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10 Theories about the Never-Aging Count Saint Germain

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Who exactly was le Comte de Saint-Germain, this never-aging man of mystery who left us so few clues behind? We know he was an 18th century alchemist, composer, diplomat, raconteur, and spy. He was handsome and wealthy, impressing gentlemen and turning the heads of ladies. But how could he hobnob about all European capitals throughout the 1700’s and never appear to grow old? Count Saint Germain looked the same age in London in 1743 as he did in St. Petersburg in 1762 as he did Paris in 1789. Was he a clever Charlatan, a skilled Alchemist, or perhaps … something more? The answer lies in which theory and which source you choose to trust.

He used a French title in Saint-Germain, but admitted he was not French, and never revealed his true identity. To confuse matters more, the Count employed other aliases throughout the 18th century to remain incognito. This should not cast undo suspicion upon him. Many aristocrats traveled under assumed names to avoid unwanted attention, whether to hide affairs of the state, or of the heart. Add to that, the Count was comfortably wealthy, though no one could even figure out from where it came. He was handsome and charming, and moved about the courts of Europe with ease. He associated with the likes of France’s Voltaire and, Madame de Pompadour, and Russia’s Catherine the Great.

So let’s review the 10 best Count Saint Germain theories – the Wild, the Wonderful … and the Weird:

WANDERING JEW – Some believe him to be Cartaphilus, the legendary Wandering Jew. Cartaphilus was a Roman guard of the High Priest Caiaphas in Jerusalem in the year 33 AD. He slapped and mocked Jesus of Nazareth on the way to his crucifixion at Golgatha on Good Friday. The soldier was therefore cursed by the heavens to never die and walk the earth alone till the end of days, and Jesus’ second coming.
MERLIN – Others think he was no less than Merlin Ambrosius, King Arthur’s wise and legendary Merlin the Magician, the world’s most famous wizard. He continued to dabble in magic, alchemy and intrigue centuries after the Knights of the Round Table. Only this time, spying for the likes of French King Louis XV in Paris at the Palace of Versailles, rather than a British monarch at England’s ancient court of Camelot.
NICOLAS FLAMEL – Still others guess he was alchemist and alleged immortal Nicolas Flamel. The 14th century French scribe and bookseller supposedly discovered the Elixir of Eternal Youth at Santiago de Compostelo and lived for centuries. Flamel was of course later made even more famous in the J. K. Rowling bestseller and Warner Brothers movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
FRANCIS BACON – Perhaps you prefer all the above! The reincarnation of all the above famous mystics in succession, including the 17th century’s Sir Francis Bacon, the famous statesman and scientist. He would thereby retain all the ancient secrets and knowledge from each of his previous lives. If that is the case, if he is still alive, who would the Count be today – a scientist, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist?
ASCENDED MASTER – Maybe he is an immortal “Ascended Master,” chief architect of the Egyptian pharaohs’ pyramids, after living a hundred lives. He now exists on in another psychic plane as … the ‘Violet Flame.’ It is a belief still shared today by thousands of members of the international Theosophical Society. Not to mention the followers of the I AM Activity, the Summit Lighthouse, and the Church Universal and Triumphant. Don’t believe me? Just Google ‘violet flame.’
ATLANTIS SURVIVOR – How about the last survivor of Plato’s Atlantis from 9,600 B.C., gifted by Zeus and the Gods on Mount Olympus with immortality? Why? So he could be saved from whatever disaster it was that finally tore apart Atlantis and plunged the city beneath the sea. He could then forever retain and be the keeper of all the ancient knowledge, science and culture of that famous, fallen empire of legend.
WATCHER – Perhaps he is one of the Fallen Angels or Watchers, as from the Hebrew Book of Enoch. The Watchers were angels who succumbed to human sins. Cursed from Heaven by God himself – not to the fires of Hell – but rather to walk the Earth. They were doomed to wander the planet, still with angelic powers, spreading mischief amongst the all too willing humans, until the very end of time.
TIME TRAVELER – Maybe he was a Time Traveler from the not too distant future – subtly influencing past events, but only from the shadows and the sidelines. This would explain his encyclopedia knowledge of historical events and his ability to recount them at a moments notice. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels, and the popular Starz program of the same name, used the Count as the protagonist in book & season 2.
ALIEN – For you Science Fiction fans out there, how about a lone Alien from a distant galaxy, crashed and stranded on our primitive planet centuries ago? Who, with his non-human longevity, quietly observes the earth’s chaos over the centuries. And occasionally steps in to help the hapless human race through its many wars, missteps, and mishaps. A pattern that continues today. Does the Count continue to help us?
VAMPIRE – Or, perhaps not surprisingly, a handsome, immortal Vampyre, bitten centuries ago and cursed to live forever, taking beautiful lovers in each continent and century. Here he is said to have haunted the streets of Paris, France and New Orleans’ French Quarter. The series of 27 novels written by Chelsea Quinn Yabro exploits this idea quite skillfully in over a two dozen very enjoyable stories.
BONUS & POPULAR THEORY: Lastly, was he simply a mortal man? The last son of exiled Hungarian Freedom Fighter, Prince Ferenc Rakoczi II? He is said to have admitted this once, and taken on aliases to elude the Hapsburg Emperors of Austria. If so, he would have been born around the year 1700. Then, with a lucky & youthful appearance that lasted for decades (long before the advent of Botox) he appeared to never age. It would explain his wealth and ability to move about the royal courts of Europe with ease.

