German 88 on display in Bessemer, Alabama.

German 88

His Excellency Dr Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, delivers a oration on the occasion of the dedication of a Cross of Sacrifice at Glasnevin Cemetry, Dublin (a huge cemetery on the north side of the city, sometimes referred to as the "Dead Centre of Dublin").  Disgracefully, in my humble opinion, the speakers at this dignified and, one may say, prayerful ceremony were heckled by a small group of "dissident Republicans", persons hostile to the Northern Ireland peace process and the enhancement of relations between the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom.  These people support (or are involved in) continued attempts to perpetrate terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland.  They are very much out of step with the views of the vast, vast majority of Irish people, north and south - but their continued activity shows how difficult it is to kill an ideology - in this specific case, the ideology of physical force Irish republicanism, which has existed since the 1790s, and will carry on (albeit at present on a tiny scale) however anachronistic it may seem.

I hope I manage to visit the Cross before it is vandalized ...

Best regards, JR.

Cross of Sacrifice - Presidential oration.

Polish and Israëli archeologists have found the remains of the Sobibor gaschambers after 8 years of scientific research.More research on the remains of the camp will provide more knowledge on the workings of the deathcamp.While in Auschwitz-Birkenau,inmates had a very small chance of survival as forced labourer,in Sobibor there was no escape from death.It was a'vernichtungslager',between april 42 and the fall of 43 some 250.000 people were murdered.After an insurrection by prisoners ,the camp was closed by the Germans and erased to destroy evidence of the crimes commited.From the few photos  in the Standaardonline article I chose the one of a ring found at the dug up gaschamber site.It's a powerfull image to me.I can't make out what the inscriptions mean but the ingraved heart on the ring says it all to me.A sign of love,given with affection,wiped from the earth by a sadistic force.May the former owner rest in peace together with all the victims of that terrible place.