Latest news with #Nazis
New York Post
an hour ago
- Business
- New York Post
French PM Francois Bayrou wants to cut public holidays to help economy — including one commemorating victory over Nazis
France's prime minister proposed on Tuesday the elimination of two public holidays from the country's annual calendar — possibly Easter Monday and the day marking the Allied victory over the Nazis — to save money in next year's budget. That's among a raft of spending cuts laid out by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in a sweeping, and potentially doomed, budget plan. He argued that removing two state holidays would bring in tax revenues generated from economic activity, contributing to around 44 billion euros ($51.3 billion) in overall savings. Advertisement 3 French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou proposed the elimination of two public holidays from the country's annual calendar to save money in next year's budget. AFP via Getty Images President Emmanuel Macron tasked Bayrou with crafting a budget that shaves costs to bring down France's staggering debt and deficit, while also adding billions in new defense spending to face what Macron says are resurgent threats from Russia and beyond. Bayrou questioned the religious importance of Easter Monday. And Victory Day, celebrated on May 8, comes in a month that has become a 'veritable Gruyere,' or holey cheese, of days off that includes May Day and the Catholic holiday of Ascension, he said. Advertisement He said that those holidays were just suggestions, and that he was open to other ideas. France currently has 11 official holidays per year. With no parliamentary majority, Macron's centrist grouping must win support from adversaries on the left and right to pass the budget this fall. 3 President Emmanuel Macron tasked Bayrou with crafting a budget that shaves costs to bring down France's staggering debt and deficit, according to reports. REUTERS 3 Bayrou argued that removing two state holidays would bring in tax revenues generated from economic activity, contributing to around 44 billion euros ($51.3 billion) in overall savings. REUTERS Advertisement Bayrou's proposals, which are just a first step in the budget process, were quickly assailed by unions and the far-right National Rally, the largest single party in the lower house of Parliament. Bayrou's job is precarious, and he could be voted out if he fails to reach a compromise on the budget.
DW
3 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch turns 100 – DW – 07/16/2025
She survived Auschwitz and spent years fighting to ensure that the Holocaust is not forgotten. But she's now disillusioned: antisemitism is on the rise everywhere. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch has spent an entire century on this earth, and does not fear death. After all, she'd often looked it in the eye when she was deported to Auschwitz simply for being a Jew. It was the largest and most notorious of the Nazi internment system. Here, people were killed on an industrial scale, around 1.1 million of them in total. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch survived because she could play the cello. For decades, she has raised her voice against antisemitism, right-wing extremism and racism as a dedicated witness to history. She has told scores of schoolchildren unsparingly how the Nazis systematically marginalized Jews and ultimately murdered them. She feels it is a duty "that those who survived must serve as voices for the millions who were silenced." That's why she has also taken part in the "Dimensions in Testimony" project, in which interactive holograms enable Holocaust survivors to answer questions even after their deaths. There was a time when Lasker-Wallfisch was optimistic that her commitment was having an impact. "I've spoken with thousands of schoolchildren. If just 10 of them would behave properly, I'd be satisfied," she said. But in the meantime, Anita-Lasker-Wallfisch has become overwhelmed by hopelessness. "She's in despair," her daughter, Maya, told the weekly newspaper . Growing antisemitism, an increasing shift towards the extreme right and the situation in the Middle East all give Maya's mother the impression that all her commitment hasn't amounted to much. Considering the current global situation, her despondency is understandable. It's not only because 12% of Germans aged 18 to 29 have never heard of the Holocaust, according to a recent Jewish Claims Conference survey. It's also because since Israel's military operations in Gaza, antisemitism has been spreading worldwide. "Is it important whether you're Jewish? You're simply a human being," she recently told German daily, . Anita Lasker was born on July 17, 2025 in Breslau — the youngest of three sisters in a middle-class family. Her father was a lawyer and her mother a violinist. Her parents valued a good education and music was part of that. The Laskers were not at all religious. "I didn't know I was Jewish until they spat at me and called me a 'dirty Jew'," she said decades later. "We were ordinary, fully assimilated Germans," she added. That was in 1933, the year the Nazis seized power. Her parents had no illusions about what the Nazi regime planned to do with the Jews. At the end of 1939, they brought Anita's eldest sister, Marianne, to safety in England. But they were unable to save themselves. Deported in 1942, Anita never saw her mother or father again. She and her sister, Renate, had to work as forced laborers at a paper factory. She used this opportunity to forge documents for other forced laborers from France, enabling them to return to their homeland. In 1943, when the two sisters tried to flee with forged passports, they were imprisoned. Five months later, they arrived at Auschwitz separately. Because Anita Lasker could play an instrument, she was assigned to the girls' orchestra at Auschwitz. "The cello saved my life," she said later. When the forced laborers left the camp in the morning and returned in the evening, the orchestra played music for them to march to. On Sundays, the girls performed for the SS. