit at TSA and some homeland security efforts have been halted, including preparations for the World Cup soccer games being hosted in U.S. cities this summer.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/congress-ends-record-shattering-dhs-171450121.html

Military Brat

April 30th is US Military Brat Day.

1. The term "Military Brat" is not intended as derogatory and isn't just a slang term – Military brat is widely used by researchers and sociologists and was adopted by the military brat community.

2. Since 9/11, more than two million military children have had a parent deployed at least once.

3. Military families relocate 10 times more often than civilian families -- on average, every 2 or 3 years.

4. When a parent is stationed without his family, the children of the military member experience the same emotions as children of divorced parents.

5. Children of active duty personnel often mirror the values, ideals, and attitudes of their parents more closely than children of civilians.

6. A high percentage of military children find difficulty connecting with people or places, but very often do form strong connections with bases and military culture.

7. Military children have more emotional struggles when compared with national examples. These struggles increase when the military parent deploys. Military children can also experience higher levels of anxiety, depression and withdrawal.

8. Research has consistently shown military children to be more disciplined than civilian peers.

9. The perception that the country supports the wars their parents deploy to fight has a positive effect on the mental health of military children.

10. Military children are usually under constant pressure to conform to what military culture expects; sometimes this is perceived as being more mature, even if its only their outward behavior.

11. Strict discipline can have the opposite effect: children in military families may behave well beyond what is normally acceptable. Some develop psychological problems due to the intense stress of always being on their best behavior.

12. The bonds connecting military communities are normally considered stronger than the differences of race. Military children grow up in a setting that actively condemns racist comments. The result is a culture of anti-racism.

13. In studies, eighty percent of military children claim that they can relate to anyone, regardless of differences such as race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality.

14. Because military brats are constantly making new friends to replace the ones that they have lost, they are often more outgoing and independent.

15. On the other hand, the experience of being a constant stranger can lead them to feel estranged everywhere, even if later in life they settle down in one place.

16. A typical military school can experience up to 50 percent turnover every year.

17. Grown military children are very monogamous. When they marry, it is generally for life; over two-thirds over age 40 are married to their first spouse.

18. Military children have lower delinquency rates, higher achievement scores, and higher median IQs than civilian children.

19. Military children are more likely to have a college degree and are more likely to have an advanced degree.

20 Over 80 percent of children raised in military families now speak at least one language other than English, and 14 percent speak three or more.

Military Brats Day

 

5 Courses

 

Henry Wirz

 Henry Wirz

Henry Wirz was born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz in Zurich, Switzerland on November 25, 1823.

He was to a German-Speaking Family.

His Father, Johann Wirz, was a Master Tailor and Member of Zurich's City Council and his Mother, Sophie (nee Philipp.)

He wanted to became a Physician but his family didn’t have the money to send him to Medical Schools so Wirz became a Merchant from 1840 until 1842.

In 1842 he started working at a Department Store in Zurich.

In 1845 he married Emilie Oschwald.

They had 2 Children.

In 1847 Wirz was sentenced to 4 years in prison for Embezzlement and Fraud.

He spent 1 year in Prison before his Sentence was changed to 12 years exile from Zurich.

He first went to Moscow in the Russian Empire in 1848 before immigrating to the United States in 1849.

His Wife, Emile, wanted to stay in Switzerland with their two Children and they were divorced in 1853.

He worked in a Factory in Laurence, Massachusetts for 5 years before moving to Hopkinson,  Kentucky and working as an Assistant Physician in 1854.

In 1854 he married Elizabeth Wolfe who had two Daughters from a previous Marriage.

Using his Self-Taught Medical Skills he worked as a Doctor on a Plantation in Louisiana (dividing his time between Kentucky and Louisiana) where his 3^rd Child (his First with Elizabeth) was born.

When the American Civil War started in 1861 37 year old Wirz enlisted as a Private in Company A (Madison Infantry), 4th Battalion of Louisiana Infantry of the Confederate Army.

In 1862 he was either wounded or hurt (the exact cause is unknown) and lost the use of his Right Arm.

He spent 3 months at his home recuperating.