Count Saint-Germain never married nor had any children, that we know of. He is supposed to have finally died of pneumonia in a Schleswig-Holstein castle in 1784. He died alone, as his patron at the time, Karl von Hesse-Kassel, was not present to witness it. At what age he passed, we do not know for sure. BUT, he was reportedly seen the next year at a German Freemason Convention. Then seen again in Paris during the French Revolution of 1789! He supposedly tried to desperately warn Queen Marie Antoinette of her and her husband’s impending doom.

Looking for a scientific explanation? Today, modern science has thoroughly mapped the human genome and begun to unravel the genetic secrets of aging. We now understand that the ends of our chromosomes degrade over time and our cells lose their vitality with each replication. Our skin sags, our brain fails us, our muscles grow weak, our bones more fragile. We are certainly no less obsessed with staying young than Marie Antoinette and the French court was over 200 years ago. Perhaps the Count had a simple evolutionary gene alteration (my favorite theory) that somehow increased his longevity?

Whatever the case, factual or fantastical, Count Saint Germain was a real-life Count of Monte Cristo, living a life of secrets and intrigue. Or if you prefer, a real life Dr. Who, with a lifespan far beyond that of normal men. Is he still alive today? Who is to say? The Count remains to this day, a curious and puzzling enigma – a Man of Mystery, always worthy of further exploration. Check out the historical novels below for more.

The Man Who Would Not Die – Count Saint Germain novel (Book 1)

Count Saint Germain – a Count of Saint Germain novel (Book 2)

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Podcast: Typhoid Mary Mallon – Villain or Victim?

Over the past 100 years, Typhoid Mary’s name has became synonymous with any notorious carrier or spreader of an infectious disease, causing an epidemic or worse. But there was a real-life woman, Mary Mallon, and a tragic story behind that infamous name. Who was she and how did Typhoid Mary become so notorious?

Depiction of Typhoid Mary Mallon — Newspaper depiction of Typhoid Mary Mallon

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Podcast: Who Drained Russia’s Vast Aral Sea?

To answer the question, it was the Soviet Union, that’s who. The Aral Sea is actually situated in Central Asia, between Northern Uzbekistan and Southern Kazakhstan. Once the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world, the vanishing Aral Sea is now nearly empty, thanks to a flawed, decades-old, Soviet-engineered desert irrigation program.

To read the blog post CLICK HERE

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Podcast: The 1918 Spanish Flu Beats all Pandemics Since the Black Plague

Before COVID, before Ebola, before SARS, the 1918 Flu Pandemic killed more humans than all of World War I combined, over 50 million people worldwide! In just over a year, the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ would infect a fifth of the world’s population. It remains to this day THE most devastating pandemic in recorded history.

A makeshift hospital for Spanish Flu victims in 1918

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Podcast: Six Forgotten Secrets of Michelangelo’s David

How much do you know about the famous Michelangelo’s David? You have likely seen countless pictures of the famous naked statue on the internet, TV or in books. You recognize the handsome, muscular, nude male, standing with his feet apart, sling at the ready, staring off into the distance at the giant, Goliath. But Michelangelo’s David holds many secrets. Listen to the Podcast to learn them all.

Michelangelo's David backside — Michelangelo’s David’s less seen backside at the Galleria dell Accademia in Florence, Italy.

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Iraq and Iran did not exist prior to World War I

For all their revolutions and wars over the last four decades, you must remember that Iraq and Iran are relatively new nations on the world scene. Neither existed as we know them today prior to World Wars I and II. Since then, these 2 very different Muslim nations, with similar sounding names, have had a long history of dynasties, revolutions and republics. Let’s take a look at them one at a time.

IRAQ

Prior to World War I, the Iraqi area was the eastern part of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by the Turks for Five Centuries after they conquered the region from the Persian Empire. Baghdad was key due to its rich cultural history and central location on the Tigris River. But it was ruled with an iron fist by the Ottoman Sultans, who kept all the warring tribes under control.

