Moravian Historical Society

The Moravian Historical Society in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1857. Its mission is to preserve, interpret, and celebrate the rich culture of the Moravians. It is the third oldest historical society in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Moravian Historical Society is housed in the 1740-1743 Whitefield House on the Ephrata Tract in downtown Nazareth. The Moravian Historical Society is affiliated with the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the repository for records of the Moravian Church in North America, Northern Province.
The Moravian Historical Society collects objects relating to Moravian history in North America, provides research assistance, publishes, and offers lectures, programs, events, and activities for all ages and levels of interest.
Site.
The Moravian Historical Society owns three acres of land in Nazareth, PA, called the Ephrata Tract. It was on this site that the First House of Nazareth once stood. It operates out of two buildings on the Tract: the 1740-1743 Whitefield House and the 1740 Gray Cottage, the oldest extant Moravian structure in North America.
Ephrata Tract.
In 1740, a Moravian group from Savannah, Georgia was hired by landowner and British cleric George Whitefield to build a school for orphaned slaves. Whitefield wanted to build his school on a 5000-acre area he called Nazareth, which he had purchased from William Allen that same year. Tensions arising from theological disputes between Whitefield and the Moravians led the Moravians to purchase and begin to establish Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, leaving Whitefield's school building unfinished. When Whitefield later went bankrupt, the Moravians purchased the 5000 acres, which included the Gray Cottage, First House, and the bottom portion of the Whitefield House. This area became known as the Ephrata Tract. The town of Nazareth was laid out in 1771 several blocks to the west. The First House was demolished in 1864, but the Whitefield House and Gray Cottage still stand. The buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 1980.
Whitefield House.
Construction on the Whitefield House started in 1740 and completed in 1743. It was originally used to house 32 married couples arriving from England. Through the years, the Whitefield House operated as a place of worship, girls’ boarding school, nursery, the Moravian Theological Seminary, and apartments for furloughed missionaries. Today, the Whitefield House houses the Museum of the Moravian Historical Society as well as administrative offices, and a gift shop. The museum runs a series of permanent and changing exhibitions about the history and culture of the Moravians and their contributions to history.
Gray Cottage.
The Gray Cottage was constructed in October 1740 by the Moravians as protection from the harsh winter weather ahead. It is an oak log structure, and was originally called the “Old Block House” from the German word "Block", meaning “log.” From 1743-1745, the building was used as a boys’ school. It has also been used as a girls’ school, a home for widows, a nursery, and a private residence. It is the oldest Moravian building still standing in North America.
First House.
Constructed in June 1740, the First House sheltered Moravians during the construction of the Whitefield House. It was approximately 30’ wide by 20’ deep, and stood two and one half stories tall. It was demolished in 1864, but the foundation was discovered by archaeologists in September 2014 in the area between the Whitefield House and the Gray Cottage. Several artifacts including redware pottery and a brass horse bell were also discovered. A small stone marker stands on this site.
Monuments.
The Moravian Historical Society has placed several markers at locations of American Moravian historical significance:
Collections.
The Whitefield House Museum's collection contains over 10,000 Moravian objects, which are featured in permanent and changing exhibits. Highlights from the collections include:
The museum also contains a large collection of Moravian mission artifacts from six continents, as well as various textiles, household goods, and Native American artifacts.
The entire collection is available to researchers by appointment.
The museum operates from 1-4pm, seven days a week except for major holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
Publications.
The Moravian Historical Society publishes various guides and periodicals, including:
Events.
The Moravian Historical Society offers a variety of events for all ages and interest levels. Historic Nazareth Walking Tours meet at the Whitefield House every second Saturday at 4 p.m., and feature a tour guide in historic Moravian dress. The museum's Free Summer Sundays offer families a free museum tour as well as historic youth crafts and games. Monthly lecture and music programs allows visitors to explore Moravian and local history through lectures, music, screenings, and various family activities.
For children, the Moravian Historical Society holds an annual Hands-On History summer camp. The week-long camp allows campers to be immersed in history as they engaged in nature, archaeology, and art-based activities inspired by objects from our world-renowned collection. The Moravian Historical Society also holds an annual Arts & Crafts Festival featuring more than 100 craft vendors as well as food and free kids’ activities.
The Moravian Historical Society hosts the annual Share the Heritage Auction and Dinner to raise funds that support for its mission and its many activities and events.
Annual Meeting, Lecture, and Reception.
Since 1858, the Moravian Historical Society has hosted an Annual Meeting, Lecture, and Reception to present the state of the Society and to give a lecture on an aspect of Moravian history. Each year features a keynote speaker, as follows:


Francis Brown Douglas

Francis Brown Douglas FRSE DL (2 April 1814-8 August 1885) was a Scottish advocate who served as the Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1859 to 1862.
Life.
He was born in Largs in Ayrshire on 2 April 1814, the son of Archibald Douglas (1779-1833), also an advocate, and Jane Brown of Bellair on the island of St. Vincent. He attended the High School of Edinburgh and then Edinburgh Academy (1824-5). He then studied law at the University of Edinburgh.
Following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Francis received a considerable sum in compensation for his father’s loss (his father being deceased) of 245 slaves on the Sans Souci Estate on St Vincent. This sum, probably received around 1845, totalled £6,418.
In 1839 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer was John Shank More. In 1843 he left the established Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland. He was an elder at Pilrig Free Church under the Rev William Garden Blaikie.
On 7 August 1860 he oversaw, as Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Great Review for Queen Victoria and the Royal Family, which involved over 20,000 persons.
His home for most of his life was 21 Moray Place in the fashionable West End.
He died at Melville House in Fife on 8 August 1885. He is buried in Dean Cemetery in the west of Edinburgh. The grave lies on the western wall at the southern end of "Lord's Row".
Family.
He was brother to Dr Archibald Douglas and cousin to Dr A. Halliday Douglas.
He was married twice: firstly in 1845 to Mary Turner Christie at Scoonie in Fife; secondly in 1852 to the wealthy Marianne Leslie-Melville (1827-1899), by whom he had nine children.
His eldest son, Francis Archibald Brown Douglas (b.1854) was also an advocate after studying law at the University of Cambridge,
His second son was Charles Christie Brown Douglas (b.1857).


First Mission House

The First Mission House (First Mission House and Place of Worship; First Moravian Mission) is a historic church and mission house at 291 Third Avenue in Bethel, Alaska. The wood frame structure was the first to be built in Bethel, in 1885. It was designed by Hans Torgersen, one of the first group of Moravian missionaries sent to the area, but he died in a boating accident before it was built, and it was completed by two priests with no significant construction experience. Although the building received some alterations, it was restored to its early appearance in 1985. The building has been moved three times, primarily due to erosion caused by the Kuskokwim River.
It was built in 1945 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.


Stolnic

Stolnic was a "boier" (Romanian nobility) rank and the position at the court in the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The title approximately corresponds to seneschal and is borrowed from the Slavic title "stolnik" (from the word "stol", "table") a person in charge of the royal table.
The title mare stolnic means "great stolnic", or "Chief Seneschal".
The first documented usages of the title date to 1392 in Wallachia and 1393 in Moldavia.


Laelia (city)

Laelia was an ancient city located in the Cerro de la Cabeza near Olivares in the Province of Seville, Spain. Originally a Tartessian settlement, it was named "Laelia" by Roman settlers in the 2nd century BC. It was described by Pliny the Elder in his "Natural History" as lying on the Menoba River (Guadiamar) near the towns of Olontigi and Lastigi. These three cities had their own mints and, thus, are well attested from numismatic evidence. Their exact location, however, has not been definitively established. All three were probably located relatively close to Aznalcóllar, where the materials for their coins were probably mined. The settlement at the Cerro de la Cabeza, populated until the 13th century, most likely corresponds to Laelia given the archaeological evidence obtained from excavations in 1981.
After Pliny, Ptolemy mentioned the city (Lailia) as a settlement by the Turdetani. No other classical accounts of the city have survived. In 1634, Rodrigo Caro proposed Aracena as the location for Laelia according to Ptolemy's indications, and in 1754 Enrique Flórez proposed Berrocal, also in the Province of Huelva. Based on Pliny's and Ptolemy's accounts, Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez (1832), Antonio Delgado (1871) and Rodrigo Amador de los Ríos (1891) agreed on a location in or near Sanlúcar la Mayor, suggesting the Cortijo de la Pisana (or Pizana), located between Gerena and Olivares. Both Ceán Bermúdez and Sebastián Miñano, in his geographical dictionary, mention also Albaida, closer to Olivares, as a possible site, despite the lack of archaeological evidence for a settlement in that locality.


Bethabara Historic District

Bethabara Historic District encompasses the surviving buildings and archaeological remains of a small Moravian community, that was first settled in 1753. Located in present-day Forsyth County, North Carolina, it is now a public park of the city of Winston-Salem. It was designated National Historic Landmark in 1999. Around the Mid 1990s a new expressway was build to help those going to Stanleyville and surrounding areas without going through Bethabara Road.
History.
Bethabara (from the Hebrew, meaning "House of Passage" and pronounced beth-ab-bra, the name of the traditional site of the Baptism of Jesus Christ) was a village located in what is now Forsyth County, North Carolina. It was the site where twelve men from the Moravian Church first settled in 1753 in an abandoned cabin in the tract of land the church had purchased from Lord Granville and dubbed Wachovia.
Its early settlers were noted for advanced agricultural practices, especially their medicine Garden, which produced over fifty kinds of herbs.
Bethabara was never meant to be a permanent settlement. It was intended to house the Moravians until a more suitable location for a central village could be found. Just six months after arriving in Wachovia, the Seven Years War (known as the French and Indian War in America) began in western Pennsylvania. The violence quickly spread to southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina. Bethabara hosted a large number of refugees until 1761. The establishment of a central town was delayed for thirteen years because of the growing Moravian population and hundreds of refugees.
Once it was felt safe to do so in 1766, the central town, Salem was begun. Many of the buildings in Bethabara were dismantled, and used for the new structures in Salem. As the houses were taken down, the small rootcellars were pushed in and filled.
With Salem completed in 1771, the official seat of government was transferred from Bethabara to Salem. Only a few residents remained behind. Bethabara became a farming community which supplied food to the other Moravians towns in Wachovia.
In 1788, an enslaved person slave, Johann Samuel, was made superintendent of the farm. He was freed in 1801, after 50 years of servitude to the Moravians. Bethabara continued to decline. The principal industries were farming and pottery, well into the 1850s.
Historic Bethabara Park.
Today, what remains of the village, including the excavated foundations of the original buildings, the restored Gemeinhaus (the Bethabara Moravian Church), and the reconstructed palisade and colonial gardens, is part of Historic Bethabara Park. The park and wildlife preserve is located in Winston-Salem and is operated by the City of Winston-Salem Recreation & Parks Department as an open-air museum. The site also features of nature trails.
There are frequent festivals and reenactments on the weekends, such as the Independence Weekend Celebration held the weekend prior to or during Independence Day.
The Bethabara site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1999. The Gemeinhaus was separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.


