Tag: History

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Random Facts #6

  • D-Day meant the British, American, French, Dutch, Poles, and Norwegians and more than four thousand ships brought 156,000 troops to Europe’s shore to fight the Nazis.
  • Iceland consumes more Coca Cola than any other countries.
  • The military often uses ghost peppers in smoke bombs.
  • The “I’m king if the world” line from the movie, Titanic, was improvised.
  • Canada has more lakes than any other country.
  • The difference between a coffin and a casket is that a coffin is tapered and six-sided, and a casket is rectangular in shape.
  • Croissant were invented in Austria.
  • Sunflowers can help clean radioactive soil, and were used to clean up radioactive materials left by nuclear sites in the Ukraine, Japan, and Ohio.
  • Noppera-bō is a faceless yokai from Japanese mythology.
  • Iceland does not have a railway system.
  • The first jockey recorded to ever win a race after death was in 1923 when he suffered a fatal heart attack while riding.
  • The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters.
  • French fries are originally created in Belgium.
  • Germany borders 9 other countries.
  • Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor in the US.
  • There are more sheep in New Zealand Than people.(70 million sheep and 4 million people)
  • The smallest bird in the world is the “bee hummingbird”.
  • The yo yo use to be a weapon used for hunting.
  • Canada has a lot of doughnut shops.
  • It use to be illegal to slam you car door in Switzerland.
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History: Otto Frank

Otto Frank was a business man and the only survivor of the Secret Annex. He was born May 12, 1889 in the German Empire to Alice Betty and Michael Frank . Him being born in 1889 and being a survivor of the Holocaust means he lived through both WW1 and WW2. In his early life, during WW1, he served in the Imperial German Army. In August 1915, he was promoted lieutenant and served at the Battle of Cambrai. On the 12th of May, 1925, He married Edith Holländer and had two children. Their eldest daughter was Margot Frank and youngest was Anne Frank. When the Nazi’s and anti-Jewish decrees took hold of Germany, Otto moved his family to live with is mother-in-law in Aachen; then moved to Amsterdam. He attempted to get a visa for his family to the US or Cuba, but when war was declared it became impossible. Otto then decided to go into hiding with his family in July 6, 1942 after Margot received a notice to report to a labor camp. He lived in the Annex with 7 others for two years. They then were found in 1944 of August by the Nazi’s and in September Otto was separated from his family and sent to Auschwitz. During his time in Auschwitz wrote to his mother who was able to escape to Switzerland. January 27, 1945 the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by Soviet troops. By that time Otto was to near death and found himself in the sick barracks. He later learned of the death of his family, and that he was the only survivor. In 1945 Anne’s death was confirmed and her diary was given to Otto. He at first didn’t read it, but later was convinced to publish it. Although some thing in the diary was edited out; on June 25, 1947, the first edition of the book was issued in Dutch under the title “Het Achterhuis“. In 1905, he remarried and moved to Switzerland. Later he and Johannes Kleiman (one of the helpers) established the Anne Frank Foundation to save the building that once hid them, and turned it into a museum (opened 1960). Otto later died August 19, 1980 in Basel, Switzerland of lung cancer. He lived to be 91 years.

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Did You Know #4

Did you know that the Russian alphabet has 33 letters and is made up of letters from the Cyrillic script. The Cyrillic script is a writing system used across Eurasia, but more in Eastern Europe. It’s based on the 9th century AD, Early Cryllic alphabet by Preslav Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire. It also has influence in other alphabets of various languages. An example would be those of Orthodox Slavic origin, or languages influenced by the Russian. The Cryillic alphabet use to be based on the Greek uncial script, but went through heavy alterations in the early 1800s, by Peter the Great. As of 2007, Cyrillic became the third official script of the European Union; Greek and Latin being before it. Over 280 million people use this as their alphabet; half of them being Russian or of Russian descent.

