Pictures in Books, George Burns, Professor Lewis & Bonhoeffer

I love skimming through books at bookstores and libraries. My favorite sections are those with photographs. While at the library in Issaquah I picked up a book by George Burns. The photographs were just terrific. There was a lot of Jack Benny. There is one of him in drag standing next to Burns. He looked [...]

Kristallnacht in Bütow

In November of 1938, Nazis tried destroying the Jewish cemetery in Bütow (Bytów), the town where my great grandparents were married. It’s known as the Night of Broken Glass, or Kristallnacht. Recently, during restoration work in Bytów, matzevot (the Hebrew word for monument, but often translated as gravestone) lost during the violence and destruction of [...]

Hitler’s DNA

Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler may have had Jewish and African ancestors, according to DNA tests.Saliva samples taken from 39 relatives of Hitler show he probably had biological links to the Jewish community and people from North Africa, such as the Berbers of Morocco . . .” Hitler’s Y-chromosome haplogroup, E1b1b, “is rare in Germany and [...]

A Young Jewish Lawyer & Hitler Standoff in Court

Among the newer books at the Chemeketa Library is Crossing Hitler. It has an intriguing photograph on the front cover of our favorite little dictator in court, with some tired and possibly exasperated lawyers. These aren’t just normal attorneys; they are Nazi defense lawyers, trying to protect the party and its leaders from embarrassment and [...]

The World Wars, Hitler & Some Amazing Stories

Recently I have been looking through some library books on the First World War. One I happened to come across, Atlas of the First World War by Martin Gilbert, has some maps of interest. There is some detailed background on the Zeppelin airship L.59, which was sent to Africa with a mountain of supplies for [...]