Thomas Hammond (regicide)

Thomas Hammond (c. 1600–1658), was an officer in the New Model Army and a regicide.
Biography.
Hammond was the third son of the five children of Dr John Hammond (c. 1555–1617), physician to the royal household under James I, who purchased the site of Chertsey Abbey in Surrey in 1602.
In 1642, at the start of the English Civil War he was commissioned as an artillery officer. As he was an experienced officer he must have seen military service in the continental wars that preceded the Civil War although there is no direct evidence of this. His motives for joining the Parliamentary side against King Charles I are not recorded but his radicalism was evident by 1644 when he testified against his own commander-in-chief, Edward Montagu in favour of Oliver Cromwell.
Between 1647 and 1649 he was active member of small committee that represented the interests of the Grandees in the New Model Army in their dealings with the Long Parliament, the Agitators in the army with their and their Leveller allies, and King Charles. Was named as a Commissioner at the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I and attending no fewer than fourteen of its sittings, but he did not sign the death warrant. His motives for not signing are not recorded.
Hammond did not take part in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or in the initial invasion of Scotland, but he joined Cromwell at a later date. While in Scotland he fell seriously ill. His health appears never to have fully recovered and he resigned his commission in 1652.
After his retirement he was occupied with obtaining pay arrears due to himself and the other personnel of the artillery train that he had commanded. He was granted Irish lands for his part in the initial campaign of 1642, and along with his men lands confiscated from Royalists in Middlesex and Surrey. In 1657 with his health failing he made his will and he died the next year shortly before his old friend and former commander Oliver Cromwell. After the Restoration his name was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act allowing the state to confiscate the property that had belonged to him.


Catharina Herman

Catharina Herman (died after 1604) was a Dutch heroine of the Eighty Years' War. She was hailed in history as a role model of marital fidelity.
She was from Medemblik and married to a soldier whose name has been lost. In 1600, her spouse was sent to participate in the defense of Ostend against the Spaniards. When Ostend fell in 1604, she sold her property and left for Ostend posing as a man in an attempt to free her spouse from Spanish captivity. She was arrested for suspected spying and imprisoned, but in prison, her sex was discovered by a Jesuit, to whom she confided her mission. When told her spouse was to be executed, she requested to die with him. When the Jesuit told this to the commander, Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, he allowed the couple to be set free.
Catharina Herman was included in the dictionaries "Femmes illustres" by , "Les eloges et les vies des reynes, des princesses, et des dames illustres en pieté, en courage & en doctrine" (1647) "Groot algemeen historisch, geographisch, genealogisch en oordeelkundig woordenboek" (1733) by , a play by Jan Jacob Vereul in 1793, and a novel by J. Honig in 1840.


Jacqueline Guerroudj

Jacqueline Netter-Minne-Guerroudj (27 April 1919 – 18 January 2015) was a Frenchwoman condemned to death as an accomplice of
Fernand Iveton during the Algerian War. She was never executed, partly due to a campaign on her behalf conducted by Simone de Beauvoir.
She was born to a bourgeois family in Rouen in 1919. She arrived in Algeria in 1948 as the wife of Pierre Minne, a professor of Philosophy. She remarried in 1950 to Abdelkader Guerroudj (nicknamed "Djilali"), an activist in the FLN. On 4 December 1957 Guerroudj's daughter by her first marriage, Danièle Minne, was sentenced to 7 years in prison by a tribunal for juveniles. Guerroudj died on 18 January 2015 in Algiers, Algeria.


Royal Palace of El Pardo

The Royal Palace of El Pardo (, ) is a historic building in Madrid, Spain, in the present-day district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. It is owned by the Spanish state and administered by the "Patrimonio Nacional" agency. It serves as the state guest house of the Spanish Government.
Overview.
The palace began as a royal hunting lodge.
It became an alternative residence of the kings of Spain until the reign of King Alfonso XII of Spain, who died in the palace in 1885.
King Enrique III of Castile ordered the building of the pavilion in 1406, on Mount El Pardo, because of its abundant game. Later, in the time of Emperor Charles V (1547), it was transformed into a palace by the architect Luis de Vega. On 13 March 1604, a massive fire destroyed many of the paintings, including masterpieces by Titian. King Carlos III of Spain renovated the building in the 18th century, appointing his architect Francesco Sabatini to undertake the job.
The interior decoration includes a ceiling frescoed by Gaspar Becerra, and paintings by Vincenzo Carducci and Cabrera.
In 1739 the palace hosted talks between the governments of Britain and Spain, who eventually agreed to the Convention of Pardo in a bid to avert a war. However, the Convention failed to prevent war breaking out shortly afterwards.
Dictator Francisco Franco lived in the palace after the Spanish Civil War.
Access.
Since Franco's death, the building has been used as a residence for visiting heads of state. When not in use by VIPs, it is open to the public. Objects on display include tapestries made by the Royal Tapestry Factory. Goya was one of the artists who designed tapestries for the palace with dimensions corresponding to specific locations in the building.


Thomas Colepeper (Royalist)

Sir Thomas Colepeper (1578 – January 1661) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1629. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. He is known also as a writer on usury.
Life.
Colepeper was the third son of Francis Colepeper of Hollingbourne, Kent. He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford on 15 October 1591 age 13. He entered Middle Temple in 1594.
In 1614, Colepeper was elected Member of Parliament for Chippenham in the Addled Parliament. He was knighted on 23 September 1619. In 1628 he was elected MP for Tewkesbury and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.
Colepeper had a large estate at Hasleton near Northleach, Kent. During the Civil War he was an officer of the King's revenue, but never took up arms. On 39 April 1646 he compounded for delinquency. He was set a fine of £1,318 on 24 September 1646 which was reduced on review on 16 January 1647 to £1044, and further reduced on 27 November 1647 to £844.
Colepeper died in 1661 and was buried at Hollingbourne on 25 January 1661.
Works.
Colepeper published in 1623 his "Tract against the High Rate of Usury", a work already presented to Parliament two years earlier. In it he argued for a reduction of the highest permitted annual interest rate, from 10%, presenting a case from other countries where the limit was 6%. Legislation in 1624 reduced the limit to 8%. Colepeper's work was reprinted in 1641, and in 1668.


Protests against Hartz IV reforms

The Protests against Hartz IV reforms in Germany were aimed at the 2004 Hartz IV reform, which provide significant cutbacks in social welfare benefits for long-term (over 12 months) unemployed persons.
The demonstrations started on 2 August, when about 10,000 people took part. In two weeks, over 100,000 people marched in over 100 German cities and towns, mostly in Eastern Germany (the former GDR). In September, unemployment reached 10.5% of the workforce nationwide, while peaking at 18.2% in Eastern Germany; participation usually mirrored the level of unemployment in the respective area. In 2005, fewer demonstrations took place - only every second Monday of the month. Neofascists started using the agitation of workless people for their propaganda.
The demonstrations were arranged and named the Monday demonstrations in an analogy with the 1989/1990 Monday demonstrations in East Germany. Some considered this adaption to be political abuse, pointing out that these reforms are a "necessary evil" to deal with a crisis in the welfare system, and regard it as inadequate that protests for democracy are turned into protests for more social benefits. The supporters of the rallies denounce this criticism as an attempt to stifle the protests of the affected people.


Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of the city of Lancaster. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 9,369.
History.
Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756 and was named after a castle in Bohemia near the village of Kunvald where the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church had been founded in 1457. The roots of the Moravian Brethren's Church date back to the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church.
For a century, only Moravians were permitted to live in Lititz. Until the middle of the 19th century, only members of the congregation could own houses; others were required to lease. The lease system was abolished in 1855, just five years before the beginning of the Civil War. More information can be found in the book "A Brief History of Lititz Pennsylvania" by Mary Augusta Huevener, published in 1947.
During a part of the American Revolution, the Brethren's House, built in 1759, was used as a hospital. A number of soldiers died and were buried here. Lititz is also home to Linden Hall School, the oldest all-girls boarding school in the United States. Located adjacent to the Moravian Church on of land, Linden Hall School was founded by the Moravians in 1746, a decade before the borough was incorporated.
Culture.
Lititz has held a town-wide celebration of Independence Day since 1813. Tourists and residents from the region attend the annual Queen of Candles Pageant and fireworks display in Lititz Springs Park. The park itself is extravagantly decorated each year, with wooden beams and trestles placed from side to side of the stone-walled stream and stretching nearly the entire length of the park. The trestles are fitted with sockets for white candles. Musical performances take place throughout the day. In the evening, the first candle is lit by the year's Queen of Candles pageant winner. The park also hosts festivities for children and food offerings comparable to those at a county fair. The 4th of July parade is sponsored by Lititz Lions.
Another summer event is the annual art show sponsored by the Village Art Association of Lititz and the craft show sponsored by the Lititz Rotary Club, which extends from the Lititz Springs Park out into Broad Street (PA-501) and Main Street (PA-772). Annually, the Saturday before Columbus Day is Chocolate Walk, a much-anticipated downtown event hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Lititz Area.
During 2006 a year-long celebration was held commemorating the 250th anniversary of the naming of the town. Some of the major events included a service and commemoration ceremony in Lititz Springs Park on Sunday June 11, the official naming ceremony on Monday June 12, a fountain show in the park called "Symphonic Springs" during August 20–26th, and a New Year's celebration.
Lititz is often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Intercourse, Blue Ball, Mount Joy, Bareville, Bird-in-Hand and Paradise.
In 2013, Lititz was announced the winner of Budget Travel's "America's Coolest Small Towns" competition from among 15 other finalists.
Geography.
Lititz is located in northern Lancaster County at .
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of , of which , or 0.13%, are water. Lititz Run flows through the downtown from Lititz Springs Park toward the Conestoga River, to the southeast.
Lititz has a hot-summer humid continental climate ("Dfa") and average monthly temperatures range from 30.1 °F in January to 74.7 °F in July. The local hardiness zone is 6b.
Transportation.
Pennsylvania Routes 772 (West Orange and East Main streets) and 501 (Broad Street) run through the town. PA 772 leads east to Brownstown and west to Manheim, while PA 501 leads north to Myerstown and south to Lancaster, the county seat.
The Reading and Columbia Railroad operated passenger service through downtown Lititz until 1952. Norfolk Southern continues to operate freight service to Lancaster, while the line between Lititz and Ephrata has been converted into a rail trail. A replica of the Lititz Depot was constructed at its former location in Lititz Springs Park in 1999, along with a small museum in a Reading caboose.
Bus service in Lititz is provided by Red Rose Transit Route 10, the successor of the Conestoga Traction Company trolley line to Lancaster along the Lititz Pike.
Law and government.
Lititz, along with Elizabeth and Warwick townships and part of Penn Township, is located in the Warwick School District.
Demographics.
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,029 people, 3,732 households, and 2,407 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 3,827 housing units at an average density of 1,646.2 per square mile (636.9/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 97.23% White, 0.44% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.52% of the population.
There were 3,732 households, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the borough the population was spread out, with 23.0% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.2 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $40,417, and the median income for a family was $52,028. Males had a median income of $36,126 versus $25,997 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $20,601. About 2.6% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.
Controversies.
Borden family murders.
Lititz received national press coverage on November 13, 2005, after David G. Ludwig, 18, shot and killed Michael and Cathryn Borden. Ludwig fled the scene with their daughter, and an Amber Alert was issued for her.
Ludwig was arrested with the minor daughter in Indiana, extradited to Lancaster County, and held on several charges including criminal homicide. He pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree murder, reckless endangerment, statutory sexual assault and firearms violations. Ludwig received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 9.5 to 19 years for the weapons charges. Ludwig lived within the borough of Lititz. The Bordens lived outside the borough in Warwick Township. After the murders, police seized 54 guns from the home of Gregory and Jane Ludwig, including three assault rifles, shotguns and handguns.
Warwick School District mascot.
The high school's current mascot depicts the profile of a Native American warrior. Since 1999, some Lititz residents, teachers, and students have criticized the mascot both as a racist stereotype and for misrepresenting a Native American religious symbol. The campaign to eliminate the mascot resurfaced during the 2009–2010 school year, as the district renovated the high school's football field; current plans call for a spear design in the center of the field. In 2010, the district removed the warrior logo from the high school's sign, replacing it with a black-and-red seal featuring the letter "W". The warrior image has been used less frequently since 1999; since then, residents have suggested to the school board that the mascot be changed to something representative of Lititz, such as "Wilbur Buds," a well-known product of the local Wilbur Chocolate Company.
In 2010, the Warwick School Board passed a resolution that from now on, the Native American Head & Spear logos will be used for athletics and the black-and-red seal featuring the letter 'W' will be used for academics.
In January 2011, a member of a group in support of the Warrior logo/name presented a donation to the school board from a bumper sticker sale that was conducted the previous fall.
Sister city.
A sister city relationship between Lititz and Kunvald (Czech Republic) was established on June 11, 2006, during the celebration of the 250th anniversary naming of Lititz. The ceremony took place in Lititz Springs Park. Their Pennsylvania sister city is Emmaus in Lehigh County.


Elections in Denmark

There are three types of elections in Denmark: elections to the national parliament (the Folketing), local elections (to municipal and regional councils), and elections to the European Parliament. Referendums may also be called to consult the Danish citizenry directly on an issue of national concern.
Parliamentary elections are called by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, usually three to four years after the last election, although early elections may occur. Elections to local councils (municipal or regional) and to the European Parliament are held on fixed dates. Elections use the party-list proportional representation system. All Danish citizens, living in the Kingdom of Denmark and at least 18 years of age, are eligible to vote in parliamentary elections and long-time residents may vote in local elections.
Parliamentary elections.
The Kingdom of Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland) elects a unicameral parliament, the Folketing, on a national level. Of the 179 members of parliament, the Faroe Islands and Greenland elect two members each, 135 are elected from ten multi-member constituencies on a party list PR system using the d'Hondt method and the remaining 40 seats are allocated to ensure proportionality at a national level. To get a share of supplementary seats a party needs to get at least 2% of the total number of votes.
Denmark has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments and/or minority cabinets.
Elections to the Folketing must be held at least every four years.
Local elections.
The latest elections for the ninety-eight municipal councils and the five regional councils were held on 21 November 2017.
European elections.
The Denmark constituency directly elects thirteen members to the European Parliament every five years. The d'Hondt method of proportional representation is used. The last elections took place in May 2019:
Referendums.
The Constitution of Denmark requires a referendum to be held in the following three cases:
The option for one third of the members of the Parliament to put a law to a referendum has a number of restrictions. Finance Bills, Supplementary Appropriation Bills, Provisional Appropriation Bills, Government Loan Bills, Civil Servants (Amendment) Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Naturalization Bills, Expropriation Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, as well as Bills introduced for the purpose The Work of Parliament of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be decided by a referendum. (Section 42, Subsection 6 of the Constitution)
Even though the Constitution of Denmark requires referendum to be held only if super-majority of five-sixths of members of Parliament cannot be obtained, in practice, referendums have been held every time new treaties of the European Union have been approved, even when more than five-sixths can be found. Recently, the Danish government was highly criticized when it did not hold a referendum regarding the controversial Lisbon treaty.
In all three cases, to defeat the proposition the no votes must not only outnumber the yes votes, they must also number at least 30% of the electorate.
The Constitution of Denmark can be changed only after a referendum, after a complicated procedure (Section 88 of the Constitution). First a government proposes a change in constitution, then a parliamentary election is held. After the new parliament approves the same text of the constitutional changes, the proposal is put to a referendum. To pass, the yes votes must not only outnumber the no votes, they must also number at least 40% of the electorate.
As of 2013, 16 referendums had been held in Denmark, the most recent being Danish euro referendum in 2000 and Danish Act of Succession referendum in 2009.


Manifesto of Czech writers

The Manifesto of Czech writers (Czech, "Manifest českých spisovatelů") was the first public declaration in favour of the self-determination of the Czech nation during the First World War. It was published in May 1917. The declaration was directed at the Czech deputies at the Imperial Council in Vienna, the Parliament of the Austrian parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The principal author was Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950), director of the Czech National Theatre in Prague, and the manifesto was signed by over two hundred Czech writers, journalists and scientists. It proposed that Czech members of the Imperial Council should either declare their support for the concept of Czech autonomy or else should resign their seats.
Manifesto was signed by Jindřich Šimon Baar, Otokar Březina, Josef Čapek, Karel Čapek, Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Jakub Deml, Viktor Dyk, Vladimír Helfert, Jan Herben, Adolf Heyduk, Alois Jirásek, Jan Kapras, Jan Klecanda, Karel Klostermann, Eliška Krásnohorská, Kamil Krofta, Petr Křička, Jaroslav Kvapil, Jiří Mahen, Josef Svatopluk Machar, Marie Majerová, Helena Malířová, Alois Mrštík, Zdeněk Nejedlý, Arne Novák, Ivan Olbracht, Emanuel Rádl, Karel Václav Rais, Antonín Sova, Antal Stašek, František Xaver Svoboda, Růžena Svobodová, František Xaver Šalda, Anna Marie Tilschová and others.


Molchad

Molchad (, , "Meytshet") is a village located on the Molchad River in the Baranovichy District of the Brest Region, Belarus. It is located in 33 km north-west from Baranovichi. The population of Molchad is 950 people and includes 330 households.
History.
The village of Molchad has appeared in written sources as early as 1486 with the founding of the local Holy Trinity Church, which no longer stands, it was listed as part of the Slonim povet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
During the Russo-Polish War in 1654 the village was razed by Russian invaders but latter rebuilt.
Under the Russian Empire.
As a result of the third partition of Poland in 1795 Molchad became part of the Russian Empire.
In 1879, the village suffered a large fire which destroyed most of the buildings in Molchad.
In 1880, the St. Peter and Paul Church was completed.
In 1884 a railway was built through the village connecting it to the nearby city of Brest.
In 1886 Molchad was reported to have 2 churches, 3 synagogues, a brewery, a railway station , a school and a bazaar.
20th Century.
In 1921, the Peace of Riga transferred Molchad to Poland.
Following the Invasion of Poland in 1939, Molchad was incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR.
Between June 1941 and July 1944, Molchad was occupied by Nazi Germany, From June through August 1942, 3600 Jews from Molchad and the surrounding area were massacred by the native Polish population with the support of German troops. Many Jews were buried alive.
Historic Populations.
In 1830, the population was 363 people: 183 were Jewish, 169 were middle class Christians and farmers, 6 were gentry, 2 clergy and 3 poor.

In 1865, the population was 737.

In 1886, the population was 479.

In 1921, the population was 1483.

In 1998, the population was 882.


List of Portuguese communists

This is a list of persons that are or were supporters or members of the Portuguese Communist Party.


