Three Horses

Unlike Alex Colville's Horse and Train (1954) or Church and Horse (1964), which evoke a sense of urgency and unease, Three Horses (1946), evokes a feeling of peace and tranquility.  Three horses, one brown, one rust-coloured and one grey, gather in a field of hay.  A barn sits in the background.  White clouds fill the sky.  It seems like all is well with the world.

Three Horses comes on the tail end of the Second World War.  Perhaps Alex Colville, after coming off the battlefield where he sketched scenes of horror and devastation, is content to just sit in a farmer's field and sketch horses.  He surrounded himself with animals all of his life, a source of companionship.  "Colville viewed animals as essentially innocent -- incapable of malice unless conditioned so by humans." (http://www.welcometocolville.ca/animals)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/article20171195.ece/BINARY/w940/image.jpg

The River Thames

Alex Colville's The River Thames, circa 1974, features a woman in a fur trimmed coat and umbrella gazing over the bridge at the River Thames.  The scene, with the calm water, the buildings reflected in its surface, is utterly tranquil.  It does not betray the river's past or future.

The River Thames has been at the centre of much of London's history.  It was in 1858 that pedestrians crossed over its waters, handkerchiefs over their noses, to block out The Great Stink, the sewage emanating from the river's depths.  Workers at the House of Commons, on the banks of the Thames, soaked the curtains in lime.  Londoners who imbibed the drinking water were dropping dead due to cholera, a water borne disease.  The problem was not resolved until Joseph Bazalgette introduced his sewer system in 1866.

It was in 1940 that pedestrians standing on the London Bridge over the Thames watched the sky light up as Hitlers bombs reigned down on the city.  While many Brits retreated to the Underground to seek refuge from the Blitz, 43,000 civilians still perished, about half of which were Londoners.  The River Thames' docks in the East End were a common target for the Luftwaffe.  While bombs peppered the city during a 57-consecutive night Blitz, the London Bridge remained intact, almost personifying Britain's fierce leader, who proclaimed:  "We shall never surrender!"

In 1945, the smoke cleared and London returned to peacetime.  However, the city lived for many years in the shadow of the Second World War.  It was a long time before tourists once again strolled across the London Bridge and watched as Londoners slowly rebuilt their city.  By the time the city was back on its feet in 1965, its fearless leader was laid to rest amid much pomp and circumstance. The 1960's also saw a rise in immigration and London, more than ever before, became a multicultural centre.

London's peacetime was not shattered until 2005 when terrorists targetted London's Underground, killing 56 people and injuring almost 800.  The date was referred to as 7/7 in the wake of 9/11.  Earlier this year, the London Bridge became the location for another terrorist attack when a vehicle ran over many pedestrians.  This past weekend, Londoners once again heard gunshots and bomb blasts as terrorists laid siege to London Bridge and Borough Market.

It seems fitting, today, that I blog about Alex Colville's 1974 painting The River Thames which hearkens back to a more innocent time.  I pray for peace for London.

https://www.pinterest.com/jantanton/alex-colville/?lp=true

Apostolos Santas & Manolis Glezos: Greek Folk Heroes Who Tore Down Swastika

The Nazis raise the Swastika over the Acropolis in Athens, Greece courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolos_Santas.

More than any other building, the Parthenon defines Greece.  As a child, I remember doing a project about the Parthenon, one of a number of ancient buildings in the Acropolis on a hill overlooking Athens, Greece.    Acropolis comes from akron, meaning highest point and polis, meaning city.  The building is no stranger to warfare as it was damaged during the 1687 siege by the Venetians when gunpowder stored inside was hit by a cannonball.

It is no surprise that on April 27, 1941, the Nazis claimed the city of Athens by planting their flag on the Parthenon.  Little did they know that only a month later, two university students, Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas, would climb the Parthenon in the dead of night, tear down the Swastika and replace it with the Greek flag.  It became known as one of the first acts of Greek resistance and the two became folk heroes.

Apostolos Santas, left, and Manolis Glezos, right, courtesy https://hellasforce.com/2015/05/30/.

Glezos and Santas, both teenagers at the time, discovered from a library book that the north side of the Acropolis contained a natural cave leading from the base to the top.  Used as a secret passage way in ancietn times, the duo figured that they could climb it undetected.  With only a flashlight and a pocketknife, the two teens sneaked into the cave in the dark of night.  They were disappointed to discover at the exit to the cave that the flagpole was 50 feet high.  It took them three hours to scale the flagpole.  Thrilled, they tore off the Swastika, took some swatches for souvenirs, and threw it to the ground.  They replaced it with the blue and white Greek flag.  Sentenced to death in absentia by the occupying Nazis, the two went into hiding.  Their mothers burned the Swastika swatches as well as diaries explaining their exploits.  The Nazis, however, did not know their identity at the time.

Greek guerillas during WWII courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_People's_Liberation_Army.

