Does anyone have any idea how I can find information on the guards that were posted during the Nuremberg Trials? My father was one of the guards and I would love to find out more information pertaining to his post if possible.

I realise that this title sounds horribly, horribly sensational, but hear me out: Naomi Seidman, in her article "Elie Wiesel and the Scandal of Jewish Rage" (Jewish Social Studies, New Series, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Autumn, 1996), compares three different versions of the novel Night: the original Yiddish (Un di velt hot geshvign, translated as And the World Kept Silent), the first translation into French (Nuit), and then the translation into English.

The following passage from Seidman's article translates a small portion of Un di velt, the reason for the creation of this thread:

But even more radically transformed in the move to French than "the most important city in Marmorosh" was the image of the survivor. In both the Yiddish and the French, the narrator criticizes the other survivors for thinking of nothing but food, and "not of revenge." The following passage is taken from the Yiddish, but the French is similar:

The first gesture of freedom: the starved men made an effort to get something to eat. They only thought about food. Not about revenge. Not about their parents. Only about bread. And even when they had satisfied their hunger-they still did not think about revenge.

But the Yiddish continues: "Early the next day Jewish boys ran off to Weimar to steal clothing and potatoes. And to rape German girls [un tsu fargvaldikn daytshe shikses]. The historical commandment of revenge was not fulfilled." In French this passage reads: "Le lendemain, quelquesjeunes gens coururent a Weimar ramasser des pommes de terre et des habits-et coucher avec des filles. Mais de vengeance, pas trace."' Or, in Stella Rodway's English rendition: "On the following morning, some of the young men went to Weimar to get some potatoes and clothes-and to sleep with girls. But of revenge, not a sign."

To describe the differences between these versions as a stylistic reworking is to miss the extent of what is suppressed in the French. Un di velt depicts a post-Holocaust landscape in which Jewish boys "run off" to steal provisions and rape German girls; Night extracts from this scene of lawless retribution a far more innocent picture of the aftermath of the war, with young men going off to the nearest city to look for clothes and sex. In the Yiddish, the survivors are explicitly described as Jews and their victims (or intended victims) as German; in the French, they are just young men and women. The narrator of both versions decries the Jewish failure to take revenge against the Germans, but this failure means something different when it is emblematized, as it is in Yiddish, with the rape of German women. The implication, in the Yiddish, is that rape is a frivolous dereliction of the obligation to fulfill the "historical commandment of revenge"; presumably fulfillment of this obligation would involve a concerted and public act of retribution with a clearly defined target. Un di velt does not spell out what form this retribution might take, only that it is sanctioned-even commanded-by Jewish history and tradition.

Is there any historical evidence for what Wiesel described in the original Yiddish version?

Given its socialist tendencies and history of revolution, I'm surprised France didnt become Communist after the Russian Revolution. Was France becoming Communist ever a likely possibility? What are the main reasons it didn't?

The Cambridge Inquisition is a satellite text of the Domesday Book that goes into a level of detail that the Domesday Book doesn't, but only for the Cambridge area. I'm trying to get hold of a complete text in English, but I'm having the devil's own time doing so. Which is a shame, because that text would really help my current research. Can anyone point me in the direction of such a translation?

Every description or video I've seen of cavalry charges during the great war are generally the same: big charge straight into no mans land or an enemy camp, sudden realization that machine guns exist, entire cavalry is massacred in minutes. But what were they really like? How large were cavalries during this war compared to wars of the 19th century? How did officers expect to get men on horseback past machine guns? Did they fully understand how devastating the guns were or even consider them a threat? What was the end goal? Did they ever charge straight into no man's land or were they only deployed at the beginning of the war before no man's land and trenches became definite features in the landscape? And most importantly, did these disastrous cavalry charges even happen at all or were they miniscule events that were made popular by movies like War Horse?

If a woman hired a prostitute in 1800s Britain, would she accept? Were there any gay male prostitutes working the street?

An old come back to those wanting materials in metric rather than customary units is that miles put men on the moon. Is this historically accurate? Did the Apollo scientists actually use customary units like the average American, or as scientists did they adopt metric units?