In June 1862 he was promoted to Captain and was assigned to the Staff of General John H. Winder, who was in charge of the Confederate Prisoner-of-War Camps,

Wirz initially served on detached duty as a Prison Commandant in Alabama, but was then transferred to help guard Union Prisoners incarcerated at the Confederate’s Capital in Richmond, Virginia.

In February 1864 the Confederates established Fort Sumter Prisoner-Of-War Camp in Andersonville, Georgia (the Camp was often simply called Andersonville.)

Wirz became the Commandant of Andersonville.

Andersonville was intended to be a Temporary Camp and so no wooden Barracks were created for the Prisoners.

Instead the Confederates kept the Union Prisoners in an open-air stockade.

Andersonville suffered from severe overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, and an extreme lack of food, tools, medical supplies, and potable water.

At its peak in August 1864 Andersonville held 33,000 Union Prisoners-of-War (four times more than any other Confederate POW Camp.)

The Summer of 1864 saw 100 Union POWs die of disease, exposure, or malnutrition every day.

45,000 Union POWs were held in the Andersonville POW Camp (during its 14 month existence) with 13,000 Prisoners-Of-War dying in the Camp.

Wirz was arrested by the Union’s 4th U.S. Cavalry on May 7, 1865 at the Andersonville Camp.

Union Survivors of the Andersonville POW Camp were emaciated when the Union Army liberated the Camp.

(Liberated Union Soldier from Andersonville in 1865.)

They looked more like Holocaust Survivors in May 1945 than Prisonersof-War in May 1865.

He was sent to Washington DC and arrived there on May 10, 1865 where he was held in the Old Capitol Prison since the Federal Government decided to put him on trial for conspiring to impair the lives of Union Prisoners-of-War.

On May 26, 1865 the American Civil War ended.

A Special Military Commission was convened with Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace presiding.

The other Commission Members were Gershom Mott; John W. Geary; Lorenzo Thomas; Francis Fessenden; Edward S. Bragg; John F. Ballier, U.S. Volunteers; T. Allcock, 4th New York Artillery; and John H. Stibbs, 12th Iowa Volunteers. Col. Norton P. Chipman served as Judge Advocate.

The Military Tribunal took place between August 23-October 18, 1865 and dominated the front pages of newspapers across the United States (including the Former Confederate States.)

He was charged with 10 Counts of War Crimes including Torture and not providing adequate Food, Water and Shelter to the Prisoners-of-War in his charge.

In early November 1865, the Military Commission found Wirz Guilty of Criminal Conspiracy as Charged, along with 10 of 13 specifications of acts of Personal Cruelty, and sentenced him to Death.

In a letter to U.S. President Andrew Johnson, Wirz asked for Clemency, but the letter went unanswered.

Wirz was hanged at 10:32 a.m. on November 10, 1865, at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C., located next to the U.S. Capitol.

His neck did not break from the fall, and the crowd of 200 Spectators guarded by 120 Soldiers watched as he writhed and slowly strangled.

Wirz was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Wirz was one of only three Men tried, convicted, and executed for War Crimes during the American Civil War (and, being a Captain, was the highest-ranked of any executed.)

In 1908 The United Daughters of the Confederacy built a Monument honoring Henry Wirz in Andersonville, Georgia.

Today, the Fort Sumter (Andersonville) Prisoner-Of-War Camp is administered by the National Park Service.

 

Name Order

 

The Troubles

The Troubles

In all of Ireland from the 17^th Century until 1921 the British created the System of Governance called the Protestant Ascendancy.

The Protestant Ascendancy was the idea that Protestantism (especially the Church of England and the Church of Ireland) was superior to being Catholic and so all Aristocrats, Landowners, Barristers, Politicians, Clergymen, Military Officers and other Prominent Professions were closed to Catholics.

The Three-Tier Hierarchy the British created in Ireland was the British at the top, the Irish Protestants right below them and the Irish Catholics at the very bottom.

Only the British and the Irish Protestants had Equal Rights and Equal Say.

From 1919 until 1921 the Irish Catholics fought the War for Independence against the British,

2,300 People (including 900 Civilians) were killed during the War.

In the end the British allowed for the Partition of Ireland.

