Aboriginal Soldiers in Vietnam

Only in 2023, First Nations men who served during the Vietnam War are being added to the Australian War Memorial's (AWM) official history. There was no conscription for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but many still volunteered to serve.

John Wade

Corporal John Wade, who was a technician in the Royal Australian Signal Corps during the Vietnam War, is one of those diggers. He recalls one of his most prized memories — an unscheduled humanitarian mission to an orphanage. "It was on a Sunday with a couple of mates we went to an orphanage to feed the children," the Birpai man says. "Their hands were out, like grabbing the food … I was absolutely taken with those children. "We handed them the food and they ate it straight away."

Australian soldiers providing food aid in Vietnam

Back home in Australia, the same humanitarian spirit was not shown to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This extended to the army, where Indigenous men were exempt from service.

Hundreds volunteered regardless, and those who could, like Mr Wade, kept their Aboriginality a secret.

Russian Liberator

A female Soviet soldier (with the rank of sergeant major) leaves an autograph for a resident of Prague, after the liberation in 1945. The happiness about the Russian military didn't last long...
 

Frank Sargeson

Frank Sargeson (born Norris Frank Davey; 1903 –1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After travelling to the United Kingdom for two years and working as a clerk on his return, he was convicted of indecent assault for a homosexual encounter and moved to live on his uncle's farm for a period. 

Having already written and published some short stories in the late 1920s, he began to focus on his writing and moved into his parents' holiday cottage where he would live for the rest of his life.

Sargeson became an influential figure in New Zealand writing, and his work continues to be recognised as a major influence on New Zealand literature. Sargeson is known for his minimalist and sparse style, with a focus on unhappy and isolated male characters, and has been credited with introducing everyday New Zealand English to literature. He published over forty short stories in the 1930s and 1940s, and later works included novels, plays and autobiographies. He also mentored and supported other young New Zealand writers, most notably Janet Frame. 

Valentine's Day

From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.

The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," Noel Lenski, a religious studies professor at Yale University, says. Young women would line up for the men to hit them, Lenski said. They believed this would make them fertile.

The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right.

The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the third century. Their martyrdom was honoured by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day.

Friday 13th

 Take no risk - wear your Reality Shield!

Aeroflot Beret

A 1980 postcard published by Soviet airline Aeroflot.

Khakimjan Nauryzbekov

Kazakh sculptor Khakimjan Nauryzbekov is working on a bust of Lenin, 1971.

Abbé Pierre – A Century of Devotion

Abbé Pierre – A Century of Devotion is a 2023 French biographical drama film based on the life of Abbé Pierre, a Catholic priest and national hero in France who devoted his life to helping the poor, homeless people and refugees.

The film portrays the life of Henri Grouès, known as Abbé Pierre, from his time in the Resistance in WWII to his fights against poverty and for the homeless.

The film stars Benjamin Lavernhe as Abbé Pierre.

The film premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 26 May 2023. It was theatrically released in France on 8 November 2023. 

Charlie Hebdo's Berets

Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly magazine known for its controversial and often provocative cartoons, articles, and opinions on various topics, including politics, religion, and culture. It is known for its anti-racist, secular, and libertarian stance, often publishing content that challenges the far-right and religious extremism.

The magazine gained international notoriety on January 7, 2015, when it was the target of a terrorist attack by two French-born Algerian brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi. The attack resulted in the death of 12 people, including several prominent cartoonists and journalists, and injured several others. The attack spurred a global conversation about freedom of speech, religious extremism, and the role of satire in society.

Following the attack, France declared three days of mourning and increased the Vigipirate security plan to its highest level. The incident also led to numerous solidarity demonstrations and discussions about the need to protect freedom of expression. In December 2020, a trial was held for individuals accused of complicity in the attack.

Charlie Hebdo continues to be published and remains a subject of debate and controversy due to its provocative content. The magazine continues to publish satirical cartoons and articles, often addressing issues of religion, politics, and culture with a critical and often irreverent perspective.

Brigade de Recherche et d'Intervention (BRI)

The Search and Intervention Brigade (Brigade de recherche et d'intervention) is a unit of the French National Police.

The first units were formed in 1964 and carried out their tasks under the command of the Paris prefecture.

BRIs are specialized in serious criminal cases such as armed robbery and kidnappings. They typically attempt to catch offenders in the act after monitoring their activities, a technique that was first experimented with in the 1960s by the then-new Paris BRI. They use a mix of traditional techniques and modern technology to collect and archive data about banditry. 

In 1972, in the wake of the Munich massacre, it was decided that BRI-PP would form the nucleus of a police tactical task force known as Brigade Anticommando or BRI-BAC. BRI-BAC, when activated, is reinforced by other specialised units of the Préfecture de police. It has been involved in the resolution of hostage crises from its beginnings in the early 1970s to the Porte de Vincennes siege in January 2015 and the "Bataclan" assault during the November 2015 Paris attacks. In the Porte de Vincennes case, BRI-BAC and the National Police's RAID operated together as part of the National Police Intervention Force.

