#moscow state jewish theater.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"SOVIET'S CULTURAL EMISSARIES ARRIVE IN TORONTO," Toronto Star. September 3, 1943. Page 4. --- Prof. Solomon Michoels, the Soviet's greatest dramatic actor, and Lieut.-Col. Itzik Felfer, Russian soldier-poet, arrived by plane in Toronto last night for a Jewish anti-Fascist rally in Maple Leaf gardens Sept. 8. They have been received with wide acclaim in the U.S. where they have been spreading the gospel of Anti-Fascism. Prof. Michoels walked with a crutch due to a leg injury caused when a platform collapsed in Chicago under the weight of a welcoming crowd.

#toronto #maple leaf gardens #soviet union #anti-fascism #war rally #solomon mikhoels #soviet history #jewish anti-fascist committee #world war ii #itzik feffer #yiddish #yiddish art #moscow state jewish theater.

[genevalentino]

#X-LeftistJournalist

[bllsbailey]

America Is Going To Be Targeted For A Massive Terrorist Attack … Will You be Ready?

It happened in Israel, and it happened in Moscow, and it’s going to happen here in America – again, and exponentially worse. The jihadis’ merciless war against the West – the Muslim fanatics are not so finicky as we are about our distinctions between the Jewish state, Russia, and us, the Great Satan – did not end when the regime media started covering other things. We may have fled Afghanistan and Libya and largely pulled out of Iraq, but that war is still going on. It’s going to go on until we decisively win it. But unfortunately, our ruling class refuses to decisively win it. In fact, our ruling class actively undermines attempts to win it. And it refuses to prepare for what’s coming.

That leaves you to prepare, you the individual, you and your small community, you and your red state. There is no one else who’s going to help you. There will be a bloodbath here in America. It will dwarf what happened on 9/11, it’ll dwarf what happened in Israel, it will be Moscow times 1000, and you’re going to be caught in the middle of it. 

You have to make the decision to be ready for yourself, for your community, and perhaps for your state if you live in one that’s not run by leftist idiots. The enemy is not just coming; it  is probably already here. Even Christopher Wray thinks so, and you know what it takes to get his attention away from arresting people taking selfies in the Rotunda or praying at abortion clinics. Our border has been pried wide open. There’s nothing to stop them from coming in. 

And we know what they will do. It’s just hard to accept. Some of us see Muslim terrorists as insane because our minds don’t work like theirs. We don’t want our minds to work like theirs. How they think and how they act is completely alien to us. That’s because, as a culture, we’re narcissists, self-absorbed and utterly unable to imagine that other people not only are not like us but that they have no desire to be like us.

They desire to rape and murder us. How do we know this? Because of their track record of raping and murdering us.

Our ruling class refuses to acknowledge this and refuses to act. Instead, it actively subverts attempts to stop the jihad. It won’t shut our border. It opposes Israel’s plan to go in to the last infestation of Hamas and blow up its tunnel complexes. It won’t work effectively with the Russians to fight jihadis even though we share that enemy despite our other conflicts. Instead, it Norm McDonalds the situation, fearing that the most horrible consequence of thousands of Americans being murdered by Muslim fanatics is that people might start not liking Muslims.

Recommended

The bottom line is our elite’s incompetence, fecklessness, and utter moral illiteracy are going to bring a brutal terrorist attack upon America that will shake us to our core. It’s not what I want to predict, it’s what I – and many others – must predict.

The specifics of what will happen are beyond this column’s depth. I write about it at length in my latest novel, “The Attack,” which goes into great detail on exactly how we are vulnerable and exactly how anyone with a bit of tactical knowledge and a dose of ruthlessness can shove a knife into the guts of the United States. We’re vulnerable. We’ve seen them walk into packed venues in France, here in America at the Pulse nightclub, and now in Moscow. America has hundreds of thousands of packed venues. What America needs is millions of packed Americans.

Buy guns and ammunition. Get trained. Get ready.

You are the first line of defense. Whether you’re at a shopping mall or a movie theater or a Taylor Swift concert, when it goes down there’s no cavalry coming because it’s happening all over the country all at once. Remember those two untrained idiots in Boston with some handguns and pressure cookers? Just two idiots shut down a whole major US city. What happens with 1000 guys with effective weapons and a little training do it all over the country? There is a decisive tactical advantage to leveraging semi-trained individuals operating simple but effective weapons, like automatic Kalashnikovs that can be easily smuggled into the United States alongside the fentanyl and illegal aliens that have no trouble coming across. The key is that they are suicidal – they want to fight to the death. They kill until they themselves are killed. Mindless meat murder robots provide a huge tactical advantage over regular soldiers to their murderous masterminds in Teheran or wherever. They don’t need combat logistics. They don’t need medical evacuation. They don’t need command and control. All they need is a time and place and a bunch of Americans, preferably in a gun-free zone, to shoot.

Citizens with guns change the calculation. They are the only sand in the gears of organized mass murder. Why? How does one guy with a small SIG P320 pistol have any effect on a squad of five killers with real assault rifles, not the legal black rifles that terrify the frigid wine women? Look at the video of the butchers in Israel on October 7. Look at the video of the terrorists at the Crocus Music Hall in Moscow. They’re just walking along, not a care in this world, having the time of their lives taking lives. They don’t fear anything. But armed opposition changes all that, even if it is just one defending shooter. A citizen returning fire requires that the terror squad stop culling the unarmed and focus all its efforts on eliminating that threat. A great example is the second half of the movie “Full Metal Jacket.” An entire squad of heavily armed Marines, including Red State’s own Adam Baldwin humping an M-60 machine gun, is totally occupied and completely neutralized by a single sniper. The reality of the kind of mass murder we’ve seen from these terrorists and from trans and other leftist mass killers is that they target unarmed citizens. When a citizen is armed, they have no choice but to stop their killing and deal with him. That throws off their plan and allows others to escape while the police can build combat power to eliminate the threat. No, one pistol against five rifles will probably end up with the guy with a pistol in a bag. But it’s the time that the guy with a pistol takes up that saves lives and sets up the final victory. That’s the tactical reason for armed citizens. The moral reason for armed citizens is that we have a right and a duty to protect ourselves, our families, our communities, and our Constitution.

Yes, the coming terrorist attacks will primarily come in the blue states. Those are the places that ensure that the citizens are vulnerable. But the ruling class won’t necessarily escape it as they are used to escaping the consequences of their other crimes. We will see the right to keep and bear arms protected only when our elites realize that they need to protect themselves, and that their security guards and their cops are not enough. But that’s going to mean heaps of dead before it happens. Remember that our ruling class would rather you be murdered by criminals or terrorists than have the ability to defend yourself against them … or against the elite itself, which is really its problem with American citizens keeping and bearing arms.

The time for talking is over. You must buy guns and ammunition. You must train. You must carry when you can. And when bad stuff goes down, you must engage. Don’t spend the rest of your life hating yourself for being a coward like the loathsome femboys who lurked outside Florida and the Uvalde schools while some freak was inside shooting kids. Seek out the enemy and kill as many of them as you can in conformity with the law. Maybe you’ll die, but you’ll die like a man, and not everybody gets that option.

It’s coming. Be ready. Pack a bag with medical supplies and learn to stop the bleeding. And pack a gun, because there’s literally no one else who can protect you from what is absolutely going to happen.

Follow Kurt on Twitter @KurtSchlichter. Get the newest volume in the Kelly Turnbull People’s Republic series of conservative action novels set in America after a notional national divorce, the bestselling Amazon #1 Military Thriller, Overlord! And get his new novel about terrorism in America, The Attack!

Look, you need to keep up the fight by joining Townhall VIP right now. You get access to a bunch of great stuff, not the least of which is my extra Wednesday column, my weekly Stream of Kurtiousness videos every Friday, and the Unredacted podcast every Monday! Plus, some stuff from Larry O’Connor – and a bunch of other stuff.

[thenewdeadseascrolls]

Judges 5: 10-12. "The Jewish Lottery."

The Song of Deborah, the Song of the Establishment continues. Every Jew has to aspire to wear a crown, called Keter, "between learning and understanding" and follow the Courses named in the Torah and the Tanakh to a globally unified ethical system of government.

Should war come to the city gates, whether it be doubt a state can keep its own peace or fails to maintain peace with its neighbors, God says to smite the interloper, close the book and move on. War and peace cannot exist at the same time. We did not finish the work we prescribed ourselves after World War II and now World War III is upon us.

Russia, Africa, Israel, all of the Middle East, Anti-Semitism, and homophobia were not addressed. Now the very same persons who caused the Second World War, the Mormons and Evangelicals are back for another round.

The world cannot abide the prolonged presence of these smudges from the past. There are laws preventing organizations from promoting hatred of the Jew, gay people, Muslims, from illegally invading other nations, from operating a government without a Constitution or free elections, Eleanor Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and their allies were thorough when we reopened the world for business at the end of WW2.

The most important aspect of life since then has been the presenceof the most amazing and sophisticated armed force in history, the US Military. There is no war it cannot win, it can win them all at once by design if it needs. Why on earth, in heavens name is Joe Biden sitting on his hands will vile contemptuous persons take over this world with impunity? Why did President Obama do it? Is it because of poltical pressure? Because wars are risky? They are risky only if you lose and our military is not trained in the art of loss.

Yet we are seeing this reluctance to try to win in every theater of life because of the risks it poses to popular opinion. We dont want to try to win over poverty, or Pro-Life, or win in Gaza or Africa, even though the laws we have agreed say we must try.

It is time, as the Shoftim states, to take captives of persons who break the law and be done with them. The law, its spirit, and its enforcers are set up to win, and winners are always popular. Why then did you watch all those people die when you could have won?

