Tag: Jürgen Stroop

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The Pianist & Wehrmacht Captain

There is a 2002 film that is based on the memoirs of a Polish-Jewish pianist who barely escaped (twice) deportation to KZ Treblinka, survived the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the razing of Warsaw in late 1944 by the Germans as they retaliated against an uprising by the Polish home guard.

The film is called The Pianist and stars Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman, the Jewish pianist. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three: Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Actor (Brody), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood).

Promotional poster for the movie “The Pianist.” Photo by anonymous (c. 2002). Focus Features. PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.
Promotional poster for the movie “The Pianist.” Photo by anonymous (c. 2002). Focus Features. PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.

I’ve never seen the film. I don’t watch movies. I would prefer to see a well-researched documentary that is true to the historical facts. However, it is my understanding from reading various reviews, the movie pretty much sticks to the true story of Władysław Szpilman without the usual Hollywood historical distortions. Perhaps after I have completed and published this blog, I might change my mind about watching The Pianist.

After the war, most of the Holocaust survivors asked the question, “Why me? Why did I survive when millions did not?” I’m certain Mr. Szpilman asked himself that question many times as he was the sole survivor of his family. As his memoirs point out, he experienced many lucky breaks during those five horrible years in Warsaw. But one lucky experience stands out in particular. It was the effort by a German Wehrmacht captain to shelter Mr. Szpilman and protect the pianist from certain death.

I invite you to read several of our previous blogs that focused on the 1943 Warsaw Uprising (Nazi Frankenstein [click here to read] and Ghetto Girls [and here to read]).

Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum

(“To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical”)

⏤ Larry Stern’s sixth-grade Latin teacher

Did You Know?

Did you know that France is drowning in ACRONYMS? A recent article calls them “cradle-to-grave acronyms” that are now “an inescapable feature of life in France.”

First through fifth elementary school grades are referred to as CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, and CM2. Earning a minimum wage? If so, it’s called the SMIC. If you start a new small business, then you’ve opened a TPE. Selling your mansion? You will pay the IFI tax. Many French senior citizens live in an EHPAD, or nursing home. Army officers are trained in the CNFCSTAGN. French workers are classified as CDI or CDD (a work contract of unlimited duration or temporary contract, respectively). We all know France has a 35-hour work week. If you go beyond the 35-hours, you are entitled to RTT, or offsetting vacation time. If you are poor and qualify for government subsidiaries, you are known as RSA, APL, and PA. Lastly, France’s consumer protection agency is referred to as DGCCRF.

This is the TGV 4406 “Basel” train waiting to leave the Bahnhof Basel. SBB CFF FFS refers to the Swiss Federal Railways known as “Schweizerische Bundesbahnen” (SBB) in German, “Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses” (CFF) in French, and “Ferrovie federali svizzere” (FFS) in Italian. Photo by Socoa (12 September 2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
This is the TGV 4406 “Basel” train waiting to leave the Bahnhof Basel. SBB CFF FFS refers to the Swiss Federal Railways known as “Schweizerische Bundesbahnen” (SBB) in German, “Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses” (CFF) in French, and “Ferrovie federali svizzere” (FFS) in Italian. Photo by Socoa (12 September 2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Even President Macron bemoans the acronym crisis. He is trying to simplify the acronym bureaucracy. His government is ordering officials to “Speak French to us.” The United States government certainly has its issues with acronyms as military “speak” can attest. But in France, it seems acronyms have permeated every inch of daily life.

It’s hard to understand how this situation could get so out of hand. One French expert blames the “all-encompassing government bureaucracy” and says, “It has a tentacular character.” She thinks it is a paradox due to the country’s fixation on its literary culture and preservation of the French language. In 1635, The Académie français was founded as the official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar. Although this government agency has no official power, its mission is to preserve the French language and prevent the Anglicization of the language. I believe we have highlighted some examples in previous blogs.

