Jewish History

Russian TV series claims Jewish Trotsky masterminded bloody 1917 revolution

Trotsky portrayed as a butcher in the upcoming Russian television series bearing his name. (Courtesy) A hundred years after the Russian revolution, the Russians are claiming that a Jew was behind it — at least according to a new television drama. An eight-episode series entitled “Trotsky” argues it was Jewish revolutionary Leon Trotsky — and […]

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International, Jewish History

The Mt. Soledad cross case in retrospect

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Morris Casuto, the retired executive director of the San Diego Region’s Anti-Defamation League, suggests that in retrospect San Diego’s quarter-century-long battle over the Mt. Soledad Cross was a win for civil government. Originally, the large Latin cross atop Mount Soledad was upon public property.  Several levels of courts declared that

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA

Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova dies aged 90

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova, the world’s first soloist to record Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete works for keyboard instruments, died aged 90 on Wednesday, Czech media said. Ruzickova, who recorded Bach’s complete work on 35 records between 1965 and 1975, died in a Prague hospital after a short illness. Get The Times

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International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

Mitchell Flint, US aviator who helped found Israeli Air Force, dies at 94

LOS ANGELES — He flew bombing missions for the U.S. during World War II and then came back to America to study law. But the escalating conflict between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbors had already gotten under Mitchell Flint’s skin. “I’m Jewish, Israel desperately needed fighter pilots, so I thought

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Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, USA

Einstein, the pacifist, urged an atom bomb

Einstein’s Pacifism and World War I by Virginia Iris Holmes.  Syracuse University Press, 2017, 332pp. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — “Where have all the idiots gone? Gone to government,  every one.” (This verse is a parody on the anti-war song “Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?”). If Einstein was alive today, I am certain he

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History

Take a bite out of Montreal’s rich history — and burn some calories, too

Katherine Romanow, left, creator of the Beyond the Bagel walking food tour by the Museum of Jewish Montreal. (Robert Sarner/Times of Israel) MONTREAL — On a recent Saturday afternoon in Montreal, tour guide Olivia Maccioni resembles a shepherd tending to her flock. Walking south on Saint Laurent Boulevard, a major thoroughfare which once divided the

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International, Jewish History, Travel and Food

Iraqi cleric praises Jews, says Muslims seen as ‘world’s headache’

An Iraqi cleric recently praised the Jewish people for having emerged from the Holocaust following World War II and managed to win the “respect of the world through science,” while Muslims are seen as having become “the world’s headache.” In a sermon posted to YouTube last month titled “Don’t Be Mad. Strong Words. Imitate the

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Jewish History, Middle East

Irving Berlin: The Story of the Man Behind ‘God Bless America’

Irving Berlin created music without formal training. And by himself. In 1918, while serving in the U.S. Army, he wrote the one and only “God Bless America.” When at first he couldn’t sell the song, he did what many songwriters do when such things happen: He stuck it in a drawer. Berlin dusted the tune

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Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

The 4’11” Jewish woman who entered the lion’s den to spy on Nazi Germany

Marthe Cohn being filmed by director Nicola Hens for the upcoming documentary ‘An Unusual Spy.’ (Courtesy) LOS ANGELES — The 4’11” French Jewish woman was walking through a field of snow when the ground underneath her began to crack. She was a spy for the Allies, sent to infiltrate the German front, but her military

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International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Family challenges fate of Swedish WWII hero Raoul Wallenberg in court

More than 72 years after the disappearance of a young Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis, his family is going to court to challenge Russia’s claims of how World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg ended his days. The first hearing in the case is set to take place

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International, Jewish History

German court drops case against ailing Auschwitz medic

A German court on Tuesday said it had dropped a case against a 96-year-old former medical orderly at the Auschwitz death camp because he suffers from dementia, ending one of the last high-profile Nazi prosecutions. Wheelchair-bound Hubert Zafke had faced 3,681 counts of being an accessory to murder at the concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

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International, Jewish History