"Year Zero" by Ian Buruma (2013)

What a book! Author Ian Buruma; whose father was a German soldier; has written a book about the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and how man’s inhumanity to man continued in the wake of the worst conflict the world has ever known. At times he even draws upon the writings of prominent German, French and Japanese authors such as Nagai Kafu and Benoite Groult to augment his narrative about post war life in the defeated countries. In doing so, he has painted a searing portrait of mankind at its worst.

As soon as the guns ceased their firing people were looking for retribution against their former tormentors; be they Nazi’s, Japanese or Russian military; all were targets of the wrath of the millions who had been crushed under the heels of fascism, or been kicked by the boots of communism. There was no middle ground, and without a doubt these retributions were long overdue.

The point of this book is, I believe, to show how inhumanity can take so many different forms. How else to explain what happened in Poland after the war, when the Polish people continued killing Jews, sometimes just to prevent them from reclaiming their homes.  With a twisted zeal the Poles went after the surviving Jews for being Communists, being Fascists, and just for being Jews. After all, hadn’t they caused this war?

In Germany, the Russians were embarked upon an orgy of rape and violence not unlike the Japanese Rape of Nanking in the 1930’s. In just about every other liberated country the scene was the same, as the newly freed turned on the people who had collaborated with the enemy.

The disparity between the Nuremburg trials and the Japanese war crime trials in the Philippines is astounding. While we executed General Yamashita for the Massacre at Manila and the Bataan Death March; events he was not even present for; we let Lt. Gen. Masaji and his assistant, Lt. Gen. Shiro; go free. These 2 men were amongst the most monstrous of the Japanese war criminals, having conducted brutal “medical” experiments on POW’s and civilians alike. Through the efforts of General Willoughby the United States took the position that these experiments were important enough to keep from the Soviets, and so they were spared. Shiro died peacefully in 1959 while Masaji went on to found Green Cross, the largest blood bank in Japan.

Sexual activity was a big part of the end of the war. It was not only an expression of relief by the people who had endured long separations from loved ones; but also an economy unto itself. In Japan the women who “worked the trade” were known as Pan Pan Girls, and they were the object of resentment by their own countrymen. The reason is primal; what could be worse than losing a war and having the conqueror take your women? It was the same in Germany with the “Ruinenmauschen”, or “mice in the ruins”, who actively sought the company of Allied soldiers in order to obtain the material goods attendant to such a relationship.

One of the most emotional points of this book comes when Bergen-Belzen is liberated. Through a typical Army supply line screw up, cases of lipstick are delivered to the survivors in place of the earnestly needed food and medical supplies. The women; some still too weak to stand; were delighted and began immediately to make an attempt to alter their grotesque appearances. The medical officer in charge stated that the lipstick just might have given these women the little boost they needed to begin reclaiming their former identities. This moved me to tears.

No matter how you slice it, war is hell. And, we never really focus on anything past the joy brought about by the end of hostilities. We all know about the Berlin Airlift and the Marshall Plan. We all know that there was great deprivation in both Europe and Asia after the war was over. But this is the first book I have read which focuses entirely on the year 1945 and the conditions resulting from the end of the war.

For a good follow up to this book I recommend viewing the film “Germany, Year Zero”, which the author mentions and obviously influenced his work. Directed by Roberto Rossellini and released in 1948, this film follows a young German boy as he attempts to navigate life in his war torn country. Having been born and raised in the United States, books and films like these are important reminders of just how lucky we have been for so long.

"Stalag 17" with William Holden, Otto Preminger

This is a film that I associate with Christmas. It's not the warm and fuzzy type of Christmas movie you would normally expect. While I enjoy those types of films, and will be reviewing some of the classic ones as we near the holiday, I prefer the more unusual Christmas movies, the ones which explore the human condition more than the tinsel on the tree.

In this film the entire story takes place around the time of the holidays, only this time in a German POW Camp, Stalag 17. The time is less than 2 weeks before Christmas of 1944. In this 1953 film directed by Billy Wilder, fellow Director Otto Preminger plays Commandant Klink of Stalag 17, a POW Camp located somewhere in Germany. He is pure Nazi, right to the bone. They couldn't have picked a better actor. The film is based entirely upon the Broadway play of the same name, in which Robert Strauss and Harvey Lembeck, who play the roles of Harry Shapiro and "Animal", appeared. They are both excellent in this screen adaptation.