ATM I’m working on a new blog and BTW, LMK if you like our blog topics. FWIW, I’m NGL but it’s a chore coming up with TBD stories. My favorite acronym is BOGO. Stella, our beagle, suffers from FOMO. I wrote this on Sandy’s birthday so HBD to her.

TYVM for reading our blogs.

TTYL.

Władysław Szpilman 

Władysław Szpilman (1911−2000) was born in Sosnowiec, Poland. (Between 1902 and 1918, the town was considered part of the Russian Empire.) His academic studies in music took place in Warsaw and Berlin where he studied under several pupils of the famous composer, Franz Liszt. After Warsaw, Mr. Szpilman was accepted to the Berlin Academy of Arts. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mr. Szpilman moved back to Warsaw where he became a celebrated pianist due to his performances on Polish Radio, concerts, and tours. Read More The Pianist & Wehrmacht Captain

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Powerful Images

I ran across an article several months ago that immediately captured my attention. It was a photograph that sent chills down my spine. I said to myself, “Now that’s a very powerful image.”

I thought about the story behind the photograph and decided to write a blog about powerful and iconic images from World War II. Unfortunately, we can only include twenty-five photographs in this blog. However, there are hundreds if not thousands of other photographs that would fit into the theme of this blog. If interested, you can check out various web sites listed below to view some of the other photographs we did not include.

Please be warned that some of the images included in this blog are very disturbing.

We begin our photographic journey with the Hanukkah menorah in the window. It is the image that inspired me to write this blog.

Did You Know?

Did you know that nearly all forty of the original Washington D.C. boundary stones are hidden in plain sight? The capital city of the United States was originally a ten-mile by ten-mile diamond shape. These stones marked the boundaries of the city, and they are the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States.

Chart showing the original boundary milestones of the District of Columbia. Map by Fred Woodward (c. 1906). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Chart showing the original boundary milestones of the District of Columbia. Map by Fred Woodward (c. 1906). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Andrew Ellicott was hired to chart out the new city, but the surveyor needed an assistant to read the stars to ensure the markers were placed accurately. Benjamin Banneker, an African American, was recommended to Ellicott. He questioned the competence of a Black man who had no formal schooling or scientific training. Faced with no alternatives, Ellicott hired the amateur astronomer to work alongside him. For six nights, Banneker lay on his back to record the stars and with those calculations, the first marker stone was placed at Jones Point. (You can see the stone through a window in the seawall of the 19th-century Jones Point Lighthouse.)

Benjamin Banneker, astronomer and city planner. Illustration by Charles Henry Alston (c. 1943). U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Benjamin Banneker, astronomer and city planner. Illustration by Charles Henry Alston (c. 1943). U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

The stones are one foot square and three feet high. They were placed one mile apart and each is numbered according to its quadrant and location. Each side bears the inscription of either “Virginia” or “Maryland” depending on its border state. Other information inscribed on the sandstone markers were the words “Jurisdiction of the United States,” a mile number, the date the stone was erected (either 1791 or 1792), and a magnetic compass variance for the stone’s location. Thirty-six stones remain in their original place (some in severe deterioration as sandstone is not the best material for posterity) while three are replicas and one is represented by a simple plaque.

Boundary stone Northeast No. 2. Photo by anonymous (c. 1907). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Boundary stone Northeast No. 2. Photo by anonymous (c. 1907). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Thomas Jefferson was secretary of state at the time, and he went on record as saying he did not believe Black and enslaved people were of the same standards as White people in terms of brains and physical abilities. Clearly, Jefferson had never met Mr. Banneker.

Boundary stone NE 2 between the District of Columbia and Takoma Park, Maryland. Photo by Bruce Anderson (August 2010). PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.
Boundary stone NE 2 between the District of Columbia and Takoma Park, Maryland. Photo by Bruce Anderson (August 2010). PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.

The Hanukkah Menorah

Hanukkah menorah on the windowsill of the Posner’s home in Kiel, Germany.
Hanukkah menorah on the windowsill of the Posner’s home in Kiel, Germany.

Read More Powerful Images