#both suffered under the oppression of the nazi regime

[bisexualpussy]

white queer goy will bend over fucking backwards all day trying to explain to me, a Jew, how actually the holocaust was never about Jews at the start. How it was actually rooted in queerphobia and ableism, NOT solely antisemitism. As if the nazis didn't believe that Jews carried "unfavorable traits" and were generally viewed as dirty/subhuman. As if the nazis didn't believe that queerness was an idea introduced and perpetuated by Jews that was now "infecting" the wider populous.

Like shut the fuck up u sound dumb as hell when you say that the holocaust wasn't about Jews because Your Lily White Ass is experiencing oppression for the first time

[alpaca-clouds]

Revolution in the Media

The Mageseeker game is coming out in two days – and I kinda want to talk about it. About Sylas and about Demacia. Because holy fuck, I hate the Demacia storyline in League of Legends. Like, some of the other storylines have their faults (big faults at time, let’s face it, the entire Noxus thing is not that much better), but Demacia? Demacia will tell you: “Are Nazis really so much worse than the people fighting against them?”

And this is… sadly a problem that American media has in general. Especially during the last… ten or so years. And I want to talk about it.

The Demacia Storyline

Other folks have talked about this before, but let me make this once again clear: The Demacian regime in League of Legends is fascist. Let’s face it. It is basically fascist. They have literal concentration camps, have an underclass, who are held in those concentration camps just for the way they have been born… And if we were going through Ecco’s “traits of ur-fascism” we would find a lot of the traits in Demacia one way or another.

In itself it would not be a problem. A lot of media does have fascist bad guys, but of course League of Legends does not have Demacia as the bad guys. Instead, well, we have several champions in the storyline, who can be played by the players of the main game. And who of course do not want to be reminded of “You are playing the bad guy”. So, all characters within the Demacia storyline are treated the same. Sylas is as good and as bad as Garen.

This is something we have seen especially in the entire Lux comic. Which so clearly shows Sylas as bad and manipulative and you should not side with him within the story, that so clearly says: “The only good side in this is neither.”

And just… No. For one: Sylas is the victim of the Demacian regime. A victim who managed to escape what is effectively a concentration camp. He is a rebel, who tries to bring the regime down. No, he is not as bad as the Demacians. Him killing the king and rebelling the way he is, is basically the same, as a Jew escaping a Nazi concentration camp and then going on to kill Hitler.

This is not a case of “good people on both sides”, but a case of “fascists on one side, those who fight them on the other”. There is no equivalence.

But of course this is not the first time – and probably not the last time – this happens in American media.

The Daisy Fitzroy thing

Remember Bioshock Infinite? That third Bioshock game, that was quite different than the other two that had come before?

Now, let’s put it bluntly: Bioshock has always kinda suffered moral relativism. The old games basically go like: “Laissez-faire Objectivist Capitalism is bad, but the other alternatives are not that much better (if at all!)” Which is just blatantly wrong, though obviously it is just a very American way about depicting it, given that… well, we know how Americans cling to their “freedom economics” and it being the “only right economic system”. Because Freedom!

But then… Well, then came Bioshock Infinite. Instead of in Rapture, we play in Columbia. A religious pseudo-fascist place, with a regime that is build very much on the suppression of BI_POC, especially Black and Irish people, who are used as a servant class and outright slaves. Obviously with a lot of iconography mirroring the South under slavery and later Jim Crow.

In that game, we have a group of rebels, though. The Vox Populi. Rebels fighting against the system, which to the credit of the maker is shown to be unquestioningly bad. The rebels are under the lead of a Black woman named Daisy Fitzroy, who gets involved with the protagonist, by forcing him to get her weapons to fight the regime… But then comes the big twist, when Daisy Fitzroy tries to kill a kid of the oppressing class and your NPC companion Elizabeth kills Daisy Fitzroy in turn. After which you are going to fight the Vox Populi as much as the folks of the regime, with the only difference between the enemy types being the color schemes.

In that moment, when Daisy Fitzroy tries to kill the white kid, the game is taking your hand and pointing at her: “See, people fighting against white supremacy are just as bad as the white supremacists themselves! Don’t you agree?” Which is, of course… like a really bad conclusion to draw from it.

Because, let’s be very clear: Even if she had killed that child… Someone trying to free themselves from oppression through radical means will never be as bad as the oppressor, who did the same horrible acts without any reason other than “you look different, hence you are less human than me and I can treat you that way”.

But, of course, there is another screaming example of this…

The MCU and the faulty status quo

Honestly, to me right now there is no bigger offender in this than the MCU and within the MCU there is no offender as bad as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Now, let me preface this with: Yes, as much as I love Black Panther, that movie very much is very much at fault for this, too. At fault for the entire: “Oh, yeah, the guy who wants to do something about systemic racism is as bad if not worse than systemic racism.” But at least that movie ended on a change to the faulty status quo. (A change, mind you, that was undone by later installments of the MCU because the MCU just cannot have the status quo change too much, obviously.) It also clearly came down on the side of “the thing the good guys fought for originally was real bad”, with T’Challa outright confronting his ancestors on it.

No such thing, however, happened in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which obviously features our main characters going up against first and foremost the Flagsmashers. And now lets be very clear: The Flagsmashers are anarchists! Which is very much on the very tailend of “wanting to change the status quo”. (Note: I am an anarchist.) Their reasoning is a good one, though. They say: “Yeah. The entire Snap made it that people could move without borders. That was good. Now we are displaced and the organization that is supposed to take care of our needs cares more about enriching themselves than making other lives livable.” Which is something that is actually shown to be right. We know they are right.

Now, for once, of course, the entire thing with them turning towards violence comes kinda out of nowhere and is not really set up. But… We also need to talk about how violence is a valid means of fighting an oppressive system. And this system is very much oppressive. Again: The series SHOWS US THAT IT IS! That people oppressed in this system die of neglect! The system, as it stands, is a form of oppressive violence. That it kills through neglect rather than through active means does not make the killings less horrible or less deadly.

Yet, the Flagsmashers all die in the end. All those, who were enriching themselves through the system get no narrative punishment, with Falcon (now Captain America) holding them a nice speech. And the literal fascist getting a last minute redemption arc.

And that is just… horrible. I cannot put it any other way. It is horrible. It is a horrible end for that story.

The myth about the peaceful revolution

What all of this calls back upon is the myth about the peaceful revolution. The myth, that a peaceful revolution will be the only successful revolution and that violent revolutions are destined to fail and are – in fact – as bad the oppression they fight against. This, obviously, does completely ignore the fact that… most revolutions that were successful were either violent or had a violent revolutionary group cooperate with a peaceful revolutionary group. Just that again and again the violent groups will get erased from history.

The example most probably know about, is the Black Panthers, who served as an aligned group to MLK’s peaceful civil rights movement. Here, too, it often gets erased that the Black Panthers were closely aligned with MLK and were not a completely different group. Just as it is often erased from history, how the Black Panthers for example also helped feed and educate other underserved communities, including the poor white people.

We see the same again and again in the way we speak about history. A good example is decolonization (a process, mind you, that long has not ended). We kinda never go into how that happened. The usual narrative is: “Oh, yeah, western forces realized it was bad, so decolonialization happened.” Maybe we are talking about Ghandi, the peaceful revolutionary in India, and maybe we actually get told: “After WWII the western forces had no money left to uphold colonialism.” But, oh, what is that? No money left? But wasn’t one of the main things about colonialism that it was meant to extract value from the colonies? So should this not be a reason to hold up colonialism?

Yeah, no. Because here is the thing. In almost all colonies there were constant violent revolutions happening. And those had to be fought down with military power. Which was a costly endeavor. So costly, in fact, that in the end the colonies cost the western forces more money, than it brought them. But again, this gets erased from history. (Let’s face it, we do not speak about the ills of colonialism enough either way.)

But they (those who hold power) want us all to believe that it happened all through peaceful means. Because this way, we do believe that we, too, should rebel peacefully against the system that oppresses us and that destroys our environment. To put it frankly: They would not allow a form of protest, that actually worked.

And media? Well, media serves to uphold this myth as well. By telling us again and again that those rebelling and revolting through violent means are as bad, as those who uphold an oppressive and often directly or indirectly violent regime.

We need to make better Media

Something I see this in as well, is the reception of media and the lack of understanding of tropes and storylines, that might put you into the shoes of violent revolutionaries, who end up harming some innocent bystanders as well – at times a lot of them. Heck, even those trying to change the system that has oppressed them in a way that they are no longer oppressed, without a care for others get often judged as harshly, if not harsher, than the actual oppressors.

My two main fandoms are kinda an example of this. Both Arcane and Castlevania has this issue.

In Arcane the main issue is, that we have an obvious example of oppression of the poor. Piltover oppresses Zaun. And while the series kinda shows this, it also asks us to be very much on the side of Zaun, given that from the main characters only Ekko is exclusively aligned with Zaun, while everyone else is either at least partly aligned with Piltover or a bad guy. And sure, we do see that under Silco the poor suffer even more because of how he pushes his drugs. But… Well, he originally was a revolutionary and while Vander has given up the revolution he is the one to fight for Zaun independence, but yet… He is very much the bad guy, other than all those other characters who uphold the oppression. Which is… Not good.

I talked about the issue in Castlevania once again. Isaac. Here the issue is not as much with how the series is written, because for once the series actually has a somewhat good and understanding take. But… fandom has the issue here. Now, Isaac has been enslaved before. He ran away, after which he again and again was attacked and assaulted for either the color of his skin (this is after all the time that the first Europeans came up with the idea that Black people are less human than white people) or his religion. Given that this was all he had ever known, he at some point decided that it was how humanity had been – and hence that humanity should be extinguished. Which, if you have just a droplet of empathy, is kind of understandable. Not right, mind you, but understandable. Yet, a lot of folks have a lot more empathy for either Dracula or Hector, who partook in the genocide as much as Isaac did, than they have for Isaac.

This really… Is just not a good look.

And of course, all of this we see again and again in real life. Not only from the fascists themselves, who will claim there were “good people on both sides”, but even from more left-leaning folks. When marginalized folks get angry with their oppressors, they quickly get labeled as “as bad” as the oppressors. See Tone Policing. As a trans person I have been told several times by people, who identify as “left leaning”, that I am as bad as JKR and her posy, because I say that folks who support Rowling and her conservative fantasy shit are not really leftist and are definitely not queer allies.

So, yeah. Really. Fuck this thinking. Threating oppressed people rising up as the same as the oppressors is just shitty. And I just wish media finally let go of this shitty trope.

[schooltrashers]

The Reason Why Poland Opposes Both Nazis And Commies:

The citizens of Poland have historical reasons for their opposition to both Nazis and Communists. During World War II, Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany, which led to immense suffering and loss of life. The Nazis committed numerous atrocities, including the establishment of concentration camps and the systematic extermination of Jews and other groups in what is now known as the Holocaust¹.

After the war, Poland fell under Soviet influence and became a communist state. The communist regime was often oppressive, limiting freedoms and controlling various aspects of life through authoritarian measures. Many Poles resisted and opposed the communist rule, which they saw as another form of totalitarian control².

The shared experience of occupation and oppression by both Nazi and Communist forces has left a lasting impact on the Polish national consciousness. This history has fostered a strong resistance to any form of totalitarian ideology and a commitment to independence and democracy³⁴.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/27/2024

(1) Nazis and communists divvy up Poland | September 29, 1939 | HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nazis-and-communists-divvy-up-poland.

(2) Poles apart: the bitter conflict over a nation’s communist history. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/13/poles-apart-the-bitter-conflict-over-a-nations-history-poland-monuments-communism-soviet-union.

(3) Poland Opposed Nazis and Soviet Union: Defense Minister. https://www.newsweek.com/poland-opposed-nazis-soviet-union-collaborate-wwii-defense-minister-606103.

(4) Poland - Communism, Solidarity, Warsaw Pact | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/Communist-Poland.

My Thoughts:

The idea of opposing both Nazis and Commies only comes from citizens of Poland and Patriots (Christian Conservative Americans). While The Left (woke white leftist/liberal/DemoKKKrat commies) "opposes" only Nazism. Despite the fact DemoKKKrat policies, censorship of political opponents/ideas, gun control and socialism are exactly what Nazism is all about.

Nazis is short for National Socialists. Hitler is a socialist and defended the idea. Socialism is all about giving more power to the government than it's citizens. Commies act exactly like Nazis. Their symbols may as well combine into something like this...

On the podium you can see the combined Nazi and Commie symbol. That is the official symbol of Totalitarianism or Communazism.

And no, this wasn't on the actual podium itself, this is just meme that was created to make Biden look like Hitler. The point of the meme was to paint Biden as a totalitarian dictator, which he is.

So why are The Left so uneducated and brainwashed into beLIEving that Communism is good? Do they just ignore Communist Dictators like Stalin and Mao? Do they not know the history of what Poland went through? Do they not see that both Nazis and Commies are totalitarian?

There's no good reason to support Nazism or Communism. They both have a bad history. To condone one totalitarian ideology over the other, is just plain stupid. It's smarter to condemn both but you can't expect The Left to do such a thing, they're close minded and brainwashed.

[tmarshconnors]

What if Germany won World War Two?

It is impossible to predict with certainty what would have happened if Germany had won World War Two. However, we can make some educated guesses based on what we know about the goals and ideology of Nazi Germany.

If Germany had won the war, it is likely that they would have attempted to establish a global empire under their control. The Nazi regime had plans for the colonization and exploitation of vast areas of Europe and the Soviet Union, as well as parts of Africa and the Middle East.

In the short term, it is likely that the countries conquered by Germany would have been subjected to harsh treatment, including forced labor, population transfers, and mass killings. The Nazis considered many people to be inferior, including Jews, Romani, homosexuals, people with disabilities, and others, and they would likely have continued to persecute and oppress these groups.

In the long term, it is possible that the Nazi regime would have faced internal challenges as it attempted to manage and control such a vast empire. The economy of Nazi Germany was heavily militarized and dependent on conquest and plunder, and it is unclear how sustainable this would have been in the long term.

It is also likely that resistance movements would have continued to challenge Nazi rule, both within and outside of Germany. Some historians argue that a Nazi victory could have led to a prolonged era of global conflict and instability, as different groups and nations fought against German domination.

Overall, a Nazi victory in World War Two would have had catastrophic consequences for humanity, with untold suffering, death, and destruction. It is a reminder of the importance of fighting against authoritarianism, racism, and other forms of oppression.

[hussyknee]

Zionism is white supremacy and manifest destiny that created and relies on Jewish exceptionalism. This is the refusal to believe that the persecution of Jews is the same religious majoritarianism and Christian colonialism that other non-Christians suffer. It defines Judaism purely by its historical persecution under Christianity and extends it as an intractable, static, omnipresent, permanent reality in the rest of world that can never change. It embraces the Nazi narrative that Jews are a race instead of a religious community, cursed and born to be hunted and displaced until they return to Israel to herald the End of Days, the only land to which they're "indigenous". In short, it's built on a nihilistic, paranoid victim complex built on Nazi dogma, and makes other oppressed people competitors of Jewish suffering.

The (continuing) colonial genocide of Indigenous Americans (by which I mean the Americas), the persecution of the Roma and other indigenous minority groups in Europe, the phenomenon of global anti-blackness and the colour system of race (white, brown, black, "red") that built the European colonial world order and continues to perpetuate it, and every colonial crime perpetrated by Europe are all direct challenges to Jewish exceptionalism. Intersectionality is antithetical to an identity based entirely on victimhood. Zionists can't own that Jewish people are just one among many other oppressed and marginalized groups. That white Jews are as complicit as white Christians in the oppression of indigenous people, people of colour and the Global South. That white Jews colonize and oppress Black and brown Jews. That the West deliberately exceptionalizes the Holocaust to cover up their own colonial crimes, gloss over the reparations they owe to the colonized and so they can pose as the saviours of Jews. That they do this to make Jews into their mascots and a vanguard of the imperial project. All of these are anathema to the Zionist narrative.

It's very transparent that all of this is actually steeped in Christian fundamentalism, because it's exactly what white Christian fundamentalists believe: that white Christians are consistently under threat from all sides and the only way to be safe and free is to make theirs a white Christian ethnostate that subjugates and controls everyone else. This is white colonial anxiety—the hyperawareness of the colonizing people's own guilt and hypocrisy turned into defensiveness and paranoia that those you oppress will retaliate against you in the same manner. Zionists, both Jewish and Christian, are particularly hyperaware of Black and Indigenous oppression as the groups they not-so-subconsciously understand as bearing the brunt of the white colonial caste system. It's why they attack them so obsessively, while trying to get them to validate Jewish exceptionalism. They do this either by racing to innocence ("How can you call me an oppressor and beneficiary when I'm oppressed too? We should be building solidarity on our shared oppression instead of focusing on the ways I can oppress you! Incidentally, it's antisemitic to call me white privileged!"), diminishing their struggle ("Well, you've only been genocided four hundred years. We've been persecuted for thousands!" "It's antisemitic to compare your genocide to the Holocaust because more Jews died in it.") or drawing false equivalences ("Calling me 'Zionist' is like me calling a Black person the 'n-word'").

Yes, those are real things I keep hearing— especially from Liberal Zionists. They're toxic and instrumental in pushing out BIPOC from leftist and liberal enclaves like academia and queer spaces for this reason, even if Zionism itself never comes up, because this attitude forms the bedrock of their approach to progressivism.

Incidentally, this lady has a very solid theory on why exceptionalizing the Holocaust is so integral to the propaganda of the Western "human rights regime".

Wikipedia’s editors have voted to declare the Anti-Defamation League “generally unreliable” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding it to a list of banned and partially banned sources. An overwhelming majority of editors involved in the debate about the ADL also voted to deem the organization unreliable on the topic of antisemitism, its core focus. A formal declaration on that count is expected next. The decision about Israel-related citations, made last week, means that one of the most prominent and longstanding Jewish advocacy groups in the United States — and one historically seen as the leading U.S. authority on antisemitism — is now grouped together with the National Inquirer, Newsmax, and Occupy Democrats as a source of propaganda or misinformation in the eyes of the online encyclopedia. Moreover, in a near consensus, dozens of Wikipedia editors involved in the discussion said they believe the ADL should not be cited for factual information on antisemitism as well because it acts primarily as a pro-Israel organization and tends to label legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitism.

Imagine pouring millions into Hasbara for decades just to lose the information war this fucking badly lmaooo

Anyway, plugging my masterlist of Palestinian media and sources again:

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

Cardassians aren’t Nazis (and also not quite the USSR, but I see where you’re coming from)

TW: for much discussions of Nazism, fascism, persecution, no details

So tottering around as a lover of DS9 and (disclaimer) as a major fan of the Cardassians as a not-yer-generic-villain type villain that then become less of a villain, because you can’t assign villainy to a whole species + also being German and hearing/watching/reading a lot of analyses that compare them to Nazis is inspiring me to write this (gasps for breath at the end of that sentence).

