Tag Archives: Nazis
What Would You Do?
When is something unforgivable? I’ve been pondering that in the wake of Canada’s latest political scandal. If you haven’t been following it, here’s a capsule: After an address to the House of Commons by the President of Ukraine on Friday, the Speaker introduced a visitor who was watching the proceedings, a constituent who had fought […]
Remembering
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. I wrote down some thoughts to share with you, but have decided to save them for a different day. Instead I’m reposting this one from April 2019. If you look closely, you can see two metal plaques placed among the cobblestones, memorials to two people who used to live […]
Degenerate Art?
You’ve probably said it yourself. “I may not know much about Art, but I know what I like.” I don’t spend much time in art galleries. I come away feeling I haven’t gotten as much out of them as I should. Do you ever feel that way? As if the art experts are part of […]
Voice of Tolerance
Sometimes there are little surprises. Ties to history you didn’t realize were there. I was walking along the main street of my wife’s ancestral home town, Lippstadt, in northern Germany. It was there I cam across this bust. I recognized the name, Martin Niemöller. I hadn’t realized he was from Lippstadt. Niemöller was a pastor […]
Hero From Another Time
Been thinking a lot about family recently and its importance to us. Been doing a lot of family things too, sometimes full of joy, other times tinged with sadness. Those I will write about, but there is some internal processing to do first. So today a family story. If you think you may have heard […]
He Who Must Not Be Named
It’s been 20 years or so since the first of the Harry Potter novels was published, sparking a reading craze and transforming author J.K. Rowling from impoverished single mother into the world’s richest woman. A generation has grown up with the books (and the subsequent movie adaptations). They are a powerful marketing force, and Rowling […]
Reading Hanna’s Diary
In a Germany, where Hitler is the Lord God, we and our children have no place. – Hanna Dahlkotter, 1934. My wife’s maternal grandmother, Hanna Dahklkotter, died in 1967, thirteen years before Vivian and I met. I only know her from stories. When we visited Lippstadt, Germany this summer Vivian’s Aunt Eva mentioned that she […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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