Someone in the barracks at Stalag 17 is a stoolie. Several men have already died attempting escapes. No one knows who it is, but everyone suspects it to be Sgt. Sefton, played by William Holden, a shrewd black market trader who has fresh eggs for breakfast while his fellow prisoners subsist on gruel. He is not very well liked. He flouts his wealth, mocking the others as "saps."

Overseeing the entire barracks is Sgt. Schultz, (if you're thinking of "Hogan's Hero's", forget it. In this film, Klink and Schultz are both real Nazi's, with no shred of honor, or humor. This is a drama.) He is a cruel and calculating man who masquerades as the men's "friend", but his real purposes are sinister and without merit.

When the men in the barracks gang up on Sefton, and beat him, thinking he is the stoolie, they set off a chain of events which leads to the discovery of the real mole, on Christmas Eve, just in time for a planned escape by several of the prisoners. With the holiday only hours away, someone is about to pay for those who have died, while others are on their way to freedom.

A real surprise twist at the end makes this an excellent film at any time of the year. But now, as Christmas approaches,, the film is somehow more poignant, as we watch these men struggle with their burdens, each one bearing their individual cross, during a time of year which normally holds joy for most.

This film won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in 1954 for William Holden, who initially refused the part. In addition it also won Nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Robert Strauss, as well as a Nomination for Best Director for Billy Wilder. If you've never seen this one, check it out. Here is a clip from one of the lighter moments in the film;

"Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry?" by Joseph Bau

If you are familiar with the film "Schindler's List", then you will remember the scene where a Jewish man and woman are married in the concentration camp at Plaszow. They used a silver spoon to fashion their wedding rings. A deathhouse bunk served as their wedding bed. Joseph Bau was a graphic artist and draftsman, Rebecca was the manicurist for the camps Commandant. Some viewers naturally thought that this scene was fictionalized. But every bit of that scene is true. And more remarkably, the couple were re-united at the end of the war. And they even managed to live happily ever after.

In this mesmerizing book, Joseph Bau tells the story of how he survived before the concentration camp. Roaming the streets without proper identity cards, and with no place to live, he and his brother are forced to live like homeless persons, walking the streets by day to keep warm, and sleeping wherever they can at night. Then came the ghetto. The stories of the Jewish fighters there, as well as the eventual destruction of the ghetto, are unforgettable.

The daily struggle against arbitrary Nazi brutality is well known, but the sheer inhumanity of it all grows with each telling. Life in the ghetto was hard, but some of the hardest days were yet to come, as the family is eventually transported to the the camp at Plaszow.

Arriving at the camp, two things happen that will alter the authors life forever. After witnessing the execution of his father, and in the midst of death all about him, he fell in love with a woman who would become his wife in this hell, and remain so, afterward in Israel. Their marriage would last 53 years. By coincidence, they were married on Valentine's Day, although at the time they were unaware of this.

Joseph Bau was spared by virtue of his talents as a draftsman and artist. He drew signs and maps for the Germans. This is how he met Rebecca. He was outside the construction office, attempting to make a "sun print", which is a reproduction of a drawing, made by using light sensitive paper and the heat of the sun, much as in early photography. It was a cloudy day, both in the weather, as well as his soul. Failure to complete his task meant the possibility of death at the hands of his supervisor. As he stood there, waiting for the sun to do it's work, a pretty girl asked him, "What are you trying to do?" He replied, "I'm waiting for the reluctant sun to come out. Could you, perhaps, take its place?" She ran away in embarassment.

He began to visit her daily before roll call, shining her shoes with a rag, bringing her hot water in the mornings. This was accomplished with the help of a simple disquise, a white kerchief. In the camps, men and women were almost indistinguishable, except for one thing; the white kerchief. The men used a cap to cover their baldness, while the women used a white kerchief to cover their shaven heads. Joseph used a white kerchief as a pass to the womens quarters.

