Free Republic

Seekers of peace and social justice should take note of today's 100th birthday celebration of the life of German theologian and Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer. As much as anyone - and as early as anyone - Bonhoeffer spoke out against the wickedness of Adolf Hitler's regime and took some of the most significant actions to thwart it. It was Bonhoeffer and a small circle of Lutheran ministers who first condemned the virulent anti-Semitism and reawakened militarism in Germany. It was Bonhoeffer who most loudly denounced his country's suicidal summons for war. It was Bonhoeffer who attacked the timidity of German...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some car enthusiasts prefer black - some red. But a buyer at a Michigan auction Saturday got a truly one-of-a-kind color -- transparent. The 1939 Pontiac Deluxe Six "Ghost Car," first displayed at the New York World's Fair and later at the Smithsonian Institution, was sold Saturday for $308,000. Originally built for $25,000, the car with a Plexiglas body was the first transparent car built in America...

The following is a remarkable speech given in 1939 by John William McCormack (1891 - 1980) of Massachusetts, Representative to the House, on a 'Jewish Homeland' in Palestine. Protesting harshly the British (White Papers) restriction on Jewish immigration while Arab immigration is allowed to flow. Citing the great approval by 5 presidents and an array of high officials all praising the great achievement done by the Jews in Palestine, uplifting and up-building the land. He notices the Arab immigration of at least 150,000 (equal to that of the Jews') from neighboring countries as well as an overall rise in Arab...

Broadcast to the United States from London Before the House of Commons summer recess, Churchill makes one final effort to arouse the Great Republic, his term of endearment for the United States, from its reveries, barely four weeks before the outbreak of war in Europe. Holiday time, ladies and gentlemen! Holiday time, my friends across the Atlantic! Holiday time, when the summer calls the toilers of all countries for an all too brief spell from the offices and mills and stiff routine of daily life and breadwinning, and sends them to seek if not rest at least change in new...

Reenactment of the Battle of Lowicz, 1939 (pictures, video) Battle of Lowicz was fought between 11 and 14 September, 1939 - being a part of the Battle of the Bzura – the largest battle of 1939 campaign in Poland. Actually – the battle of the Bzura was also the largest counter attack land operation against German forces until 1941. Town of Lowicz was heavily destroyed by the German forces. The first building bombed by the Luftwaffe was the hospital – with its roof marked with huge red cross. Many wounded and ill people got burnt alive there. During the battle...

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Swedish power metal band singing praises of Polish soldiers 22.08.2008 A song recorded by a power metal band from Sweden tells the story of a heroic stand by Polish soldiers in World War II. Presented by Elzbieta Krajewska "Baptised in fire, 40 to 1 Spirit of Spartans Death and glory; Soldiers of Poland Second to none" goes the song by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton. They tell the story of the Battle of Wizna, when over four days of September 1939, 720 Polish soldiers under the command of Władysław Raginis held off an attack by more than 42 thousand...

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwwFsKTJGs

How woefully ignorant is the Democratic front-runner on matters of national security, international relations and the intractable conflicts that have plagued the Middle East for decades? The recent foreign policy statements of the former community organizer have demonstrated such incorrigibly poor judgment and appalling naivete that three prominent Democrats have seen fit to distance themselves from Obama’s ludicrous position, which he somehow views as virtuous, of meeting unconditionally with the nations enemies. Senator Joe Biden tells us that Obama, “gave the wrong answer” in last July’s YouTube debate, but he assures us that Obama has, “learned a hell of a...

American psychologists have unearthed a “marital rating scale” used by marriage counsellors in 1939 to assess the performance of wives – and the categories make interesting reading for modern couples brought up to believe in the equality of the sexes. Women are awarded marks if they dress for breakfast, ask their husband’s opinions on important decisions and let their partners sleep late on Sundays and holidays.....

Thursday, December 6, 2007 (Nitin Gokhale) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee held a high level meeting with top defence officials as India is worried about developments on the eastern front of the country. The Indian Army has raised an alarm at the increasing Chinese forays into Bhutan, which are close to the strategic Chumbi Valley - the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China. The trouble is a small stretch of China's border with Bhutan. Over the past six months, the Chinese have increasingly started making inroads to the strategically important area.