In World War I, the Ottoman Empire sided with the losing side of Germany and Austro-Hungary. The end of that war marked the end of the Ottoman Empire as well. Britain and France won control over ALL the Middle East. The Turks were left with the footprint of modern Turkey.

A British/French plan called the ‘Sykes-Picot Agreement’ essentially carved up the Middle East between them. In 1920, the Iraqi region became a ‘British Mandate’ under the League of Nations, formally called the “State of Mesopotamia,” with the modern straight-line borders we know today. Britain brought in a Sunni king from Arabia to rule over the new constitutional monarchy, which included both Shiite Muslim and northern Kurdish tribes.

In 1927, an event happened which would change the region forever, Britain discovered oil in Iraq.

In 1932, “IRAQ” gained independence as a constitutional monarchy, with a British-appointed King Faisal I. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Iraqi politics were dominated by pro-Western prime ministers who began drilling for more oil and modernizing the country. The Hashemite family ruled until 1958, when King Faisal II was assassinated (along with the entire royal family!) in a bloody coup led by General Abdul Qasim. This marked the beginning of a military-dominated republic.

Qasim ruled for 5 years, before being overthrown himself and murdered by Colonel Abdul Arif in 1963. Five years later, he too was deposed by a Ba’ath Party coup in 1968. The Ba’ath Party was remarkably dominated by Sunni Muslims in a predominately Shiite nation. Iraq’s abundant oil revenues were used to develop the economy, build schools and hospitals, but also substantially grow its military. The Ba’ath leaders were then pushed out of power by a familiar name, General Saddam Hussein.

Hussein seized power as president in 1979. The following year, he launched an invasion of Iran that led to the bloody Iran-Iraq War. Iraq was heavily backed with aid by the US, Europe and Saudi Arabia – Iran by the Soviet Union and China. It ended with a stalemate after 8 long years. In 1990, Hussein invaded its neighbor Kuwait. This set off a US-lead counter invasion by the 1st President George Bush beginning the First Iraqi War. This was of courser followed by the 2nd President George Bush and the Second Iraqi War in 2003. This finally led to the fall of the Ba’ath regime, and Hussein’s ultimate capture and hanging in 2006. It has since been a parliamentary republic once again, but still subject to extremist influence.

**Sunnis & Shiites in one, all too short, paragraph**

Sunnis and Shiites are both Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad wrote the Quran and founded Islam and the first Islamic state in Arabia in 622. The dispute and difference comes over who was Muhammad’s rightful successor. The Sunnis believes that the first four Caliphs–Muhammad’s successors—are the rightful leaders of Islam. Shiites believe that only the heirs of the fourth Caliph Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, are the legitimate successors. The split in Islamic leadership and religion has remained ever since. Shiites are concentrated in Iraq and Iran, while Sunnis dominate 85% of all Muslims (1.5 billion worldwide) in North Africa, Turkey, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Southeast Asia.

IRAN

Prior to WWI, the Iranian region was the center of the Persian Empire, ruled by the Qajar Dynasty. Discontent boiled over into revolution. In 1906, the last Qajar shah, Muzaffar al-Din was forced to introduce a parliament, the Majlis, and a constitution, in what is known as the Constitutional Revolution. However, the next shah, Mohammad Ali, did not care for the Majlis and attacked parliament with his artillery in 1908, introducing Martial Law. This led to another uprising in 1909 and Shah Ali was forced to abdicate in favor of his son.

Britain, the US and Soviet Union in the meantime ALL became increasingly interested in Iran following the World War II, due to its vast oil reserves. In 1921, a British-backed Iranian officer Reza Khan seized control of the government in a yet another coup. He ousted the last Qajar ruler and named himself Shah. This began what would be Iran’s final royal dynasty – the Pahlavis.

Reza Shah tried to both modernize and westernize Iran, but after 15 years, was forced out as well by Britian and Soviet Russia and into exile because of his ties to Adolf Hitler’s Nazis. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, took the throne in 1941. In 1943, at the Tehran Conference, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin signed the Tehran Declaration, accepting an independent “IRAN,” under the young Shah Reza.

British Petroleum (BP) in the meantime was making millions in Iran and Iraq. The next ruler, Mohammed Mosaddeq, fought to nationalize the oil industry and repatriate the wealth. Needless to say, that did not go over well with the west. In 1953, the US CIA and Britain orchestrated a coup to oust Prime Minister Mosaddeq, bringing the pro-western Shah Pahlavi back to power in the so called White (bloodless) Revolution.

In following years, Iran forged closer and closer ties with Washington, receiving huge amounts of military and economic aid until the late 1970s. Iran began ramping up its military and became one of the region’s strongest military powers. The country also saw more westernization, including greater freedom for women. This came much to the dismay of the strict Muslim clerics, who denounced western influences on Islam.

