Category Archive: WW2
Frank, My Dear, We Don’t Give a Damn
The Nuremberg boys (Hans Frank in the dock's front row, with arms folded, wearing dark glasses)
East West Street, written by Philippe Sands (2017) “To do a great right, do a little wrong” (The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1) It was a dilemma – in the smoking ashes of WWII, there were several handfuls of Nazi insiders scooped-up by the Allied forces. What to do with them? Hitler and his main henchmen were gone, bullets in their brains or cyanide caps twixt their clenched teeth (sometimes both) – and the residue claimed the time-honoured defence, ‘Befehl ist Befehl.’ Whilst the ‘odious apparatus’ of the Third Reich assiduously documented their outrages, prosecutors yet faced awesome…
Continue Reading →National War Memorial
Canberra, August 2017 Big planes, subs, tanks…dioramas of the most prodigious quality…enough military paraphernalia to convert the most conscientious objector into a club bore…the Australian War Memorial, a short cab ride up the hill on the other side of Lake Burley Griffin, directly aligned with the walk up the hill to Parliament on the other side of that lake, is well worth a visit, and it is free (gold coin donation encouraged). An eternal flame flickers (see main image) in order to remind us that our forebears died for us, whether we appreciate it or not….
Continue Reading →Catch-22
(by Joseph Heller) (1961) “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he…
Continue Reading →Ta Ta
On the Beach (by Ivan Aivazovsky)
May 18, 1944: This day, the deportation of the Tartars started under Stalin’s ‘liberation’ of Crimea, an historic Soviet/Russian hot-spot. Eurovision has made this an unlikely recent issue: packed off to Uzbekistan they were, along with their families, on trains designed for maximum discomfort. Forced mass movement, especially along ethnic lines, is and was a no-no for humanity, but it is surprising what people can get away with during war-time (especially an alleged ally). With Winter Coming, the US and Europe in flux, and NATO virtually conceding the eastern corridor, who knows who’ll be next?
Continue Reading →Tallinn
(photo by Zigomar)
P’s father, Hugo, maintained that the only good thing about being drafted by the Red Army was that being captured by any other side would be a bonus. In 1940, he was deferring his University studies, doing national service, then a requirement in free Estonia. Then the Ruskies moved in (it was ironic to see them celebrating recently the anniversary of the end of WWII, since they had a pretty big hand in starting it, along with Hitler) and simply annexed Estonia, and the rest of the Baltic States. Lots of Estonian officials were liquidated (including P’s grandfather) and all private property confiscated (including…
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