Common Sense

 

Dennis Haskins

Dennis Haskins died on September 27, 2026 at his home in Burbank, California at the age of 75.

He played Principal Richard Belding in the Teen Sitcom “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” in 1987 and then in  “Saved by the Bell”, which ran from 1989 to 1993 on NBC.

He then went on to star in “Saved by the Bell: The New Class”, which aired from 1993 to 2000.

Balance

 

Oleshky

 

Oleshky is in Russian-Occupied Ukraine (since 2022) and Russia refuses to feed the People living there – letting them starve.

Ukraine used drones to deliver 4 tons of Food to the Civilians there across 100 locations around the City – all while Russia tried to shoot the Drones down despite knowing there was only food in them.

This shows why Ukraine MUST Win the War and why it WILL win this War.

Full Bed

 

Elizabeth Eckford

Elizabeth Eckford

(Elizabeth Eckford attempts to enter Little Rock Central High on September 4, 1957; Hazel Bryan shouts behind her in September 1957.)

Elizabeth Eckford was born on October 4, 1941 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

She lived in the Jim Crow South.

Jim Crow Laws were Anti-White (mostly against Blacks) Official Laws that were made after the southern US States (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) were readmitted into the United States of America after they lost the Civil War.

Jim Crow started in 1877 (following the Compromise of 1877) in which Federal US Troops were removed from the southern States.

Jim Crow Laws determined where Non-White People could live, where they could eat, where they could shop, what they could do for a living, where they could sit, how they were given an education, etc.

Education was a major part of Jim Crow.

White Southerners did not want their Children to be taught by a Non-White Teacher or learn with Non-White Students (because then the truth about things like the American Civil War would come out and make the White Southerners feel bad)

In 1954 the US Supreme Court decided in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that Racial Discrimination in Education (under Jim Crow) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution.

On September 4, 1957 Elizabeth Eckford was one of 9 Black Students (later known as the Little Rock Nine) that the first to attend the previously All-White Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Group of 9 were supposed to arrive together, with their Parents, and enter through a back door of the School.

Elizabeth didn’t receive those instructions as her Family had no telephone and so she went to the High School by herself.

An angry White Mob of 400 People yelled Swear Words as Elizabeth tried to enter the High School.

In that angry Whitey Mob was 15 year old Hazel Bryan who shouted "Go home, nigger! Go back to Africa!" to Elizabeth.

Will Counts of the “Arkansas Democrat” took several pictures that showed Elizabeth being followed by an angry White Group; this and other photos of the day's startling events were circulated around the US and the world by the Press.

When Elizabeth made it to the front door of the High School the Arkansas National Guard, under orders from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, refused her entry by blocking her way with their bayonets.

When Elizabeth fled the School the White Mob chased her to a Bus Stop and threatened to lynch her.

Elizabeth was crying when a Reporter, Benjamin Fine, tried to comfort her and told her, "don't let them see you cry."

Soon, she was also protected by a White Woman named Grace Lorch who escorted her onto a city bus and went home.

For the next two weeks, the Little Rock Nine stayed home to study instead of going to the Little Rock Central High School.

 President Dwight D. Eisenhower was reluctant to do anything about the Mob or the rioting.

Eventually, Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, and the following day, took control of the 10,000 Member Arkansas National Guard from the Governor and sent 1,200 Members of the 101st Airborne Division to accompany the Students to School for protection.

On September 23, 1957, the Little Rock Nine approached Central High again, and Elizabeth Eckford along with the other eight Students, accompanied by City Policemen, were let into the High School through a side door while a Mob of 1,000 Whites surrounded the School again as the Students attempted to enter.

Both Federal Troops and Federalized National Guardsmen were deployed at the school for the entirety of the school year, although they were unable to prevent incidents of violence against the group inside the facility

Elizabeth and the other Students were spat upon, punched, hit with eggs and vegetables and faced with a barrage of slurs and insults all year long.

Elizabeth managed to finish the School Year,

All of Little Rock’s High Schools were closed the following year, so Elizabeth did not graduate from Central High School (known as the “Lost Year.”)

Instead, she took Correspondence and Night courses and earned enough credits for her High School Diploma.

In 1959 Elizabeth moved to St. Louis, Missouri.