Trading 4 loaves of bread for a silver spoon was hard enough, but getting 4 more for the camp's jeweler to fashion the spoon into rings was equally difficult. But it was done, and the couple was married, by the side of Joseph's mother's bunk. He then snuck himself into Rebecca's hut and climbed into her bunk, on the top tier, to consumate their marriage. This was not to be - as the camp was kept lit all that night while the Germans searched for men hiding in the women's barracks. Although Joseph remained undetected, 2 other men were discovered and beaten to death that night.

The book recounts how Rebecca managed to get Joseph on Schindler's "list", an action that would save his life. Eventually the couple was seperated and then re-united after the war. They raised a family in Israel, and Joseph became Israel's first animator, as well as an acclaimed author, artist and sometime poet.

The book is filled with some of Joseph Bau's sketches and poems. The series of events, which the author rightfully refers to as "miracles", all serve to illustrate the apparent randomness of life, while at the same time acknowledging that there may be forces greater than our own, which guide our actions, as well as our destinies.

Explaining Turkey - The Buffer to Islam

Turkey is an enigma, ruled by an elected President, whom in turn is overseen by a Secular Military tasked with upholding a Secular Constitution in an overwhelmingly Islamic country. That Turkey has recently, in 2007, elected an Islamic government, has made this all the more miraculous. That is until last week, when the military resigned in the face of a growing Islamist government. First, as I like to say, a little background....

Turkey, at the end of the First World War, was struggling to recover from her near destruction as the seat of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the war Turkey had already fought the Italian-Turkish War (1911–1912), the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), and the resultant First World War (1914–1918). T.E. Lawrence, popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, had sided with the Turks in their fight against the Axis powers, advocating for a strong and unified Turkey.

The Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922) was born of the ethnic struggles between the differing tribes of Islamics. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the leader and first President of the new Republic. His vision was to bring Turkey into the 20th century by ending the tribal warfare which had plagued Turkey since the birth of Islam. In order to do this he had to outlaw both the Fez, and the Veil, two of Islam's most iconic images. His goal is best stated in this quote from a 1923 speech in which he outlined this vision, “ ...by complete independence, we mean of course complete economic, financial, juridical, military, cultural independence and freedom in all matters. Being deprived of independence in any of these is equivalent to the nation and country being deprived of all its independence.”

Turkey’s road has not been an easy one. Since the founding of the Turkish Government in 1923, she has been continually plagued by sectarian fighting and terrorism. That Turkey has survived in the Middle East, sandwiched, as it is, between the Soviet Union and the West, is somewhat of a miracle. That she has survived internal divisions is unbelievable. But there is a reason that she has weathered the storms. And that reason is often hard for Americans to understand.

We, in the West, take for granted the freedoms which we enjoy. Our military is limited to strategic goals defined by our elected officials. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. We argue amongst ourselves, and we even come close to the edge of destroying our own democracy, but we always seem to step back at the last moment, allowing reason to prevail. Currently, we are struggling with a fervent religious movement which would bring religion into our government, in spite of the tenets of our Constitution. Here is where a good look at Turkey can offer a lesson in regards to safeguarding our secular freedoms.

The Turkish military is today facing the largest crisis since the formation of the government almost 90 years ago. In the last Presidential election, in 2007, the people elected a Pro-Islamic candidate as President. When the time came to swear the new President into office, the military was conspicuously absent from the proceedings. And with good reason. Let me give you an example, which I witnessed first-hand during my travels in Turkey between 1978 and 1984.

When I first visited Turkey in 1978, the country was in turmoil. Islamic insurgents, seeking to topple the duly elected government, were doing what they do best. There were daily bombings and shootings in the streets. These battles were fought not only with the government, but with the competing tribes vying for control of the country, who would gladly take Turkey back to the days preceding formation of the Government. When the people went to the polls and elected an Islamic candidate as President, the military simply took over, as mandated by their Constitution, until such time as the people were willing, and able, to elect a responsible secular leader. At the time I remember thinking what a load of crap this was. There was no way in which the military would ever give the reins of governance back to the people. Boy was I wrong.

By 1983 the people had united behind a secular candidate and the military held elections. The Secular candidate prevailed and the military returned control of the country to the Turkish people. I was there. I was astonished.

