Notes and quotations from "Black Square - Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine" by Sophie Pinkham
"...2013-14, when Ukraine had another revolution < > more spontaneous than the Orange Revolution a decade earlier, it became known simply as Maidan, for Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kiev's Independence Square, the site of mass protests that lasted for three months < > More than a hundred people were killed during the protests; some ten thousand died in the war that followed."
"His{Yushchenko's} prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was a Russian-speaking oligarch from Dnipropetrovsk, in south-central Ukraine. She was canny enough to polish up her Ukrainian and do her hair in phony wheat-gold braids, modeling her image on the Berehynia, a dangerous female water spirit rebranded as a mother goddess."!!
"Ukraine's bilingualism made it an easier place to learn Russian than Russia itself."
"In 1887 Habsburg geographers declared a village near Rakhiv the "geographical center of Europe."" Rakhiv is a town in the Carpathian Mountains in far southwestern Ukraine near the border with Romania. "The ethno-national identities that we take for granted today were largely the product of nineteenth-century nationalist movements that created "imagined communities," a sense of blood relation between people who had never met and who had dramatically different ways of life."
"Lviv was part of Poland from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where it was called Lemburg. < > In the nineteenth century Lemburg was mostly Polish, German, and Jewish, though the surrounding countryside was full of peasants who called themselves Ruthenians, and who were learning to call themselves Ukrainians. < > After World War I Lemburg became Lwo'w, a Polish city in which only one-sixth of the inhabitants were Ukrainians.
"During the Second World War the city went to the Soviets and then the Germans, becoming part of the Soviet Union after the war ended. It was renamed Lvov < > Lvov's Jews had been killed in concentration camps, mass shootings, or pogroms, and its Poles and Germans had been driven out, deported, or killed."
"When I saw the documentary All Things Ablaze, < > I realized that there were many versions of Maidan. < > As in reality, it isn't clear who started the violence, or who is fighting for what, exactly. It often seems that people may be fighting just for the sake of it."
"On May 11, 2014, the Donbas separatists held referenda < > Only Russia recognized them{the landslide votes in favor of independence} as legitimate. But as in Crimea, many people in Donetsk and Luhansk truly did want to distance themselves from Kiev's new government and to put themselves under Russian protection."
"Ukraine was trying hard to distance itself from the Soviet past. It declared May 8 "Victory in Europe" Day and replaced the Soviet term "Great Patriotic War" with "Second World War" in keeping with European practice."
"Shortly after Victory Day, Poroshenko signed new laws that attached criminal penalties to the display of Soviet and Nazi symbols in almost any context, and prohibited any denial of the "criminal character of the communist totalitarian regime of 1917-91 in Ukraine.""
"The new laws were an act of symbolic violence against the civilization in which many Ukrainians grew up, and for which millions of Ukrainians lost their lives while fighting the Nazis. < > Thousands of signs had to be changed and monuments removed, replaced with the heroes of the moment."
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Experimental Blog # 210
Notes and quotations from "Bears in the Streets - Three Journeys across a Changing Russia" by Lisa Dickey
The author, Lisa Dickey, first went to Moscow in 1988, where she lived at the American embassy compound for 7 months. It is interesting that her mother, who was married to an American military serviceman{the author's father}, took an arranged tour of Soviet cities in 1976. Then in 1994 Lisa Dickey moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, hoping to make her living as a writer.
This book is a highly informative account of three journeys that the author made in 1995, 2005, and 2015. The first two journeys she made with a partner, but the third journey she made by herself. All three times she went to the same places: Vladivostok, Birobidzhan, Chita, Ulan-Ude, Galtai, Baikal, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Moscow, and St. Petersburg; and, as much as possible, she met with the same people.
"In the late 1920s, < > Joseph Stalin decided to create a Jewish homeland in Russia. < > the government's decree designated land "near the Amur River in the Far East" < > the Soviet government in 1934 designated the area as the Jewish Autonomous Region, with Birobidzhan as its capital. < > by 1948 the region's Jewish population had swelled to 30,000. < > By the end of 1992, fewer than 5,000 Jews were left there. < > and "official figures showing just 1,700 Jews living here now ...", apparently in 2015.
