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A newly discovered catalogue of artworks stolen by Nazis compiled for Adolf Hitler could help unravel the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of lost materpieces seized during the Second World War. By Roya Nikkhah, Arts Correspondent Telegraph.co.uk 15 Aug 2009  Two more albums, marked '6' and '8', were recently uncovered by Robert Edsel, an author and art historian based in Texas As they marched through Europe, Adolf Hitler's Nazis pillaged the world's finest art collections. Thousands of art works were stolen for the Führer's personal enjoyment, many of which are still missing. Now, a newly discovered document could unravel the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of lost masterpieces. The "Hitler Album" contains details of art works stolen by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), an organisation established by the Nazis in 1940 to confiscate works of art from territories under occupation. The leather-bound book includes lists and photographs of 78 paintings by prominent artists including the French masters Nicolas de Largillière, Antoine Watteau and Hyacinthe Rigaud, whose works sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds. ( >>Continue reading ) | ||||||||||
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Mood:
 mellow Lozen (c. 1840-1890) was the sister of the Chihenne-Chiricahua Apache chief, Victorio (akas: Bidu-ya; Beduiat).Born into the Chihenne band during the late 1840s, Lozen was a skilled warrior and a prophet. According to legends, she was able to use her powers (Diya) and (Inda-ce-ho-ndi = "Enemies-Against-Power") in battle to learn the movements of the enemy. Victorio is quoted to have said that "Lozen is my right hand... strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people." Victorio's Campaign In the 1870s, Victorio and his band of Apaches were moved to the deplorable conditions of the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. He and his followers left the reservation around 1877 and began marauding and raiding, all while evading capture by the military. Lozen fought beside Victorio when he and his followers rampaged against Americans who had appropriated their homeland around west New Mexico's Black Mountain. As the band fled American forces, Lozen inspired women and children, frozen in fear, to cross the surging Rio Grande. "I saw a magnificent woman on a beautiful horse—Lozen, sister of Victorio. Lozen the woman warrior!", remembers James Kaywaykla, a child at the time, riding behind his grandmother. "High above her head she held her rifle. There was a glitter as her right foot lifted and struck the shoulder of her horse. He reared, then plunged into the torrent. She turned his head upstream, and he began swimming." Immediately, the other women and the children followed her into the torrent. When they reached the far bank of the river, cold and wet but alive, Lozen came to Kaywaykla’s grandmother. "You take charge, now", she said. "I must return to the warriors", who stood between their women and children and the onrushing cavalry. Lozen drove her horse back across the wild river and returned to her comrades. According to Kaywaykla, "She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man, and I think she had more ability in planning military strategy than did Victorio." He also remembers Victorio saying, "I depend upon Lozen as I do Nana" (the aging patriarch of the band). Late in Victorio’s campaign, Lozen left the band to escort a new mother and her newborn infant across the Chihuahuan Desert from Mexico to the Mescalero Apache Reservation, away from the hardships of the trail. Equipped with only a rifle, a cartridge belt, a knife, and a three-day supply of food, she set out with the mother and child on a perilous journey through territory occupied by Mexican and U.S. Cavalry forces. En route, afraid that a gunshot would betray their presence, she used her knife to kill a longhorn, butchering it for the meat. She stole a Mexican cavalry horse for the new mother, escaping through a volley of gunfire. She then stole a vaquero’s horse for herself, disappearing before he could give chase. She also acquired a soldier’s saddle, rifle, ammunition, blanket and canteen, and even his shirt. Finally, she delivered her charges to the reservation. There, she learned that Mexican and Tarahumara Indian forces under Mexican commander Joaquin Terrazas had ambushed Victorio and his band at Tres Castillos, three stony hills in northeastern Chihuahua. According to Stephen H. Lekson in his monogram Nana's Raid: Apache Warfare in Southern New Mexico, 1881, Terrazas, on October 15, 1880, "surprised the Apaches, and in the boulders of Tres Castillos, Victorio’s warriors fought their last fight. Apache tradition holds that Victorio fell on his own knife rather than die at the hands of the Mexicans. Almost all the warriors at Tres Castillos were killed, and many women died fighting; the older people were shot, while almost one hundred young women and children were taken for slaves. Only a few escaped." End of Apache Wars and Lozen's later years Knowing the survivors would need her, Lozen immediately left the