By 1964, Ayatollah Khomeini emerged as the leading opposition to the Shah.

Khomeini claimed the shah had reduced the Iranian people to “American dogs.” The Shah responded by banishing Khomeini from Iran. The Shah ruled until 1979, when he too was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution by a coalition of military generals and Muslim clerics opposed to his despotic rule. The Shiite Clergy took control, under the leadership of none other than Ayatollah Khomeini, who returned from exile, forcing the Shah out of the country.

Khomeini declared Iran a theocracy with himself as the Supreme Leader, and a ‘President’ with lesser powers. Iran entered the aforementioned Iran-Iraq War, when Saddam Hussein invaded western Iran, ending in a stalemate 8 years later. Khomeini ruled the country until his death in 1989. He was succeeded by the current Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who continued his predecessor’s policies.

So you see, Iraq and Iran are relatively new, but very critical, entries into the global scene. The bubbling hot pots of Iraq and Iran, plus their neighbors, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been stirred and supplemented for decades by European, Russian, American, tribal and Muslim mixing spoons. Each has attempted democracy, only to fall back into military or religious dictatorships. One regime is a trusted ally and supported by the US and Europe, the next one is a dangerous enemy and taken to war. What lies in the future? You have only to look at the past.

For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.

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Irena Sendler, Holocaust Heroine, saved more than Schindler’s List

Irena Sendlar during World War II — **Holocaust Heroine Irena Sendler during World War II**

A few precious acts of courage and decency took place during the World War II Jewish Holocaust by brave and compassionate people. Irena Sendler was one of its greatest forgotten heroes. Unknown by most, this courageous Polish woman defied the Nazis and managed to smuggle 2,500 Jewish children out of the infamous Warsaw Ghetto.

When German tanks rolled into Poland in 1939, Irena was only 29. A petite Social Worker for the Warsaw Welfare Department, Irena stood just 4′11″, with lively, intelligent eyes set in a pretty, always-smiling face. Her appearance more resembled a porcelain doll than a fearless Resistance Leader. She used those innocent-looking attributes to her advantage.

She was born in Otwock, a small town just outside of Warsaw. At the end of World War I, a typhus epidemic erupted, and Irena’s father the local doctor, devoted himself to caring for the Jews in their town. “If you see someone drowning, jump in to save them,’ he told her, ‘their religion or nationality are irrelevant.’ He eventually contracted the disease himself and died when she was just 7 years old, but not before leaving a lasting impression on young Irena.

When the Nazis invaded Poland, Irena was a Senior Administrator in the Warsaw Social Welfare Dept. It operated canteens providing meals, money, and clothes for orphans, the elderly, and poor of the city. Through Irena, the canteens also provided the same for secret Jewish families. They were registered under fictitious Christian names, and to discourage Nazi inspections, were reported as being afflicted with the dreaded tuberculosis. She did this alone, as her husband was a POW soldier captured by the Germans.

In 1940, the Nazis herded 400,000 Jews into a 16 block Ghetto behind high walls, topped with barbed wire and armed guards.

The Jews were provided daily rations of only 200 calories and no medicine. The deplorable conditions in the crowded Warsaw Ghetto resulted in typhoid epidemics and high death rates. At least 280,000 of those who survived disease and starvation were shipped away to the infamous Treblinka Concentration Camp. It was there Adolf Hitler’s Final Solution of the Holocaust took place with the gassing and incineration of the Jews.

By 1942, after over 280,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka, Zegota (the Council for Aid to Jews), a Polish underground group, was secretly formed. Sendler was so appalled by the conditions in the Ghetto that she immediately stepped forward and joined them. She appealed to her 10 closest colleagues to come as well, mostly women, some as young as she was.

In order to enter the Ghetto, Irena Sendler obtained a pass from the Epidemic Control Department to inspect the Jews, as the Nazis feared disease outbreaks beyond the slum walls. She visited the Ghetto daily, established key contacts inside and brought food, medicines and clothing in.

5,000 Jews were dying a month from starvation and disease, so Zegota decided they must help the children escape.

In 1943, Zegota appointed Sendler their Head of Jewish Children. Irena exploited her contacts with Polish orphanages, in order to make them accept Jewish children as ‘Christians’ to fool the Nazis. Many were sent to the Family of Mary Orphanage in Warsaw, and to other Catholic institutions run by nuns, who then found non-Jewish families to foster them.

Wearing a yellow Star of David in the Ghetto to show her solidarity and gain trust, Irena then began talking to desperate Jewish parents into giving up their children to her. The parents had a heartbreaking choice to make and Irena could afford them no assurances of the children’s safety, only that their life might be better outside the Ghetto.