The Southern Part (26 of 32 Irish Counties) became the Irish Free State (a Dominion of the British Empire with the British Monarch as the Head of State) with a Catholic Majority ruled by Catholics.

The Northern Part (6 of 32 Irish Counties) became Northern Ireland an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland with the British Monarch as the Head of State) with a Catholic Minority ruled by the Protestants.

From 1922-1923 the Irish Civil War was fought between those who supported the Partition of Ireland and those who were against the Partition of Ireland.

336 Civilians were killed in the Civil War and in the end those who supported the Partition of Ireland won.

In 1937 the Irish Free State became Ireland/Eire.

An Irish President was created and the role of the British Monarch in Ireland was left unknown.

Ireland/Eire was Neutral during World War 2 while Northern Ireland (as part of the UK) was in the Allies during World War 2.

Dublin, the Capital of Ireland/Eire was mistakenly bombed by the Germans in August 1940, December 1940, January 1941, May 1941, June 1941 and July 1941.)

The Nazis apologized for all the bombings and compensated the Republic of Ireland for the damage.

Belfast, the Capital of Northern Ireland was deliberately bombed by the Germans in April and May 1941.

1,200 People were killed, 1,500 People were wounded and 50,000 Houses were damaged or destroyed.

In 1948 Ireland/Eire officially became the Republic of Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland officially left the British Commonwealth (today called the Commonwealth of Nations) and the British Monarch no longer held any power and was abolished.

Since 1921, Northern Ireland continued to be ruled by the British System of the Protestant Ascendancy.

The Three Tier Hierarchy continued to be the British at the top, the Northern Irish Protestants right below them and the Northern Irish Catholics at the bottom.

The British and Northern Irish Protestants created both Official and Unofficial Laws that kept the Northern Irish Catholics out of the Government, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Police) and all Major Positions of Power.

Beginning in 1964 the Northern Irish Catholics began to hold peaceful demonstrations (modelled after Mart Luther King Jr. in the United States) calling for Equal Civil Rights, One Man, One Vote, the end of Discrimination in Employment, the end of Discrimination in Housing and the disbanding of the 99.9% Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Both the British Government in London and the Northern Irish Protestants in Belfast did not want to give the Northern Irish Catholics Equal Civil Rights.

The British Government and the Northern Irish Protestants treated the Northern Irish Catholics the same way that White Southern Americans treated Black Southern Americans who just wanted Equal Civil Rights.

Ian Paisley a Northern Irish Protestant Evangelical Minister used fear and hatred to wage a campaign against Northern Irish Catholics.

He created several different Protestant/Loyalist Paramilitary Groups to use violence to keep the Catholics in their place at the bottom of Society.

In 1967 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement began to officially call for Equal Civil Rights for Northern Irish Catholics.

In the beginning of The Troubles (from 1966 until 1972) the vast majority of Northern Irish Catholics did not want a Reunited Ireland.

They simply wanted a better life in Northern Ireland with equal rights that the British and the Northern Irish Protestants already enjoyed.

In August 1969 The Troubles officially began when after countless Physical Attacks and Arson Attacks by the Northern Irish Protestants (including the RUC Police) the Northern Irish Catholics decided to stand their ground and make the Bogside (the Catholic Area of Derry -Catholics call the City Derry and Protestants call the City Londonderry) an enclosed and safe zone where only Northern Irish Catholics would be welcomed.

On August 14, 1969 the British Government in London sent in the British Military to Northern Ireland (Operation Banner.)

At first, the Northern Irish Catholics say the British Military as a good sign (a buffer between the Northern Irish Protestants and the Northern Irish Catholics and someone who could reign in the brutal RUC Police.)

In fact, the British Military went into Northern Ireland not to stop the violence against the Northern Irish Catholics, but to stop the Northern Irish Catholics from peacefully demonstrating for Equal Civil Rights.

The British Military was there to protect the Protestant Ascendancy and the Northern Irish Protestants hold of absolute power over the Northern Irish Catholics.

That Northern Irish Catholic support changed after the British Military openly sided with the Northern Irish Protestants and started massacring unarmed and peaceful Northern Irish Catholics (ie. The 1970 Falls Curfew, the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, the 1972 Bloody Sunday, etc.)