Did you watch thousands of Mormons attack your own State Capitol then attack Israel a few years later and tell its soldiers to back down as you did?

It is an American election year, always a pivotal time in world history, it is true but we are not voting for a president but for our very salvation. Here is how this should turn out:

10“You who ride on white donkeys,     sitting on your saddle blankets,     and you who walk along the road, consider 

11 the voice of the singers[b] at the watering places.     They recite the victories of the Lord,     the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of the Lord     went down to the city gates.

12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!     Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, Barak!     Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 10: White Donkeys are 1621, "the emergency broadcast system", "teach these Commandments to you children." Telling the world you can't get your government to agree on a humanitarian aid package for a deeply distressed neighbor does not convey the kind of spiritual value system we want our children to have.

President Biden should have boarded an aircraft carrier, personally gone to Moscow and handed the world Vladimir Putin's head as a consequence of his violence against Ukraine. Allowing Donald Trump to cheat his to power and the Mormons to go free after those stunts is mistake we shall never be able to atone for.

Now we have to explain why we have holes in our hearts and many many new holes in the ground.

Saddle blankets "peace like a river" are made of blue wool, a symbol of a Jew's connection to the sky above and as the Talmud says, that is also underfoot. From Berakhot 6a:1:

Rabbi Yossi said in Rabbi Hanina: You deserve the blessings of this, which is said: "If you listen to my commandments and let your peace be like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. And your seed will be blue, and I will come out of your womb" etc.

The Value in Gematia is 8215, חבאה, "Hiding and hiding."

No more hiding.

v. 11.: Recite the victories of the Lord. The Value in Gematia is 7612, ז‎ואב‎ ‎, zoev, "a secretion."

Choose one:

A. Bad sex.

B. A mediocre buffet.

C. A really, really good dump.

Victorious Villaders celebrate with what is called a "Clean Discharge". They get it all out of their systems and then they maintain ritual purity.

v. 11b-12a: Wake up, wake up! The Value in Gematia is 9344, טג‎‎דד, tagdad, "You will."

V. 12b: Arise, Barak! Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’ The Value in Gematia is 3340, ג‎גדאֶפֶס‎‎, "a legendary lottery."

Jewish Lottery entails each person getting a share of the Promised Land once Mashiach is achieved. This means the entire world becomes free, is looked after by its government and fellow countrymen, and this prevents the world from descending into war and chaos ever again.

[famous-people]

Mikhail Fridman

Biography:

Mikhail Fridman was born in Lviv into a family of engineers. His father was awarded the USSR State Prize for developing identification systems for military aviation. In the early 2000s, Friedman's parents moved to Cologne, Germany.

Friedman is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS). While still a student, he traded scarce theater tickets and also created an informal club called "Strawberry Glade" where he organized meetings, concerts, and disco parties. Friedman personally handed out fees of 20-30 rubles to musicians.

In 1986, Friedman completed his studies and was assigned to work in Elektrostal, a suburb of Moscow. He worked as a design engineer at a local factory for two years before venturing into entrepreneurship.

In 1988, Friedman, together with his college comrades, organized the cooperative "Kurier," which was involved in delivering groceries. Around the same time, "Alfa-Photo" was opened, specializing in the sale of computers and copying equipment. The cooperative was named "Alfa" in honor of academician Mikhail Alfimov from the Institute of Chemical Physics, as the aspiring businessmen invited him to be their scientific advisor.

After a year, "Alfa-Photo" established a joint venture with Anatoly Potik, a Swiss citizen of Russian origin, called "Alfa-Eco." Friedman took on the role of director.

In 1991, based on this organization, the "Alfa Group" was founded. Among the company's founders at that time were Friedman himself, as well as Oleg Kiselyov, German Khan, Mikhail Bezelansky, Andrey Shelukhin, and Alexey Kuzmichev. Later, Petr Aven and Andrey Kosogov joined them.

In 1997, the "Alfa Group," together with Access/Renova of Leonard Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg, acquired 40% of the shares of Tyumen Oil Company (TNK).

In 2001, the "Alfa Group" became a shareholder of the mobile operator "VimpelCom." They purchased a block of shares in the company, and after the deal, Mikhail Friedman joined the board of directors of "VimpelCom."

In 2003, TNK shareholders and the British Petroleum formed a joint venture called TNK-BP, merging their Russian assets.

In the spring of 2005, through a cross-deal, the "Alfa Group" acquired control of X5 Retail Group N.V., which united the largest retail chains in Russia, "Pyaterochka" and "Perekrestok."

In 2013, Friedman sold his 25% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $14 billion. Following this, he and his partners established an investment company called LetterOne in Luxembourg. The firm focused on investing the proceeds from the sale outside of Russia.

One of LetterOne's main assets is the German oil and gas company DEA, which merged with Wintershall (a subsidiary of the German company BASF) in May 2019. The holding company also owns 56.2% of VEON and 13.22% of the Turkish telecommunications company Turkcell. LetterOne also owns the English health food store chain, Holland & Barrett.

In 2016, LetterOne invested $200 million in the Uber service.

In January 2018, Mikhail Friedman was included in the "Kremlin List" by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As a result, at the insistence of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the investment company Pamplona Capital Management, in which Friedman invests, decided to sell its stake in the computer security firm Cofense.

Friedman holds Israeli citizenship. Since 2015, he has been a resident of the United Kingdom and currently resides in London.

In 2016, the businessman purchased the historic Athlone House mansion for £65 million. The house was formerly a Royal Air Force hospital and had changed hands several times. Friedman refers to it as "just an old house" and says that "there are many like it."

Following the start of the special operation in Ukraine in 2022, Friedman was included in the sanction lists of Western countries. As a result, he resigned from the boards of directors of Alfa-Bank, Veon ltd, Letter One, and the Jewish charitable organization Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG). Along with Petr Aven, he reduced his stake in Letter One by selling some shares to other partners. The assets of the businessman, who lives in the UK, are frozen, and he has no access to his accounts, leaving him, in his own words, as a hostage.

Personal website of Mikhail Fridman - www.mikhailfridmansite.com

#oligarchy #business

[dissertationmeganfox]

https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/1810009

Drawing the Iron Curtain: Jews and the Golden Age of Soviet AnimationKatz, Maya B 2016

I have traced how the introduction of the vaguely defined yet urgently enforced movement of socialist realism in the 1930s and the expansion of the state’s doctrinaire purview over literature, music, and theater further pushed independently minded intellectuals to the relatively unregulated medium of animation. Although restrictions in the traditional arts are relevant to the relationship Jews have nurtured with popular media around the world, the Jewish entry into Soviet animation offers a unique perspective if only because the animation studio operated as an official organ of the Soviet state. Thus, the external channeling of Jewish intellectuals into Soviet popular media did not result in a minority culture bent on delegitimizing the center but, rather, a Jewish cultural center committed to legitimizing the artistic status of animation. 

As Jewish-born artists assumed significant roles in what became one of the state’s most popular mass mediums, their presence on the Soviet screen—especially in the aftermath of the Second World War—hinged on the political and cinematic constructs of Jewish invisibility. Jewish-born animators performed themselves and defined their national culture under the Bolshevik promise of Jewish invisibility, a concept articulated by Vladimir Lenin and popularized by the state cinema apparatus in the early years of Soviet rule. Under the premise (and conceit) of this ideological construction, Jewish-born animators curated a flexible presence through the technologies of trick film, the use of characters and settings as proxies for self-representations. 

After the Second World War, Jewish intellectuals turned to the symbolic yet expressive properties of animated animal fables to heal the nation’s wounds, but in ways that expressed their personal experiences and knowledge of the Holocaust. Likewise, as Soviet animation entered its golden age in the 1960s, filmmakers adopted diverse lenses—from the fractured fairy tale to the urban nightlife of modern Moscow

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

READ the closing statement of Alla Gutnikova, one of the editors of the Moscow student journal DOXA, who are all facing prison sentences for "inciting minors to take part in illegal opposition protests”. But the speech is about so much more. (The translation was adapted from that of Michelle Panchuk.) Listen to Alla’s original here: https://doxajournal.ru/lastword-alla

“I am not going to speak of the case, the search, the interrogations, the volumes, the trials. That is boring and pointless. These days I attend the school of fatigue and frustration. But before my arrest, I had time to enroll in the school of learning how to speak about truly important things.

I would like to talk about philosophy and literature. About Benjamin, Derrida, Kafka, Arendt, Sontag, Barthes, Foucault, Agamben, about Audre Lorde and bell hooks. About Timofeeva, Tlostanova and Rachmaninova.

I would like to speak about poetry, about how to read contemporary poetry. About Gronas, Dashevsky and Borodin.

But now is not the time nor the place. I will hide my small tender words on the tip of my tongue, in the back of my throat, between my stomach and my heart. I will say just a little.

I often feel like a little fish, a birdling, a schoolgirl, a baby. But recently, I discovered with surprise that Brodsky, too, was put on trial at 23. And, since I have also been counted among the human race, I will say this:

In the Kabbala there is the concept of tikkun olam - repairing the world. I see that the world is imperfect. I believe, as wrote Yehuda Amichai, that the world was created beautiful for goodness and for peace, like a bench in a courtyard (in a courtyard, not a court!). I believe that the world was created for tenderness, hope, love, solidarity, passion, joy.

But the world is atrociously, unbearably full of violence. And I don’t want violence. In any form. No teacher’s hands in schoolgirls’ underwear, no drunken father’s fists on the bodies of wives and children. If I decided to list all the violence around us, a day wouldn’t be enough, nor a week, nor a year. My eyes are wide open. I see violence, and I don’t want violence. The more violence there is, the stronger I don’t want it. And more than anything, I don’t want the biggest and the most frightening violence.

