Scandibalt- In Memory

Dedicated to all those who have suffered unfairly at
the hands of others, rather than by natural causes.

Being involved in antiques, collectable items and
older things, makes me more aware of culture and history.
Most antiques were usually made for constructive reasons.

An Antique is officially at least 100 years old
But not many people live to that age.

This page is dedicated to events that have
happened over the last 100 years or so -
Within living memory by some...............

The events highlighted on this page tell briefly about great
tragedies by man against man and have been destructive rather than
constructive - therefore should be remembered by all of us as a lesson.

Here you can find a few links to other sites
that are connected to events in recent history
to remind us all to remember and be alert, to
care and to ensure that 'Never Again' is a Reality.

Let us hold an antique or a painting, a collectable item, a souvernir
and look back and remember that our future, is based on on our past.

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We should and must remember the Second World War as the scale of it has never
been experienced before. The discrimination against peoples because of race, colour
or creed can not be regarded as a good or honourable thing. In particular it should be
remembered that so many ordinary citizens in particular those living in Central and Eastern
Europe - From the Baltic Sea to The Black Sea, From Berlin to Moscow - suffered at the
hands of both The Nazi German and Soviet Russian Regimes. The scale and brutality of
'the War in Eastern Europe' was barbaric in it's nature. Whilst it was the Jewish population
that was most damaged by The Holocaust in numbers, all the peoples were badly affected
by The War, Be they ordinary Germans, Poles, those from the Baltic Nations, Russian and
Ukrainian civilians, Gypsies or captured soldiers or housewives or little children or all those
who were in the Far East, from China, Burma, The Pacific Islands, anywhere in the world
where the great tragedies have occured......................all of them deserve that we remember.

This is a list of the main Nazi
Concentration and Extermination Camps

The Camps Link

There were thousands of camps and subcamps
created by the Germans and it is not possible to
include them all - However, These are some of the others.
Arbeitsdorf, Germany
Kaiserwald, (Riga) Latvia
Klooga, Estonia
Plaszow, Poland
Vaivara, Latvia
Vught, The Netherlands
Westerbork, The Netherlands

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The Different Identifying badges used

The "Asocial" category was, perhaps, the most diverse, including prostitutes, vagrants, murderers, thieves, lesbians, and those who violated laws prohibiting sexual intercourse between Aryans and Jews. In addition, while the brown triangle was used for gypsies under certain circumstances, they were more often forced to wear the black triangle categorizing them as "asocials."

Some patches included letters on the triangles to further distinguish among the various groups in the camps. Most commonly, the letter indicated nationality, e.g., "F" for franzosisch (French), "P" for polnisch (Polish), "T" for tschechisch (Czech), etc., but it could also denote special sub-categories of prisoners. For example, the white letter "A" on a black triangle signified a labor disciplinary prisoner (Arbeitserziehungshaftling), while a black "S" on a green triangle identified a strafthaft, or penal prisoner. In addition, the word Blod on a black triangle marked mentally retarded inmates, and a red and white target symbol set apart those who had tried to escape.

For Jewish offenders, triangles of two different colors were combined to create a six-pointed star, one triangle yellow to denote a Jew, the second triangle another color to denote the added offense. For example, a Jewish criminal would wear a yellow triangle overlaid by a green one; Jewish homosexuals wore pink triangles over yellow.

Outside the camps, the occupying Nazi forces ordered Jews to wear patches or armbands marked with the star of David, though the specific characteristics of the badge (size, shape, color) varied by region. For example, some yellow stars were marked with a large "J" in the center, while elsewhere the patches had "Jude" (or "Jood," "Juif," etc.) stitched in the middle. Those who failed to wear the star were subject to arrest and deportation, a fate that frightened most Jews into compliance even though the patch subjected them to restrictions, harassment, and isolation.

Source: Abraham J. Edelheit, and Hershel Edelheit, History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), pp. 218, 239, 266, 448.

For more information about the history of the requirement that Jews wear a distinctive marking or sign, including during the Nazi period, see the entry "Badge, Jewish" in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 4 (Jerusalem: Macmillan, 1972), pp. 62-73.

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How were the prisoners tattooed in the concentration camps?

