How many of you remember as a kid attending the home slide shows your parents put on for family, friends, and neighbors? If you’re a baby boomer like us, you’ll likely recall your father pulling the screen out of the front hall closet, extending the legs, and then unrolling the white screen to attach to the hook on the vertical arm. Then he unboxes the slide projector, places it on one of those small fold-up tables, and plugs it in. Next comes the multiple box trays with slides that have been carefully inserted into their slots in an order in which father wants to narrate. (The carousel slide tray was the next generation of new technology.) A test drive had to be performed before the guests arrive. The projector is turned on and carefully calibrated to ensure it is at the proper distance from the screen and in focus.

The 1950s family slide show. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

So, the screen show is all set, Mom has made the hors-d’œuvres (we call them appetizers since it’s easier to spell), and Dad has set up the bar. Now all that is needed are the guests. At the appointed hour, everyone arrives. After the chit-chat, Dad calls everyone to the living room. Everybody settles back, begins to knock down their third martini or whiskey sour, and lights up their favorite smoke. (Remember, back then, everyone smoked.) Dad turns on the projector with its familiar fan sound and exhaust fumes that compete with the smoke from the cigarettes and pipes. The first slide goes up on the screen and through the haze of smoke, the title of the evening’s entertainment is displayed:

Stew and Sandy’s Summer Vacation in Paris

So, kids, fill up your bowl with popcorn, settle into your favorite recliner, make sure your glass is full, and get ready for your slide show.

An ancient slide projector. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). RG-VC/iStockphoto.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the last living World War II Medal of Honor recipient died on 29 June 2022? Hershel “Woody” Williams (1923−2022) was ninety-eight when he passed away at the VA Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia. (The hospital was named for him.) Woody joined the Marines in 1943 and became a demolition operator. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, he volunteered to clear an area riddled by Japanese machine gun fire that hindered the advancement of troops. Read More Stew and Sandy’s Summer Vacation in Paris

Two of our previous blogs discussed Hitler’s enablers (refer to blogs, Hitler’s Enablers – Part One and Hitler’s Enablers – Part Two [click here to read part one and here to read part two]). Without hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people to carry out his orders, policies, and directives, Hitler would likely never have attained the status of the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind. For a myriad of reasons, the majority of the Führer’s enablers went unpunished or if convicted, never fully served their sentences (click here to read the blog The Wisemen). For one group of enablers (i.e., war criminals), their post-war stories centered around the “ratlines” (click here to read the blog ODESSA: Myth or Truth?) that guided them out of Europe and in many cases, to South America (in particular, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile). For some (e.g., Josef Mengele, Aloïs Brunner, and Walter Rauff), they managed to either elude capture or were protected by a dictator and ultimately died in their “adopted” country. Others such as Franz Stangl, Josef Schwammberger, and Erich Priebke were eventually extradited to West Germany where they were convicted and died in prison.

Today’s blog is about Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious Nazis responsible for the organization and execution of the Final Solution. (Contrary to certain article headlines, Eichmann was not the “architect” of the Final Solution⏤he carried out the orders.) Eichmann’s capture in Argentina by the Mossad in 1960 and subsequent trial in Israel in 1961 were significant events on the world stage. Not widely known for his role in the Holocaust, Eichmann’s trial re-opened the file on Nazi atrocities and provoked a world-wide discussion about the Holocaust and Nazi genocide⏤topics that had been suppressed for fifteen years. Read More The Argentina Papers

Tag: Aloïs Brunner