Showing results for "Arms" in Historical

»Denn das Genie ist ein Meteor, dazu bestimmt zu verbrennen, um sein Jahrhundert zu erleuchten.«

So beschrieb ein junger, noch gänzlich unbekannter französischer Leutnant namens Napoleon Buonaparte im Jahre 1791 in einem moralphilosophischen Essay die Rolle Alexanders des Großen. Er dürfte kaum geahnt haben, dass er damit eine Selbstbeschreibung seines Lebens gab, wie sie treffender kein Historiker je hätte formulieren können. Kometengleich ging sein Stern auf – und ebenso rasch verglühte er.

In 1945, Ditha Bruncel was living with her parents in the small town of Lossen, in Upper Silesia. Close Jewish friends had vanished, swastikas hung from every building, and neighbors were disappearing in the middle of the night. At the same time, more than fifteen hundred British and Commonwealth airmen were being marched out of Stalag Luft VII. Twenty-three of these prisoners managed to escape from the marching column—and by chance hobbled into Lossen. One among them, Warrant Officer Gordon Slowey, was the man Ditha was destined to meet and fall in love with. 

In June, 1991, sitting in his hospital room contemplating cardiac bypass surgery, my father said, “Vus ich hot adorch geleibt!” (What I have lived through!). I wasn’t sure at the time if he meant his recent heart attack, but over time, especially after researching his journey, it became clear to me. I thought I knew my dad’s plight, only to realize some of his most horrible experiences were never brought to my attention.

Lane Evans was arguably one of the most progressive members of the US Congress during his 12-term tenure in a Midwestern swing district. In Guts: The Lane Evans Story, author Devin Hansen explores Lane's career as a man who had the guts to vote his conscience rather than what was politically expedient.