By 2007 the electorate voted for Abdullah Gul as a candidate for president. However, Turkey's secular establishment considered Gül as having a hidden Islamist agenda that sought to undermine the strict separation of religion and state, and they opposed his nomination. The Grand National Assembly – the body politic that at the time chose Turkey's president – much like our Electoral College system, allowed Gül to take office. That vote was annulled by the courts on Constitutional grounds, Gul had not received the required 2/3 majority of the Grand National Assembly. A major political crisis ensued, and new laws were enacted to have the President elected by popular vote every 5 years, beginning in 2012. Thus, the President’s term would be reduced to 5 years, rather than the 7 year term which had been the norm.

By March of 2008, Turkey's chief prosecutor petitioned the Constitutional Court to ban the Justice and Development Party (Gul’s party) for "anti-secular activities.” This came on the heels of parliamentary approval for a constitutional amendment which would allow women to wear headscarves at universities. Although the Constitutional Court later ruled that the scarf reform violated the constitution's secular principles, the Court narrowly upheld the amendment.

What all this amounts to is Turkey’s slide back into an Islamic state, and the restoration of the Ottoman Empire. Last Friday the top Commanders of the Turkish military resigned en masse. This was the result of a disagreement with the Government over military promotions and some corruption trials, which are ongoing. At first glance this looks like an ordinary legal case, but the roots run much deeper than that. They strike at the heart of modern Turkey, which has, in recent years, once again been struggling against Turkish Islamists, notably in the Southern part of the Country, with the Kurds, who are supportive of an Islamic state. This is the same tribe which was a problem to Iraq’s military government under Hussein, which we toppled in an ill-advised war in 2003.

The real fear for Turkey, at this juncture, is the question of whether or not the military will allow the country to slide backwards into an Islamic state. As the land-bridge straddling the East and West, this is of extreme importance to America, as well as Western Europe. Having toppled the regime in Iraq, replacing it with an ineffective government, at a time when Egypt also seems to be sliding in that direction, an Islamist Turkey would virtually restore, intact, the Ottoman Empire which was so carefully taken apart as a result of the First World War. This bodes ill for the West. Turkey has served us well for almost 90 years, acting as the buffer between the East and West. Keep your eyes on this situation, as the outcome will affect us greatly in the years to come.

Kilroy Was Here - An American Christmas Story

This symbol, and saying, have been a part of the American vocabulary since World War Two. And the story behind it is not often told. In a way, it involves Christmas, so I figured this was a good time to tell the story behind the words "Kilroy Was Here."

During the Second World War, when the United States was turning out ships and planes at a rapid rate, "checkers" were required to make the rounds of the shipyards and factories, inspecting the work. When they were done they placed a mark, with chalk, on the item to show that it had passed inspection. The appropriate riveter/welder would then get credit for the work, and hence, paid accordingly.

Soldiers began to see these marks, along with the words "Kilroy Was Here", wherever they went during the war. Wherever they went, they assumed they were the first, only to be greeted by the words that had become a slogan. There were now several Kilroys from coast to coast. But only one was the original. There was even a joke circulating about at the time of the Potsdam Conference. It was alleged that an outhouse had been built for the exclusive use of Truman, Stalin, and Churchill. The first person to use it was Stalin. When he finished and came out he asked his aide, "Who is this Kilroy?"

At any rate, fast forward a bit to the end of 1946. The Second World War was over and the shipyards were shuttered. James Kilroy was facing a bleak Christmas, with no toys for the kids. That's when he first heard of the search for the real Kilroy!

This photo, from the Boston American, dated December 23, 1946 shows the family with the trolley in their front yard. But the whole story really involves how it almost didn't make it on time.

The Transit Company of America had held the contest, offering as a prize, a real trolley car to the individual who could prove that they were the "real" Kilroy. Of the forty odd men who made that claim, only James Kilroy was able to produce officials from the shipyard, and even some of his fellow riveters, to prove his claim. Having won the prize, he now had to get it home! And there was a blizzard coming!

But, with the help of the Transit Company of America, and a local railroad spur, along with a truck and a crane, the trolley was delivered on time, where it served many years as a playhouse for James Kilroy's children. It was a Christmas they would never forget. And that, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope your day is filled with miracles!

Pearl Harbor

I know I did this last year, and I try not to replicate too much, but this was such a tremendous event in the lives of our parents, that it became a huge part of my own upbringing. The stories of the war, and the blackouts, are something I think about every day. Actually, the first thing I thought about after the attacks of 9/11 was, "Why aren't we going on rations?"

