history

I watched as people went to the memorial reading the names. I started at the first entry from 1954. I read each one quietly but out loud to myself, like I__ done with the names of those in the museum. I felt somehow they were getting the message that their sacrifice was known and their voice was heard.

Other forces were at work besides conformism. But without the conformists, the great atrocities would have been impossible.

There was a certain untamed energy about the west of Ireland _ full of tragedy and struggle, sown with the flesh of the departed.

Words are water in this city. One drop of rumour could drown us.

The study of history can be sobering and shocking, and morally troubling. One does not have to believe in original sin to do it successfully, but it probably helps. By relentlessly placing on display the pervasive crookedness of humanity's timber, history brings us back to earth, equips us to resist the powerful lure of radical expectations, and reminds us of the grimmer possibilities of human nature--possibilities that, for most people living in most times, have not been the least bit imaginary. With such realizations firmly in hand, we are far better equipped to move forward in the right way.

flaunting the Kohinoor on the Queen Mother__ crown in the Tower of London is a powerful reminder of the injustices perpetrated by the former imperial power. Until it is returned__t least as a symbolic gesture of expiation__t will remain evidence of the loot, plunder and misappropriation that colonialism was really all about. Perhaps that is the best argument for leaving the Kohinoor where it emphatically does not belong__n British hands.

More history than ever is today being revised or invented by people who do not want the real past, but only a past that suits their purpose. Today is the great age of historical mythology. The defence of history by its professionals is today more urgent in politics than ever. We are needed.

South African history did not start in 1652.

future could be read much more clearly in the streets, factories, and barracks than in the morning press.

If the ravens leave the Tower, Britain will fall.

When did the very first case of racism even occur? When did such blind hatred devour the souls of men and make them turn on their own brothers and sisters? What ever taught them that it was normal to be such monsters?

A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad.

My mother__ father, Grandfather Thieme, the son of a railroad engineer, looked quite dapper as a young man. Prior to 1933 the Hamburg Police Department consisted of 21 units, with 2,100 men. My grandfather was a Polizist with the Sicherheitspolizei or uniformed policeman with the department. Later, with an expansion of the Hamburg Police Department to 5,500 men and the formation of an investigative branch, he was promoted to the esteemed position of a Kriminalbeamte inspector. He rose to the rank of Chief of Detectives, and had a reputation of being tough, and not someone you could mess with. Having a baldhead and the general appearance of Telly Savalas, the late Hollywood movie actor, I don__ think anyone did. An action story and part of my grandfather__ legacy was when he chased a felon across the rooftops of prewar Hamburg, firing his Dienstpistole, service revolver, as he made his way from one steep inclined slate roof to the next.Of course, Grandpa got his man! Even with this factual tidbit, there isn__ all that much I know about him, other than that, at the then ripe old age of sixty-four, he peacefully died in his chair while reading the evening newspaper.

Media is so influenceable, yet so influent. Whoever controls the media controls the society, and its opinion.

I look out at the reservation, still and glittering with casinos, and think of all the death dried up and buried in its dirt.

These last months, I have learned that the acknowledged history that belongs to the daylight, that is not the only history. Turn over the stone and you will find another history, wriggling to escape.

The original KDF-wagen as it was called was basic and rudimentary, but essentially the same as the later post war production cars that followed. Features of this vehicle included cable operated brakes (!!) and a tiny 800cc flat four motor with a single exhaust, 16 inch tires and the KDF twin glove compartment (without lids) dash.Oh, and last but not least _ probably the most famous and sought-after rear window in automotive history!

Looking back upon millennia of history, it appears clear that no race or culture has monopoly on wartime cruelty. The veneer of civilization seems to be exceedingly thin _ one that can be easily stripped away, especially by the stresses of war.