@tinsnip , @handsome-anne

1. Who were the Nazis that the Cardassians are specifically being compared to (versus neo-nazis/alt-rights, etc. that they’re not being compared to)

Short version: Post WWI the Versailles Treaty fucked over Germany in a way that left it wide open to the sort of megalomaniacal little bastard on a powertrip that fed on people’s fear and pushed them into a far-right disaster. The Nazi party itself didn’t have a ton of members, but it basically eroded any kind of democracy the country had and decided it would scapegoat Jews, Romani, communists, queer people, and other “intelligent elite”/political dissident and then spread those ideals across the world like a demented wannabe roman Caesar state. This didn’t last too long in the grand scale of world history, but left a body count of 6 million+ dead, mainly Jewish.

2. Germany and its relationship to this history

So Germany tries pretty hard to teach people this history in schools, through memorials, in film, etc. It’s not perfect by any means, there’re still discussions on how to make reparations, as well as neo-nazis and other far-right people around still, sadly just like in the rest of the world. 

But it’s not covering up these atrocities, because there’s a belief that the way to make sure it doesn’t happen again is to be honest. Sadly, not everyone around the world gets as detailed a history surrounding its origins, happenings, and aftermaths, nor does every country engage with its own past like that.

3. Let’s get fictional (Cardassians, first impressions)

The Cardassians are a species that we mainly meet first through their subjugation of the Bajoran people, and then on DS9 following the immediate aftermath of the occupation on Bajor and everything that follows on from there. Throughout the story we discover various bits about what they had done - labour camps, mass executions, forced prostitution, and in that one Voyager episode I’m not a fan of because it didn’t have the range, experimentation.

On the surface, pretty comparable to the nazis, I get it. Hell, often that’s definitely “the source” of where the writers are getting their ideas.

4. So they’re... Nazis?

The problem comes when using one fascist regime as a go-to for these atrocities. It ignores the reality of fascism beyond this particular point in history and also it’s just not that simple. 

When looking at Nazi Germany we also have to look at the source of its making, the climate around it (countries like the UK having a nazi party, Italy and Spain having fascist dictators, hell, the list of dictators that were/are not German is disgustingly long, the worldwide anti-semitism making surrounding countries apathetic or even sympathetic to the Nazis, etcetc.) and the aftermaths of WWII.

The Cardassians are not Nazis. (As an aside the Federation are not the brave allies, but that’s another post for another day.) I’ve seen them compared to the USSR - both by official writers and fandom - which I won’t comment on seeing as I am not from anywhere that was affected by that (I’m not East German, but I do have East German friends), but at least this points out that one cannot compare Cardassians to a specific atrocity that happened at a specific time with specific connotations surrounding it. 

Is the Obsidian Order the Gestapo or another secret police? Which secret police? Is Garak “the good Nazi” trope - but then how does that align with Cardassians living under a repressive regime for centuries, not a few years, and therefore take into account an indoctrination and climate of fear created over several generations? No child “born” into the nazi regime became an adult while it was still lasting, unlike the Cardassians (and many other real life dictatorships and fascist states - as well as "democratic” states that have similar kinds of surveillance, oppression, mass-imprisonment and disappearances, and camps).

Is every Cardassian soldier a “nazi”? How does one compare that to polish and french prisoners (see Pierre Seel for a particular harrowing account, all the trigger warnings apply) who were forced to fight for the Germans and put on the front lines? 

Eugenics, labour camps, and every other atrocity has been practised by numerous regimes, both in history and now, can we shrug off every country that’s participated in them for the sake of making the metaphor “easier”?

How does the aftermath of the Cardassian Union - when they’re attacked by the Klingons and themselves occupied by the Dominion and then have their main planet bombed to the point of millions dead - align with Nazi Germany?

5. It doesn’t.

It doesn’t. It doesn’t neatly align with any other fascist or military dictator-led regime either. This is not saying that there aren’t aspects obviously borrowed from history (and can easily apply to now). This is saying that in trying to bend the Cardassians into Nazis specifically, people are ignoring every other aspect about them and in my opinion doing a disservice to those who suffered under the actual regime. This is a fictional world, with fictional people that is based on an oppressive society template. It is also a fictional world in which the people themselves are oppressed (especially if you align with what’s written in Andy Robinson’s book) - I’ll be getting back to that point in a bit.

 I would argue that making it “about Nazis” is too easy. This isn’t about “us” this is about “them” those evil bastards from wwii. It strips the Cardassian story of any current-day relevance. One can look no further than one’s own society to see people struggling against acknowledging histories, being treated as second-class citizens, etc. No need to go back in time to do so.

It also strips the Cardassians of any three-dimensionality. If they’re just villains then why are we rooting for their uprising to succeed at the end of season 7? Why do we want their society to flourish, their people to no longer have a broken court system, and their secret police to stop training and recruiting children if they’re Nazis, the convenient shorthand for über-evil?

Cardassia isn’t about a past society, it’s about our society. If we empathise with the Cardassians and don’t cast them as villains, then it’s a discussion about our own oppression and privilege. And it’s a damned good scifi allegory (even if I sometimes don’t think the writers and showrunners quite understand it themselves - death of the author and all that).  

6. To conclude

I didn’t mention Bajor as much in this, because I was very focused on Cardassians, but I would argue that while there is value in casting them as “space Jews” (as I’ve seen here and there) because I understand the value of representation and I am not taking that away from anyone (I hope), similarly if one reads this take as the only valid one  it ignores the reality of religious oppression on a wider scale and also that the Bajorans’ oppression at the hands of the Cardassians didn’t happen for the same reasons as the Jewish genocide at the hands of the Nazis - I would also argue that in making Cardassians = Nazis / Bajor = Jews, we similarly ignore that the Nazis were and are not alone in perpetuating anti-semitism, which kinda again leans into the “Good Federation (the Allies) Versus Evil Cardassians (Nazis) - because none of the Good Allied Countries have ever/are currently involved in persecution or dehumanisation *stares into the void*

And lastly - bringing back a point I made earlier about Cardassians themselves being oppressed by their own government - something that is often forgotten when people talk “Nazi tropes in genre fiction” is that the first country the Nazis occupied was Germany. I’m mentioning this, because it’s interesting in the metaphor, but it’s also conspicuously is absent in the simplification of how these reads are applied. It’s easy to cast the Cardassians as a whole as Bad People, but it makes for worse story-telling and has uncomfortable undertones of how the world reads Germany’s people as being at fault as a whole as well, without taking into account the specific events that we were globally complicit in - and once again the metaphor falls apart, because allegory doesn’t work so easily, and it shouldn’t.

TL; DR In general I am uncomfortable by “Nazi’s used as tropes” in any fictional world. One shouldn’t sacrifice analysis nor simplify history for the sake of making it easier to make a quick point about “bad guys” and forcing allegories into one shape makes them lose their power.  

Also watch German films on Nazism and European ones on WWII if you’re looking for some better takes (also Cabaret, one of the best movies ever made).

[things2mustdo]

“White people are terrible,” “I have white privilege,” and “most of the world’s problems are caused by white people” are three general statements countless social justice warriors and their enablers agree with. Yet they are all based on the severest distortion of reality. You or I should no more apologize for being white than an African-American should for being black.

Just as many blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities are made more pliable by the media and the establishment by being told they are eternal victims, white people are made more pliable by agreeing that they need to always feel guilty. Using an SJW “anti-racism” that feels awfully like the leftist version of a Nazi book about hereditary, white people supposedly inherit the evil deeds of dead dudes who owned slaves prior to the Civil War or arrived on a foreign continent in a year like 1492 or 1788.

The establishment-enforced guilt is even greater for those directly descended from such people, but even culturally and genetically unrelated individuals like Polish- and Italian-Americans, whose ancestors pretty much all arrived after periods like the slavery era, are held accountable, too. Why? Even if we ridiculously assumed we can find descendants “guilty” of their ancestry, the white guilt thesis is like putting all of Harlem’s young black men in 2016 under house arrest because 20 of them were involved in a vicious street brawl… in 1937.

Provided you adhere to our creed, neomasculinity and the Return Of Kings community form the broadest functional church you will find. We do not care where you come from, so long as you support our goal of a return to masculine societies that emphasize community-building and do not apologize for taking pride in their own cultures. ROK readers who are black, white, Asian or something else are all equal in this regard.

Here are just three of many reasons why I will not hate or feel guilty about my skin tone.

1. I’m the descendant of victims myself because many of my ancestors were from oppressed ethnic and religious groups

Look at those privileged starving Irish!

Are you heavily Irish-blooded, like me? Italian? Polish? Ukrainian? Were your ancestors Catholics living in heavily Protestant areas, or perhaps Huguenots who had to flee persecutory France?

It’s funny how SJWs prance on about white privilege when over half of all whites who emigrated to America, Canada or Australia, from the Puritans to Yugoslavian Civil War refugees, came because the civilian government or monarchy representing another ethnicity or religion essentially chased them out, had killed their family members, or wanted them dead, too. Many of the white groups who did take the journey, particularly the Italians or Irish, were then subjected to quotas and mistreatment in places like New York for years.

A great deal of my ancestors were Catholics in Prussia and other Protestant parts of northern Germany. This section of my family tree is replete with persecutions, including one great-great-great-great grandfather who lost sight in one eye and movement in his arm after being brutally assaulted by a Prussian policeman. His crime? Being an ethnic German leaving a Catholic church on Sunday in the 1800s. Catholic churches were only for “subhuman” Poles. Catholic Prussians were seen as traitors who belonged in Bavaria, prison, or dead. He ended up eking out an existence as a tailor with one good arm, after both he and his brother were repeatedly refused admission to the civil service for their faith.

In addition, I had Irish immigrant forebears whose fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters died as a result of the Potato Famine. One of these ancestors, the eldest child in his family, was working in Dublin to make money for the family when, in the space of three months, he received news that his parents, all his sisters, and all but one of his brothers had died from starvation, malnutrition, or diseases related to them.

When my aunt did the genealogy over three years, she counted 37 family members in one corner of an Irish county who died from starvation or starvation-related illness in 13 months. The famine was predicted and even aggravated by the British. Considering the squalor into which the occupiers had driven the Irish Catholics, the whole ordeal was fundamentally caused by them, too. With only an extra mouth to feed, this great-great-great grandfather of mine took his barely school-aged brother with him to Australia two months later. What role did these two have in oppressing others, white or non-white, that I should feel shame about today?

Look further back into my family tree and you find German, Dutch and Swiss Jews, many of whom were shunted around various locations within Europe, depending on what limited patience local authorities had for yarmulke-wearers at the time.

With this lineage, what exactly do I have to apologize for, aside from my supposedly very, very privileged, at best lower middle-class English forebears from drab West London and grim Yorkshire? Most of them never saw a dark person, let alone mistreated one. To boot, the vast majority lived poor, thankless lives without clean sanitation, abundant food, or anything close to job security. And these are the stations in life, through no fault of their own, that 95% of your ancestors reached as well.

2. Minorities and other non-whites frequently treated and still treat each other far worse than white people did

Rwandan genocide, anyone?

From the pre-Columbian Central and South American peoples to the Rwandan genocide, non-whites have very often treated one another even more abysmally than whites have treated them. European technology may have amplified the number of indigenous and other deaths in places like the Americas, but raw hatred, aggression, and the continuity of violence can be found in even greater quantities in non-white historical squabbles.

Europeans have also been incorrectly blamed for things like infectious diseases, despite the scientific work of antiseptic procedure pioneer Ignaz Semmelweiss being years, sometimes even centuries away. Meanwhile, non-whites have been allowed to kill non-whites without serious condemnation from SJWs.

For example, critics of the Iraq War and the attempted rebuilding of post-Saddam Iraq have said that the whole country is based on a fiction that dates back to the European post-World War I mandate systems. In other words, if Kurds, Shia Arabs, and Sunni Arabs inhabit the same country, they kill each other! Whilst it is appetizing for SJWs to blame the big, bad British and French for this, it is far from the truth. Kurds and Arabs have been butchering each other for countless centuries. The greatest Muslim figure of all the Crusades, Saladin, was consistently mistrusted because of his Kurdish origins. Similarly, intra-Arab or Arab-Iranian Sunni-Shia violence is age-old and has little if anything to do with Europeans.

Last year, Rock Thompson wrote a superb piece about the hypocrisy of attacking Columbus Day in the Americas. His work exposed the double standards of many Native American and also Central and South American tribes, who pretend their ancestors were routinely peaceful when, in fact, they regularly engaged in deplorable acts of gratuitous violence, including human sacrifices and the sadistic mutilation of enemies who were not so ethnically different. The conquistadors and Puritans are falsely seen as the harbingers of cultural and racial genocide in the Americas. Local indigenous tribes, however, were already hunting each other down for sport well before the tall ships arrived.

3. White-majority countries make the humanitarian world go round

A tent city the Saudis refused to make available for fellow Arab Syrian refugees.

Whenever you find an aid program for starving Africans, war-torn Arabs, or other suffering people, chances are that a number of white Westerners are behind it. Even if they’re not all white, they invariably come from white-majority and/or white-founded Western countries, or are funded by them. All to assuage the guilt of white people living in 2016 who feel the need to apologize for a European colonial regime that replaced almost always far more brutal indigenous ones.

Western countries also welcome non-whites in droves, both as immigrants and as “refugees.” The recent Syrian crisis is a testament to this (over-)generosity. While Saudi Arabia refused to accommodate fellow Arab Syrians in their already-constructed tent city, used normally for the Haj Priligrimage, Germany and other European states bore the brunt of those fleeing, including through the open door policies of leaders like Angela Merkel.

In general terms, white people care more about the developmental outcomes of non-whites. Wealthy non-white countries like Japan and Korea have perfected a system of meticulously keeping their populations pure and rejecting the asylum claims of over 99% of claimed refugees. This asymmetrical state of affairs is ironic when Japan’s own history of colonisation, notably the Rape of Nanking, is taken into consideration.

White guilt is also very profitable for certain establishment figures and zealous entertainers. It’s why twats like Bono and Bob Geldof get up every morning, after all. And, far from sucking the world dry, white folks have repeatedly tried to make it better. Very often this generosity is taken to an extreme, but the point of white-majority countries acting and non-white countries stalling or ignoring remains valid.

[mexcine]

Mein Leben für Irland [My Life For Ireland] (1941) review: Mein Leben für Irland is a "Nazi propaganda film," but a very curious one.  It's "soft" propaganda, with no Nazi ideology, no German characters, and a foreign, period setting: the main thrust of the film is anti-British, but even the visible villainy of the English is quite mild.  The exciting climax of the film pits Irish freedom fighters against the British military occupiers of their land, mitigating the reluctance a rational person might otherwise have for cheering the protagonists of a Nazi-made movie. 

         The film begins in 1903: a British sheriff and the police evicting Irish farmers are attacked by O'Brien and a group of armed rebels.  The sheriff is killed but O'Brien and his friends are captured and sentenced to hang.  O'Brien is permitted to marry his pregnant fiancee Maeve before he dies.   18 years later, Maeve's son Michael is a student at the British-run St. Edward's College school (filmed at an actual boys' school in Maulbronn, Germany, with the students as extras). He makes friends with new student Patrick O'Connor.  Most of the faculty are British, but caretaker Duffy is Irish: he walks with a limp, the result of a wound he suffered while in the British Army in India.  His commanding officer--whose neglect caused Duffy's injury--was Sir George Beverley, now a member of the British administration in Ireland.  Beverley's nephew Henry is a student at St. Edward's (and spies on his classmates for his uncle).  

      Michael takes several of his school friends to meet his mother; Patrick develops a crush on Maeve.  One night Patrick sneaks into town to spy on her, and sees a man in her bedroom.  He thinks it's her lover, but it's actually injured fugitive Irish rebel leader Devoy.  Patrick reveals his disillusionment to Henry, who's acting as a spy for his uncle; this results in the arrest of Maeve (although Devoy escapes).  To make up for his error, Patrick goes to work for Devoy, pretending to be an informer to earn the trust of the British.  Michael and the other patriotic Irish students torture Patrick to make him confess, but the teen refuses, per Devoy's instructions.

     On graduation day at St. Edward's, the Irish rise in revolt.  The boys (after burning the British flag and their schoolbooks--an ironic echo of real-life Nazi book-burning) raid the school's armory for weapons and join the street fighting.  Devoy is mortally wounded and can't clear Patrick's name.  However,  Patrick leads a group of men into British headquarters through a secret passage, rescuing Maeve and other imprisoned rebels.  Sir George is shot to death by Duffy.  Patrick is mortally wounded but dies happy since Maeve and Michael know he wasn't a traitor.

     The curious thing about Mein Leben für Irland is how tame it is, particularly with regard to the British.  The film begins in 1903 as a British sheriff (complete with suit, bowler hat, and round face, perhaps a stand-in for Winston Churchill) and his men burst into a farmhouse (it says "Dublin" on-screen but the farmhouse is in a very rural area), ordering the family inside to vacate immediately.  When the farmer objects, he's seized by two policemen; a young boy intervenes and is roughly tossed aside, hitting his head.  This suggests the film is going to contain a lot of British atrocities, but in fact there is almost nothing overt after this.  The British have a general attitude of superiority, consider the Irish "uncivilised," and so on, but the depiction of acts of brutality (they shoot a dog, but off-screen) is at a minimum.  

      During the trial of the rebels in the 1903 section, the Irish prisoners mention "thousands have died from starvation...you let them starve! That's murder!"  As they're sentenced to hang, the defendants proclaim the trial "unjust" and "abominable," since they had no chance to defend themselves.  However, from the British point of view the trial was correctly handled and the Irish were guilty of murdering the sheriff, so the impression is of a miscarriage of justice rather than outright brutality.  Later in the film, Maeve is arrested for harbouring the fugitive DeVoy (some bloody bandages prove her guilt): as noted above, her dog is shot when it attacks the policemen, and Maeve is refused permission to change her clothes in privacy, but neither she nor her housekeeper (caught while trying to burn the bandages) is physically assaulted in any way.  Later, a British official makes an oblique comment that prisoners are often "convinced" to talk, but we see no evidence of torture or mistreatment.

     Oddly enough, the only torture shown in the film is done by the Irish schoolboys, who tie up Patrick and repeatedly submerge him in the school's swimming pool in an effort to make him talk!

     It's been noted elsewhere that Mein Leben für Irland has an odd premise for a Nazi propaganda film: it shows Ireland occupied, exploited and oppressed by the British, with apparently no awareness on the part of its makers that one could easily mentally swap "British" for "Nazis," and "Irish" for "French" (or Dutch, or Belgians, or Polish, or...etc.).  Was this irony truly unconscious?  Were the filmmakers so lacking in self-awareness, or could they have been so confident that viewers would say "forcibly occupying a country is bad, but...it's OK when we do it"?  [As "Hitler's Irish Films" notes, the Nazis recognised that Mein leben für Irland was satisfactory programming for German cinemas, but unsuitable for export to occupied countries.]*      *["Hitler's Irish Movies," a 2007 documentary made for Irish television, contains considerable information about Mein Leben für Irland and Der Fuchs von Glenarvon and is well worth seeking out.]