After Bloody Sunday, the Northern Irish Catholics and the World had direct proof that the British Government and the British Military fully supported the Northern Irish Protestants and sought to keep the Northern Irish Catholics “in-their-place” through any means  - including murder.

The British Government and the British Military covered-up and lied about their role for Decades, but have since openly admitted their crimes including with regards to their role in Bloody Sunday.

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement also disbanded after Bloody Sunday in 1972 since the shift moved away from Civil Disobedience to Warfare (the same method the Northern Irish Protestants, the RUC and the British Military used from the beginning.)

From 1972 until 1998 it was open-warfare with the British Government, the British Military, the Police and the Northern Irish Protestants on one side and the Northern Irish Catholics on the other.

Each side used violence and death to their advantage.

In April 1998, after 2 years of intense meetings with the Northern Irish Catholic Groups, the Northern Irish Protestant Groups, the British Government, the Republic of Ireland Government and the United States the Good Friday Agreement was signed ending 30 years of The Troubles.

The Good Friday Agreement officially made Northern Irish Catholics equal Citizens and ended the Protestant Ascendancy in place since the 17^th Century.

It called for the complete demobilization of all the different Northern Irish Protestant Paramilitary Groups and all the Northern Irish Catholic Paramilitary Groups.

The Agreement disbanded the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary and replaced it with the Police Force of Northern Ireland.

The Agreement also said that Northern Ireland would continue to be a part of the United Kingdom until a Majority of Voters voted either to make Northern Ireland its own Country or to be reunited with Ireland (Self-Determination.)

Operation Banner ended on July 31, 2007 after 37 years and the British Military left Northern Ireland.

Ian Paisley died in 2014.

1,935 Civilians were killed and over 50,000 wounded, injured or permanently Disabled on both sides during The Troubles.

Northern Ireland continues to deal with the legacy of The Troubles including trying to bring justice to the Victims on both sides and bringing those who committed Attacks and Crimes from all sides to justice.

Northern Irish Protestants continue to remain segregated from Northern Irish Catholics with each side painting colors (Red, White and Blue of the British Union Jack for the Northern Irish Protestants and the Green, White and Orange of the Irish Flag for the Northern Irish Catholics.)

There have also been Peace Lines separating the two Groups since the 1960s that continue to be used today.

Northern Irish Protestants continue to be educated in State Schools while Northern Irish Catholics continue to be educated in Catholic Private Schools.

There are also 65 Integrated Schools across Northern Ireland where the Catholics and Protestants attend together.

Note: I visited the Republic of Ireland (Dublin, Galway and many other Cities) and Northern Ireland (Belfast and Derry/Londonderry) in June 2010.

I have visited the United Kingdom (England about 10 times and Scotland about 14 times.)

King's Speech

From the BBC:

“Five takeaways from the King's historic address to Congress”

King Charles III's visit to the US was meant to be a celebration – of America's 250th anniversary, of enduring Anglo-American ties and of the "special relationship". But it has also been billed as a rescue mission. The current state of US-UK relations is strained – a reflection of British reluctance to fully back the joint US-Israeli war against Iran. So the King's goal has been to ease those tensions with a royal charm offensive, most notably with his joint address to Congress on Tuesday afternoon. There is some reason for hope. President Donald Trump has a notably mercurial personality. Warm relations can turn chilly in a flash. But the reverse is also true, and former antagonists can be rehabilitated, welcomed once again into the president's good graces. A strain is not a rupture. And towards the end of his speech, the King spoke of the "reconciliation and renewal" that he said characterised the centuries of interactions between the two nations. Whether such words in public and, in all likelihood, behind closed doors will be enough to reinforce the Anglo-American alliance remains to be seen. But, in brief remarks after an afternoon White House meeting, Trump appeared pleased. "He's a fantastic person," the president said of the King. "They're incredible people and it's a real honour." But there were also some lines in the King's speech, the first royal address to Congress since Queen Elizabeth II spoke at the Capitol in 1991, that may have buoyed Democrats – and raised eyebrows in the White House.