 

The mountainous country of Greece was long known for its guerilla warfare.  Santas joined one such force, ELAS, in 1943, participating in several battles against the Axis.  While Santas survived the war, because of his Communist leanings, he was again imprisoned under sentence of death in 1948. He escaped from the Makronisos Island prison, however, to Italy where he sought and received political asylum in Canada.  In 1962 he returned to Greece and to more turmoil.  He passed away in his homeland in 2011.

Glezos worked for both the Hellenic Red Cross and the Greek Resistance.  In March of 1942, he was arrested by the Nazis, imprisoned and tortured, contracting tuberculosis as a result of his mistreatment.  Freed, he was arrested again by the Italian occupying forces in 1943.  The Greek collaborators arrested him a third time in 1944; he escaped in September of that year.  The end of the Second World War did not signal the end of Glezos' persecution.  Greece erupted in a Civil War and with his Communist leanings, Glezos was imprisoned yet again.  In total he would spend 11 years in prison and 4 years in exile.  With the restoration of democracy in Greece n 1974 Glezos was elected a member of the Greek Parliament.  He continues his political protest activity to this day, arrested as recently as 2012 by riot police.

Manolis Glezos Communist stamp, with the Acropolis in the background, courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manolis_Glezos.

Jorgen Kieler: Danish Resistance Fighter & Underground Newspaper Publisher

Danish underground newspaper courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/409053578636788304/.

Danish physician Jorgen Kieler, along with his sister Elsebet Kieler, published the Frit Danmark or Free Denmark, an illegal newspaper circulated amongst the resistance in the Second World War.
While the Danes retained their radios, they still relied heavily on the news published in Frit Danmark, one of 600 different underground papers.  At its height, the Danish Resistance included 45,000 members.

Kieler helped dozens of Danish Jews avoid extermination by the Nazis.  In the Fall of 1943, rumour had it that the Gestapo was going to round up all of Denmark's Jews.  Kieler worked with the Resistance to co-ordinate the escape of Danish Jews.  In the dark of night, they met at the docks where they boarded fishing boats, cargo boats and any available, seaworthy vessels to cross the water to neutral Sweden.

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The Danish Resistance sabotaging the Nazis courtesy 

http://civilngo.com/en/danishresistance-movementagainst-nazi-occupiers/.

Ordinary citizens like Kieler played a vital role in the escape.  There were obstacles to surmount, however.  First of all, to secure a place on an evacuation vessel could cost as much as $9,000 a head in today's dollars.  Second of all, the Gestapo became suspicious of activity around the harbours; eighty Jews were arrested in one escape attempt.  Therefore, the fleeing Jews had to be hidden while the preparations took place:  some were "admitted" to hospitals under false names; others took cover in churches; still others hid in holiday homes by the sea.  The crossing was rough.  Pregnant women found it particularly difficult.  The man in charge of one boat knew nothing about navigation.  When the passengers reached land, they realized they were right back where they started at the Danish docks.  All told, at least 7,500 Jews made it to safety in Sweden.

Jorgen Kieler was captured in 1944 and sent to a concentration camp where he remained for the duration of the war.  Upon liberation, he continued his medical studies in the United States.  He took on the fight against cancer just as passionately as the one against the Nazis.  In 1980, he became the director of the Danish Cancer Research Institute, tackling the disease just as passionately as he tackled the Nazis.  Kieler wrote books about both the German occupation and concentration camp syndrome.

Note:  Read Resistance Fighter:  A Personal History of the Danish Resistance Movement, 1940-1945 by Jorgen Kieler.

Danish Jews escape in the dead of night to Sweden courtesy 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/denmark-saved-jews-nazis/story?id=20750027.

Lulu the Belgian Teen Who Defied the Gestapo

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos/2007/67/18038284_117346707283.jpg

Lucie Vanosmael's father lost an arm in the First World War.  When the Second World War broke out, Lucie was determined to avenge what had happened to her father.  Code named Lulu, Lucie joined the Belgian Resistance in 1940 at the tender age of 15, forging papers to make her appear old enough to fight. She spied on Nazi troops and ammunition dumps.  By the age of 17, Lulu was destroying bridges, ambushing troops and repatriating airmen.  Lulu also helped blow up Schaerbeek railway station in Brussels, packed with German soldiers.

Towards the end of the Second World War, Lulu was caught and turned over to the Gestapo.  She underwent intense torture including being immersed in water, deprived of food for days, and having all of her nails torn off.  However, she refused to divulge any information.  On three occasions, she was tied to a stake and threatened with being executed.  However, a German officer intervened and sent her to Germany as a labourer at a munitions factory.  She tried to escape and ended up being shot in the arm.  Eventually, she did escape and made it to Holland on foot, eating raw eggs and vegetables stolen from farms on the journey.  Upon the liberation of Belgium, she climbed on an Allied tank and directed the troops to their rendezvous.