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "Not a single one of us believed we'd make it out of Auschwitz in any other way than up the chimney," were her words. In 1944, when Soviet troops were advancing on Auschwitz, Anita and her sister were moved to the extremely overcrowded concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen, where people died of hunger, thirst and disease. "Auschwitz was a camp that systematically murdered people," she later wrote in her memoirs, "in Belsen, you just died." British soldiers liberated the camp on April 15, 1945. One day later, the BBC's German-language program broadcast one of the first eyewitness reports of German concentration camps. Anita Lasker came up to the microphone: "The Auschwitz prisoners, the few that remain, all fear the world will not believe what happened there," she said. She then described the horror in detail and added: "Liberation finally came on the 15th. The liberation we'd been hoping for for three years. We still think we're dreaming. We see the English driving through the camp, people who want to do us no harm ... But now we're looking forward. We're full of hope and new courage. We're liberated." In September 1945, she testified against the guards at Bergen-Belsen before a British military court. It would be a long time until Lasker felt able once again to speak of her experience. She emigrated to Britain in 1946. In London, she became a founding member of the English Chamber Orchestra and played in this ensemble until the turn of the century. Lasker married pianist Peter Wallfisch, who, like her, was from Breslau. He had emigrated to Palestine as part of he Kindertransport (German for "children's transport") — an organized rescue effort of mainly Jewish children from Nazi-controlled territory. The couple did not speak to their children about the past. When her daughter, Maya, asked her mother why she had a phone number tattooed on her arm, she responded: "I'll tell you when you're older." After many decades, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was ready to tell her story. Her book "Inherit the Truth 1939-1945: The Documented Experiences of a Survivor of Auschwitz and Belsen" was published in 1996. It made her internationally known as a witness to history. In 2018, on the German Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch gave a fiery speech in the country's parliament, the Bundestag, admonishing people not to forget. She said she perceived an increasing societal sentiment to leave such things in the past. Lasker-Wallfisch continued, "What are we meant to draw the line under? What happened, happened, and it cannot be expunged by drawing a line." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Now Lasker-Wallfisch is turning 100. A concert is being held in her honor in London. Dignitaries from all over the world are coming to congratulate one of the last living witnesses of the Holocaust. Her daughter Maya, son Raphael as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren will also toast her. But what's important to the centenarian isn't the extravagant celebration. What Anita Lasker-Wallfisch likely desires above all is that the poison of hate and antisemitism be eradicated once and for all. A wish that is, unfortunately, not so easy to fulfill.
Daily Record
8 hours ago
- Science
- Daily Record
The uninhabited Scottish island that was once one of the UK's most dangerous places
During the war, Churchill had ordered British scientists to develop biological weapons fearing the Nazis were doing the same Once considered one of the most dangerous places in Britain, a remote Scottish island nicknamed 'Anthrax Island' was off-limits to the public for decades after becoming the secret site of a wartime biological weapons experiment. Gruinard Island, located off the north-west coast of Scotland, was chosen by the British government during the Second World War as the test site for a top-secret programme aimed at weaponising anthrax. At the height of global conflict, Prime Minister Winston Churchill feared Nazi Germany was developing biological weapons and ordered British scientists to do the same, Express reports. Remote, uninhabited and close enough to the mainland for access, Gruinard fitted the bill. But locals in nearby villages such as Laide had no idea what was unfolding across the bay. Rumours began to circulate as sheep, cows and horses mysteriously began dying. The government tried to silence speculation by compensating for the loss of livestock, blaming the deaths on a Greek ship's poor animal disposal. The island's long and complex past stretches well beyond the 20th century. It was mentioned as far back as the mid-16th century by traveller Dean Munro, who noted it was under the control of Clan MacKenzie. Historically, both Ross-shire and Cromartyshire laid claim to the island due to its location between Gairloch and Ullapool. By the late 1700s, with surrounding villages growing into fishing and sheep-farming communities, Gruinard was