"Lake Baikal < > holds one-fifth of the earth's freshwater - about the same amount found in all the Great Lakes put together, although they have eight times the surface area."
A conversation:
"Generally speaking, it's not good for Russia when a Democrat is president," Sergei told me. I asked whether they liked George W. Bush better, and both of them puckered again.
" So, which American president did you like, then?" I asked. "Assuming there were any."
"Ronald Reagan," they both said, to my amazement. The "Mr, Gorbachev, tear down this wall" president, the man who took credit for destroying the USSR - this is who they liked? "He stood for something," said Sergei. "He said what he believed. He wasn't sneaky."
The author, Lisa Dickey, first went to Moscow in 1988, where she lived at the American embassy compound for 7 months. It is interesting that her mother, who was married to an American military serviceman{the author's father}, took an arranged tour of Soviet cities in 1976. Then in 1994 Lisa Dickey moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, hoping to make her living as a writer.
This book is a highly informative account of three journeys that the author made in 1995, 2005, and 2015. The first two journeys she made with a partner, but the third journey she made by herself. All three times she went to the same places: Vladivostok, Birobidzhan, Chita, Ulan-Ude, Galtai, Baikal, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Moscow, and St. Petersburg; and, as much as possible, she met with the same people.
"In the late 1920s, < > Joseph Stalin decided to create a Jewish homeland in Russia. < > the government's decree designated land "near the Amur River in the Far East" < > the Soviet government in 1934 designated the area as the Jewish Autonomous Region, with Birobidzhan as its capital. < > by 1948 the region's Jewish population had swelled to 30,000. < > By the end of 1992, fewer than 5,000 Jews were left there. < > and "official figures showing just 1,700 Jews living here now ...", apparently in 2015.
"Lake Baikal < > holds one-fifth of the earth's freshwater - about the same amount found in all the Great Lakes put together, although they have eight times the surface area."
A conversation:
"Generally speaking, it's not good for Russia when a Democrat is president," Sergei told me. I asked whether they liked George W. Bush better, and both of them puckered again.
" So, which American president did you like, then?" I asked. "Assuming there were any."
"Ronald Reagan," they both said, to my amazement. The "Mr, Gorbachev, tear down this wall" president, the man who took credit for destroying the USSR - this is who they liked? "He stood for something," said Sergei. "He said what he believed. He wasn't sneaky."
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Experimental Blog # 209
Quotations and notes from "Neanderthal Man" - In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Paabo
"Since the nucleus has two copies of the genome - it contains about 6.4 billion nucleotide pairs. By comparison, the mitochondrial DNA is tiny, with a little over 16, 500 nucleotide pairs ..."
"We compared the Neanderthal mtDNA with that of 510 Europeans < > 478 Africans < > 494 Asians. The average number of differences from the mtDNAs of these people was also twenty-eight."
" ... the Neanderthal mtDNA did not trace back to this Mitochondrial Eve but went further back before it shared an ancestor with the mtDNAs of humans alive today."
".. the ancestor that the Neanderthal mtDNA shared with human mtDNAs lived about 500,000 years ago .."
The author describes at great length the constantly changing and improving methods and amazing machines that were used in these genetic researches; so that tasks that once required weeks or even months to accomplish could be done in one day or over night.
" .. some paleontologists claimed that they saw Neanderthal traits in the skeletons of early modern people in Europe."
"And eventually the Neanderthal DNA would spread throughout the population so everyone would have some proportion of it. < > it would not become further diluted but remain indefinitely in the population. Also, if mixing did happen, it likely didn't occur only once."
"We had 1.2 million nucleotides of Neanderthal DNA determined from Vindija < > about 400,000 < > from Neander Valley < > 300,000 < > from El Sidron ..."
"Nevertheless, the ancestors of people today and the ancestors of Neanderthals probably went their separate ways at least 300,000 years ago."
"Whenever an African and a non-African were compared, the Neanderthal matched the non-African at around 2 percent more SNPs than did the African. There did indeed seem to be a small but clearly discernible genetic contribution from Neanderthals to people outside Africa, no matter where they lived."