     The final 15 minutes of the film depicts the Irish uprising (an explosion ironically interrupts the singing of "God Save the King" at the St. Edwards' graduation ceremony), and is virtually non-stop action of street fighting in Dublin.  The British soldiers use a tank (captured by the Irish and turned on its owners), an armoured car, machine guns, etc., against the Irish patriots behind their hastily-constructed barricades. The Irish students--with Duffy's pleased consent--plunder the school's armory (apparently marksmanship is a popular course), handing over scores of rifles and plentiful ammunition to the rebels.  The battle scenes are quite well done, effectively shot and edited. 

     Although the film is specifically set in 1921 (i.e., 18 years after the 1903 sequences), the “uprising” in  Mein Leben für Irland seems to have been inspired by the actual 1916 revolt against the British, which did involve lots of actual combat in Dublin. 

     The personalities involved in Mein Leben für Irland include some interesting characters.  Director Max Kimmich was the brother-in-law of Josef Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister and thus in charge of the German film industry.  Kimmich directed both of the Nazi "Irish" films, Der Fuchs von Glenarvon and Mein Leben für Irland, but had an otherwise rather undistinguished career and did not direct any films after 1943.

     Actor-director Paul Wegener has an enduring place in film history for his silent film work, notably his "Golem" movies.  Wegener's role as Sir George Beverley is curiously under-stated in Mein Leben für Irland: by default he's the "main" villain but he has relatively little screen time and does nothing especially heinous.  After the war, Wegener was not ostracised for his participation in the Nazi film industry: he was actually anti-Nazi and apparently secretly worked against the regime, and was able to claim he was coerced into appearing in films like Mein Leben für Irland.

     Not so lucky in the short run was Jack Trevor, who has a one-scene role as the officer in charge of the military trial in the 1903 section of the film.  A British veteran of World War I, Trevor became an actor after the war and relocated to Germany.  He worked in a number of German films, including another notorious propaganda picture, Ohm Krüger (which was far more virulent in its anti-British sentiments), and participated in Nazi radio broadcasts.  Trevor was sentenced to prison in England after the war for his propaganda activities, but the sentence was reversed when he successfully argued that his wartime work was done under duress.

     Mein Leben für Irland is less outré than one might expect and thus has relatively little "camp" value: it's a largely inoffensive period melodrama. Had this film not been made under the Nazi regime, it would be even more forgotten than it is now.  Propaganda can be overt or subtle, but Mein Leben für Irland is so subtle that the propaganda message is practically nonexistent: its ideological content can be summed up as "imperialism is bad, the British are imperialists, hence the British are bad," and "people want to be free and will fight for freedom."  The Nazis would have cause to regret promoting the latter sentiment.

[batmanlovesnirvana]

“Colonized people recognize themself with Palestine. Colonizers recognize themselves with Israel.”

@latent-thoughts I wonder if your perspective has changed after seven months of relentless suffering, including genocide, ethnic cleansing, and massacres.

Over 45,000 people have died, the majority of them women and children. Among them, 14,800 children, not to mention those still trapped under rubble.

We have witnessed unspeakable horrors—decapitated children, some without limbs or organs.

Millions of people have been displaced in Rafah.

Starvation.

This situation demands reflection and compassion.

I am not asking you to support Hamas, but to reconsider labeling them as terrorists. They are a resistance group.

If you still view Hamas as the sole terrorists here, I find it hard to understand your stance. It’s akin to labeling Algerian resistance groups in the 1950s, who fought for liberation from French imperialism, as terrorists. The same applies to the Vietnamese resistance, which employed similar tactics, and the French resistance against the Nazis. History is replete with such examples.

Hamas is exercising their right to self-defense against a colonial power.

You talk about hamas like it's some invasive occupying regime or some inexplicable evil terrorising palestine or even a religious hate group which is both racist and completely inane.

Whatever your opinion on hamas, i urge you to actually consider the position of palestinians on the ground--if everyone you loved was killed by an airstrike while the world cheered on, who the fuck wouldn't join an organisation promising revenge and action ??? When the alternative is looking down at the barrel if vanishingly short life expectancy amid more airstrikes in an open air prison with a 47% unemployment rate.

You might not think that hamas is good or right or correct, but you have to understand it as a response to the situation it exists in or you'll just end up uncritically accepting the islamophobic propaganda lines being used to fuel a genocide

Have you ever wondered why only Western countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organization? These are the same countries that do not even recognize Palestine. The same countries that send weapons to Israel and are complicit in the genocide.

You all love Marvel, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or whatever, and you praise the resistance groups in those movies—until it happens in real life. Until real people have had enough of their oppression and oppressors and decide to take matters into their own hands.

Do you really think the Palestinians haven’t tried anything? Protests? Negotiations? These people have suffered for 75 years. Hamas didn’t exist until the 1980s; they are a result of oppression. Most members of Hamas are orphaned children who have witnessed the devastation caused by Israel to their families, their country, and neighboring countries.

You kill their families, r@pe their women and children, steal their lands, and systematically bomb their houses and cities for 75 years. And then you wonder why they exist? Why they revolt? Why they want revenge? Why they've had enough? Why they resort to violence?

The audacity you have is outstanding.

I also live in a country where terrorism exists, but I also know what it's like to be colonized, oppressed, and unable to express my feelings or grief. To be deprived of my rights.

"Hamas leaders are billionaires but they don’t uplift Palestinians"? As if Israel weren’t controlling what goes in and out of Gaza—money, food, medication, everything—for decades. You talk like those Zionists on Instagram, claiming that if Israel completely controlled Gaza, they would turn it into Singapore or Dubai.

You talk about r@pe when we don't even know if those same allegations are true, because most have been proven false time and time again, without any proof whatsoever and simply just feed racist stereotypes against Arab men.

Meanwhile I don’t see you talking about how IDF soldiers r@ped Palestinians women and children. Just the other day, they r@ped a pregnant women while forcing her husband and family to watch at gunpoint. How in the West Bank, IDF sexual assaults is a common thing against Palestinian women because they know that those women won't talk about it, because of the threats and shame they receive and feel. Israelis spies used to take pictures of Palestinian women naked to bribe their husbands with it. Don’t even let me start with the sexual assaults that Palestinian prisoners (which some of whom are children) receive everyday.

“Freedom struggle shouldn’t include brutality” then you don’t know ANYTHING about freedom struggle. Go open a history book and find me a country that has been able to win their independence and human rights without using violence. I’ll be waiting.

It’s funny to see you criticize Hamas but not the IDF. Really. But also extremely infuriating.

Take a look at that :

And for the last time I’m not asking you to support them, just like I haven’t said if I support or not, but for god sake STOP CALLING THOSE PEOPLE TERRORISTS. The only real terrorists here are Benjamin Nethanyahu from Poland & the state of Philadelphia and of course, his fascist government as well as the IDF.

Being on Tumblr is super depressive these days.

My favourite character got twisted and destroyed by new canon, and many of my fandom mutuals celebrated it. It just feels weird, because I'm in mourning (even though I do reject that canon and am trying to keep him alive in my world), but they're not. I don't know how to interact with them anymore. So I've stopped.

Meanwhile mutuals who agreed with me on many things are suddenly spewing antisemitic rhetoric or reblogging posts praising terrorists like Hamas and bin Laden. It's giving me such a whiplash that I'm unable to process it still.

I want to close my eyes and ignore all of this, but I can't. I unfollow and block, but the sense of shock and betrayal remains...

[krisihistoryblog-blog]

How ideological differences lead to the Berlin wall

Following WWII, tensions between the USSR and the Western allies (USA, Britain, and France) rose due to the fundamental differences in Communism and Capitalism. This division became known as the Iron Curtain following Winston Churchill’s speech in 1936 in which he said that due to the tensions between the two sides (Capitalist West and Communist East), "iron curtain" has descended across the continent. The Berlin wall became the infamous physical symbol of the deep divide and oppression under the Communist regime in Eastern Europe, but why was it built and why did it fall?

 International relations: historical context of Russia and the West

Russia and the West – America and Britain- have had a pretty complicated relationship for a very long time, and this section aims to give the modern historical background of it (1917 up to 1945).

Russia joined WWI in 1914, one of its allies being Britain. The was crippled Russia’s economy: over 17 million farmers were conscripted into the army meaning there were food shortages; factories that didn’t directly contribute to the war effort by making weapons or equipment suffered from under supplying and many had to shut down, leading to further unemployment; and to top it all off the Tsar at the time- Nicholas II -took a personal control of the army despite having no military experience. By 1917, the Russian population was desperate to leave the war, having already lost about 40 million men.

As discontent with the Tsarist regime and continuation in the war grew, support for Lenin and the Bolshevik party also grew. Sure enough, when they came to power in 1917, they issued the Peace Decree which promised an end to the war. After signing the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk in March 1918 (which had deeply detrimental terms for Russia, such as losing 50% of its industry), Russia was out of the war. By abandoning their allies, Russia made the West think communists could not be trusted.

In the years following this, Russia went into civil war. The war was mostly between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and Whites (Mensheviks and other anti-Bolsheviks). The western capitalist countries supported the Whites financially and by sending troops, and although the reason for this wasn’t necessarily because they wanted the Whites to win, but because they didn’t want the Bolsheviks to win, the Reds used the foreign interventions in their anti- white propaganda.

After the Bolsheviks fully established their rule, the western capitalist countries were always seen as enemies that had gone against them in the past and were ready to intervene in national issues if it meant preventing the establishment of communism.

During WWII, USSR, Britain and the United States put aside their ideological differences in order to unite in defeating Nazi Germany. Russia has joined the western allies after in 1941 Hitler broke a non- aggression pact with Stalin by invading the USSR.

Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam

The Big Three, as they became known, met in Tehran, Iran in 1943. Stalin (leader of the USSR), Roosevelt (US president), and  Churchill (UK prime minister) had the common aim of improving their relationship with one another and their countries. During that meeting they decided on the opening on the second front- which meant that Britain and America would now open a front at the west of Germany, so Russia doesn’t have to do all the fighting on the Eastern front. This was a turning point in defeating the Germans as it meant their army was now divided.

Although the conference was successful, it did highlight some tensions already: Churchill was very anti-communist and Britain had joined the World War on the 3rd of September 1939 after Poland was invaded by Germany; Stalin wanted complete control over Poland so he can create a ‘buffer zone’ (the countries between the capitalist west and Russia would have to be invaded before Russia would be, giving the Russians more time to react), and was also very distrustful of Britain and the US as he felt their purposely delayed opening the western front. Stalin thought that they had waited so long so Russia would be weakened after fighting Germany for so long, and once the western front was opened, Britain and America could invade Germany and get to Russia next. The reason Stalin was so worried about getting invaded from Germany is because it happened twice already: in 1914 and then again in 1941 when Hitler broke the non-aggression pact he had made with Stalin.

 Potsdam conference 1945

The Big Three then had a second meeting- Potsdam February 1945. At this point it was obvious that Germany was going to lose, so the plans surrounded what happens after that point. Among other things, a decision was made that the USSR would have a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe- although exactly what that entails differs depending on which side you asked. The most relevant, in relation to the future of Berlin, decision they made at this conference was to divide Germany in 4 sections following the war. Britain, France, America and Russia would all get one section. Despite being entirely in the Eastern side of Germany, the capital city of Berlin was also divided in this way- with the west 3 sections belonging to the western allies and the east one to the USSR.

Potsdam was the final conference, attended by Stalin, Harry Truman and Clement Atlee. President Roosevelt had died and been replaced by Truman, who was more anti-communist; Churchill had lost the general election and been replaced by Atlee. Despite the shift in leaders, the decision about splitting Germany and Berlin into four was confirmed. After 1933 there had been no free elections in Germany and the Big Three had decided to re-establish them along with democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of press. The Nazi party was banned, and Nazi war criminals were tried. Russia would receive reparations on the form of goods from the Western sectors.

 The Berlin Blockade 1948-1949 and establishing of two separate countries

Having been invaded by it twice in the past, Russia wanted to keep Germany to prevent any future threat. The Allies (Britain, France and America) wanted to make it independent and prosperous so they don’t have to keep paying for it, and so they can build trade with Germany. This disagreement was bound to cause conflict.

In 1947, Britain and America joined their sectors to form Bizonia, and due to the very good relations with the French zones, they united with them too forming Trizonia. In Trizonia they decided to introduce a new, trustworthy currency called the Deutsche Mark which was essential if they wanted to rebuild the German economy. This worried Stalin and he retaliated by introducing the Ost Mark in the eastern sectors.

The western sectors of Germany and Berlin were accepting Marshall Aid (American support to help countries rebuild themselves after the war), while the eastern sectors, and eastern Europe apart from Yugoslavia) did not, which deepened the divide between the east and west even more due to their economical states and standards of living.

As Stalin feared western capitalist ideas and currency entering the eastern part of Germany or Berlin, he cut off all rail, road and canal links. This was with the aim that the west would be forced to give up on western Berlin as they wouldn’t be able to get any supplies to their people.

However, Truman saw this was a testing case – he wanted to prove to Stalin that we would not give up and he would maintain his policy of containment (stopping the spread of communism). The allies, the US in particular, started the Berlin airlift to supply western Berliners with necessities. The airlift code-named “operation vittles” had its first flight on the 26th of June 1948 and lasted until 30th September 1949 – even though the blockade was lifted in May of the same year.

The airlift was incredibly successful as both achieving its aim of supplying the citizens- for example on the 16th of April 1949, 1400 flights brought in 13k tons of supplies, even though the necessary amount needed for the western Berliners to over was 6k tons a day- but also at showing the USSR they wouldn’t give up on their citizens. Truman wanted western Berlin to be a symbol of freedom behind the iron curtain.

Straight after the Berlin blockade was lifted, the western sectors officially united as one country – The Federal Republic of Germany. In October of 1949, the eastern part of Germany became the German Democratic Republic (ironically enough).

 The wall goes up

East and West Berlin had been very different. The west was extremely prosperous thanks to the allies investing in it, whereas the East was poor and had low living standards. This resulted in immigration from the East to the West- with over 3.5 million East Germans emigrating to West Germany before 1961, which comprised most of the total net emigration of 4.0 million emigrants from all of Central and Eastern Europe between 1950 and 1959.

On 13th of August 1961, the communist government of the German Democratic Republic started putting up barbed wire fences along the border of West and East Berlin. It was quickly replaced by a concrete one and through the years,more and more was added to it such as watch towers. The 27-mile portion of the barrier separating Berlin into east and west consisted of two concrete walls between which was a “death strip” up to 160 yards wide that contained hundreds of watchtowers, miles of anti-vehicle trenches, guard dog runs, floodlights and trip-wire machine guns.

Hundreds of people tried to go into West Berlin and hundreds died trying to do so.  Amongs the people who escaped successfully are the three Bethke brothers, whose escapes are like from an action movie. The oldest of the three, Ingo, escaped by floating on an inflatable mattress across the Elbe River in 1975. Then in 1983, the middle brother, Holger soared over the wall on a steel cable he fired with a bow and arrow to a rooftop in West Berlin. Six years later, they both flew an ultra-light plane over the wall and back to pick up their youngest brother Egbert.

The American view of the wall is nicely summarized by my President Kennedy in 1961: “It’s not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war. This is the end of the Berlin crisis. The other side panicked—not we. We’re going to do nothing now because there is no alternative except war”. The wall was used to show how bad communism is- they had to build a wall to keep people from leaving, which gave it a similar image to a prison. It became a symbol of the division in Berlin, and in Europe at the time.

 Accidental freedom

Although it came after years of discontent and protests, the fall of the Berlin wall was accidental. East Germany had decided that its citizens can emigrate for a short period of time, after having gone through a lengthy visa process.

Then on the 9th of November 1989, a press conference took place at which East German politburo member Günter Schabowski prematurely announced that restrictions on travel visas would be lifted. People attending started questioning him and when asked when this new policy would take power he responded with: “Immediately, without delay.”

His confused answers and the erroneous media reports that followed, sent a wave of people to the Berlin wall ready to cross it.

The chief officer on duty at Bornholmer Street checkpoint, overwhelmed by the thousands of people and by the insults rather than instructions he received from his superiors, opened the border crossing and the gates soon followed. The flood of East Berliners couldn’t be stopped by the officials.

 The symbolism of the fall

For decades the wall symbolized the division ideologies can make. Because of the differences between capitalist and communist way of rule, and the difference in priorities and values they had, the people of Berlin were entirely separated. Eastern Berliners grew up being restricted and isolated while the West being prosperous and having opportunities. The fall of the wall symbolized the fall of the division, or at least to a point in which people weren’t physically restricted, or risked losing their life if they tried to escape.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

Fierce Historical Ladies post: Vladka Meed

Part 9: Meanwhile, in Poland...

Part 1: The Ghetto • Part 2: The Aryans • Part 3: Vladka, on the Wall, with Dynamite • Part 4: Uprising • Part 5: Aftermath • Part 6: The Labor Camps • Part 7: The Red Army • Part 8: Not an Epilogue

NOTE: This post is about the construction of Holocaust memory in Poland between about 1946 and 1983. The issues addressed in this post informed much of Vladka’s later career, and are freakishly relevant in light of laws passed in certain countries, certain murders and rhetoric taking place in others, the results of certain educational surveys, and the very uncomfortable cab ride in which the driver told me that all Jews should be killed. Odd time to be posting this, tbh. Anyway.

As you will remember from Part 8, Vladka and Benjamin left Poland for good upon as resurgent anti-Semitic violence made it clear that they had no future in the country of their birth. For, in the immediate post-war years, Polish Nationalists had finally achieved their dream: a Poland in which Roman Catholic ethnic Poles were the majority. But, this dream only came to fruition under Communist rule within the Soviet sphere is influence, not within the bounds of Polish self-determination. With the destruction of the Polish Nationalist underground during Operation Tempest, and the 1944 withdrawal of US and UK support for the Polish government-in-exile, the Communist regime could operate with interference from neither the West, nor the Polish Nationalist parties.

1946 ceremony memorializing the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Yitzhak Zuckerman stands on the left-hand side of the speaker. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.

As the 1940s rolled on, the Polish government set out to craft a narrative of the war years which downplayed the contributions of Polish Nationalists to World War II. Government officials memorialized the Jewish dead and set up monuments to their martyrdom, while persecuting Poles who had fought the Nazis as representatives of the Armja Krajowa and similar groups.

1948 unveiling of Nathan Rapaport‘s Ghetto Heroes Monument. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.

Memorial service at the 1948 unveiling. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.

Monument close-up. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.

In the eyes of those Poles who fought and/or supported the fight against the Nazis, this indicated nothing less than a Jewish takeover of the government, intended to suppress all memory of Polish action and oppression under Nazi rule. This led to a period of what was perhaps the worst anti-Jewish violence in the history of Polish-Jewish relations. 