used for grazing sheep and as a makeshift dock for local fishing activity. Though the 1881 census recorded six residents, no permanent population has existed since. The true extent of the secret tests during World War II remained hidden until a Ministry of Defence film was declassified more than 50 years later. The footage revealed the shocking details: around 80 sheep were placed in exposure crates and positioned to inhale a cloud of anthrax spores released by a small controlled explosion. Scientists wearing cloth overalls, gloves and respirators oversaw the operation as a white powder drifted in the wind towards the animals. Within days, the sheep were dead. Though Churchill's anthrax bomb was never deployed in war, the island was left contaminated, scorched and abandoned. In a desperate attempt to rid it of the toxin, two men from Porton Down, the UK's top chemical and biological research facility, were sent to burn large sections of the heather. That evening, villagers watched thick plumes of smoke rise from the island, unaware of what had been unleashed. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Anthrax, a deadly bacterial disease, especially when inhaled, can be fatal even with medical treatment. Yet for 24 years after the tests, no signage on the island even mentioned the word. It wasn't until the 1980s that public pressure mounted to clean up the site. In 1981, a group of environmental activists calling themselves Dark Harvest launched a bold campaign to force the government to act. The island remained a biological hazard until 1986, when a decontamination team, all vaccinated against anthrax and dressed in protective gear, finally began efforts to cleanse the land. The clean-up took four years, and on 24 April 1990, Gruinard Island was officially declared free of anthrax. In 2022, Gruinard Island made headlines once again when a dramatic blaze engulfed the uninhabited land, sending plumes of smoke into the night sky.
Arab Times
8 hours ago
- Business
- Arab Times
France's PM wants to cut 2 public holidays to save money for indebted economy
PARIS, July 16, (AP): France's prime minister proposed on Tuesday the elimination of two public holidays from the country's annual calendar - possibly Easter Monday and the day marking the Allied victory over the Nazis - to save money in next year's budget. That's among a raft of spending cuts laid out by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in a sweeping, and potentially doomed, budget plan. He argued that removing two state holidays would bring in tax revenues generated from economic activity, contributing to around 44 billion euros ($51.3 billion) in overall savings. President Emmanuel Macron tasked Bayrou with crafting a budget that shaves costs to bring down France's staggering debt and deficit - while also adding billions in new defense spending to face what Macron says are resurgent threats from Russia and beyond. Bayrou questioned the religious importance of Easter Monday. And Victory Day, celebrated on May 8, comes in a month that has become a "veritable Gruyere,' or holey cheese, of days off that includes May Day and the Catholic holiday of Ascension, he said. He said that those holidays were just suggestions, and that he was open to other ideas. France currently has 11 official holidays per year. With no parliamentary majority, Macron's centrist grouping must win support from adversaries on the left and right to pass the budget this fall. Bayrou's proposals, which are just a first step in the budget process, were quickly assailed by unions and the far-right National Rally, the largest single party in the lower house of Parliament. Bayrou's job is precarious, and he could be voted out if he fails to reach compromise on the budget.
AsiaOne
12 hours ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
A Nazi document trove raises questions for Argentina, World News
BUENOS AIRES — The Supreme Court official had a secret to share when he called Eliahu Hamra, the rabbi of Argentina's main Jewish community centre, one night around the turn of the year. The court had found a dozen boxes of Nazi documents in its basement archive containing photos of Hitler as well as thousands of red Nazi labour organisation membership booklets stamped with the swastika of the Third Reich. Silvio Robles, chief of staff to the court's president, wanted the rabbi's advice about how to handle the discovery, Hamra recalled. It was an uncomfortable subject for Argentina, home to Latin America's largest Jewish community, but also notorious for giving refuge to dozens of Nazi war criminals after World War Two. Hamra said he told Robles the court could face awkward questions about how the Nazi material came to be in its basement. "I warned him to take into account that this could leave a stain on them," Hamra said in an interview with Reuters. The conversation with the rabbi was an important early step in a coordinated effort between the Supreme Court and Jewish community leaders to bring the trove of documents to light. The find surfaced at a time when Argentina is demonstrating new readiness to look back at its complicated history with Nazis in the war era. President Javier Milei, who has shown a personal interest in Judaism and strong support for Israel, in April opened up access to Nazi documents, uploading hundreds of de-classified documents online. "The Argentine government is committed to bringing these issues to light," said Emiliano Díaz, a spokesperson for Milei's government. Argentina remained neutral during the conflict until March 