I really love reading. I will now speak with the voices of others.

At school, in history class, I learned the phrases “You crucify freedom, but the soul of man knows no bounds” and “For your, and for our, freedom”.

In high school, I read “Requiem” by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova, “The Steep Path” by Evgeniya Solomonovna Ginzburg, “The Closed Theater” by Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava, “The Children of Arbat” by Anatoliy Naumovich Rybakov. Of Okudzhava’s poems I loved most of all:

Conscience, honor and dignity, There’s our spiritual army. Hold out your palm to it, For this, one fears no fire. Its face is lofty and wonderful. Dedicate to it your short century. Maybe, you will never be victorious, But you'll die as a human.

At MGIMO [Moscow State Institute of International Relations] I learned French and memorized a line from Édith Piaf: “Ça ne pouvait pas durer toujours” [“It could not last forever”]. And from Marc Robine: “Ça ne peut pas durer comme ça” [“It cannot go on like this”].

At nineteen, I traveled to Majdanek and Treblinka and learned to say “never again” in seven languages: never again, jamais plus, nie wieder, קיינמאל מער, nigdy więcej, לא עוד.

I studied Jewish sages and fell in love with two proverbs. Rabbi Hillel said: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” And Rabbi Nachman said: “The whole world is a narrow bridge, and the main thing is to have no fear at all.”

Later, I enrolled at the School of Cultural Studies and learned several more important lessons. First of all, words have meaning. Second, we must call things by their names. And finally, sapere aude, have the courage to use your own mind.

It’s ridiculous that our case has to do with schoolchildren. I taught children the humanities in English, worked as a nanny and dreamed of going with the program “Teacher for Russia” to a small town for two years to sow intelligent, kind, eternal seeds. But Russia - in the words of the state prosecuting attorney, Prosecutor Tryakin - believes that I involved underage children in life-threatening actions. If I ever have children (and I will, because I remember the greatest commandment), I will hang a picture of the Judaean governor Pontius Pilate on their wall, so they grow up in cleanliness. The governor Pontius Pilate standing and washing his hands - such will be the portrait. Yes, if thinking and feeling is now life-threatening, I don’t know what to say about the charges. I wash my hands.

And now is the moment of truth. The hour of transparency.

My friends and I don’t know what to do with ourselves from the horror and the pain, but when I descend into the metro, I don’t see tear-stained faces. I don’t see tear-stained faces.

Not a single of my favorite books - for children or adults - taught indifference, apathy, cowardice. Nowhere have I been taught the words:

we are small people i am a simple person it’s not so black and white you can’t believe anyone i am not interested in all that i am far from politics it’s none of my business nothing depends on me competent authorities will figure it out what could i have done alone

No, I know and love very different words.

John Donne says through Hemingway:

No man is an island, all by himself. Every person is part of the Mainland, part of Land; and if a wave sweeps away a coastal cliff into the sea, Europe will become smaller. And likewise if it washes away the edge of the cape or destroys your castle or your friends. The death of every person diminishes me as well, for I am one with all of humanity. And so, don’t ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you.

Mahmoud Darwish says:

As you prepare your breakfast — think of others (don’t forget to feed the pigeons). As you conduct your wars — think of others (don’t forget those who want peace). As you pay your water bill — think of others (think of those who have only the clouds to drink from). As you go home, your own home — think of others (don’t forget those who live in tents). As you sleep and count the stars, think of others (there are people who have no place to sleep). As you liberate yourself with metaphors think of others (those who have lost their right to speak). And as you think of distant others — think of yourself (and say, I wish I were a candle in the darkness).

Gennady Golovaty says:

The blind cannot look with wrath, The mute cannot yell with fury, The armless cannot take up arms, The legless cannot march forward. But, the mute can look wrathfully, But, the blind can yell furiously, But, the legless can take up arms. But, the armless can march forward. I know some are terrified. They choose silence. But Audre Lorde says:

Your silence will not protect you.

In the Moscow metro, they announce:

Passengers are forbidden on the train heading to a dead end.

And the St. Petersburg [band] Aquarium adds:

This train is on fire.

Lao Tzu, through Tarkovsky, says:

And most important, let them believe in themselves, let them be helpless like children. Because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it’s tender and pliant. But when it’s dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death’s companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.

Remember that fear eats the soul. Remember the Kafka character who sees “a gallows being erected in the prison yard, mistakenly thinks it is the one intended for him, breaks out of his cell in the night, and goes down and hangs himself”.

Be like children. Don’t be afraid to ask (yourselves and others), what is good and what is bad. Don’t be afraid to say that the emperor has no clothes. Don’t be afraid to yell, to cry. Repeat (to yourselves and others): 2+2=4. Black is black. White is white. I am a person, strong and brave. A strong and brave woman. A strong and brave people.

Freedom is a process by which you develop the habit of being inaccessible to slavery.”

(Mariya Nikiforova)

#anti-war #resistance #protest #courage #Mariya Nikiforova #Lao Tzu #Gennady Golovaty #Mahmoud Darwish #tikkun olam #Repairing the world #Alla Gutnikova

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

happy 200th birthday, queen. 

edit: the text, for anyone under paywall (below the cut):

Toward the end of her life, the opera diva Pauline Viardot took stock of her vast social network. She wrote a three-page, multicolumn list of everyone she had ever met, worked with or loved.

She ended up with over 300 names, a who’s-who of 19th-century icons: composers like Rossini, Liszt and Schumann; novelists like George Sand, Victor Hugo and Ivan Turgenev, her lover; Giuseppe Mazzini and Napoleon III.

Viardot entertained many of them at the weekly salons she held at her home in Paris. Classical musicians have rarely connected so widely with important figures of the day; the closest American parallel might be Leonard Bernstein, who hobnobbed with presidents and Hollywood glitterati.

But like Bernstein, Viardot — born exactly 200 years ago, on July 18, 1821 — was far more than a Zelig. One of the supreme singers of her time, she was also a prolific composer, whose music is slowly being salvaged from obscurity; a savvy entrepreneur; a gifted visual artist; and a highly respected voice teacher.

Born Michelle-Pauline-Ferdinande-Laurence Garcia, in Paris, Viardot was an heir to a musical dynasty. Her father, Manuel Garcia, was an international opera star and the first Count Almaviva in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”

Born in Spain, Garcia never stayed in one place for long, moving his wife and three children — Viardot’s older sister, Maria Malibran, became another of the century’s reigning divas — to Italy, Paris and London. And then in 1825, when Viardot was 4, to the United States, where his family and troupe introduced Italian operas, sung in their original language, to the American public.

Viardot’s musical talents emerged early. She took piano lessons with Liszt and developed a girlhood crush on him. As a young woman, she played duets with Chopin, a friend. But when she was 15, her mother dashed her dreams of becoming a concert pianist, declaring that Pauline would pursue the family trade: singing opera.

She made her debut in 1839 in London as Desdemona in Rossini’s “Otello,” then hit her stride four years later when she brought the house down at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow as Rosina in “The Barber of Seville.”

“Ravishing, velvetlike notes rang out, of the sort that no one, it seemed, had ever heard,” an audience member later recalled, adding, “Instantly an electric spark ran round the audience.”

When she was 18, she met and married the historian, art critic and theater director Louis Viardot, 21 years her senior. In a reversal of gender norms, he resigned from his post as director of the Théâtre Italien in Paris after their wedding to focus on Pauline, her career and, ultimately, their four children.

With a voice of uncommon range and flexibility, Viardot became famous on Europe’s major stages in signature roles that included Zerlina and Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni,” Adina in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” and the title role in Bellini’s “Norma.”

“Her technical skill alone is immense; in the completeness of her chromatic scale she is, probably, without a rival,” said an article published in Fraser’s Magazine, a London journal, in 1848.

But, the writer went on, “the principal feature which characterizes her is the dramatic warmth of her impersonations. She throws herself heart and soul into a part.”

Composers sought her out for important premieres: She was the first Fidès in Meyerbeer’s “Le Prophète” and Charles Gounod’s first Sapho. When Berlioz resurrected Gluck’s “Orfeo” for the Parisian stage in 1859, Viardot was the diva for whom he rewrote the title role. A decade later, Brahms chose her as the soloist for the premiere of his Alto Rhapsody.

After retiring from the opera stage in 1863, Viardot continued singing in concerts and being what we’d call today a macher. She owned the original manuscript of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” which composers including Fauré and Tchaikovsky made pilgrimages to see. In 1869, she wrote an effusive letter to Richard Wagner congratulating him on a performance of “Die Meistersinger.” But his notorious anti-Semitic essay, “Judaism in Music,” published under his name the following month, soured the relationship, and Wagner and his wife, Cosima, began referring derisively to Viardot as a “Jewess.” (She was not Jewish.)

Following her father, who was a gifted composer as well as a brilliant singer, Viardot put significant time and energy into composing. Her work is not nearly as widely known as that of Robert Schumann, Liszt, Saint-Saëns or others in her social circle. But her music was deeply appreciated by her contemporaries, with one person going so far as to compare her talent to Schubert’s. Clara Schumann referred to her as “the greatest woman of genius I have ever known.” A fierce advocate for her students, she died, just a month shy of her 89th birthday, in 1910.

Today, her works are enjoying a resurgence among scholars and performers — part of a wave of interest in long-neglected composers like Amy Beach, Florence Price, Clara Schumann and others.

Viardot wrote hundreds of pieces, the majority of them songs for solo voice and piano. Her first was “L’Enfant de la montagne,” published when she was just 19 in a collection organized by Meyerbeer, Paganini and Cherubini. Like so many of her songs, she was its major advocate, using it to show off her vocal skills in concerts in Leipzig, Germany, and other cities.