" ... about 2 percent of the DNA of people even in China comes from Neanderthals."
" ...a different analysis < > asked how far Europeans and Asians are toward being 100 percent Neanderthals. The answer varied between 1.3 and 2.7 percent."
"The dirty little secret of genomics is that we still know next to nothing about how a genome translates into the particularities of a living and breathing individual. < > I realized that we would not be able to directly identify the genetic underpinnings of the differences between Neanderthals and modern humans."
"Since the nucleus has two copies of the genome - it contains about 6.4 billion nucleotide pairs. By comparison, the mitochondrial DNA is tiny, with a little over 16, 500 nucleotide pairs ..."
"We compared the Neanderthal mtDNA with that of 510 Europeans < > 478 Africans < > 494 Asians. The average number of differences from the mtDNAs of these people was also twenty-eight."
" ... the Neanderthal mtDNA did not trace back to this Mitochondrial Eve but went further back before it shared an ancestor with the mtDNAs of humans alive today."
".. the ancestor that the Neanderthal mtDNA shared with human mtDNAs lived about 500,000 years ago .."
The author describes at great length the constantly changing and improving methods and amazing machines that were used in these genetic researches; so that tasks that once required weeks or even months to accomplish could be done in one day or over night.
" .. some paleontologists claimed that they saw Neanderthal traits in the skeletons of early modern people in Europe."
"And eventually the Neanderthal DNA would spread throughout the population so everyone would have some proportion of it. < > it would not become further diluted but remain indefinitely in the population. Also, if mixing did happen, it likely didn't occur only once."
"We had 1.2 million nucleotides of Neanderthal DNA determined from Vindija < > about 400,000 < > from Neander Valley < > 300,000 < > from El Sidron ..."
"Nevertheless, the ancestors of people today and the ancestors of Neanderthals probably went their separate ways at least 300,000 years ago."
"Whenever an African and a non-African were compared, the Neanderthal matched the non-African at around 2 percent more SNPs than did the African. There did indeed seem to be a small but clearly discernible genetic contribution from Neanderthals to people outside Africa, no matter where they lived."
" ... about 2 percent of the DNA of people even in China comes from Neanderthals."
" ...a different analysis < > asked how far Europeans and Asians are toward being 100 percent Neanderthals. The answer varied between 1.3 and 2.7 percent."
"The dirty little secret of genomics is that we still know next to nothing about how a genome translates into the particularities of a living and breathing individual. < > I realized that we would not be able to directly identify the genetic underpinnings of the differences between Neanderthals and modern humans."
Monday, January 30, 2017
Experimental Blog # 208
Comments and notes on "Love, or the Bond of Generations" - Stories about the Most Important by 15 authors.
This collection of 17 stories by 15 authors, 13 women and 2 men, ranges in length from about 3 pages to 38 pages. All the stories seem to be very recent; perhaps written in 2015.
In her story "One-eyed Zinka" Masha Traub writes about Zinaida Afanasyeva who, she says, "Simply had lived a very long time in this world and very well knew human nature - weak, cowardly, sinful and vain. Time passed, but people did not change."
The story by Dina Rubina, "Adam and Miriam", is told by a woman in Jerusalem. It is a story that begins with her survival as a young girl in western Russia during World War II. Because of its subject, it is the most difficult story to read in this book.
Larisa Wright's story is about an "Iron Character"; a female doctor who says that one of her patients died on the operating table because of her own fault. The author says to her, "They say that every doctor has their own graveyard." She is referring to such accidents.
Altogether these 17 stories give a very strong impression of Russia today, or at least Moscow, and how they have lived through so much since Stalinist times.
This collection of 17 stories by 15 authors, 13 women and 2 men, ranges in length from about 3 pages to 38 pages. All the stories seem to be very recent; perhaps written in 2015.
In her story "One-eyed Zinka" Masha Traub writes about Zinaida Afanasyeva who, she says, "Simply had lived a very long time in this world and very well knew human nature - weak, cowardly, sinful and vain. Time passed, but people did not change."