After the war, Lucie was recruited by her former commander to locate collaborators, compile dossiers on them and testify against them at the Palais de Justice.  Lucie married twice and had three children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  She passed away in 2007 at the age of 82.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/1a/eb/7d/1aeb7d32e6a2f32f01ca556811844319.jpg

I Took the Picture, The Marines Took Iwo Jima

"In honor and in memory of the men of the U.S. Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775."

http://xn----7sblzbpcg.xn--p1ai/iwo-jima-memorial-pictures.php

Across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. in Arlington Ridge Park is the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial.  It consists of six men, five Marines and one Navy corpsman, raising the flag on Iwo Jima during the Second World War.  Sculpted by Felix de Weldon, it is based on a famous photograph that ended up on the front page of almost every American newspaper.  Capturing Iwo Jima helped America win the war. Capturing the photograph helped Joe Rosenthal win the Pulitzer Prize.

It was February 23, 1945.  America had been at war for over three years, the world for almost five.  American troops had island hopped across the Pacific in their battle against Japan.  Iwo Jima was the last big territory to conquer.  But it would come at a high price.  Out of the 70,000 Marines who invaded the island, almost 7,000 suffered casualties.  Japan had an even higher casualty rate at 23,000.

The Marines were determined to capture the island and what better way to do that than to take its highest peak, Mount Suribachi.  The Americans fought well that day and a few Marines mounted a small flag on top of the mountain.

Mount Suribachi circa February 1945 courtesy https://bluejacket.com/ww2_images.html.

Down below, photographer Joe Rosenthal heard about the flag planting.  Louis Lowery had already taken a shot of the flag, but Joe thought it was still worth investigating.  He set out to climb the 550-foot volcano, sidestepping mines as he ascended.  Half an hour later he reached the peak.  But he did not find what he expected.  Six servicemen were planting an even bigger Stars and Stripes to replace the smaller one.  At 5 foot 5 inches tall, Joe could not see much.  So he hastily made a pile of rocks and grabbed a sandbag.  He stood on top of the homemade pedestal and snapped the photograph.  Then he slowly made his way down the mountain, his Speed Graphic camera in hand.

Joe was surprised to see his photograph on the front page of almost every newspaper the next day.  The picture went a long way in building America's moral.  As author Hal Buell explained:  "It said victory more than it said anything."  

Joe Rosenthal poised with his camera on Iwo Jima courtesy
http://alchetron.com/Joe-Rosenthal-1369464-W.

Later that year, Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for his efforts.  However, he was reluctant to take the credit, saying:  "I took the picture, the Marines took Iwo Jima."  He would go on to work for the San Francisco Chronicle as a general assignment photographer for 35 years.  But his most famous photo remains the Iwo Jima image.  

Out of the six servicemen who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, three died in battle later in that campaign.  However, the surviving three went on to sell war bonds featuring the famous photograph.  Assets from the war bonds totalled 23.6 million dollars.

Advertisement for war bonds courtesy www.awesomestories.com.

Source:  www.washingtonpost.com

For more information:

1.  Read Hal Buell's book Uncommon Valor, Uncommon Virtue.

2.  Watch the movie "Flags of our Fathers" (Clint Eastwood).

Koenigsberg Burning

On the nights of August 26 and 27 and August 29 and 30, 1944, Elfriede Neumann sat in her Taplacken farmhouse and listened to the drone of the planes as the British dropped 480 tons of bombs on the nearby city of Koenigsberg, the beautiful capital of East Prussia, Germany.  Churchill had called Koenigsberg a "modernized heavily defended fortress" and targeted it for attack.  The initial raid resulted in minimal damage; however, the second raid inflicted sheer terror in the hearts of the Koenigsberg residents.  Only nine months had elapsed since the Neumann family had sat for their family portrait at a studio in the city, the last time that Elfriede saw her husband alive; now he was missing in action on the Eastern front and his home province was under siege.

The bombing destroyed all seven bridges in the city.  The university was obliterated.  Many churches were targetted inlcuding the centuries-old Koenigsberg Cathedral, on an island in the Pregel River, which took a direct hit.  One hundred Koenigsbergers, including many children, were hiding beneath the church's large spire and were killed instantly.  This was not just a regular bombing, but a fire bombing.  Thousands of civilians drowned themselves in the Pregel River, their clothes burning as they ran into its waters.  Even the magnificent King's Castle was bombed (see my post "The Amber Room") and damaged, although its frame remained intact.  Statues were smashed and landmarks demolished.  Ninety percent of the 700-year-old city was destroyed.  Koenigsberg burned for an entire week and smouldered for several more weeks.  People were forbidden to enter the city.    The British had sent 800 bombers to fly over the city and drop incendiary bombs, tracking a path from the North train station to the Main train station.  Almost all of the cultural buildings, like the university, cathedral, and castle, were hit by the raids.  One hundred and fifty thousand citizens were made homeless as a result of the bombings.

