Mike Stuchbery 💀🍷 Profile picture
Jan 4, 2022 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Today I learned about Norbert Masur, a German Jew and member of the World Jewish Congress, who must have experienced one of the most surreal days in 20th century history... Image
As the US, French, British and Russian forces liberated Germany, and Berlin was about to fall, Norbert Masur, as the Swedish representative of the World Jewish Congress, was tapped to meet one of the Third Reich's most notorious individuals... Image
Seeing the writing on the wall, and hoping to save his skin, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, used connections in the Red Cross and the intelligence services - and his personal masseur - to tee up a meeting with the World Jewish Congress... Image
Reading horrific reports of Nazi treatment of Europe's Jews, Masur was flown to Berlin, and then driven to Harzwalde, in Brandenburg. He arrived on the 21st of April, 1945

He was kept waiting for Himmler... Image
When he arrived, Himmler spent around two hours downplaying the Holocaust - saying such things as concentration camp crematoria were only for typhus victims.

He wanted to 'bury the hatchet with the Jews'. This, unbelievably, was the core of his message... Image
Masur listened. God knows how he must have felt throughout the meeting. He wrote a report on it later, but you can't truly express the enormity of meeting such a vile individual, with such a bizarre request... Image
As a result of the meeting, and further negotiations, the entirety of the Ravensbruck women's camp were released and driven to Sweden, as part of the 'White Buses' operation. ImageImage
Himmler's gamble was for naught. The Third Reich surrendered, and Himmler and a small band of trusted officers tried to make a break for... nowhere in particular.

He was captured by the British and committed suicide shortly after his identity was discovered, on 23 May, 1945... Image
Masur lived until 1971. Along with negotiator Folke Bernadotte of the Red Cross, they are responsible for saving thousands of lives. Image
You can learn more about this extraordinary meeting in this @TorontoStar article. /FIN thestar.com/news/insight/2…

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More from @MikeStuchbery_

Apr 4, 2023
Sometimes when I get a little down in the dumps, I try to remember the amazing things around me, that connect me to a wider history, and my spirits soar.

This is Kloster Denkendorf, about twenty minutes drive from me. 🧵
Sometime in the 1120s, a 'Bertholdus', perhaps Berthold, Count of Hohenberg & Lindenfels, returned from a trip to the Holy Land and donated a small monastery and a church to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, who sent a prior to Southern Germany. 🧵
Over the next hundred years, the protection of this church and monastery were placed under some very important families - the Hohenstaufen, the Habsburg, and the Holy Roman Empire. 🧵
Read 8 tweets
Mar 7, 2023
With #InternationalWomensDay on the 8th of March, here's who you can thank for its existence: Clara Zetkin! 🧵
Clara was born in the kingdom of Sachsen in 1857. In the 1870s she became involved with rhe SPD while studying to become teacher.

Her politics veering further leftwards, she spent time in Switzerland and Paris, dodging bans on socialist and communist orgs. 🧵
It was during her time in Paris that Clara, nee Eißner, took the name Zetkin, from her lover, Ossip Zetkin - the pair had two children - Maxim & Konstantin.

All the while she integral in forming the Second Socialist International, and other organisations. 🧵
Read 11 tweets
Mar 6, 2023
I tweeted that the inventor of the first real automobile, Gottlieb Daimler, died #onthisday in 1900.

Not many know this, but Daimler had a habit of scaring the bejesus out of his neighbours. I'd like to honour that. 1/4
When Daimler was putting his 'grandfather clock' engine onto a carriage chassis, the noise from his greenhouse in Bad Cannstatt was alarming his neighbours so much that his gardener eventually led the police in - they'd suspected him of running a counterfeiting operation! 2/4
On November 18 1885, a brave 17 year old Paul Daimler climbed on his father's invention, the 'Reitwagen', and made the world's first motorcycle trip along the banks of the Neckar River, terrifying local with the roar of the 1/2hp engine.

Also the seat caught fire. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Feb 21, 2023
One thing that I don't think gets talked enough with folks experiencing ADD and/or living on the spectrum is the financial hit.

And I don't mean in a 'oops, didn't pay that bill way', but what years of grappling with if does to your job history and career progression.
There's loads of financial tools out there to help you keep track of where money is going - believe me, I use several.

However, there's not much that can be done when career progression has slowed due to ADD/ASD, but costs keep rising.

Working *harder* isn't an option.
Now, life patently isn't fair, and there is something to be said for hard graft.

Yet perhaps we need to examine and acknowledge that grey zone of those who high functioning, and can do some things really well - but end up driving themselves into the ground over time.
Read 6 tweets
Feb 13, 2023
#ValentinesDay tomorrow. You may not know this, but I am, in fact, @TheLocalGermany's love guru, in addition to Southern Germany correspondent, culture observer & ad creative.

So, you want to date a German? Let me offer you 10 rules for wooing, and dating a German. Image
10. Don't worry if your German is sub-par, you'll barely get a chance to use it.

Many Germans are keen to practice their English, and while this may seem a rich seam of laughs, it's best to keep a straight face.

Anyway, how many language do *you* speak?
9. When the friendly barkeep approaches you whilst on a date, and says 'zusammen' (together) or 'getrennt' (seperated), he's talking about the bill, not inquiring after your relationship status.
Read 11 tweets
Jan 25, 2023
Edward Berger's 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (DE: 'Im Westen Nichts Neues') has gathered nine nominations for the 2023 Oscars - including Best Picture, the only non-English film to make the cut.
It is third adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's seminal anti-war novel, and the first German-language version.

It stars Felix Kammerer as Paul Bäumer - an enthusiastic volunteer to the Imperial German Army in 1917, as World War One rages.
Erich Maria Remarque, born 1898, based the novel on his own experiences on the Western Front, and upon publication in 1929 it became a bestseller around the world.

Remarque left Germany in 1931, before his works were banned by the Nazis as 'unpatriotic'. He died in 1970.
Read 5 tweets

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