Michael Soutzos (, , Constantinople, 1778 or 1784 – Athens, 12 June 1864), was a member of the Soutzos family of Phanariotes, he was the grandson of Michael Drakos Soutzos; he was in turn a Prince of Moldavia, between 12 June 1819 and 29 March 1821. He was initiated into Filiki Eteria, he supported the Greek revolution in Moldavia and Wallachia and after the creation of the Greek state, he served as ambassador of the country abroad.

Biography

He was born in Istanbul in 1778 or according to other sources in 1784. His parents were the Phanariot Grigorios Soutzos and Sevasti Tedeskou. During his adolescence he lived in the court of his grandfather Michael Drakos Soutzos, who was ruler of Wallachia and later, he served as secretary to the Grand Dragoman of the Sublime Porte, John Caradja, whose daughter, Roxani, he married in 1812. In the same year, thanks to his knowledge of languages and the favor of his father in law, he was appointed to the position of the Grand Dragoman.

In 1819 he was placed by the sultan as ruler of Moldavia, position he held until 1821. He also had a position in the council of Sultan Mahmud II and he was one of the consultants that in 1820 supported the suppression of the rebellion of Ali Pasha. In November 1820 he was initiated into the Filiki Eteria by Iakovos Rizos Neroulos.

In January 1821, he finalized his collaboration with Alexander Ypsilantis and with the invasion of Ypsilantis in Moldova on 22 February, Michael Soutzos-Vodas raised the guard in command of the rebels and paid substantial amounts of money for the needs of the army. When after a short time, the movement in Moldova-Wallachia began to ebb, Soutzos forced under the pressure from the boyars, who declared him as downfallen by the time he had help the rebels and had repudiated Ottoman domination, to leave his position in Iași. At first, he moved at Skouleni and then (31 March 1821) in Chișinău of Russian Empire. During the same period the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople excommunicated him and Ypsilantis.

Thereafter, he tried to escape to Switzerland through Austrian Empire but there he was arrested and was imprisoned for almost four years. After his release, he fled first to Italy and then to Switzerland. There, he was hosted in Geneva by the Swiss Philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard. During his stay in Europe, he arranged for the collection and distribution of money in favor of the Greek War of Independence and he was in contact with the "Zakynthos Committee" of Dionysios Romas. Before the undertaking of the governance of Greece by Ioannis Kapodistrias, Soutzos was one of the possible candidates to occupy this position.

During Kapodistrias governance, he was appointed as representative of Greece to France, following the recommendation of Eynard. Later, he was appointed by Otto of Greece as Greek ambassador in France, Russian Empire, Sweden and Denmark. In 1839 he moved permanently in Athens and he served until 1840 as Member of the Council of the State while he was one of the first settlers of the old Athenian neighborhood Vathi or Vatheia.

He died on 12 June 1864 in Athens. From his marriage to Roxani, he had three children, Gregorios Soutzos (famous painter of the time), Ioannis Soutzos and Maria Soutzou.

References

1864 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Politicians from Istanbul
Monarchs of Moldavia
Dragomans of the Porte
Michael
Members of the Filiki Eteria
Moldavian people of the Greek War of Independence
People excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church
Constantinopolitan Greeks
Diplomats from Istanbul

Michael Soutzos


Karl Hermann Heinrich Benda (also Carl Benda), (baptised 2 May 1748 – 15 March 1836) was a German violinist and composer of Bohemian origin.

Life
Karl Benda was the younger of two sons of the violinist and composer Franz Benda. His godparents were the margraves Friedrich Heinrich (Brandenburg-Schwedt) and Karl Friedrich Albrecht von Brandenburg-Schwedt as well as the Russian envoy Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk. Like his sisters Wilhelmine, Maria Carolina, Sophie Anna Henriette, Juliane and his brother Friedrich, he received music lessons from his father Franz Benda. In 1766, Karl was accepted in the Hofkapelle.

As a violin virtuoso, especially in his performance of adagios, Karl Benda closely resembled his father. They were also said to be similar in character, stature and physiognomy. He was also a prized piano teacher; among his students were King Friedrich Wilhelm III as well as his brother Ludwig, who gave him a lifelong patronage. Other students of Karl Benda were Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen, the actor and singer  and the singer Luise Rudorff, whom he saw performing in the Weimarer Hoftheater in 1792, when he was visiting his sisters Wilhelmine and Maria Carolina. Karl Benda was also accompanist at the Royal Opera in Berlin. In 1802, he became successor to his deceased uncle Joseph Benda, who was a concertmaster at the Hofkapelle in Berlin.

Descendants
In 1777, Karl Benda married a daughter of the war minister Friedrich August Barth, with whom he had a son August Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand (1779–1861). On 28 April 1825, while employed as Kammerdirektor for the princes of Thurn und Taxis, he was raised to the nobility by the Bavarian King. Descendants of Wilhelm von Benda's include the MP and landlord Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Robert von Benda (1816–1899), the officer Hans Robert Heinrich von Benda (1856–1919) as well as the officer and conductor Hans Gustav Robert von Benda (1888–1972), who was assigned to write Franz Lorenz's biography Die Musikerfamilie Benda with documents and photos from his private collection.

After the death of his first wife, Karl Benda married the daughter of Freytag, a renowned cloth maker from Potsdam, with whom he had a son Friedrich August Benda (1786–1854). The latter also pursued a career in higher civil service and was a committed patron of music on the board of several societies, including the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin.

See also
 Benda (surname)
 Benda

Works
 Concerto in F major for viola, strings and continuo
 Sonata in E-flat major for violin and continuo (dated April 1, 1785)
 Sonata in F major for violin and continuo (dated †February 16, 1785)
 Sechs Adagios für das Pianoforte nebst Bemerkungen über Spiel und Vortrag des Adagio von Carl Benda pensionirtem Königl. Preuß. Kapellmeister

Further reading
 Ludwig Finscher (ed.): Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. (MGG). Zweite, neubearbeitete Ausgabe. Personenteil 2: Bag-Bi. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, Spalten 1071 und 1074.
 Franz Lorenz: Die Musikerfamilie Benda. Band 1: Franz Benda. Wilhelm de Gruyter, Berlin 1967, S. 94–101.
 Friedrich August Schmidt, Berhardt Friedrich Voigt, Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen. Band 14, Verlag B. F. Voigt, 1838, S. 259–260.
 C. F. Von Ledebur: Tonkünstler-Lexicon Berlin's von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart. Verlag Рипол Классик, 2012, , S. 38,
 Vera Schwarz: Violinspiel und Violinmusik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Bericht über den Internationalen Kongress am Institut für Aufführungspraxis der Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz, vom 25. Juni bis 2. Juli 1972. Universal Edition, 1975, S. 36.

References

External links

1748 births
1836 deaths
German violinists
German Classical-period composers

Karl Hermann Heinrich Benda


Jean-François Collange  (born Le Puy-en-Velay, 1944) is a French Lutheran pastor and professor of theology.

He served as Lutheran pastor in Alsace and New Caledonia, before turning to exegetical studies, taking up a post of practical theology at the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Strasbourg in 1981. He continued teaching at the faculty until 2000.