The Second World War grew out of an Isolationist policy on the part of the United States after World War One, as well as the inequities in the Treaty of Versailles. And every year I keep wondering when we will ever begin to learn from our past? When will we ever stop repeating the mistakes of both Isolationism and Appeasement? I have no answers...

Anyway, here's a photo of the USS Shaw, DD-373, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, just after the first wave. Remember as you look at this photo that there are people trapped inside the ship and dying. The ship was repaired early in 1942 and served at sea for the remainder of the war. It's one of a larger, remarkable set of photos that were e-mailed to me a couple of years ago from a shipmate on the USS Milwaukee Googlegroup, of which I am a proud member. If you'd like a set of these photos, just e-mail me and I will zap them right over. There's about 12 in all. Many are quite similar to the ones circulating today on the Internet, although from slightly different angles. They appear to have been taken with a Speed Graphic camera, the preferred tool of news photographers at the time.

To the few who served that day and are still with us - thank you. And to the many who are gone - you are never forgotten.

"Stalag 17" with William Holden and Otto Preminger

This is another film that I associate with Christmas. The whole story, once again, as in "The Thin Man", takes place around the time of the holidays, only this time in a German POW Camp, Stalag 17. The time is 2 weeks before Christmas of 1944. In this 1953 film directed by Billy Wilder, fellow Director Otto Preminger plays Commandant Klink of Stalag 17, a POW Camp located somewhere in Germany. He is pure Nazi, right to the bone. They couldn't have picked a better actor. The film is based entirely upon the Broadway play of the same name, in which Robert Strauss and Harvey Lembeck, who play the roles of Harry Shapiro and "Animal", appeared. They are both excellent in this screen adaptation.

Someone in the barracks at Stalag 17 is a stoolie. Several men have already died attempting escapes. No one knows who it is, but everyone suspects it to be Sgt. Sefton, played by William Holden, a shrewd black market trader who has fresh eggs for breakfast while his fellow prisoners subsist on gruel. He is not very well liked. He flouts his wealth and mocks the others as "saps."

Overseeing the entire barracks is Sgt. Schultz, (if you're thinking of "Hogan's Hero's", forget it. In this film, Klink and Schultz are both real Nazi's, with no shred of honor, or humor. This is a drama.) He is a cruel and calculating man who masquerades as the men's "friend", but his real purposes are sinister and without merit.

Here is the set-up to the film, once again, courtesy of youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hExHLM2raJA&feature=related

When the men in the barracks gang up on Sefton, and beat him, thinking he is the stoolie, they set off a chain of events which leads to the discovery of the real mole, on Christmas Eve, just in time for a planned escape by several of the prisoners. With the holiday only hours away, someone is about to pay for those who have died, while others are on their way to freedom.

A real surprise twist at the end makes this an excellent film at any time of the year. But now, as Christmas approaches,, the film is somehow more poignant, as we watch these men struggle with their burdens, during a time of year which normally holds joy for most.

This film won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in 1954 for William Holden, who initially refused the part. In addition it also won Nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Robert Strauss, as well as a Nomination for Best Director for Billy Wilder. If you've never seen this one, check it out.

"Shanghai Diary" by Ursula Bacon

This is, quite simply, the most unusual account of the Holocaust ever penned by one of it's survivors. Though never a victim of the concentration camps, the author's story is yet another chapter in the long list of lives uprooted and forever changed by the war. Only, this story is a bit different. Beginning with the authors luck at having been born into a solidly middle class, secular, German Jewish family, and being able leave Germany just in time, let alone being able to stay together and make a life for themselves in the least expected of places, this story is nothing short of a miracle.

The most striking thing about this memoir is that Ms. Bacon was about the same age as Anne Frank during the war. But that is where any similarities in their lives end. Ms. Bacon, as I have said, was born into a solidly middle class German Jewish family. They were secular in their approach to religion, and like many Jews here in America, they even celebrated Christmas. As Hitler's noose began to tighten, the family made plans to leave. But they waited too long, not believeing that any of Hitler's threats would come to pass. And so, in 1939, after having waited a little too long, they were finally allowed to leave, taking with them only the clothes on their backs. And from this point on, the book takes a remarkable turn.