Edward Harley (Parliamentarian)

Sir Edward Harley KB (21 October 1624 – 18 December 1700) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1646 and 1695. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.
Biography.
Harley was born in Brampton Bryan Castle, Herefordshire, the son of Sir Robert Harley, KB, and his third wife Brilliana, the daughter of Edward Conway, 1st Viscount Conway. He was educated at Gloucester, Shrewsbury School and Magdalen Hall, Oxford. He was a student of Lincoln's Inn in 1641.
In 1642, he took up arms in the Parliamentary cause against the King in 1642, though disapproving of military supremacy in the nation. He was shot in the arm during a skirmish in Gloucestershire in August 1644. In 1646 he was elected Member of Parliament for Herefordshire as a recruiter to the Long Parliament and was excluded in 1648 under Pride's Purge. In 1656 his father died and he inherited his estates, he was also elected MP for Herefordshire again in the Second Protectorate Parliament.
He was elected MP for Herefordshire again in 1660 for the Convention Parliament. At the Restoration, Charles II made him Governor of Dunkirk in 1660. He was elected MP for Radnor in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament and was re-elected in February 1679 for the First Exclusion Parliament. In the second election of 1679 he was elected MP for Herefordshire again, and was re-elected in 1681. He supported the revolution of 1688 and was re-elected for Herefordshire in 1689, in 1693 and 1695.
Harley was a conscientious upholder of the rights of the people, who showed their appreciation by sending him continuously to Parliament. Though a churchman himself, he fought against any form of persecution of the dissenters, was without party prejudice, and was remembered more for his practical benefactions than for such theoretical performances as "A Scriptural and Rational Account of the Christian Religion" (1695).
Family.
Harley was married twice. On 26 June 1654 he married, Mary, daughter and coheir of Sir William Button of Parkgate, Tawstock, Devon. They had four daughters, one of whom was called Elizabeth. On 25 February 1661 he married Abigail, daughter of Nathaniel Stephens of Eastington, Gloucestershire. They had four sons (one of whom predeceased his father) and one daughter, Abigail. He had two notable sons Robert (later Earl of Oxford) and Edward (1664–1735).
See also.
List of deserters from James II to William of Orange
References.
Attribution:


Channel Fleet

The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915.
History.
Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history there had been different squadrons stationed in home waters. One of the earliest known naval formations to be based at Plymouth was called the Western Squadron which was the forerunner of the Channel Squadron that was later known as the Channel Fleet. In 1650 Captain William Penn, Commander-in-Chief, was charged with guarding the Channel from Beachy Head to Lands End with six ships. This system continued following the Restoration. It was the start of what was to become a Western Squadron. In 1690 the squadron operated out of Plymouth Dockyard during wartime periods which was for most of the 18th century and early 19th century. In 1854 The Channel Squadron and sometimes known as the Particular Service Squadron was established. The Channel Squadron only became a permanent formation in 1858.
During the 19th century, as the French developed Cherbourg as a base for steam-powered ships, the Royal Navy developed Portland Harbour as a base for the fleet. The harbour was built between 1849 and 1872 when the Royal Navy created a breakwater made of blocks from local quarries on the Isle of Portland.
With the amelioration of Anglo-French relations, and the rise of German militarism towards 1900, the need for a Channel Formation diminished and the main European naval arena shifted to the North Sea. Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson was officially "Senior Officer in Command of the Channel Squadron" from 1901 to 1903. His subordinate flag officer in that squadron was the Second-in-Command, who commanded a division of battleships. For the period 1858 to 1903 the Channel squadron was often incorrectly referred to as the Channel Fleet.
On 17 April 1903 The Right Hon. Lord Charles Beresford was appointed Vice-Admiral Commanding, Channel Squadron. On 6 May 1903 Admiral Beresford was informed by the Admiralty "that for the future the Channel Squadron shall be known as the Channel Fleet." On 14 December 1904 the Channel Fleet was re-styled the 'Atlantic Fleet' and the Home Fleet became the 'Channel Fleet'.
On 24 March 1909, under a fleet re-organisation, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet.
Vice-Admiral Commanding Channel Squadron.
Post holders have included:
Note:"Channel Squadron - renamed The Channel Fleet, September, 1901"
Second-in-Command Channel Squadron.
Post holders included:
Commanders-in-Chief Channel Fleet.
"Note Channel Fleet is re-named Atlantic Fleet 1909-1914"
Second-in-Command Channel Fleet.
Post holders included:
Rear-Admirals in the Channel Fleet.
Post holders included:
Components.
1901 to 1904.
Of note:"As the Channel Squadron - renamed The Channel Fleet, September, 1901".
1914 to 1915.
Of note: On 8 August 1914, ships from the pre-war Second and Third Fleets were organised into the Channel Fleet.
In literature.
The Channel Fleet features in several historical novels about the Royal Navy, notably "Hornblower and the Hotspur" by C. S. Forester, in which Forester's fictional hero becomes a favourite of the real Channel Fleet commander, Admiral William Cornwallis. The fleet also features in several of the Aubrey–Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian.
The novel "Billy Budd" by Herman Melville is set on board ships of the Channel Fleet, in the immediate aftermath of the Spithead and Nore mutinies of 1797.
In the novel "The War of the Worlds", the Channel Fleet protects the huge mass of refugee shipping escaping from the Essex coast in the face of the Martian onslaught. The initial heroic fight of and the subsequent general engagement, is detailed in the chapter entitled "The Thunderchild".


David Erskine, 2nd Lord Cardross

David Erskine, 2nd Lord Cardross (baptised 1627 – 1671) was a Scottish Royalist.
Life.
Erskine was the only son of Henry Erskine, second son of the second marriage of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and heir to the Barony of Cardross, by his wife Margaret, only daughter of Sir James Bellenden of Broughton, near Edinburgh. On the death of his grandfather in December 1634 he became vested in the title of Cardross, and was served heir to his father in the barony, 17 March 1636–7.
He was one of the few peers who protested against the delivering up of Charles I to the English army at Newcastle in 1646, and was a promoter of the "engagement" in 1648, for which he was fined £1,000, and debarred from sitting in parliament in 1649.
Family.
Cardross was married twice. In 1645 he married, Anne, fifth daughter of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, by whom he had Henry Erskine, 3rd Lord Cardross and a daughter, Margaret, who married William Cunningham of Boquhan. In 1655, he married Mary, youngest daughter of Sir George Bruce of Carnock, Fifeshire, and had several issue, including William of Torry.
He died in 1671.


Sir James Harington, 3rd Baronet

Sir James Harington, 3rd Baronet of Ridlington (30 December 1607 – 1680) was an English Member of Parliament and a Parliamentarian commander during the English Civil War.
Early life.
James Harington was the eldest son of Edward Harington of Ridlington and Margaret Doyley. He married Katherine Wright (1617-1675), a daughter of Sir Edmund Wright, Lord Mayor of London, and inherited Swakeleys House from Wright.
Military career.
Harrington was Colonel of the Westminster Trained Bands (the Red Regiment) in 1642, and he commanded a London brigade (his own regiment, together with the Green Auxiliary Trained Bands of London and the Tower Hamlets Auxiliaries (the Yellow Regiment)) in Sir William Waller's Parliamentarian army at the Siege of Basing House and Battle of Alton in late 1643. As a Major-General, Harrington led out another brigade of suburban Trained Bands (the Tower Hamlets Regiment, the Southwark White Auxiliaries and the Westminster Yellow Auxiliaries) to join Waller in the campaign that culminated at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge on 29 June 1644. For the great combination of Parliamentary armies in the autumn of 1644, London provided a fresh brigade of five regiments under Harrington. It fought at the Second Battle of Newbury, where Harrington had his horse shot under him.
Political career.
He was elected MP for Rutland (1646–1653) and Middlesex (1654–55). Although he did not sign the death warrant, Harrington was one of the Commissioners (Judges) at the trial of Charles I. During the Interregnum, he continued to serve the Parliamentary cause, He served on the first Council of State and later was for a time president of the council. After the Restoration he was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act which pardoned most for taking up arms against the King in the Civil War, and died in exile on the European mainland. His baronetcy, which he had inherited on his father's death in 1653, was declared forfeited for life in 1661.


Portuguese European Constitution referendum

The Portuguese referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was a planned referendum to be held on October 9, 2005 to decide whether the Portugal should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union.
On 12 March 2005, the Prime Minister José Sócrates said that he would seek to have the Constitution of Portugal amended to allow that a referendum be held on October 9, 2005 alongside the municipal elections taking place at that time. The agreement between the two main parties was made on 1 June 2005.
According to the Portuguese Constitution, the result of the referendum is binding if more than of half of registered voters turn out. The text was to have been revised in June 2005 with the express purpose of allowing the referendum to be held on the same day as the municipal elections. This was the second time the Portuguese Constitution has been revised because of the European Constitution, as the original version did not allow referendums on international treaties.
Following the rejection of the European Constitution by voters in France in May 2005 and in the Netherlands in June 2005, and the extension granted to the ratification deadline, José Sócrates announced on 17 June 2005 that the government would postpone the referendum.
Initial plans and delay.
The referendum was initially scheduled for April 2005 using the question "Do you agree with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the rule of qualified majority voting and the new institutional framework of the EU, as defined by the European Constitution?", since Portugal's Constitution does not allow the text of a treaty to be put on a referendum directly.
However, in December 2004, the Constitutional Court of Portugal rejected the proposed question, deeming it unclear. This resulted in the delay to the whole process, as a constitutional amendment would be required before allowing a referendum on the treaty itself.