Elizabeth attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where she earned a BA in History in 1962.

In 1963, having changed her mind on Integration and feeling guilt for her treatment of Elizabeth Hazel Massery contacted Elizabeth and apologized.

In 1967 Elizabeth then served in the United States Army for five years, first as a Pay Clerk, and then as an Information Specialist.

She also wrote for the Fort McClellan (Alabama) and the Fort Benjamin Harrison (Indiana) Newspapers.

After that, she has worked as a Waitress, History Teacher, Welfare Worker, Unemployment and Employment Interviewer and a Military Reporter.

She was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In 1997, Elizabeth shared the Father Joseph Biltz Award—presented by the National Conference for Community and Justice—with Hazel Bryan Massery (the White Student in the Photograph who was shouting Swear Words to Elizabeth in 1957.)

In 1997 Elizabth and Hazel went on a “Reconciliation Rally” for the 40^th Anniversary of the Integration of Little Rock Central School and the Infamous Photograph.

The two then went their separate ways.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Elizabeth and the other Members of the Little Rock Nine.

In 2018 she wrote her Autobiography “The Worst First Day: Bullied While Desegregating Little Rock Central High.”

Elizabeth Eckford is still alive and is 84 years old.

The Best

 (Konoba Vinica Monkovic Tavern outside of Dubrovnik. Croatia.)

The best Pizza I’ve ever had wasn’t when I was in Venice, Italy (it was actually the worst Pizza I’ve ever had) or even in New York City.

It was when I was at a place off the main road in a very small town near Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness in Scotland.

The best Cuban Sandwich I’ve ever had wasn’t when I was in Tampa or in Little Havana in Miami, Florida.

It was when I was at Boston’s Logan Airport waiting to fly to Iceland.

The best Shish-Kabab I’ve ever had wasn’t made by Turks when I was in Germany.

It was at a small Dacha outside of Yaroslavl, Russia in the dead of Winter.

The best Hamburger I’ve ever had wasn’t at a McDonald’s.

It was at a small Family-run Tavern outside of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Sometimes, you have to go off-the-beaten-path to find the good things in life (food or otherwise.)

Saturday

I hope all you awesome people are having a great Saturday!

And for the non-awesome people: I hope you too are having a great Saturday!

Watching

 

75: Mark Hamill

 

Cookies

 

Sukkot

 

Happy Sukkot to all my Jewish Friends!

I was in Israel in October 2017 when Sukkot was going on and took this picture.

Friday

 

AfD Bans Memorials

From the DW:

“AfD, CDU ban new Holocaust 'stumbling stones' in Heidenau”

The town of Heidenau, near Dresden, has banned new Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) on public streets, with the center-right CDU and the far-right AfD voting together to stop the installation of new memorial plaques bearing the names of Holocaust victims.

The Stolpersteine are comprised of a concrete cube with a metal plaque on top that bears the victim's name. They are often seen in German streets, installed just slightly higher than the surrounding walking surface, often near the houses of people targeted by the Nazi regime.

German artist Gunter Demnig started the project in the early 1990s. While most of the 128,000 such paving stones were installed in Germany, they have also been placed in 30 other countries affected by the Nazi regime, making them the largest decentralized monument in the world. The initiators of the Heidenau ban argue that, while remembering Holocaust victims is an essential task, the placement of stones leads to "passersby walking over or even stepping onto the names of the victims." They suggested honoring Holocaust victims at one of the city's cemeteries instead.

Demnig, now 78, has rejected this argument. The artist said that remembrance must be visible where people used to live, and that stumbling stones make history tangible for local young people. At the same time, he said he saw the ban coming due to the outcome of recent state elections in Germany. "After the electoral successes of the AfD, something like this was completely expected," Demnig was quoted as saying by the DPA news agency. He expressed hope that the Heidenau ban would remain an exception and pledged to "push on now more than ever" with his work. Demnig also accused the center-right CDU (Christian Democratic Union) of abandoning Christian values. He said the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz "should maybe drop the C" from their acronym "because they have dropped Christianity already."

Many others also responded with outrage to the CDU's decision to join forces with the AfD to pass the motion. The move comes with Chancellor Merz already facing a political crisis over his party's poor electoral performance, and raises questions about the political "firewall" against the far right which mainstream political parties in Germany have maintained to keep the AfD out of power.