"The concentration camp at Auschwitz was the only one to tattoo prisoners for identification. The underlying cause was the high death rate among the prisoners, which sometimes surpassed several hundred in a single day. With such a large number of deaths, there were difficulties in identifying all the corpses. If the clothes with the camp number were removed from the corpse, one could no longer establish what the number of the deceased had been. At the camp hospital (Haftlingskrankenbau, HKB), where many prisoners died, the staff began to write ill prisoner's camp numbers on their chests with indelible ink. Difficulties in identifying corpses increased in...1941, when the mass extermination of Soviet prisoners-of-war began. It was then that the camp administration decided to adopt tattooing, which was first used with several thousand Soviet prisoners-of-war. They were tattooed with a special metal stamp that held interchangeable numbers composed of needles around 1 cm long. This stamp -- when applied to the upper portion of the left breast -- allowed the entire number to be tattooed at once. Next, ink was rubbed into the bleeding wounds. The POWs to be tattooed were so weak that they had to be propped up against the wall so they would not fall down while the number was being applied. In March 1942, the staff began to tattoo in a similar fashion emaciated prisoners at KL Birkenau, whose state of health pointed to rapid death. (Only several Poles with numbers tattooed on their chests during this period survived the camp.)

"Since the metal stamp turned out to be impractical, tattooing was later carried out by puncturing the skin on the left forearm with individual needles. The puncture marks would form the individual digits of the camp number. Jewish prisoners began to be tattooed in this fashion at Birkenau as early as 1942. In spring 1943 the camp administration ordered that all prisoners -- both previously-registered prisoners and new arrivals -- be tattooed with camp numbers. A number of German prisoners and so-called "reformatory prisoners" (Erziehungshaftlinge) received no tattoo. Several categories of prisoners were tattooed with an additional symbol before the number -- e.g., Jews (but not all of them) with a triangular symbol; Gypsies, with the letter "Z" (the first letter of the German word Zigeuner or "Gypsy"); and beginning in May 1944, Jews received an additional letter, "A" or "B", which signified the particular series of numbers being used at the time. For unknown reasons, prisoners from several transports in 1943 were tattooed with camp numbers on the inside of their left shoulder.

"Once they were tattooed, prisoners were identified by the camp number on their forearms. At Birkenau, the corpses of deceased prisoners were laid in front of the housing blocks in such fashion that the prisoner's left hands and tattooed camp numbers were visible."

Source: Franciszek Piper, and Teresa Swiebocka, eds., Auschwitz: Nazi Death Camp
(Oswiecim: The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 1996), pp. 60-61.

A story worth listening to and watching....................

The story of Irene Hizmo and her twin brother Rene Slotkin
after being sent as 4 year olds to Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic and then
afterwards to Auschwitz in Poland, they were amongst the
approx 3000 Twins who were experimented on by Dr Joseph Mengele
of which only about 160 pairs of twins survived the end of the war .

Their story, during and after the war is a tremendous and sad history,
yet they did survive and did become united again in 1952 and did become married
and had children an grandchildren and must be a great inspiration for
all of us to keep surving with hope that life will improve.

A very moving story.

Watch the film : 'Rene & I '

Holocaust Memorial Day
HMD
(60 th Anniversary of the freeing of Aushwitz, 27 January 2005)
(60 th anniversary of the freeing of Dachau/Buchenwald, April 2005)
( 60 th Anniversary of the freeing of Bergen-Belsen, 15 April 2005)

World War ll
European Landmarks and
memorials of World War ll
(In fullscreen QTVR 360 degrees panoramas)
http://www.ww2panorama.org/

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New York City - 11 September 2001
The Twin Towers of The World Trade Center

11 September 2001

The Beslan 'School Number 1' Hostage Tragedy
North Ossetia, Russian Federation
September 2004
Beslan School Hostage Massacre

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The Dharfu Region of Sudan is becoming another example of
why The United Nations must take more direct action to ensure
the safety of people. It is not good enough to sit down talking
and making fact finding missions whilst ordinary people are being
terrorised , raped and murdered. The African Nations are also being
ineffective in their actions and should be taking more action to help.
Direct action is justified to help the many victims

Zimbabwe
It is about time that The Governments in Africa openly
condemned the disgraceful methods being used by Robert Mugabe .
It is clear to everyone that many people in Zimbabwe are deliberatly
being disadvantaged to prevent democracy flourishing there.