The story by Dina Rubina, "Adam and Miriam", is told by a woman in Jerusalem. It is a story that begins with her survival as a young girl in western Russia during World War II. Because of its subject, it is the most difficult story to read in this book.
Larisa Wright's story is about an "Iron Character"; a female doctor who says that one of her patients died on the operating table because of her own fault. The author says to her, "They say that every doctor has their own graveyard." She is referring to such accidents.
Altogether these 17 stories give a very strong impression of Russia today, or at least Moscow, and how they have lived through so much since Stalinist times.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Experimental Blog # 207
Notes on "The Story of the World in 100 Species" by Christopher Lloyd
Although Christopher Lloyd is not a scientist himself, he certainly seems to be an excellent science writer most of the time. Besides that, the copyright date of this book is 2009; and the sciences covered in this book are very often being updated.
"The central purpose of this book is to cultivate a richer understanding of all history - not just as chronology - but as seen through the lens of the natural world itself."
"It is ironic, though, to consider that were it not for the successful pursuit of immortality, perhaps begun by viruses at the dawn of life billions of years ago, human history may never have emerged at all."
The original natural world that was formed by "natural selection" began to come to its end, maybe, about 10,000 years ago. Especially, in recent centuries, "natural selection" has been increasingly replaced by the "artificial selection" of the interference of homo sapiens, that is, people. This interference had been true for a long time even before the life and work of Charles Darwin.
"Today, pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world. More than a hundred million tonnes of pig meat is farmed, mostly in intensive warehouses ..."
"By 1830 there were over two million sheep in Australia. Today the continent hosts more than a hundred million, second only to China's 160 million. New Zealand has a more modest 40 million but, < > that represents a staggering ten sheep per person. In the UK the ratio currently stands at about two people per sheep."
"The success of cows is reflected in their present populations. Estimated at 1.3 billion individuals, these are the most well kept, highly bred, populous domestic farm species of all time."
"Today there are an estimated twenty-four billion chickens worldwide."
"Horses are, in fact, among the most sensitive creatures on Earth. < > The upshot is that today horses are another of the modern world's most numerous species. China has an estimated eight million, Mexico 6.2 million, Brazil 5.9 million and the US 5.3 million."
"Camel-herders still survive, however, especially in Somalia and Ethiopia, which between them host as many as half of the world's fourteen million population. While two-humped varieties are in decline{1.4 million}, in Australia wild populations of one-humped camels < > are thought to number as many as 700,000 in the central outback. With their populations growing at an impressive rate of 11 per cent per year, it seems that, like pigs, these are creatures that can readily re-adapt to life in the wild."
"The impact of domestic dogs on human culture therefore reaches far beyond their wide-ranging usefulness to mankind. From the rise of the movement for animal rights to the dark experiments of modern eugenics, these are creatures that have been, like horses, true protagonists in the turbulent history of human civilizations."
" ...domestic cats have recently eclipsed even dogs in terms of their populations, now estimated at 600 million individuals worldwide. < > Unlike other domesticated farm animals, cats do not seem to have been 'selected' by humans for any specific purpose. In fact, cats are just as likely to have chosen to live with humans in a process known as 'self-domestication'."
Obviously, since the book is about "100 species", many other life forms of mammals, invertebrates, non-flowering plants, bacteria, fish, fungus, virus, flowering plants, protoctists, reptiles, and birds are included.
Although Christopher Lloyd is not a scientist himself, he certainly seems to be an excellent science writer most of the time. Besides that, the copyright date of this book is 2009; and the sciences covered in this book are very often being updated.
"The central purpose of this book is to cultivate a richer understanding of all history - not just as chronology - but as seen through the lens of the natural world itself."
"It is ironic, though, to consider that were it not for the successful pursuit of immortality, perhaps begun by viruses at the dawn of life billions of years ago, human history may never have emerged at all."
The original natural world that was formed by "natural selection" began to come to its end, maybe, about 10,000 years ago. Especially, in recent centuries, "natural selection" has been increasingly replaced by the "artificial selection" of the interference of homo sapiens, that is, people. This interference had been true for a long time even before the life and work of Charles Darwin.