For Sendler, a young mother of two herself, persuading parents to part with their children was a horrendous task. “Can you guarantee they will live?” the distraught parents asked. “I can only guarantee they will die if they stay!” The children’s cries when they were separated from their parents and given to Irena was heartbreaking. Finding families willing to risk their lives and shelter the children, was also not easy.

Nothing was more dangerous than hiding a Jew. If the Nazis found out, they’d kill your entire family.

Irena Sendler began smuggling children out of the Ghetto anyway she could: in an ambulance hidden under the litters – some in body bags – some buried under loads of goods, or in garbage wagons. One mechanic took a sedated infant out hidden in his toolbox. Some were carried out in potato sacks – others in coffins. She smuggled older children out through the city’s sewers to ‘The Aryan Side‘ of Warsaw. Irena even trained a small terrier who, when the hidden children would start to whimper, would bark and distract the Nazis.

The city was crawling with traitors, and the Gestapo were constantly on the lookout for escaped Jews. “You are not Rachel, but Roma,” she drilled the older children. “You are not Isaac, but Jacek. Repeat it a hundred times, over and over!” Irena knew that any child could be stopped and interrogated. If they were unable to recite a simple Catholic prayer, they could be shot on sight. She would wake them up during the night to practice the prayers.

Irena Sendler had Catholic identity papers forged and signed by priests so the children could be taken to orphanages and convents. She sent most of the children to Catholic organizations, knowing she could count on the Sisters hatred of the Nazis. No one ever refused to take a child. She made sure that each family hiding a child knew they must be returned to Jewish relatives after the war ended.

Sendler kept meticulous notes in code of the children’s original names and their new identities.

She kept the precious records on a fragile scroll in a glass jar buried beneath an apple tree in a park across the street from German barracks. She hoped to later locate the children after the war and inform them of their Jewish past. In all, the precious glass jar would contain the names of 2,500 children.

But it was Irena herself who entered the Ghetto day after day for eighteen months—and walked out each time with hidden children. Her life was in constant danger and ultimately, the Nazis began to suspect her numerous crossings. In 1943, the Gestapo raided her apartment one night. Informants had turned her in. She was arrested and immediately imprisoned.

Irena was the only one at Zegota who knew the names of the families sheltering the Jewish children. She was interrogated daily and tortured mercilessly by the Gestapo. During one brutal session, her captors broke both her feet and legs. But no one could break her spirit! She refused to betray either her associates or any of the Jewish children. Irena eventually received a sentence of Death by Nazi firing squad.

By then, the brave Irena welcomed death, which would spare her the constant fear of divulging her co-conspirators under torture. At the last minute, Zegota bribed a greedy German guard who helped Irena escape prison into the surrounding woods just as she was being led by him to her execution!

After her escape, Irena went into hiding in Poland for the rest of World War II.

Her sacrifice and its consequences prevented her from attending her own mother’s funeral. Nevertheless, with the help of the Polish Resistance and some 200 convents and orphanages, Irena and her helpers managed to save the lives of at least 2,500 Jewish children. Right under the noses of the Nazis.

After Russia liberated Poland in 1945, she dug up that glass jar she had so carefully buried and used the notes to track down the children she placed with either orphanages or foster families, hoping to reunite them with Jewish relatives. But sadly, most lost their families in the Treblinka Death Camp during the Holocaust, so they were formally adopted by their Christian foster parents.

The Polish Communists branded Irena a ‘subversive’ and she was largely unknown and unappreciated … except amongst the survivors. She lived out the next 50 years in anonymity, haunted by nightmares of the horrors she witnessed in the Ghetto. Irena Sendler – white-haired, gentle and courageous, lived a modest existence with her children in a Warsaw apartment. She worked as an administrator in the Polish United Workers Party and later joined the Solidarity Movement in 1980.

The now grown children knew her only by her code name: Jolanta.

But decades later, after she was honored for her wartime heroism, her picture began appearing in newspapers and the phone began to ring. “I remember your face!” they said. “You were the angel who took me from the Ghetto.” The children, now adults, kept in touch over her remaining years, many visiting her regularly.

Irena’s amazing achievement went largely unnoticed outside Warsaw. Until her story was uncovered in 1999 by 4 students at a rural Kansas high school, who began researching her for a national history competition. The 4 girls were intrigued by a single sentence their teacher showed them in an article: “Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942–1943.” They were convinced it was a typo. They soon realized there had been no mistake.

They wrote a short play, Life in a Jar, about Irena’s heroic actions.

After winning the competition, the media began to pick up on the story of this “Female Oskar Schindler” who eclipsed his famous list of 1,200 Jews saved. Popularized by National Public Radio, C-SPAN and CBS, it finally brought Irena Sendler’s story of bravery to the world.