Between 1944 and 1947, Poles murdered between 1,500 and 2,000 Jewish survivors as they returned to their homes. Poles bombed the few remaining Jewish institutions in the country, and perpetrated pogroms against their Jewish neighbors. In Kielce, July 1946, a Polish mob attacked a communal residence set up for Holocaust survivors, murdering 42 and wounding more than 100 people. After the Pogrom, many Jewish survivors—like Vladka and Benjamin—concluded that they had no future in Poland, and left. The Jewish population of Poland shrank to under 80,000 individuals. When the government sentenced the perpetrators of the Pogrom to death, Poles protested, arguing that the Pogrom and others like it had been nothing more than Zionist plots to stimulate Jewish emigration. Anti-Semitic violence continued through the 1950s. Between 1956 and 1960, another 40,000 Jews left Poland. By the 1960s, only 30,000 Jews remained.

In 1956, an official named Mieczyslaw Moczar began to accumulate power. A member of the Polish United Workers Party and General in the Polish People’s Army, Moczar was influential in the parts of the government which controlled the police and security forces. In the 1960s, he became leader of the state-controlled veteran’s association, the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy (the Związek Bojowników o Wolność i Demokracje, or, ZBoWiD), an organization with at least 300,000 members. At the same time, Polish political culture was moving away from the hard-line anti-Nationalist Stalinism of the 40s and 50s, to a climate more open to Polish nationalists. In this new climate, veterans of the Armja Krojowa and similar were now able to assert themselves in public. They took up government positions, many of them in the same departments which fell within Moczar’s sphere of influence, and, as the changing climate moved to the ZBoWiD, its ranks swelled as it opened membership to all veterans of Polish organizations which fought the Nazis.

Through his roles in the government, and in the ZBoWiD, Moczar built a power-base for himself made up of newly accepted and emboldened Polish nationalists and Home Army veterans. With this base, called the “Partisans,” behind him, Moczar launched a campaign to take control of the memory of the war years, pulling it from the custody of the earlier hard-line Stalinists into the hands of the Polish Nationalists. This meant pulling it away from a body which emphasized the plight of the Jews, to a body desperate for recognition of Polish action and victimhood.

The campaign began in earnest in 1966. In that year, the prestigious Wielka Encyklopedia Powszehna, the Great Universal Encyclpedia, printed an article which differentiated between Nazi labor camps, in which prisoners were worked to death, and death camps, which existed solely to exterminate prisoners, the majority of which were Jews. The state-controlled press picked up on this, and pundits from every corner of the country were incensed. They accused the Encyclopedia staff of erasing the history of Polish victimization during the War, while emphasizing suffering of the Jews. As a result of the controversy, a new article was printed, this one presenting all Nazi camps as inherently similar, and all existing to murder all victims equally.

In June 1967, days after the Six Day War, Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomulka, having noted that some of Poland's Jews seemed excited about Israel’s victory in that conflict, made a speech warning of the presence of a “fifth column” in Poland.1 A little over a week later, he made a speech which containeing references to the consequences of the presence of a people with “two souls and two fatherlands” within Poland. The result, as intended, was a widespread perception of Polish Jews not as Poles (not that they every truly were viewed as Poles), but as untrustworthy “Zionist” agents. In 1968, an official named Tadeusz Walichnowski, one of the leaders of the Nationalist faction of the Polish United Workers’ Party, published a highly influential, best-selling books called Israel and West Germany.

The book.

In this book, Tadeusz Walichnowski accused the State of Israel of committing genocide under the tutelage of 1,000 former Nazis. This relationship between the Nazis and the Zionists, he argued, dated back to the pre-war years. The Zionists, he continued, needed the Holocaust to happen in order to build support for the creation of a Jewish State, and collaborated with the Nazis to make it happen. Therefore, the real victims of the Nazis were the Poles, while the Holocaust had been nothing more than a German-Jewish, I mean ”Zionist,” conspiracy against the Poles.

Ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, April 1968. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.

In March 1968, in a seemingly unrelated turn of events, the government banned a production of Adam Mickiewicz’s play Dziady, due to perceived anti-Soviet themes. Students at Warsaw University went on strike in protest, and the police—rife with Partisans—came down hard on the protesters, jailing or exiling many of them. Seizing on the moment, Moczar made his move. Taking the rage of 1966, the “fifth column” fear mongering of 1967, and the conspiracy theories of 1968, he tied them all together, and placed the blame for the student protests on Zionists.

In his framing of the situation, these Zionist agitators were representatives of an anti-Polish conspiracy in which agents, both at home and abroad, actively worked to to mutilate the memory of the war years, defame the actions of the Polish Nation, and erase wartime Polish martyrdom. Major actors in this conspiracy, he argued, included West Germany, historical institutes in Israel, and centers of “Zionist” activity in the United States—you know, like the organizations Vladka worked with while giving Holocaust lectures. Under Moczar’s leadership, police and security forces instituted a search for Polish officials of Jewish descent. Tadeusz Walichnowski created a card index of all those in Poland of Jewish descent, using a system potentially stricter than that used in the Nuremberg Laws to determine descent.

Beginning in March 1968 and continuing through 1970, across Poland Jewish employees were “unmasked” and dismissed from jobs. Afterwards, it was impossible for them to find work in Poland. Further, these Jews were only allowed to leave Poland under the condition that they give up their Polish citizenship. From there, the government gave them only one thing: an exit permit valid only for travel to Israel.2 As a result of this expulsion-in-all-but-name, another 20,000 Jews left Poland. The Partisans perceived this as “proof” of the Jews’ true, Zionist, allegiance.

The legacy of the Anti-Semitic Campaign lasted through the mid-1980s. In accounts of the war published between about 1968 and 1985, the fate of Polish Jewry during the war was presented as indistinguishable from that of the Poles. Even the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was discussed only in the context of Polish aid rendered to Jewish fighters.

By the late 1970s, early 1980s, there was a new generation in Poland, one removed enough from the war that it could look back on Polish history not as something personal, but as something to be learned. Slowly, students and members of the intelligentsia became interested in Jews, Judaism, and Jewish History in Poland. The silence of the post-1968 era was replaced with a collective interest in a long-gone, multinational Poland past. This younger generation of Poles fely comfortable mourning the Jews, and Polish historians and intellectuals felt as though they were able to engage in dialogue with their Jewish and Israeli counterparts. However, this was not simply the product of a generational shift. In Ocotber 1978, Pope John Paul II, born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in the Polish town of Wadowice, ascended from Archbishop of Krakow, to Pope. During his tenure as Archbishop of Krakow, he had been an important figure in parts of the Catholic community interested in learning about Jewish culture and history in Poland.3 As Pope, he visited Auschwitz and spoke specifically about Jewish victims of the Nazis, identifying them not as enemy nationals, but as the older brothers of the Catholic people.4 He pushed for interfaith dialogue, and remembrance of the specific Jewish experience of World War II.

In 1983, the Polish government, now long past the anti-Semitic campaign, and operating in a new atmosphere of inquiry and dialogue, arranged an elaborate commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The government invited thousands of Jews and Jewish organizations to attend. However, Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the ZOB, called for a boycott of the proceedings, arguing that Poland's martial law and censored press went against everything the Uprising stood for. A state-organized mass commemoration of the Uprising, therefore, could never be anything more than a propagandic farce. As a result, an unofficial memorial ceremony was organizaed, with Edelman’s blessing, to take place a few days before the government’s. Several hundred people attended. Standing before the monument, they made and listened to hurried speeches, laid flowers, and said Kaddish. And then they were dispersed by riot police.

Days later, in front of an audience of thousands, a Military Guard of Honor laid a wreath at the base of the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Fighters.

1983 memorial ceremony. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.

This is not where the story of the Polish relationship with Holocaust history and memory ends, but that’s where I’m going to end the the present discussion. Because, in January 1978, right before new forces took hold of the the memory of Poland's Jewish past, Vladka and Benjamin returned.

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1 The “fifth column,” for those unfamiliar with it, is a form of xenophobic, racist, and otherwise bigoted rhetoric used to target minorities, immigrants, refugees, outsiders, and anyway else deemed unworthy of membership in the nation-state. As applied to Jews, it cast them as inherently untrustworthy, loyal to each other (“International Jewry”) over any state in which they resided. It led to a lot of scapegoating during the Dreyfus Affair, the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, and the Hitler-era American nativist line that Jewish refugees were German spies. After 1948, the trope shifted to convey that Jews living anywhere outside of Israel were loyal to Israel before all else. To illustrate how this works, allow me to give you an anecdote: at a grad school happy hour I toasted “l’chaim” before downing my shot. A colleague across the table sneered at me and toasted “Free Palestine” before downing his shot. This colleague was making assumptions about my politics and loyalties as a Jewish person despite knowing nothing about me or my politics. This is fifth column thinking. And then, of course, there's our best friend, the cab driver. This all dovetails nicely with Jewish Conspiracy, and Protocols of the Elders of Zion type shit. To provide examples of how this applies to other groups, the 45th President of the US likes to insinuate that all Hispanic immigrants represent MS-13, and that all Muslims are anti-American terrorists. This is fifth column rhetoric in action. It's gross and highkey ethnic-cleansey. 2 Subtweeting all of Eurasia and North Africa here okay like if you hate the State of Israel and do not want it to exist, then maybe don’t kick out your Jews and/or treat them so horribly that their only choice is go to Israel as a result of international immigration policies/your fucking exit permit???? I mean, I know why, but... 3 In the late 1970s, liberal, educated classes of the Polish Catholic community began to take an interest in Jewish history in Poland. One of their organizations, the Warsaw Club, organized annual Weeks of Jewish Culture. On these Weeks, they would pay visits to the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw and work on restoring its tombstones, attend lectures on Jewish culture, and participate in similar activities. 4 There's a whole clusterfuck involving a convent opening in a former Auschwitz gas chamber because Lol Memory, but that happened outside of the 1946-1983 time frame of this post, so that's a memory clusterfuck I will not be discussing here.

[pakkiyick]

Trip to Central Europe (3rd – 16th Sep, 2019)

A Cultural Melting Pot at the Heart of Europe

 As is implied by the name, Central Europe is a region located at the centre of the continent, roughly in the middle area between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. However, one may not know that there has never been a crystal clear demarcation for the boundary of Central Europe. This central piece of land is not only a geographical expression, but also a cultural and historical concept. The European continent can never be split into a few distinct zones simply based on location. Ideological and political factors should also be taken into consideration when defining which countries should be included in Central Europe. In the past hundreds of years, most nations in this ambiguous terrain were part of the Holy Roman Empire and ruled by the autocratic Habsburg Dynasty. After the Second World War, Central Europe was under the sphere of influence of the dictatorial Soviet Russia. People who lived in this European crossroad had been suffering from prolonged political turmoil and economic hardship. With the end of the Cold War, Central Europe has turned a new page of history and become a wonderland where full of long-lasting cultural heritage and unspoiled natural beauty.

 Located right in the central district of the European continent, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia may be now only regarded as five second- class nation states in terms of their national strength. But some may not know that all those countries were once part of a gorgeous empire and contributed much for the formation of modern Europe. These days, Central Europe is no longer a miserable zone full of historical trauma, but a perfect place to learn about a story of transformation from oppression to liberation. In September 2019, I took a brief trip to the above five neighboring sovereign states, exploring their state capitals and some other exquisite towns.

 Austria was once a major leading power in Europe during the medieval times. From late 13th century to early 20th century, Austria was ruled by the House of Habsburg, one of the oldest and the most influential royal families in European history. Habsburg dynasty built up an extensive multi-ethnic empire in central Europe, embracing much of modern-day Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and parts of Poland and bits of Italy. The Holy Roman Empire was also dominated by the House of Habsburg for four centuries. Before the collapse of the Habsburg Empire after the First World War in 1918, Austria was one of the key players in European politics. Twenty years after the end of the empire, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. Since then, Austria was confirmed to be no longer a mighty political entity, but merely one of the second-rate European countries. Ten years after the Second World War, Austria regained full independence and declared its "permanent neutrality". These days, Austria was the fourth-most peaceful country in the world according to the Global Peace Index 2020. Just a quarter-century ago, Austria joined the European Union (EU). Adopting euro as its official currency in 1999, Austria was again proved to be a keen member in European integration movement.

 As the eastern neighbor of Austria, it is no wonder that Hungary had a profound relationship with Habsburg dynasty. A half millennium ago, Hungarian territory was partitioned into three parts and the southern part was under Ottoman rule. Until three hundred years ago, Habsburg Austria defeated the Turks and the entire Hungary became a part of Austria. Around a century and a half later, because of the military failure in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Austria had no choice but to agree to form a dual monarchy with Hungary. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was short-lived and only lasted for five decades. Although Hungarians were liberated from the Austrian empire, they were not yet to be freed from foreign influence and domination. After World War Two, Hungary was controlled by the Soviet Union. Under the communist Russian rule, Hungary suffered from prolonged economic hardship and the Hungarian’s standard of living dropped dramatically. Following the end of the Cold War in 1989, Hungary gained its full independence and turned to be a democratic sovereign nation. Today, Hungary is a European Union (EU) member state and tries its best to improve the national economy in order to join the eurozone in the future.

 Known in full as the Czech Republic, Czechia is a landlocked central European country situated north of Austria. Its history goes back to more than a thousand years in Europe. During the Middle Ages, today’s over half of territory of Czech Republic was once called Bohemia. Around five hundred years earlier, Kingdom of Bohemia became a part of the Habsburg Empire. It was not until the end of the First World War in 1918 that the very first Czech nation state gained its independence from Austria. The Czechs joined the Slovakians to form a new state of Czechoslovakia. However, the days of peace did not last long. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany annexed the Czech lands. Although Adolf Hitler was eventually defeated by the Allied forces and Czechoslovakia was liberated by the Soviet Russia in 1945, the nightmare of foreign occupation had not yet ended. Just three years after World War Two, Communist Russia turned Czechoslovakia from a democratic country to a one-party dictatorship regime which under Russian totalitarian rule. Not until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 did the Czech people finally gain back their freedom and independence. Though the Czech Republic has joined the European Union for more than a decade, three fourth of the Czechs still refused to recognize the euro as their national currency.

 As a nation lying on the Czech eastern border, Slovakia shared a similar history with its neighboring country. Since over a thousand years ago, the Slovakians had long been ruled by foreign races. In the 10th century, the territory of Slovakians was annexed by the Kingdom of Hungary. Around five hundred years later, the Slovakian lands became part of the Austrian Habsburg Empire. After the First World War, the Slovakians and their neighbors the Czechs were bonded together to constitute a new country of Czechoslovakia. In the following decades, this newly created state suffered much from foreign occupation. Czechoslovakia was first invaded by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, and then it was under Soviet Russia’s totalitarian rule in the period of Cold War. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia was divided into two independent nation states in 1993. This event is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a peaceful breaking up of Czechoslovakia. At present, both Slovakia and the Czech Republic are the members of the European Union. Slovakia even accepted euro as its state currency.  

 Slovenia is a small country located in the south of Central Europe with a limited coastline at the Adriatic Sea. The Slovenes had never had their own independent nation state until the end of the 20th century. As the southern neighbor of Austria, Slovenia was under Hapsburg rule for over half of a millennium. After the First World War, Slovenia became a part of Yugoslavia. With growing discontent of autocratic rule, Slovenes continued fighting for more autonomy within the federation after World War Two. By the end of Cold War, the Slovenes finally successful to establish their own nation state in 1991, after the Ten-Day War. Since then, Slovenia has tried its best to integrate itself into western Europe both politically and economically. Slovenia joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004, and entered the eurozone in 2007.

 Day One - Budapest: Szepmuveszeti Muzeum (Medosz Hotel, 3-star hotel)

 It is quite a paradox that many Hong Kong travel lovers always claim that Budapest is one of their next desirable destinations, but seldom of them know where Budapest actually is. Recognized as the Hungarian capital around a century and a half ago, Budapest was originally the combination of two cities on opposite sides of the River Danube. On the western bank, Buda offers visitors a tranquilized natural surrounding with a series of leisurely sightseeing spots, like Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church; on the eastern bank, Pest provides sightseers a vibrant city landscape with a sequence of magnificent historical architectures, such as the Parliament Building and the Opera House. Either side of the river shows the striking beauty of the city, which is the reason why Budapest is sometimes regarded as the Paris of the East.

 Hősök tere (Heroes’ Square) was my very first destination after I landed in Budapest. For the commemoration of the millennium anniversary of the Magyar conquest of Hungary, an extensive public area was built a hundred and a quarter years ago. Since then it has become one of the most symbolic squares in the city. TErected right at the centre of the square, the 36-metre tall Millennial Column with a statue of Archangel Gabriel on the top draws everyonebody’s attention. At the column base is a group of seven equestrian statues representing seven Magyar chieftains who were considered as the founders of the Hungarian nation. Two semi-circular peristyles encompass the central column with an array of statues of Hungarian kings and other significant historical figures. It is the very place where a tourist can experience over thousand years of Hungarian history.

 Flanked by the Heroes’ Square on the left, Szepmuveszeti Muzeum (Museum of Fine Arts) is one of the top tourist sights in the Hungarian capital. The hundred-year-old art museum is housed in a neoclassical building with a collection of over 100,000 pieces of international masterworks, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and Goya. Not everyone is an art lover or even familiar with European artworks, but some may have an interest in ancient Egyptian history. This fine art museum holds the second largest collection of ancient Egyptian art in central Europe. Mummy sarcophagi, canopic jars and papyrus scrolls are some of the most fascinating ancient Egyptian artefacts which can be found in this museum.

 Originating from the Black Forest of Germany and ending into the Black Sea, the River Danube runs across the largest number of countries in the world. Passing through ten countries and four capitals, this 2,850-kilometre long river is the second-longest river in Europe after the River Volga of Russia. Budapest is divided  into two halves geographically by a natural long river, but it is connected together symbolically by a marvel human architecture. Constructed in the mid-19th century, Chain Bridge was the first permanent stone-bridge linking up Buda and Pest. Although the bridge was once almost totally destroyed by the Nazi’s during the Siege of Budapest in 1945, it was renovated in its original form after World War Two. With a length of 380 meters and a width of nearly 15 metres, this colossal suspension bridge which spans on both sides of the River Danube serves as the city landmark offering the most astonishing night view of Budapest.

 Taking a night stroll along the River Danube may seem to be the most enjoyable way to appreciate the city’s nightlife. Situated on the eastern bank, the Hungarian Parliament Building is unanimously recognized as the most notable national symbol of Hungary and one of the most photogenic spots on the River Danube. It is currently the largest parliament building in the world, and the biggest building in Hungary. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the banks of the Danube are an unmissable tourist site when visiting Budapest. It may be also the reason why Budapest is sometimes called the Pearl of the Danube.

 Day Two - Budapest: Budavari Palota (Medosz Hotel, 3-star hotel)

 As a greedy traveler with a very tight schedule, one may want to visit as many tourist sights as possible within a short period of time. When it comes to how to efficiently travel around a new destination, different so-called travel experts may have their own proposals. As far as I am concerned, visiting some eminent historical sites are often the best way to experience a city.