Guantanomo Bay
The USA must also abide by International laws and morality
and perhaps The Government would receive better understanding
by actually showing the world that it is. Whilst understanding the fears and
the reasons behind their actions, The USA must set a good example
and most importantly, must be seen to be doing so !

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Lebanon
The destruction of Lebanon by
the Israeli Military and Hizbollah
Both must take the resonsibility and blame for this .

Palestine/ Middle East
It is about time that the people stopped squabbling and started
working together. The whole Middle East area could develop a great
tourist industry which would assist in creating work and wealth creation
For the people to start to build a better life for everyone there - but until
there is stability this will never happen and the ordinary people will continue to suffer.

Afghanistan & Iraq
Afghanistan and Iraq have chances to establish genuine democratic systems
and to create better chances for their peoples. It is such a frustration
to see how the extremists are doing their best to prevent this from happening.
Why are they so scared of the ballot box and alloweing a free vote ?

North Korea
Perhaps it is time to allow Democracy to be invited into this closed country
Perhaps it is time to open these doors and allow the people there some choice.

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USA
USA is probably being very genuine in it's intentions regarding the 'War on Terror'
and it is fair to suggest that the motivation and the reasoning behind it is reasonable,
that I am symphathetic and understanding this situation is there too, however..................
I also strongly believe that USA must be clear in setting an example and must
be clear in being correct morally and ethically and must be seen to be clean at all levels.
Sadly this is not the case and this failure by USA is damaging to the cause of justice.

'Extraordinary Rendition' and the other methods that have and are still
being used are not acceptable from a Democratic country that should be
leading by good example. It does not mean that the bad guys need to be let off,
it just means that any innocent should be..............and that is certainly not possible
when using unacceptable practises. Fighting fire with fire will cause many
innocents to become entrapped, we should be above that by now.

The Middle East
The Middle East continues to blunder from one bad situation to anoyther ,
silly squabbles from all sides..............Perhaps it is time for a brave Isreal to
hold out a big olive leaf and it is time the others took it in good grace and started to
open doors and build rather than close doors and destroy.

Isreal seems to forget that it must be fair and reasonable as now the Holocaust is
becoming a lame excuse for much that is happening today. The Palestininan situation
should be resolved and the Arabic lands must unite with Isreal to build a new peaceful
region and concentrate developing a tourist Industry rather than a war industry.

Africa and the Third World
Give aid to those at the bottom and assist them in what they want,
do not allow corrupt Governments and middle men a chance to lot our aid
Providing clean drinking water to a remote village directly is more constructive.

The Catholic Church
Perhaps the Catholic Church could condemn those who have sex
out of marriage but recommend that if they do behave in a 'sinful' way
that at least they should use some 'protection'.
Being practical and realistic is still possible whilst trying to preach perfection...........

Russia
Russia could become a good country opening up to a market economy and
still allowing Democracy to develop, why are these old Communists so scared ?
Something about some Communists being more equal than other Communists ?
Freedom of Speech is essential if Russia really wants to be a geat nation.
The West has taken it's eye of Russia because of George Bush 'forgetting ' about it.
We should be very strong with Russia and yet also attempt to help them.........
the carrot and the stick method.
But we have allowed Russia to regain too many muscles
( especially in energy resources and bad attitudes )
without significant progress to become more Democratic.

Iraq again........... 6 August 2007
How can the US lose almost 200,000 Guns in Iraq ?
Incompetence............................
I believe it was right to go into Iraq, although George Bush Senior should have
finished the job the first time round, but surely the incompetence of George Bush junior's
administration is outrageous. Donald Rumsfield and Dick Cheney should be thrown
into Guatanomo Bay as punishment for their disgraceful actions....and inactions.

Iran/Persia
It is to be hoped that the leader(s) of Iran will
understand during their visit to the United Nations in
New York that they are permited to speak freely .............
perhaps they could allow their citizens the same rights inside Iran.......................