Palace of Zarzuela

The Zarzuela Palace ( ) is the residence and working offices of the reigning monarch of Spain (King Felipe VI), although the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family is the Royal Palace of Madrid. The Zarzuela Palace is on the outskirts of Madrid, near the Royal Palace of El Pardo, which accommodates visiting heads of state. The palace is owned by the Spanish government and administered by a state agency named Patrimonio Nacional (National Heritage).
The Zarzuela Palace was the home of King Juan Carlos I from May 1962 until his departure to live abroad, following allegations of financial impropriety, in August 2020. It has not been announced whether it will remain the home of his wife, Queen Sofía, who did not accompany Juan Carlos abroad. Although King Felipe VI has his office in the palace, he and his family live in the Pabellón del Príncipe on the grounds just east of the Zarzuela Palace.
History.
During the 17th century, King Felipe IV of Spain ordered a country palace or hunting lodge to be built at La Zarzuela near Madrid. The name "Zarzuela" is thought to be derived from the word "zarzas" meaning brambles, due to its function as a hunting lodge, meaning that it is situated amongst the brambles of the King's Hunting Grounds.
It was a rectangular, slate-roofed building with two lateral arcades. King Carlos IV had the building altered to adapt it to 18th century fashion, and adorned it with tapestries and porcelain, as well as furniture and his much-loved clocks.
Royal residence.
King Juan Carlos I and his wife, Queen Sofía, lived in the palace from their marriage in May 1962 until Juan Carlos' move abroad alone in August 2020. Queen Sofía continued to live in Spain. After the death of "Generalísimo" Francisco Franco in November 1975, the King decided not to occupy his Palace of El Pardo, leaving it for foreign state guests, designating the Palacio de la Moncloa as the residence of the President of the Spanish Government, while they remained at the Zarzuela. The "Palacio Real" (Royal Palace) in the centre of Madrid, the former principal residence of the Spanish monarchs, is the official residence of the King, although it is now used only for state occasions.
During the summer of 2002, King Felipe VI, then Prince of Asturias, moved into a new residence, a palace built within the grounds of the Palace of La Zarzuela.
Opera.
The palace theatre was the place of origin of the Spanish genre of musical drama, "zarzuela".


Elections in Portugal

Elections in Portugal are free, fair, and regularly held, in accordance with election law.
Only the elections since the Carnation Revolution of 1974 are listed here. During the period encompassing the Constitutional Monarchy and the First Republic there were also elections, but only for a limited universe of voters. During the Estado Novo regime, from 1926 to 1974, the few elections held were not up to the democratic standards of their time and never resulted in power transfer.
Portugal elects on a national level the President and the national Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. The President is elected for a five-year term by the people while the Parliament has 230 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies, the districts. Also on a national level, Portugal elects 21 members of the European Parliament.
The Autonomous Regions of Azores and Madeira elect their own regional government for a four-year term, usually on the same day. The first regional elections were held in 1976.
On a local level, 308 Municipal Chambers and Municipal Assemblies and 3,092 Parish Assemblies are elected for a four-year term in separate elections that usually occur on the same day.
Latest elections.
2021 presidential election.
Summary of the 24 January 2021 Portuguese presidential election results
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Candidates
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Supporting parties
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan="2"|First round
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|%
Autonomous Regions elections.
Portugal has two autonomous regions, Azores and Madeira, that elect their own representatives for the regional parliaments every 4 years. The first elections were in 1976 and usually they were both held in the same day until 2007 when Madeira held an early election and Azores held its election the next year. The last election in Azores was in October 2020, and Madeira held an election on September 2019.
Presidential elections.
Under the Portuguese Constitution adopted in 1976, in the wake of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, the President is elected to a five-year term; there is no limit to the number of terms a president may serve, but a president who serves two consecutive terms may not serve again in the next five years after the second term finishes or in the following five years after his resignation. The official residence of the Portuguese President is the Belém Palace.
The President is elected in a two-round system: if no candidate reaches 50% of the votes during the first round, the two candidates with the most votes face each other in a second round held two weeks later. , the 1986 presidential election was the only time a Portuguese presidential election was taken into a second round.
The most recent election was held in 2021 and the next is expected to be in 2026.
Referendums.
The Constitution of Portugal defines referendum in Article 115. The referendum is called by the President of Portugal, on a proposal submitted by the Assembly or the Government. The President can refuse a proposal for referendum submitted to him by the Assembly or the Government if it is found to be unconstitutional or illegal. Referendums are binding if turnout is higher than 50% of registered voters.
Citizens of Portugal have the right to submit to the Assembly an initiative for a referendum.
The referendum can be held only on "important issues concerning the national interest which the Assembly of the Republic or the Government must decide by approving an international convention or passing a legislative act" (paragraph 3). The referendum cannot be held on amendments to the Constitution, budget, taxes, finances and competences of the Assembly, except when issue is the object of an international convention, except when the international convention concerns peace or the rectification of borders.
There have been four nationwide referendums in the History of Portugal:
The Constitutional referendum of 1933 did not comply with the standards of a democratic suffrage, as, for example, abstentions were counted as supportive votes. It resulted in the establishing of the Estado Novo regime.
The later three referendums, held in the context of a Western-style liberal democracy had turnout less than 50%, so they were not binding. Nonetheless, decisions of all three referendums were honoured.


National Party (Isle of Man)

The National Party was a party in the Isle of Man that identified itself with the UK Conservatives. They were active in the period between World War I and World War II in opposing the activities of the Manx Labour Party. However, unlike the Manx Labour Party, they were unsuccessful in establishing themselves over the longer term and they folded.


Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman

Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman (July 2, 1868–June 1, 1953) was a renowned Orthodox Jewish Talmudic scholar, posek and rabbi and served as a dayan of the London Beth Din.
Life and work.
Rabbi Hillman was born in Kovno, Lithuania, the son of Paya Rivka and Avraham Chaim Hillman. In his youth, he studied Torah under his uncles, Rabbi Mordechai Hillman, av beth din of Pasvatin, and Rabbi Noach Yaakov Hillman of Pasval. After his marriage, he studied intensively by himself in the house of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yitzchak Hirsch in the town of Franks in Kurland.
Rabbi Hillman received semicha from the famous Rabbis Eliyahu Dovid Teumim (who was the chief rabbi in Ponevezh and afterwards served in Jerusalem), Refael Shapiro of Volozhin, Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk and the Ridvaz of Slutsk.
In 1897, when Rabbi Hillman was 29 years old, he became rabbi and head of the Beth Din of Berazino in the Minsk Region of then-Russia, an old and distinguished community that had been graced with many great rabbis in the past. In 1908, he was appointed rabbi in Glasgow, serving and founding the Beth Din there until 1914, when he was appointed a dayan of the London Beth Din.
After retiring from the London Beth Din in 1934, Dayan Hillman settled in Jerusalem, devoting himself to study and writing. He co-founded the Jerusalem yeshiva "Ohel Torah" together with his son-in-law Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, and served as its rosh yeshiva.
His grandson was Israeli President Chaim Herzog, and his great-grandson is politician Isaac Herzog.
Lineage.
Rabbi Hillman was a descendant of his namesake Rabbi Shmuel Hillman (Helman), the Av Beth Din of Metz, who is mentioned in the introduction to the responsa "Noda Bihudah". On his mother's side, he was a descendant of Rabbi Michal Datnover, who was known in his time as an exceptional scholar and Kabbalist.
In addition, Rabbi Hillman was a direct sixth-generation descendant of the author of "Knesses Yechezkel", who was the Av Beth Din of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek. He also descended from the Katzenellenbogen family, and could trace his lineage back to the Maharam (Rabbi Meir ben Isaac) of Padua and Rabbi Yehuda Mintz.
Death.
Rabbi Hillman died in Jerusalem in 1953. Thousands of people followed his funeral through the streets of Jerusalem, among them Cabinet ministers, Members of the Knesset, and leading rabbis and rosh yeshivas. Dayan Hillman's death caused deep sorrow in Jerusalem, where he was greatly beloved.
Eulogies were delivered by the deceased's son-in-law Chief Rabbi Herzog, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer (with whom Dayan Hillman learned with in the Volozhin yeshiva), the Minister of Religious Affairs Mr Moshe Shapira, and others. He was survived by his wife; his daughter Sarah, the wife of Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog; and his son David Hillman, a London artist.
Soon after Dayan Hillman died, a memorial service was held in London, where Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie and Dayan Yehezkel Abramsky spoke, full of praise, respect and admiration for the deceased. Dayan Lazarus, Dayan Grunfeld, Dayan Grossnass and Rabbi Isidore Epstein were among those in attendance.
Works.
Dayan Hillman authored many scholarly works, including a 20-volume commentary on every tractate of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, as well as on the Mishnaic Orders Zeraim and Taharos and on the Rambam and Sifra, entitled "Or Hayashar" (London, Jerusalem). He also published novellae on the Tanakh and a book of his sermons and orations.
Among the other writings of this outstanding figure were manuscripts on the Talmudic tractates Zevachim, Arakhin and Temura—all in the Order of Kodshim—and responsa on all four sections of the Shulchan Aruch.