It has not been widely written about, but there was a thriving Jewish refugee community in China, notably in Shanghai, during the Second World War. They numbered about 20,000 or so, and the story of how they came to be there is as remarkable as the lives they built for themselves while in Shanghai.

The author was an only child. Her father was a printer before all the madness began. Their lives were upper middle class, with the author having a nanny and a tutor. But all that changed when Hitler came to power in 1933, and with the increasingly hostile environment towards even secular Jews rising out of control, the family was forced into exile. They initially left home by rail for Breslau, where they boarded a train for Genoa. From there they caught a German ship to Shanghai, China. This would be their home throughout the war.

Speaking no Chinese, and even less English, her parents were somehow able to tap into the refugee community, where they receive their first "housing." In a disease ridden slum dwelling the family resolves, within days of landing there, that they can, and must, do better if they are to survive.

With the help of a Chinese acquaintance, Vati, the author's father, is able to go into the painting business, where he does quite well, employing several men and always keeping busy. He puts all his money in the bank, where it will be safe. Meantime, his wife, Mutti, begins to sew and hem garments, even taking in work from women who can't finish a sweater after they have begun. Before long she has quite a pile of American money, which she keeps in an old stocking of the author's. She makes enough money that she eventually needs two stockings. Though the family teases her about her mistrust of banks, her decision proves to be a wise one when all the banks in Shanghai fail after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.

While all of this adult drama is going on, the author, who is 10 when the book begins, is growing up; and writing it all down in the 4 diaries which were given to her as gifts when the family left Germany. The diaries cover the years 1939- 1947, when the author was between the ages of about 9 and 17. Ms. Bacon, who was already studying English and French while in Europe, speaks English well enough to give lessons to the 3 "sisters" of General Yi, a local warlord who was fighting to retain control of his fiefdom, while at the same time attempting to repel the Japanese. The "sisters" were really concubines, and they taught the author many things that she probably shouldn't have known. And to keep up her education, her parents sent her to the best school available, a Catholic School. I told you this was an unusual book!

The family did have problems though, particularly in the last years of the war, when provisions became increasingly hard to come by. The Japanese were also a constant threat as they waged war in China. For some obscure reason, perhaps dating back to the Sino-Russian War of 1900, the Japanese never really went out of their way to signal out Jews for extermination. Perhaps they were just too busy killing everyone, to signal out any one group. But somehow the family escaped most of the ravages of the war, finally emigrating to the United States in 1947.

This book is a delightful surprise, concerning a usually dismal subject, but it carries a lesson. We make our own circumstances, at least to some extent. We are victims only to the depths to which we allow ourselves to be driven. This family was lucky in many regards, but still, they had to find a way to avoid falling into that despair which often accompanies the loss of home, friends and family, never to return to the place in which you were born. A very unusual book about a very unusual time and place, no picture of the Holocaust can be complete without this unique history.

"The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler" with Anna Paquin and Marcia Gay Harden

Not since "Schindler's List" has a film dealt with the Holocaust, in particular the Warsaw Ghetto, in such a moving and realistic manner.

This story is true, taken from the book "The Mother of the Holocaust Children" by Anna Mieszkowska. It is the stuff of fiction, only this is real. A social worker in Warsaw, outside of the Ghetto, working under the noses of the Nazi's, smuggled out 2,500 Jewish children before the final destruction of the Ghetto.

Utilizing various means, including wheelbarrows, Ms. Sendler is able to place these children with Christian families, who will raise them until the end of "the madness." As an employee of the Warsaw Social Services, Ms. Sendler had unlimited access to the Ghetto in Warsaw. When rations in the Ghetto are slashed to 300 calories per day, per person, she recruits all of her fellow co-workers into a scheme to smuggle food into the Ghetto. When she decides to rescue the daughter of a friend, an idea is born.

Eventually suspected and then arrested, she is subjected to brutality and torture in an effort to locate the children she has smuggled out. These names have been carefully recorded along with the names of the families who took the children in. This information is kept in a Mason jar and hidden. The penalty for all parties to this crime is execution. No trial, just execution.

When Ms. Sendler is about to be executed, along with her co-workers, she is spared at the last minute and sent off on her own to hide. One of the men involved in the plot to save the children has her taken away from Warsaw and hidden. Before she goes into hiding she passes the jar along so that the children can be returned to their families.