On Friday, one of the top two leaders of Germany's Green Party, Felix Banaszak, described the move as "a scandal." Banaszak pointed to the current debate on right-wing extremism and the rise of the AfD, saying that everything must be done "to keep alive the memories of those who were persecuted and killed."

The International Auschwitz Committee also slammed the CDU support to the motion as scandalous. "This is a transparent and despicable attempt to drive Nazi victims in Heidenau out of the city once again and dispose of them where, according to the AfD, their memory has belonged a long time ago — at the cemetery," said Christoph Heubner, the organization's executive vice president.

^ This is the beginning of Germany going back to 1933.

The AfD is a Neo-Nazi Party that is Anti-Semitic (ie. Anti-Jewish), that believe in Holocaust Denial (even though it is Illegal in Germany to do so), DO not Believe Germany should have any Memorials or Museums to the 6 Million Jewish Men, Women and Children that the Germans killed from 1933-1945, want to make Kosher Food illegal in Germany and making it illegal to have these Holocaust Memorials is only the start of their campaign to create Germany’s Fourth Reich (Germany’s Third Reich was under Hitler.)

That fact that the CDU helped the AfD in banning these Holocaust Memorials is just as disgraceful as what the AfD stands for.

The AfD should be banned inside Germany since it continuously breaks German Federal Law (ie. Holocaust Denial, being a Neo-Nazi Group, etc.) yet sadly the German Federal Government allows them to continue to spread their hate and discrimination across the country.

Some people may think this is only a small step, but it starts with a small step to see how far you are able to go and we saw that with the Nazis and we are now seeing that with the AfD.

Any German who doesn’t stand up against the AfD is supporting their hatred and any Anti-Jewish Violence that later comes from them. ^

  https://www.dw.com/en/afd-cdu-ban-new-holocaust-stumbling-stones-in-heidenau/a-79433919

Good Boy

 

Dolly Parton Day!

 

Maricarmen

From the BBC:

“Dramatic eviction of woman aged 87 highlights Spain's housing shortage”

The dramatic eviction of an 87-year-old woman from the home in Madrid where she lived for seven decades has drawn attention to the depth of Spain's housing crisis. The tenant of the flat in the Retiro area of central Madrid, Maricarmen, was unable to pay the rent set by the investment firm that owns it. Maricarmen's father first rented the property in 1956 and she continued as the tenant after her parents died, during which time there was a cap on the rent.

However, the company that bought the property in 2018, Urbagestión, cited a legal glitch allowing it to raise her rent from €500 (£428; $572) to €2,650. It subsequently lowered the new rent to €1,650 but Maricarmen was still unable to pay it with her monthly pension of €1,350. Three previous attempts to evict her were blocked by the courts and the case has received increasing media attention.

Supporters of Maricarmen camped outside the building on Tuesday night, joined by celebrities including Javier Bardem's brother, Carlos, and the singer Ana Belén, who read out the poem Desahucio (Eviction) by Rafael Alberti. Several hundred people, mostly youngsters, had gathered by the morning in a bid to prevent the eviction from taking place, chanting "Maricarmen stays". Some activists blocked the stairs inside the building.

In a video posted on social media, a tearful Maricarmen thanked those who had come out to support her against "this cruel struggle by someone who wants to earn money". Police cordoned off a section of the street and removed people from the entrance to the building, including members of the media, striking some protesters with batons.

A representative of tenants' organisation Sindicato de Inquilinas shouted at the police through a megaphone: "Think for 10 seconds about Maricarmen, who could be your own grandmother.""There is a police deployment as if this were a military operation," said Beatriz Duro, Maricarmen's lawyer. "This is the fourth time [they've tried to evict her] but the first time they've come right to the door of the property. It's completely disproportionate."

In June, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights called for the pensioner's eviction to be halted and for her to be offered affordable alternative accommodation. The local government said she had declined its offer of a place in an elderly care home.The central government said Urbagestión had refused its repeated attempts to negotiate Maricarmen's situation. The BBC has attempted to contact the company.