Czechoslovakism

Czechoslovakism (, ) is a concept which underlines reciprocity of the Czechs and the Slovaks. It is best known as an ideology which holds that there is one Czechoslovak nation, though it might also appear as a political program of two nations living in one common state. The climax of Czechoslovakism fell on 1918-1938, when as a one-nation-theory it became the official political doctrine of Czechoslovakia; its best known representative was Tomáš Masaryk. Today Czechoslovakism as political concept or ideology is almost defunct; its remnant is a general sentiment of cultural affinity, present among many Czechs and Slovaks.
Antecedents.
Except some 70 years of Great Moravia in the early Medieval era, until the 20th century the peoples in the basins of Upper Elbe, Morava, Váh, Nitra and Hornad have never lived in a common state. Throughout ages they were gradually developing various and not necessarily conflicting identities, like Czechs, Bohemians, Moravians, Slavs, Slovaks, , Czechoslavs, Hungaroslavs and other, also hybrid concepts. These identities might have been constructed along dynastic, ethnic, cultural, religious or territorial lines and might have been embraced by various groupings, from few intellectuals to large rural masses. The current which emphasised some sort of general commonality between Slavic people living West and East of the White Carpathians was based on language. In the late 16th century the Bible was first completely translated into Czech from original languages and its vernacular version came to be known as "Bible of Kralice". In the early 17th century "Bible kralická" and its linguistic standard, later known as bibličtina, was accepted for religious use in Protestant Slavic communities both West and East of the White Carpathians.
In the late 18th century the Slavic Protestant circles centered in Preßburg went beyond the purely religious usage of bibličtina and elaborated on a broader concept of common culture, shared by all Czech-related people. In 1793 worked out "Projekt ústavu alebo spoločnosti slovensko-českej medzi Slovákmi v Uhorsku", a draft of educational institution to be based on Czech language; thanks to efforts of and in 1803 the Preßburg Lyceum opened the chair “řeči a literatury československej”; in the 1810s started to publish "Týdenník aneb Císařské královské Národní noviny", a weekly which advanced a common Czech-related cause; in 1829 a number of scholars founded , a cultural and education association which set branches also further East, e.g. in Késmárk and Lőcse; some activists established a network of bookstores and tried to propagate Czech literature. These initiatives did not exactly advocate a common Czech and Slovak cause; as the Slovak identity was at that time extremely vague, they rather tried to advance Czech as cultural model for Slavic people of Upper Hungary.
The current of building a common Slavic community centered upon Czech culture climaxed in mid-19th century thanks to activity of Jozef Šafárik and especially Jan Kollár, the latter graduate of the Preßburg Lyceum himself. A poet, scientist and politician, as ideologue he advanced the cause of Pan-Slavism. His monumental opus was written mostly in archaic Czech, though in the 1840s he tried to merge it with some Slovak features. However, he was opposed from two different angles. The trend towards buildup of Slovak literary language, commenced by Bernolák mostly to counter Protestantism already in the late 18th century, diverted from religious issues and assumed a decisively national flavor; championed by Štúr, Hurban and Hodža it opposed a Czech-focused perspective. On other hand, Prague-based representatives of purely Czech cultural vision like Jungmann or Palacký also considered Kollár's efforts harmful. The result was that with death of Šafárik and Kollár the idea of Czech-based linguistic unity was gradually dying out.
Pre-Czechoslovakism.
In the late 19th century the concept of Czech-focused affinity was reduced to general cultural sphere. Institutional outposts advocating a common cause were few, isolated and with limited impact. In 1882 the Slovak students in Prague set up , organisation which raised funds to send Slovaks to Czech gymnasia and to the Charles University in Prague; in 1895 it evolved into . Some one-off events, e.g. a 1895 Czech-Slavic ethnographic exhibition in Prague generated much interest, though they were not exactly focused on a joint Czech and Slovak cause. Among periodicals the key one was "", established in 1892 in Szakolca; its contributors, led by Vavro Šrobár, came to be known as "Hlasici". Another periodical, far less important, was "Prúdy", since 1909 issued in Prague. The level of social integration was marginal, with few hundred Slovak students in Prague and perhaps much lower number of Czechs in Preßburg. The rate of Czech-Slovak intermarriage was low, lower than the Czech-German and the Slovak-Hungarian one. There were no common Czecho-Slovak political parties, cultural, sporting, leisure or social organisations. However, a number of Czech prints, including high-quality periodicals, were fairly popular in Slovak-populated areas.
Except the 1848 proposal of Palacký politicians on both sides did not go beyond the state borders when drafting their own designs. The Czechs focused on gaining some sort of political autonomy within Austria, usually intended for the provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Their demands were based on historical arguments related to the so-called lands of the Czech crown; as Slovak-speaking territories had never been part of the concept, pointing to a common Czech-Slovak cause would have had ruined this logic. The Slovaks struggled to cope with state-sponsored Magyarization and merely aimed to build an institutional network of cultural and education outposts within Hungary; with just 1 deputy in the Budapest parliament their chances to influence the official Hungarian politics were extremely slim. Until 1914 neither Czechs nor Slovaks have seriously advocated independence, let alone independence of a common state of both Czechs and Slovaks.
Though the adjectives “Czechoslovak” or very rarely “Slovakoczech” were in circulation in both languages (usually standing for Czech type of Slav), the term “Czechoslovakism” was not in use prior to 1914. When applied retroactively to the period, it could have denoted 4 various concepts of commonality: 1) that Slovaks form part of the Czech nation; 2) that Slovaks are somewhat distinct branch of the Czech people; 3) that Slovaks and Czechs are equal components of one Czecho-Slovak nation and 4) that Slovaks and Czechs are distinct nations united by common political interest. It seems that most Czech-speakers tended to perceive Slovak-speakers within the first two perspectives; to them “Slovaks” were like “Moravians”, but even poorer and more backward. Slovak-speakers were far less advanced in terms of embracing a common identity; some regarded themselves as part of a Czechoslovak tribe of the Slav nation, some as Slovaks, some as Hungarian Slavs akin to Czechs; however, most of them had already some notion of Slovak individuality.
Nascent ideology.
In 1914 many Czech politicians left Austro-Hungary to advocate an independent Czech state; according to Masaryk, it would consist of the Austrian provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and Slovak-inhabited areas of Hungary. The related documents referred to “the Czech nation”; the same perspective was present in other documents of Czech exiles, e.g. in a 1915 booklet "Bohemia’s claim for freedom", issued by the Czech Committee in London. A different approach was agreed between two US-based groups, Czech National Alliance and ; known as the of October 1915, it opted for a common state of two separate nations; at one point it referred to a federation and at another to Slovak autonomy. In early 1916 the Czech Foreign Committee in Paris, freshly joined by a Hlasici-related politician , renamed itself to Czechoslovak National Council, though they kept speaking of the Czech nation. In 1917-1918 the Council published a number of pamphlets, referring either to Czechoslovak or Czech nation.
Back home politicians grouped in Czech Union declared their loyalty to the Habsburgs; in 1917 they advocated an entity within the empire which would unite “all branches of Czechoslovak people”. In May 1918 a Diet of Czech Lands demanded independence for the Czech nation “and its Slovak branch”. The Slovak national assembly in Liptószentmiklós of May 1918 demanded recognition of self-determination rights, including “the Hungarian branch of the Czechoslovak tribe”, but another assembly in Turócszentmárton spoke in name of the Slovak nation and openly supported independence within Czechoslovak statehood. In May 1918 Slovak and Czech exile organisations signed Pittsburgh Agreement, approved by the Czechoslovak council in Paris; it opted for a Czechoslovak state, but mentioned Czech and Slovak nations separately in the common state with common government. In July a Czechoslovak National Committee was set up in Prague; the body advocated a Czech-Slovak state but referred either to the Czech or to the Czechoslovak nation.
In September 1918 the US recognised the Paris council as a Czechoslovak government; in liaison with politicians in Prague, this body in name of the Czechoslovak nation declared independence of Czechoslovakia on October 28. Unaware of this, two days later a Slovak assembly in Turócszentmárton formed a ; its declaration referred to “Czechoslovak nation”, “Slovak nation” as part of “the Czecho-Slovak nation” and “Slovak branch” of the Czech nation. In November 1918 Czech deputies to the Vienna parliament formed National Czechoslovak Assembly, which declared itself representative of “Czech nation”. The Paris Council in liaison with the Prague Committee promulgated a provisional constitution and agreed on composition of the constituent National Assembly; 254 Czech seats were filled according to recent elections to the Austrian Reichsrat, while 55 Slovaks mostly hand-picked by Šrobár were co-opted later.
Though prior to 1914 Czecho-Slovak political co-operation was close to non-existent, in the late 1910s both in Czech and Slovak political circles the idea of a common state emerged triumphant; there were no serious competitive projects based on a separate Czech or Slovak state. One theory holds that with the Habsburg Monarchy collapsing, Czechs and Slovaks realised they could politically take advantage of their cultural affinity. Another theory claims that the concept of common state was mostly anti-German and anti-Hungarian; the Czechs and the Slovaks realised that in their own nation-states they might not control sizeable and economically privileged minorities.
Doctrine at work.
The Czechoslovak state was defined in 1920 Constitution and other documents adopted by the National Assembly and then the first elected parliament; in the former body the Slovaks formed 18% and in the latter 15%. The source of all power in the country was specified as “Czechoslovak nation” and indeed later official statistics consistently did not distinguish between Czechs and Slovaks; the official language was a “Czechoslovak language”. The coat of arms included combined Czech and Slovak symbols, but the latter in a secondary position; the flag reproduced old Czech white-red pattern but with a blue wedge added. The anthem combined the Czech "Kde domov můj?" and the Slovak "Nad Tatrou sa blýska". The administrative system initially adopted was a unitary one; the country was not divided into federative components but into 23 administrative units, though the government included the post of “Minister for Slovakia”. In 1928 Czechoslovakia was divided into 4 lands, with presidents and own representation. Slovakia became one of them, for the first time in history its borders having been officially defined.
Czechoslovakism advanced as ideology had slight Czech bias, visible e.g. in school textbooks, and tended to promote a Czech vision, e.g. when discussing Hussitism. In terms of practice, in most integrated state institutions (e.g. railways, post, army) the prevailing if not the only language was Czech, but in local administration Slovak and Czech were used, officially as the same Czechoslovak language. Schools in respective territories were using Czech and Slovak; textbooks for them were also in Czech and in Slovak. Czechs clearly dominated among the political strata. Slovakia was slightly under-represented in terms of number of seats assigned to the land in the parliament. In central Czechoslovak administration Slovaks amounted to less than 2%. In turn Czechs were over-represented – sometimes dramatically – in state-controlled jobs in Slovakia, though it resulted from lack of sufficiently skilled Slovaks rather than from Czechization. Clear economic assessment had not been produced so far; however, scholars suggest that compared to her disproportionally small fiscal contribution Slovakia was on the receiving end in terms of total state expenditures, even though they might not have been proportionate to Slovakia's population.
In political strata they key proponent of Czechoslovakism was Hrad, an informal group composed mostly of Czechs and related to president Masaryk; he was also the chief ideologue of Czechoslovakism. It has been largely accepted as official state concept; most political parties either renamed themselves to “Czechoslovak” or dropped any national references. A Czech nationalism has not emerged; the Slovak one has gradually taken shape of Slovak People's Party, known as "ľudáci". Under leadership of Andrej Hlinka it grew to the strongest party in Slovakia and was increasingly critical about the alleged Czech bias. The central government adopted a number of measures supposed to defuse Slovak discontent, like administrative reform of 1928, increased investments and personal policy, including the premiership of a Slovak, Milan Hodža. However, in the late 1930s ľudáci already demanded political autonomy, even though they declared full loyalty to Czechoslovak state as the only defence line against German and Hungarian revisionism.
Crisis.
In the mid-1930s it was already visible that among the Slovak population Czechoslovakism – if ever genuinely popular – was in retreat. Apart from Czech predominance resulting from their numerical superiority and economic strength, the supposed reason for this demise was also the ideology itself. It was visibly Czech-biased; moreover, Slovak nationalists were dismissed as Magyarones, traitors supportive of Magyarization, a reference to 19th century theory which opposed buildup of Slovak language as an attempt first to separate Slovaks from Czechs and then to turn them into Hungarians. Some ľudák leaders were under police surveillance, some of their rallies were banned, their press tribunes were suspended for brief periods and few politicians were at times detained, though all measures were firmly based in constitutional order and they have never turned into state-sponsored systematic persecution.
