Reparate my ass
The other day I have been called a “toff”, “tax dodger”, “ass”, “whataboutery wanker”, “sociopath”, “revisionist”, “bigot”, “sordid”, “tendentious”, “arguer for wrong”, and a genocide apologist who deserves it happening …
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They were for it before they were against it
Another anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe came and went with the now usual disgruntlement bubbling between Russia and all the other participants. This year …
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Happy 1055th birthday Poland!
You might have had some rough times recently, but you don’t look a day older than a millennium. On the Holy Saturday, 14 April 966, Poland had officially entered the …
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On discovering a scandal in family history
One of my great regrets in life is not having interrogated my loved ones about their past and their family histories while they were still alive. Now the generation of …
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When Poland saved Europe
A hundred years ago this week, a series of biggest battles that Europe were to witness between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the beginning of …
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Who Won World War Two?
The commemorations and celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War were mooted this year. No obligatory parades or gathering took place at the time of …
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That time Poland was wearing a short skirt
The year wouldn’t go past without Vladimir Putin managing to again eschew any role in starting the Second World War and instead blaming Poland for getting invaded: Speaking at a …
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The Man in the High Kolkhoz
If you have Netflix (no chill necessary), there is a Polish series available, in fact the first Polish Netflix production ever, called “1983”. Yes, there is an element of play …
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Where were you when the walls came crashing down
It was a Thursday. I couldn’t remember but just checked it, thanks to the magic of the Internet – something that certainly did not exist in its current omnipresent form …
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Which witch is which?
An interesting Halloween-inspired graphic from “The Economist”* that sheds a lot of light on the history of European witch hunts: The key take-aways in my book: 1) Contrary to the …
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Before there was Trump, there was Joe McCarthy
I’ve been reading M Stanton Evans’s excellent and scholarly “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies” (published some 12 years ago) …
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The Fourth Partition
It’s 2019, so over the next few years we will commemorate a number of 80th anniversaries connected with the Second World War. British people will be reminded of their darkest …
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Unapologetic
How long must societies face penance for past sins? Individuals have it easy – there are either statutes of limitation or you die; either way, it’s over. Human societies, on …
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The two “what if”s of September 1939
Eighty years ago, Germany invaded Poland from the west, the north and the south, starting World War Two. Seventeen days later. the Soviet Union invaded from the east, completing the …
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Russia tries to normalise Ribbentrop-Molotov
The other day the world (mostly Eastern Europe and a few history buffs) remembered to 80th anniversary of the signing in Moscow of the infamous Ribbentrop-Molotov non-aggression pact between the …
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One such day
Seventy-five years ago, late afternoon on 1 August 1944, the biggest single act of resistance in the Nazi occupied Europe commenced in Warsaw. The Uprising was to last two month, …
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Happy 400 years of Solidarity, America!
Aurelia Pucinski, a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, remembers a little know incident of the early American history, whose anniversary we are celebrating today: Original records of the Jamestown …
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What Trotsky’s granddaughter said
In one of those cruel strokes of fate, all of Leon Trotsky’s four children predeceased him, even if many would not feel any compassion for one of the fathers of …
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Monte Cassino, great-grandfather and a bear
On May 18, the day Australia goes to the polls, on the other side of the world we will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of the bloodiest …
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White Knight Vs Black Knight: SJWs invade medieval Europe
Once in a while – actually, nowadays, on a daily basis – you read something that actually makes you dumber (hat tip: JK). This is one of these things: Each …
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