The possibility of a last-minute reprieve for Maricarmen appeared when an anonymous donor offered to pay most of her rent. However, Urbagestión reportedly rejected the offer and the eviction went ahead. "Today is a very sad day, a very dramatic day, when it's plain to see the effects of unbridled speculation, of not wanting to control the market, of putting out the red carpet for the vultures and the speculators," said Housing Minister Teresa Rodríguez.

A shortage of available housing has been blamed for soaring rental costs in recent years, which have left millions of Spaniards struggling to find affordable homes.

In Madrid, rentals have increased by more than 100% over the last decade, according to property site Idealista, with a 10% rise over the last year. The Socialist-led government of Pedro Sánchez has frequently targeted companies whose investment pushes up housing costs. In January, the prime minister said he aimed to "protect those who are most exposed to that speculation and that greed". However, some critics of the government say it needs to work harder to build new homes, and others warn that its rhetoric discourages many owners from placing their properties on the rental market.

^ This is just plain disgusting and wrong. ^

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6vgy55lm8z1o

 

Julia Wallach

Julia Wallach

Julia Wallach was born Julia Kac on June 14, 1925 in Paris, France.

She was the only Daughter of Polish Jewish Immigrants living in France.

Julia was 14 years old when the Germans invaded and occupied Paris in June 1940.

Julia’s Mother, Marie, was arrested during the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup and Julia never saw her again.

The Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup (French:  la rafle du Vel' d'Hiv' and German: Rafle du Vélodrome d’Hiver) took place on July 16-17, 1942 in German-Occupied Paris.

French Nazi Collaborators including 9,000 Paris Policemen, arrested 13,152 Jews including 4,114 Children in Paris and kept them at the Vélodrome d'Hiver (an Indoor Bicycle Racing Track) in Paris before being sent to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland.

Only 100 of the 9,038 Adult Jews arrested during the Roundup survived the War.

None of the 4,114 Jewish Children arrested during the Roundup survived the War.

On April 1943 Julia and were Father, Joseph, who were in hiding, were denounced as Jews and arrested.

They were imprisoned at the Drancy Internment Camp outside of Paris.

On June 23, 1943 both were deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland on Transport Number 55.

Of the 1,008 Men, Women and Children deported from Drancy to Auschwitz on Transport Number 55 with Julia and her Father 518 of them were gassed immediately upon arrival at the Camp.

383 Men and 217 Women were selected for Forced Labor including Julia.

Her Father, Joseph, died (it is not known if he was gassed upon arriving at Auschwitz or from doing Forced Labor there.)

Julia was registered as Prisoner Number: 46645 at Auschwitz.

Julia survived in Auschwitz until she was made to go on a Death March in January 1945 (because the Soviet Red Army was close to liberating the Death Camp.)

She walked in the snow and cold with 58,000 other Prisoners.

Anyone who stopped was shot dead by the Germans.

Julia ended up in the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp 56 miles from Berlin.

As the Soviets again came close to liberating Ravensbrück Julia was sent on another Death March in April 1945 from which she escaped and eventually reached American Soldiers.

She was 19 years old when the War ended in May 1945.

After the War Julia went back to Paris and recovered her Family’s Apartment (which many Survivors in Postwar Europe were not allowed to do.)

On July 27, 1945 Julia married Marcel Wallach, another Holocaust Survivor, and had two Children.

From the 1960s onwards she regularly spoke about the Holocaust and what happed to her.

In  2022 Julia was awarded France’s Légion d’honneur.

Julia Wallach died on September 23, 2026 at the age of 101.

Restart

 

Doris Fedrid

Doris Fedrid

(Doris (center) and her Husband, Fred (far right), pictured in the front row of an English Class offered by the Hebrew Society for the Deaf sometime before 1963.)

Doris Fedrid was June 26, 1927, in Tarnopol, Poland (Present Day: Ternopil, Ukraine.)

She was born to a Jewish Family and was Deaf.

At 7 years old she went to live at a Jewish School for the Deaf in Lwów, Poland (Present-Day: Lviv, Ukraine.)

She described the School in the following way: “It was all lip reading … if they caught us signing, they would hit our hands with wood, or they'd tie our hands behind our back.”