Elfriede's sister, Doris, saw it all happen from her parents' farm in Nautzwinkel, a village only a few kilometres from the East Prussian capital.  She was called in by the Red Cross to help the victims of the bombings.   The fire departments and air defence were rendered helpless.  A makeshift hospital set up at the outskirts of the city was where Doris and other volunteers tended the wounded.  In the centre of the city, even those who took cover in basements were incinerated due to the intense heat of the incendiary bombs, including napalm.  The bombing of Koenigsberg was like a prelude to the attack on Dresden six months later.  When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a charred ruins.  Incandescent traces of red and orange lingered above the city for days.  Koenigsberg, the bustling metropolis where Elfriede had once shopped with her family, now resembled a ghost town.

Dedicated to my husband Rob's Oma, Elfriede Neumann (1911-2007).



Portrait of Koenigsberg Castle courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org

Photo of Koenigsberg Castle ruins courtesy www.amberroom.org

The Siege of Leningrad: A Lost Diary, A Lost Treasure & A Lost (Almost) City

I always knew that the Siege of Leningrad was a long, drawn-out, horrific chapter in the life of Russians during the Second World War.  However, I did not comprehend the sheer size of the tragedy. It goes a long way to explain the hatred in the hearts of the Red Army when they sought revenge on the Germans in late 1944 and early 1945.  Here are ten facts, courtesy Wikipedia, that you may not know about the initial stage of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa.

The Siege of Leningrad courtesy http://andrewvanz.blogspot.ca/2013_05_01_archive.html.

1.  The Siege of Leningrad, also called the Leningrad Blockade, lasted an agonizing 872 days, from September of 1941 to January of 1944.

2.  A total of 414, 148 children and about 1 million adults (mainly women) were evacuated during the Siege to the Volga, Urals, Siberia and Kazakstan.

A Survivor of the Siege of Leningrad courtesy https://02varvara.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/they-endured-and-survived-the-children-of-the-siege-of-leningrad/.

3.  A total of 1.2 million civilians perished, many due to starvation, during the Siege.

4.  The Soviet Baltic Fleet made over 100,000 missions during the Blockade to save the city.

5.  Leningrad was isolated from the rest of the country until an ice road formed over Lake Ladoga, called the "Road of Life" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_of_Life

Lake Ladoga, the Road of Life, offers way of escape and transportation route for food for Leningradians courtesy http://www.dw.com/image/17378704_303.jpg,

6.  Hitler ordered that the Palaces of the Czar be looted and destroyed.  Russians had hastily wallpapered over the famous Amber Room in the St. Catharine Palace.  Discovered by the German Army, they disassembled it and brought it to Koenigsber Castle in East Prussia where it went missing in 1944 http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/07/amber-room.html.

7.  The economic destruction and loss of life at the Siege of Leningrad was greater than that of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

8.  The Diary of Leningradian Tanya Savicheva, found later in the war, describes the starvation of each of her family members https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Savicheva

Tanya Savicheva's Diary courtesy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanya_Savicheva_Diary.jpg.

9.  Deaths in Leningrad peaked in January and February of 1942 when temperatures dropped to -30 Celsius and food rations to 125 grams of bread per day, half of which was usually sawdust.

10.  Adolf Hitler was so convinced that the Wehrmacht would capture Leningrad that he sent out invitations for a celebration at the Russian city's Hotel Astoria.  However, the Red Army finally drove the Germans out in January of 1944.

Note:  Rob's great Uncle Artur, Oma's brother, who served with the German Army, froze to death at the Gates of Leningrad.

How Curious George Escaped the Nazis

It was a manuscript called "The Adventures of Fifi" based on the life of a little monkey.  Not even a world war would stop its publication.  It had a long journey to America:  a 133-kilometre bike ride, a long train ride, and two long boat rides.  But it made it in one piece and now is available for everyone to enjoy as Curious George.

Hans Augusto Reyersbach, born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, loved to draw.  He would sketch the animals at the zoo and the horses in the park.  He fought in World War I and returned to his hometown.  In the mid-1920's, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he donned a large yellow hat and sailed up and down the Amazon River, sketching and photographing monkeys and other wildlife.

Margarete Waldstein courtesy http://www.holocaustmuseumswfl.org/education/teachers/teachers-portal/elementary-school-ideas-curriculum/curious-george-escaped-holocaust/.

An acquaintance of Hans' named Margarete Waldstein also grew up in Hamburg.  She, too, dreamed of being an artist, attending Germany's famous Bauhaus School.  In 1935, she followed Hans to Rio de Janeiro where the two spent months sketching and photographing.  Later that year, they married.