Her songs have more recently become popular fare for prima donnas including Annick Massis, Cecilia Bartoli and Aude Extrémo. They range from playful and virtuosic (“Vente, niña, conmigo al mar”) to hauntingly beautiful (“L’Enfant et la Mère” and “Hai luli”). The publisher Breitkopf und Härtel has released a new critical edition of some of the songs on texts by Pushkin, Fet and Turgenev. (Viardot’s Russian was superb.) She also wrote works for piano and violin, the instrument of her son, Paul Viardot. Her other three children, also musicians, performed her compositions, too.

True to her specialty, Viardot also wrote operas. These were mostly performed by her students and children in her home, with piano accompaniment, but at least one, “Le Dernier Sorcier,” was orchestrated and performed in 1869 in Weimar Germany.

Wolf Trap Opera in Virginia has revived her “Cendrillon” just this weekend. Viardot wrote both the music and words for this chamber operetta about Cinderella, a fanciful interpretation of the fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

“Her music is both challenging and wonderfully singable,” Kelly Kuo, the production’s conductor, said in an interview. “You just know that it was written by someone who really understood what she was doing.”

Among the guests at the 1904 premiere of “Cendrillon” were the editor and musician Salvatore Marchesi and his wife Mathilde, an influential voice teacher. Finding Viardot’s music charming, they wrote of their certainty that it would have “a successful run through the world.” Although somewhat delayed, their prediction is perhaps beginning to come true.

“Viardot,” Kuo said, “is a perfect example of an artist who should be much better known today.”

#Pauline Viardot #Pauline Viardot-Garcia #happy birthday #composers #women composers #classical music #opera #opera tag #divas #a true queen

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 12.30

534 – The second and final edition of the Code of Justinian comes into effect in the Byzantine Empire. 999 – Battle of Glenmama: The combined forces of Munster and Meath under king Brian Boru inflict a crushing defeat on the allied armies of Leinster and Dublin near Lyons Hill in Ireland. 1066 – Granada massacre: A Muslim mob storms the royal palace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city. 1419 – Hundred Years' War: Battle of La Rochelle. 1460 – Wars of the Roses: Lancastrians kill the 3rd Duke of York and win the Battle of Wakefield. 1702 – Queen Anne's War: James Moore, Governor of the Province of Carolina, abandons the Siege of St. Augustine. 1813 – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York. 1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed. 1825 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed. 1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest. 1890 – Following the Wounded Knee Massacre, the United States Army and Lakota warriors face off in the Drexel Mission Fight. 1896 – Filipino patriot and reform advocate José Rizal is executed by a Spanish firing squad in Manila. 1896 – Canadian ice hockey player Ernie McLea scores the first hat-trick in Stanley Cup play, and the Cup-winning goal as the Montreal Victorias defeat the Winnipeg Victorias 6–5. 1897 – The British Colony of Natal annexes Zululand. 1903 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills at least 605. 1905 – Former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg is assassinated at the front gate of his home in Caldwell. 1906 – The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India (later Dhaka, Bangladesh). 1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Moscow river three days later. 1916 – The last coronation in Hungary is performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita. 1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed. 1927 – The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opens in Tokyo, Japan. 1935 – The Italian Air Force bombs a Swedish Red Cross hospital during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. 1936 – The Flint sit-down strike hits General Motors. 1943 – Subhas Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair. 1944 – King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving the throne vacant. 1947 – Cold War: King Michael I of Romania is forced to abdicate by the Soviet Union-backed Communist government of Romania. 1952 – An RAF Avro Lancaster bomber crashed in Luqa, Malta after an engine failure, killing three crew members and a civilian on the ground. 1958 – The Guatemalan Air Force sinks several Mexican fishing boats alleged to have breached maritime borders, killing three and sparking international tension. 1972 – Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker II ends. 1993 – Israel establishes diplomatic relations with Vatican City and also upgrades to full diplomatic relations with Ireland. 1996 – Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel. 1997 – In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people from four villages are killed. 2000 – Rizal Day bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a period of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred. 2004 – A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194. 2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin. 2006 – Madrid–Barajas Airport is bombed. 2006 – The Indonesian passenger ferry MV Senopati Nusantara sinks in a storm, resulting in at least 400 deaths. 2006 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed. 2009 – A segment of the Lanzhou–Zhengzhou–Changsha pipeline ruptures in Shaanxi, China, and approximately 150,000 l (40,000 US gal) of diesel oil flows down the Wei River before finally reaching the Yellow River. 2009 – A suicide bomber kills nine people at Forward Operating Base Chapman, a key facility of the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan. 2013 – More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

#Events

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkQNPnSKxkg

When I was majoring in music in undergrad, back in The Nineties, we didn’t learn a whole lot about Soviet music.  I don’t think that we knew as much about it as we’d discover later, once the old Soviet archives started being opened up and Western researchers were invited in.  Certainly my professors had learned even less back when they were in grad school.  And one thing that we really didn’t learn about until relatively recently was Jewish musicians in the early Soviet Union.

This piece was composed by Aleksandr Krein, the son of a klezmer musician from Nizhnii Novgorod, and it’s a piece of early twentieth-century chamber music based on “Hebrew themes.”  Back in the 1910s and 1920s, there were actually Societies for Jewish music in Moscow, and there were state theaters in both Hebrew and Yiddish.  There were more than a few composers who wanted to bring Jewish elements into Soviet culture, in hopes of having the Jews recognized as part of the Soviet conglomerate.  Ultimately, this didn’t pan out so well, but the effort was there, well into the twentieth century. 

Krein is applying the techniques and harmonic vocabulary of early twentieth-century modernism to Jewish liturgical themes here, and the result is lovely.  This kind of playful, open-sounding music was “modern music” right up until first the Nazis pushed back against it and then the Soviets picked it up as “socialist realism.”  At which point, following WWII, The West clearly had no choice but to let Stockhausen and the Darmstadt School loose to combat the Evil Communist Music with the kind of “dear God, will someone stop strangling that cat” music that university composition departments love to teach and that almost no one really enjoys listening to.

But before all that, there was a klezmer’s son, who wanted to turn his people’s music into beautiful, playful modern art.

#jewish music

[newsiepedia]

Character Profile: Davey (Musical and Film Version)

Real Name: David Jacobs

Nickname and Meaning: Davey (diminutive of David), Walking Mouth (given to him by Spot for talking so much)

Age: In the film script, Davey is stated to be 15, and his brother 8. (Newsies Film script, page 6) However, in the stage musical, Les says that he is “ten, almost”, (Newsies Live script, page 11) so Davey could be as old as 17. 

Gender: Davey is always played by a man. 

Family: Esther and Mayer Jacobs (parents), Sarah (sister) and Les (brother)

Davey…:

Is book smart. Not only is he the first one to suggest a strike, he knows everything the newsies would need to make it official and successful. (Newsies Live script, pages 25, 26, 27, 32) He has an extensive vocabulary (often causing his points to go right over the newsies’ heads), (Newsies Live script, pages 27, 32) (Newsies Film script, page 46) and is an eloquent public speaker. (Newsies Live script, pages 27, 28, 53, 54, 55, 63) His solo in Seize the Day is essentially a persuasive speech, telling the newsies not to quit- and one that works very well. (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 41, 42, 43) 

Is street stupid. Davey comes to the circulation gate not knowing anything about buying papers, (Newsies Live script, page 10) and when he tries to sell, not only does he lack charisma, he seems to have never heard a newsie hawk a headline in his entire life. (Newsies Live script, page 16) He also has no idea who Warden Snyder is, despite probably being in the poorest family he knows (until he meets the newsies, of course). (Newsies Live script, page 17)

Says what he thinks. When Jack spit shakes with Les, Davey tells him flat out “that’s disgusting”, (Newsies Live script, page 12) tells Katherine she’s not a “real reporter” before he even knows her, (Newsies Live script, page 34) and says “that’s it?” when Kath starts dancing during King of New York (Newsies Live script, page 50) - certainly not the best first impression a guy could make. He isn’t mean, though- he also readily complements Jack on his art (Newsies Live script, page 19) and lets him know how much he cares about him. (Newsies Live script, page 69)

Doesn’t understand social cues very well. When Jack is having his personal moping session after Crutchie’s arrest, Davey completely misreads the room. He talks about himself, and how worried he was about Jack (Newsies Live script, page 53) and then acts like nothing is wrong, and Jack ought to be happy the strike is going so well. (Newsies Live script, page 53, 54) He even tells Jack “Lighten up, no one died”, even though Crutchie very well could. (Newsies Live script, page 55) He also continues to mention his parents around the newsies, despite seeing how uncomfortable it makes them, (Newsies Live script, pages 16, 17, 23, 53) and tries to sell papers to a couple while they were making out. (Newsies Film script, page 21)

Is very protective of his brother. He mostly shows this by keeping him in line and out of trouble, like keeping him away from people who could hurt him (Newsies Live script, page 42) (Newsies Film script, page 30) and not letting him gawk at the Bowery Beauties. (Newsies Live script, page 18) He also looks after Les’s future, reminding him that they’re going back to school as soon as their father can work again. (Newsies Live script, page 16) 

Has a strong sense of ethics, which includes:

Honesty. Davey objects strongly to Jack’s “improving the truth a little”. (Newsies Film script, page 23) His dishonestly clearly marks him as a bad seed in Davey’s book, as when he says he was put in jail for stealing food, he becomes “suspicious”. (Newsies Film script, page 26) Though he learns to trust Jack over time, he brings up the lying again when Jack scabs, saying “You lie about everything headlines, your family -- because nobody counts but you -- nobody or nothing!” (Newsies Film script, page 105) Him bringing up honesty at such an emotional time shows how much it means to him.