1) An acknowledgement of uncertainty Admitting you have a problem is the first step of recovery, as the saying goes. And so King Charles started his speech by diving right into the "times of great uncertainty" that confront both the US and the UK. He ticked through conflicts in the Middle East and Europe – sources of recent contention between the US and the UK - while also noting the threat to democracy presented by the kind of political violence that upended Saturday night's White House Correspondents' Dinner. From there, the King pivoted to talking about the fact that the US and the UK haven't always seen eye to eye. "With the spirit of 1776 in our minds," he said, "we can perhaps agree that we do not always agree". That was all a set-up, however, for his conclusion that the two nations, when in alignment, can do great things "not just for the benefit of our peoples, but of all peoples".

2) Music to the ears of Democrats When King Charles noted the British legal tradition, enshrined in the Magna Carta, that "executive power is subject to checks and balances", he received another standing ovation – with a twist. The cheers started on the Democratic side of the chamber, before spreading across the entire room. Donald Trump's critics on the left have frequently denounced the president for what they see as his abuse of power. A sense that the president should be subject to rigorous checks and balances was one of the motivating sentiments behind the "no kings" rallies that have drawn hundreds of thousands across the nation over the past year. Later, as the King closed out his speech, one of his final lines prompted some muttering – of both agreement and concern – from the Democratic side. "America's words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence," the King said. "The actions of this great nation matter even more." Democrats, of course, have frequently been critics of Trump's words, and how he delivers them, as well as his actions. Whether intended or not, it appears liberals in the audience may have viewed the King as delivering a message of warning to the nation – while offering them a chance, once again, to express their "no kings" sentiment.

3) A nod to Nato and the transatlantic alliance Quoting former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the King spoke of an Atlantic partnership and noted – not for the first time among America's European allies – that the only time Nato mobilsed in defence of one of its member-states was after the 9/11 terror attacks by al-Qaeda. Trump has derided the British Navy, long a source of pride for the kingdom. He called their ships "toys" and said their aircraft carriers "didn't work". King Charles, who served for five years in the Royal Navy, made a specific mention of his time in the service – using it as an entry point to remark on benefits of security and intelligence relations between the two nations – and between America and Europe. He even found an avenue to mention climate change, an issue that has been a longtime concern of his. "From the depths of the Atlantic to the disastrously melting ice-caps of the Arctic, the commitment and expertise of the United States Armed Forces and its allies lie at the heart of Nato, pledged to each other's defence, protecting our citizens and interests, keeping North Americans and Europeans safe from our common adversaries," he said.

4) No mention of Epstein's victims Issues of international politics aside, one of the biggest questions surrounding King Charles's visit had been whether he would reference Jeffrey Epstein in his remarks or address the late sex offender's victims. He did not. The closest he came, perhaps, was an oblique reference to the need to "support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today", That, as Americans might say, is weak tea. Last year, over the objections of the Trump administration, Congress passed legislation mandating the release of US government-held files related to the Epstein investigation. Those files led to new revelations about the depth of connections Epstein had to the rich and powerful, including former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson and the King's brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. For now, the Epstein saga has had greater repercussions in the UK compared to the US, where few in current positions of political power have faced adverse consequences. Even if the subject didn't come up during the speech, the issue is not fading from the headlines – and the full story here in the US may be yet to emerge.

5) A touch of royal humour Given the seriousness of the King's objectives – with no less than the future of US-UK relations at stake – his speech was, at times, whimsical. He opened with the oft-quoted – and misquoted - line from Oscar Wilde about the US and England having everything in common "except, of course, a language". He joked about the member of British parliament who is held "hostage" when the King speaks at Westminster – and wondered whether anyone in Congress had volunteered for such a job today. He also riffed on how US independence was "just the other day" for a nation as old as Great Britain and that he wasn't coming to the US as a "cunning rearguard action" to reestablish British rule. There may be tensions between the US and the UK at the moment, but on Tuesday the King appears to have successfully broken the ice. A thin, grey banner promoting the US Politics Unspun newsletter. On the right, there is an image of North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher, wearing a blue suit and shirt and grey tie. Behind him is a visualisation of the Capitol Building on vertical red, grey and blue stripes. The banner reads: "The newsletter that cuts through the noise.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jvl3x19v9o

Zejneba Hardaga

 

(Zejneba -fourth from the right  at the Tree Planting Ceremony in honor of her Family, Yad Vashem, Israel in 1985.)