 

Boutou Kinoù

The "Boutou Kinoù", clogs worn by Breton sailors until the 1930s, kept their feet dry but did not always protect them from the cold despite the large wool socks knitted by their wives.

For more comfort, these "Boutou" were manufactured at the saboteur's house and then worn at the shipman's house to place the upholstery of greasy leather, which made them  waterproof.

Photo: 1907, on the quays of Audierne, Per Guével and his son Yves, both fishermen in the Audierne district, "godailles & boutou kinoù" in hand, they are happy after their tide to finally put hooves on the ground!

Soviet Poster

 

"Woman. Get onto a steam locomotive!"

Soviet poster from 1939

Louis Espinassous

Louis Espinassous (1951) is an educator, biologist, ethnologist, novelist, storyteller and shepherd, working more particularly in nature education. 

Louis Espinassous lives in Béarn, in the Ossau Valley (hence the brown beret, typical for the Ossau Valley).

For twenty years he worked as a technical and educational advisor in Nature Education within the Pyrenees National Park, as well as at the Departmental Directorate of Youth and Sports of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

A storyteller from his adolescence, he continued, over the years, to tell stories for children and adults, producing a number of naturalist, ethnographic and educational books and documents.

 

Yakov Khalip

Yakov Khalip (1908-1980) was born in 1908 in St. Petersburg, in a family of musicians. His first publication in the magazine “Ogonyok” – a photograph of the embankment of the Moscow River at night – took place in 1926. Two years later, Khalip became a participant in the exhibition “10 years of Soviet photography” and received a diploma for a portrait series of actors. Soon his photographs began to be published by the magazines “Cinema and Life” and “Soviet Photo”.

Clock factory, 1936

 In 1938 Yakov Khalip was a part of the rescue expedition as an official agency photojournalist “Soyuzfoto“. The whole country admired his pictures of the Papanin heroes. After the shots depicting the epic rescue of the polar station crew, scattered on postcards throughout the Union, a photo album was made in cooperation with Alexander Rodchenko. The dramatic and heroic moments of the conquest history soon became classics of Soviet and world photography.

Water drinker, 1950

First Snowman

First snowman. 

 Photo by Karl Laane (Estonian SSR, 1962)

Waiting

A waiter carries tea in Baku, capital of the Azerbaijan SSR, 1976
 

The Arktika is a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker built by Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg. It is the lead ship of Project 22220 icebreakers and superseded the preceding class of nuclear-powered icebreakers as the largest and most powerful icebreaker ever constructed.

A crew member of the Arktika and the bear cub Mishka, 1975. 

Photo by Roman Denisov

 

Peace on Earth - Soviet Style

Peace on Earth - We Will Defend It! 

Solidarity is the Weapon of Victory!

Soviet poster, 1964

 

Nina Lobkovskaya

Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya (1924) was a sniper in the Red Army during World War II.

She attained the rank of lieutenant and commanded a separate women's sniper company of the 3rd Shock Army during World War II. She was wounded twice and killed 89 people during the war.

After graduating in history from Moscow State University, she worked as a lecturer that the Central Museum of V. I. Lenin, and in 1974 she was awarded the title Honored Culture Worker of the RSFSR.

We Are Mechanics

 

"We Are Mechanics" — Moldavian SSR, Chișinău, 1986. Photo by A. Simonovsky and M. Potyrnik.

Cambrai Beret

The "Cambrai beret" refers to the black beret worn by the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR). It's a distinctive part of their uniform, along with black coveralls and boots, and is closely associated with the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. The black beret was first adopted by the RTR, then known as the Tank Corps, around the time of the Battle of Cambrai.

The Battle of Cambrai in 1917 was a significant event in the history of tank warfare, marking the first large-scale use of tanks in battle.

ECO Museum of Yesteryear

The Cultural Association of the Heritage of Old Hand Tools of Cambrai aims to preserve the heritage of old hand tools and machines of our ancestors (from the 18th to the 20th century), to transmit the memory of the living conditions of past generations, to school students and the general public through exhibitions and activities. To date, the association has 22 active members and more than 145 benefactor members.

Founder and president Gilbert de Sainte-Marisville

The Ecomuseum houses 2,300 original pieces. More than 40 themes are covered: rural France in the past, artisans, street trades, schools between the two wars, our grandmothers' recipes, the working conditions of men and women, etc.

Gilbert de Sainte-Marisville showing a late 20th century dog cart

Extinct Jobs

A strange thought for previous generations, how perfectly ordinary jobs would go extinct over time.

The traditional broom maker, for example

the clog (or wooden shoe) maker,

chestnut roasters/sellers

sweet and candy vendors

polishers

the rag and bone man

and home distillers.