In 1936, the young couple moved back to Europe, this time to Paris, France.  They were both Jewish and wanted to avoid Germany due to Hitler's anti-Semetic laws.  They set up a cozy home in an apartment at the Terrass Hotel.  The couple would sketch the fishermen on the River Seine, the booksellers on the quay and the animals at the zoo.

Hotel Terrass courtesy http://www.terrass-hotel.com/l-hotel/un-peu-d-histoire.

Paris is where the Reyersbach's started writing their children's books.  The late 1930's was a difficult time to get a book published:  typesetters had joined the army, paper was scarce and the laws were strict (propaganda).  Nevertheless, the artists-turned-authors managed to get an advance from a Paris Publisher for three manuscripts including "The Adventures of Fifi".

However, while their manuscript was being typed, World War II was brewing.  News spread quickly that the Nazis were "goosestepping" their way across France.  Paris filled with refugees from the north:  Belgian farm carts and horses passed Dutch cars with mattresses tied to the roofs; taxis, trucks and green city busses whizzed by the Reyersbach's window.  It was time for the couple to join the ranks of the two million refugees.

Family flees Paris circa 1940 courtesy http://cdn.theatlantic.com.

Hans made several trips to government agencies to get their passports in order.  THUMP!  THUMP!  He also tried to purchase train tickets out of the French capital but the trains were no longer running.  Hans purchased a tandem bicycle, but he and Margarete tried to pedal it on Paris' cobblestone streets but "sans succes".  He returned the bike, bought spare bicycle parts for 1600 francs, and assembled two separate bikes.  He also bought four large baskets, two to hold bread, cheese and meat, and two to hold clothes and their precious manuscripts.


Finally, the Reyersbach's were ready for their journey.  Under the drone of the German scout planes, they left the Terrass Hotel and pedalled through the streets of Paris, part of the largest motorized evacuation in history.  As rain pattered their bicycles, Hans was relieved that their manuscript was clean and dry under his winter coat inside one of the baskets.  The first day, they rode 48 kilometres.  A gracious farmer's wife offered them shelter in her house on that first night.  On the second day, they rode 26 kilometres and were offered a spot to rest their weary limbs in a farmer's stable.  On the third day, they pedalled 32 kilometres.  They reached Etampes, France not a moment too soon for it was bombed only two days later.

The map outlining the Reyersbach's flight from Nazi-occupied France courtesy https://www.amazon.com/Journey-That-Saved-Curious-George/dp/0547417462.

At Orleans, they boarded a train with their bicycles which steamed south to Bayonne as they stretched their weary limbs.  They disembarked at Bayonne and remounted their bikes bound for Hendaye.  There, they caught a second train, this one headed through Spain to Portugal.  Hans sold their "bicyclettes" for 650 francs at the train station, money that would come in handy soon.

At Lisbon, they bought tickets for a trans-Atlantic passage to South America.  One official thought Hans might be a spy, given his attire and his briefcase.  However, all was well once he opened the case and revealed his "livre pour les enfants".  The Reyersbach's boarded a ship named "Angola" which safely took them across the Atlantic to Brazil.  They waited two months for their papers to be in order.  THUMP!  THUMP!

Finally, in October of 1940, four months after they pedalled out of wartime Paris, they sailed into peacetime New York, with the Statue of Liberty in full view.  Only a year later, the former Fifi landed on American bookshelves as Curious George.  And the Reyersbach's became the Rey's.  What a journey for the little monkey and the man with the yellow hat!

Original cover courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

Source:  The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise Borden.

Polish Immigrant Clara Rudder

"If you hate, you lose yourself.  There's nothing left in this world after hate.  I can't hate.  I have never been taught to hate.  Even after pogroms, after all that happened in our town, my father tried to explain...I was ten years old.  I asked the question:  Why?  There was no answer to it  There still isn't." (Clara Rudder)

Demonstration of Polish students demanding implementation of ghetto benches at Lwow Polytechnic circa 1937 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland.

Clara Rudder grew up in a devout Jewish family in the Carpathia Mountains in Poland.  Her father owned a store which sold pots and pans.  Her mother raised her and her siblings along with a niece.  The Rudders hailed from Spain where they had lived for four hundred years.  The Polish king encouraged Jews to come to his country in order to build commerce.  

On the Sabbath, someone came to the Rudder's house to warn them that their town was about to undergo a pogrom.  Clara's father warned the congregation at their synagogue to escape, taking their silver menorahs with them.  The Rudder's fled to a Gentile's house where he hid them in his barn. When they returned the following day, all the doors had been broken, all the windows shattered and sacs of flour, which were too heavy to carry, were doused with petrol.  

The only structure left untouched was the Rudder's store, perhaps because Mr. Rudder was such an honest businessman, or perhaps simply because the invaders didn't need any pots and pans.  Mrs. Rudder took the biggest pot they owned and made meals for the community.  Little Clara said they did not sleep for four weeks.