Justice. Davey is very enthusiastic about the strike. He talks grandly about all the good striking will do- getting the newsies more rights, teaching adults they can’t exploit kids and get away with it, and helping other poor people. (Newsies Live script, pages 27, 63) He also preaches the importance of supporting other poor people to Medda when he’s trying to get the theater for the rally. (Newsies Film script, page 71)

Nonviolence. Davey strongly objects to beating up the scabbing newsies throughout the play, (Newsies Live script, pages 28, 41) (Newsies Film script, page 43, 80, 104) and is clearly disturbed by the violence of the police to the newsies (Newsies Film script, page 92) and the trolley strikers to each other. (Newsies Film script, page 30) The only time in either show Davey resorts to physical violence is when the Delancey brothers threaten his sister. (Newsies Film script, page 111)

Loyalty. Once Davey has committed to the strike, he really commits. He sticks by the newsies when they don’t (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 41, 42, 43), even going so far as to find their leader and bring him back when he tries to quit. (Newsies Live script, page 53)

Isn’t very social. When Jack buys him papers and offers to sell with him, Davey rejects him off the bat. (Newsies Film script, page 18) Even when he accepts the deal, Davey only does it “reluctantly”, (Newsies Film script, page 19) and he’s suspicious of Denton at first. (Newsies Film script, page 48) Also, he doesn’t appear to have any friends besides his sister, as he often talks to her about Jack. (Newsies Film script, page 75) However, he becomes more comfortable with them after they prove themselves trustworthy.

Is a nervous person. His dialogue is peppered with filler words (Newsies Live script, pages 17, 26, 27) (Newsies Film script, page 52) and dashes, (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 56) (Newsies Film script, page 51, 62, 101, 105, 123) showing that he isn’t confident in his ability to speak. He also asks the newsies to “leave him out” of the strike because he thinks it’s too risky, (Newsies Live script, page 25) and refuses to go to Brooklyn without Jack to protect him, (Newsies Live script, page 33) and starts “sweating, aware that all eyes are on him” while arguing with Wiesel about his papers. (Newsies Film script, page 17) This could be caused by him being the least favorite child in his family. (Highlights of the 1991 Script)

Is brave. Despite his anxiety, Davey doesn’t hesitate to stick up for himself or others. When Wiesel tries to cheat him out of a paper, Davey calls his mistake and doesn’t back down until he gets what he wants. (Newsies Live script, page 11) During the strike, he stands up for the cause the most and doesn’t back down when things get scary. His courage inspires the other newsies to stick with it. (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 41, 42, 43) 

Could be on the autism spectrum. Davey shows a lot of autistic traits, such as not understanding social cues and having difficulty approaching strangers. His large amounts of knowledge on striking and unions could also be because they’re his special interest.

Headcanon Fuel:

Why is Davey neither of his parents’ favorite child?

Why does Davey value honesty, justice, loyalty and nonviolence so much?

Why did Davey become a newsie (rather than picking some other job)?

Why doesn’t Davey want to be friends with the newsies at first?

Actors and Physical Appearance:

David Moscow

Ben Fankhauser

Jacob Kemp

Stephen Michael Langton

Davey is tall and scrawny, with dark curly hair and a prominent nose. He dresses to impress. Davey and his family are canonically Jewish and at least half Polish, as was made clear in a previous version of the script. (Highlights of the 1991 Script)

#newsiepedia #davey jacobs #david jacobs #newsies #newsies live #livesies #92sies

[davidshawnsown]

COMMEMORATIVE MESSAGE IN HONOR OF THE 74TH VICTORY DAY, THE 71ST ANNIVERSARY OF ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE AND THE 108TH ANNIVERSARY OF NAVAL AVIATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Ladies and gentlemen, to all the people of the United States of America and Canada and of the other combatant countries which formed the victorious Allies of the Second World War, to all our living veterans of the Second World War of 1939-1945 and of all conflicts past and present and their families, to our veterans, active servicemen and women and reservists of the entire United States Armed Forces and the Canadian Armed Forces, to all the immediate families, relatives, children and grandchildren of the deceased veterans, fallen service personnel and wounded personnel of our military services and civil uniformed security and civil defense services, to all our workers, farmers and intellectuals, to our youth and personnel serving in youth uniformed organizations, youth interest and hobby groups, youth sports and cadet organizations and all our athletes, coaches, judges, sports trainers and sports officials, and to all our sports fans, to all our workers of culture, music, traditional arts and the theatrical arts, radio, television, digital media and social media, cinema, heavy and light industry, business and the press, and to all our people of the free world:

To all of you whenever you are all over the world, our greetings of peace and goodwill as we celebrate as one people the 74th year of the Victory Day in the Eastern Front against Nazism and Fascism in the Second World War in Europe, the 69th Europe Day and the 108th anniversary of the beginning of Naval Aviation in the United States of America, a day of great importance and significance to millions of people all over the world, and in keeping with the traditions of the Jewish calendar, celebrate with the people of Israel and all Jews all over the world in celebrating the 71st anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel.

It was 74 years ago that the whole world, even though knowing that it would be a few more months before the Second World War would end in the Asia-Pacific, celebrated today the victory announced on the 8th of May 1945, following the historic signing of the documents of unconditional surrender of the vanquished armed forces, government and people of Nazi Germany to the victorious armed forces, governments and people of all the combatant Allied Nations whose representatives were in Berlin, the ruined German capital, for the ceremony, just as at the same time as joint force of Soviets and Czechoslovaks, together with select US Army personnel and local resistance organizations, were finishing the liberation of Prague from German forces after years of occupation, officially marking the conclusion of a five-year long war against the Axis aggressor in Europe and Northern Africa,  a long war which actually began in the summer of 1937 with the Japanese invasion of parts of China and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and was integrated into a wider world war with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and would end just 3 months later. It was on the early morning of this day in Moscow that as everyone celebrated the great victory won against the forces of international fascism All-Union Radio of the Soviet Union aired to the entire country the orders of the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Armed Forces, General  Secretary of the All Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and Premier of the Soviet Union,  Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, officially declaring that after 3 years and 11 months since the start of the war in the Eastern Front of the European Theater of Operations on June 22, 1941, the very day the Wehrmacht began its advance on the Soviet Union, and having successfully achieved as a major combatant country of the Allies its important military, civil and economic contribution in the final and definite defeat of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and its allies and the liberation of eastern parts of Europe, at a higher cost of millions of lives lost and millions of servicemen and women killed in action than that of the other Allied countries combined, ravaged lands, and ruined communities and industries in Eastern Europe, and 5 years, 8 months and 8 days since the official beginning of the Second World War with the German invasion of the Republic of Poland on September  1, 1939, all the combat hostilities and related actions of the Soviet Armed Forces – composed of the servicemen and women of the  Workers’ and Peasants Red Army, Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Air Force and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Navy, together with the military and police forces of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the partisan formations supported by the government and the Communist Party and assisted by the other Allied countries through the Lend-Lease program, were officially concluded, and the whole Soviet Union, together with all the combatant armed forces, security services and people of the triumphant Allied nations, today mark the great victory won at the cost of billions of lives all over parts of Europe and Northern Africa against the forces of the Axis Powers, their governments and armed forces, as well as their political parties, with deep respect and profound celebration. The victory in which we celebrate today is one victory fought all through these 5 years of warfare in land, air and sea battles, conventional and unconventional warfare operations throughout the European and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations, wherein our brave soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and coast guardsmen of the United States Armed Forces, the soldiers, sailors and aviators of the Canadian Armed Forces and servicemen and women of the armed forces and security services of all the Allied countries, as well as Allied-backed partisans and guerillas in enemy occupied territories and servicemen and women of the intelligence agencies, assisted at home by workers of the home front, athletes and workers of culture and the arts, helped with all their hearts and minds, united in the common cause of victory over the Axis Powers in Europe and Northern Africa, with bravery, courage, determination and firm commitment to the defense of freedom and independence fought hard against determined enemies in land, air and sea conventional and unconventional operations. Our millions of men and women who fought bravely during these days even at the cost of losing themselves and fellow service personnel and even having to suffer combat related injuries for the sake of defeating the Axis Powers and ending once and for all the threat of international fascism. It is the sacrifices of these men and women on the front and at home – these millions who are now known as our greatest generation – that enabled all the Allied nations to win this war, first in Europe and Northern Africa, and later on in the Asia-Pacific, against the forces of the Axis Powers!

For the sake of the millions who suffered and died in the hands of the enemy, including those repressed by the Axis Powers and those who died under enemy fire, our millions of men and women in the uniformed services of the Allied Nations fought with firm resolve and determination in many great battles as they walked on the long, dirty and bumpy road to the victory over the Axis Powers. Today, only few thousands are left of the millions who survived the conclusion of the war and of those who helped at home to sustain the fighting men and women in the frontlines, but their memories are still fresh, even though fading, of the role they played in the victory that we celebrate today. It is them who are on our thoughts today as we mark this important anniversary, while at the same time we await the 75th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of this great victory next year and the conclusion of this war. Today, once again we thank these men and women for all they have done to bring us this day of great victory against the forces of international fascism and promise them that we will do our best to forever honor their efforts to win the victory over the Axis Powers and their legacy to the history of humankind. As the years come and go and the waves of rising activism and extremism go higher, let us hope their legacy will help us combat this rising danger to the peace and progress we long for. Thus, this day means so much to them, their relatives and the relatives of the millions of war dead.