 Just like other European countries, the Hungarian government has paid much effort on conservation of its cultural heritage. Well-maintained churches, well-preserved castles and well-kept museums are a few examples of good preservation works done by the local government. All those mentioned religious buildings, fortified structures and cultural institutions are scattered alongside the River Danube and can be easily accessed with public transport. With a well-planned travel itinerary, one can visit multiple tourist sites within one day without any complexities.

 Spending a delightful morning in the Buda Castle Quarter seems to be a good start for a day trip. Known as Halaszbastya in the Hungarian language, the Fisherman's Bastion is one of the main tourist attractions on castle hill. The name of the bastion was originated from the guild of the fishermen who protected the area during the Middle Ages. Taking seven years to complete, this fairytale-like bastion was built in Neo-Romanesque style. Its seven high-pitched white turrets symbolize the seven Magyar chieftains who founded the present day Hungary in the late 9th century. Standing on its lookout terrace, one may enjoy a breathtaking panoramic view of the city.

 Nestled in the heart of the Castle district in Buda side, Mátyás-templom (Matthias Church) is just stone throw away from the Fisherman’s Bastion. Originally built in the early 11th century and renovated many times subsequently, this Roman Catholic church witnessed many turbulent historical events of the country. It was once occupied by the Turks in the mid-16th century and severely damaged during the Second World War. The Church was named in honour of King Matthias Corvinus of the 15th century, one of the greatest kings in Hungary, who expanded the religious structure by adding the southern high tower. This religious edifice is also known as the Coronation Church of Buda, since several coronation ceremonies and two royal weddings were held in this church. The roof of the church is decorated with multicolored ceramic tiles and the church inside is furnished with carved stone figures, Romanesque ornamental paintings and frescoes. The most eye-catching decoration of all must be the giant colorful stained glass windows hanging high on the wall. It is one of the most majestic churches found in the city and worth some time to look around.

 After admiring the palatial church early in the morning, it is possible to visit some more prominent historical monuments located nearby before noon. Inscribed as a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Budavari Palota (Buda Castle) is the jewel on the hill without doubt. First built in the mid-13th century, the castle has long been a silent observer to witness many ups and downs of the Hungarian history. Suffering from continuous foreign invasion and war destruction, this fortified structure was rebuilt and remodeled several times over the years. The original complex was once served as the royal residence, but today the palace is home to the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum.

 Housed in the Buda Castle, the Magyar Nemzeti Galeria (Hungarian National Gallery) takes up four wings of the palace with a wide range of collections featuring thousands of Hungarian artworks in all genres from the Medieval period to the present day. It is by far the largest public collection presenting the evolution of Hungarian fine arts. Budapest Torteneti Muzeum (Budapest History Museum, or called the Castle Museum) is another museum housed in the castle. Its collection showcases the history of the city from prehistoric times to modern days. The exhibits on display reflect the daily life of an ordinary Hungarian family. It is the ideal place for visitors to get glimpse of the Hungarian traditional culture in the past. Unfortunately, the Castle Museum had been closed for renovation by the time I got there.

 Another popular tourist spot in the Castle District is Sándor Palace. It is the current official residence and workspace of the President of Hungary. By the time I there, I was lucky enough to catch the sight of the Changing of the Guards ceremony performed in front of this white-coloured palace.

 After lunch, I spent my leisure afternoon continuing to explore the city on the opposite side of the river. Housed in an imposing neoclassical building of the 19th  century, Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum (Hungarian National Museum) holds various historical items pertaining to the Hungarian history and culture. The highlight of the museum is probably the ceremonial robe once worn by Hungarian kings at their coronations. Visitors can travel back in time to explore the country’s history through tons of priceless exhibits from different historical periods.

 Late in the afternoon, I wrapped up my trip by visiting the third largest church in Budapest. Situated in the heart of the Pest side, Szent Istvan-Bazilika (St. Stephen's Basilica) is a Roman Catholic basilica dedicated to the first king of Hungary, King St. Stephen. Suffering from a series of misfortunate events, the completion date of the church was delayed for multiple times. It took over half a century to build and eventually completed in 1905. This neoclassical cathedral is now regarded as the most sacred Catholic church in all of Hungary.

 Following a detailed planned travel schedule, I successfully take a brief visit to some insightful tourist spots found in Budapest within a day and a half. Leaving the Hungarian capital, I hurried to the central station and took an express train heading to the next capital city, Bratislava.

 Day Three - Bratislava: Hrad Devin (Hyde Park Hostel)

 After Slovakia gained independence from Czechoslovakia in 1993, Bratislava became the capital of the newly formed republic. Praised as the Beauty on the Danube, this picturesque city is quite a young European capital with thousand years of prestigious history. Sharing borders with Austria and Hungary, Bratislava is only state capital that adjoins two sovereign nations. Situated at the crossroads of ancient trading routes in Central Europe, Bratislava was an important business hub in the middle ages. With its unique strategic position in the heart of Europe, it has once been the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary for over two centuries and a half. The city itself is small enough to manage a one-day backpacking and big enough for holding plenty of valuable cultural sights. Making good use of public transportation, visitors can travel to most of the tourist hotspots without any difficulties.

 As far as I am concerned, visiting some historic sights is one of the most enjoyable ways to familiarize myself with a city. Just a 30-minutes' bus ride away from Bratislava’s old town, Hrad Devin (Devin Castle) is setting on a massive rock hill with a panoramic view overlooking the River Danube. The main structure of the site is now more like a well-preserved archaeological ruin rather than a military stronghold. Boasting over a thousand years of history since it was first built, Devin  Castle is known as one of the oldest castles in Slovakia. Over the years, this castle was successively occupied by different European kings and was once severely devastated by an attack from Napoleon I of France. The remnant of the castle is now served as a national cultural monument. Visitors can learn more about the architectural development of the citadel by visiting the showroom hosted in a cave in the castle rock. Coming to Devin Castle and spending an hour or two to explore the city’s past was worth the while.

 After heading back to the city centre, I went to somewhere at high altitude. Perched atop on a forested hill with a height of 85 metres above the water level of the River Danube, a snowy white rectangular fortification has been overlooking the old town of Bratislava for millenniums. Bratislavsky Hrad (Bratislava Castle) was first built in the 9th century and several renovations were implemented afterwards. The final large scale refurbishment was commissioned by Queen Maria Theresia in the mid-18th century. Unfortunately, the castle was burnt to ash by an accidental fire in 1811. Not until the end of the Second World War was the castle reconstructed to its original status. Today, Bratislava Castle has become a cultural monument and is home to the Museum of History. The museum has a wide range of collections that are related to the development of Slovakian society from medieval times until present day. It may be the best place for one who interested in studying the history of the country.

 Exploring a cultural site may give one a better understanding of the political history of a country, whilst visiting a natural history museum can enrich one's knowledge about the mother nature of our planet. Since Hong Kong has no museum which is focused on the history of the earth, I always treasure the opportunity to visit some natural history museums when I travel to a new country. Prírodovedné Múzeum (Natural History Museum) is only a medium-sized museum but contains more than 2.5 million objects related to diversity of Slovak animate and inanimate nature. This ranks the museum as one of the most significant museums of its kind in Europe. A considerable amount of amazing animal and insect specimens are showcased in display glass boxes. Some prehistoric beasts are recreated as full scale stuffed models, the most spectacular of which must be the life-sized mammoth. Quite a few fossils are also on display in the museum, including giant shark teeth, saber-toothed tiger skulls, ammonites and so on. Among all the exhibits, the replica of a dilophosaurus is particular attractive and has drawn the most tourist attention.

 Situated at the western border of the city centre below Bratislava Castle, Dom sv. Martina (St. Martin's Cathedral) is the largest and finest Gothic cathedral in the old town. Its 85-metre high spire dominates the city skyline and makes it stand out from its surroundings. Since it was consecrated in the 15th century, this cathedral had been deeply associated with the Austro-Hungarian Royalty. St. Martin’s Cathedral was served as the coronation church of the Kingdom of Hungary during the period of 1563 to 1830. Quite a few Hungarian kings and queens were crowned in this cathedral, including Queen Maria Theresa of Habsburg. Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and one of the greatest monarchs in European history. Furthermore, a number of influential historic figures found their final resting place in the crypt beneath the cathedral. St. Martin’s Cathedral is undoubtedly one of the highlights in Bratislava.

 Day Four - Vienna: Schonbrunn Palace (Sommerhotel Wieden, 3-star hotel)

 Located only a little more than an hour train time from Bratislava, I reached my third destination, Vienna. Once the capital of Holy Roman Empire, Vienna is a historical city full of mesmerizing stories to tell. Walking along the medieval narrow alleyways, stepping on the antique cobblestone streets, and passing through the old town squares, you can just immerse yourself into a European dreamland embraced by a romantic atmosphere. Crowned as the City of Music, Vienna is a place on which some world-renowned classical composers left their footprints, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and many others. As the state capital of Austria, Vienna is famous for its high quality of living conditions. It was ranked the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) most livable city in 2019. Designated as a UNESCO World heritage site, the historic centre of Vienna is dotted with fabulous castles, fantastic palaces and fascinating gardens. This is a place that you should not miss on your visit to Austria.

 On the first day morning of my three-day excursion to Austria, I got up early and set off to a main summer residence of the Habsburg monarchs, Schloss Schönbrunn (Schonbrunn Palace). The grandiose of this Rococo-style palace is comparable to that of the Palace of Versailles of France. The palace is legendary not only because its opulent furnishing, but also because its historical importance. Some historical figures left their traces in this imperial home. Mozart had his first concert in the mirrored hall of the palace when he was only six years old. Napoleon Bonaparte was once lived and worked here. Chaired by the Austrian Foreign Minister Klemens Wenzel Prince Metternich, the Congress of Vienna was convened here to discuss establishing lasting peace in Europe after the Napoleonic Wars.

 When comes to the term of “palace”, most of us might think it is a lavish building which is served as a royal residence or the home of a head of state. But it is only partly correct to equate the single residential building of the royalty with the whole palace site. In many parts of Europe, the area of a palace is far more bigger than just a single-standing building. Some visitors may just pay much their attention on the ornate state rooms and opulent royal apartments inside the palace building, but take no notice of the true beauty outside the building. Just like many other palaces in the rest of Europe, Schloss Schönbrunn is a massive architectural complex with not only an imperial residence but also a verdant garden, a huge palm house and even an old zoo.

 Palmenhaus Schönbrunn (Palm House) is the largest palm house on the European continent. It consists of three pavilions which represent different climate zones from around the world. Dozens of Mediterranean, tropical and subtropical plants can be found in this gigantic botanical house. Some may be impressed by the world largest water lily, whose leaves can span 1.2 metres.

 Standing opposite the Palm House, Wüstenhaus Schönbrunn (Desert Experience House) is a hothouse which is designed to mimic the desert landscape. For over a century, this greenhouse has been home to copious arid flora and fauna around the world. Besides some of the most recognizable species of succulents and cacti, some rare desert species can also be seen such as radiated tortoises and Gila monsters, and the most prominent of which must be the naked mole rat. It is a kind of mammal which lives in some underground tunnel-like burrows. Since this type of burrowing rodents lives under the ground surface, a sophisticated glass tube labyrinth was built to imitate its natural habitat. Visitors are able to observe this bizarre-looking rats from various angles through the glass casings.

 Together with the Privy Garden and Orangery Garden, Schonbrunn Palace was catalogued on the World Heritage List of the UNESCO in 1996. It is overall a wonderful palace which you can spend delightful time with your family.

 Although I am no expert of art by any standard, the next art exhibition hall is too famous to be ignored. Secession is a huge white architecture with a golden leafwork dome, which was built over a hundred years ago. The term “Secession” originally refers to several groups of forward-thinking artists who abandon the conservative artistic values and seek a new way of art. In the late 19th century, Gustav Klimt was one of the most renowned Austrian symbolist painters who devoted himself to the Vienna Secession movement. His masterpiece “Beethoven Frieze” is the main feature of the exhibition. The 34-meter long wall painting was a tribute to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and recognized as one of the best artworks in Secession style. Until today, the Secession continues to uphold its motto to promote international contemporary art.

 Just in the neighborhood of the Secession there is the Karlskirche (St. Charles Church), a stunning sacred edifice with a giant emerald green cupola. During 1713 and 1714, the last great plague broke out in Vienna and took away thousands of lives. Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI pledged to build a church dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo. Archbishop Charles Borromeo was regarded as a “plague saint” since he selflessly took care of the poor and the sick when a plague was raging in Milan in the 16th century. The interior decoration of the church is just similar to the one that can be found in any other European church, except a unique meticulous design. A huge globe with a reflective surface hung suspended from the ceiling. It is quite a thoughtful design which allows visitors to see the interior all at once through the reflections from the globe.

 As mentioned before, a European palace is usually an ensemble of various buildings and gardens. In order to minimize the violation of the original natural setting, generally no additional lighting system would be installed in the royal gardens. Therefore, most European palaces together with their gardens are closed before nightfall. Belvedere is one of the few palaces which still stays open to the public late at night every Friday. Formerly a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy during the 18th century, this Baroque palace complex is now home to the Belvedere museum. The museum is composed of two main buildings which are connected by an extensive baroque garden. The Upper Belvedere showcases permanent art exhibitions from the medieval to interwar periods, including the world-leading collection of Gustav Klimt’s paintings, such as “The Kiss ” and “Judith”. The Lower Belvedere mainly accommodates special exhibitions. As the palace itself is one of the most gorgeous Baroque architecture, it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 Day Five - Vienna: Hofburg (Sommerhotel Wieden, 3-star hotel)

 Since first built in the 13th century, Hofburg had served as a symbol of the political strength of the Habsburg family. With the increasing power of the Habsburgs, the royal residence was extended a lot from its original size in the following years. For centuries, the splendid white building had served as principal imperial winter palace and seat of government of the Habsburg dynasty. It currently serves as the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria. Today it houses three outstanding museums with an array of spectacular royal collections. It is a place where one can step back into the pages of nineteenth century Europe and relive some of the most significant periods in Austrian history.

 Dedicated to the legendary Austrian empress, the Sisi Museum is undeniably the focal point of the palace. More commonly known as Sisi, Empress Elisabeth was unquestionably regarded as the most beautiful European queen of her time. Sisi was widely beloved not only by her beauty, but also by her political achievement. Making use of her influence on her husband king Franz Joseph I, Austrian government agreed to conclude the stalemate and reconcile with the Hungarians on granting a certain political autonomy to Hungary. A compromise between two governments was reached and the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was thus prolonged for another half century. Today, over a century after her assassination, Sisi is still one of the most respected figures in both Austria and Hungary.

 The Sisi Museum intends to recreate the royal private life of Empress Elisabeth through hundreds of personal luxury items which once belonged to her. Some of the most remarkable exhibits include Sisi’s childhood harp, the original christening robes, the reconstructed Hungarian coronation dress, and even the empress’s luxurious imperial saloon car. Together with dozens of portraits of the Queen Sisi, the exhibition fully illustrates the charismatic character of the celebrated empress, as well as her incomparable beauty and curvaceous figure.

 The Imperial Apartments are the former private and official chambers of Queen Sisi and her husband. Walking through numbers of splendor apartments once used by the imperial couple, one may gradually immerse themselves into the atmosphere of royalty. The daily royal life can be experience in the Queen’s salons, bedroom,  bathroom and many others. It is said that the beauty-conscious Empress Sisi spent many hours in the exercise-cum-dressing room every day. Doing gymnastic exercise may be the queen’s secret to her forever beauty.

 The Silver Collection is another attractive feature of the palace. “Sparkling” may be the only adjective to describe this exhibition. Countless glittering silverware can be admired here, especially the 30 meter-long Milan centerpiece. Besides the invaluable silver eating utensils, precious porcelain and luminous glassware can also be seen. With such a sophisticated array of royal kitchenware, the traditional imperial dining experience was brought back to life.

 A natural history museum is a kind of museum which I have never missed to visit when I travel to a new place. Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Natural History Museum) is one of the largest non-university research institutions in Austria, and which houses the largest and oldest meteorite collection in the world, including the meteorite from Mars. Loads of skeletons of the gigantic prehistoric creatures are presented in the dinosaur hall. A lifelike allosaurus can even move and roar just like a real one. Although it is housed in a historic architectural structure that dates back to the late 19th century, the museum is equipped with cutting-edge technological facilities like the brand new planetarium. Equipped with the state-of-the-art full-dome technology, the digital planetarium shows some panoramic short movies which are related to various aspects in natural science. With a huge collection ranging from precious minerals and gems to stunning taxidermy animal specimens, this museum is a perfect place where families can easily spend half an afternoon wandering around.

 Imperial Furniture Museum is a single-themed museum which stores the most complete furniture collection once owned by the Hapsburg family. Hundreds of thousands pieces of antique furniture are on display, making it one of the largest furniture collections in the world. Royal chambers were meticulously recreated along with imperial thrones, commodes and even spittoons. Through the ornate furniture used by the royal family, one may imagine how extravagant the life of the Hapsburg dynasty could be, as well as how powerful the Austrian Empire was back then.

 Constructed by the same known architect of the Belvedere Palace, Peterskirche (St Peter’s Church) is the city’s finest example of Baroque Catholic edifice. Hiding behind the hustle and bustle of Petersplatz, the Church has long kept a relatively low profile compared with other similar sumptuous Baroque architectures. Thanks to its iconic emerald dome along with two turrets flanking on each side, this remarkable church would not be overlooked by anyone. Some may think it is a little bit gloomy when you go inside, but the fascinating religious artworks boasts the interior decoration of the church.

 Day Six - Vienna: Time Travel (Sommerhotel Wieden, 3-star hotel)

Since I had to catch my plane early at night, I only had a few more hours to see as many sights as I could before leaving this romantic capital. Having paid visit to some most popular tourist hotspots in the last two days, I would like to look for somewhere less traditional in order to experience the city from different angles on my last day in Vienna. Time Travel has been the very first museum where I found it both amusing and educational since I came to Central Europe. Making use of the latest virtual reality equipment along with spectacular 5D cinematic technology, visitors feel like stepping into medieval Vienna to relive the life of the ordinary Viennese citizens back then. During the one-hour walk-through guided tour, visitors can review a series of critical scenes relating to significant moments in Viennese history, including the Roman Vienna, the Black Death and the Turkish siege. With life-like animatronic wax figures as well as exceptional sound effects, one may just like travelling back to the past and meeting some well-known historical figures in person, such as Maria Theresia, Mozart and Sisi. Time Travel is an unconventional museum which brings history to life and it introduces a new way to learn history. It is undoubtedly a fantastic paradise for every history lover and it will surely delight young and old alike .