The students never expected to be able to ask Irena herself any questions. They assumed she must have passed away years ago. They were in fact thrilled to discover that she was still alive! The girls wrote to Irena, who still lived in a tiny Warsaw apartment with family. They told her about their play, which had won the history contest!

When they learned she was already 91, their town raised money for the 4 students and their teacher, Norman Conrad, to fly to Poland to meet Irena in person. They wanted to learn more details about her amazing life, and especially the biggest question of all: Where did she find the courage to defy the Nazis?

The U.S. students visited Irena in Warsaw in 2001 and performed their play.

Irena Sendlar, Holocaust Heroine in 2001 — **Irena Sendler, Polish Holocaust Heroine in 2001**

Media covered their visit, breaking nearly 60 years of silence. Sendler has since been honored by numerous Jewish organizations and received The Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest honor in 2003. She has officially been designated a Polish National Hero and schools are now named in her honor. In 2007, she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yet it was not for her own sake that Irena was so pleased with the recognition. Rather, it was that the full work of Zegota was finally being recognized. Irena Sendler did not think of herself as a hero. “I could have done more,” she once said. “This regret will haunt me to my death.”

Her courage enabled not only the survival of 2,500 Jewish children but also generations of their descendants. Irena Sendler lived a long life and passed away in 2008 at the age of 98. She was buried in Warsaw’s Powazki Cemetery—a place reserved for the elite among Poland’s scholars, writers, politicians and war heroes. Though surrounded by notable headstones, the grave graced with the most flowers and candles of remembrance is always Irena’s.

For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.

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White Friday 1916 – History’s Deadliest Avalanche occurred during WWI

**Graves of the White Friday avalanche victims**

The deadliest avalanche in history occurred at the worst possible time in the worst possible place. A powerful avalanche killed hundreds of Austrian and Italian soldiers near Italy’s Mount Marmolada on 13 December 1916, in the middle of World War I. It would come to be known as White Friday. Over the next several weeks, more avalanches in the Alps killed an estimated 10,000 Austrian and Italian soldiers fighting Nature, as well as each other. Some claim the avalanches were purposefully triggered against the enemy, but we’ll never know for sure.

World War I began in 1914, with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a teenage Serbian boy. European nations stood by their allegiances and declared war on each other. Austria, Hungary and Germany against Russia, France and Britain. Italy, on the other hand, did not join the war right away. According to the 1882 Triple Alliance, Italy, Germany, and Austro-Hungary were allies. However, the terms allowed Italy to remain neutral, at least at the beginning of the war.

As the fighting continued into 1915, the Allies began to woo the Italians into joining their side. The lure for Italy was the promise of the Austrian Alps, specifically the Italian-speaking Tyrol region, in southwest Austria. After 2 months of negotiations, Italy finally stepped in, declaring war on Germany and Austro-Hungary in 1915.

The border and front was located high in the Alps, where pitiful soldiers would fight in the snow for the next two years.

In the spring of 1916, the Austrian army swept south, through the mountains in a major offensive. Had they reached the Italian plain, they could have marched on to Venice and encircled much of the Italian Army, breaking a year long stalemate. But the Italians were ready, marched north to meet them, and stopped them in the Alps.

In any battle, the side with the high ground has the advantage. So each side tried to climb higher and higher into the Alps, dragging their supplies and heavy artillery with them. Armies climbed as high as they could … and then dug in. Tunnels were blasted into the glaciers and mountainsides, while barracks were built to protect soldiers from the freezing cold.

An estimated 600,000 Italians and 400,000 Austrians would die on the Alpine Front during the war, many in fierce battles along the Isonzo River. But the front zigzagged 400 MILES—nearly as long as the France/Belgium front with Germany, mostly in rugged mountains, where the fighting was as hellish as the trenches.

Many armies had marched through these high Alpine passes, going back to Roman days.

But never had the mountains themselves been the battlefield, or the fighting at a modern scale, with fearsome new weapons high up there on the ‘Roof of the World.’ So bloody battles raged amidst the cold, snowy, mountains of Tyrol. The conditions were often worse than the actual battles. This was certainly true in December 1916, when freakishly heavy snowfall in the Alps created conditions ripe for avalanches. While the freezing cold and enemy fire were obvious dangers, even more deadly were the heavily snow-packed peaks lying just above their heads.

The hundreds of Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in a barracks near the Gran Poz summit of Mount Marmolada were in particular danger. The camp was well-placed to protect it from Italian attack, but was unfortunately situated directly under a steep mountainside of unstable snow. The Kaiserschützen Barracks were built at about 11,000 feet in August 1916 to house the 1st Battalion, Imperial Rifle Regiment. The location on a rock cliff was well situated to protect it from Italian mortar fire. They were now in one of the most beautiful places on earth AND one of the most deadly.