Mescalero Reservation and rode alone southwest across the desert, threading her way undetected through U.S. and Mexican military patrols. She rejoined the decimated band in the Sierra Madre (in northwestern Chihuahua), now led by the 74-year-old patriarch Nana. According to Kimberly Moore Buchanan's book Apache Women Warriors, Lozen fought beside Nana and his handful of warriors in his two-month long bloody campaign of vengeance across southwestern New Mexico in 1881. Just before the fighting began, Nana said of Lozen, "Though she is a woman, there is no warrior more worthy than the sister of Victorio." Lozen also fought beside Geronimo after his breakout from the San Carlos reservation in 1885, in the last campaign of the Apache wars. With the band pursued relentlessly, she used her power to locate their enemies—the U.S. and Mexican cavalries. According to Alexander B. Adams in his book Geronimo, "she would stand with her arms outstretched, chant a prayer to Ussen, the Apaches’ supreme deity, and slowly turn around." Lozen's prayer is translated in Eve Ball's book In the Days of Victorio: Upon this earth On which we live Ussen has Power This Power is mine For locating the enemy. I search for that Enemy Which only Ussen the Great Can show to me. "By the sensation she felt in her arms, she could tell where the enemy was and how many they numbered", Adams writes. Taken into U. S. military custody after Geronimo’s final surrender, Lozen traveled as a prisoner of war to Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama. Like many other imprisoned Apache warriors, she died in confinement of tuberculosis sometime after 1887. Nevertheless, her life was noted as a validation of the respected place women held among the Apaches. Lozen was the subject of Lucia St. Clair-Robson's 2002 novel Ghost Warrior, Lozen of the Apaches. References * Aleshire, Peter. Woman Warrior: The Story of Lozen, Apache Warrior and Shaman. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. | ||||||||||
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Irish Examiner Saturday, August 15, 2009 - 11:31 AM Forty years ago today the first child was killed in the northern conflict as violence broke out in Derry and then Belfast. Patrick Rooney was nine years old. His father was lifting him out of bed in their home on the Falls Road to take him to safety when he was shot in his arms by an armoured RUC vehicle which opened fire. Cornelius Rooney, a former British soldier, has only recently spoken about the tragedy that killed his young son and blighted his own life. Patrick Rooney Relatives for Justice 9 year-old Patrick Rooney was shot-dead by the RUC in August 1969. Patrick was shot as his father Cornelius attempted to carry him from his bedroom to the family living room for safety during disturbances when a RUC/loyalist led mob attacked the lower Falls area in Belfast. Patrick Rooney was the first child to be killed in the Troubles.  Cornelius, Patrick's father, broke a twenty-nine year silence about the incident speaking publicly about that traumatic evening at an event in 1998 held by Relatives for Justice entitled 'Forgotten Victims/Survivors'. Cornelius told the audience that on the eve of the killing Sir Chichester Clarke, the then northern Prime Minister, in response to sporadic trouble across the north advised people in a televised broadcast to remain in their homes for safety.Cornelius said that his children had been frightened in their rooms, that he was attempting to gather, comfort and reassure them from the attack outside. He picked Patrick from his bed, held him, then put him down. A bullet pierced the wall grazing Cornelius on the side of his head. Patrick slid down the wall and Cornelius thought that he had fainted at the sight of seeing blood from his father's wound. Cornelius lifted Patrick off the floor into his arms. The back of his head had been blown off. It was only then that he realised Patrick had been shot also. The fatal bullet had been fired from a machine gun mounted on small military carrier. Six nationalists including Patrick were shot-dead that same evening by the RUC and loyalists. Scores were wounded. The resulting Scarman Report into the killings and attacks failed to hold those responsible accountable and served only to add insult to injury for the bereaved families. Evidence presented at the hearing detailed that only warning shots had been fired by the RUC and that these were fired into the air. This was accepted despite the fact that the Rooney family lived in a ground floor flat. Like the Widgery Report Lord Scarman's report was and is still viewed as being a whitewash, however it still remains the official version of events that evening. Ironically some of those RUC members who gave evidence now hold senior positions within the RUC. Likewise some of the legal counsel for the RUC/crown went on to become judges. | ||||||||||