In 2003 he was elected President of the Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine.

In 2006 he was elected the first president of the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine (UEPAL). He was re-elected in 2009
 and again in 2012, but announced that he would be standing down at the end of 2013.
In an interview in 2013, he admitted that UEPAL was his own initiative.

Bibliography
 Epitre au Corinthiens - 1972
 The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians, 1979  (translation of Epitre au Philippiens - 1973)
 L'éthique du nouveau testament - 1980
 L'épître de Saint Paul à Philémon (Labor et Fides) - 1987
 Théologie des droits de l'homme Editions du Cerf, 1989
 Ethique et transplantation d'organes, 2000
 La vie, quelle vie? [Texte imprimé] : bioéthique et protestantisme, Editions Olivétan, 2007

References

1944 births
Living people
People from Le Puy-en-Velay
20th-century Protestant theologians
French Lutheran theologians
20th-century French theologians
French Protestant ministers and clergy
20th-century Lutheran clergy

Jean-François Collange


Robert James Marella (June 4, 1937 – October 6, 1999), better known by his ring name of Gorilla Monsoon, was an American professional wrestler, play-by-play commentator, and booker.

Monsoon is famous for his run as a villainous super-heavyweight main eventer, and later as the voice of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), as commentator and backstage manager during the 1980s and 1990s. He also portrayed the on-screen role of WWF President from 1995 to 1997.

In professional wrestling, the staging area just behind the entrance curtain at an event, a position which Marella established and where he could often be found during WWF shows late in his career, is named the "Gorilla Position" in his honor.

Early life
Marella attended Jefferson High School in Rochester, New York, becoming a standout athlete in football, amateur wrestling, and track and field. At the time, he weighed over 300 pounds (136 kg) and was affectionately called "Tiny" by his teammates.

Marella was also a standout athlete after high school at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. He continued to wrestle, now weighing over 350 pounds, and took second in the 1959 NCAA Wrestling Championships. He also held several school athletic records, including an 18-second wrestling pin, and several track-and-field distinctions. He was inducted into the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1973. During the summers he was at Ithaca College, he was a construction worker in Rochester. One of the buildings he helped construct was the Rochester War Memorial Arena. He was inducted into the Section V Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010 along with longtime childhood friend Frank Marotta who gave a speech on his behalf.

Marella's size and athletic ability attracted the attention of New York promoter Pedro Martinez, and he went to wrestle for Martinez after graduating from Ithaca in 1959. Gorilla was 6'2" and weighed around 330 pounds when he first started wrestling professionally. By the end of his career, he was up around 375 pounds, although he had weighed as much as 440 pounds at points.

Professional wrestling career

Early career
Marella debuted in 1958, originally billing himself as Gino Marella, a proud Italian American babyface who would sing in Italian prior to his matches. Even after changing his ring name, "Gino" stuck as Marella's nickname among friends and colleagues, including Jesse Ventura, who would call Marella "Gino" on the air. He would work in Toronto, Calgary, St. Louis and Japan. Marella garnered moderate popularity but soon realized that fans paid more attention to outlandish monster heel gimmicks, and they, therefore, made more money. Marella totally revamped his image, growing a long beard and billing himself as Gorilla Monsoon, a terrifying giant from Manchuria. Supposedly born on an isolated farm, "Monsoon" traveled across the countryside with a gypsy caravan wrestling bears, spoke no English, ate raw meat, and drank his victims' blood. The story given on WWWF television was a bit different: his first manager, Bobby Davis, claimed to have discovered Monsoon in Manchuria wading nude in a mountain stream. The Monsoon character was far more successful, and fans were genuinely afraid of him, sparking a huge financial windfall for Marella. In the ring, Monsoon dominated opponents with vicious chops, the dreaded Manchurian Splash, and his signature move, the Airplane Spin.

WWWF/WWF career
In 1963, Vincent J. McMahon reformed the Capitol Wrestling Corporation into the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (currently known as World Wrestling Entertainment), breaking his territory away from the National Wrestling Alliance in an attempt to create a new national powerhouse. At the time, the WWWF was the dominant wrestling promotion in the Northeast U.S.. Marella formed a friendship with McMahon, and became a 1/6 shareholder in the WWWF, controlling bookings in several WWWF territories. He also became one of the promotion's top heels, feuding with popular babyface champion Bruno Sammartino in sellout arenas across the country. Despite his huge size, then in excess of 400 pounds, Monsoon had great agility and stamina, often wrestling Sammartino to one-hour time-limit draws.

Monsoon first wrestled Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Championship on October 4, 1963, at Roosevelt Stadium, in Jersey City, New Jersey Monsoon qualified by winning a partially televised Ring Wrestling Magazine tournament, where he pinned Killer Buddy Austin in about a minute.
Monsoon's disqualification win over Sammartino in NJ triggered a series of rematches at Madison Square Garden, and they would renew the feud again there in 1967. At the end of the Jersey City match, as Monsoon was sitting on the mat, a fan (not part of the show) jumped into the ring and broke the back of a wooden chair over Monsoon's head.

Monsoon teamed up with Killer Kowalski with success. In November 1963, they defeated Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard to win the U.S. Tag Team Championship. The following month, the duo lost the belts to the Tolos Brothers (Chris and John) in Teaneck, New Jersey. Monsoon and Kowalski reunited in the late 1960s to defeat champion Bruno Sammartino and Victor Rivera 2 falls to 1 in Madison Square Garden in a main event, marking the first, and possibly only, time that Sammartino & Rivera lost as a tag team.

Monsoon also teamed with Professor Toru Tanaka in 1967, and they had a number of tag matches in Madison Square Garden. They won a main event on disqualification over Sammartino and Spiros Arion and later lost a Texas Death rematch to the same team. A year later, after defeating teams such as Al Costello & Dr. Bill Miller and Bobo Brazil and Earl Maynard, they went on to lose a main event to Sammartino and Victor Rivera. Monsoon had semi main event matches with Spiros Arion as well as Bobo Brazil in his key heel years.

Also in 1968 he won the IWA World Heavyweight Championship (Australia) defeating Mario Milano on February 2 and dropped the belt to Spiros Arion.

In 1969, Monsoon became a babyface, befriending his former arch-rival when Sammartino rescued him from an attack by "Crazy" Luke Graham, a former tag team partner of Monsoon. The stage was set for Monsoon to become a fan favorite of the 1970s and feud with top heels of the decade, including champion Superstar Billy Graham; he then began to speak English. He turned heel for a short time in 1977 and feuded with André the Giant, and the two engaged in a special boxing match in Puerto Rico (where Monsoon owned stock in the territory), with André winning the match. As a face, he had major wins in Madison Square Garden, including over Killer Kowalski as well as "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd.