Yet, when Clara returned to school, the children shouted at her:  "Get out of here!"  Vowing never to raise her own children in Poland, Clara planned that day to immigrate when she grew up.  At 20, she suggested Palestine as a destination to her mom, to which she replied:  "You're going to split rocks in Palestine.  I did not bring up a child of mine to go and split rocks."

Clara's brother and sister moved to Antwerp, Belgium and she suggested that she immigrate there.  She encouraged her parents to join her, but they felt like having been born and raised in rural Poland, that's where they should stay.  Clara dated a young Jewish man who studied in Prague, Czechoslovakia.  Only three percent of Jewish Poles were accepted at university, forcing the remainder to study elsewhere.  After Clara and her boyfriend got engaged, she invited him to join her in Belgium and he agreed to continued his studies there.  However, her fiance, rejected at the Brussels university chose to return to Poland rather than immigrate.  Clara returned the ring to him.

After moving to Belgium, Clara met a diamond dealer named Paul.  They married and had a son.  In the meantime, Hitler's panzers started rolling over Europe, forcing the couple to move to France.  When the Nazis reached France, the couple was driven back to Belgium.  Clara was more determined than every to get out of Nazi occupied Europe.  

In 1940, a Paraguay attache offered to drive the couple across France to Spain and then Portugal.  Clara's sister, who had taken the trip first, wrote her a letter:  'Everything is fine, we are across the border.  Take two valises and come..."  Closing up their apartment, the couple took some diamonds and $12,000 in cash for the journey.  Stopping in Perpignan, France to secure visas, the Paraguay attache explained that he could not take them any further as his car had broken down.  The couple, planning to continue their journey by train, realized they had only $1,000 left in their possession.  Their driver had absconded with the bulk of their savings.  

German soldiers march down the Champs Elysees circa June 1940 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_in_World_War_II.

Reaching Lisbon, Clara and her family booked passage to America on a Greek ship.  However, Germany invaded Greece in the meantime and the ship never sailed.  It took three months for her to find another boat, this time a cattle boat.  On the twelve day voyage Clara, nervous about the mine infested waters, barely ate.  

When the boat finally reached Ellis Island, Clara was asked what she wanted.  "I want a good glass of milk...The milk tasted like cream.  It was delicious."  However, Clara was disappointed with Ellis Island.  She said that the authorities would not let them off the island.  She felt like she was in jail.  What made matters worse, was that Clara could not speak English.  The big room where the immigrates were processed was filled with 300 to 400 people.  "I couldn't breathe," explained Clara.

After seven weeks at Ellis Island, the mystery as to why Clara and her family wasn't released was cleared up.  Clara's brother in law, had given the money for their trans-Atlantic passage to a lawyer.  The lawyer had taken the money and then wrote the ship company a cheque which had bounced.  The family was being detained for the passage money.

After the Second World War, Clara discovered that her parents, her cousins, the entire town had been murdered, gassed in the ovens at Auschwitz.

Inmates forced to carry rocks at Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extermination_through_labour.

Note:  For more information about Jews fleeing the Nazis, during the Second World War, part of the largest motorized evacuation in history, read "The Journey that Saved Curious George" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/10/october-21.html.

Le Reve de Rosa-Anna Vachon

Rosa-Anna Vachon in front of her wood stove courtesy http://fr.canoe.ca/voyages/sechapper/archives/2010/04/20100430-154657.html.

In 1923, Joseph Vachon and Rosa Anna Giroux, who had worked a Quebec farm for 25 years, purchased LeBlond Bakery.  Rosa Anna hoped that the family business would be the incentive to bring her four sons home, who had left for the United States to find work.  Within a year, J.A. Vachon et Fils was a true family business.

In 1932, the Jos Louis, a famous round white cake covered in chocolate icing, debuted.  Within four years, nearly all of Quebec enjoyed Rosa Anna's little cakes.  In 1937, Vachon expanded into Ontario as well as the Maritimes, flying in the face of the Great Depression.  The next year, Joseph Vachon passed away and it fell to Rosa Anna to run the business with her sons.

http://www.vachon.com/en/history/#1940

By 1940, with the business boasting 125 employees and 30 trucks, it stopped making bread and focused exclusively on the cakes.  During the Second World War, these cakes were supplied to military bases in Halifax, Vancouver, Nanaimo and even England.  At war's end, Rosa-Anna retired and her sons took over the business.  By 1947, Vachon had expanded to 250 employees and 70 trucks.

In 1960, J.A. Vachon & Fils changed its name to Vachon Inc. and by the end of the decade, it purchased Lido Biscuits.  Twelve hundred employees baked the famous cakes which were delivered in 425 vehicles.

http://www.vachon.com/en/history/#1980

In 1980, the Jos. Louis was joined by Alouette and the Flaky.  Three years later, Vachon produced its 10 billionth cake.