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News Letter 08 August 2009 It is one of the world's most iconic and recognisable album covers - and hundreds of Beatles fans have gathered at the famous zebra crossing in Abbey Road to mark the 40th anniversary of its creation.  The Beatles crossing Abbey Road The crowds celebrated the occasion by singing some of the Fab Four's best-loved hits as they jammed into the road on and around the now-famous crossing. Tony Bramwell, the band's former road manager, who was present on the day the shots were taken, said: "Other than Paul and Ringo, I'm the only person alive who was here on that day." "It's great to see that the whole thing carries on." "Through the musical genres and revolutions of the last 40 years the Beatles are still number one." He said at the time the cover was "just a photo" and the shoot only took minutes, but he expected that McCartney and Starr would be watching coverage of the event on television. The ex Beatles have not tired of the image even four decades on, he said. Mr Bramwell added: "Who could get bored of being a Beatle?" According to a Telegraph article, fans gathering to commemorate the event will be led across the road by Beatles tribute band Sgt Pepper's Only Dartboard Band, who will be wearing replicas of the clothes the Beatles wore four decades earlier. The tour will be led by Richard Porter, a professional Beatles tour guide and owner of the Beatles Coffee Shop at St John's Wood Underground station. Events organiser Richard Porter, who owns the nearby Beatles Coffee Shop, said he was "flummoxed" by the number of fans at the event. He said: "I get fans literally from all over the world at the shop. And today we've got TV crews from 15 different countries and God knows how many press photographers." | ||||||||||
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BBC 20 July 09 The detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.  The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives. The new website reveals which medieval soldiers rode the farthest Thomas, Lord Despenser is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385. Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem. 'Remarkable survival' The website is the product of a research project by Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton and Dr Adrian Bell of the University of Reading. Dr Bell said: "The service records survive because the English exchequer had a very modern obsession with wanting to be sure that the government's money was being spent as intended. "Therefore we have the remarkable survival of indentures for service detailing the forces to be raised, muster rolls showing this service and naming every soldier from duke to archer." He said accounts from captains showing how funds were spent and entries detailing when the exchequer requested the payments can be found. The free-to-use website, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, also shows which soldiers rode the furthest. Go here to view: http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/soldier/data **2-FINGER GESTURE Legend has it that the V-sign originates from Agincourt when English archers taunted the French, who had vowed to cut off their bow fingers. | ||||||||||
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By Susan Smith Scotsman 06 July 2009 http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/en  THE oldest surviving Christian Bible can now been viewed online after a painstaking conservation project involving institutions in the UK, Germany, Egypt and Russia.About half of the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus, meaning The Sinai Book, was analysed and treated before high-resolution digital images of the pages were created. The fourth-century book is considered to be one of the most important texts in the world and this is the first time in centuries scholars have been able to view so much of it in one place. Dr Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library, which is home to a large part of the original book, said the wide availability of the document presented many research opportunities. "The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures," said Dr McKendrick. "This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation." He added: "The availability of the virtual manuscript for study by scholars around the world creates opportunities for collaborative research that would not have been possible just a few years ago." The Codex Sinaiticus contains the oldest complete New Testament and one of the oldest Greek translations of the parts of the Old Testament. Named after the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, where the book was preserved for many centuries, the Codex Sinaiticus was moved on three occasions after it was discovered by the German biblical scholar Constantine Tischendorf in the mid-19th century. The British Library has 347 leaves, after it purchased them from the Soviet government in 1933. A further 43 leaves are held at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, parts of six leaves are in the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg and a final 12 leaves and 40 fragments remain at the Monastery of St Catherine, where monks uncovered them in part of the northern wall in 1975. The book is considered to be too delicate to move from any of its locations, so work had to be carried out in all four places before the project could be completed. Professor Timothy Lim, of Edinburgh University, an expert on biblical manuscripts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, said that because scholars previously had to visit four different libraries to study the text – handwritten by three different scribes – the new arrangement will significantly improve understanding of the New Testament. "Gathering all the parts together will allow people to talk about it as a whole and learn more about it and improve speed of access," he said. "The actual pages are not that difficult to read so now if you are holding a lecture, you can display a page and examine it there and then." To mark the online launch, the British Library is staging an exhibition which runs until 7 September. | ||||||||||