Burma..............
Without doubt, it must be possible for the world community , in particular the United Nations
to inform any leader(s) that they must not just murder their citizens or anyone else's citizens without
the kbnowledge that they will be chargede with murder and brought before the Criminal courts.
Onl;y by this type of action will leaders of non democratic countries cease these monstrous activities.
It is beyond belief that hundreds and thousands of Buddhist monks campaigning with ordinary people
can just be arrested, beaten, locked up and probably secretly murdered and the international community
seems incapable of stopping or preventing or bringing to account those responsible.

Zinbabwe again
Those who have so often blamed the old Colonial powers for the the misery
in places such as we see in Africa, should now start to realise that there has
been much more disasters happening created by African against African
than eveerr happened during the Colonial period. The people in Zimbabwe
need our help, they need the help of the African Nations right now to get
there country and their live's back on course again. Mugabe should be
arrested by the International Community and placed on trial for his total disgraceful
way he has treated most of his people. It is a crime.

Focus on China.......
What a dilemma........
To attend the Olympics and hope to influence
or to Boycot as a protest ?
Certainly we must really make it clear to China
that they must reform and change and we must be prepared to make
sacrifices to make that point, we should reward them for making
improvements and punish them if they do not.
Perhaps we should attend but still make it clear what we expect them to do
as sporting contacts are usually a good way to open the door,
however I suspect there will not be any significant changes in
China regarding human rights and Tibet until a new generation
of leaders comes through.

Zimbabwe again
It is very clear where the problem (s) rest in Zimbabwe
To still not release election results 3 weeks after it took place is blatently wrong
To have a ship loaded with guns and ammunition trying to unload and
be sent into the country highlights the sheer hypocrisy of the leadership there -
That the South African leader is so weak in influencing a better
attitude throughout Africa is also highlighted once again !
AND Why is China selling arms to Zimbabwe anyway ???

Dharfu Region again
The terrible admission that the number of those killed in this region is
probably double the previous estimate is demonstrating how disgrafeful
most African Governments are not taking proper action in their own region.
Something tells me that even if Colonial rule was not perfect,
it was probably much better for most Africans than they have
seen in the years afterwards !!!!

The World Economy 1945 -2008
One of the biggest problems is that The West has created economic
growth by population expansion through immigration . But we should have
helped more peoples in their own countries and achieved economic
growth from economic achievements rather than by immigration increases.
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One of the famous lines that Sir Winston Churchill used in praise of the
brave British, Commonwealth, Polish and other Pilots who had successfully
defended the skies of Britain against the German air attacks in the summer of
1940 was : ''Never was so much owed by so many to so few''

Today we can look back and change his wonderful words and perhaps say :
''Never was so much harm done by so few to so many''
I am sure that none can be in doubt at the evil of those who
are responsible and must take the blame for these type of events.

It is our job to stop and prevent these
things from happening again in the future !

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The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has
responsibilty for about 1,694,829 war graves and
memorials, in 23,000 cemeteries, in 148 countries
The Commonwealth War Graves commission

( Doctors Without Borders )
Is an independant Humanitarian medical aid agency
committed to two objectives : Providing medical aid
wherever needed, regardless of race, religion, politics, or sex
and raising awareness of the light of the people they help.
Medicin Sans Frontiers

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people
who campaign for internationally recognised human rights
Amnesty International

Interpol
Interpol exists to help create a safer world. Its aim
is to provide a unique range of essential services
for the law enforcement community to optimise
the International effort to combat crime.
Interpol

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It is not possible to mention all and every
Occasions of mass murder or extreme
suffering But I think there is enough here
so that we may ' Remember all of them'
And 'Never Again ' becomes a reality.

We all have an individual duty and responsibility
to guard Freedom and Democracy

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A study of English Daffodils at night

''Where there is life, there is hope''
''Out of Darkness Comes Light''

Yellow	Jew	A chart of prisoner markings. — KZ Gedenkstaette Dachau
Brown	Gypsy
Violet	Jehovah's Witness
Pink	Homosexual
Green	Habitual criminal
Red	Political prisoner
Black	Asocial
Blue	Emigrant