GIST TALK

 Stutthof Concentration Camp guards. Stutthof concentration camp, 34 km. from Danzig, was the first concentration camp created by the Nazis outside Germany, in September 1939. From June 1944, Stutthof became a death camp as part of Hitler's programme of exterminating European Jews. It expanded rapidly over its five year life and had many satellite camps. This expansion required a commensurate increase in staff and local people with Nazi sympathies were recruited.  Altogether some 110,000 men, women and children were sent to Stutthof. It is estimated that as many as 65,000 of these were put to death in the gas chamber or by hanging or shooting, while many more died of disease and ill treatment. The camp was liberated by the Russians on May 10th, 1945 and the Commandant, Johann Pauls, and some of his staff were put on trial by the Polish Special Law Court at Danzig between April 25th and May 31st, 1946. All were represented by counsel. Eleven of the defendants, five women and six men

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Richard Miles McCool, Jr. of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions on June 10-11, 1945, off the coast of Okinawa. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, McCool was accepted into a new Navy ROTC program and later appointed to the Naval Academy.  He graduated in 1944 (his class of 1945 graduated a year early) and by June 1945 was serving as a lieutenant on the USS LCS(L)(3)-122 and Landing Craft Support ship.  On June 10, 1945, off the coast of Okinawa Island, McCool helped rescue the survivors of the sinking destroyer USS William D. Porter.  The next day, his ship was hit by a Japanese kamikaze. Although he suffered severe burns and shrapnel wounds in the explosion, he continued to lead his crew in the firefighting and rescue efforts until relief arrived. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on June 10-11, 1945. McCool also served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He retired at the rank of Captain in

Curtis and Catherine were two American siblings who were s£xu*ally abused by a family member before planning a way to escape through murder. They were 12 and 13 respectively. The duo lived with their father and his girlfriend in their Florida home. Another male relative who was a convicted sex offender also lived with them; he even shared a bed with Curtis. Catherine and his brother complained several times to their father about the abuse they were suffering at the hands of his male relative, but he and his girlfriend thought they were making things up. They decided to kill everyone in the family out of anger. On that fateful day in 1999, they shot their father's girlfriend, killing her with four bullets. They were arrested and charged as adults. They remain the youngest people in America to be charged as adults for first degree murder. They were cajoled into taking a plea deal for 18 years in prison. They accepted the deal and pled guilty to second-degree murder. The case was clos

  Blindfolded Russian POWs (possibly deserters) with their Austro-Hungarian captors in a trench on the Eastern Front, 1916. . Today 108 years ago, on July 3, 1916, the Russian Army launched the Baranovichi Offensive on the Eastern Front. . To support their Allies at Verdun and on the Somme, in April 1916, the Russians began planning for a major offensive in Galicia against the Austro-Hungarians - the Brusilov Offensive. . To support this operation and prevent Austro-Hungarian and German troops from being transferred to Galicia, the Russians planned another offensive further north in the Baranovichi area of modern-day Belarus. . This supportive operation were to be carried out by the Russian 4th Army under General Ragoza, who was under the general command of General Evert. However, from the beginning General Evert was against this operation, favoring a defensive approach. . On June 4, 1916, General Brusilov launched his offensive in Galicia and broke through the Austrian lines, capturin

Hannah Senesh – an SOE war hero. 23 year old Hannah Szenes (Angicised spelling Senesh) was born in Budapest, Hungary on the 17th of July 1921, into a middle-class and well-educated Jewish family. She was a good student and wanted to become a poet and writer. In 1938, the Nazi persecution of Jews was underway and Hungary sided with Germany.  Rumours were rife that Germany would invade Palestine.  Hannah volunteered to serve in the Jewish underground army and wanted to help Jews escape from Europe.  She became a Zionist and moved to British Mandate Palestine in 1939.  Here she joined a Jewish commando group that was set up to assist British operations in Europe.  In March 1944, Hannah was parachuted by the British Special Operation Executive into Yugoslavia near the Hungarian border with 36 other resistance fighters. Their mission was to save Jews and Allied airmen but before she had a chance to achieve anything, she was captured at the border by Hungarian police in possession of a Briti