In April 1941 German Bombs destroyed the home of the Kavilio Family in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (Present Day: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina.)

The Kavillos were Jewish.

While walking towards their Family’s Factory that manufactured Steel Sewage Pipes they came across Mustapha Hardaga, the Owner of the Building their Factory was in.

When Mustapha heard their house had been destroyed he offered to have the Kavillos (Yosef, his Wife, Rifka, and their Children, Benjamin and Tova) stay with him and his Family.

The Hardagas were Muslim.

The Kavillos stayed with the Hardagas (Mustapha, his Wife Zejneba, his Brother Izet and Izet’s Wife, Bachriya.)

According to Muslim Tradition the Women were supposed to wear a Veil and cover their Faces in front of Strangers, but Mustapha declared that the Kavillos were now part of their Family and so the Hardaga Women didn’t have to cover themselves.

The Kavillos stayed with the Hardagas for a short time until Yosef found a house in Mostar (which was occupied by the Italians and so safer than German-Occupied Sarajevo.)

Yosef stayed behind in Sarajevo to liquidate his Factory so they would have money to live off of when he was arrested by the Ustashe.

The Ustashe were Croatian Nazis aligned with the German Nazis who went across German-Occupied Yugoslavia and arresting, torturing and murdering Jews, Serbs and the Roma and Sinti.

Due to a heavy snowfall in Sarajevo the Ustashe couldn’t transport Yosef to the infamous Jasenovac Concentration Camp near Zagreb.

Instead, the Ustashe had Yosef and other Prisoners chained together and clearing snow where Zejneba Hardaga saw Yosef Kavillo.

She brought Yosef food every day which helped him survive his he was eating grass and snails inside the Prison.

Yosef managed to escape the Ustashe and fled to the Hardaga Home.

The Hardagas hid Yosef for 2 months despite the German and Ustashe warnings of the Death Penalty for anyone helping the Jews.

Yosef stayed a short time with the Hardagas until he managed to flee to his Family in Mostar.

In April 1943 the Italians left Mostar and the Germans took over the City.

The Kavillo Family had to flee Mostar because of the Anti-Jewish Raids and they fled into the Mountains where they met some Partisans.

After the War, the Kavillo Family stayed with the Hardaga Family once again.

The Hardagas also gave the Kavillos Jewelry and other Personal Belongings that they (the Kavillos) had given the Hardagas for safekeeping.

Zejneba Hardaga's Father, Ahmed Sadik, had also hid a Jewish Family (the Papo Family who was a Friend of the Kavilio Family) was captured and executed.

The Ustahe and the German Nazis murdered 13,116 of the 14,000 Jews in Yugoslavia during the War (most at the infamous Jasenovac Concentration Camp) as well as 52,000 Serbs, 27,000 Roma and Sinti.

The Kavillos immigrated to Israel in 1950 while the Hardagas stayed in Communist Yugoslavia.

Mustapha died in the 1960s.

In 1984 the Kavillos nominated the Hardagas to become one of Yad Vashem’s Righteous Among the Nations and in 1985 Zejneba Hardaga went to Israel to accept the Award and to plant a Tree.

She was the first Muslim to become a Righteous Among the Nations.

In 1994, during the Bosnian War and the Siege of Sarajevo (where the Bosnian Serbs and the Serbs from Serbia were targeting Muslims in the City) Yosef Kavillo asked Yad Vashem who asked the Israeli Government to go into War-Town Sarajevo and get the Hardagas out to safety.

Eventually, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin became involved.

In February 1994 76 year old Zejneba, her Daughter, Sarah, Sarah’s Husband, Branimir and their Daughter, Sasha, bounded one of 6 buses with 300 Jews and left the Siege of Sarajevo and landed in Israel.

Zeineba Hardaga died a year later in 1995 in Israel.

The Hardagas had saved the Kavillos during the Holocaust and the Kavillos had saved the Hardagas during the Siege of Sarajevo.

Tuesday

 

81: Dachau

 

(The Gas Chamber at Dachau which I took when I visited the Camp.)

81 years ago today (April 29, 1945) the U.S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau, the first Concentration Camp established by Germany’s Nazi Regime.