When the Germans invaded her area of Poland in June 1941 (which had been occupied by the Soviets from September 1939 until June 1941) 14 year old Doris and her Family were imprisoned in the Tarnopol Ghetto (Polish: (Polish: getto w Tarnopolu, German: Ghetto Tarnopol.)

18,600 Jewish Men, Women and Children were forced into the Tarnopol Ghetto.

Jews from other, smaller Ghettoes were then sent into the Tarnopol Ghetto where 20,000 were murdered inside the Ghetto and at the Belzec Death Camp (124 miles away.)

Being Deaf, Doris had to work extra hard to understand the German Guards and the ever changing rules in the Ghetto otherwise it meant death.

In June 1943 Doris escaped from the Tarnopol Ghetto and went into hiding and survived the War.

In 1945 she learned that her Parents and Sister, Esther, had also survived.

The Family moved to New York in January 1947.

Doris found a vibrant Deaf Community and began to learn American Sign Language.

She met Fred Fedrid at an American Citizenship Class for Deaf Immigrants and they married.

He was also a Deaf Holocaust Survivor.

Fred died in 1963.

Doris Fedrid died on May 17, 2014.

She was 86 years old.

16,000 Non-Jewish Deaf People were murdered by the Germans under their T4 Program (the Mass Murder of the Mentally and Physically Disabled in Germany and Austria) from 1939-1945.

17,000 Non-Jewish Deaf People were Forcibly Sterilized by the Germans under their T4 Program) in Germany and Austria from 1939-1945.

25,000 Jewish Deaf People were murdered by the Germans during the War simply for being Deaf (being Jewish was secondary.)

An Unknown Number of Jewish Deaf People from across German-Occupied Europe were murdered for simply being Jewish and are included in the 6 Million Jews murdered by the Germans from 1933-1945.

3: NK Flee

 

3 Years ago today (September 24, 2023) 120,000 Armenians were stranded in Nagorno-Karabakh when it was completely occupied by Azerbaijan on September 20, 2023 and were forced to flee from Nagorno-Karabakh to the rest of Armenia due to Anti-Armenian violence by Azerbaijan.

Anti-Armenian Sentiment is widespread in Azerbaijan. A 2022 Poll found that 91% of Azeris perceive Armenians as the “biggest threat to Azerbaijan.”

This is not a modern trend:

From 1918-1920 when Azerbaijan was independent there were organized killings of Armenians in Baku and Shusa. 20,000 Armenians were murdered in Shusa and 30,000 Armenians were murdered in Baku.

February-March 1988 Sumgait Pogrom where 200 Armenians were murdered by the Azeris and an unknown number wounded during Soviet Times.

September 1988 Armenian Expulsion in Shusa where a 61 year old Armenian was killed and 33 Armenians were wounded by the Azeris during Soviet Times.

The January 1990 Baku Pogrom where the Azeris murdered 90 Armenians and wounded 700 Armenians in the Azeri Capital during Soviet Times.

From 1988-1990 250,000 Armenians were deported or forced to flee from Azerbaijan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh War has been going on since 1990 in different stages:

The 1st Nagorno-Karabakh War was from 1992-1994 with an Armenian Victory. 4,000 Armenian Civilians were killed. 500,000 Armenians were displaced from Azeri Territory.

The 2nd Nagorno-Karabakh War was in 2020 with an Azeri Victory. 85 Armenian Civilians were killed. 100,00 Armenians were displaced.

1,960 Russian Peacekeepers were sent to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, but were ineffective to stop the violence or to protect Civilians from the Ceasefire Breaches.

Blockade of the Lachin Corridor (connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia) forcing the layoffs of over 11,000 Armenians and extreme scarcity of electricity, water, food, medicines, etc.

The 3rd Nagorno-Karabakh War was in September 2023 with an Azeri Victory. 10 Armenians were killed and 120,000 Armenians were displaced.

The 120,000 Armenian Civilians stuck in Azeri-Controlled Nagorno-Karabakh and fleeing to Armenia in September 2023 had to undergo tight Azeri Military Checkpoints and searches (where many of their household goods were taken from them and many Armenians were arrested and kept by the Azeris

Only a few Armenian Elderly and Disabled stayed in Azeri-Controlled Nagorno-Karabakh (because they couldn’t physically flee.) Azeri Authorities took their Passports and have been monitoring their communications.

