“A pilot of the U.S. Women’s Air Force Service at Avenger Field, Texas, in 1943” by Peter Stackpole (via LIFE)
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Okay, sit down, buckle up and let me tell you about two of my favorite history crushes, “Zośka” (above) and “Rudy” (below).
After the invasion of Poland during WW2, the Polish Scouts became a paramilitary organization of resistance fighters. That’s right, they were boy scouts who turned into resistance fighters known by the codename “Grey Ranks”, and if that isn’t already the most badass thing ever, these boy scouts (and girl scouts!!) actively fought against German occupation in Warsaw.
Two such Scouts were written about in a book published by the underground press in 1943. They were Tadeusz Zawadzki, codename “Zośka” and Jan Bytnar, codename “Rudy”. They had been school friends before the war and were both troop leaders in the Grey Ranks- but Rudy was arrested by the Gestapo on March 23, 1943, since the Nazis were keen to round up anyone from the Grey Ranks who could give them more information about the Polish resistance that had been causing so much trouble for them.
When Rudy’s friends found out that he had captured by the Germans, Zośka immediately began pushing for a rescue mission. Despite the hesitations of higher-up authorities in the Grey Ranks who thought such an outright attack against the Germans was too risky, Zośka wouldn’t take no for an answer. Finally, “Operation Arsenal” was organized and set to take place on the 26th, after Rudy had been held by the Gestapo for three days. Zośka himself lead the action, and the mission ended in success: armed with Molotov cocktails and whatever weapons they had, the Scouts stopped the truck in which Rudy was being transported and freed him, along with 24 other prisoners. Saved by his friends, Rudy died among them four days later- the injuries he had sustained during his brutal, three days of torture at the hands of the Gestapo were not something he could recover from. But his death was avenged when both of the SS officers who had interrogated him were tracked down and killed by the Scouts. Zośka died later that year, in another mission of the Grey Ranks, and the two boys were both awarded posthumous military honors for their bravery and sacrifice.
Women boxing on a roof, circa 1930s
THIS IS LITERALLY THE RADDEST PHOTO I’VE EVER SEEN
LIKE SHIT
ARE YOU KIDDING
can we talk about those cute as heck outfits though
all this history is buried and we’re lead to believe that women just sat around prim and proper until the 70s
Very interesting.
Lots of stuff that the Consumer Culture tries to hide from us.
Thankfully today we now have the internet to bring on the truth.
Train and fight!
WarriroMale
On this day, 2 December 1956, 30,000 women demonstrated in Budapest as part of the wider working class uprising for a socialist society with genuine workers’ control. Read Andy Anderson’s excellent and detailed history of the uprising here: https://ift.tt/2Rr9Yde
Pictured: a woman fighter in the million https://ift.tt/2Q5veZm
Edward Daniel Leahy painted this, Mary, Queen of Scots Leaving Loch Leven, in 1837.
It depicts an incident of English history. After an unpopular marriage to a man suspected to have murdered her previous husband, the Queen of Scotland—who also claimed a right to the English throne—had been imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle by a group of Scottish Nobleman.
However, on the second of May in 1568, she escaped. After a failed attempt to regain her throne, she fled to England, where she would remain in custody until her trial and execution for plotting against Elizabeth I.
Leahy depicts the moment of escape itself, as Mary prepares to board the small boat that will carry her off the island she has been imprisoned on.
So a post kept me thinking about how little of latine history is known, and how the cold war is still described by a lot of usamericans as a ‘war were no wars actually happened’ but it’s not true, for “third world countries” it was devastating, and we still feel the consequences to this day. So here below I post some pictures taken the day the military forces and the supposedly elected president (it’s argued that the elections were faked, and there’s proof that backs this up) declared a dictatorship in 1973 that lasted until 1985, one of the many that happened in Latin America with the complicity of the US and other Western aligned countries.
On the day it was declared that democracy was over, 27 of June 1973, the Uruguayans tried to fight back. It was one of the only dictatorships that happened then in South America where people answered back immediately, took over the streets and began a two week long strike, a complete shut down of all factories, banks, hospitals, colleges, etc. to protest against the regime. Mothers with their babies sleeping at cold factories in the middle of the harsh winter, old people, young men, students and professors, they all came together and kept the country still for two weeks, it would be the last time until almost a decade later, that some form of protest would be allowed by the government.