1945 when it declared war on Germany. After the Allied victory, many Holocaust survivors emigrated to Argentina. So did Nazi war criminals Adolf Eichmann, the chief organizer of the massacre of Jews during the Holocaust, and Josef Mengele, an Auschwitz death camp doctor who performed experiments on prisoners, granted entry by the Juan Perón government. Even decades later, this history made the Supreme Court tread carefully around the discovery. It declined to answer written questions from Reuters on the finding or to allow the news agency to see the booklets. The court has said it discovered the boxes during preparations for a new Supreme Court museum. But the Nazi documents had been seen sporadically in the court's archives since the 1970s, according to interviews with three judiciary employees and a private attorney with direct knowledge of the matter. Reuters could not determine why the trove of documents was not made public until now. "Nazis in Argentina set in motion many feelings," said Argentine historian Germán Friedmann. 'Don't touch' The basement archives housed in the large stone building of Argentina's Supreme Court contain hundreds of thousands of legal case files. It's easy to imagine that something could get lost. The Nazi materials were rediscovered in a room storing broken furniture, according to two judiciary officials. Robles, alerted to the find, then reached out to Hamra, the rabbi. And on May 9, Hamra, Jonathan Karszenbaum, the director of the local Holocaust museum and himself the grandson of survivors, and Horacio Rosatti, the president of the court, gathered in a judge's chamber to watch workers pry open the wooden crates. "I couldn't register even my own sensations because of the strangeness of the moment," said Karszenbaum. The court announced the find two days later. It later said the discovery included 5,000 membership booklets from the German Labor Front and the German Association of Trade Unions, both Nazi labour organisations. But some people who worked in the archives have long known about the boxes of Nazi material. One archive employee said he saw the boxes in the same storage room about a decade ago, and caught a glimpse of booklets with German names in a partially opened box. In the early 1970s, Alberto Garay, now an attorney and constitutional law expert in Buenos Aires, was visiting a friend who worked at the archives. He spotted a pile of red notebooks, imprinted with swastikas and bundled together with string, on the floor, he said. "I was surprised and said, 'what do you have here?'" Garay recalled. "He said, 'don't touch'". A ship and a raid According to the Supreme Court, the material arrived in Argentina in 1941 aboard a Japanese vessel, part of a shipment of 83 packages from the German embassy in Tokyo. The cargo was impounded by customs agents because of concerns it could damage Argentina's war neutrality, the court said. But for local historian Julio Mutti, whose work focuses on Nazis in Argentina, that sounded implausible. In a May 15 article, Mutti suggested the court had conflated two events that occurred a month apart: the arrival of the Japanese ship and a raid on underground Nazi organisations. Argentina was home to about 250,000 German-speakers at the outbreak of World War Two. When Hitler annexed Austria in 1938, more than 10,000 people filled a Buenos Aires stadium to celebrate, causing alarm among locals. In 1939, Argentina's president dissolved the local branch of the Nazi party. Two years later, in 1941, Argentina's congress created a commission to investigate Nazi activities in the country. When the Nan A Maru docked in Buenos Aires, the commission asked the foreign ministry to intervene, according to a Reuters review of reports in La Prensa, a popular Argentine daily at the time. Inspectors opened five packages, finding propaganda, La Prensa reported. Searches of the remaining 78 packages revealed mostly children's books, magazines and envelopes with war photographs. There was no mention of membership booklets. Reuters was unable to determine what happened to the impounded cargo. Around this time, the commission was also investigating whether the banned Nazi party and the German Labor Front were continuing to operate underground. On July 23 — a month after the arrival of the Japanese ship — the authorities raided the offices of the German Association of Trade Unions and the Federation of German Beneficence and Cultural Clubs, fronts for the banned Nazi labour organisation and party, seizing thousands of red membership booklets, according to La Prensa. The booklets were stored in the Supreme Court, La Prensa reported. Mutti, who learned about the raids through archival research in 2016, had searched for the notebooks in the court building, eventually concluding they had been incinerated to make space in the archive. When news broke of the discovery of the red booklets in the basement, "I immediately realised where they came from," he said. In June, the Supreme Court said it was digitising and cataloguing the materials, and released photos of workers in masks and hairnets poring over the find. For now, it's unclear what the rediscovered booklets will reveal. Four historians told Reuters it's unlikely the notebooks will yield information not already uncovered by the wartime commission. Holger Meding, a historian at the University of Cologne, didn't expect the booklets would radically change historians' understanding of Nazi activities in Argentina. But, he said, "for historians, every piece of the mosaic is important." [[nid:720263]]