A Peace Treaty signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan in August 2025 aimed to end the Nagorno-Karabakh War and to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Note: Nagorno-Karabakh has had Armenians living there since the 7th Century BC and has many ancient Christian Churches and Monasteries - most of which have been destroyed or defaced by the Azeris. Armenians had always been more than 50% of the population.

Picture: Armenians trying to flee Nagorno-Karabakh - September 2023.

Friend

 

Dogs Are Family

 

300 Sign Languages

There are 300 different Sign Languages used around the World.

Each Sign Language is unique and not understood by Users of other Sign Languages or even by Users of the Spoken Language.

To illustrate, in terms of syntax, American Sign Language shares more in common with Spoken Japanese than with Spoken English.

A Person who knows American Sign Language doesn’t automatically know and understand Spoken English the same way a Person who knows Spoken English doesn’t automatically know and understand American Sign Language.

They are separate Languages and need to be learned separately.

A Person who knows American Sign Language doesn’t automatically know and understand British Sign Language the same way a Person who knows British Sign Language doesn’t automatically know and understand American Sign Language.

They are separate Languages and need to be learned separately.

Around 1 Million People know American Sign Language in the United States as either their Sole Language or as their Second Language (out of a Population of 330 Million People.)

70 Million People Worldwide know any sort of Sign Language as either their Sole Language or as their Second Language (out of a Population of 8 Billion People.)

430 Million People Worldwide are either Deaf or Hard-Or-Hearing. Most do now use an organized Sign Language, but use their own Homemade or Pidgin Sign Language that only they, their Family and Friends understand.

Mr And Mrs

If I met an Adult when I was a Child and called them Mr. or Mrs........ then I will continue to call them Mr. and Mrs....... even though I've been an Adult myself for many years.

War Reality

 

This is what every Ukrainian Man, Woman and Child has had to deal with for 4 1/2 years of Russia's War.

Sign Languages

Today is International Day of Sign Languages.

There are around 466 Million Deaf People around the World (even more are Hard-Of-Hearing.)

 1 in 20 Americans or 1,000,000 people are Deaf (10,000,000 are Hard-Of-Hearing.)

Collectively, these People use over 300 different Sign Languages.

A lot of people do not realize that Sign Languages are natural fully-fledged Languages.

While they may be different structurally to the Spoken Language, they should be given just as much credit and importance.

There is also an International Sign Language. This is used by Deaf People when they are socializing and traveling, as well as when they are in international meetings.

It is a pidgin type of Sign Language, which is not as complicated as Natural Sign Languages.

It should also be noted that Someone who knows American Sign Language does not automatically know Spoken American English and vice versa.

Or Someone who knows American Sing Language cannot automatically understand Someone who uses British Sign Language and vice versa.

Sign Languages Day

 

Cold But Hot

 

40: Alf

 

Sign On

 

2026 Holidays

 

Fall

 

Fall Twice

 

Tail Wagging

 

79: Stephen King

 

Good Exists

 

Denmark In WW2

Denmark During World War 2

(Picture: During the German Occupation, Danish King Christian X became a strong symbol of national independence. This picture was taken on the King's Birthday in 1940.)

From September 1, 1939 until April 9, 1940 Denmark was Neutral during World War 2.

That changed when on April 9, 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Denmark.

The Invasion was called Operation Weserübung (German: Unternehmen Weserübung or in English: Operation Weser Exercise.)

Nazi Germany wanted to occupy Norway to prevent the British from occupying it and they had to go through Denmark to get to Norway.

After less than 6 hours of fighting in which 39 Danish Soldiers died the Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning surrendered Denmark to the Germans.

The German Occupation (Danish: Besættelsen) of Denmark began.

Unlike his Brother King Haakon VII of Norway, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, King George II of Greece, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Peter II of Yugoslavia and President Władysław Raczkiewicz of Poland, all of whom went into Exile during the Nazi Occupation of their Countries King Christian X remained in Denmark and on the Throne during the German Occupation of Denmark.

The Germans considered the Danes “Aryans” like themselves and so gave the Danes more control over Domestic Policies then they did anywhere else they Occupied.