Indeed, this official announcement of Moscow meant that today, May 9, the original Victory in Europe Day, marks the official day that after 5 years, 8 months and 8 days of warfare marked by millions of deaths all over much of Europe and parts of Northern Africa, the suffering of even more people than ever before, and the economy and infrastructure scarred all over the countries where the war was fought, with the war now over and the Axis powers finally surrendered  to the victorious Allies, the people of much of Europe where the war had directly affected their way of life now celebrated with joy, happiness, and with tears in their eyes knowing that their suffering has come to an end and the fascist enemy had finally been defeated, and thus the road had opened for the promise of peace and reconstruction. Therefore, on this very day, we remember the victories of the Allied forces in Europe and North Africa that really led up to the victorious end of the conflict in this part of the world on May 8 and 9, 1945, forever remembered as that great victory over the forces of fascism and imperialism in those places in the world where it took root during the 1920s and 1930s, especially during the years of the Great Depression. Even through yesterday, May 8, is earmarked as Victory in Europe Day in much of Europe, the US and Canada, the holiday celebrations marked today in much  of the former Soviet Union except for the Baltic republics of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, and in Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, honor the very victory the world achieved against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and their allies and sympathizers, and the people behind them, the very victory won at a very hard cost of millions of dead and injured, and destroyed infrastructure and industries in much of Europe itself and in parts of Northern Africa, save for neutral Spanish Morocco, as well as sunk merchant shipping and naval vessels in the Mediterranean, the Arctic  and the Atlantic.

Out of respect and gratitude for the liberty they fought so hard and even risked to die for it, even as the rising of neo-fascist and socialist aligned groups have become for us a source of anxiety and concern all over the world in these recent times, even in the midst of the terrorist attacks in many parts of the world in recent years, today, on this very day that we celebrate the 74th year anniversary of this great victory over the Axis in Europe and northern parts of Africa, we once again pay our tribute and remember the millions of our military, paramilitary and civil uniformed personnel of the all the Allied combatant nations who served during the 5-year long world war, and the hundreds of thousands of war veterans who still remain living, as well as our home front veterans of the conflict living and deceased, and most of all, we cannot forget to honor the millions of the Allied fallen and civilian fatalities of this long conflict that forever changed not just Europe and Northern Africa, but of all over the world. Their stories of bravery, courage and determination to win the victory are the memories we honor today through books, films, television and other forms of media and art, in which we teach our future generations and our children the cost of freedom and liberty and the people who risked all to make it happen. Ii is through these forms we remember the great heroes and brave units that distinguished themselves during the course of the conflict, including the servicemen from Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regt., 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, XVII Airborne Corps, United States Army, dubbed today as the “Band of Brothers” after the book about them by the late Stephen Ambrose, the vanguard unit of the airborne forces of the United States Army in the campaigns in Normandy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Southern Germany, and in the 2014 film “Fury” by director David Ayer recalling the bravery of Allied tank crews in the final months of this war, including those under the 2nd Armored Division, and the recent Canadian TV drama X Company about the important role played by Allied intelligence and counter-espionage units and personnel. On this day of celebration for millions of people we once again send our greetings to the hundreds of thousands of men and women in active service and in the reserves in the armed forces,  police, public security, forestry, border security, civil defense and emergency services of the Allied combatant countries and their families, our working people, agricultural workers and those working in science and technology, education, tourism, culture and the arts and in the mass media and the press and all our sportsmen and women, as well as our military and civil uniformed service veterans and their families, and the families of all who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the defense of our principles and of our liberty and independence over the years since the conclusion of this war. By their legacy we therefore promise to forever honor their sacrifice and contribution to this great victory, work hard to defend the principles of independence and sovereignty and give all our time and talent in labor in times of war and peace for the sake of building a stronger, prosperous and independent world by building up our economy, improving education, help preserve the environment, promote culture and the arts, promote and protect the freedom of religion, promote a healthy lifestyle and a sporting way of life, and forever honor the places and people who are part of our history while maintaining readiness to instill in our future generations a spirit of preparedness to serve their country and people to the best of their ability and fight the evils that are still present in our world of today.

Today, together with all the people of the United States of America, we continue to celebrate the 108th year anniversary of the beginning of naval aviation in the United States of America on the 8th of May 1911, and reflect on the sacrifices made by all our men and women who are a part of this great service. Today’s United States Naval Aviation has indeed grown from its humble origins to become one of the world’s best and elite naval air forces of the world.  As the years have come and gone, naval aviation in the USA has evolved with the times, and will continue to carry on the spirit of the brave naval aviators of the wars they fought and the engagements they took part since their foundation. Beginning in the great city of San Diego, our naval aviators, from humble beginnings, have grown into a strong fighting arm of our naval services, protecting from the air the thousands of servicemen and women of the Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard, and providing the nation a strong assistance to the aviators of the Army and the Air Force, as well as our public security services. They have been always ready and prepared to face the dangers in front of them in the fulfillment of their duties for the country and the people, having fought in every conflict that the United States Armed Forces took part and have also been active in disaster relief operations at home and abroad, many of their servicemen and women having award state orders and decorations for their bravery and courage in the performance of their military service. Always up there in the blue skies as the best of the best, these Top Guns are the elite of our naval forces, Marine units and coast guard vessels and detachments assigned all over the country, continuing a long tradition of excellence in national defense and security and in assistance to its people in times of need, as well as in deployments abroad.

Today, we also mark together with the peoples of Europe the 68th anniversary since the framing of the 1950 Schurmann Declaration, the very document that prepared the future of Europe in the years to come, and thus laid up the road towards the full integration of the continent ravaged by both World Wars and towards the founding of the European Union we know today. This, without the efforts of those who fought to free the continent from the forces of fascism in Germany and Italy, would not have been possible, also without the efforts of those involved in that process to unite all of Europe as one united and great continent. Today, this union is in grave danger of destruction, given the rising tide of disunity by groups that caused the very war upon which the idea was created in its aftermath in order that the European people will never again experience the horrors of warfare, and against the influx of both immigrants and refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. Today, as we honor this historic moment for the European continent and her people let us always be ready to defend it against its opponents and work towards a brighter future for the peoples of this part of the world.

And today, in keeping with the Jewish calendar we celebrate the 71st year anniversary of the establishment of the independent state of Israel in 1948, a day marked for many Jews as the start of a new era after years of oppression with the formation of a new republic on the historical Jewish lands of Palestine, a land also important to Christians and Muslims, and a dream that has been centuries long for millions of them. After years of suffering and the deaths of millions of them in the Holocaust and in military and partisan operations during the Second World War the birth of the state of Israel was the fulfillment of years of efforts to create a Jewish nation, and today the people of Israel mark this day with joyful celebration and pray for the peace and progress of the state.

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of a grateful people, therefore  I greet you all in this historic triple holiday anniversary – the 74th year anniversary of the great victory won in Europe against the fascist Axis Powers, especially against Nazi Germany and the Italian Social Republic, the 69th of the anniversary of the Schurmann Declaration of 1950 and the 108th anniversary of naval aviation in the United States of America, as well as the 71st year anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel – a day of glorious celebration of peace, unity, progress and remembrance for the generations who forged the way towards this great world of freedom of the generations of today for the children of our tomorrow!

Thus, as we today mark these great anniversaries of our history, once again we send our greetings to all our remaining living Allied war veterans of the war in Europe, to  all the hundreds of thousands of the active, reserve and retired servicemen and women of the uniformed military, public security and civil defense services of all the combatant Allied countries, to all our veterans of succeeding conflicts and in UN peacekeeping operations worldwide and all active and reserve personnel , military families and veterans of United States naval aviation on this great holiday, sending to all our best wishes of a happy and long life and of peace, sending our prayers to Divine Providence for your health and wellbeing and for the eternal remembrance of the fallen of this great war, as we join with all of you and the rest of the world in celebrating the anniversaries marked on this very day. Even as the growing tide of evil may be rising again, united with the men and women of our NATO armed forces in the performance of their patriotic, internationalist and military duties for the sake of the freedom and independence of the peoples of the free world, armed with the best and modern equipment, arms, vehicles, ships and aircraft, and united with the public security services and the hard work of our people, no obstacle cannot be overcome, no problem can be left unsolved and no stone left unturned in our efforts to forever maintain the legacy left behind by these heroes of the Second World War and the brave aviators of the naval service of the United States, who fought at the cost of their lives to win the victory that we celebrate not just on this day but also every day of our lives!

Today, as we mark these great days in our history, may we never regret to recall the heroic deeds of our predecessors who fought in this war and of all our past naval aviators who flew throughout all these years for the sake of the freedom and independence not just of the United States of America, Canada and Israel, but the freedom and independence of all of the free world. May we as one united people never tire of honoring the memory of our heroic forebears and always work hard to be worthy of their sacrifices, most of all, for the sake of our present and for the future of our world and of all humanity. We will never forget their tireless sacrifices for the sake of the freedoms we enjoy today and always uphold what this victory truly means – a victory against the ever present forces of international fascism!

And in conclusion, as we today mark this historic anniversary since the victory in Europe and Northern Africa, the formation of United States naval aviation and the formation of the State of Israel, as we today mark this day with remembrance and joyful celebration, may we who keep this sacred holiday and recall the millions who died to make this victory possible  with respect and reverence especially for those who went before us shall be worthy of what they fought and died for, for building a world of peace, harmony and progress, a clean environment, and a brighter future for all our children and grandchildren - truly the very future that is truly worth defending and the very future our forefathers fought with their very own lives. With our greatest gratitude may we always and forever treasure in our hearts all those who have gone before us and have entrusted to us the spirit of defending our freedom and liberty in all those years from the beginning of the war up to the great victories in which we honor today, every day and in the years and decades to come!  And may we forever cherish the victory won today, the very reason of the freedoms we live, and forever kindle the fire of victory that will enflame our memories both now and in the brighter tomorrow that is to come!