On June 1, 1976, a famous incident occurred in Philadelphia involving boxing great Muhammad Ali during a taping for the syndicated WWWF TV show. Ali, preparing for his upcoming crossover bout with Antonio Inoki in Japan later that month, jumped into the ring as Monsoon (who rarely appeared as a wrestler on their TV shows) was concluding a short match against Baron Mikel Scicluna. Ali removed his shirt and started dancing around Monsoon while gesturing and throwing jabs at him, to which Monsoon responded by grabbing Ali in his Airplane Spin and slamming him to the mat. Marella would never reveal whether the incident was preplanned. In an interview, he commented, "I never saw him before and haven't seen him since."

A kind of torch bearer of the Vincent J. McMahon-era WWWF, Gorilla Monsoon was rabidly supported by New York audiences. On June 16, 1980, a young and up-and-coming Hulk Hogan was booked to face him at Madison Square Garden. At the time, Hogan was a widely followed heel character, while Monsoon was still a babyface. However, in order to push the new talent, McMahon told Hulk Hogan to beat Monsoon in under a minute. Upon that outcome, the crowd became livid and chased Hogan when he was leaving the arena, turning over his car. Policemen on horses had to be summoned to quiet the mob.

As the 1980s began, Marella's in-ring career wound down. On August 23, Monsoon put his career on the line in a match against Ken Patera. Monsoon lost and only wrestled a few more matches, retiring several weeks later. Following this he fought only four times: wrestling a six-man tag team match at Madison Square Garden in 1981, a match in 1982 as a substitute for André the Giant where he defeated Swede Hanson, taking part in Big John Studd's "Body Slam Challenge" in 1983, and wrestling at WWC's tenth anniversary show in a loss to Abdullah Tamba in San Juan, Puerto Rico (also in 1983). The next phase of his career began, as the voice and backstage manager of WWF.

After in-ring retirement

In the early 1980s, Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon, began assuming the reins of the promotion from his father. The elder McMahon asked his son to take care of long-time employees who had been loyal to him. The younger McMahon agreed, and in 1982, Vince bought Marella's shares in the company in exchange for a guarantee of lifetime employment. As he had been to his father, Marella became a close confidant of the younger McMahon, and assumed a prominent backstage role within the then WWF. Marella would then become an announcer for the WWF starting in 1982. In addition, McMahon needed a new commentary team to head up his television programming, and installed Marella with the recently retired Jesse "The Body" Ventura in 1985.

Marella and Ventura had great chemistry, with Ventura as the pro-heel color commentator and Marella as the pro-face "voice of reason". Marella and Ventura called five of the first six WrestleManias together (the notable exception was WrestleMania 2, where Marella commentated on the Chicago portion of the event with Gene Okerlund, Cathy Lee Crosby and Ernie "The Cat" Ladd while Ventura commentated on the Los Angeles portion with Lord Alfred Hayes and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark).

The Ventura/Monsoon duo of heel and babyface were the original broadcast duo, setting the standard which all who followed would attempt to emulate, especially Ventura's charismatic pro-heel character which was a first of its kind as previous wrestling commentators had almost always been in favor of the fan favorites. The pair commentated on all the WWF pay-per-views together with the exception of the first two SummerSlams and the 1990 Royal Rumble (at SummerSlam 1988 Ventura was the guest referee for the main event so Monsoon commentated with "Superstar" Billy Graham, while Ventura was paired with Tony Schiavone at both SummerSlam 1989 and the Royal Rumble). When Ventura left the WWF in mid-1990, he was replaced in commentary by Monsoon's Prime Time Wrestling co-host, heel manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, another duo that subsequent wrestling commentary teams have often tried to emulate. Though the pair were frequently at odds on screen — with Monsoon regularly yelling, "Will you stop?" in response to Heenan's denigration of fan-favorite wrestlers — in real life they formed a close friendship that Heenan often recalled fondly. In his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech at the 2004 ceremony, Heenan finished by saying that only one thing was missing – that he wished Monsoon was there. Other people who were often paired with Monsoon in the broadcast booth included Lord Alfred Hayes, Luscious Johnny Valiant, Johnny Polo, "Superstar" Billy Graham, Hillbilly Jim, Tony Schiavone, Jim Neidhart, Randy Savage and Jim Ross.

Monsoon called the first eight WrestleManias from 1985 to 1992. Monsoon was the lead commentator on the syndicated show, WWF All Star Wrestling, its successor WWF Wrestling Challenge, and the USA Network weekend show, WWF All American Wrestling, as well as hosting the WWF weeknight show, Prime Time Wrestling. Monsoon also served as co-host of Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS during McMahon's short-lived ownership of the promotion.

Later career
Marella stepped down as the WWF's lead commentator at WrestleMania IX (where he was Master of Ceremonies) to make way for WCW recruit Jim Ross. He was phased out of Wrestling Challenge with Bobby Heenan and was moved to All-American Wrestling with Lord Alfred Hayes on April 11, 1993. He commentated with Jim Ross on WWF Radio for the broadcasts of SummerSlam 1993, Survivor Series 1993 and Royal Rumble 1994. He returned to the television broadcast team to call the King of the Ring 1994 with Randy Savage as well as covering a few episodes of Monday Night RAW in 1993 and 1994 whenever Vince McMahon was unavailable. He was also called upon sporadically to return to Challenge from 1993 to 1995, calling action with Stan Lane, Ted DiBiase, and Ross again. Monsoon also did various work for Coliseum Video. Marella's last pay-per-view commentary was for the 1994 Survivor Series, with Vince McMahon on play-by-play. Marella remained in his backstage role and appeared on-air frequently, becoming the storyline WWF President in the summer of 1995 (replacing Jack Tunney). The WWF President's role was to arbitrate disputes between wrestlers and make matches, similar to later WWE "general managers".

In January 1996, Monsoon was attacked and (kayfabe) severely injured by Vader: Roddy Piper became interim WWF President until WrestleMania XII, when Marella assumed the position again. Health concerns forced him to relinquish this role during the summer of 1997. Instead of naming a replacement, the WWF decided to retire the role of "President" and introduced Sgt. Slaughter as the new WWF Commissioner in August 1997. Marella's health deteriorated from there. In late 1998, Marella returned briefly to call the international version of WWF Superstars. In 1999, Marella appeared in a WWF Attitude commercial featuring Freddie Blassie, Ernie Ladd, Pat Patterson and Killer Kowalski. He appeared as one of the three judges for a Brawl for All contest between Bart Gunn and Butterbean at WrestleMania XV. Because of his frail appearance and rapidly declining health, the camera only focused on Monsoon during his introduction as a judge, for which he received a standing ovation. His final occasion on television with WWF would be as a guest commentator on the August 29, 1999 international version of Superstars.

Personal life
Marella was married to his wife, Maureen, for more than 40 years and had three children: Sharon (born 1960), Joey (1963–1994), and Valerie (born 1966). Víctor Quiñones (1959-2006) was listed in Gorilla's obituary as his son as well.

On July 4, 1994, his son, Joey Marella, fell asleep at the wheel and died in a car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike, while returning from refereeing a WWF event in Ocean City, Maryland. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

In early 1994, Marella co-hosted the short-lived morning variety/game show Bingo Break on WBFF in Baltimore, Maryland, which also featured fellow WWF on-air personality Sean Mooney as the bingo caller. The program did not acknowledge Marella's wrestling career, and as such he was billed on-camera as Bob Marella rather than as Gorilla Monsoon.

