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.