"Today, pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world. More than a hundred million tonnes of pig meat is farmed, mostly in intensive warehouses ..."
"By 1830 there were over two million sheep in Australia. Today the continent hosts more than a hundred million, second only to China's 160 million. New Zealand has a more modest 40 million but, < > that represents a staggering ten sheep per person. In the UK the ratio currently stands at about two people per sheep."
"The success of cows is reflected in their present populations. Estimated at 1.3 billion individuals, these are the most well kept, highly bred, populous domestic farm species of all time."
"Today there are an estimated twenty-four billion chickens worldwide."
"Horses are, in fact, among the most sensitive creatures on Earth. < > The upshot is that today horses are another of the modern world's most numerous species. China has an estimated eight million, Mexico 6.2 million, Brazil 5.9 million and the US 5.3 million."
"Camel-herders still survive, however, especially in Somalia and Ethiopia, which between them host as many as half of the world's fourteen million population. While two-humped varieties are in decline{1.4 million}, in Australia wild populations of one-humped camels < > are thought to number as many as 700,000 in the central outback. With their populations growing at an impressive rate of 11 per cent per year, it seems that, like pigs, these are creatures that can readily re-adapt to life in the wild."
"The impact of domestic dogs on human culture therefore reaches far beyond their wide-ranging usefulness to mankind. From the rise of the movement for animal rights to the dark experiments of modern eugenics, these are creatures that have been, like horses, true protagonists in the turbulent history of human civilizations."
" ...domestic cats have recently eclipsed even dogs in terms of their populations, now estimated at 600 million individuals worldwide. < > Unlike other domesticated farm animals, cats do not seem to have been 'selected' by humans for any specific purpose. In fact, cats are just as likely to have chosen to live with humans in a process known as 'self-domestication'."
Obviously, since the book is about "100 species", many other life forms of mammals, invertebrates, non-flowering plants, bacteria, fish, fungus, virus, flowering plants, protoctists, reptiles, and birds are included.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Experimental Blog # 206
Notes and comments on "People of the World" - Cultures and Traditions, Ancestry and Identity by Catherine Herbert Howell with K. David Harrison
"Currently, 7.3 billion of us live on Earth. < > We belong to more than 10,000 distinct ethnic groups and speak some 7,100 documented languages."
"This book describes in detail some 220 ethnic groups arranged and sequenced to reflect the migration of modern humans out of Africa, through time and into the world's regions."
There are 7 regional divisions:
# 1 is Sub-Saharan Africa with 27 ethnic groups: from the Hadza, with fewer than 1000 people to the Yoruba, with about 38 million people.
# 2 is North Africa and the Middle East with 12 ethnic groups: from the Nubians, with about 605,000 people to the Arabs, at about 377 million people.
# 3 is Asia with 42 ethnic groups: from the Yukaghir, at about 1,600 people to the Han, at 1.2 billion people. For some reason, although the Armenians, at 5.9 million people, and the Azeris{in Azerbaijan}, at 8.8 million people, are described; the people of neighboring Georgia are not.
# 4 is Oceania with 30 ethnic groups: from the Wurundjeri, at about 60 people to the Australians, at about 22.5 million people. "Today, 22.7 million Australians, of whom only 2 percent are Aboriginals, live in an area the size of the contiguous United States, making Australia the least densely populated country in the world."
# 5 is Europe with 37 ethnic groups: from the Faroese, at about 66,000 people to the Russians, at about 166 million people. For some reason, although the Lithuanians, at 2.3 million people and the Finns, at about 5.1 million people, are described; the people of Latvia and Estonia are not.
# 6 is North America with 30 ethnic groups: from the Havasupai, at about 1000 people to the Americans, at about 321 million people. "Today, Native Americans, also called American Indians, make up only 1.2 percent of the population."
# 7 is Central and South America with 42 ethnic groups: from the Amahuaca, the Kuikur, and the Tapirape', all at about 500 people each; to the Brazilians, at about 204 million people. Although the Euro-Caribbeans, at about 12 million people located in the Caribbean island nations and within the Germanic language family are described; as well as the Argentines, at about 43 million people, and the Chileans, at about 17.5 million people; no other European Latin Americans seem to be described in this National Geographic book.