Death and legacy
Marella died on October 6, 1999, of heart failure brought on by complications of diabetes, at his home in Willingboro Township, New Jersey. He was 62 years old. His body was buried next to his son, Joey Marella, at Lakeview Memorial Park in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.

Nick Ravo of The New York Times described Monsoon as "legendary" and "one of the most famous athlete-entertainers ever to don tights". Longtime industry journalist Bill Apter remarked, "He was one of the best heels – what wrestlers call a bad guy – in the business... the Gorilla Monsoon image was genuinely frightening." Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch commended Monsoon's physical agility, and noted that he became "a significant star in a lot of different places and had a very nice career". Martin reported that fellow wrestlers "generally speak pretty highly" of Monsoon, with particular praise for his movement and portrayal of his character. Martin, however, said that Monsoon gained "bad weight" and lost mobility later in his career. WWE described him as "one of the most feared competitors" in professional wrestling, adding, "Whether in the ring, at the mic or behind the scenes, Robert 'Gorilla Monsoon' Marella will always be remembered as one of the greatest of all-time." He has been inducted into various wrestling halls of fame, including the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994.

Monsoon's announcing has garnered both praise and derision. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletters annual awards poll, readers voted Monsoon Worst Television Announcer a record six times between 1985 and 1995. Appraising his commentary in 1988, journalist Stately Wayne Manor remarked, "Monsoon is aptly named after a counterproductive wind storm that nobody welcomes." Writer Dave Meltzer referred to conversations with "irate wrestlers in the 80s who hated Monsoon killing their psychology".

Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch noted that some regard Monsoon as "one of the all-time great announcers", while others feel he was "self-indulgent" and "dismissive of certain wrestlers", and had a tendency to "undermine the drama" by questioning the effectiveness of particular maneuvers. Baltimore Sun journalist Kevin Eck wrote that "a lot of people have fond memories of [Monsoon] from the 1980s boom period in WWF, especially his work with Bobby Heenan". Eck acknowledged the criticism of Monsoon among sections of the audience, but defended his use of absurdity and cliché as "entertaining", and argued that "he sold the angles well and got the characters over". PWInsiders Dave Scherer said of Monsoon, "I did love him as an announcer". Rolling Stones Joseph Hudak reported that Heenan and Monsoon "are regarded as the greatest color-commentary team in pro-wrestling history", and "had a Martin-and-Lewis like chemistry behind the mic".

Heenan consistently named Monsoon as his favorite announcing partner. In contemplating his "Mount Rushmore of wrestling announcers", veteran commentator Jim Ross stated, "Gordon Solie, Bob Caudle, Lance Russell, Gorilla Monsoon would be four off the top of my head that I would put on there."

Tributes
In a tribute that aired on October 7, 1999, on an episode of WWF SmackDown!, McMahon described Marella as "one of the greatest men I have ever known." WCW commentator Tony Schiavone acknowledged Marella's death on the October 11, 1999, episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Bobby Heenan insisted on doing a tribute to Marella, even though Marella never worked for WCW. Heenan said on-air: "Gorilla will be sadly missed. Now he was one big tough man. He was a decent honest man. And we're all gonna miss him very much. And you know the pearly gates in heaven? It's now gonna be called 'the Gorilla position.' Goodbye, my friend."

When Heenan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004, he ended his acceptance speech with, "Only one thing's missing: I wish Monsoon was here." In 2007, when Anthony Carelli made his debut with WWE, he was given the ring name "Santino Marella", as a tribute.

Championships and accomplishments

Amateur wrestling
 Ithaca College
Athletic Hall of Fame (1973)
 National Wrestling Hall of Fame (2011)

Professional wrestling
 Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
 George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
 Class of 2011
 Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
 Class of 2010
 World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
 IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Federation
 WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Killer Kowalski (1) and Bill Watts (1)
 Slammy Award (1 time)
 Most Evolutionary (1994) –
 WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1994)
 World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)
 WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Luke Graham (1) and El Mongol (1)
 World Wrestling Council
 WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Worst Television Announcer (1985, 1991–1995)

References

External links

 Robert Marella's Ithaca College Quarterly obituary

1937 births
1999 deaths
20th-century American male actors
American color commentators
American male professional wrestlers
American male sport wrestlers
American professional wrestlers of Italian descent
Deaths from diabetes
Faux East Asian professional wrestlers
Ithaca College alumni
People from Willingboro Township, New Jersey
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling announcers
Professional wrestling executives
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Professional wrestling trainers
Sportspeople from Rochester, New York
Stampede Wrestling alumni
WWE Hall of Fame inductees
20th-century professional wrestlers
NWA Americas Tag Team Champions
IWA World Heavyweight Champions (Australia)
WWWF United States Tag Team Champions

Gorilla Monsoon


Krasnoye Znamya (Красное Знамя, Red Banner, ex-Khrabryy) was a Soviet gunboat. The ship had been built in the late 19th century as the Khrabryy (Храбрый, Brave) by the Russian Empire. The ship was the only craft of its class. The Krasnoye Znamya was sunk in the harbour of Lavansaari in the Gulf of Finland on November 18, 1942, after an attack by Finnish MTBs.

The sinking of Krasnoye Znamya

During World War I Khrabryy participated in the battles in the Baltic Sea. It was lightly damaged during the Battle of Moon Sound in 1917. On December 31, 1922, the ship was renamed to Krasnoye Znamya.

After the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940 between Finland and the Soviet Union, the island of Lavansaari had been handed over to the Soviets. During the Continuation War the island was a Soviet naval base and housed a radar station. On November 18, 1942, the three Finnish motor torpedo boats Syöksy, Vinha and Vihuri, as well as a minelaying KM-boat made an assault on the harbour of Lavansaari. Syöksy managed to hit the Krasnoye Znamya with one torpedo. She was sunk in her moorings. Commanding officer of Syöksy, lieutenant commander Jouko Pirhonen was awarded the Mannerheim Cross for the successful attack.

The Krasnoye Znamya was salvaged on November 13, 1943, and recommissioned on September 17, 1944. She was finally decommissioned in 1960.

References

World War II naval ships of the Soviet Union
1895 ships
Gunboats
Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Finland
Maritime incidents in November 1942
World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea
World War I naval ships of Russia

Soviet gunboat Krasnoye Znamya


Sexual orientation discrimination (also known as sexualism) is discrimination based on a person's sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy.

Sexual bias
Sexual orientation discrimination often comes up in the context of employment actions. It refers to sexual prejudice, a negative attitude towards someone that is based on their sexual orientation. An example of this bias is homophobia, which refers to discrimination towards someone who is homosexual. Often in the work environment, this is seen with heterosexual individuals whom are prejudiced against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people (among others). This is specifically referred to as heterosexism.