 Museum der Illusionen (Museum of Illusions) was like no other museum I had been to before. It is not so much like a tiny educational institution full of informative knowledge but more like a mini experimental laboratory full of intriguing components. As soon as you step through the entrance of the museum, it is just like letting yourself jump into an illogical world which is full of illusions and delusions. Every single piece of exhibits found in the museum can not only blow your mind up but also give you an opportunity to think in a different way. Visitors may try defying gravity in an inclined room, watch your companions enlarging and shrinking in the Ames room, struggle to walk through a vortex tunnel which moves like a rotating cylinder. This interactive museum is suitable for the whole family of all ages. Spending an hour or so to experience something beyond your imagination is absolutely recommended.

 After grabbing a quick lunch, I hurried to my next destination. I am not so sure the following museum is suitable for every range of ages, especially for young children. During my trip to Europe, seldom have I encountered such kind of museum since not every European city has one. But once I come across one, I will never miss visiting it. Located in a former World War Two air-raid shelter, Foltermuseum (Torture Museum) is a dungeon-like museum that demonstrates various kinds of torture methods in history. Based on the meticulous research on the subject of physical punishment, multiple brutal torture scenes are recreated in detail. Following the tunnel-like exhibition route, visitors are able to scrutinize every detail of the torturing processes during Medieval Europe. This extraordinary museum reveals a dark chapter of mankind’s history in front of everyone’s eyes with the help of some wax dummies and fastidiously decorated prison-like torture chambers.  

 After visiting several bizarre museums, I turned my attention to some place with religious solemnity. As a culturally significant heritage landmark of the city, Stephansdom (St Stephen’s Cathedral) is one of the most popular attractions of the capital, loved by both tourists and Vienna residents. Since it was first consecrated in the mid-12th century, this Romanesque church was successively redesigned and reconstructed in the following centuries. With its sheer height of 136 metres and the largest free-swinging bell in Austria, the Pummerin, making it one of the most recognizable edifices in the city. During the Second World War, the Church was nearly burned down to the ground. Thanks to the support from the Viennese citizens, Stephansdom was rebuilt and reopened seven years after the war.  

 According to my original flight schedule, the plane was supposed to take off around six in the evening. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed for no reason and not to take off until seven at night. Since then, everything went wrong. Because of my flight delay, I missed my connecting flight. I had no choice but to be forced to stay in Frankfurt overnight. Because I failed to check in at the hotel in my next destination as scheduled, my travel itinerary was completely messed up!

 Day Seven - Ljubljana: Postojna Cave (Ambrozic, 1-star hotel)

 As the largest city of Slovenia, Ljubljana is a city which is quite strange to most Hong Kong people. Some Hong Kongers may have never heard this place before, not to mention visiting it. Ljubljana is the top ten smallest capital in Europe. Its territorial size is only a little bit bigger than Tai Po but with lesser population. Ljubljana is just similar to a number of other amiable European cities which are dotted with a wide range of exquisite medieval architectures, exuding a special charm of western artistic attractiveness. Under such kind of cultural atmosphere, one may be able to experience the true beauty of this mini European city. Awarded as the European Green Capital in 2016, Ljubljana has also proved to be one of the best European countries which has paid much effort in protecting the natural environment. Ljubljana is an enchanting green city combining the charm of unspoiled wildlife habitat and traditional European culture.  

 Long before my trip started, I reserved a local guided tour package through the Internet. As per my original travel itinerary, I was supposed to reach Ljubljana on the night of 8th September and join that local tour to Lake Bled and Postojna Cave early in the morning the next day. However, because of my flight delay, I had not arrived in Ljubljana until noon of 9th September. Since I failed to join my prepaid local tour on time in that morning, a thousand dollar worth local tour package was voided. In order to continue my trip I had no alternative but to look for another means of transport to go to Postojna on my own.

 Upon coming to the bus station, I was anxious to find a bus to complete the journey. I was lucky enough to get on the last bus to my designated destination. After over an hour bus drive, I came to Postojna Cave late in the afternoon. Never have I visited an amazing natural realm hidden beneath the surface. Carved millions of years ago by the Pivka River, Postojna Cave is one of the best examples of karst formation found in Europe. Taking a cave tourist train, visitors are allowed to observe the rock formation of stalactite and stalagmite at a close range. The largest stalagmite can be up to 16 metres in height. With over 24 kilometres of underground passages, Postojna Cave is one of the longest cave systems in Slovenia, making it the most visited tourist cave in Europe. Every year half a million of visitors from around the world come to marvel at this breathtaking stone forest scenery. Some rare species can also be found inside the cave. The most spectacular of which must be a kind of cave-dwelling salamander called the olm. It is a type of amphibian which looks like a baby dragon. With its cute appearance, olms have become the most welcomed aquatic creatures which can only be found in caves.

 Leaving the cave after the guided tour ended, I walked down the mountain and reached a local tourist office before nightfall. By the time I came to the tourist office, only one young lady staff was on duty. I asked her if she could show me the way back to my hotel. Unexpectedly I was told that neither train nor bus was available to take me back to the city centre since all means of public transportation were closed early at night. Taking a taxi was the only possible way to go back to my hotel. The female staff was kind enough to help me call a taxi and keep me company before the taxi arrived. I had a nice chat with the pretty girl. Through the conservation, I learned a lot more about the life and culture of Slovenia. Although taking an expensive rental car back to the downtown cost me an arm and a leg, it was an invaluable experience to talk to a local and learn something which I could never find from any travel guidebooks.

 Day Eight - Ljubljana: Ljubljanski Grad (Ambrozic, 1-star hotel)

 Before leaving this picturesque charming old city, I decided to spend half a day in the downtown where I could get a glimpse into Slovenian history. Ljubljanski Grad (Ljubljana Castle) is definitely the historical landmark of the city. Situated on a small hill in the centre of Ljubljana, the castle is easily reachable by funicular railway. Originally built during medieval times, the castle has been standing on the green hill overlooking the city for hundreds of years. It is unlike any other castles I have visited before because this one is quite well-preserved with many modern decorations. One of highlights of the castle is surely the panoramic view from the outlook tower. Walking down from the viewing tower, visitors can briefly review the history of the fortress by watching a 12-minute-long documentary in a video presentation room. The permanent exhibition of Museum of Slovene History offers every visitor some insights relating to the colourful past of Ljubljana. Visitors can go through the history of the country since ancient times till contemporary period. Another point of interest of the site must be the Museum of Puppetry. Newly set up in 2015, the museum houses a various range of marionettes and glove puppets depicting the history of puppeteering in Slovenia. It is a must-visit tourist attraction if anyone who wants to learn more about the city’s rich heritage and culture.

 Leaving the majestic castle around noon, I crossed the river and came to the largest cultural institution of the city. Mestni muzej Ljubljana (City Museum of Ljubljana) is hosted inside the Auersperg Palace. Housing in a palatial Renaissance building, the museum itself is an architectural jewel. The City Museum is abundant with hundreds of thousands of valuable exhibits that represent an integral part of Ljubljana’s cultural and historical heritage. The oldest and most famous artefact found in the museum is a prehistoric wooden wheel with an axe. It was found on the Ljubljana Marshes and could be dated back to as long ago as 5200 years in history. As the museum building stands right on an ancient Roman ruin, extensive archaeological excavations were carried out during renovation some twenty years from now. The archaeological findings reveal the best preserved remains of the Roman settlement of Emona dating back two millennia ago. The museum offers an excellent historical presentation about the city. It is the exact place where you should put on your travel itinerary if you would like to know more about the history of Ljubljana.

 After having a leisure lunch at a Chinese restaurant, I set off to the train station. According to my travel schedule, two more Austrian cities were planned to be visited. After taking a four and a half hour train ride from Ljubljana, I finally went back to Austria and arrived in Salzburg, another big city of Austria.

 Day Nine - Hallstatt: Salzwelten Hallstatt (A & O Salzburg Hauptbahnhof)

 Getting up early in the morning, I started my day trip to a tranquil small town of central Austria named Hallstatt. The easiest way to get to this remote lakeside location is by train from Salzburg. It was quite a long journey and it took me more than two and a half hours to reach this legendary wonderland. Widely known for its World’s First Salt Mine, Hallstatt was enlisted as a UNESCO heritage site in 1997.The scenery of Hallstatt has long been applauded as the most beautiful place in Austria and is one of the must-see tourist hotspots for most first-time visitors. Hallstatt is only a cozy lakeside village with a population less than a thousand inhabitants, but a least ten thousand tourists come to visit this fairyland every day.

 With over seven millenniums of history, Salzwelten Hallstatt is considered to be the oldest salt mine in the world. Taking a 5-minute funicular ride up to Hallstatt High Valley, one can look at a whole view of the historic village below. After reaching the visitor centre, a 90-minute intriguing underground tour is offered to anyone who is interested in learning more about salt mining industry. Suiting up in miners’ clothes, visitors are allowed to explore the salt mine under the guidance of a professional tour guide. Four hundred metres under the ground, there is a mini movie theatre called “The Bronze Age Cinema”. By watching a short movie with 4K resolution, visitors can know more about the daily work routine of an ordinary miner. The oldest wooden staircase in Europe can also be found here. The climax of the tour is unquestionable a ride down the two sets of double-lane miners’ slides. This kind of slide used to be a convenient means of travel for salt miners travelling between different levels of the mine. Those mega-slides are no longer be used as they were replaced by modern elevators. Today, visitors are welcome to slide down from the height of 65 metres. It is absolutely exciting to glide down from that height. If you are not dare enough to slide down on your own, you can invite a friend or two to go with you at a time. Before leaving the mine, visitors can purchase their snapshot photos which are taken while they are gliding down the slide at a high speed. At the end of the tour, each visitor will be given a small bottle of salt as souvenir. The salt mine tour is both entertaining and educational. It is definitely worth you a visit.

 The other main attraction of Hallstatt is the Skywalk, a triangular viewing platform hanging 350 metres above the ground. As the metal platform extends 12 metres from the mountainside, once you stand on it you may feel like walking on the sky. On a clear day, one can enjoy a distinctive bird’s eye view of Lake Hallstatt lined with pastel townhouses below.

 World Heritage Museum Hallstatt is a small scale local museum which tells the story of Hallstatt for over seven millennia. Tracing back to the time of the very beginning of the ancient salt mine town, the museum shows the cultural and historical development of Hallstatt throughout the years. The exhibits include salt mining tools, weapons, Roman remains, etc. The most precious archaeological finds are the grave treasures dating back to the Iron Age. By using the modern technology such as video animations, holographic representations and three-dimensional presentations, the museum offers visitors a comprehensive picture of the town’s history.

 The next attraction point may be a little bit scary for some people. Built in a two-story chapel with a few hundred years of history, Charnel House Hallstatt is a small old building where is stacked with more than 1200 human skulls, with about half of them are artistically painted. Approximately 600 skulls are labelled with names and mostly decorated in a form of cross, flowers, leaves or branches. Although the charnel house is not as popular as the above mentioned tourist spots, it is still worth a visit if anyone who is interested in learning more about the funeral custom of the eastern Alpine region.

 A visit to Hallstatt is not complete without taking a postcard photo at the best photogenic spot. This photo shooting place has been unanimously recognized by most tourists from all around the globe. The exact location can even be found through the Google Map. It is no exaggeration that the beauty of Hallstatt is incomparable to any other city found in Austria. This walkable idyllic village feels like it is straight out of a fairytale.

 Day Ten - Salzburg: Schloss Hellbrunn (A & O Salzburg Hauptbahnhof)

 Perched at the northern edge of the Alps, Salzburg is the fourth-largest city of Austria with a population of roughly 150,000 residents. Famed for its exceptionally well-preserved Baroque architecture and rich cultural sights, Salzburg’s historic centre was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. As one of the most visited cities of Austria, every year millions of tourists from all over the world flock to admire this inspiring city.

 Most sightseers who come to Salzburg would probably put the following palace at the top of their travel itinerary. Initially built over four centuries from now, Schloss Hellbrunn (Hellbrunn Palace) used to be a summer-time retreat of a prince-archbishop of Salzburg back in the early 17th century. However, the archbishop had never stayed overnight in this place since there was no single bedroom in the palace. The main purpose of building was not actually served as a residence, but as a playhouse for the pleasure of the archbishop. The palace itself was an idiosyncratic architectural masterpiece in Renaissance style. Situated at the foot of the Hellbrunn Mountain with an abundant source of water, the garden of the palace was equipped with sophisticated water-powered devices, the most remarkable of which was the “Trick Fountain”. During an outdoor feast on hot summer days, the archbishop was used to playing water tricks on his guests. The trick fountains would suddenly spray water from all nozzles and everyone who sitting around the table would all get wet except the archbishop himself.  

 Even after hundreds of years since they were first constructed, all those water-driven mechanisms are still in good condition. Today, visitors can join a tour to wander around the palace garden. The tour guide would even play water tricks on visitors just like what the archbishop did four hundred years ago. Surely the water games can amaze children and adults alike. Such a palace tour is quite unconventional but so intriguing.

 Walking up to the hill from the palace park, Volkskunde Museum (Folklore Museum) is situated at the hilltop overlooking the Hellbrunn Palace. It is a small but informative local museum with fascinating exhibits and artifacts on town history and culture, including traditional furniture, carnival costumes, religious craftwork and glass paintings. If anyone happens to be interested in the traditional life of Salzburg, this is definitely a place well worth a visit.

 Back to the old town centre, I came to visit the main cathedral of the city. Originally constructed in the early 17th century, Dom zu Salzburg (Salzburg Cathedral) suffered from several times of fire damage and an air raid during World War Two. Fifteen years after the Second World War, the Baroque cathedral was completely restored and reconsecrated in 1959. The Salzburg Cathedral has the second largest bell in the whole of Austria, after the Pummerin of the St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. The world-renowned music composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptized in this cathedral one day after his birth.

 Riding a funicular up to the Festungberg Hill at an altitude over five hundred metres, I　found the highest and largest landmark of the city. Festung Hohensalzburg (Hohensalzburg Fortress) has long been praised as one of the largest fully preserved medieval castle in Europe, making it a must-go tourist destination for most tourists. Erected high atop the hill, the colossal fortress has been overlooking the old town quarter for nearly a thousand years. The fortification has first been used as a military barrack and later served as a residence of the prince archbishops, and then a prison. Today, visitors can explore the Royal Apartments as well as three museums housed in the fortress. The Fortress Museum tells the daily life of the prince archbishops. The Marionette Museum features immaculate puppets from the Salzburg Marionette Theatre. The Rainer Regiment Museum focused on military history of a former infantry regiment. Hohensalzburg Fortress is indisputably the best place to make yourself familiar with the history of Salzburg.

 Day Eleven - Salzburg: Original Sound of Music Tour (A & O Salzburg Hauptbahnhof)

 Most Hong Kong teenagers may have never watched the old film “The Sound of Music”, but they have probably ever listened to the most catchy song “Do Re Mi” from that movie. The songs from "The Sound of Music" are well-renowned around the globe. First released over five decades from now, the musical “The Sound of Music” is indubitably one of the legendary movies of all time. Some people may aware that the story happened in Austria, but seldom of them know that it was filmed in Salzburg. Today, tourists can join a sightseeing tour to visit some of the most memorable shooting locations from the movie.

 Only spending around four hundred Hong Kong dollars for joining the “Original Sound of Music Tour” was the best decision I had ever made in this trip. The tour itinerary was meticulously designed to make sure the participants reminisce the best scenes appearing in the film. During the tour on the coach between venues, passengers could enjoy their favourite movie songs from the original soundtrack. The very first destination was the Hellbrunn Castle, where I found the romantic Glass Pavilion and made me recall one of my favourite movie songs “16 going on 17”. The second stop was a magnificent white mansion, Schloss Leopoldskron (Leopoldskron Castle), situated beside a peaceful lake. The scenery of the Baroque castle was terrific when the morning sunlight reflected from the calm surface of the lake. The Leopoldskron Lake was the place where the protagonist Maria and the children fell into the water while they were boating on the lake. At about noon, the tour was taken to another significant filming spot, Kloster Mondsee (Mondsee Abbey). This bright yellow basilica was the place where Maria walked down the aisle with the baron. Back to the downtown, the tourist group was brought to the Mirabell Garden, where Maria and the seven children were dancing around the Pegasus Fountain while singing the timeless song “Do Re Mi”. As far as I was concerned, joining this half-day tour was the most enjoyable way to discover historical and architectural landmarks of Salzburg.

 Almost everyone in the world knows Mozart is one of the most talented music composers in history, but not many people know this musical genius was born in Salzburg. If anyone who wants to learn more about Mozart, Mozart-Wohnhaus (Mozart Residence) is the museum should not be ignored. Suffered from air raid bombings during the Second World War, the museum building was severely damaged. But it was later reconstructed true to the original building plan and reopened to the public in 1996. Occupied a spacious eight-room apartment on the first floor, the museum hosts loads of original documents and portraits as well as the piano which was once used by Mozart.

 Just on the other side of the river, another museum which tells the story of Mozart is found. Mozarts Geburtshaus (Mozart's Birthplace) was a three-storey bright-yellow town house where Mozart was born and spent his childhood. The museum harbours some important personal effects of the young composer, including some musical instruments such as violins, a clavichord and a harpsichord. It also displays some historical documents, portraits and even a lock of Mozart’s hair.

 Both of the above museums are just like pilgrimage sites for the fans of Mozart. Considering these two museums are not that big, an hour or so is long enough to walk around and explore. Even if your travel itinerary is a little bit tight, these two museums can still be easily included in your half-day plan.

 Before heading to my next city, I only had limited time to visit one more tourist site. Fortunately, my next stop was just around the corner. Only ten-minute walking distance from Mozart Geburtshaus, I reached an enormous science museum with more than 7000 square meters of exhibit space. Haus der Natur (Museum of Natural History and Technology) is by far the largest museum in the city. It is an integrated science museum that displays everything related to science and technology. A vast variety of captivating exhibits, ranging from titanic dinosaurs from primeval times to a journey through the human body, from enchanting marine world in the aquarium to extraterrestrial adventures in the outer space hall. A variety of interactive experiments are also offered at a science centre for visitors of all ages. Since there are countless possibilities waiting for exploration, one can easily spend a few hours here.

 Generally speaking rail travel is the most convenient and economical way for tourists to move between major cities within European continent, but it may not be always the case. Sometimes there may be no direct train service to the city you want to visit, especially during the off season period. A train-to-train interchange could be quite annoying and time consuming. Air travel may not be an alternative because not every European city has an airport. Road travel seems to be the only option left.

 It was my first time to hire a rental car for taking me from one city to another. Making an online reservation in advance, a mini shuttle van picked me up in my hotel on time. I shared the vehicle with a few other passengers going to the same destination. During a long boring car drive, I encountered a female passenger sitting next to me. She was a young Korean girl named Kim Eun Ha, or called Golden Galaxy for the English direct translation. On our way to Czech Republic, we kept each other company and  shared every aspect of our lives. During the conservation, I learned a lot about the culture and society of South Korea. I was told that the remuneration offered by the Korean government was not that attractive compared with that of certain other big private companies. Most Korean young job seekers prefer to enter some large private corporations like Samsung as junior office workers for a challenging career experience rather than join the government as civil servants for a stable working environment. It is obvious that the next generation of South Korea is far more progressive and self-motivated than that of Hong Kong. It was a treasured experience to meet someone from other countries on the road.