There are, at least, 8 Native American groups who are described and whose populations total somewhat less than 7 million people, and they are located in Mexico; but the population of Mexico is over 122 million people. Also, the populations of the Dominican Republic and Cuba together total close to 22 million people.
"Currently, 7.3 billion of us live on Earth. < > We belong to more than 10,000 distinct ethnic groups and speak some 7,100 documented languages."
"This book describes in detail some 220 ethnic groups arranged and sequenced to reflect the migration of modern humans out of Africa, through time and into the world's regions."
There are 7 regional divisions:
# 1 is Sub-Saharan Africa with 27 ethnic groups: from the Hadza, with fewer than 1000 people to the Yoruba, with about 38 million people.
# 2 is North Africa and the Middle East with 12 ethnic groups: from the Nubians, with about 605,000 people to the Arabs, at about 377 million people.
# 3 is Asia with 42 ethnic groups: from the Yukaghir, at about 1,600 people to the Han, at 1.2 billion people. For some reason, although the Armenians, at 5.9 million people, and the Azeris{in Azerbaijan}, at 8.8 million people, are described; the people of neighboring Georgia are not.
# 4 is Oceania with 30 ethnic groups: from the Wurundjeri, at about 60 people to the Australians, at about 22.5 million people. "Today, 22.7 million Australians, of whom only 2 percent are Aboriginals, live in an area the size of the contiguous United States, making Australia the least densely populated country in the world."
# 5 is Europe with 37 ethnic groups: from the Faroese, at about 66,000 people to the Russians, at about 166 million people. For some reason, although the Lithuanians, at 2.3 million people and the Finns, at about 5.1 million people, are described; the people of Latvia and Estonia are not.
# 6 is North America with 30 ethnic groups: from the Havasupai, at about 1000 people to the Americans, at about 321 million people. "Today, Native Americans, also called American Indians, make up only 1.2 percent of the population."
# 7 is Central and South America with 42 ethnic groups: from the Amahuaca, the Kuikur, and the Tapirape', all at about 500 people each; to the Brazilians, at about 204 million people. Although the Euro-Caribbeans, at about 12 million people located in the Caribbean island nations and within the Germanic language family are described; as well as the Argentines, at about 43 million people, and the Chileans, at about 17.5 million people; no other European Latin Americans seem to be described in this National Geographic book.
There are, at least, 8 Native American groups who are described and whose populations total somewhat less than 7 million people, and they are located in Mexico; but the population of Mexico is over 122 million people. Also, the populations of the Dominican Republic and Cuba together total close to 22 million people.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Experimental Blog # 205
Quotations from and comments on "East of the Oder - A German Childhood under the Nazis and Soviets" by Luise Urban
From the publisher's introduction: "Stalin, Churchill, and Truman - also agreed to the expulsion of the German population beyond the new eastern borders. This meant that almost all of the native German population was killed, fled or was driven out."
"This is the story of my childhood. Sadly, it is not suitable to be read by children."
The author's amazing memory begins with pleasant descriptions from as early as 16 and 18 months of age! Luise Urban was born in October of 1933.
The title to chapter 7 is "Raus! Uhodi! , which probably means "Get out now! in Russian.
"One night a soldier shot another young mother < > She had a little boy. The next morning < > I saw the little boy crawl out of the front door < > At that moment I < > decided that I would take that soldier's life, he was too much of a danger to all of us. < > I recognized the soldier who had shot the toddler's mother, he was actually called Ivan. He was known to all of us as a brutal bully and greatly feared. I got Bubi{another little boy} to somehow get Ivan into the barn that day < > There I was waiting, hidden by bales of straw. There was no shortage of weapons of all kinds. < > When Ivan entered I shot him."!!
"I was in a group of people that were sprayed with bullets, as was routine in those days, < > But I got away. < > I turned round and saw a soldier coming towards me. < > Perhaps no more than four steps away. I had a weapon in my hands. < > I pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the figure's right hand. < > The figure stopped moving. < > I allowed the face to come as close to me as was safe. < > I pulled the trigger for a second time."!!