Russian alphabet used today:

  • А – а
  • Б – b
  • В – v
  • Г- g
  • Д – d
  • Е – e / he
  • Ё – ë / yë
  • Ж – zu
  • З – z
  • И- i
  • Й – y
  • К – k
  • Л – l
  • И – m
  • Н -n
  • О – o
  • П – p
  • Р – r (rolled r)
  • С – s
  • Т – t
  • У – u
  • Ф – f
  • Х – h / kh
  • Ц – ts
  • Ч -ch
  • Ш – sh
  • Щ – shch
  • Ъ – “
  • Ы – y
  • Ь – ‘
  • Э – e
  • Ю – yu
  • Я – ya
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History: Margot Frank

Margot Frank was the oldest daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Holländer and had one sibling, Anne. She was born February 16, 1926, in Frankfurt, Germany. Margot, like her sister also had a diary she wrote in, but as since been missing. Before Adolf Hitler became chancellor, she originally went Ludwig-Richter School in the Frankfurt suburbs. After the rise of antisemitism in Germany, she and her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to escape. Before she had to go to a Jewish school, she went to an elementary in Amsterdam, where she got excellent academic results. In all, Margot Frank was said to be very clever and was respected, but she was also reserved, timid and obedient. She didn’t argue as much as Anne did, and had a better relationship with their mother. She was admired a bit by Anne for being clever and good looking, and was said to have wanted to be a midwife. On February 1945, Margot died of typhus and shock when she was 19. Her sister died soon after of the same causes. She was buried in a mass grave with her sister in an unknown location; however, a tombstone dedicated to both of them is in the former Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp in Germany. More on Margot Frank.

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History: Anne Frank

Anne Frank was one of 8 people that hide in The Secret Annex while Germany was under Nazi control. She was born in the 12th of June 1929, to Edith and Otto Frank. She was the original writer of “The Diary of a Young Girl”, also known as “The Diary of Anne Frank”. In this diary she wrote about what it was like being Jewish while living in Nazi occupied Amsterdam. She originally wrote in Dutch, but the Diary has since been translated into over 60 languages. In her early life, she showed talent in both reading and writing and was said to have written frequently; although she refused to disclose any information on what she was writing. Her sister, Margot Frank, show talent in arithmetic. Anne originally went to a Montessori school, while Margot went to public school. After the Nazi’s invaded the Netherlands, they both were forced to transfer to a Jewish Lyceum. In the end they both died in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp, due to an out break of Typhus and shock. Anne was 15 when she died. The camp later was burned to prevent spread of the illness, Anne and Margot were buried in a mass grave in an unknown location and there is a tombstone dedicated to them in the remains of the former camp. Interview with one of the helpers.

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History: Italo-Turkish War

The Italo-Turkish War was a fight between the Kingdom Italy and the Ottoman Empire. This war lasted from September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912. Before the war, the Italian wanted to gain territory in North Africa by taking Tripolitana and Cyrenaica from the Turkish. This cause a imbalance in the international Balance of power. The “Balance of power” refers to the international relations, posture and policies of a nation protecting itself from another nation by matching power. When the Italians declared war they started to quickly over take towns and villages. There were a few delays because of the Muslim population formed a resistance and stalemates were formed. The war remain a stalemate until the Italians launched a successful offensive attack in North Africa. This war also inspired the new Balkan states to threaten to go to war against the Ottoman Empire at the same time(the Balkan War). Now the Ottoman Empire was desperate for peace and with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1912 of October, the Turkish gave its rights over Tripoli and Cyrenaica to Italy.

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History: Gummy Bears

Gummy Bears are a colorful, fruit flavored, gelatin based candies sold in stores around the world. They are traditionally made from sugar, starch, flavoring, food coloring, citric acid, glucose syrup and gelatin. They originated in Germany by Hans Riegel Sr. in the 19th century. He started the company of Haribo in 1920 and created the gummy bears in 1922. The company started off well, but was greatly effected by the start of WW2. Unfortunately, Riegel died during the war and his two sons were captured by the Allied Forces; to be released later on. After all this, the company of Haribo continued to grow into the company seen today. Since the 1920’s the Haribo company has created other gummy products, such as the gummy worms and gummy rings; however the gummy bear will remain a main treat for all ages in Germany.

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History: Winter War

The winter war was a fight between the Soviet Union and Finland during WW2. It started the 30 of November 1939; only 3 month after WW2 started. It lasted three and a half months and ended 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty. The war started because the Soviets wanted Finnish territory in exchange for land elsewhere. However Finland refused and USSR invaded the country. There were many casualties during the war and at least 80,000 lost on both sides. After the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, Finland relinquished 11% of its territory. After, Finland was able to retain its Sovereignty and enhanced international reputation. Unfortunately, the bad performance of the Red Army, made Nazi leader Adolf Hitler think attacking them would be successful; also known as Operation Barbarossa. This failed and the USSR ended up joining the Allies in WW2.

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