Based on the 1995 novel by Bernhard Schlink adapted for the screen by David Hare and directed by Stephen Daldry 'The Reader' the film (2008) is not about the Holocaust but about the generation that bore its weight. A 15 year old Michael Berg (David Kross (younger) & Ralph Fiennes (older)) fell in love with an elderly Tram Ticket Collector, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), who had helped him on the day he fell ill with Scarlet Fever. After a few months of being helped by Anna, when he became well, he returned to Hanna's apartment in the run down old building of the 1950s Berlin he would have never thought it would be the beginning of a love affair that would have life long impact on him. After a beautiful month of summer full of love and its joy Michael's heart was shattered the day he discovered that she had left her apartment and the town without even telling him.
The memory and the experience stayed with him until he found her again after ten years when he was studying law in Berlin and was attending a trial of a group of ex-Nazi guards. Unexpectedly he comes across Hanna Schmidt as one of the defendants. Though she was accused by her fellow guards as the master mind and the one mainly responsible for the death of 300 Jewish prisoners in her care and was given the severest of punishment, 20 years of imprisonment, based on the evidence that the Guards Report of the incident was written by her as an evidence of her decisive role, Hanna kept a vital information secret; that she was illiterate and could not have written that report.
Who would want to pity an ex- SS concentration camp guard or cry for her; such attempts are considered as Holocaust Revisionism.
Chris Menges and Roger Deakins cinematography brings back the Berlin and Germany of 1950s to 1990s giving life to the David Hare's screenplay beautifully. Young Michael Berg's home, Hanna's apartment and the lived intimacies of the summer couple and the emotional old church scenes stays back in the memory. The film did not have any depiction of the holocaust tragedies except for a visit to the camp by the young Michael and this film turned out to be the last film produced by Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack both of whom died before the release of the film in the December of 2008.
Kate Winslet won the Best actress Academy Award for her portrayal of the very rough and emotional life of ex-SS guard giving it a very human face.
A hard working immigrant he prospered in the country he went to. Two decades later, on a visit back to his home town, after a few drinks he admitted the memories of our growing up years are still a nostalgia.
The story of
Rev. Herman Scheipers (a catholic priest) and his twin sister Anna Scheipers.
In the April of 1945 when Herman broke the line of the prisoners, who
were being marched to their death by the SS officers, his run was spotted by
the last guard in the line whom he heard shout at the soldier with the dog to release the dog to catch the
escapee. But the dog handler was too tired from the endless march and was
resting against a tree that he didn’t bother. Reverend Herman Scheipers had
chosen the right moment for his escape.
We have heard many sad stories about the Jews and how badly they were
treated by the Nazis during the World War II. Here is a life story of
German Catholic twins, who like many, also went through a similar tragic
experience.
The twins usually bond deep with each other. Herman Scheipers and Anna
Scheipers were twins born on 24th July 1913 to a catholic family of
Mǜnsterland, which was one of those few catholic towns in the mostly Protestant Northern
Germany.
Anna’s brother Herman was ordained a catholic priest in 1937 at Saxony. He was a very pious young man with a deep faith and had tremendous passion for his call. His blue eyes spoke of the intense devotion to his cause in all the pictures which his family had kept from the time. His ministry required him to offer mass for the Polish forced labourers, Poland was then considered as the “Enemy of the State” by the German Government. Unfortunately, Priest Herman was arrested and jailed for this crime and was sent to the Dachan Concentration Camps which was infamously known as the ‘Priests Barracks’. There were around 700 catholic priests at the camp.
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| Anna & Herman before the war |
Despite all the dangers involved in contacting a prisoner of the state,
Anna, kept in touch with her brother through letters. In the August of 1942,
Anna received a letter from Herman telling her in Code words that he has fallen
sick and will be soon sent to the Gas Chambers for immediate elimination. Sick
prisoners were a liability and considered a mortal danger to the rest of the
camp.
It was difficult to track prisoners in those days, without giving up
hope, Anna went to Berlin to the Gestapo headquarters with her father and with
much difficulty found out the officer who was in charge of the Dachan Camps and
pleaded with him for the release of her brother. Gestapo had no mercy. Having
lost all her hope as a last resort she lied to the officer and tricked him to
believe that if the priest is killed there will be an uprising in Munsterland;
the folks there already know about their priests are being held as prisoners
and executed for no fair reason. The trick worked as the Gestapo thought, if
the unrest as Anna claimed was real, it may spread to other areas and become
unmanageable. On that day Anna saved not only her brother but many hundreds of
priests who were scheduled to be killed at the Dachan Camp.
Herman was out of immediate danger for the time being but he was not
released, instead he was sent to another camp where they were conducting
medical tests on prisoners. The camp Herman was sent to, were conducting tests
for the German air force, ‘Luftwaffe’. He was along with others forced to lie
down in a tub filled with Ice Cold water in full pilot gear for more than a half
day and when they collapsed, they were revived and forced again. Many died
during these tests. Herman somehow survived.