An earlier definition of this term is: Sexual orientation discrimination is a belief or argument that one sexual orientation or sexual behaviour is inherently superior to some or all others. Usually it comes in the form of heterosexuality being considered the only natural, normal, or moral mode of sexual behavior, and is also used to refer to the effects of that instinct. The word heterosexism has also been proposed to mean essentially the same thing as this form of sexual orientation discrimination. This word has been suggested as an alternative to homophobia, in part because it uses a parallel structure to sexism or racism. The intent of the concept of heterosexism is the examination of the cultural bias against non-heterosexuals rather than individual bias, which is the focus of homophobia, as well as the adverse effects of normative heterosexuality on heterosexual identifying people.

Forms of discrimination

Employment actions
Employment actions (or ultimate employment actions), refer to hiring, firing, demotions, promotions, and compensation. Adverse employment actions, however, include termination, demotions, suspension, and changes to conditions, responsibilities and pay. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex. In Bostock v. Clayton County 590 U.S. ___ 2020, the Supreme Court found that adverse employment actions made due to an employee's sexual orientation or gender identity violates Title VII.

Service provision
Sexual orientation discrimination also occurs at the time of service provision from a business or government agency to an individual or group. Such services may include dining at a restaurant, visiting a partner at the hospital, receiving healthcare, or acquiring a marriage license.

Sexuality or sexual nature
The term pansexualism, seen especially in the field of early-20th-century psychoanalysis, was based on the usage of the term "sexualism" to refer to humanity's sexual nature. The terms "homosexualism" and "bisexualism" were also based on this usage, and were commonly used before the general adoption of the terms homosexuality and bisexuality.

Key court decisions

Latta v. Otter
Latta v. Otter, 771 F.3d 456 (9th Cir. 2014) is a court case that resulted from a federal lawsuit filed by four couples from Boise, Idaho, where same-sex marriage remained illegal until the couples' victory in 2014. Prior to Latta v. Otter, only 16 U.S. states had legalized same-sex marriage, and Idaho refused to recognize same-sex marriages performed in such states. On September 8, 2014, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Idaho's ban on same-sex marriage was a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.

Obergefell v. Hodges
Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) is the landmark civil rights case that resulted in federal legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. In July 2013, James Obergefell and John Arthur James, filed a lawsuit in the state of Ohio because of its refusal to recognize same-sex marriages on death certificates. In September 2013, the lawsuit was amended to include a second gay couple and a funeral director who feared prosecution for falsifying death certificates if he were to note same-sex spouses on gay clients' documents.

Hively v. Ivy Tech Community, College of Indiana
Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, __ F.3d __, 2017 WL 1230393 (7th Cir. Apr. 4, 2017) ruled in an 8-3 decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that sex discrimination includes homophobia, and therefore violates federal civil rights law.  Part-time professor and open lesbian Kimberley Hively applied multiple times for full-time employment, but she was not approved, and her contract was not renewed. She claimed that this was due to her sexuality, and filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Seventh Circuit Court ruled in her favor.

Bostock v. Clayton County
Prior to the Bostock v. Clayton County case, the language of Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 left the phrase 'on the basis of sex' up for interpretation. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recognized members of the LGBTQ community as a protected class under Title VII since 2013, but even in 2020, only 21 states had extended employment discrimination protections to members the LGBTQ community. The Bostock ruling found that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity would, in fact, be considered discrimination on the basis of sex.

See also
Antisexualism
Biphobia
Discrimination against asexual people
Heteronormativity
Heterosexism
Homophobia
Sexism
Sexualization
Transphobia

Notes

References
White, Chris, 'Nineteenth-century Writings on Homosexuality: a sourcebook' -
Wolman, Benjamin B., 'International Encyclopedia of Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychoanalysis & Neurology' (1977)
Fish, J. Heterosexism in Health & Social Care. Basingstoke: Palgrave. (2006)
Jackson, S. (2006) Gender, sexuality and heterosexuality: the complexity (and limits) of heteronormativity. Feminist Theory, 7 ( 1). pp. 105–121. ISSN 1464-7001
Michael Rusie, The Meaning of Adverse Employment Actions in the Context of Title VII Retaliation Claims,
9 WASH. U. J. L. & POL'Y 379 (2002),
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol9/iss1/11
Bachman, Eric. "What Counts as an 'Adverse Employment Action' in Discrimination and Retaliation Cases?" Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericbachman/2021/11/15/what-counts-as-an-adverse-employment-action-in-discrimination-and-retaliation-cases/.
 Wolf, Richard (June 15, 2020). "Supreme Court grants federal job protections to gay, lesbian, transgender workers". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2020.

LGBT and society
LGBT studies articles needing attention

Sexual orientation discrimination


Nedderman Hall (abbreviated NH) is an academic engineering building located on the University of Texas at Arlington campus. The building houses the Civil Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments, lecture halls, research labs, the offices of the Dean of the College of Engineering, and a Science and Engineering library.

It is named after Wendell Nedderman, Ph.D., P.E., civil engineering professor emeritus as well as former UT Arlington Dean of Engineering (1959–1969) and President (1972–1992).

History

Labeled the "New Engineering Building" in 1988 university maps, the newly renamed "Engineering Building II" was dedicated on October 8, 1988.  In 1991, the University renamed the building after Dr. Nedderman.

Hall of Flags

Shortly after the building opened, the College installed the Hall of Flags.  Every student who had ever attended the College of Engineering had his country's flag on display.  A matrix of 123 flags, with the Texas Lone Star flag, at west end, and the USA flag on the east end, suspended 50 feet above the ground, the Hall of Flags was an imposing sight.

Flags controversy
In April 2006, some Vietnamese Americans objected to the hanging of the national flag of Vietnam.  The flag of the former South Vietnam had been hanging in the Hall of Flags since its beginning.  The national flag of North Vietnam has long been associated with the current communist state in Vietnam.  On April 28, university President James D. Spaniolo stated in an editorial in the student newspaper, the Shorthorn, that the University's official stance on the flags was:

"By displaying these flags, the University is not endorsing these nations or their politics or policies; we are supporting the UT Arlington students and alumni who come from these nations.  The flags represent students' countries of origin, not governments."

On April 30, 2006, over 3,000 Vietnamese Americans around the state came to the campus to protest the hanging of the flag.

On May 10, 2006, UTA President James Spaniolo ordered the removal of all 123 flags from the Hall of Flags until a committee can be formed "to explore alternative means to celebrate the diversity of our student body."

The flags have now been replaced by UT Arlington banners.

WiFi connectivity
Nedderman Hall is covered by the UTA wireless network that provides 802.11n access to students, faculty, and staff. Guest access is available, but is limited to access to pages hosted on the UTA domain. Full access can be granted to guests with a faculty or staff sponsor through the Office of Information Technology.

Departments

Nedderman Hall houses two of the nine engineering departments at UTA, and some of their respective labs. The departments housed in Nedderman Hall are:
 Electrical Engineering
 Civil & Environmental Engineering

In addition, the top floor of the building houses the offices of the Dean of the College of Engineering as well as the office of W. H. Nedderman, an engineering professor and former president of UTA for whom the building is named. The second floor houses the College of Engineering Engineering Student Services.

The other engineering departments at UTA are housed in Woolf Hall, the Engineering Lab Building, the Engineering Research Building, and the NanoFab Research & Teaching Facility.