Repeated ľudák's autonomy demands were accepted by the Czechoslovak parliament in November 1938, in wake of major European political turmoil caused by German territorial demands versus Czechoslovakia and when the southern belt of Slovakia was about to be handed over to Hungary. In aftermath of the Sudetenland crisis and fearing total break-up of the country, the Czech deputies consented to the Slovak draft. Slovakia became a fully autonomous unit with own government, administration and special budgetary provisions; some overall Czechoslovak issues, e.g. presidential elections, were subjected to consent of qualified majority of the Slovak assembly. The constitutional amendment abandoned the original concept of Czechoslovak nation and referred to Czech and Slovak nations; the country was renamed from Czechoslovak to Czecho-Slovak Republic. This setup lasted only few months; in March 1939 the prime minister of autonomous Slovakia and the ľudák leader Jozef Tiso declared total independence. At the time Czech lands were overrun by German troops and soon got incorporated into the Reich as Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1939-1945 the chief exponent of Czechoslovakism was the London-based Czechoslovak government in exile led by Jan Šrámek and especially by the president in-exile, Edvard Beneš; Czechoslovakism was popular also among some sympathetic British historians, like Seton-Watson. Officially the exile Czechoslovak structures not only refused to recognise the post-September-1938 political changes but they also stuck to the theory of one, Czechoslovak nation; it was advanced as late as in mid-1943. When negotiating with Moscow-sponsored Czechoslovak Communists Beneš advocated return to Czechoslovakism as to a state doctrine, though KSČ at that time was already highly sceptical about viability of the concept. Also the (SNR), underground body formed in Slovakia, styled as continuation of the pre-1939 autonomous Slovak assembly, politically heterogeneous though strongly left-leaning and declaring loyalty to president Benes, adopted a different position. The body, formally the supreme political organisation leading the Slovak National Uprising, in its September 1944 pronouncement spoke in favour of Czechoslovakia as the state of two nations, the Czechs and the Slovaks.
Czechoslovakism under Socialism.
The Czechoslovak state re-constructed in 1945-1948 abandoned the notion of a common Czechoslovak nation. The 1948 constitution referred to "we, the Czechoslovak people", the 1960 constitution read "we, the working-class people of Czechoslovakia", and the 1968 constitution opened with "we, the Czech and Slovak nations". There are scholars who consider some of these concepts “a shadow of Czechoslovakism”, yet officially Czechoslovakism was denounced as a bourgeoisie doctrine supposed to facilitate penetration of Czech capital into Slovakia. In terms of ideology – e.g. in school textbooks – the emphasis was on class struggle, either of the “Czechoslovak people” or of the Czech and Slovak nations. Most key cultural institutions like central art gallery, theatre, museum or philharmonic orchestra were duplicated, with the Czech ones located in Prague and the Slovak ones in Bratislava. The flagship newspaper of the Communist party was issued as "Rudé právo" in Czech and as "Pravda" in Slovak.
Though there was no mention of autonomy, in 1948 Slovakia was granted its own legislative and executive bodies; no such bodies were introduced for Bohemia or Moravia. The new constitution of 1960 did away with local Slovak executive; some of its duties were transferred to the Slovak legislative and some to central state agencies. One more change followed in 1968, when a massive constitutional amendment converted the country into a federation, composed of parallel and equal Czech and Slovak socialist republics. In common state bodies Slovakia was over-represented when compared to its share of the population: in the bi-cameral Federal Assembly the lower house was composed of 134 deputies elected in the Czech Republic and 66 deputies elected in the Slovak one; the upper house was composed of 75 deputies from each republic. Two republics had own legislative and executive bodies, including the prime minister. Since the mid-1980s another constitutional change was considered; it would consist of introducing separate constitutions for Czech and Slovak republics, apart from the existing Czechoslovak one. Half-hearted works on such “trilateral” structure proceeded grudgingly and were not completed until the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia.
In practical terms all politics was decided by the Communist party, which since the late 1940s seized all power and turned the country into dictatorship; the party itself was unitary, with no division into a Czech and a Slovak section. The first two party leaders, Gottwald and Novotny, were Czechs; the next two, Dubček and Husák, were Slovaks; the last one, Jakeš, was Czech again. The federal prime ministers (the post introduced in 1968) were Czechs: Černík, Štrougal and Adamec. The regime was generally cautious to maintain proportional parity between Czechs and Slovaks where possible. Excess of Czech or Slovak national zeal was usually immediately challenged, though some conflicts were unavoidable. A unique period was this of late 1960s/early 1970s, when many Czechs associated the Husak-led de-liberalization with excessive Slovak influence. In economic terms it seems that Slovakia was even better off than in the interwar period, with state investments especially in heavy industry. As a result, the gap in economic and social development was narrowed; in the late 1980s GDP per capita in Slovak Republic was 87% of this in Czech Republic and per capita Slovak consumption was 91% of the Czech one.
End of Czechoslovakia.
After the fall of communism in late-1989 it initially appeared that some sort of federative solution uniting Czechs and Slovaks would be maintained. None of political parties which competed in the 1990 elections advocated break-up, though most agreed that the federative regime had to be re-defined. However, in course of 1990-1992 the initial consensus was getting increasingly fragile; its first sign was a so-called “hyphen war”, when parliamentarians debated whether the country should be named “Czechoslovak”, “Czecho-Slovak” or “Czech and Slovak” Republic. Though eventually the last of these solutions was adopted as official name in both languages, the episode demonstrated substantial differences between Czechs and Slovaks about the identity of their shared country. Other issues soon followed, e.g. a 1991 debate over control of Federal Broadcasting Council, the body to supervise and regulate the broadcast media. Parliamentary works to define a new federative regime languished. Apart from Czechoslovak parties or parties divided into Czech and Slovak sections, there were new parties emerging which catered exclusively to Czech and especially Slovak electorate. Except the Communists there was no party with comparable support in Czech and Slovak lands, and except Havel and Dubček there were no Czech/Slovak politicians which enjoyed prestige in their non-native republics.
In Slovakia the 1992 elections produced clear but not overwhelming victory of Slovakia-specific parties which advocated a confederative Czechoslovak solution, though they included also a visible independentist current. In June and July leaders of two victorious groupings, Václav Klaus from the Czech Civil Democratic Party (ODS) and Vladimír Mečiar from the Slovak Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) held talks about forming a common coalition government. The future federative formula turned into the key point of disagreement. Following a few weeks of unsuccessful negotiations, in July the HZDS-dominated Slovak diet unilaterally declared independence, sealed shortly afterwards by decision to dissolve Czechoslovakia, adopted jointly by Klaus and Mečiar. No public consultations like referendum were held. In a series of legal acts, in late 1992 the federal parliament agreed on specific measures and declared Czechoslovakia dissolved as of December 31, 1992.
Breakup of Czechoslovakia came about though there was no vigorous independence movement on either side; according to opinion polls, only slightly more than one third of both Czechs and Slovaks supported dissolution. However, there was no vigorous movement in defence of the common state either; its key advocate was president Havel, at the time a moral authority rather than a political leader. In general, the dissolution is attributed to Slovak unease about a state union with Czechs, a formula which many of them considered Czech-biased by default; some claim that Slovaks rejected common state as means of advancing Czechoslovakism. Some scholars pointed also to different visions of socio-economic transformation or even suggested that things got out of hand. As there were no serious points of disagreement, e.g. in terms of mutually coveted territory or national minorities, negotiating a divorce was fairly easy. Factors which prompted Czechs and Slovaks to build a common state in 1918 did not exist any more. There was no real threat of German or Hungarian revisionism in the early 1990s; there was virtually no German minority in the Czech Republic, while in Slovakia the ratio of Slovaks to Hungarians went up from 3:1 in 1918 to 8:1 in 1991.
Today.
After the break-up of Czechoslovakia both Czechs and Slovaks focused on their own nation-state projects. In case of Mečiar-led Slovaks it was not infrequently dubbed nationalist populism or ultra-nationalism; in case of Czechs some scholars confronted the post-Czechoslovak “Little Czech” identity with the earlier “Great Czech” identity. Czechoslovakism went into almost total oblivion, and if mentioned it was referred to with scepticism or hostility, by Czechs as a failed concept and by Slovaks as disguised Czech expansionism. No serious political force in Czech or Slovak state advanced either a vision of a common Czechoslovak nation or this of a common Czechoslovakia, be it as unitary state, federation, confederation or otherwise. The most visible project until today has been "Czechoslovakia 2018", more of a social media initiative rather than an organised political group. It aims to re-unite both countries by triggering referenda, though it clearly notes the existence of two separate nations. The initiative produced no result so far; signatures needed are being collected, but it is not clear whether there is any chance to meet the threshold required by law, especially high in case of Slovakia.
Both Czech and Slovak states officially and somewhat proudly embrace the Czechoslovak heritage as part of their common history; in October 2018 there were celebrations of 100th anniversary of foundation of Czechoslovakia in Prague and Bratislava, and respective governmental agencies of both states joined forces in common enterprises like a grand Czech-Slovak Exhibition, organised by national museums. However, the Slovak 2018 celebrations focused on October 30, the day of the Martin declaration, while the Czech ones focused on October 28, the day the Czechoslovak National Council declared Czechoslovak independence. Moreover, October 28 is traditionally a major holiday for the Czechs, while Slovak public holidays commemorate rather the Slovak constitution, establishment of Slovak state and the Slovak National Uprising.
The vision of common history as perceived by Czechs and Slovaks in 2018 is visibly, though not strikingly different; in opinion polls both nations quote somewhat different sets of most and least preferred personalities or episodes. Opinion polls as to the break-up of Czechoslovakia are inconclusive. In the late 2010s a slight majority of both Czechs and Slovaks approved of emergence of their own nation states, though only some 40% positively evaluated the break-up of Czechoslovakia; it seems that a slightly higher percentage of Slovaks than Czechs view the common past favourably. In 2018 Slovakia was the 4th Czech trading partner (6.3%), while the Czech Republic was the Slovak 2nd partner (11.5%). There is an increasing number of Slovaks migrating to the Czech Republic; currently it stands at around 110,000, which in percentage terms is more than in the interwar period and less than in the Communist Czechoslovakia. In terms of general sentiment both nations seem fairly close. In ratings of most-liked nations the Slovaks top the list among the Czechs and the Czechs among the Slovaks; in case they do not compete against each other, national sport teams (typically ice hockey) are mutually supported by Czechs and Slovaks. For many mid-age and older people a sentiment towards times of youth extends to Czechoslovakia-made icons like Krtek or kofola.
Historiographic assessment.
In scholarly historiographic discourse Czechoslovakism is defined as a concept of either a common Czechoslovak nation or a common Czechoslovak state. The former definition clearly prevails yet its exact content might vary, as relations between the Czechs and the Slovaks in the common nation could have been defined differently. The classic model of theoretical Czechoslovakism as reconstructed by historians envisions one nation composed of two equal components, the Czechs and the Slovaks. However, the term Czechoslovakism could be applied also to somewhat different models of Czech and Slovak national unity. One was based on theory of the Slovaks simply as Czechs living in (former) Upper Hungary; another envisioned Slovaks as branch of a Czech “tribe” or Czech “peoples”, the term somewhat broader than “a nation”; one more saw the Slovaks as Slavic ethnic group akin to Czechs yet to gain national identity, sort of “Czechs in-the-making”; finally, some acknowledged separate ethnic/cultural status of Czechs and Slovaks and viewed the Czechoslovak nation as one political community. This last model is already close to a concept which acknowledges existence of two separate Czech and Slovak nations, united by common political interest and supporting a common, Czechoslovak state.
There are different mechanisms considered responsible first for the rise and then for the fall of Czechoslovakism. Among the former scholars usually quote linguistic proximity (which in the early 19th century almost resulted in buildup of a common language), lack of ethnic and political conflicts between Czech-speakers and Slovak-speakers, and common political interest related to post-1918 ethnic setup. According to the last reading, Czechoslovakism was more of a negative defensive political strategy rather than a positive national ideology; it reportedly emerged as combined measure of Czech self-defense against the Germans and Slovak self-defense against the Hungarians. Among mechanisms listed as leading to demise of Czechoslovakism one might find: allegedly innate Czech-bias of the concept, which gradually alienated the Slovaks; cultural differences between secular, mostly urban Czechs and Catholic, mostly rural Slovaks; lack of key common positive narrative; genuine and popular yet ultimately incompatible Czech and Slovak visions of community; international factors, which in the mid-20th century delivered an impulse against Czechoslovakism, and which in the late 20th century failed to deliver an impulse to support it. When assessing the balance between centrifugal and centripetal factors most scholars are very cautious when offering a verdict whether Czechoslovakism was doomed to fail or whether it stood a chance of success.