Denmark Collaborated with the Nazis from April 9, 1940 until August 23, 1943 under a Policy known as Cooperation (Danish: samarbejdspolitikken.)

Thorvald Stauning remained the Danish Prime Minister from April 9, 1940 until his death on May 3, 1942.

Vilhelm Buhl then became the Danish Prime Minister from May 4, 1942 until November 2, 1942.

Erik Scavenius was the Danish Prime Minister from November 9, 1942 until August 29, 1943.

The Danish Parliament, Courts, Police and Civil Administration continued to operate, but under German Orders.

Danish Resistance Groups from April 1940 until August 1943 were mostly Non-Violent towards the German Occupation Forces focusing on spying and printing Illegal newspapers.

After the German Occupation of Denmark the British Occupied the Danish Faroe Islands (on April 13, 1940 until May 1945.)

The British and Canadians Occupied Danish Iceland (on May 10, 1940) and the Americans Occupied Iceland in July 1941until May 1945.

Iceland became a Republic in 1944 and left the Kingdom of Denmark.

The Americans Occupied Danish Greenland from December 11, 1941 until May 1945.

2,000 Danes joined the Volunteers of Free Corps Denmark (Danish: Frikorps Danmark, German: Freikorps „Danmark“) part of the Waffen-SS.

39,000 Danes joined The National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Arbejderparti; DNSAP) the Danish Equivalent to the German Nazi Party.

The Danish Government refused to discriminate against its Jewish Citizens (there were 8,000 Jews in Denmark at the time) from April 1940 until August 1943.

On June 21, 1941 (when Nazi Germany invaded its Former Ally the Soviet Union) Denmark arrested 246 Danish Communists including 3 Members of the Danish Parliament.

On August 22, 1941 the Danish Parliament created the “Communist Law” (Danish: Kommunistloven) and banned the Communist Party.

In October 1942, Hitler transmitted a long, flattering Birthday Telegram to King Christian.

The King replied with a simple "Spreche Meinen besten Dank aus. Chr. Rex" ("Giving my best thanks. King Christian") sending the Führer into a state of rage at this deliberate slight, and seriously damaging Danish Relations with Germany. Hitler immediately recalled his Ambassador and expelled the Danish Ambassador from Germany.

It was known as the Telegram Crisis (Danish: Telegramkrisen or German: Telegrammkrise.)

After the German Defeat at Stalingrad in the USSR in February 1943 Danish Resistance against the Germans began to pick-up.

In March 1943 the Germans allowed the Danes to hold a General Election where Voter Turnout was 89.5% (the highest of any Parliamentary Election) with 94% of the Votes for Democratic Parties (2.1% Voted for the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark.)

After the Election growing Civil Disobedience and Strikes were held throughout Denmark.

The German Occupation Forces declared Martial Law in Denmark on August 29, 1943.

The Danish Parliament and the Danish Prime Minister were forbidden to meet.

The Germans now controlled every aspect of life throughout Occupied Denmark.

Danish Resistance went from being Non-Violent to Violent against the German Occupation Forces from August 1943 until May 1945.

In September 1943 German Diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz who worked at the German Embassy in Copenhagen learned that the Gestapo were going to arrest and deport all 8,000 Jews in Denmark on October 1, 1943.

He flew to Stockholm, Sweden (which was Neutral during World War 2) and received permission from the Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson to allow the Danish Jews entry into Sweden.

On September 28, 1943 Duckwitz informed the Head of the Jewish Community in Denmark, C. B. Henriques, and the Acting Chief Rabbi, Marcus Melchior, about the planned Deportation.

On September 29, 1943 (the day before Rosh Hashannah or Jewish New Year’s) the Church of Denmark (Danish: Folkekirken) issued a Pastoral Letter to all Danish Citizens to help the Jews of Denmark get to safety.

On October 2, 1943 the Swedish Government announced in an Official Statement that Sweden was prepared to accept all Danish Jews (after the Danish Physicist Niels Bohr, whose Mother was Jewish, had fled to Sweden and begged Swedish King Gustaf V to allow the Danish Jews into Seeden.)

7,500 of the Danish Jews went into hiding with the help of the Danish Resistance and Ordinary Danish Citizens.

They were then smuggled on boats over the Øresund Strait from Zealand, Denmark to Sweden (which took around an hour.)