Organizations
Nedderman Hall houses 13 of the 21 engineering student organizations at UTA:

 Association for Computing Machinery
 Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies
 American Society of Civil Engineers
 Chi Epsilon - Civil Engineering Honor Society
 Eta Kappa Nu - Electrical and Computer Engineering Honor Society
 IEEE
 Institute of Transportation Engineers
 Joint Council of Engineering Organizations
 National Society of Black Engineers
 Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
 Society of Women Engineers
 Tau Beta Pi - Engineering Honor Society
 Upsilon Pi Epsilon - International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines

Science & Engineering Library
UT Arlington's Science & Engineering library is located in the basement of the building and provides
extensive resources to the students. This library, like the other four libraries on the UTA campus, is open to the public for research and extends borrowing and other privileges to many non-UTA-affiliated individuals through the TexShare program.

Center for Distance Education
As of June 1, 2011, part of the third floor of Nedderman Hall is now home to UT Arlington's Center for Distance Education.

References

External links
The University of Texas at Arlington
College of Engineering at UT Arlington
Save The Hall of Flags
News article about flag removal (2006-05-11, retrieved 2007-09-03)

University of Texas at Arlington campus
University and college academic buildings in the United States
University and college buildings completed in 1988

Nedderman Hall


"Children of the Damned" is the thirteenth episode of the first season of The CW television series, The Vampire Diaries and the thirteenth episode of the series overall. It originally aired on February 4, 2010. The episode was written by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec and directed by Marcos Siega.

Plot
In 1864, Katherine (Nina Dobrev) stops a horse-drawn carriage and asks for help because her husband has been attacked. A man is laying on the road and one of the two men from the carriage goes to help him. Katherine attacks the one who left at the carriage and then the other one. Her "husband" gets up and it is revealed to be Damon (Ian Somerhalder) who is still human and Katherine teaches him how a vampire acts.

In the present day, Damon enters Stefan's (Paul Wesley) room without caring he is with Elena. He wants to start looking for the Grimoire and Stefan promised to help him, which for him means Elena is also helping. He asks her to find Jonathan Gilbert's journal that is the key to where the Grimoire is.

Anna (Malese Jow) calls Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) trying to arrange a date with him while Ben (Sean Faris) is getting ready for his date with Bonnie (Kat Graham) later. Meanwhile, at the Gilbert house, Elena and Stefan talk about Damon as Elena is looking for Jonathan's journal. Jeremy shows up and tells them that he gave the journal to Alaric (Matt Davis).

In 1864, Damon is with Katherine when Emily (Bianca Lawson) gets into the room and announces to Katherine that Pearl (Kelly Hu) is here to see her. Katherine meets Pearl, who tells her that she worries with the fact that she is with both Salvatore brothers and them knowing their vampire secret. She gives Katherine an elixir made of vervain and informs her that people start to drink it because they suspect about the vampires. Pearl wants to move to another town but Katherine's not ready. While they are talking, Pearl's daughter passes by and it's revealed that is no other than Anna.

Stefan and Damon's dad, Giuseppe (James Remar), is a vampire hunter and promises his fellow hunters that both of his boys will help them. He later talks to his sons about their plan and he asks for their help. When their father walks away, Stefan says that if they talk to him about Katherine, they will convince him not to kill her. Damon does not believe that and he makes Stefan promise that he will not tell a thing.

Stefan, despite his promise, tries to talk to his father denying though that he knows any vampires, but his father figures out that he is lying and spikes his drink with vervain. Later, Stefan is with Katherine who tries to feed on him but because of the vervain, she faints. Giuseppe gets into the room and asks Stefan to call the sheriff. Stefan tries to change his dad's mind but he cannot. They take Katherine away to burn her with the other vampires.

Back in the present day, Alaric reads Jonathan's journal at school, while Anna is watching him. Alaric hears something and calls to see if anyone is there. When he does not get any response, he goes to his locker and gets a gun that shoots wooden stakes. He returns to the classroom and finds Stefan there. He shoots him, but Stefan catches the stake before it hits him. Alaric tries to reload but Stefan stops him and gets the gun.

Stefan asks Alaric to sit so they can talk and promises he will not hurt him and he gives Alaric his gun back. Alaric is confused but he trusts him and he tells him why he is in Mystic Falls. He admits that he witnessed a vampire, Damon, killing his wife but Damon had to hear him and he disappeared along with his wife's body. Stefan tells him that if he is here for revenge it will not end good for him and he offers to help him. He asks where the journal is and Alaric points the desk where he left it but the journal is not there anymore.

Anna got the journal and now she reads it to find where the Grimoire is while Ben leaves for his date with Bonnie. Later, Ben tries to fish info from Bonnie about Elena and unsuspected Bonnie tells him that the two of them are like sisters and that she would die for her. Bonnie, decides to give it a chance and she kisses Ben. The moment she does, though, she senses evil and pulls back. She acts as nothing happened and tells him that she needs to go to the bathroom. Ben realizes that Bonnie is suspecting him so he follows her to the bathroom and kidnaps her.

In the meantime, Damon is at Elena's house cooking and talking with Jenna (Sara Canning) while Stefan is with Alaric. Elena is surprised to see him there. Jenna leaves them alone and Damon asks Elena straight if he can trust Stefan, something that Elena reassures him that he can. The night continues with Damon and Jeremy playing video games and Jeremy telling him about Anna. Stefan arrives, also surprised to see Damon there, and tells them what happened and that someone else took the journal. In the question who else knew about it, Damon interrogates Jeremy who admits that Anna also showed interest in it. Damon leaves with Jeremy to find Anna. Anna arrives and Damon sees her from afar, recognizing her as Pearl's daughter.

While Damon is off to track Anna, Stefan tells Elena that he has a copy of the journal from Alaric. They start reading it and Elena finds a mention of Stefan's father in it. They cannot find though any mention of where the Grimoire might be and Stefan remembers a conversation he had with his father and realizes where the Grimoire is; buried with his father. The two of them go to Giuseppe's tomb and start digging it up.

Damon follows Anna at the Grill's restroom and attacks her but she fights him back and they both give up. Anna tells him she was wondering how long it would take him to find her and they go to her motel to talk. She tells Damon that the key to open the tomb is hidden in his dad's journal and asks for his help. Damon takes the journal for himself and walks away telling her that he works alone.

Elena and Stefan find the Grimoire but Damon shows up. Damon looks hurt but also mad over their betrayal, especially Elena's who promised him that he could trust Stefan and he believed her. Damon asks for the journal otherwise he will kill Elena. Stefan knows that he would never do that but then, unexpectedly, Damon grabs Elena and forces her to drink his blood. He would not kill her but he could turn her into a vampire without hesitation. Stefan knows that he would do that and gives him the journal while he walks away with a terrified Elena.

Damon gets the journal and flashes back to the night he lost Katherine. He tried to stop his father but his father tells him that anyone who sides with the vampires will also get killed. Stefan finds Damon and promises to help him save Katherine but Damon is so mad at him and he accuses him that it is his fault.