  Today 107 years ago, on July 1, 1917, Russia launched its last offensive of the First World War in the Kerensky Offensive on the Eastern Front.  .  After millions of losses, shortages of everything and the February Revolution, the morale and discipline in the Russian Army was rock bottom. Following a trip to the frontlines, newly appointed Russian Minister of War Kerensky concluded the Russian soldiers needed inspiration; a boost of morale; a successful offensive. .  An attack against the Austrians in Galicia was planned, with the city of Lemberg as the objective. 4 Russian Armies would attack 3 Austro-Hungarian Armies along a 200 km front. The Russian offensive would be spearheaded by their newly formed "Kornilov Shock Battalions". One of these units was the famous Women's Battalion of Death, led by Maria Bochkareva. .  On June 29, 1917, the Russians began a bombardment on the Austro-Hungarian trenches on a scale as big as the Brusilov Offensive of 1916. .  On July 1,

The secrets of Ukraine's shameful 'Holocaust of Bul*lets' kil*ling centre where 1.6million Jews were executed  Seventy years on from the end of the Second World War the full, shocking scale of the Nazi-inspired Holocaust in Ukraine is finally being revealed - thanks to pioneering work by a French Catholic priest to research the truth of the industrial-scale killing. Around 2,000 mass graves of Jewish victims have been located where men, women and children were shot and buried by the Germans and their collaborators But there maybe up to 6,000 more sites to uncover, with victims of this 'Holocaust of bullets' - so called because unlike in Poland and Germany where gas chambers were used as the means of slaughter - here most were summarily shot and buried nearby In many cases, the Jews were ordered to dig pits and then to strip n*ked before they were mown down by their murderers. Some were buried in the unmarked plots while still alive. Thanks for reading leave your th

The Worst And Terrible Story Of The Great Antonio Barichievich. Antonio Barichievich born Antonio Barichievich and better known as The Great Antonio, was a Croatian-Canadian strongman, professional wrestler, and a Montreal eccentric artist.  Barichievich was born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.  Nothing is known about his early life and family aside that according to biographers he started to do menial work by the age of six and could uproot trees by age 12.  During World War II, he spent time at the Bagnoli displaced persons camp.  He arrived as refugee in Canada in 1945, and established himself in Montreal, Quebec.  In the late 1940s, Barichievich made a name for himself with demonstrations of strength, and in 1952 he pulled a 433-tonne train 19.8 metres a feat featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. Moving forward Barichievich would tour making demonstrations of strength and wrestled professionally.  In 1960, he appeared for the second time in Guinness Book

The Heroic Story Of The U.S. Army Sergeant James Marion Logan of McNeil, Honoring Him For His Extraordinary Actions During WWII. U.S. Army Sergeant James Marion Logan of McNeil, Texas, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions on September 9, 1943, near Salerno, Italy. Logan joined the Texas National Guard from Luling, Texas, in 1936 at the age of 15. By September 9, 1943, he was serving as a sergeant in the 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.  On September 9, 1943, he participated in the Allied landings near Salerno, Italy and single-handedly captured a German machine gun emplacement and later killed an enemy sniper. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on July 5, 1944, for his actions on September 9, 1943. Logan reached the rank of technical sergeant before leaving the Army in March and then the National Guard in May 1945. He was awarded the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor on May 30, 1997. He died on October 9, 1999, and was buried at the Texas State Cem

George Levick Street III of Richmond, VA, a submariner in the U.S. Navy was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions off the coast of Korea on April 14, 1945. Street graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1937. In 1941, Street served in a fleet submarine, USS Gar, after graduating from the Submarine School. He then commanded the USS Tirante, patrolling waters south of Japan, the South China Sea, and the Yellow Sea and targeting shipping between Korea and Japan. With information derived from broken Japanese naval codes, Tirante was vectored to intercept a small convoy from Shanghai, bringing Japanese soldiers and sailors back to the homeland.  Street maneuvered into position for an ambush and fired six torpedoes at two ships, successfully sinking the Nikko Maru.  As the Japanese escorts turned to attack, Tirante countered with a homing torpedo at one of them, and although “breaking-up” noises were heard, the sinking was never confirmed after the war. Tirante had resume