In the 1990's, Roger Lacasse wrote Le Reve de Rosa Anna Vachon based on the early years of the Vachon family.  In 1999, Vachon merged with Saputo, still producing the same tasty cakes.

http://famouscanadianwomen.com/stamps/vachon.htm

Pier 21: The London Blitz, the Baltic Ethnic Cleansing & the Hungarian Uprising

Displaced person with her infant arrives in 1948 at Pier 21 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_21.

Halifax's Deepwater Piers was built in 1880 to accommodate Canadian immigrants arriving by ocean liner.  By 1913, when Canadian immigration peeked, authorities realized that they needed a much bigger facility.  However, the First World War in 1914 and the Halifax Explosion in 1917, postponed such an endeavour.

In 1928, Pier 21 opened in Halifax's south end, a two story, 600 foot shed.  Along with the shed were freight piers, grain elevators and a train station.  Adjacent to the shed was an annex which included immigration offices, customs, railway booking office, and a telegraph office, a restaurant and immigration charities offices.

Pier 21 was the entry point for over 1 million immigrants and refugees.  In the early years of the immigration station, many Dutch and English immigrants arrived.  The Second World War slowed down the number of immigrant arrivals but increased the total of refugees.  Two thousand English children, evacuated during the London Blitz, arrived in the early 1940's.  Princess Juliana sailed into port with her family after the Nazis invaded Holland.  Even Prime Minister Winston Churchill passed through Pier 21's doors in 1943 on his way to the Quebec Conference.  In 1945 and 1946, thousands of war brides also arrived at Pier 21, many with their infant children.  In 1948, almost 350 refugees arrived from the Baltic, a result of the Soviet's ethnic cleansing program.  The Hungarian uprising of 1956 brought another flood of refugees to Canada's immigration station.  Finally, in 1970, 100 Cuban refugees passed through Pier 21, the last major group to do so.  The following year, it closed its doors forever.

Canadian stamp commemorating Pier 21, issued in 1999 courtesy http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot.ca/2014/03/millennium-collection-2-pier-21.html

Winston Churchill: Only Thing to Fear are German U-boats

"Winston Churchill once wrote that the only thing that ever 'really frightened him' during the Second World War was the threat presented by Germany's U-boats." (Canada Post)

German U-boats in Loch Ryan circa 1945 courtesy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3072281/Wartime-navy-captain-blamed-letting-Nazi-U-boat-away-failed-attack-hailed-hero-oceanographer-Titanic-locates-wreck-discovers-DID-hit-all.html.

England and France owe a great debt to Canada and the United States for the supplies that they sent overseas during the Second World War.  Lend Lease, an "Act to Promote the defense of the United States", provided the Allies with warships, warplanes, trucks, material, oil and food from 1941 to 1945.  While Canada did not have a Lend Lease program, it did give Britain "gifts totalling $3.5 million during the war" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease).

Lend Lease Convoy circa 1941 courtesy https://seanmunger.com/2015/09/03/the-winds-of-war-live-blogged-8-honeymoon-in-lisbon-wine-in-boston/.

The problem for Canada and the United States was not producing the goods, but transporting them across the Atlantic.  "Winston Churchill once wrote that the only thing that ever 'really frightened him' during the Second World War was the threat presented by Germany's U-boats." (http://www.communitywire.ca/en/2005-04-28/longest-battle-second-world-war-honoured-new-canadian-postage-stamp)  The Battle of the Atlantic, according to Winston Churchill, "was the dominating factor all through the  war.  Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome."  It remains the longest continuous battle of the Second World War, lasting from 1939 to 1945 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_AtlanticT).

Allied tanker Dixie Arrow torpedoed in 1942 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Atlantic.

Canadian forces played a crucial role in protecting Allied merchant ships as they crossed the Atlantic in convoys.  Marauding German U-boats were often lurking beneath the depths of the ocean, ready to strike.  By V-E Day, 22 Canadian ships had been lost and more than 4,000 Canadians had died, including 2,000 sailors,750 airmen and 650 seamen from the merchant fleet.  

http://www.legion.ca/article/legion-marks-battle-of-the-atlantic-with-ceremonies-across-canada/

Canadian artist Sarty assembled several images to create a stamp design honouring The Battle of the Atlantic including a convoy of vessels, a torpedoed supply ship, a Canadian navy corvette and a German U-boat.

http://www.communitywire.ca/en/2005-04-28/longest-battle-second-world-war-honoured-new-canadian-postage-stamp

German U-Boats Offshore

Halifax Herald headline for September 11, 1942 courtesy  http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/battle-gulf-st-lawrence/intro.

Growing up in Toronto during the Second World War, my Dad remembers reading in the Toronto Star that German U-boats were spotted in the St. Lawrence River, that German soldiers were spotted entering a Montreal movie theatre.  He remembered air raid wardens marching up and down his street during blackouts in Toronto.  I had always thought that the World War Two theatre was restricted to Europe, not North America (with the exception of Pearl Harbor).  I couldn't believe that the Germans had come that close to home.