At the last flashback, we see that Pearl in her attempt to run away runs into Jonathan Gilbert whose watchpoints to her indicating she is a vampire. Pearl is shot and captured while her daughter Anna is watching with Emily. Emily promises Anna she will see her mother again. Stefan also sees Emily with Anna hiding but he does not say a word to the hunters.

Back at the Gilbert house, Elena asks Stefan to bring her an aspirin and he goes downstairs to ask Jenna for one. Jenna tells him that Jeremy's friend Anna is in the house. Stefan, in a quick flashback to the night when Katherine was captured, he remembers Pearl's daughter and realizes who is Anna. He runs upstairs to Elena's room but Elena is gone.

Feature music
In "Children of the Damned" we can hear the songs:
"Stellar" by Experimental Aircraft
"Goodbye" by Elefant
"Floating Vibes" by Surfer Blood
"When You're Ready" by Kate Earl

Reception

Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "Children of the Damned" was watched by 3.99 million; up by 0.28 from the previous episode.

Reviews
"Children of the Damned" received positive reviews.

Matt Richenthal from TV Fanatic rated the episode with 5/5 saying that it was one of the most dense episodes of the season. "It was a sexy, engrossing, suspenseful, educational hour of television." Richenthal also praises Dobrev's acting as Katherine: "How great is Nina Dobrev as Katherine?!? The actress made us forget about Elena during the opening scene. Whether Dobrev has been consulting with Ian Somerhalder for tips on how to act evil is unclear, but this much is not: she relished taking on such a new, different role."

Popsugar of Buzzsugar gave a good review to the episode saying: "We might have been prepared for The Vampire Diaries flashback episode "Children of the Damned" with this sneak peek a while back, but watching this week's episode filled in a lot of blanks. I love the jump from the modern-day mystery to the 1800s ancestral stories, but even more, I love how layered the story is." Popsugar also praised Dobrev's acting as Katherine starting that she enjoyed seeing her.

Licia of Heroine TV also gave a good review to the episode stating that the flashbacks didn't disappoint. "The flashbacks were illuminating, and left me wanting more. For every question that was answered, more questions were uncovered for the viewers to ponder. I love a show that fosters theories, and this has definitely become one."

Josie Kafka from Doux Reviews rated the episode with 3.5/4 stating that the episode was wonderful while Robin Franson Pruter from Forced Viewing rated the episode with 3/4 saying: "A good, flashback-heavy episode examines the concepts of trust and betrayal."

Zeba of Two Cents TV gave a good review to the episode commenting: "Who knew things could get any juicier or plot-twistier on the Vampire Diaries? This week, not only are there major happenings going on in Damon's quest to release Katherine from her underground tomb (as well as Stefan and Elena's secret quest to stop him), we get more awesome flashbacks about how everything came to pass – and it looks like it's all Stefan's fault."

References

2010 American television episodes
The Vampire Diaries (season 1) episodes
Fiction set in 1864
Television episodes directed by Marcos Siega

Children of the Damned (The Vampire Diaries)


Arvīds Pelše (, Arvid Yanovich Pelshe;  – 29 May 1983) was a Latvian Soviet politician, functionary, and historian.

Career
Pelše was born into a peasant family, in Mazie farm near Zālīte, Iecava in Bauska District, Latvia to Johan Pelše and his wife Lisa. He was baptized in the village church on 14 March of the same year. As a worker in Riga, Pelše joined the Social-Democratic Party (Bolsheviks) of the Latvian Region in 1915. In 1916, he met Lenin in Switzerland. Between 1914 and 1918, Pelše worked in the workshops of Riga and Vitebsk, as a milling machine operator at the steam-engine making plant in Kharkov, as a punching worker in Petrograd and a loader in the port of Arkhangelsk. On behalf of the local committees he had joined the revolutionary propaganda. He was a delegate of the sixth congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party of the Arkhangelsk party organization. He participated in the February Revolution in 1917 and was a member of the famous Petrograd Soviet. He was actively involved in the preparation and conducting of the October Revolution in 1917. In 1918, he joined the Cheka. In 1918, he was sent by Lenin to Latvia to prosecute the revolution there. In 1919, he was attached to the Red Army and later became a manager in the Construction Ministry of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. After the defeat of the Soviet Latvian government, he returned to Russia in 1919.

He was a lecturer and political commissar in the Red Army from 1919 to 1929. In 1931, he graduated from the history department of the Moscow Institute of the Red Professoriat, and between 1931 and 1933, he was a graduate student in the institute. At the same time, he was an instructor at the Institute of Party History at the Central School of NKVD between 1929 and 1932. Between 1933 and 1937, he was first deputy of the Commissariat of State Farms (Sovkhozes). Between 1937 and 1940, he taught history in the Moscow Higher Educational Institute. In June 1940, he played a leading role in the process of admitting of Latvia into the USSR. From March 1941 to 1959, he served as Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia for propaganda and agitation. During the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945, he worked to prepare the party and the Soviet cadres to transform Latvia into a communist state.

In 1958, he traveled to Denmark to attend the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Denmark. July 1959 to November 1959 marked the purge of all nascent nationalism from the Communist Party of Latvia—about 2,000 of the party leadership and activists were stripped of their posts and privileges.

The Soviets elevated Pelše to First Secretary, replacing the purged Kalnbērziņš on 25 November 1959. In January 1960, Pelše promptly denounced his former (purged) associates for deviating from "the right path in carrying out Leninist nationality policy". From that point forward, the First Secretaries of the Latvian SSR were servile party functionaries, as first embodied by Pelše, whom Latvians regarded as symbols of submissiveness to the Soviets.

Pelše was appointed as member of the Central Committee in 1961. That same year, after Yuri Gagarin returned from his space mission, Pelše proposed changing the name of the Latvian capital Rīga but the Soviet central authorities saw this as extreme.

In 1963, Pelše headed a commission nicknamed the "Pelše Commission", which investigated the assassination of Sergei Kirov. The commission finished its work in 1967.

Pelše served as First Secretary of the Latvian SSR until 15 April 1966. At the 23rd Party Congress in 1966, Pelše addressed his colleagues as follows:

"We will never permit anyone to interfere in our internal affairs but will conduct a determined struggle against any imperialist interference in the affairs of other countries and peoples."

On 7 November 1975, Pelše gave a speech in the ceremony commemorating the 58th anniversary of the October Revolution. In his address,
Pelše confirmed continuing Soviet support for "fighters for freedom" and "the patriots in Angola."

He was rewarded for his faithful service, being selected by the 23rd Party Congress for full membership to the Politburo of the CPSU, a position he held until his death in May 1983. Pelše was also Chairman of the Party Control Committee, which oversaw the discipline of party members, from 1966 to 1983.

Death and legacy
Pelše's health was failing in his last years. When he did not attend Leonid Brezhnev's funeral in November 1982, rumors spread he had died, but a few days later, on 23 November, he appeared in a session of the Supreme Soviet. Another absence which was noticed by the media was in the ceremony marking the centennial of the death of Karl Marx, on 31 March 1983, one month before he died.