Established five weeks after Adolf Hitler took power as German Chancellor in 1933, Dachau was situated on the outskirts of the town of Dachau, 10 miles northwest of Munich.

During its first year, the Camp held about 5,000 Political Prisoners, consisting primarily of German Communists, Social Democrats, and other Political Opponents of the Nazi Regime.

During the next few years, the number of Prisoners grew dramatically, and other groups were interned at Dachau, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma and Sinti, Homosexuals, and Repeat Criminals.

Beginning in 1938, Jews began to comprise a major portion of Camp Internees.

Prisoners at Dachau were used as Forced Laborers, initially in the construction and expansion of the Camp and later for German armaments production.

The Camp served as the training center for SS Concentration Camp Guards and was a model for other Nazi Concentration Camps.

Dachau was also the first Nazi Camp to use Prisoners as Human Guinea Pigs in Medical Experiments. At Dachau, Nazi scientists tested the effects of freezing and changes to atmospheric pressure on Inmates, infected them with Malaria and Tuberculosis and treated them with experimental drugs, and forced them to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding.

Hundreds of Prisoners died or were crippled as a result of these experiments.

41,500 Inmates died or were executed at Dachau, and thousands more were transferred to a Nazi Extermination Center near Linz, Austria, when they became too sick or weak to work.

With the advance of Allied forces against Germany in April 1945, the Germans transferred Prisoners from Concentration Camps near the front to Dachau, leading to a general deterioration of conditions and typhus epidemics.

On April 27, 1945, approximately 7,000 Prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to begin a Death March from Dachau to Tegernsee, far to the south. The next day, many of the SS Guards abandoned the Camp.

On April 29th, Dachau was liberated by units of the 45th Infantry after a brief battle with the Camp’s remaining Guards.

As they neared Dachau the Americans found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies in various states of decomposition.

Inside the Camp there were more bodies and 30,000 Survivors, most severely emaciated.

Some of the American Troops who liberated Dachau were so appalled by conditions at the Camp that they machine-gunned at least two groups of captured German Guards.

The German Citizens of the town of Dachau were later forced to bury the 9,000 dead Inmates found at the Camp.

In the course of Dachau’s history, at least 160,000 Prisoners passed through the Camp, and 90,000 through the subcamps.

Martha Campbell

 Martha Campbell

Martha Campbell was a 13 year old Catholic Girl from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

She was one of eight Brothers and Sisters.

On May 14, 1972 she was walking home from Mass at the Corpus Christi Church with a Friend in Springhill Crescent, Belfast when she was shot in the face by either the Loyalist Paramilitary (Protestant) or possibly the British Military (The 1st Kings Regiment) who were also in the area at the time of the shooting.

No one was ever convicted for her death.

The Troubles started when Northern Irish Catholics peacefully started using Civil Disobedience (following Martin Luther King's example in the US) in 1966.

Since Northern Ireland was created in 1921 the British set-up a System that awarded the Northern Irish Protestants while keeping the Northern Irish Catholics as Economic and Political Outsiders.

An Example: When new Housing was being made throughout Northern Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s (after the German Bombing Raids on Northern Ireland during World War 2 in which 50,000 homes in Belfast were destroyed alone) the British placed the Northern Irish Protestants in charge of who received these New, Modern Homes.

There are many instances where the Northern Irish Protestants in charge of Housing  gave a 4 Bedroom House to a Single Northern Irish Protestant Woman with no Children over a Northern Irish Catholic Family with Children simply because of their Religion.

Another Example: Northern Irish Protestants were given the majority of Government and Police Jobs over Northern Irish Catholics (with some jobs 99% Protestants and all jobs at least 60% Protestants.)

The Northern Irish Protestants did not want to give up what little power the British gave them and so attacked and killed the Northern Irish Catholics (the same way American White Southerners did to American Black Southerners in the 1950s-1960s.)

The British sent in their Military in 1969 and at first the Northern Irish Catholics saw the British Military as a buffer between them and the Protestants and welcomed them (Northern Irish Catholics hoped the British Government and the British Military would be like the American Federal Government and the Federalized National Guard who went into the American South and stopped the White Southern Racists and the violence.)