 Day Twelve - Český Krumlov: Český Krumlov Castle (Penzion Landauer, 3-star hotel)

 After an exhausting three-hour car ride from Salzburg, I arrived in the southern town of the Czech Republic, Český Krumlov. Situated on the meander of the Vltava River, the town is one of the country’s finest examples of a medieval site. Walking down the narrow cobbles streets lined with elegant orange-roofed buildings in Gothic or Baroque style, it is easy to see why the historical centre of Český Krumlov is a UNECSO world heritage site. Since many of the major tourist attractions are scattered along the horseshoe bend river within walking distance, even one-day visitors have plenty of time to explore this pictorial small town on their own pace.

 Declared as a National Cultural Monument in 1989, Český Krumlov Castle is the second-largest castle complex in the country after Prague Castle. The castle interiors are only accessible by guided tour. By joining the tour, visitors can admire the opulent Renaissance and Baroque apartments as well as the world's best-preserved Baroque theatre. Visiting the Castle Museum will give tourists some insights of the glorious history of the castle. Climbing up around a hundred and sixty steps to the top of the Castle Tower is rewarded with an unblocking view of the city. By the time I visited the castle, two bears were found playing in the moat. It was the first time I met wild beasts keeping in a castle. The Castle is iconic to the city and is popular among tourists.

 Founded in the mid-14th century, Monasteries Český Krumlov is a large religious edifice in town. The building itself is well-maintained, with a bright orange rooftop and an emerald green tower. The exhibition features the everyday monastery life during the middle age. A small garden next to the monastery is quite a good picnic spot.

 After having lunch at a Chinese restaurant, I came to a local museum. Egon Schiele Art Centrum is an art museum which is dedicated to the life and works of the Austrian Expressionist painter Egon Schiele. During Schiele’s short life of 28 years, his artworks brought him neither financial reward nor social recognition. Just like many other noted artists, Schiele’s artistic talents were only appreciated after his death. The museum displays the painter’s drawings, furniture, personal letters, photographs and many others, which shows how Schiele loved this city.

 Hidden under the main town square, there is a gruesome museum focused on the brutal medieval history of torture. Museum of Torture instruments is merely a small-sized museum with a limited exhibition space of about 400 square metres, only has half the size of Foltermuseum (Torture Museum) of Vienna. Although it is small in scale, more than a hundred grisly torture devices are on display. With special sound effect and life-sized wax figures, a mystical horror atmosphere is created in this cellar-like museum. Some thrilling scenes of capital punishment are also showcased, including witch-burning and sword execution. Since it is a tiny museum, 15 minutes or so is long enough to check out all the exhibits.

 Before leaving this quaint town, one more place I would like to stop by. Český Krumlov Regional Museum can be regarded as a local history museum which tells the town history from prehistoric period till the late 19th century. The museum has a rich collection of archaeological artefacts, weapons, maps, furniture, old paintings and so on. The most attention grabbing exhibit is the exquisitely detailed ceramic model of Český Krumlov's old town , one of the largest models of this kind in the world. The museum provides a brief overview of the historic development of the region.

 Day Thirteen - Praha: Prazsky Hrad (Hotel Cechie Praha, 4-star hotel)

 Taking another three-hour car drive from Český Krumlov, I reached the final destination of my trip to Central Europe. Lying right at the heart of Europe, Prague is the capital and the largest city of the Czech Republic. As the historical capital of Bohemia, it is not surprising that this city provides no shortage of cultural sites to visit. The city is internationally renowned for its medieval architectural masterpieces, making it unparalleled to any other place in Europe. Because of its reputable time-honored sights and mind-blowing sceneries, the historic centre of Prague is inscribed in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Prague is a city with many beautiful nicknames. As countless church spires soaring above the city skyline, the capital is also known as the “City of a Hundred Spires”. Since numerous orangish rooftops shine like gold under the evening sunlight, the city is sometimes referred to as the “City of Gold”. No matter what name it is called, Prague is certainly one of the most charming cities in Central Europe.

 First established around the 9th century, Pražský hrad (Prague Castle) has been the most recognizable landmark of the city for more than a thousand years. The castle is believed to be the largest castle complex in the world, covering an area of approximately 70,000 square metres. The castle used to be the seat of many Bohemian kings and today is the official residence of the president of the Czech Republic. The popular event of Changing the Guard can also be seen for free in the first courtyard of the castle every day at noon. As the top tourist attraction of the city, it attracts over a million visitors every year.

 In the vicinity of Prague Castle, there are many majestic buildings worth mentioning. Build after a great fire in the mid-16th century, Schwarzenbersky Palac (Schwarzenberg Palace) is one of the most impressive Renaissance palaces in Prague. The building itself is a masterpiece of art. The facades and walls are richly decorated with black-and-white sgraffitoes in the Italian style. The palace is currently home to the National Gallery in Prague.

 In the same proximity, Šternberský palác (Sternberg Palace) is recognized an exemplary example of High Baroque architecture in Prague. Today, the palace houses permanent exposition of old European Baroque Art.

 Katedrála svatého Víta (Saint Vitus Cathedral) is the most eye-popping architectural edifice at the Prague Castle. This Gothic masterpiece took almost six centuries to complete. It is also the largest and the most important religious building in the city. The cathedral was the coronation church and burial place of the Bohemian rulers. It is a very popular tourist site so a long queue is expected.

 Compared with the grandiose Katedrála svatého Víta, Loreta Praha keeps a relatively low profile in the Castle Region. The 17th century Baroque-style shrine houses astonishing treasures including the illustrious star-shaped "Sun of Prague," which is studded with 6,222 diamonds. Another highlight is that a 27-bell carillon plays sacred songs every hour between nine in the morning and six in the evening.

 Seated upon the summit of Petrin Hill at the height of over three hundred metres, Petřínská rozhledna (Petrin Tower) is an observation tower offering amazing 360-degree panoramic views of the capital. The steel-framework tower was first built in the year 1891 as a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower of Paris. Petřín Lookout Tower stands only 63 metres tall and only one fifth the height of the French Eiffel Tower. Since the  tower is situated on a high hill, its elevation is more or less the same as the original tower in France. Climbing up 299 steps to reach the observation platform, the indescribable city view is incomparable to any other place in Prague.

 Not far away from the Petrin Tower, there is a mini fairy-tale chateau. Petrin Mirror Maze is a small labyrinth with 15 distorting mirrors. The reflection from these mirrors will be distorted in a funny way. But the thing drawing my attention most was a fighting scene between the Prague townsfolk and the Swedes invaders on Charles Bridge at the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648.

 If you are interested in ghost stories or occult tales, the following two museums may be your cup of tea. Muzeum pražských pověstí a strašidel (Prague Ghosts and Legends Museum) leads you to the underground street of spirits. Many prominent Prague spirits and ghosts stand in front of you, such as the Headless Laura, the Skeleton of Jánský vršek, the Baby of Charles Bridge.

 In the same neighborhood, Muzeum alchymistů a mágů staré Prahy (Museum of Alchemists and Magicians of Old Prague) is an interactive museum telling the story of some far-famed alchemists, like Edward Kelley and John Dee. Visitors can enter the mysterious room of the Faust’s house and the laboratory of alchemists. I expected that anyone who is the fan of the Japanese anime “Fullmetal Alchemist” would like to pay a visit to this museum.

 Day Fourteen - Praha: Narodni Muzeum (Hotel Cechie Praha, 4-star hotel)

 On the last day of my trip to central Europe, I decided to go to somewhere that is full of fun. No one would deny that Lego is one of the most successful toys in history. Many Hong Kong children have played Lego before. Not only is the Lego a toy, but also an education tool to train up your creativity. The Lego brick has once been crowned as the "Toy of the Century" by Forbes Magazine. During my trip in Prague, I was fortunate enough to visit two museums themed with Lego.

 With an exposition area of 340 square metres featuring over 2500 models divided into 20 theme exhibits, Lego Museum Prague is the largest private museum of its kind in the world. It is roughly estimated that more than one million Lego bricks have been used to build the exhibits on display. Imagine you are taking a fantasy journey to a miniature wonderland where everything is made of Lego blocks. Visitors can find some replicas of world famous architecture, such as Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Tower Bridge and much more. Some characters from the cartoons and the movies are also reconstructed, including Star Wars, Indian Jones and Harry Potter. The most attractive model of all is the kinetic exhibition of Lego trains. Kids are also welcomed to build their own Lego models in the play area. Though the museum is not big, it is still a pilgrimage site for Lego lovers.

 Lego Repubrick is the second museum dedicated to this long beloved toy. The display area covers 900 square metres featuring 30 gigantic Lego models. All models are made at 1:40 scale to the real-life buildings and architecture. A number of Czech monuments have been transformed into huge Lego models to the smallest detail. Visitors will discover Karlštejn Castle, the Ještěď TV tower, St Vitus Cathedral, etc. It is another unmissable site for Lego fans.

 Národní muzeum (The National Museum) is the largest museum in the Czech Republic. It covers a wide range of disciplines from natural sciences to social sciences. By the time I visited to this museum, several special exhibitions were on displayed. Perhaps the most striking exhibition was the “Tutankhamun Real Experience”. Tutankhamun was one of the most celebrated pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Making use of the most advanced multimedia technologies, visitors can be immersed themselves in an enthralling journey to discover the ancient Egyptian underworld. “Keltove” was an exhibition about life of the Celts during the Iron Age. The exhibition “Doba Genova” briefly introduced the basic knowledge related to DNA and genes.

 Karlův most (Charles Bridge) is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vltava River and connects the Old Town with the Lesser Town. The construction was first commissioned by Charles IV in the mid-14th century and finished in the early 15th century. There are totally thirty Baroque statues are placed along either side of the bridge. As an iconic landmark of the capital, this popular pedestrian bridge is always lined with vendors, painters, musicians and tourists. Taking a selfie snapshot beside Charles Bridge is a must-do when one is in Prague.

 Travelling to a new place, Learning a new culture, Sharing with new friends

 Organizing a self-guided trip has never been easy, especially for a budget-tight backpacker. Gathering information about your destinations, booking air and rail tickets, reserving hotel rooms, buying local tour packages can all drive you crazy. During the trip, you may need to deal with some emergency situations, such as flight delay or cancel, bad weather, luggage damage. Arranging an independent travel is somewhat more like a problem-solving process rather than a pleasure activity. Travelling to a new frontier can open up your mind. Learning a foreign culture can broaden your horizon. Sharing your travel experience can inspire the people around you. As a European culture enthusiast, I will keep sharing what I experienced in Europe.

[commiedervish]

Masterpost on the United States of America

[posted by /u/user_name_101ofcl on /r/communism]

This master post is divided into 2 parts:

The failure of the USA to protect its citizens

A list of US imperialism and the crimes they have committed

The Failure of USA to protect its citizens and the crimes committed in her own country

The USA is the largest and most powerful capitalist country to have ever existed. It has had the pleasure of

Being the most powerful country in its continent for about 150 years

Has the most favourable terrain imaginable. With fertile river valleys covering its land and all of its borders surrounded by forests, a large desert or oceans, practically making an invasion almost impossible.

Has plentiful resources like iron, coal and oil.

And lastly, a large amount of immigration. So a lack of a labour force won't ever be a problem

With such favourable material conditions, if we want to prove that capitalism works, the USA should be the best example of it. Let's look at how the US population is doing.

Worker rights and public services in the USA

The US has always repressed its workers. The federal minimum wage (7.25 $) is so low it barely allows people who are paid in it to live. The workers can not ask for a better wage, because they will get fired if they do.

The US has the least powerful unions and the workers stand alone against the capitalists. Basic things like paid maternity leave are optional and up to the employer. The US used to imprison and assassinate Union leaders so they wouldn't spread a pro worker message.

Privatisation is also a major thing in the US. The railways have always been private and this has resulted to them underperforming in speed, cost and affordability. In countries where it is nationalised, like China, the railways are extremely efficient.

The healthcare system in the US is private and this, according to Harvard, results in 45 thousand preventable deaths each year.

An other thing that is privatized, at least partly, is the prison system. Private prisons cost less to the government, about 17 $ less per prisoner per day but have more violence, worse facilities and are less likely to give parole than government ran prisons.

Poverty in the USA (statistics)

41 million Americans go hungry, including 13 million children and 5.4 millions seniors

More than 1 in 5 children in America (21.8%) are living under the official poverty line. Half of all children will be on food stamps before they turn 20, including 9 out of 10 black American children

Only 48% of Americans can handle a $400 emergency

For every 22 empty homes, there is 1 homeless person

Democracy in the USA

The USA prides itself in being the most democratic country, "the leader of the free world" but in reality the citizens of the USA have no real say on what their government does. The United States government only serves the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Don't believe me? Well, a recent report shows that about half of Congress and two thirds of the Senate are millionaires.

The elections are also completely undemocratic. The power of political lobbying in the USA is unprecedented. Both parties rely on the support of the bourgeoisie to win.

We shouldn't also forget the extreme gerrymandering that has been happening lately by both parties. Voting districts have been purposely redrawn across the country so the parties can keep their seats.

Now let's talk about voter suppression. The US has suppressed the vote of minorities since its creation. When the USA was created, only white male protestant land owners were allowed to vote. Gradually the USA was forced by civil rights activists to allow minorities and women to vote, but this doesn't mean that voter suppression doesn't exist. To this day incidents of voter suppression happen in states like Texas, south Carolina and Georgia. They specifically target black Americans, to stop them from voting.

An other way the US tries to stop black Americans from voting is felony disenfranchisement. Basically in most of the US, if you commit a felony, you are no longer allowed to vote (end in some states even if you get out of prison). This targets black and hispanic people in more than a few ways. They commit more crime than usual but they also get arrested more often than white people for the same crime.

The awful treatment of minorities in the USA

The US has historically oppressed every minority in its territory. From blacks to native Americans, from Latino communities to asians.

As I said above, only white men where allowed to vote when the US was created. In fact, not only where black people not allowed to vote, but they were slaves and where worth "three fifths of a white person". They were also not considered citizens despite them being born in the US.

When slavery was abolished the oppression continued. Segregation was the official policy of most states. They claimed that it was a policy of "separate but equal" but in reality it was far from that. White people had access to better schools, healthcare, housing and transportation.

Today although segregation being officially over, black people still face discrimination and disadvantages in schooling, police (we will get to that in a minute), healthcare, voting (as I showed you above), housing, and many other fields. Let's also not forget that the US has not paid ANY sort of reparations to black Americans. This and the effects of the institutionalized discrimination has left a unimaginable difference in the average wages and living standards of black Americans.

The median net worth of whites remains nearly 10 times the size of blacks. Nearly 1 in 5 black families have zero or negative net worth — twice the rate of white families.

(This even comes from a liberal source)

Let's also not forget the awful conditions in native reservations, with some lacking safe drinking water and some suffering from overcrowding. There is also a lack of wifi on a lot of these places.

And finally, the US literally has literal concentration camps in the border to place illegal migrants and their children, even though the illegal immigrants are fleeing violence and poverty the US caused in Central America (we will get to that)

Police brutality

Police brutality in the US has always been an issue. The main target are black people, worker rights activists, Muslims (especially after 9/11) latinos and some LGBTQ rights activists.

Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.

Black people are 25% more likely to be killed by police than white people

21% of black victims were completely unarmed

(This doesn't account for the people that were armed but didn't do anything wrong and cooperated with the police)

In 99% of cases the police officer was not convicted of a crime

A list of US imperialism and the crimes they have committed

This will be a list of US interventions from 1946 to 2019, this proves that the US remains an imperialist power and the primary threat to democracy

1 ) The US openly backs Greek nationalists in the Greek civil war against the communists, despite the communists having by far more support(1946)

2 ) The US helps with the creation of Israel(1948-1949)

3 ) The US helped in the establishment of the FRG (West Germany)

In 1957, 77% of the ministry's senior officials were former Nazis, which, according to the study, was a higher proportion that during Hitler's Third Reich government, which existed from 1933 to 1945.

A report released late last year found that between 1949 and 1970, 54% of Interior Ministry staffers were former Nazi Party members, and that 8% of them had served in the Nazi Interior Ministry, which at one point was run by SS chief Heinrich Himmler.