I'm watching a PBS special (as us stuffy university types do) on Dick Cavett's talk-show during the Vietnam war. At one point, Cavett mentions some viewers wrote in accusing his commentary of being "Communist," while others praised his "Conservative" coverage. At one point, he discusses a piece of hate-mail from "Waco, Texas, the hate mail capital of the world." Is there any reason why Cavett would think so much hate mail comes out of Waco?

A friend brought this up during conversation. Is it actually true?

I've noticed this with schools, offices, dorms, etc etc. The materials and construction are often terrible, with these ugly avocado and burnt orange colors. A lot of the dorms on my alma matter from the 70's are getting torn down and replaced, while a lot of the ones from the 50's have been renovated.

Why was this such a dark time for architecture?

I have heard about this little factoid from many places, that the Great Wall was supposedly used as some sort of highway to move troops and supplies to remote locations and its defensive value as a wall to impede invaders was secondary. Is this true?

I was wondering if any of you guys know any good resources on contemporary Syrian history, mainly the period following World War 1, Syrian independence in 1946, the coup de'tats and CIA operations in Syria. Thank you

Thank you

Since that question is quite broad, a few examples that are more specific:

I have been led to understand that the goddess Asherah was worshipped as a consort of Yahweh (who eventually evolved into the modern Abrahamic God) by the ancient Israelites. How typical was this worship (i.e. was it considered "canonical"?) and how did it die out?

Were there any other gods worshipped by the ancient Israelites that were erased from the tradition by monotheistic reforms, or was Yahweh the one-and-only for the most part?

Do we know of any mythology about Yahweh that made him more "human" and physical or focused on a specific domain, more akin to pagan gods than the omnipresent and ineffable being (whose name can't even be pronounced in Judaism) that appears in Abrahamic religions today?

What do we know about the rituals of the ancient Israelites? Did they have Shabbat or Passover or the High Holy Days? Did they pray before meals like modern Jews, or read/listen to some sort of proto-Torah? How standardized was their mythology compared to the extremely standard Torah of modern Judaism, or the Torah during the rise of rabbinic Judaism or slightly prior to it?

Hey everyone. I want some quick insight from an unbiased source. I just graduated with my bachelors in history. I love history, yet I just had a heart to heart with one of my professors. He told me the path towards being a tenure professor with research funding is a very long and select road. I don't doubt my capability of reaching my goals, yet it's such a gamble that it scares me. I know law school is also a gamble, but I'm fortunate enough to have family to semi-guarantee some interviews once I pass the bar. Any comments would be highly valuable to me and this big decision I have to make. Thanks for any comments.

I have been up all night thinking about how languages started especially in written form and I have been confusing myself and can't sleep. I've especially been thinking about the Gaelic language since I'm from Scotland and wondering how all the clans spoke the same language since I imagined they were mostly isolated from one another. Anyway that's another question for another day, unless you know the answer.

Hey all

Why did medics/docs cut off the limbs of soldiers during the civil war? Or is this a common practice in the chaos of a battle field?

Was it to fight infection? Were the wounds that significant?

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I went to a Jewish school and so all the lessons and whatnot I've had about the topic have been biased, and I'd lime some unbiased information. I've been there myself and seen the Roman ramp and camps, but I cannot find a reliable source online that isn't tainted with anti or pro Zionist biases. Any good sources on the topic would be appreciated.

I watched a documentary on the history of Halloween and how it became a part of American culture, but then I remembered just how superstitious and religious the elders in my culture (Black American) tend to be. A girl from Nigeria on YouTube confirmed that at least Nigeria is just the same. I also know about the alleged "Devil's children" that are abused and neglected.

Did these beliefs originate in West Africa? What about the rest of Africa? Were they brought to the continent with colonialism?

I have tons of questions, but I'm not sure how to find answers. What do I Google? Any documentaries? Help!

Edit: I am unable to change the title. Just mentally add an 's' at the end of West Africa. Thanks!