The Danish Fishermen charged on average 1,000 Danish Kroner per Person for the transport, but some charged up to 50,000 Kroner.

The Average Monthly Salary at the time was 500 Danish Korner.

The Danish Resistance paid for half the expense (10 Million Danish Kroner) and the Jews themselves paid the other half (10 Million Danish Kroner.)

Of the 500 Danish Jews who didn’t leave Denmark 464 were arrested by the Germans.

They were sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia (Present Day: the Czech Republic.)

The Danish Red Cross tried to keep track of the Danish Jews in Theresienstadt and even convinced the Germans not to deport them to the Death Camps in German-Occupied Poland.

Of the 464 Danish Jews arrested, 51 died in Theresienstadt.

In April 1945, Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross used a Policy called “White Buses” to move 15,000 (8,000 Danish and Norwegian Jews and 7,000 French, Polish, Czech, British and American Jews) from German Concentration Camps (including Theresienstadt) to Sweden.

On September 14, 1944 the Germans arrested 1,960 Danish Policemen for refusing to help the Germans.

8,040 Danish Policemen were able to evade being arrested due to being warned beforehand.

 The 1,960 Policemen who were arrested were deported to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp in Germany then moved to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany then sent to a Prisoner-Of-War Camp in Mühlberg, German.

131 of these Policemen died during the War.

The British liberated Denmark on May 5,1945.

The easternmost Danish Island of Bornholm was liberated by the Soviets who remained there until April 5, 1946.

380 Danish Resistance Members were killed during the War.

900 Non-Jewish Danish Civilians were killed during the War.

6,000 Non-Jewish Danish Civilians were sent to German Concentration Camps during the War (of whom 600 died.)

Vilhelm Buhl was made the Prime Minister of Denmark again from May 5, 1945 until November 7, 1945.

40,000 Danes were tried for Collaborating with the Germans after the War.

Only 13,500 of those 40,000 where punished in any way after a Trial.

Over 200,000 German Prisoners-Of-War were made to demine the areas of Denmark that the Germans had mined during the War.

Half of them died from the mines.

By the time Nazi Germany was defeated in May 1945 there were 250,000 German Refugees living in Denmark – having fled the Soviets in East Prussia.

The first of these 250,000 Refugees returned to Post-War Allied (British, French, American and Soviet) Occupied Germany in November 1946.

50,000 Danish Women had Sexual Romances with the Germans during the War.

They were called “tyskerpiger” or “Pro-German Girls.”

At least 5,579 “War Babies” (with a German Father and a Danish Mother) were born from 1940-1945.

These “War Babies” were discriminated against by Danish Society after 1945.

On March 21, 1971 Israel’s Yad Vashem made Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz “Righteous Among The Nations.”

On March 21, 1979 Israel’s Yad Vashem made all the Members of the Danish Resistance “Righteous Among the Nations” for their work in saving the 7,500 Jews from Denmark during the War.

Old Tactics

Putin is using Old Soviet Election Tactics.

Only the Candidates he approved of are allowed on the Ballot and every Russian Adult and Ukrainian Adult in Russian-Occupied Ukraine has to Vote or they can be sent to a Forced Labor Penal Colony for 2 years.

Russia Votes

 

The Russian Parliamentary Elections are currently going on in Russian-Occupied Ukraine and in Russia itself.

This is the first Elections since Russia started its Full-Scale War in Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin and his Minions are using Soviet Tactics for this Election.

Every Russian Adult has to vote.

They get a Stamp in their Internal Passport stating that they voted.

If you don’t have the Stamp you can lose your Government Benefits, lose your Job and even be sent to a Forced Labor Penal Colony for 2 years.

The only Candidates allowed on the Ballot are Putin’s Allies.

Every Ukrainian Adult in Russian-Occupied Ukraine also has to vote.

Russia forced all the People in Russian-Occupied Ukraine to get a Russian Internal Passport or not be allowed to get Food Rations, Medical Help, go to School or University or Work.

You could also be sent to a Reeducation Camp in Russia where you are tortured and even killed.

Russian Soldiers, pointing guns, are at every Polling Station.

Nothing say a “Free Election” like being forced to Vote or having Soldiers pointing guns at you as you vote.