Vallcarca, Sitges

Vallcarca is an abandoned coastal settlement in the Garraf Massif, Catalonia, Spain. It is administered by the Sitges municipality.
Although most of the area is surrounded by the Garraf Natural Park, a highly-polluting cement factory near the abandoned railroad station is still active exploiting the nearby quarries for cement production.
History.
Vallcarca was originally settled by a small group of workers at the "Fradera" cement plant and nearby quarries. The seaport was built in 1913 to ship the plant's products. Merchant ships carried cement across the Mediterranean Sea to the Balearic Islands and other places in the Iberian Peninsula's Mediterranean coast. Some return trips brought coal from mines in Pola de Laviana, also owned by Fradera. Susqueda and Sau dams and some buildings in the University of Barcelona were built using Vallcarca's cement.
In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, aircraft belonging to the Francoist expeditionary air forces bombed Vallcarca. At that time it was an important military target owing to the cement plant and its harbor which connected the town with Mallorca.
The town housed workers in the Vallcarca industrial and port facilities, as well as from the Renfe train station which was the only means of transport for the workers and their families. There was a problem with the cement related pollution which covered the whole area in thick white dust. The cement company imported machinery from Germany to remove the dust from the air, but the machinery soon broke down. Subsequently, in the second half of the 20th century, many of the younger inhabitants of the town refused to work in the near-slavery conditions of Vallcarca and looked for work in nearby Sitges and beyond.
Today the "Uniland" company administers Vallcarca port. The train station was closed in 1994 and the old workers' houses are abandoned.
Vallcarca port was particularly active during the expansion of the Barcelona harbor. Twelve million tons of rock from the Garraf Massif were used for the project.
Some people visit Vallcarca during the summer, as its beach is still in a pristine state, but the leftover dust from the quarries during windy days can be unpleasant. The port is used exclusively for industrial purposes, as all the workers come from Sitges or elsewhere.


Society for Constitutional Information

The Society for Constitutional Information was a British activist group founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright, to promote parliamentary reform.
It was an organisation of social reformers, many of whom were drawn from the rational dissenting community, dedicated to publishing political tracts aimed at educating fellow citizens on their lost ancient liberties. It promoted the work of Tom Paine and other campaigners for parliamentary reform. Most members of the Society for Constitutional Information were also opposed to the slave trade. It was particularly strong in Sheffield.
The Society flourished until 1783, but thereafter made little headway. The organization actively promoted Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man" and other radical publications, and under the leadership of John Horne Tooke collaborated with other reform societies, metropolitan and provincial, such as the London Corresponding Society, with which it met in 1794 to discuss a further national convention as well as producing many pamphlets and periodicals. After the government repression and 1794 Treason Trials in October, in which the leaders were acquitted, the society ceased to meet.


Castillo de Salas (ship)

Castillo de Salas was a Spanish bulk carrier that was launched in Ferrol on 20 December 1979 and completed in August 1980. It measured over 50,000 gross tons, and had a deadweight of over 100,000 tons, measured approximately in length, across the beam, and in draft. It required a crew complement of 32.
Wreck and salvage.
During the morning of 11 January 1986 "Castillo de Salas", owned by the Spanish company Elcano, ran aground over rocks north northwest of Gijón. The ship was anchored outside Gijón's seaport (El Musel) when the ship's anchor came loose in bad weather. Efforts to re-anchor, self-propel and even tow the ship away from the coast failed due to harsh seas. The cargo was nearly of coal loaded in Norfolk, Virginia as well as over of fuel oil used for propulsion. On 15 January 1986 the hull broke in two during efforts to bring the ship afloat, therefore releasing a spill of diesel oil and coal ore.
On 23 February 1986 the bow half of the hull was refloated, towed into the sea and scuttled in waters of in depth. Officials stated that no diesel oil was left in the bow section of the hull. During the following spring, the company Fondomar was tasked with salvaging the remainder of the stern portion of the hull.
Second salvage of the stern section.
Small balls of decomposed oil were found sporadically since until 2001, when a major find of these balls was confirmed to be from fuel remaining in the double bottom fuel tank of the stern section that was not removed in 1986. This led to a second salvage operation to remove the fuel during 2001–2002 and the complete the removal of the remainder of the wreck in 2003 due to public out-cry.
Trophies.
On 15 November 2003 Gijón artist Joaquín Rubio Camín's sculpture "Memoria" ("Memory") was unveiled on the Camino del Cervigón overlooking the sea. The sculpture was made using part of the remains of "Castillo de Salas" which sank off Gijón and were recovered earlier in the year.
One of the ship's anchors is displayed in the Philippe Cousteau Anchor Museum in Salinas beach, Spain, west of Gijón.
Side effects.
Since the incident, it is common to find dark sand contaminated with coal on the beaches in the Bay of Gijón, particularly after rough sea conditions. The amounts recovered continue to reduce over time, but patches of dark coloured sand, high in black coal particles, can be seen at low tide.


Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood

Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood DL (25 December 1767 – 24 November 1841), known as Viscount Lascelles from 1814 to 1820, was a British peer, slave plantation and other land owner, chiefly inheritee art collector, and Member of Parliament.
Early life and politics.
Harewood was the second son of Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood, and Anne Chaloner. He was elected to the House of Commons for Yorkshire in 1796, a seat he held until the 1807 Yorkshire election and again from 1812 to 1818, and also represented Westbury from 1807 to 1812 and Northallerton from 1818 to 1820. The latter year he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. Between 1819 and 1841 he also served as Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
According to the "Legacies of British Slave-Ownership" at the University College London, Harewood was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £ in ) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Harewood was associated with six different claims, he owned 1277 slaves in Barbados and Jamaica and received a £26,307 payment at the time (worth £ in ).
Marriage and issue.
Lord Harewood married Henrietta Sebright (d. 15 February 1840), daughter of Sir John Sebright, 6th Baronet, on 3 September 1794. They had eleven children:
His wife is mentioned in Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen, in a letter from Mary Crawford to Fanny Price while Fanny is staying with her mother and father in Portsmouth: "I was there, two years ago, when Lady Lascelles had it, and I prefer it over any other house in London." (She is talking about a house in Wimpole Street.)


Worms family

The Worms family is a family from Frankfurt and England, tracing its descent from Aaron Worms of Frankfurt am Main in the middle of the eighteenth century. Aaron's great-great-grandson was created hereditary baron of the Austrian empire on April 23, 1871, and a later descendant, Baron Henry de Worms, was raised to the British peerage as Lord Pirbright.