The winter of 1916/17 saw the heaviest Alpine snowfall of the 20th century.

One gauge recorded 56 inches (143 cm) just that winter. This created conditions ripe for avalanches. At the start of December, the snow was 8–12 meters (40 feet) deep at the summit. The Austro-Hungarian commander, Captain Rudolf Schmid, could see this through his binoculars and was well aware of the danger his company faced. He wrote to his superior, Field Marshal Ludwig Goiginger of the 60th Infantry, requesting immediate relocation father down the mountain. His appeal to evacuate was denied. During the next 8 days, even more snowfall fell, downing telephone lines and leaving each border outpost stranded without supplies or communication.

On Wednesday morning, December 13, 1916, at 05:30 am, a massive rumbling woke the sleeping soldiers in their darkened barracks. A few might have recognized the sound and had a second to shout, “Lawine!” But that’s all the time they got. An avalanche of over 200,000 tons (1 million cubic meters) of snow, ice and rocks plunged down the mountainside. The wooden barracks packed with groggy soldiers, was crushed under the weight of the avalanche, burying the 332 occupants. 229 were Kaiserschützen mountain infantry and 102 were a Bosnian support column. Only a fraction were pulled from the snow to safety. The other 270 were buried alive. Only 40 bodies were ever recovered. Among the survivors was a dazed Captain Schmid who escaped with injuries.

The night of December 13th was just as bad, but for the other side.

A second avalanche struck an Italian division of the 7th Alpini, overrunning their mountain barracks just to the south, killing hundreds of soldiers as well. December 13th marked Saint Lucia, a religious holiday for Italian Catholics. The Italians would call the disastrous day of the ‘Valanga Grande’ La Santa Lucia Nera, Saint Lucy’s Day.

All throughout December 1916, the explosions from tunnel-building and artillery fire took its toll, causing numerous other avalanches both large and small. According to some reports, both sides deliberately fired shells into the weakened snowpacks above each other in an attempt to bury the enemy. Entire regiments were lost in an instant. The bodies of some victims weren’t found until spring thaw if at all.

**Depiction in the press of the White Friday avalanches**

A complete estimate of the number of casualties from December 1916 is not possible. Historical records suggest at least 2,000 Italians and Austrians died that month between soldiers and civilians. Though the avalanches started on Wednesday the 13th, the term ‘White Friday’ was used to describe the disastrous series of days that followed. The best estimate is that between 9,000 and 10,000 soldiers died by the end of the winter due to avalanches.

The destruction of World War I is overwhelming. Nine million dead overall. Twenty-one million wounded.

Trench warfare – the so-called No Man’s Land between them – and the futile frontal assaults took their toll. Against this, the mountain war in Italy was a series of smaller battles. In subzero temps, men dug miles of tunnels through glacial ice. They hung rope ladders up rock faces to move soldiers onto higher and higher peaks, then hauled up an arsenal of heavy artillery, machine guns, flamethrowers and mustard gas. The avalanche “White Death” killed thousands. Yet the Alpine war remains one of the least-known battlefields of WWI, over-shadowed by the trenches of the Western Front.

Deadly fighting continued into late1918, with a total of 12 battles fought in this frozen terrain, mostly in Tyrol near the Isonzo River. When World War I finally ended, at 11:00pm on 11 November 1918 (the 11hour of the 11th day of the 11th month), the remaining, tired and cold troops from both sides, slowly climbed down the frozen mountains for their homes, leaving their artillery, equipment and buried dead behind. Altogether, White Friday caused the most deaths by avalanche in our world’s recorded history.

For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.

Lost in History

The 1917 Great Halifax Explosion Eclipsed only by Hiroshima

Halifax clock frozen at the time of the explosion in 1917 — Halifax pocketwatch frozen at the time of the explosion in 1917

At 9:04 AM on December 6th, 1917, the most devastating man-made explosion, short of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb, occurred in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. A French ship, the Mont Blanc, its hold packed with tons of war-bound munitions, caused the Great Halifax explosion after colliding with another vessel, the Norwegian Imo.

Why Halifax? In 1917, World War I still raged on in Europe. The port of Halifax was the departure port for Canadian transatlantic convoys leaving to supply the troops overseas. It was packed with ships carrying soldiers, supplies, and munitions across the Atlantic. In a matter of 3 short years, the small harbor town had grown into a world class port and major Canadian naval base.

World War I had brought prosperity, and Halifax became a boom town.

That frigid December morning, the port city was swollen with people and a bee hive of activity. Canadian troops bound for battle in the trenches of France flooded the streets, hundreds of laborers trudged off to work, and children of all ages wandered off to their primary or secondary schools.