STAY calm, don’t panic. The Northern Rock bank is not bust even though it has had to be propped up by the Bank of England -so say the government and City bigwigs, writes Richard Woods. But as millions of people digested these messages late last week, a deadly logic took hold. If everything was fine, then what was wrong with nipping down to the nearest Northern Rock branch and removing deposits to some other, perhaps safer, bank? Queues swiftly formed outside branches, and yesterday they were even longer than the day before. In Leeds more than 300 people queued at...

RUSH: (story) "Russia, in March, will start delivering nuclear fuel for a plant that it is building in Iran, the head of the state company in charge of the project said Monday." Now, I thought that Iran was a country rich in oil and in fuel. The head of the outfit here, Sergei Shmatko, "said during a trip to Tehran that he and Iranian officials had discussed financial problems related to the completion of the nuclear plant in Iran's southern port of Bushehr... Shmatko said his company would start preparations in January for nuclear fuel deliveries to Bushehr, and begin...

Sheik Jamal Said stood before the packed mosque and worked the crowd like an auctioneer. Speaking Arabic, the prayer leader asked for a donation of $10,000. No one responded. He asked for $5,000, and three men raised their hands. < SNIP> The recipient of the worshipers' generosity was Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist accused by the U.S. government of aiding terrorists. And the prayer leader's passionate appeal is a reflection of the ascendancy of Muslim hard-liners at the mosque, one of the most outspoken and embattled in the U.S. The mosque did not become this way without a struggle. Relying...

German, Polish Leaders Mark Start of WWII By RYAN LUCAS ASSOCIATED PRESS GDANSK, Poland (AP) - Sirens wailed and religious leaders led prayers for the dead as the presidents of Poland and Germany stood together solemnly Thursday on the Baltic peninsula where World War II began 66 years ago. Horst Koehler is only the second German president to attend the annual ceremonies on the Westerplatte peninsula, following the example of his predecessor, Johannes Rau. His presence comes amid signs of deepening friendship between the former foes, despite some lingering bitterness. More than 50 million people died in nearly six years...

Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War? by Viktor Suvorov (London: Harnish Hamilton, 1990); 364 pages; $22.95. In the early hours of September 1, 1939, the military might of Nazi Germany was set loose on Poland. As Panzer divisions crossed the Polish-German border, the German air force began its devastating rain of death on Warsaw and other Polish cities. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east and met up with the German forces at the city of Brest-Litovsk. Poland ceased to exist as an independent...

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain accuses Adolf Hitler of breaking his word after German troops crossed the Czech frontier.

65 years on: Tales from invaded Poland By Liam Allen BBC News Online German troops tear their way into Polish territory On 1 September, 1939, German tanks, infantry and cavalry penetrated Polish territory on several fronts. The Germans were closely followed by the Soviet Union, whose troops invaded from the east on 17 September. Sixty-five years on, BBC News Online talks to one London-based Polish woman about how the invasion changed her life irrevocably. Teodozja-Zofia Glodowska discovered her country had been invaded through snatched snippets of conversations from her parents. Little was she to know what impact the invasion would...

1939: Germany invades Poland German forces have invaded Poland and its planes have bombed Polish cities, including the capital, Warsaw. The attack comes without any warning or declaration of war. Britain and France have mobilised their forces and are preparing to wage war on Germany for the second time this century. Just before dawn today, German tanks, infantry and cavalry penetrated Polish territory on several fronts with five armies, a total of 1.5 million troops. My grandfather was killed on the train travelling to Warsaw when it was bombed by the German air force Soon afterwards German planes bombarded the...

[as printed in the Chicago Tribune, Monday, November 6, 1939, on page 9] WORLD CLIMATE GETTING WARMER, SCIENTISTS TOLD Weather Reports for 20 Years Show Rise New York, Nov. 4 (AP) - World-wide evidence that climate is getting warmer was presented today to the temperature symposium of the American Institute of Physics. The change may be the start of one of the major changes in climate which the earth has not known since geological time, long before any recorded history. The geological changes of the past have been determined from rock and mineral deposits showing several ice ages, scattered thru...