"There is no way to describe your first coming to Auschwitz." - Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall

1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz. 1.1million were murdered. On January 27, 1945 this nightmare ended with the liberation of 7,000 prisoners by the Soviet Army. Auschwitz was not the only Nazi death camp but it was the largest and had the highest death rate. This January marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation and will probably be the last time survivors make the journey for an anniversary. 


Photo: time.com

Auschwitz is not only one camp, as many people might believe, but consisted of three main complexes and 45 satellite sites. The original was Auschwitz and then Auschwitz II–Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz. Birkenau was the death camp while Monowitz was the labor camp. In the first year of its existence Auschwitz, located in Southern Poland, was a camp for Polish political prisoners. But by 1941, large numbers of executions were taking place and it became the site of the Nazi "Final Solution" for the Jewish Question.

Photo: auschwits.nl

While these atrocities were occurring, word of them reached the Allied Powers, but the rumors were discounted due to the belief that it was propaganda. The horror of the camps was not fully known until the liberation, and even then the truth was not fully realized until after the war. In January 1945, as the Soviet Union Army approached Auschwitz, the Nazis evacuated Auschwitz: thousands were killed in the camp while many others died on the death marches from the camp. The prisoners who were left behind were liberated by the Soviet Union on what has become known as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Photo: vinyardsaker.co.nz

Today, we refer to the systematic extermination of the European Jews as a genocide. In 1945, genocide was not a term and the San Fransisco Conference of 1945 struggled to deal with horror of the Holocaust. In 1948 the United Nations declared genocide an international crime. This was later applied to the violence committed in Yugoslavia and in Rwanda in the 1990s.



Photo: legal.un.org

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." - Winston Churchill

50 years ago, January 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died at his home at age 90. To that date, the state funeral for Churchill was the largest ever held: representatives from 112 nations attended, as did the Queen of the United Kingdom.



Photo: dailymail.co.uk

Churchill served Great Britain as the prime minister during World War II and is considered to be one of the greatest leaders during a war in the 20th century. Prior to being elected prime minister, Churchill held a number of political positions as well as serving in the military. In World War I, he commanded the 6th battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front.

 
Photo: dailymail.co.uk

Between the wars, Churchill warned of the growing danger of Nazi Germany, but the country was not prepared for another war and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was more inclined towards appeasement to stave off another world war. During WWII, Churchill was steadfast and inspirational in refusing defeat, which helped to bolster British support and action. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in British history as well as the Greatest Briton of all time.

Photo: Hilary Grabowska (outside the British Embassy in Washington, DC)

Roe v. Wade

41 years ago, the Supreme Court made a decision on abortion in the case of Roe v. Wade. Despite the Court determining that a right of privacy extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion, this topic is still being heavily debated. Just before the anniversary, the Republican House of Representatives was on the path to passing a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy but the bill was dropped out of fear that women voters would be alienated. 



Photo: usnews.com

In 1821, Connecticut was the first state to criminalize abortion and by 1900, every state had legislation on abortion. In 1969, Norma McCorvey was pregnant with her third child and did not want to keep it, so she attempted to have a legal abortion by stating that she had been raped. In Texas law, abortions were legal in the case of rape and incest but, as there was no police report about the rape, she was denied a legal abortion. 




Photo: archive.thetowntalk.com

In 1970, her case was brought before the US District Court in Texas, in which she used the alias of Jane Roe. The defendant was Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, representing the state of Texas. McCorvey won the case because the state considered her decision a part of her right to privacy, which is protected by the 14th Amendment.
Photo: history.com

The case was appealed until it came before the Supreme Court. In his opening remarks, the defense, Jay Floyd, told what is called "The Worst Joke in Legal History." He said, "When a man argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they are going to have the last word." His joke was met with silence from the female lawyers of the opposition as well as Chief Justice Warren Burger.




Photo: cf.swem.wm.edu

After two rounds of arguments, on January 22, 1973 the Court decided 7-3 in favor of Roe. The decision made it clear that abortion was a fundamental right under the US Constitution. It also framed the issue as a physician's right to practice medicine freely and without influence by the state, rather than an issue of women's rights. Every year on the anniversary of the decision, protestors march to the Supreme Court. Some believe that the ruling goes too far while others believe that it is not enough.  



Photo: usnews.com



Photo: georgetowner.com

Monday Holidays

The third Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The federal holiday is meant to commemorate his life and his work for civil rights. The date was chosen because King was born on January 15th in 1929. 

Photo: seattletimes.com

Soon after his assasination in 1968, a holiday to honor him was proposed but it did not become a federal holiday until 1983, when President Ronald Reagan made it official. However, many states did not celebrate the holiday and instead called it something else or combined it with other holidays. Finally, in 2000, all 50 states observed Martin Luther King Day. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed legislation making MLK Day a day of service.