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Over the years the peace line has become higher, but in the last year murals have softened its appearance By Arthur Strain and Peter Hamill BBC 02 July 2009  Over the years the peace line has become higher, but in the last year murals have softened its appearance The first one went up eight years after construction started on the Berlin Wall, but 20 years after that wall went down, Northern Ireland still has its so-called peace lines. For people living in the shadow of a concrete wall topped with fencing the peace they bring can help cement divisions rather than heal communities. Wall number one, which divides the Falls and Shankill roads at Cupar Street, went up in 1969 following rioting and house burnings in west Belfast. Over the years it has risen to more than six metres. The last one went up last year in the grounds of a north Belfast integrated primary school following a period of local tension. There are 53 Northern Ireland Office maintained peace lines in four towns and cities in the region - 42 in Belfast, five in Derry, five in Portadown and one in Lurgan. However, community relations groups say these are not the only peace lines, with other structures and land being used to keep communities apart. In a survey for the Community Relations Council the Institute for Conflict Research listed a total of 88 peace lines as well as 44 police CCTV cameras. Some are listed as wasteland being used by housing authorities as buffer zones, others include derelict houses as well as walls and vegetation to the rear of homes in interface areas. They still make some people feel safe, but others want more work on taking them down. Tony Macauley used to live under the Shankill peace line and last year he produced a consultancy paper on a process to remove them. He said that while they initially made him feel safe he quickly realised that they did not stop people crossing over to carry out killings. He now lives in a seaside town and said that for younger people in interface areas the peace lines have become part of the fabric of their area, as accepted as the murals that adorn gable walls. "I can remember when the peace walls went up, but there is an entire generation who have known nothing else," he said. "People who grew up in some of those areas and are under 40 have no idea what it was like before them. "But they used to be mixed areas, the communities used to live side by side." The CRC lists some of the peace lines as fences around enclaves and swathes of scrub used as buffers in interface areas. Others cannot be mapped, as Mr Macauley explained. "It happens in urban areas, but also in rural ones, where people know they should avoid a certain route to get somewhere or there would be some park they would not go to," he said. He said that until communities could agree to live without them the walls would have to stay, but his hope is that talking about removing them will eventually lead to them going. It takes an outsider to be shocked by the sight of the a peace wall and what it is - a means to stop people living in a western democracy at the start of the 21st century attacking each other. But even on the walls change can be seen. Murals and graffiti art expressing hopes for peace and a brighter future feature on the Belfast wall now. Photographer Les McLean is a regular visitor to Belfast and has been capturing its people for years. He said that the peace murals and messages that have been appearing on the walls have helped soften their harsh look, but there is no disguising what they are. "I like what they are saying now - the message that's coming out of there," he said. "I've been photographing them for the last two or three years and I have always felt I couldn't understand why they were called a peace line, I've always thought they were more about division," he said. | ||||||||||