So Luise Urban describes how she shot and killed 2 Soviet soldiers when she was only eleven years old!!
"Someone had to bury the mountains of dead. Their bodies had been lying along the roads < > and as days and weeks went by, more and more were added. < > And that is how I ended up on a lorry together with lots of other children - most even younger than me .."
"Dealing with rotten bodies is not an easy matter. < > You dig a hole or a depression in the ground close to the body and then, using your spade, you fearfully scrape or lever it into the hollow you have made, then hastily cover it and move on to the next."
"I was not surprised when I met up again with the 400 or so German POWs I had seen marching towards Soldin not so long ago. They had all been shot before they had reached Soldin. Mere children themselves. It was a long job, my group worked for two days in that area. The 400 were not the only ones that needed burying."
"The indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population was official British war policy as formulated and carried out by Winston Churchill. < > To make this policy acceptable to the British public it was sometimes rephrased as 'de-housing the German population'. A neutral observer might describe it as 'the burning alive of tens of thousands of children'."
"It took Hitler several years to murder 6 million innocent Jews and only a few Nazis were hanged for this crime. No one was punished for the crime that was planned and carried out in the East of Germany and Poland. It took the victorious leaders a mere five months between January and May 1945 to murder millions of equally innocent Germans and Poles"
This is only a small sample of the horrifying experiences that this amazing 11 year old girl went through in 1945 and after.
From the publisher's introduction: "Stalin, Churchill, and Truman - also agreed to the expulsion of the German population beyond the new eastern borders. This meant that almost all of the native German population was killed, fled or was driven out."
"This is the story of my childhood. Sadly, it is not suitable to be read by children."
The author's amazing memory begins with pleasant descriptions from as early as 16 and 18 months of age! Luise Urban was born in October of 1933.
The title to chapter 7 is "Raus! Uhodi! , which probably means "Get out now! in Russian.
"One night a soldier shot another young mother < > She had a little boy. The next morning < > I saw the little boy crawl out of the front door < > At that moment I < > decided that I would take that soldier's life, he was too much of a danger to all of us. < > I recognized the soldier who had shot the toddler's mother, he was actually called Ivan. He was known to all of us as a brutal bully and greatly feared. I got Bubi{another little boy} to somehow get Ivan into the barn that day < > There I was waiting, hidden by bales of straw. There was no shortage of weapons of all kinds. < > When Ivan entered I shot him."!!
"I was in a group of people that were sprayed with bullets, as was routine in those days, < > But I got away. < > I turned round and saw a soldier coming towards me. < > Perhaps no more than four steps away. I had a weapon in my hands. < > I pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the figure's right hand. < > The figure stopped moving. < > I allowed the face to come as close to me as was safe. < > I pulled the trigger for a second time."!!
So Luise Urban describes how she shot and killed 2 Soviet soldiers when she was only eleven years old!!
"Someone had to bury the mountains of dead. Their bodies had been lying along the roads < > and as days and weeks went by, more and more were added. < > And that is how I ended up on a lorry together with lots of other children - most even younger than me .."
"Dealing with rotten bodies is not an easy matter. < > You dig a hole or a depression in the ground close to the body and then, using your spade, you fearfully scrape or lever it into the hollow you have made, then hastily cover it and move on to the next."
"I was not surprised when I met up again with the 400 or so German POWs I had seen marching towards Soldin not so long ago. They had all been shot before they had reached Soldin. Mere children themselves. It was a long job, my group worked for two days in that area. The 400 were not the only ones that needed burying."
"The indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population was official British war policy as formulated and carried out by Winston Churchill. < > To make this policy acceptable to the British public it was sometimes rephrased as 'de-housing the German population'. A neutral observer might describe it as 'the burning alive of tens of thousands of children'."
"It took Hitler several years to murder 6 million innocent Jews and only a few Nazis were hanged for this crime. No one was punished for the crime that was planned and carried out in the East of Germany and Poland. It took the victorious leaders a mere five months between January and May 1945 to murder millions of equally innocent Germans and Poles"
This is only a small sample of the horrifying experiences that this amazing 11 year old girl went through in 1945 and after.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)