Protesters that were found at the streets marching were met with tear gases and rubber bullets. A reporter read on the radio a beautiful Lorca poem that repeated 'at 5 o'clock’ signaling a March that would take place at that time. The Law college students and teachers alike closed the University and remained inside as a protest, barricading the doors with desks and chairs, people were killed, students that simphatized with the left were kidnapped, tortured and murdered, buses, signs, walls were painted with quotes like “down with the military fascist dictatorship, resist!”, “Freedom or death”, “The people united will never be defeated”, people went out during the super cold winter time, cut one of the main avenues and protested, sang to the top of their lungs the hymn, screaming for freedom and the fear of the oppressors, threw phamplets all over the Congress and the streets, if they found you with one you’d be thrown into jail, and jails were filled over their maximum capacity so they had to turn a kind of stadium into a temporary jail… It’s unbelievable all that happened and how the people responded, there aren’t enough words to describe what that movement of the people was.
There weren’t a lot of picture testimonies of this year’s and the ones prior because of the harsh repression, but lately, 40 years later, photographs that were hidden by a photographer, Aurelio Gonzales, before having to run away to exile because of his ideas; they were discovered in a sewer, and a precious twenty years of Uruguay’s history have been recovered again.
The rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland between 1386 and 1572 spans the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era in European history. The dynasty was founded by the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), whose marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland formed a Polish–Lithuanian union. The partnership brought vast territories controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Poland’s sphere of influence and proved beneficial for both the Polish and Lithuanian people, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the next four centuries.
The Polish “Golden Age”, the period of the reigns of Sigismund I and Sigismund II, the last two Jagiellonian kings, or more generally the 16th century, is most often identified with the rise of the culture of Polish Renaissance. The cultural flowering had its material base in the prosperity of the elites, both the landed nobility and urban patriciate at such centers as Cracow and Danzig.
I have a few history crushes, all of which I’ll eventually submit. But first and foremost in my heart is Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Wendell was the eldest son of the famous doctor and poet, and he first distinguished himself in the American Civil War, during which he was wounded three times. The war changed him, and he came out of it with his characteristic sharp cynicism and his “I don’t give a fuck” attitude.
After the war, Wendell started in on his legal career, and in time, he literally wrote the book on common law and ascended all the way to the Supreme Court. He was one of the most influential justices we’ve ever had, and he became known as the “Great Dissenter,” because his dissenting opinions, though not exactly numerous, were to the point and full of memorable phrasing.
Wendell was married, though not happily, and he had numerous extramarital affairs. Once, he went to visit a mistress’s apartment, under the pretense that he wanted to return a book to her. That would have been just fine, if the errand didn’t take him several hours and he didn’t return home with the book still in his possession. He just didn’t care.
This guy lived until 1935, which was absolutely incredible. And he was a dirty old man. When he was in a car once as a ninetysomething, he saw an attractive woman walking down the sidewalk and he remarked to his secretary, “Oh, to be seventy again.” He also served copious amounts of champagne at his ninetieth birthday party…which was during prohibition. He didn’t care.
Plus, he was this dashingly handsome at basically any age. He’s all sad eyes, prominent cheekbones, and big mustache. There are pictures of him looking desirable even as a very old man, and I would still do him. Don’t take my word for it. Google Images is your friend.
The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish nation. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gallus Anonymous in the early 12th century: Siemowit, Lestek and Siemomysł. It was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, who is now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD. The ruling house then remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370. Mieszko converted to Christianity of the Western Latin Rite in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion. He also completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
A Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist, also - a teacher. Apart from his great talent, good works (which you should all listen to) and the novatory way of playing piano (changing the popular, old pieces a bit while playing… basically covering songs while playing them, kinda ‘jazzing’) he was well known for many (like many many many) romances. Women would visit him to learn how to play a piano, then leave pregnant and ready to divorce.
Because of how crazy his fans could become, a new medical term was created - ‘Lisztomania’.
But look at his face… How not to get lisztomaniac, while being in contact with such a flirty and attractive man?
Then we think about Wagner and Cosima…
What she says: I’m fine
What she means: Why isn’t it taught that abortion was perfectly legal in the US in early 1870s and it wasn’t until a Jewish doctor, who was being framed, was put on trial for manslaughter (a trial, as well as the press covering it, which was greatly tinged with antisemitism) that opened the floodgates for antiabortion crusaders which eventually led to its criminalization?
I did not know this!
Me neither, until I read this book.
Look at the notes for the name of the book if anyone else is interested.
The book is called Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press. By Eddy Portnoy
Other recommended books in the notes that talk about this are:
The Moral Property of Sex by Linda Gordon
Rereading Sex by Helen Horowitz
Killing For Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics by Carol Mason goes into some detail on this.
The more militant elements of the anti-choice movement have their roots in white nationalism. It’s white babies they wanted to save. It was Jewish doctors they blamed. The Holocaust baiting was basically a dogwhistle for white genocide.