In April 1945 when Germany realized they were going to lose the war, the
prisoners were rounded up and sent on a long death march by SS (German Secret Service).
Herman Scheipers broke the march when he
knew the SS officers, who were just as tired as the prisoners were from
the all day march, sat down and slept, he made a run for the woods and escaped
to a nearby village where he went to the local parish. The vicar when he
attended the knock on his door was astonished to see him; when Herman told him that he was a priest too, vicar exclaimed that he looked like a
prisoner and couldn't believe him at first.
The fire of faith in Reverend Herman Scheipers helped him all through his
jail days to stay positive and this inner strength made his face glow which is noticeable
in the pictures of his from the worst times. After the war, he continued with his ministry
and served in the communist East Germany and in Czechoslovakia. His works among
the Polish Catholics made him come in contact with the famous Bishop of Karkow,
Karol Jozef Wojtyla, who later became Pope and Saint John Paul II.
60 years later, when the Government of free Germany organized a ceremony
to honour the war survivors, Herman said in a thanks giving speech, “Anna, I
owe you my life!”.
In 2002 both Anna and Herman received Cross of Merit of the Federal
Republic of Germany.
Anna died in 2002 and Herman in 2016 as the last surviving member of the
Dachan Camp at the age of 102. They remained very close to each other even
though Anna had to 'put up' with the status of the saintly Reverend her brother was bestowed with by the communities he had served after the war.
Yes indeed, some twins bond deep.
A link to an endearing documentary about the twins
Cruise Tourism was the first to be hit by the pandemic. Now, after two years, Cruise Tourism is showing a positive sign of revival. The Indian booking for cruises are seeing an unprecedented rise in the last few weeks. Leading Cruise agents like STIC, Thomas Cook etc are reporting 35-40% rise in their cruise booking from India.
Short hauls, easy visa destinations without quarantine requirements are the hot favorites among the Indians. Singapore Sailing, middle east cruises like Dubai - Abudhabi - Muscat - Bahrain offered by the cruise companies like Genting Dream, Royal Caribbean Cruises top the booking chart for their November to March Sailing season.
While the news come as a consolation for our mates in the out-bounds the entire team in the in-bounds are staying positive hoping their 'days' are not far away too, monkeypox or not!
A developing country like India has more internet users than the entire population of USA.
According to a
report published by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) 346
million Indians use internet; the population of USA is estimated to be around
336 million.
The Internet
users of India mostly engage in E-Commerce, online payment etc.
Before the world
was locked down by the pandemic the number of Indian Internet users were 230 million (2019); during the lock down the
number of users have doubled with more males using internet in both rural and
urban areas.
Entertainment,
communication and social media encourage more and more users to try the
internet. Entertainment through the OTT has almost equal number of subscribers
in both rural and urban areas.
Texting and
emails are the popular means of communication.
692 million
Indians have used internet at one time or the other and the user base is
expected to reach 900 million by 2025. With the urban usage has almost reached
its peak with 347 million users at 69% of the urban population there is plenty
of leeway for expansion in the rural market which is at present at 351 million
at 37% of the rural population. Interestingly two out of every five rural users
have tried the voice facility; services like online gaming, shopping and
payments are bound to grow, the use of
Indian languages by the Operating Systems will throw open tremendous
growth opportunity for internet usage and its related development opportunity
in India. Goa and Bihar stands at the extremes in terms of the usage with the
population.
Enchanting Wayanad always had the tourism potential; it was realized early became operational with policy change when the tourism focus shifted from south to North Kerala. Besides the natural beauty what
captivated the tourists were its original people. At last an enterprise had come
up celebrating the heritage, tradition and lives of the tribes of Wayanad.
A charitable
trust formed with the leadership of Sub-collector and 13 tribal leaders has
formed a tribal heritage centre “ Enna OOru” formally making a platform to
interact, experience the tribal way of life including 10 tribal huts for the
visitors to stay in. The centre has shops to sell tribal products of medicine,
art, crafts etc. a cafeteria to taste tribal foods, space to hold events and
performances in tribal culture.
It is a
beginning in a way. Let us hope, the tribes themselves could set up their own
enterprise and truly change the face of Wayanad tourism.
The disciples of Jesus waited behind the closed doors of their temporary home in Jerusalem. Their master, the one they loved very much, was arrested and pronounced guilty of sedition and blasphemy by the religious court; the death sentence was approved by the Roman Governor and their master was crucified to death. Before they had the time to understand what is going on, their master was dead and hurriedly buried in a cave tomb.
They were now waiting for the Sabbath to get over to return to the tomb to complete the anointing of his body which they could not complete on the day He died. On that fateful Friday Sabbath was already upon them when the Romans took the dead bodies down from the crosses and they hardly got the time to prepare Jesus's body for burial before it was placed inside the tomb. Everybody left in a hurry to start the Sabbath hoping to return early on Sunday morning to complete the anointment.
Our heart goes out to the disciples and the women who were with them, especially Mary of Magdella, when they stood outside the tomb grieving while the lifeless body of their master lay still inside the tomb. The still body of their Master, who was their world and life for nearly three years.