He suffered from lung cancer, as well as atelectasis, which aggravated his lungs, and worsening cardiopulmonary failure. He died of cardiac arrest at 5:55 on 29 May 1983. Pelše was honoured with a state funeral; his remains lay in state at the House of Trade Unions. On 2 June, his ashes were carried by an armoured vehicle to Red Square, with all the Politburo members standing at the top of Lenin's Mausoleum. After lavish eulogies were read by Soviet leader Yuri Andropov and Politburo member Viktor Grishin, his ashes were laid to rest in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Pelše wrote some works on the history of the CPSU, on the history of the revolutionary movement in Latvia, anti-capitalist nationalists, the socialist and communist construction in the country.

He was twice awarded with Hero of the Socialist Labor (1969, 1979), 6 Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution and other medals. The Rīga Polytechnic Institute was named for Pelše after he died.

Pelše was married three times. He had two children from the first marriage: a daughter, Beruta (died), and son, Arvik (died during World War II). One son from the second marriage, Tai, (was born in 1930) - a pensioner, and did not support any contacts with his father after the 3rd marriage. The third wife of Pelše was Lidiya, the ex-wife of Stalin's secretary Alexander Poskrebyshev. From 1966 until his death, he lived at 15 Spiridonovka Street. A commemorative plaque was placed in the front of the building.

References

Further reading

 Remeikis, Thomas: "A Latvian in the Politbureau: A Political Portrait of Arvids Pelše." Lituanus 12:1 (1966) 81-84.

1899 births
1983 deaths
People from Iecava Municipality
People from Courland Governorate
Old Bolsheviks
Members of the Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Central Committee of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Politburo of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Politburo of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Politburo of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Politburo of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Heads of the Communist Party of Latvia
People of the Russian Revolution
Cheka
Latvian atheists
Soviet historians
20th-century Latvian historians
Institute of Red Professors alumni
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis

Arvīds Pelše


Caprices is a 1942 French comedy film starring Danielle Darrieux and Albert Préjean, and was directed by Léo Joannon, who co-wrote screenplay with André Cayatte and Jacques Companéez for the German run film company Continental Films who made films to take the place of banned American films. It was released on VHS by TF1 Vidéo in France on 1 January 1998.

Plot
It tells the story of two young rich people. Famous actress poses as a poor florist, and a distinguished society man camouflages himself as forger and swindler. This game leads them to make close relations in a series of adventures. Finally, the truth is revealed, and the couple return to normalcy but promise not to separate any more.

Cast
 Danielle Darrieux as Lise
 Albert Préjean as Philippe
 Jean Parédès as Constant
 Fred Pasquali as the film director
 Germaine Reuver as the mother
 Jean Brochard as the father

Notes

External links

Caprices at Gaumont.fr

1942 films
French black-and-white films
1942 romantic comedy films
Films directed by Léo Joannon
French romantic comedy films
1940s French-language films
Continental Films films
1940s French films

Caprices (film)


Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality in the U.S. state of Colorado. The city is in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties. It is the third biggest city by number of people in Colorado, and the 59th biggest city by number of people in the United States. The city's population was 386,261 during the 2020 United States Census.

Main cities
Denver and Aurora are the main cities of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, a United States metropolitan area (MSA). In 2020, the cities within the statistical area had 2,963,821 people, which makes it the MSA with the 19th most people.

However, Denver and Aurora together make up less than half of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield Metropolitan Statistical Area's people and Aurora has about half of the population of Denver. In 2020, the Denver–Aurora combined statistical area (CSA) had 3,623,560 people. That makes it the CSA with the 17th most people.

History
Aurora started in the 1880s, when it was known as Fletcher, the name of Denver businessman Donald Fletcher. Fletcher thought of Aurora as a chance for real estate. He and his companions went out four square miles east of Denver, but the town and Colorado were not doing well after the Silver Crash of 1893.

Shootings
On July 20, 2012, a spree shooting took place at a during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises at a local movie theater - 12 people were shot dead.

References

1880s establishments in Colorado

Aurora, Colorado


The Witches is a children's dark fantasy novel written by Roald Dahl. It was illustrated by Quentin Blake and released in 1983.

Plot summary
A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother travel to a hotel in England. The boy's grandmother tells him about witches and their hatred for children, as well as how to spot them. The boy is wandering around the hotel and soon finds himself hiding in a room full of witches. The leader of the witches, the Grand High Witch, tells them about her new potion that transforms kids into mice. The witches soon discover the boy and turn him into a mouse, as well as another boy named Bruno. The boy, now turned into a mouse, sneaks into the Grand High Witch's hotel room, steals the potion and puts it in the witches' food at dinner, turning them all into mice. The boy and his grandmother plan to go to the America to get rid of the witches there.

Characters

 The Boy — the hero of the story is a young boy. He lives with his grandmother because both of his parents died. Halfway through the book, he is transformed into a mouse by the witches. Even though he defeats them, he remains as a mouse forever.
 The Grandmother — she is a former witch hunter who is one of the few adults who know how to spot witches. She tells her grandson all about him because she has had several encounters with them.
 Grand High Witch — she is the leader of all the witches in the world. She wears a mask to conceal her true face. It is her desire to get rid of all the children.

 Bruno Jenkins — he is a spoilt kid who is staying at the hotel with his parents. He is turned into a mouse after given chocolate by the Grand High Witch, who put her special potion in it.
 Mr Stringer — he is the manager of the hotel that all the characters are staying at.
 Mr and Mrs Jenkins — they are Bruno's rich and wealthy parents.
 Woman in Black — is one of the many witches. She is the first witch that the boy encounters.

Adaptations

 1990 movie starring Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling and Rowan Atkinson
 2020 movie starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci

1983 books

The Witches (novel)


Lucia Liliana Mihalache (born July 5, 1967 in Arad) is a Romanian sport shooter. At age forty-one, Mihalache made her official debut for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in women's skeet shooting. She placed tenth out of nineteen shooters in the qualifying rounds of the event, with a total score of 66 points.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Mihalache, however, struggled to maintain her position from Beijing, as she hit a total of 65 targets in women's skeet, finishing only in twelfth place, behind Thailand's Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit.

Mihalache is also a member of CSM Arad for the shooting class, and is coached and trained by Ciorba Attila.

References

External links
ISSF Profile
NBC Olympics Profile

Romanian female sport shooters
Living people
Olympic shooters for Romania
Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Shooters at the 2012 Summer Olympics
1967 births
Sportspeople from Arad, Romania

Lucia Mihalache


Andraca gongshanensis is a moth of the family Endromidae. It is found in China (Yunnan).

The wingspan is 46–48 mm. The ground colour of the wings is dark brown with dark brow fasciae and reddish-yellow patterns, consisting of antemedian, discocellar, postmedian fascia, and reddish-yellow patterns placed on nearly the whole wing except the termen. The forewing apex is falcate and the outer edge is smooth and straight. The tornus is almost rectangular.

Etymology
The specific epithet refers to the type locality (the Gongshan Mountain in China).

References

Moths described in 2011
Andraca

Andraca gongshanensis