                             


HMCS Charlottetown was one of the first targets of the German U-boats courtesy http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/battle-gulf-st-lawrence/intro.




As part of the book that I'm writing about wartime Toronto and the Maple Leafs, I researched German U-boats in Canada and found out that a full battle took place here, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, from 1942 to 1944.  Submarines penetrated the Cabot Strait and the Strait of Belle Isle (my mother in law was born and raised on Belle Isle) to sail down the St. Lawrence.  There, they torpedoed and sunk an amazing 23 Allied ships, some within 300 kilometres of Quebec City.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/forums/ViewPost.aspx?ForumID=11&ID=30458

German U-boats posed not only a military threat but also an economic one:  they decreased cargo shipments by 25%.  Quebec City, Trois Rivieres and Montreal were essentail ports, the latter accounting for "more tons of shipping than all over East Coast ports combined" (http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/battle-gulf-st-lawrence/intro).


                                               

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/battle-gulf-st-lawrence/intro


Some Canadian cities started imposing blackouts and employing air raid wardens.  The war campaign at home went into full swing.

Canadian stamp issued on the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of the St. Lawrence courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/agent713/war-stamps/.

Tulip Festival

Canada Post issues commemorative stamps each month to recognize certain events in our history.  In August of 2002. it issued a stamp to commemorate Ottawa's Tulip Festival.  Back in 1944, under Nazi occupation, the Dutch were starving.  That winter, they survived on tulip bulbs and sugar beets. The American driven Operation Market Garden which attempted to drive the Germans out of Holland, largely failed.  Therefore, in 1945, it was up to the Canadian Army to liberate much of Holland, and that they did.  The Dutch will always have a special place in their hearts for Canadians for ending their oppression under the Nazis.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/liberation-of-holland/

It was the Canadian government which took in Queen Juliana, the Dutch royalty who had fled her country when the Nazis occupied it in 1940.  She came to Canada with her husband and two daughters.  In 1943, she gave birth to a third child at an Ottawa hospital.  The hospital was declared an international zone in order that Queen Juliana's baby could be of Dutch citizenry and therefore eligible for the crown.

Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard with two daughters in Ottawa circa 1942 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliana_of_the_Netherlands.

After the Second World War, the Dutch government sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada, the origin of Ottawa's Tulip Festival.  The tradition has continued ever since.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/archives/2002/2002_aug_tulipsouvenir.jsf

The Barbarisation of Warfare on the Eastern Front

"The nature of the dictatorships determined the savage character of the conflict" http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soviet_german_war_01.shtml

Leningraders during the Siege circa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad.

My husband's Opa Jonasson fought in the trenches of France in the First World War where he was taken prisoner of war by the British.  Even though he was held captive for about a year, he maintained a certain degree of respect for the British.  He always said that he and his fellow Germans were treated with a certain degree of dignity.  He never forgot that.

The same could not be said of the war between the Germans and the Russians during the Second World War.  Professor Overy explains:  "The so called barbarisation of war has a number of explanations.  Conditions were harsh for both sides, and losses were high.  German forces entered the USSR with instructions from Hitler's headquarters to use the most brutal methods to keep control and to murder Communist commissars and Jews in the service of the Soviet state." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soviet_german_war_01.shtml)

From the beginning, Hitler preached that the Russians were "untermensch" (subhuman).  This was evident in the way the Germans treated the citizens of Leningrad.  The Siege of Leningrad, which lasted from September of 1941 to January of 1944, will never be forgotten by Russians.  The 842 -day seige caused the largest loss of life in modern history:  one and one half million soldiers and civilians were killed or starved to death.  Another 1.4 million Leningraders, mainly women and children, were evacuated, many of whom died of starvation or bombardment.  Others died from exposure to the frigid -30C temperatures that first winter.

The Siege, along with other barbarities committed by the Germany Army, stirred up journalists like Ilya Ehrenburg who preached:  "We shall kill.  If you have not killed at least one German a day...you have wasted that day.  Do not count days...do not count miles.  Count only the number of Germans you have killed."  Ehrenburg dehumanized the enemy.

It is no surprise then that when the Russians invaded Germany in late 1944, they did so with hatred in their hearts and revenge on their minds.  Rolling over the hills of East Prussia, they pillaged houses, burned crops, and raped German women en masse.

The barbarisation continued even after the Second World War ended on May 8, 1945.  While the British, Canadians and Americans released all prisoners of war by 1947, the Russians were not ready to bury the hatchet.  Many German POWs were not sent home from the Soviet Union until 1956, more than a full decade after the war's end, some so emaciated they were unrecognizable.

Grateful mother thanks Konrad Adenauer for his role in the release of her son, one of 15,000 German POWs freed by the Soviets in 1955 courtesy  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_prisoners_of_war_in_the_Soviet_Union.