As their grief grew deep they couldn't help but think about the injustice of it all; their master being accused of a baseless accusation and being killed unlawfully on the day of Pessach. They were simple fishermen and workmen from Galilee with no connections or friends at higher levels of their society to appeal for help. Their helplessness added to their misery. No matter how deep their sighs were and how long their tears ran down, none of them, absolutely no one among them had any idea of what they are going to feel when the day broke after the Sabbath.
Are you ready?
Easter greetings.
Vishu marks the beginning of the new year of Kerala on the first day of the month of Medam and the Malayalees celebrate that day auspiciously. According to the lunar based local astronomical calendar the sun completes an annual circle and starts afresh by moving on to Aries or the ‘Mesha Raashi’. On the Gregorian calendar the day falls between April-May. The day denotes the beginning of the spring globally; locally the farmers start preparing their fields and lands for the monsoon, on which depends the entire agriculture system of the land which unfailingly arrives on the first of July and continues for the next 3-5 months. Though at present Vishu is considered as a Hindu festival it was and is a universal festival; before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, there was only one local calendar and the day was auspicious to all the communities.
Meaning
of Vishu
In
Sanskrit Vishu means equal; First day of Medam has equal hours of day and night (Equinox).
The day is dedicated to Vishnu and Krishna and they are worshiped on the new
year day which symbolises the re-union of Sun and Mesha; hence a family festival.
Vishu is not complete with these family rituals; Vishu Kani, Vishu Kaineetam
and Vishu Sadya.
Festivities
of the day
Vishu
Kani: ‘Kani’ is the first sighting of the day. On the eve of Vishu, the prayer
room of the house is set ready with the idols of Vishnu or Krishna with all the
worship materials like, lamps, flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, rice,
coconuts, beetle leaves, arrack nuts, cucumber, jack fruit, mirror, holy book,
cotton mundu (dhoti), Rupees and coins. All these fruits of labour and
necessities of life are arranged in big bell bowl and placed neatly and
aesthetically nearly the idols or the picture of the Gods by the eldest lady of
the family with an oil lamp on the floor (Nila Vilaku). The next day morning, everyone is expected to
make the first sighting of these symbols of prosperity and fruits of labour as
a blessing and a good start to the new year, praying the new year too would be
as or even more bountiful as the preceding one. The Holy scripture, mostly
Ramayana, is read on the occasion.
Vishu
Kaineetam: The eldest man in the family
gift the younger ones with money. Later, everybody set out to burst fire
crackers welcoming the new year. It is followed by a sumptuous lunch which is
the famous Vishu Sadya. The celebration will continue to the night and the
crackers, a favorite of children and adults alike fondly called as the ‘Vishu
Padakam’, will keep bursting without a break all around the neighborhood.
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| Heinz Lord |
As the World War II was nearing its end in May 1945, all the concentration camps in the Nazi territory were evacuated and its prisoners along with the other prisoners of war were sent on a 'death march' on board three sea going ships. One of those ships was the beautiful SS Cap Arcona.
Under the cruel and watchful eyes of the SS guards nearly 5000 persons sat huddled below the deck of the ship sailing from the coast of Baltic Sea without food or any medicine. They were from 30 different nations and included the prisoners of Nueungamme concentration camp near Hamburg.
Among them was a young medical student and a political prisoner, Heinz Lord of Swiss and German parentage. Heinz was a member of the resistance group 'Candidates of Humanity' run by doctors and students of the UKE Clinic of Hamburg which was associated with an iconic resistance group of the time, 'White Rose'.
British Royal Air Force at the time was carrying out frequent air raids on the remaining positions of the Nazis and the Nazi ships were sitting ducks at sea. Even though, Swiss Red Cross had informed the British Intelligence one day earlier that a large number of concentration camp inmates and Prisoners of war have been loaded on to ships, the information has not been passed over to the Royal Air Force Commanders.
The SS Cap Arcona became the target on May 3rd and the German SS guards fled in the available life-boats while the doomed prisoners were locked below as she capsized in the shallow waters of the bay, luckily not sinking completely giving 350 of the unfortunate 5000 prisoners a chance to escape.Most of them were burned to death while some others who managed to jump into the sea froze to death in the freezing cold of the Baltic Sea.
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| Capsized SS Cap Arcona lying on her sides at the shallow Bay |
The major world war II maritime disasters included the bombing of three prison ships; SS Cap Arcona, Thielbeck, and Deutschland killing nearly 7500 prisoners.
One of the 350 fortunate prisoners from SS Cap Arcona to reach shore was our Heinz Lord. After the war he returned to Germany and passed his specialist degree in Surgery and Urology. Eventually, he migrated to America in 1954 and became a surgeon in an Ohio hospital. As it would turn out he became the Secretary-General of the world Medical Association in 1960. At the age of 43, on 4th February, 1961, Heinz Lord's heart, which had overcome many a shocks during the war, stopped while attending a conference.