That support changed after the British Military openly sided with the Northern Irish Protestants and started massacring unarmed and peaceful Northern Irish Catholics (ie. The 1970 Falls Curfew, the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, the 1972 Bloody Sunday, etc.)

After Bloody Sunday, the Northern Irish Catholics and the world had direct proof that the British Government and Military fully supported the Northern Irish Protestants and sought to keep the Northern Irish Catholics “in-their-place” through any means  - including murder.

The British Government and the British Military covered-up and lied about their role for decades, but have since openly admitted their crimes. From 1972 until 1998 it was open-warfare with the British Government, the British Military, the Police and the Northern Irish Protestants on one side and the Northern Irish Catholics on the other.

 The death and violence hit not only Northern Ireland, but the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, West Germany, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, Germany, etc.

Northern Irish Catholics didn't receive Full Equal Rights (as the Northern Irish Protestants and every British Citizen had) until 1998.

The Troubles only ended when the United States stepped-in to get all the sides together (the same way we did in the Former Yugoslavia around the same time.) 1,935 Civilians were killed and over 50,000 wounded, injured or permanently Disabled.

Vivien Gibney

Vivien Gibney

Vivien Gibney was a 17 year old Protestant Girl from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

She was from a Family of eight.

On December 1,1971 Vivien was standing in a Pharmacy (a Chemist) in Cliftonville Circus, Belfast to buy some Makeup when she was shot in her head by the Provisional IRA (Catholic) who were firing at the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Police) who were investigating a Traffic Accident in which a Child had been knocked down.

She died 4 days later.

No one was every convicted for her death.

The Troubles started when Northern Irish Catholics peacefully started using Civil Disobedience (following Martin Luther King's example in the US) in 1966.

Since Northern Ireland was created in 1921 the British set-up a System that awarded the Northern Irish Protestants while keeping the Northern Irish Catholics as Economic and Political Outsiders.

An Example: When new Housing was being made throughout Northern Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s (after the German Bombing Raids on Northern Ireland during World War 2 in which 50,000 homes in Belfast were destroyed alone) the British placed the Northern Irish Protestants in charge of who received these New, Modern Homes.

There are many instances where the Northern Irish Protestants in charge of Housing  gave a 4 Bedroom House to a Single Northern Irish Protestant Woman with no Children over a Northern Irish Catholic Family with Children simply because of their Religion.

Another Example: Northern Irish Protestants were given the majority of Government and Police Jobs over Northern Irish Catholics (with some jobs 99% Protestants and all jobs at least 60% Protestants.)

The Northern Irish Protestants did not want to give up what little power the British gave them and so attacked and killed the Northern Irish Catholics (the same way American White Southerners did to American Black Southerners in the 1950s-1960s.)

The British sent in their Military in 1969 and at first the Northern Irish Catholics saw the British Military as a buffer between them and the Protestants and welcomed them (Northern Irish Catholics hoped the British Government and the British Military would be like the American Federal Government and the Federalized National Guard who went into the American South and stopped the White Southern Racists and the violence.)

That support changed after the British Military openly sided with the Northern Irish Protestants and started massacring unarmed and peaceful Northern Irish Catholics (ie. The 1970 Falls Curfew, the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, the 1972 Bloody Sunday, etc.)

After Bloody Sunday, the Northern Irish Catholics and the world had direct proof that the British Government and Military fully supported the Northern Irish Protestants and sought to keep the Northern Irish Catholics “in-their-place” through any means  - including murder.

The British Government and the British Military covered-up and lied about their role for decades, but have since openly admitted their crimes. From 1972 until 1998 it was open-warfare with the British Government, the British Military, the Police and the Northern Irish Protestants on one side and the Northern Irish Catholics on the other.

 The death and violence hit not only Northern Ireland, but the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, West Germany, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, Germany, etc.

Northern Irish Catholics didn't receive Full Equal Rights (as the Northern Irish Protestants and every British Citizen had) until 1998.

The Troubles only ended when the United States stepped-in to get all the sides together (the same way we did in the Former Yugoslavia around the same time.) 1,935 Civilians were killed and over 50,000 wounded, injured or permanently Disabled.