The spirit of 1989 is still alive in Tiananmen Square to this day.
I would like just to save a dying man. —
Shin Dong-hyuk
The only known person born inside a North Korean prison camp to have escaped (and survive).
This day in history:
After more than forty years of separation, East Germany is incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), thus marking German reunification.
The day is now known as German Unity Day.
October 3, 1990 - 22 years ago today.
President of the court Geoffrey Lawrence reading the sentences of Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess on the final day of the Nuremberg Trials.
Nuremberg, Germany - October 1, 1946
A photo series following an ex-GI and his new wife re-visiting the battlefields of France where he fought in the war.
Photos by Tony Linck. June,1947.
(via upsetdroid)
The man who saved the world:
Stanislav Petrov was manning surveillance equipment for the Soviet Air Defense Forces when he noticed something strange on the screen. Soon after, warning signals started flashing with the report of an incoming nuclear missile from the USA.
Seeing only one missile, he figured it was a mistake, assuming Americans wouldn’t send only one missile if they wanted a nuclear war.
Soon thereafter, many more started appearing on the screen.
Nevertheless he trusted his instincts, and rather than contact his superiors he waited to see what would happen. He waited past the perceived time on impact. There was no damage - the warnings were due to a system malfunction.
Had Petrov not defied protocol and contacted his superiors, a real retaliatory strike may very well have been fired in response - igniting nuclear war between the USA and Soviet Union.
September 26, 1983 - 29 years ago today.
![“Studio portrait of Istvan Reiner, half-brother of the donor [Janos Kovasc], taken shortly before he was killed in Auschwitz.”
Janos did not know at the time what became of his mother and half-brother. Both were deported to Auschwitz.
Upon arrival other prisoners told Livia [his mother] to give Istvan to his grandmother and to go through the selection alone. Livia told the SS men that she was four years younger than she really was and was selected for forced labor…She was liberated in either Bergen-Belsen or Mannheim. Istvan, then only four years old, was murdered together with his grandmother.
(USHMM)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maf3stUmM21r18o95o1_500.jpg)
“Studio portrait of Istvan Reiner, half-brother of the donor [Janos Kovasc], taken shortly before he was killed in Auschwitz.”
Janos did not know at the time what became of his mother and half-brother. Both were deported to Auschwitz.
Upon arrival other prisoners told Livia [his mother] to give Istvan to his grandmother and to go through the selection alone. Livia told the SS men that she was four years younger than she really was and was selected for forced labor…She was liberated in either Bergen-Belsen or Mannheim. Istvan, then only four years old, was murdered together with his grandmother.
Chilean president Salvador Allende on the last day of his life during the coup of September 11, 1973.
(via comesytevas)
The Other 9/11: Pinochet’s Violent, CIA-Assisted Coup d’Etat in Chile, 9/11/1973
Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet and his troops stormed major cities in Chile and shut down all radio and television communications, bombing any stations out of compliance. They took military control of the streets, turned the national soccer stadium into an internment camp; some 40,000 (actual and imagined) political opponents were imprisoned and tortured for information. When Pinochet moved to begin bombing the presidential palace, Salvador Allende shot himself rather than resign from his position. Thousands were confirmed as having been put to death, countless others were “disappeared” without a trace. Pinochet ruled Chile under his iron fist until 1990, committing thousands of atrocities and human rights violations, and killing some 3,000 people.
The United States’ CIA was implicitly involved in both the creation and implementation of the coup and Pinochet’s reign, saying that the ”U.S. desired, and would actively support, a coup” presumably to protect economic interests. The CIA also funneled material support to Pinochet’s regime while publicly criticizing the regime’s actions. They even went so far as to make Pinochet’s officers paid contacts of the CIA, despite their implication in many human rights’ abuses.
9/11/01 is not the only 9/11 that we need to remember.
Remember those who died in Chile.
Remember that we, as USians who benefit from the United States economy and government are historically responsible for these actions.
The least we can do is raise awareness about these atrocities.
Remember 9/11/73.
