‘Uncle Mengele’

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Josef Mengele often introduced himself to children in Nazi death camps as 'Uncle Mengele.' What he did, what he was, is well-known and almost too vile to repeat. The name 'Mengele' was enough to terrorize even hardened SS Nazi camp guards let alone the wave of fear that spread when he entered prisoner barracks.   Probably most of the Nazi camp doctors and guards drank themselves into a stupor to dull their minds to what they were doing.   Mengele is scary in this regard. He never used alcohol but could carry out his atrocious experiments sober and methodically. He liked Read more [...]

How to Kill Animals in Cuba

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  There's no point here in rambling on about Schopenhauer. Let's understand how bad the world is from the 'horse's mouth' whilst the horse is still alive!       This is the work of the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas and the book is 'Before Night Falls.'   It was made into an excellent film by a cool man and his name is Julian Schnabel.             And this part deserves to be quoted in full:                                                       VIOLENCE   'The Read more [...]

‘New Ways to Die’

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  'I opened my eyes when there was nothing left to see. That is what always happens.'     The 'life survival' book of Baltasar Gracián, 'A Pocket Mirror for Heroes,' should be read when one is young. But who young could understand or accept it? A book from a Jesuit priest that says of life that, 'we are stuck in the mud from which we were formed, and there's nothing to do but go on.'     Gracián, the son of a doctor, was born in the Aragon region of Spain in 1601 and ordained as a Jesuit in 1627. He was feisty and in continuous trouble with the Read more [...]

What Is Bread?

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Mulla Nasrudin's wisdom was legendary all over the empire. He excited the interest of the best philosophers, doctors and professors in the land, and one day they were all invited to the Emir's court to examine Nasrudin.   There was a serious side to this. Nasrudin had traveled from town to town telling the local people that these, 'so-called wise men are ignorant and confused.'     In fact, Nasrudin had been charged with, 'undermining the security of the State.' The scholars claimed Nasrudin was a heretic The Emir entered and studied those present. He looked Read more [...]

‘Only Shot Down Birds Tell of War’

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Everything seemed normal. A bus stop with people waiting, pensioners, schoolkids and shoppers. But the name on the front of the bus that gives its destination sent a chill down my spine. I looked at the driver and then back up at the name:                                                     'DACHAU' We boarded and drove away from Munich out into the suburbs. It was strange that a suburb with houses and families could have this name. You didn't notice it at first, so shocking is the site. But slowly you came to understand that the only sound was the wind. Strange. Read more [...]