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A 620-year-old skeleton discovered under the floor of Stirling Castle has shed new light on the violent life of a medieval knight. By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent Telegraph.co.uk 29 Jun 2009  Archaeologist David Murray with the skeleton at Stirling Castle (Photo: JAMES STEWART) Archaeologists believe that bones found in an ancient chapel on the site are those of an English knight named Robert Morley who died in a tournament there in 1388. Radio carbon dating has confirmed that the skeleton is from that period, and detailed analysis suggests that he was in his mid-20s, was heavily muscled and had suffered several serious wounds in earlier contests. He appears to have survived for some time with a large arrowhead lodged in his chest, while the re-growth of bone around a dent in the front of his skull indicates that he had also recovered from a severe blow from an axe. He eventually died when he was struck by a sword that sliced through his nose and jaw. His reconstructed skull also indicates that he was lying on the ground when the fatal blow was delivered. The knight was laid to rest under the stone-flagged floor of a chapel near the castle's royal apartments and his skeleton was excavated along with 11 others in 1997. However, it was only recently re-examined following advances in laser scanning techniques that not only revealed the nature of the three wounds, but also showed that the knight had lost teeth, probably from another blow or from falling from his horse. Gordon Ewart, of Kirkdale Archaeology, which carried out the excavation for Historic Scotland, said: "This is a remarkable and important set of discoveries. "At first we had thought the arrow wound had been fatal but it now seems he had survived it and may have had his chest bound up." Mr Ewart said that Morley was by far the most likely candidate. His skeleton also shows the effects of riding on the ankles and muscle injuries caused by lifting heavy loads. His sturdy upper body and upper right arm are consistent with wielding heavy swords, and his injuries suggest a hard life of hunting, jousting and foot tournaments. Richard Strachan, Historic Scotland's senior archaeologist, added: "Radio carbon dating is not an exact science, but the date we came up with for this skeleton was 1390. That's only two years difference and quite possible. "We have been able to look at this skeleton with the benefit of new technology and techniques we didn't have available in 1997. The key may be the teeth analysis. This will hopefully tell us exactly where this person was born and brought up. "It's to do with oxygen isotopes and shows the water you drink as a child, which creates a sort of 'fingerprint' on the teeth and never changes. This analysis will also hopefully give us some dietary information "We believe he was aged between 18 and 26 when he died. He was about 5ft 7in tall and was well built, but he clearly had a hard life. These were troubled times." | ||||||||||
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From riderless horses disappearing through castle walls mischievous spirits apparently barging into visitors, English Heritage has compiled a new survey of "hauntings" and unexplained events recorded at its sites. By Jasper Copping Telegraph 27 Jun 2009  Battle Abbey, close to the site of the Battle of Hastings The so-called “spectral stocktake” reveals a series of mysterious occurrences, many of which have prompted investigations by staff. Some incidents are said to have led staff to resign. At one castle, employees have established protocols on how to deal with suspected sightings of ghosts or unexplained events. One medieval palace is even said to be haunted by a former member of staff. Many of the events involve staff and visitors seeing mysterious figures, while others involve complaints that people were pinched or pushed, when there was nobody standing near them. Some reports involve items being moved around sites. At Castle Rising, a 12th century keep in Norfolk, which was once the exile place of Queen Isabella, widow – and alleged murderess – of Edward II, “paranormal investigators” were called in by staff to conduct tests following sightings by visitors, many of whom claimed to have seen figures dressed in monks’ clothes. ( >>Read on ) | ||||||||||
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Al Jazeera 28 June 2009 A public hearing organised by a UN team investigating alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza war is under way. As part of its investigations into the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza conflict, the UN fact-finding mission will listen to testimony from victims of the conflict for two days in Gaza City and hold a second round of public hearings on July 6 and July 7 in Geneva.  During the hearing, which began on Sunday and is being screened live for the public and the media, the mission will hear from victims of alleged violations and from experts on the context and impact of the Israeli siege and military operations.Gaza's reconstruction is being hampered by Israel's blockade of Gaza [EPA] The public hearings, which are a part of the information-gathering work of the fact-finding mission, will enable victims, witnesses and experts from all sides in the conflict to speak directly to the international community. In Geneva, the mission will hear from victims of alleged violations in Israel and the West Bank, as well as from experts on a variety of military and legal issues. Geneva has been chosen as the venue of the second round of hearings since the fact-finding mission has so far not received permission to enter Israel to hold the sessions in southern Israel and the West Bank. ( >>Continued ) | ||||||||||
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