Also when the Stalin notes came, calling for a neutral unified Germany with elections , the US refused

4) CIA directs war against Huk Rebellion in the Philippines (1948-54)

5) Independence rebellion crushed in Ponce, Puerto Rico (1950)

6) The US, after expelling a workers government in South Korea, establishes a fascist dictatorship and helps it fight the communists (1951-53)

7) CIA overthrows democracy in Iran, installs Shah. (1953)

8) The CIA directs a coup in Guatemala after the democratically elected government nationalised fruit land from cooperations that were exploitating the Guatemalan people(1954)

9) The Suez crisis in Egypt (1956)

10) Army & Marine occupation against rebels in Lebanon (1958)

11) Fought South Vietnam revolt & North Vietnam, 1 million killed, atomic bomb threats in 1968 and 69 (1960-75)

12) CIA-directed Bay of Pigs exile invasion fails in Cuba (1961)

13) Caused an international crisis over missiles in Cuba while they had similar ones on Turkey (1962)

14) CIA organizes coup in Iraq that killed the president, brings Ba’ath Party to power, Saddam Hussein as secret service head (1963)

15) The terror to black American communities and the black Panthers massively increased. Assassinations left and right, including M.L.K (1963-66)

16) People in Panama shot for urging canal’s return (1964)

17) 3 million dead in a CIA backed coup in Indonesia (1965)

18) CIA backed coup in Greece against democratically elected leftist (1967-73)

19) Cia backed dictator, up to 2 million killed in decade of bombing, starvation, political chaos (1969-75)

20) US directs Iranian marine invasion in Oman (1970)

21) US directs South Vietnamese invasion in Laos,“carpet-bombs” countryside around Ho Chi Minh Trail (1971-73)

22) Democratic elected leftist president in Chile replaced with a fascist US backed regime (1973)

23) Telling Turkey to invade Cyprus so they can't join the Warsaw pact(1974)

24) Assists South African-backed UNITA rebels in Angola (1976-92)

25) Iran, raid to rescue embassy hostages, 8 troops die in helicopter-plane crash, bombing aborted. Soviets warned not to get involved in revolution. (1980)

26) The US helped Islamic extremists against socialist Afghan government(1981-1989)

27) CIA directs exile (Contra) invasions, plants harbor mines against Sandinista revolutionary gov’t. (1981-90)

28) Lebanon, Marines expel PLO and back far-right Phalangists, Navy bombs and shells Muslim rebels, Syrian forces (1983)

29) Invasion topples 4-year leftist revolutionary gov’t in Grenada (1984)

30) Honduras, Maneuvers help build bases near Nicaragua borders (1985)

31) Air strikes to topple Qaddafi gov’t in Libya (1986)

32) Army assists raids on cocaine region in Bolivia (1986)

33) U.S. intervenes on side of Iraq in the Iraq - Iran war (that Iraq started by the way), defending reflagged tankers & downing civilian jet (1987-88)

34) Panama, Noriega gov’t ousted by 27,000 soldiers,2000+ killed. Canal Zone & bases returned in 1999 (1989-99)

35) Iraq countered after invading Kuwait. 540,000 troops stationed also in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Israel. (1991)

36) No fly zones and sanctions on Iraq (1991-2003)

37) Intervention in Croatia(1992-94)

38) Rigging of Russian elections so the communists would not win (1993)

39) No-fly zone in civil war; downed jets, bombed Serbs (1995)

40) Zaire, Troops at Rwandan Hutu refugee camps in the area where Congo revolution began. (1996-97)

41) Heavy NATO air strikes after Serbia declines to withdraw from Kosovo. NATO occupation of Kosovo. (1999)

42) The US invades Afghanistan (2001-now)

43) Yemen, Drone missile attack on Al Qaeda, including US citizen (2002)

44) The war on Iraq, Saddam Hussein regime toppled in Baghdad. 250,000+ U.S. personnel participate in invasion. US & UK forces battle Sunni & Shi’a insurgencies. 160,000+ troops & many private contractors stationed on bases (2003-11)

45) Haiti, Marines & Army land after right-wing rebels oust elected President Aristide, U.S. forces him into exile (2003-04)

46) Pakistan, CIA drones, air strikes, Special Forces raids on alleged Al Qaeda & Taliban refuge villages kill multiple civilians. Drone attacks on Pakistani Mehsud network (2005-now)

47) Libya, NATO coordinates air strikes and missile attacks vs. Qaddafi government during uprising by rebel army (2011)

48)Air strikes & Special Forces intervene vs. Islamic State insurgents, training other Syrian rebels, bomb alleged Syrian gov’t chemical arms sites (2014-now)

49) Coup in Bolivia against a democratically elected president, replaced with a religious fascist that also hates indigenous people (2019)

50) Meeting with and funding the Hong Kong protestors (2019-now)

51) The killing of an Iranian general (now)

The photo I used - http://imgur.com/gallery/HvyTkEh

List of US atrocities: https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md

Sources

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-to-lack-of-health-coverage/

https://www.rollcall.com/news/hawkings/congress-richer-ever-mostly-top

https://kairoscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Poverty-Fact-Sheet-Feb-2015-final.pdf

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/01/09/most-lawmakers-are-millionaires

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/court-north-carolina-voter-id-law-targeted-black-voters/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/19/georgia-governor-race-voter-suppression-brian-kemp

https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/472617/systemic-inequality-displacement-exclusion-segregation/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/10/24/us/ice-kids-detention-invs/index.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/28/black-and-hispanic-families-are-making-more-money-but-they-still-lag-far-behind-whites/%3foutputType=amp

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Police-Brutality-in-the-United-States-2064580

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org

https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/wp-content/uploads/sites/358/2019/11/InterventionsList2019.pdf

[The rest of the sources were not included in this post due to the character limit. However, they can be seen in the original post on reddit.]

[rockofeye]

Unmasking

I asked my mother what the spirits think of current events in the US. I asked her this in her kitchen, while she cooked and hovered over a variety of pans bubbling at full capacity on the stove. The act of creating and sustaining through every day process is part of her gifts in this life, and she lifts us up through this quiet, backstage work.

“I don’t know,” she says with a wooden spoon in her hand. “I haven’t asked them.” 

I haven’t either, at least not directly. I have sat with them and asked ‘why’ over and over, though. Why are people like this? Why has this country prospered for so long on a foundation of genocide, enslavement, torture, and systemic inequality and racism? Why don’t they do something?

They are quiet in response, in the same way that they were quiet around the miscarriage of an election in November 2017. In the aftermath of the delivery of fascism to the highest seat in government, I took as big a step back from my utter rage and disappointment and asked the spirits why they were quiet. I spent a lot of time meditating on this and trying to see the larger picture for all the piles of stinking bullshit in the frame.

In the end, I think that this is not their problem to solve. It is not a situation that they have created--we are responsible for this in a myriad of ways and, while they grieve our suffering and the loss of lives associated with the addressing of a broken and unjust framework, we made this mess and we must clean it up. We bear responsibility and we must carry it. That is not to say that they are not with us in this--they are--but the solutions must come from our hands.

The history of vodou reflects this expectation of responsibility. It only takes a glance at Bwa Kayiman to see this particular truth. That rite and that beginning was not about the spirits swooping in to save their people, but was the people crying out that they could not take any more and that something had to change. It was only then that the spirits came to the table and offered a solution--do all these things and we will assure your success. An agreement was made and, after thirteen years (a not insignificant number) of bloody struggle, the people and the spirits were successful in liberating the island and ejecting the imperalist colonizers.

I don’t know that White America is at that point. Too many white people are surprised by the sudden exposure of the racist foundation of the United States and the systems that have both nurtured white supremacy, white nationalism, and fascism, and allowed those things to flourish in ways that white folks have refused to look at for a very long time. White folks have been comfortable with these systems and situations because we benefit from them each and every day, in every possible way. Even vodou reflects that--people finding out that I am involved in vodou will often be regarded as quaint or edgy or as me taking a walk on the wild side, whereas a Haitian or other person of color will be regarded as threatening or evil or not to be trusted.

As a priest, I can’t sit and ask my spirits what to do. That’s not what I was made for. Instead, I have to suit up and show up and know that they will have my back. That means a literal putting on of the boots and heading into the fray. When the Nazis arrive in my city this weekend for their masturbatory endeavor aimed at terrorizing people of color, Jewish folks, followers of Islam, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, women, and anyone who does not fit their perfect Aryan spankbank material, under the guise of ‘free speech’, I will be there as a visible reminder that this white person rejects any ideology that elevates whiteness by crushing and terrorizing others and that this systems of inequality in the US must be dismantled at any cost. I will support the immediate consequences to delivering hate messages and physical intimidation, and, if given the chance, I will punch a Nazi in the fucking face.

At the same time, I will pray protection on all those who show up to stand against fascism, white nationalism, and white supremacy, and especially for people of color who will be targeted above all. I will pray that the spirits of war, of revolution, of blood spilled, of a ravening thirst for destruction will deliver the righteous justice of the people upon the heads of those who seek to oppress, terrorize, and silence. I won’t pray for peace and will instead pray for a revolution that shakes the foundations of white supremacy until they crack and crumble to dust. I cannot do anything less.

In all of this, I continually return to my mother, a quiet and dignified woman who came to this country carrying the hope for a different life for her then-child and children to come. She left Haiti just after the Duvalier regime ended, having lived through state-sponsored terrorism and gaslighting. She immigrated at tremendous personal cause, leaving behind family and friends, some of whom will still not speak to her because of her departure. Once here, she began to work immediately and has not stopped since. She became fluent in her third language, earned three college degrees, raised three children on her own, and created the sort of community that draws people from all over the world to her door. She didn’t come here for any of this bullshit.

I have watched her instruct her natural daughter on how to behave if a Trump supporter should confront her. I have witnessed her tears after the election, and the fear of her daughter who has classmates who come to school in Make America Great Again hats. I have seen her worry about her son and what will happen to him out in a world where cops murder Black men and Nazis march in the streets. I love her, so how can I do anything but act?

I thank the spirits for the blessing of the unmasking of white supremacy in the United States in ways that cannot be ignored or dismissed by those who benefit from systems of inequality. I pray strength and protection upon the hands and heads of those who will not let white terrorism, supremacy, and nationalism go unanswered, and I pray as much safety as is possible for those who are targeted by these white terrorists, especially people of color. May your spirits and divinities feed you, nourish you, and hold you close as this war is fought, and may you find blessings of prosperity and hope among the bullshit and bloodshed.

Talk minus action equals zero. --D.O.A.

[justfinishedreading]

Part 1 – Historical Background

The most important thing to know about Felizmente há luar! is that it was a product of its time; this play was written in 1961 during the rule of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, and it is now studied in Portuguese secondary schools because of its themes on politics, corruption and censorship. In researching the historical background of this work I’ve… ended up writing an essay on Salazar and in the process learnt quite a bit about my country. The following is information I found interesting from Wikipedia and which I’ve copy and pasted, and reworded and condensed:

The End of the Portuguese Monarchy

After the revolution in 1910 when the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown, the country fell into chaos with continual anarchy, government corruption, arbitrary imprisonment and religious persecution. The next 18 years saw the inauguration of 8 presidents, 44 cabinet re-organisations and 21 revolutions. According to official police figures, 325 bombs burst in the streets of Lisbon between 1920 and 1925. The public began to view political parties as elements of division and become more tolerant to the idea of being governed by an authoritarian regime.

António de Oliveira Salazar

Salazar became Minister of Finance in 1928, before that others had tried to persuade him to enter politics, but he found the state of parliament so chaotic that he refused. He finally agreed when the state of Portugal become too dire to be ignored. He agreed under the condition that he would have a free hand to veto expenditure in all government departments, not only his own. Within a year Salazar balanced the budget and stabilised Portugal's currency.

In 1932 he became Prime Minster. Now Salazar is quite an interesting figure to study, he did a lot of good for Portugal, but every good sentence written about him can be countered with something bad. He brought order to a country in chaos, but he did not believe in democracy, he used censorship and a secret police to crush opposition and ensure that he continued to be Prime Minister from 1932 until 1968.

World War II

Salazar had lived through the hard times of World War I, in which Portugal participated, so when it came to World War II Salazar kept Portugal neutral. From the very beginning Salazar was convinced that Britain would suffer in the war but remain undefeated and that the United States would step in and the Allies would win. However because Portugal was neutral, the country was forced to supply materials used for military purposes to both the Allies AND the Axis. In May 1943, the USA wanted to take control of Portuguese islands for strategic military use, the British responded that forceful measures weren’t necessary, Salazar would honour the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance. In August of that year when the British requested military use of those islands, Portugal allowed it.

Salazar’s upbringing was religious, he studied at a seminary for eight years and considered becoming a priest. He was a devote catholic and nationalist but argued that Portuguese nationalism did not glorify a single race because such a notion was pagan and anti-human. In 1938, he sent a telegram to the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin, ordering that it should be made clear to the German Reich that Portuguese law did not allow any distinction based on race, and that therefore, Portuguese Jewish citizens could not be discriminated against. On 26 June 1940, four days after France's surrender to Germany, Salazar authorised the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Paris to transfer its main office to Lisbon.

In July 1940, the civilian population of Gibraltar was evacuated due to imminent attacks expected from Nazi Germany. At that time, Portuguese Madeira agreed to host about 2,500 Gibraltarian refugees, mostly women and children, who remained there until the end of the war. Portugal, particularly Lisbon, was one of the last European exit points to the USA and a few hundred thousand to one million refugees found shelter in Portugal and escaped through there.

Portuguese Colonial Rule

Portugal can be proud of its action during the Second World War, but not so much of its colonial rule (…can any country ever be proud of colonialism?). Portugal had an extensive colonial empire that included Cape Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe, Angola (including Cabinda), Portuguese Guinea, Mozambique in Africa, Portuguese India in South Asia, and Macau and Timor in the Far East.

In 1947, Captain Henrique Galvão, a Portuguese parliamentarian, submitted a report disclosing the situation of forced labour and precarious health services in the Portuguese colonies of Africa. The natives, it said, were simply regarded as beasts of burden. All African men had to pay a tax in Portuguese currency, the government created a situation in which a large percentage of men in any given year could only earn the amount needed to pay the tax by going to work for a colonial employer. In practice, this enabled settlers to use forced labour on a massive scale, frequently leading to horrific abuses. Galvão's courageous report eventually led to his downfall, and in 1952, he was arrested for subversive activities.

Following the Second World War, the colonial system was subject to growing dissatisfaction, and in the early 1950s the United Kingdom launched a process of decolonization. Belgium and France followed suit. Unlike the other European colonial powers, Salazar attempted to resist this tide and maintain the integrity of the empire. In order to justify it and Portugal's alleged civilising mission, Salazar ended up adopting Gilberto Freyre's theories of Lusotropicalism, which propose that the Portuguese were better colonizers than other European nations because they had a special talent for adapting to environments, cultures and the peoples who lived in the tropics, this talent helped them build harmonious multiracial societies and promote pro-miscegenation.

Side note, we Portuguese are very proud of our history during the 15th century, the age of discovery, when we set out to map the world, many consider it our golden age. Less talked about is our involvement in the slave trade, the first European to actually buy enslaves was Antão Gonçalves, a Portuguese explorer in 1441 AD. The Spanish were the first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New World. I’ve just done a little googling to try to find out how many slaves the Portuguese took from Africa, it’s not easy finding a straight answer, about 20 websites later I find three that agree that officially the total number of Africans shipped by the Portuguese is conservatively put at 4.2 million. However this excludes the millions that died crossing land to get to the Portuguese slave ships or during the horrible Atlantic passage. Just to be clear these facts are regarding Trans-Atlantic Slavery, unfortunately the concept of slavery has existed in all societies long before that.

Anyway that’s a bit of a digression from the main topic of Salazar, moving forward to 1960-1, armed revolutionaries and scattered guerrillas were starting to become active in Mozambique, Angola, and Portuguese Guinea. The Portuguese just about managed to keep control in some parts but the Portuguese military warned the government that this was not a long term solution, the military would not be able to keep order for long.

1961

And now finally I’ve reached 1961, the year Felizmente há luar! was written. For the western world the 60s were the decade of cultural revolution: ‘Make Love, Not War’, just like the American hippies were protesting against the Vietnam war, the Portuguese were protesting against colonial wars they could not win and which were wrong to begin with. This was an age of liberalism, of drug and sexual experimentation, of artistic creativity. And yet those liberals and free thinkers were being governed by a 72-year-old Salazar, a conservative, nationalist and catholic whose motto was "Deus, Pátria e Familia" (meaning "God, Fatherland, and Family"). There was no free speech, anyone opposing the dictatorship was imprisoned and tortured. Portuguese laws and government procedures were changed to enable those in power to stay in power. Felizmente há luar! was written by Luís de Sttau Monteiro and censored, prohibited from ever being performed. That is until 1975, the year after the government was overthrown.

Wrapping Up Part 1

Phew, I haven’t even started reviewing Felizmente há luar! yet, I could have just written “the play was written during a time of great oppression of freedom of speech and during a reign of political dictatorship” and left it at that. But, it’s curious to know how things came about, extreme political movements don’t just suddenly manifest, they are born out of circumstance, and it is important to understand what gives raise to the systems that change our lives.

In Part 2, I’ll actually review Felizmente há luar! By the way it’s actually set in 1817, when real life general Gomes Freire de Andrade was accused of leading a revolt against the Portuguese government – so... yay even more history XS 

Most of this text on Salazar was taken from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/António_de_Oliveira_Salazar

Review by Book Hamster

[glenngaylord]

GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM - My Review of NEVER LOOK AWAY (4 Stars)

Proving his Academy Award for the stunning THE LIVES OF OTHERS was no fluke, Writer/Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck bounces back from his unfortunate detour through the Hollywood meat grinder with THE TOURIST to helm a truly worthy follow-up to his feature debut with the moving, mesmerizing NEVER LOOK AWAY.  It may have a torturous 3 hour-plus running time, but this intimate epic spans across decades of 20th century German history while challenging itself and its audience as to the nature of art.  It’s never boring, despite the fact that we sometimes literally watch paint dry.

The story of fictional artist, Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling), loosely based on the painter Gerhard Richter, starts in the late 1930s with the Nazis gaining power and force-feeding such exhibits as “Degenerate Art’ down the public’s throat as an example of how not to express oneself in the Third Reich.  It’s at such an exhibit where we meet a young Kurt and his free-spirited Aunt Elisabeth (the gifted Saskia Rosendahl).  Despite living with mental health challenges, his Aunt imparts the wisdom of the movie’s title, imploring her nephew to truly look at what’s in front of him, however unpleasant.  In a heartbreaking scene, Elisabeth plays the piano in front of Kurt while naked and repeatedly abuses herself with an ashtray.  Although carted off by the Nazis to never be seen again, her words resonate throughout the rest of the story.  At the mental hospital, we meet Dr. Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch), a quite evil Nazi, who oversees the deaths of such “less desirables”.  

Unsure if he wants to pursue a career in art with life such as it is under Hitler, Kurt survives World War II, suffering other family tragedies, only to end up a young aspiring artist in Soviet-occupied, post-war Germany.  From one oppressive environment to another, we see his talents used for propaganda art.  During this time, he meets and falls in love with Ellie Seeband (Paula Beer), not knowing her father’s past and connection to his family’s loss.  When Ellie becomes pregnant, her father manipulates her into getting an abortion rather than put a stain on their bloodline with the likes of Kurt.  Dr. Seeband clearly believes in eugenics long past Hitler’s reign of terror.  

Life for Kurt and Ellie feels untenable, and fleeing feels like their best option.  Before the Berlin Wall went up, defecting to the West proved as easy as getting on a subway and crossing town, and that’s exactly what our pair do.  Kurt finds his way to an art academy led by the enigmatic, intimidating Professor van Verten (Oliver Masucci), where experimental, free-spirited artists slash canvases, hang potatoes from the ceiling and other attempts to expand the meaning of art.  Painting, it seems, has become passé.   Kurt, with the encouragement of his hilarious studio mate Günther (Hanno Koffler), jumps right into this avant garde environment, trying to find his elusive voice for the first time in a place of total freedom.

NEVER LOOK AWAY raises important questions about how artistic expression flourishes.  Sometimes the best art comes in the aftermath of an oppressive regime.  I think of the explosion of great cinema which followed the end of dictatorships in Romania and Spain, as two small examples.  After years of stifled creativity, artists have been known to blossom.  I can only imagine what great art we may see out of North Korea some day when its people have a chance to truly tell their stories.  In NEVER LOOK AWAY, we go on a very long journey to see if Kurt can dig deep, look at his life head on, and find that spark.  

It’s a gorgeous thing to witness and makes the last third of this film leap off the screen.  Much credit must be given to Schilling, who has a very difficult role.  A man of few words, and who when given the chance ends up sounding completely pretentious, he still conveys his entire history through his soulful eyes.  It’s a subtle, unfussy performance I’d admired greatly.  Additionally, cinematography legend Caleb Deschanel (THE RIGHT STUFF) shoots this film with such sweep and passion, even in confined studio spaces which magically refract light with the opening and closing of shutters.  Composer Max Richter (THE LEFTOVERS) contributes a lush, hypnotic, string-heavy and memorable score which perfectly complimented Kurt’s emotional and artistic journey.  

NEVER LOOK AWAY forces its characters to reconcile their pasts in an attempt to integrate them into their present day lives.  Koch has a stunner of a scene when he sees Kurt’s true work for the first time, reminding him of the terrors he’s inflicted on the world.  Kurt’s long road, however, feels earned and culminates in a bookended scene of pure joy and release.  It took Kurt long enough to find himself much as it took von Donnersmarck some time to do the same.  I’m glad they both made the effort.