And as the men of Easy will always say: WE STAND ALONE TOGETHER!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE FALLEN AND THE HEROES AND VETERANS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN EUROPE FROM 1939-1945!

ETERNAL GLORY TO ALL THOSE WHO GAVE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF OUR WORLD AGAINST FASCISM, NAZISM AND IMPERIALISM IN THE FIELDS OF BATTLE, THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS, AND IN THE HOME FRONT!

LONG LIVE THE VICTORIOUS ALLIES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN EUROPE, THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE ATLANTIC, THE ARCTIC AND IN NORTHERN AFRICA!

LONG LIVE THE EVER-VICTORIOUS PEOPLE OF THE FREE WORLD AND ALL OUR SERVING ACTIVE AND RESERVE SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN AND VETERANS OF THE ARMED SERVICES OF ALL THE COMBATANT ALLIED COUNTRIES THAT HELPED WIN THIS GREAT WAR AGAINST FASCISM AND NAZISM, AS WELL AS ALL OUR ACTIVE AND RESERVE SERVICE PERSONNEL, CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES AND VETERANS OF THE POLICE, FIREFIGHTING, FORESTRY, BORDER CONTROL, CUSTOMS AND RESCUE SERVICES!

GLORY TO THE HEROES, FALLEN AND VETERANS OF UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION AND TO THE GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS IT MADE TO THE NATION IT HAS ALWAYS SWORN TO DEFEND!

LONG LIVE THE ACTIVE AND RESERVE SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN AND VETERANS OF THE NAVAL AVIATION SERVICES OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS AND THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD!

LONG LIVE THE GLORIOUS 74TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN EUROPE AND NORTHERN AFRICA AND THE GREAT VICTORY OVER THE FORCES OF FASCISM!

LONG LIVE THE GLORIOUS 108TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF NAVAL AVIATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

LONG LIVE THE 71ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL!

GLORY TO THE VICTORIOUS PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CANADA, ISRAEL AND THEIR UNIFORMED SERVICES!

GLORY TO THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND CANADA AND THE ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCES, TOGETHER THE DEFENDERS OF OUR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY AND GUARANTEE OF A FUTURE WORTHY OF OUR GENERATIONS TO COME!

And to the entire HBO War Fandom, especially the fans of Band of Brothers, who will celebrate for all time this day of victory over Nazi Germany:

LONG LIVE EASY COMPANY, 2ND BATTALION, 506TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT, 4TH BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM AND NOW 3RD BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION (AIR ASSAULT), XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS, UNITED STATES ARMY… THE “BAND OF BROTHERS”!

CURRAHEE! AIR ASSAULT! ARMY STRONG!

A HAPPY VICTORY IN EUROPE DAY AND HAPPY 108TH BIRTHDAY TO NAVAL AVIATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

HOOOAH!  HOOYAH!

2330h, May 8, 2019, the 243rd year of the United States of America, the 244th year of the United States Army, Navy and Marine Corps, the 125th of the International Olympic Committee, the 123rd of the Olympic Games, the 101st since the conclusion of the First World War, the 80th of the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, the 78th since the beginning of the Second World War in the Eastern Front and in the Pacific Theater, the 73rd since the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the victories in Europe and the Pacific, the 72nd of the United States Armed Forces and the 52nd of the modern Canadian Armed Forces.

 Semper Fortis

JOHN EMMANUEL RAMOS-HENDERSON

Makati City, PH

 (Requiem for a Soldier) (Honor by Hans Zimmer)

(Slavsya from Mikhail Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar)

(Victory Day by Lev Leshenko)

(Last Post) (Taps) (Rendering Honors)

#hbo war #hbo war fandom #ve day #band of brothers #victory in europe day #victory day #den pobedy #yom haatzmaut #israel independence day

[ethnicassets]

👉1ST-have a look at how #Jews, very fastidiously, forged a #reparations agreement w/state of @Germany after #WWII. CLICK HERE #ADOS #itcanbeDONE #comeuppance #tyranny #restitution #atrocities @tariqnasheed @NLIsrael @drboycewatkins1

In the autumn of 1949, with the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany in the area occupied by the western Allied Powers, the nascent German state still lacked complete sovereignty in every realm. The laws of occupation were still valid and canceling them depended on a variety of political and financial arrangements. One of the conditions for complete German sovereignty pertained to the reparations to be paid to Holocaust victims. In principle, the political leadership of the State of Israel was interested in receiving reparations from Germany, but initially, was unprepared to enter into direct negotiations with German representatives. The Western Allied Powers for their part refused to demand reparations from Germany on Israel’s behalf, forcing both sides to sit around the negotiating table. Eventually, negotiations began in early 1952, in the city of The Hague, Holland.

The discussions between the two delegations were not easy. This was not surprising in light of the difficult topic and the fact that only seven years had passed since the liberation of the concentration camps and the end of WWII. Most of the population in West Germany opposed the reparations. The German public mainly was against the large sum that Chancellor Adenauer was prepared to accept as a starting point of the negotiations, some four billion German marks. However, Adenauer understood well that there was no alternative to reaching a compromise with the Israeli side, in order to restore West Germany to its proper standing among the nations of the world. In contrast, every claim against the East German government remained unanswered since the Communist regime, which obeyed instructions from Moscow, never recognized the responsibility of the entire German people for the Holocaust and the atrocities committed in its name until 1945. The discussions between the two delegations were not easy. This was not surprising in light of the difficult topic and the fact that only seven years had passed since the liberation of the concentration camps and the end of WWII. Most of the population in West Germany opposed the reparations. The German public mainly was against the large sum that Chancellor Adenauer was prepared to accept as a starting point of the negotiations, some four billion German marks. However, Adenauer understood well that there was no alternative to reaching a compromise with the Israeli side, in order to restore West Germany to its proper standing among the nations of the world. In contrast, every claim against the East German government remained unanswered since the Communist regime, which obeyed instructions from Moscow, never recognized the responsibility of the entire German people for the Holocaust and the atrocities committed in its name until 1945. Even before the negotiation between representatives of both countries (Felix Shinnar from the Israeli side and Franz Böhm from the German side) claims were submitted against formal entities in Germany. The claims were submitted at the level of various states within Germany that later comprised the Federal Republic – but there was no overarching German arrangement with clear objectives and sums. The negotiations between the countries were long and difficult. Many discussions were held, some of which conducted under a veil of secrecy out of fear that the representatives would be physically harmed. In May 1952, a serious crisis occurred, and the sides left the discussions following a heated debate regarding the amount to be paid as reparation. Ultimately, towards the end of 1952, the representatives – among them, the President of the World Jewish Congress, Nahum Goldmann – reached an agreement. According to the agreement, West Germany committed to supply the State of Israel with goods and services valuing 3.5 billion marks over a period of 12 years. Part of the agreement was the German assurance to enable personal reparations too, as well as the return of property to its legal owners. In order to follow through on this agenda, an additional sum of 450 million marks was promised. Not only did many German citizens have reservations about the agreement-in-process. Considerable portions of the Israeli public were also unprepared to accept neither the very concept of negotiations with Germany nor the funds from the “land of the murderers,” which was defined by opponents as “blood money.” Menachem Begin led the struggle against the agreement and against David Ben Gurion’s basic policy, which for years promoted rapprochement between Israel and West Germany. In the spring of 1952, when the negotiations between the two parties was already underway, Begin gave speeches at mass demonstrations organized against the reparations. Demonstrators included many Holocaust victims who had not come to terms with the contact between the Jewish State and the Germans, who only seven years earlier had been part of the Third Reich, the embodiment of evil in modern Jewish history. The short period of time since the Holocaust, the profound shock experienced by the Jewish public on discovering its extent and results, and the signs of Germany's quick rebound to the community of legitimate nations, aroused strong feelings and caused an uproar among the Jews in Israel and around the world. The thought that those who just yesterday had been the worst murderers of the Jews would today pay monetary compensation for an unforgivable crime was for many an intolerable prospect. A certain opposition arose also to the idea that the young State of Israel was taking on itself to represent the Jews as a whole and was agreeing in their name to accept monetary compensation from the Germans. The matter was so sensitive that the state authorities preferred to speak of “reparations,” relying on a little used Hebrew term, shilumim, which stresses payment and avoids describing the nature of the payment. The term replaced the problematic concept of “compensation,” in order to avoid creating the impression that the state believed that it was possible to compensate survivors and offspring of the victims for what the Nazis had done to them. On September 10, 1952, the representatives signed the agreement. The signing took place at a neutral location: at the town hall of Luxembourg. Moshe Sharett, as the Israeli Foreign Minister, Nahum Goldmann, representing the Jewish Agency, and Konrad Adenauer, as presiding Foreign Minister (together with his role as Chancellor of the Federal Republic). Today, most historians agree that it is thanks to Adenauer that the agreement received political support in Germany, support which had not existed during the various stages of contacts made to pave the way to the agreement. His sincere understanding that there was no doubt regarding the responsibility of modern Germany for Nazi crimes shaped one of the basic guidelines of German policy to this day. Indeed, Germany’s recognition of its responsibility for Nazi crimes and the special relationship with the State of Israel rooted in it are foundation stones in the relations between two countries, regardless of the makeup of the governments of Germany and Israel. As part of the reparations, many goods reached Israel which helped the state economy to stabilize over the years. For example, Israel received new-fangled German-manufactured trains, which were operated for a number of years by the Israel Railways. However, it quickly became apparent that the delicate motors could not withstand the climatic conditions of the Middle East, so that the trains were removed from service. Some of the cars enjoyed a surprising second career: one was donated to the medical non-profit “Yad Sarah,” and served as the organization's office in Jerusalem. Another car serves today as a home for the “HaKaron” ["the train-car"] puppet theater, located in the Liberty Bell Garden in Jerusalem

#ADOS itcanbeDONE comeuppance tyranny restitution atrocities

[now-watching]

Actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater Solomon Mikhoels, who was murdered on the personal orders of Stalin in 1948, on stage as King Lear and Tevye the Milkman. “Refusenik” (2007), dir. Laura Bialis

#Refusenik #film #documentary #history

[yourjagmohanjaggu-blog]

Paul Robeson was a famous African-American athlete, singer, actor, and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world. He rose to prominence in a time when segregation was legal in the United States, and Black people were being lynched by racist mobs, especially in the South.