The most moving part of the film comes at the end when Ms. Sendler, who passed away in 2007, is shown on camera commenting on the importance of returning these children to their families. She delivers, in Polish, the most beautiful statement about the pain of both sets of mothers. The birth mothers who were seperated from their chidren, some forever, as well as the Christian Mothers who raised these children for almost 5 years and then had to return them to their rightful families, both suffered enormously. And both groups displayed extraordinary courage.

A powerfully written and directed film, this story, much like "Schindler's List", is the story of human beings at their best, even in the midst of the worst. A stunning film.

"A Measureless Peril" by Richard Snow

This book kind of ties in with the last one. I read them concurrently and was surprised at how many of the principals of the Second World War had played a large part in the First World War.

After the stunning German Naval Victory at Jutland in 1916, the German Navy did very little. It remained bottled up and neglected, until the point where crews were staging mutinies to avoid going back to sea. As a common soldier, Hitler detested the Navy, and as a Submariner so did German Admiral Donetz. He considered the U-boats to be independent of the Navy. When Hitler made him Admiral,he concentrated on the U-boats to the exclusion of the surface ships.In doing so, he effectively cut the German supply line to the outside world. That they made this mistake two wars in a row, and only 20 years apart, by neglecting their navy is astonishing.

The book chronicles the war in the Atlantic from January 1942 through 1944. Much of the action takes place off Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York where I grew up. No doubt this added to the allure of the book for me. I grew up on stories of ships exploding within sight of the beach and the U-boats that sank them. These stories, no doubt, fueled my desire to go to sea later in life.

It is also the story of the 5 individual U-boats that were doing all this damage 5 miles from our shore. The deprivation, the close quarters, all are written of here in detail, but with a writer's flair for the colorful thrown in. In addition the author manages to encompass the oft untold tale of the more than 40,000 Merchant Mariners who gave their lives transporting the goods of war to the European theater of operations. Without them we could not have won the war.

At the same time, the author is able to give us the history of the Lend lease Act and tell us how President Roosevelt, on the advice of Admiral Stark, met with Churchill and worked it all out. We would begin supplying the British, reducing our status as a "neutral" nation. As a consequence of this, the Germans would henceforth start sinking American merchant vessels. The last one before Pearl Harbor was the Rubeun James, in November of 1941. Woody Guthrie, a merchant seaman himself, wrote the famous song about the sinking, titled "Sinking of the Ruben James."

As if all this is not enough, the book is also about the birth of the modern anti-submarine technology that helped America win the Cold War over 40 years later. New weapons and ships needed to be designed, and built quickly in order for us to not lose control of the Atlantic for the re-supply of our troops. To do so would have brought the war to our shores, with longstanding consequences.

As a former member of the US Navy, and as a licensed Merchant Mariner, I can heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in either the sea, or history. It is obvious that I enjoyed this book.

"Daring Young Men" by Richard Reeves

The Berlin Airlift was one of the most heroic and campassionate undertakings in the history of mankind. If you are unfamiliar with this great episode, then this book is a wonderful place to start. Mr. Reeves has, as usual, bought history to life in this tale of the chess game that took place between the United States and Russia in the summer of 1948.

Russia was essentially blockading Berlin in an effort to gain control of it. The Allies, led by the United States, were equally determined to keep at least half of Germany free and democratic. The story of what made the airlift necessary in the first place is carefully examined here.

The currency crisis, which came about when the German Reichsmark was replaced by the new currency, caused people to panic buy whatever was left on the shelves, whether it was edible or not wasn't the point. The fact that the money would be worthless made buying garbage an attractive proposal.

All of our seasoned combat troops had already been sent home, replaced by inexperienced 19 year olds who did not really want to be there. And the Russians knew this. They were counting on it. Truman was even advised by his Generals to abandon Berlin. His reply was a terse, "We are staying in Berlin. Period."

The resultant airlift had to feed 3 million people per day a diet of at least 1700 calories a day. How we did it is fascinating. Why we did it is inspiring today when we still have millions of peolple starving in portions of the world, even as we pay farmers to not grow food. Truman said something else that has always stuck with me, "The only thing new is the history you don't know." I wish the leaders of today's world would read this book.