Photo: bostoncares.org

It was the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that determined when MLK Day would be. Congress passed that Act on June 28, 1968. Designating Mondays as federal holidays meant that three-day weekends were guaranteed for federal employees, but MLK Day is not considered a day off, but a day of volunteer service. 

J'accuse!

On January 13, 1898 the French newspaper L'Aurore printed on its front page an open letter from the writer Émile Zola to the French government, condemning the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus. The letter caused a stir among the public because it accused the French government of being anti-Semetic. 

Photo: collections.yadvashem.org

Dreyfus, of Jewish descent, was from the Alsace region bordering Germany in northeast France but when Germany took the province, he left for Paris where he joined the French Army. In 1894, he was an artillery captain and was accused of being a spy for Germany. 

Photo: forumuniversitaire.com

The evidence against Dreyfus was flimsy but he was convicted in a secret court martial, stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment in a penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana. While being publicly humiliated, the insignia cut from his uniform and his sword broken, Dreyfus cried out, "I swear that I am innocent. I remain worthy of serving in the Army. Long live France! Long live the Army!"

Photo: culturedchaos.wordpress.com

Eventually, after a campaign by his supporters, led by Émile Zola, a retrial and an appeal in 1906, Dreyfus was pardoned and made a Knight of the Legion of Honor, France's highest award for courage, honor and patriotism. Today, the phrase "J'accuse!" is used as an expression of outrage at the abuse of power and a condemnation of injustice. 

Photo: dreyfus.culture.fr

First Flight

December 11, 1943, President Franklin D Roosevelt became the first president to fly in an airplane. He was making his way from the United States to the city of Casablanca in French Morocco in order to plan the next stage of the Allies' war strategy against Nazi Germany. 

Photo: airspacemag.com

This was the first time that a President had flown. FDR had experience flying in a plane before, but he was not president at the time of that flight in 1932. The flight to Africa was a commercial flight that left from Miami and the pilots of the plane were not aware of who their passenger was until the President arrived. 

Photo: cecomhistory.armylive.dodlive.mil

Joining Roosevelt at the Casablanca Conference were British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud of Free France. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin declined to attend due to the German siege of Stalingrad. At the conference it was decided that the Allies would demand "unconditional surrender", meaning the Axis Powers would be fought to their total defeat with no cease-fire or truce.

Roosevelt had proposed using the provocative term and when asked what he meant by unconditional surrender, Roosevelt said, "We mean no harm to the common people of the Axis nations. But we do mean to impose punishment and retribution upon their guilty, barbaric leaders."

Photo: history place.com

"A great church for national purposes"

On January 6, 1893, the U.S. Congress passed a charter to erect an Episocpal Cathedral in Washington, DC. Construction began in September of 1907 and was completed in 1990. 

Photo: freedomoutpost.com

Pierre L'Enfant, the city's designer, set aside land for a "great church for national purposes" in 1792. However, the land he set aside for a national cathedral is now home to National Portrait Gallery. When Congress granted the charter it was so that a cathedral could be built in order to promote religion, learning and charity. 

Photo: bryanleister.com

During World War II, construction of the Neo-Gothic cathedral was put on hold, but the Bethlehem Chapel continued to hold services in the unfinished cathedral. When the war ended, the original architects had died and money was needed to continue construction. Congress has called the Washington National Cathedral 'The National House of Prayer" because during WWII it held services for a united people. Today it continues to host religious as well as secular events, and state funerals for three American Presidents have been held at the National Cathedral.

Photo: loc.gov

Stained glass commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Iwo Jima flag raising and the moon landing, with a fragment of lunar rock at its center. One grotesque (something like a gargoyle) is carved to look like Star Wars' Darth Vader.

Photo: photozok.com

Selma

January 2, 1965, the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) partnered up with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in order to register black voters. While SNCC had been working on this since 1963, there was a lot of resistance and the aid of Martin Luther King, Jr. and SCLC were needed. On the 2nd, the Selma Voting Rights Movement officially began. 

Photo: crmvet.org

Selma, Alabama was the county seat of Dallas County, which had a majority black population but less than 1% were registered to vote. When the Dallas County Voters League attempted to register the black citizens, state and local officials put an end to that through fear and literacy tests. Jim Crow reigned supreme in Dallas County, Alabama. 

 Photo: dailykos.com

The Mayor of Selma, Joe Smitherman was considered a moderate and was very concerned about the city's image. The Chief of Police was Wilson Baker, who desired to put an end to civil rights protests but in such a way that violence was not escalated, like Police Chief Laurie Pritchett had done in Albany, Georgia. The Dallas County Sheriff on the other hand, Jim Clark, commanded a posse of deputies who included Ku Klux Klan members and wished to violently enforce Jim Crow laws. 

Photo: lbjlibrary.org

January 2 was the beginning of a time of bloody violence in Selma, Alabama.