Born on April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, Paul Robeson was the youngest of five children. His father was a runaway slave who went on to graduate from Lincoln University, and his mother came from an abolitionist Quaker family. Robeson's family knew both hardship and the determination to rise above it. His own life was no less challenging.

In 1915, Paul Robeson won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University. Despite violence and racism from teammates, he won 15 varsity letters in sports (baseball, basketball, track) and was twice named to the All-American Football Team. He received the Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year, belonged to the Cap & Skull Honor Society, and graduated as Valedictorian. However, it wasn't until 1995, 19 years after his death, that Paul Robeson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

At Columbia Law School (1919-1923), Robeson met and married Eslanda Cordoza Goode, who was to become the first Black woman to head a pathology laboratory. He took a job with a law firm, but left when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him. He left the practice of law to use his artistic talents in theater and music to promote African and African-American history and culture.

In London, Robeson earned international acclaim for his lead role in Othello, for which he won the Donaldson Award for Best Acting Performance (1944), and performed in Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings. He is known for changing the lines of the Showboat song "Old Man River" from the meek "...I'm tired of livin' and 'feared of dyin'....," to a declaration of resistance, "... I must keep fightin' until I'm dying....". His 11 films included Body and Soul (1924), Jericho (1937), and Proud Valley (1939). Robeson's travels taught him that racism was not as virulent in Europe as in the U.S. At home, it was difficult to find restaurants that would serve him, theaters in New York would only seat Blacks in the upper balconies, and his performances were often surrounded with threats or outright harassment. In London, on the other hand, Robeson's opening night performance of Emperor Jones brought the audience to its feet with cheers for twelve encores.

Paul Robeson used his deep baritone voice to promote Black spirituals, to share the cultures of other countries, and to benefit the labor and social movements of his time. He sang for peace and justice in 25 languages throughout the U.S., Europe, the Soviet Union, and Africa. Robeson became known as a citizen of the world, equally comfortable with the people of Moscow, Nairobi, and Harlem. Among his friends were future African leader Jomo Kenyatta, India's Nehru, historian Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, anarchist Emma Goldman, and writers James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. In 1933, Robeson donated the proceeds of All God's Chillun to Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany. At a 1937 rally for the anti-fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War, he declared, "The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative." In New York in 1939, he premiered in Earl Robinson's Ballad for Americans, a cantata celebrating the multi-ethnic, multi-racial face of America. It was greeted with the largest audience response since Orson Welles' famous "War of the Worlds."

During the 1940s, Robeson continued to perform and to speak out against racism, in support of labor, and for peace. He was a champion of working people and organized labor. He spoke and performed at strike rallies, conferences, and labor festivals worldwide. As a passionate believer in international cooperation, Robeson protested the growing Cold War and worked tirelessly for friendship and respect between the U.S. and the USSR. In 1945, he headed an organization that challenged President Truman to support an anti-lynching law. In the late 1940s, when dissent was scarcely tolerated in the U.S., Robeson openly questioned why African Americans should fight in the army of a government that tolerated racism. Because of his outspokenness, he was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of being a Communist. Robeson saw this as an attack on the democratic rights of everyone who worked for international friendship and for equality. The accusation nearly ended his career. Eighty of his concerts were canceled, and in 1949 two interracial outdoor concerts in Peekskill, N.Y. were attacked by racist mobs while state police stood by. Robeson responded, "I'm going to sing wherever the people want me to sing...and I won't be frightened by crosses burning in Peekskill or anywhere else."

In 1950, the U.S. revoked Robeson's passport, leading to an eight-year battle to resecure it and to travel again. During those years, Robeson studied Chinese, met with Albert Einstein to discuss the prospects for world peace, published his autobiography, Here I Stand, and sang at Carnegie Hall. Two major labor-related events took place during this time. In 1952 and 1953, he held two concerts at Peace Arch Park on the U.S.-Canadian border, singing to 30-40,000 people in both countries. In 1957, he made a transatlantic radiophone broadcast from New York to coal miners in Wales. In 1960, Robeson made his last concert tour to New Zealand and Australia. In ill health, Paul Robeson retired from public life in 1963. He died on January 23, 1976, at age 77, in Philadelphia.

#Paul Robeson

[moritmblrdlastudiow]

Israel Joshua Singer (left), Melech Ravitch (right), Ravitch’s wife, and their two children, Yosl and Ruth, ca. 1925. (YIVO)

Singer, Israel Joshua

(1893–1944), Yiddish fiction writer. Born in Biłgoraj, Lublinprovince, Israel Joshua Singer was the second child in a family of Yiddish writers that included his elder sister, Esther Singer Kreitman, and his younger brother, Isaac Bashevis Singer. Singer spent much of his childhood in another small town, Leoncin, Warsaw province.

Singer received a traditional Jewish education and was influenced by the opposing strains of Jewish thought represented by his Misnagdic mother and his Hasidic father. When he was 14, the family moved to the Hasidic court at Radzimin and then to Warsaw, where Singer worked as an unskilled laborer and proofreader. He studied painting and hid in an artists’ atelier to avoid the military. By 1918, when he traveled to Kiev and Moscow, he had already begun publishing his earliest stories.

In Moscow, he was influenced by Dovid Bergelson. But, dissatisfied with his reception among Soviet Yiddish writers and unhappy with their politics, Singer returned to Warsaw in late 1921. Singer associated with the small, fluid group of writers called Di Khalyastre (The Gang), who opposed both social realism and romanticized depictions of Jewish life and who announced a new, though brief, expressionist episode in Yiddish literature. Their journal, Khalyastre, included illustrations by Marc Chagall and poems, stories, and essays by Perets Markish, Melech Ravitch, Uri Tsevi Grinberg, Yoysef Opatoshu, Oyzer Varshavski, Dovid Hofshteyn, and Singer.

When Singer published his most ambitious work to date, a short story titled “Perl” (Pearls) in Ringen(1921), he attracted the attention of Abraham Cahan, the powerful editor of the New York Yiddish daily, the Forverts. Singer served as a correspondent for the newspaper, reporting on his travels to Galicia in 1924, throughout Poland in 1926, and then once again to the Soviet Union in the same year; in 1931 he met Cahan in Berlin and then visited the United States for several months in 1932, before finally settling there in 1934. His travelogue, Nay Rusland (New Russia; 1928), as well as his subsequent work, appeared first in the Forverts. He wrote fiction under his own name and journalistic essays primarily under the pseudonym G. Kuper, his wife’s maiden name. He and his wife had two sons, one of whom died just before the family’s emigration from Poland.

Singer’s first novel, Shtol un Ayzn (1927; in English translation, Blood Harvest; 1935; and Steel and Iron; 1969) generated considerable controversy about the place of politics in fiction. Accused of not understanding politics and convinced that his critics were merely Communist or socialist party hacks, Singer publicly renounced Yiddish literature, turning to journalism instead. But just four years later, he published his second and most successful novel, Yoshe Kalb (1932; in English translation, The Sinner; 1933; and Yoshe Kalb; 1965). He published three more novels after his arrival in the United States: Di brider Ashkenazi (1936; in English translation, The Brothers Ashkenazi;1936 and 1980); Khaver Nakhmen (1938; published in English as East of Eden; 1939); Di mishpokhe Karnovski (1943; in English translation, The Family Carnovsky; 1969).

Adapted for the stage, Yoshe Kalb was performed in New York in 1932 and became one of the most critically acclaimed and financially successful plays ever produced in the Yiddish theater. Less successful adaptations of his other novels followed: Di brider Ashkenazi in 1938, Khaver Nakhmen in 1939, and Di mishpokhe Karnovski in 1943. In addition, a collection of stories, Friling (Spring; 1937) appeared in Warsaw and two posthumous works were issued in New York: his autobiographical memoir, Fun a velt vos iz nishto mer (1946; in English translation, Of a World that Is No More; 1970), and Dertseylungen (Stories; 1949).

His epic novel, Di brider Ashkenazi, traces the history of twin brothers and the industrial city of Łódź. Written in the first years of Nazi rule, it ends with World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the establishment of an independent Poland. But for the Jews in this novel, these events have less resonance than the end that is depicted in the infamous 1918 pogrom in Lwów. The fates of the religious and the Marxist, the assimilated and the traditional Jew are identical.

By the time Singer wrote Di mishpokhe Karnovski, he was explicitly coming to terms with the early years of what was already being called in Yiddish the khurbn (the Holocaust). The novel traces three generations through half a century, following a family from a Polish shtetl to Berlin to New York, and ending almost at the moment of publication. At the end of the novel, Singer leaves his characters’ fates uncertain, a sign of the difficulty of conceiving of a coherent conclusion to the conflicts of the novel and current history. Singer’s energies were no doubt placed elsewhere. His correspondence during the period is full of increasing concern about his family’s fate under the Nazis. (He could not maintain contact with his mother and youngest brother, Mosheh, caught in the war’s upheaval. Neither survived the war, and Singer died still uncertain of their fates.)

#Israel Joshua Singer #Yiddish #literature #Singer