Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts

Monday, May 30, 2011

World War II Memorial Sculpture Dedication at KSU May 30, 2011

Kansas State University honored the Veterans on the WWII Memorial Plaza with the unveiling of a Sculpture. Artists Tim Chapman and Daniel Hunt created a piece


at once simple
and dynamic, transparent
and ever-changing.


U.S. Vet alongside artist Tim Chapman
 
click on pics to enlarge.


Is your grandfather a hero?

The sky was perfect for the occasion--grey and blue, warm and windy, clouds deep with stories.
There was some electricity in the air, presence at the plaza.
The Program is posted below.

Here is my WWII vet:
Grandfather, who uncovered one of
The "camps" before anyone knew what that meant; he took photos as he thought no one would believe what he would have to tell them. He said he sent some of his men to round up locals to help build graves. 

He also brought home a Nazi flag,
very large,
crimson with the  black and white symbol in the center,
which my grandmother purified by cutting out the swastica and adding more red,
thus creating the red base over which the white lacy tablecloth was laid for
Christmas Dinner!
Sweet grandmother.



Here is the program:



looking north on the Kansas State University Campus
Folks from Meadowlark



cavalry of a different breed


A generous Vet allows me to photograph his t-shirt.


Senator Brownback arrives





a very short video: or( large here)


food for thought: saw this on my way out:

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Find Your Courage. The Nazis: A Warning from History--Archival Footage of Hitler and Those Who Were There (Memorial Day Weekend)

heinrich himmler
This multi disc set from BBC netflix taught me a thing or two. Very poignant, alarming, and detailed. If you have studied the holocaust over the years, this will fill in some details you may not have known. Clip at bottom of post, with a woman who watched her mother repeatedly brutalized.)

I intend to watch chapter 4 again later today or tomorrow and post some quotes and pictures which will chill you to the Very Bone. One aspect of this film is the time spent on the lead-up, the politics, the set up. The slow movement of the population to blindness, lack of courage, and sheep mentality.


adolph hitler pic from bbc's warning from history

hitler reviewing the older men and younger boys,
the "Volksstrom" who were the last of the army
pic from bbc film nazis: warning from history

This film interviews those who were there, committing the crimes.
Some expressed remorse; others tried to rationalize what they did; others were very defensive.

There was a segment of an interview with a woman, who was a young girl when the russians were storming and destroying german cities. she describes the horror; that although the women were "disguised" the russian soldiers could recognize a "good figure"--and her mother was raped repeatedly every day. "mass suicides"
 "no longer human" "changed for the rest of her life"-- i will try tomorrow to post a small video clip of her story at the bottom of this post.


holocaust survivors and remembrance project
More HERE


and here is the chart for what type of person you were, that you were doomed to extermination:
polish, gay, jew, etc.  Click on pic to enlarge.

I found this version of the chart HERE, where the author has some thoughtful notes, (including a reference to MAUS, which is fascinating to read). .. he states,"My study of Nazi persecution of homosexuals, combined with my reading of Maus by Art Spiegelman, made me wonder if there were any alternative mediums of interpretation of homosexual Holocaust victims. Spiegelman, a graphic artist, utilizes his craft to help him understand his father and document his family’s past. While I was unable to find anything quite as “alternative” as Maus, I did come across the trailer for the 2000 award-winning documentary film Paragraph 175..."






an amazing work of art- i'll lend you my copy if you can't find it...
thanks Jay!

Warning: very very sad.


and more of the systematic brutal rape of german women here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKjCHj8_rUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYDoCuzEmyI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulRIHwPg4gw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsOouDLL_EA