At 7:30 am on the morning of December 6th, the Mont Blanc left it anchorage and began cruising through the Halifax narrows. Its orders to join a military convoy that would escort it across the Atlantic Ocean. Unbeknownst to the average citizen, its cargo hold was packed with 2,300 tons of explosive picric acid, 200 tons of TNT, 35 tons of gasoline, and 10 tons of flammable gun cotton! At the exact same time, the Norwegian ship Imo left its Halifax pier bound for New York City to pick up its own load of relief supplies.

Navigating into or out of Halifax harbor required passage through a strait called the Narrows. Ships were expected to keep close to the starboard side of the channel, and pass oncoming vessels “port to port.” Francis Mackey, an experienced harbor pilot, was aboard the Mont-Blanc. At 8:45 am, Mackey saw the Imo approaching and gave a short blast of his ship’s signal whistle, indicating he had the right of way. Confusion ensued between the two closing ships with a series of misjudged maneuvers and further whistle blasts. There was no ship to ship radio back then, so all the captains could do was shout to their bridge crews, “What the hell does he think he’s doing?!“

The Imo struck the Mont Blanc near the bow on her starboard side. Although the collision was hardly severe, the shock waves set the picric acid drums in the hold ablaze and the fire quickly spread onboard the Mont Blanc. The captain and harbor pilot, aware of exactly what their cargo was, knew they now stood on a massive ticking time bomb! They attempted to alert the harbor of the peril of their burning ship, but were unsuccessful.

Expecting an explosion any second, the captain quickly orders his crew to abandon ship.

They launched their lifeboats and took refuge on the nearby shore of the narrows. The Mont Blanc was knocked off course by the collision and slowly coasted back towards Halifax. The ship burned for twenty minutes, sending pillars of black smoke pluming into the grey winter sky. It drifted back into the harbor until it bounced against Pier 6, at the busy, industrial end of Halifax. Burning pieces fell off, setting the pier ablaze as well.

The spectacle was thrilling and drew crowds of innocent spectators and dock workers, unaware of the immense danger simmering before their eyes. Only a handful of naval officers even knew of the Mont-Blanc’s explosive cargo, but there would be no time for any city-wide warning. A tugboat and the Halifax Fire Department quickly responded, positioning themselves near Pier 6.

That’s when the Mont Blanc and its tons of munitions exploded in a blinding white flash.

Factories, warehouses, schools, homes and nearby ships were completely destroyed in the pressure wave of the blast. White-hot fragments of the Mont Blanc rained down on the city, crashing through buildings with enough force to embed themselves in cellars. Children who had stopped on their way to school, workmen lining factory windows, sailors in their ships, all died instantly.

The resulting shock wave of the Great Halifax Explosion shattered windows 50 miles away, blinding hundreds, and the explosion could be heard as far as Portland, Maine. Hardly a pane of glass in Halifax survived. In seconds, the majority of the city was reduced to ruins and rubble. Many who survived stumbled to their feet and thought the Germans must have bombed them.

Halifax Explosion aftermath in 1917 — Halifax Explosion in Nova Scotia aftermath in 1917

Survivors’ injuries were frightful, including third degree burns and blindness from the flash, or embedded splintering glass. Rescue efforts began quickly, but hospitals and shelters were soon overwhelmed. All surviving buildings, including ships in the harbor, were commandeered as hospitals.

The colossal explosion destroyed the entire north end of Halifax, including more than 1,630 homes, many by the hundreds of fires that quickly spread. The blast killed more than 2,000 people, injuring another 9,000. The flash of the explosion blinded 200 alone. 6,000 survivors were left without shelter. The captain, pilot and crew of the Imo were all killed. About 250 bodies were too disfigured to be identified; many of the victims were simply never found. Rescue trains were dispatched from across eastern Canada, as well as the northeastern United States.

Not one piece of the Mont Blanc remained after the blast.

All the crew from the Mont Blanc, including Francis Mackey, survived. In the months that followed, both ships’ crews were judged equally at fault. Captain Aime Le Medec and pilot Francis Mackey of the Mont Blanc were held accountable and charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence. Later, the charges were dropped, because gross negligence causing death could not be proven in court.

In 1920, a Memorial Tower containing a carillon of bells, was erected at Fort Needham, overlooking the Halifax explosion site. The dedication was made by a young girl who had lost her entire family in the terrible blast. Every year since, at exactly 9:00 am on December 6th, the sweet sound of the carillon’s bells ring out over Halifax and the bay in memory of the victims of the terrible Mont Blanc explosion.

For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.

LOST IN HISTORY

The Cold War’s forgotten Hungarian Revolution

Hungarian Revolution in Budapest, 1956 (colorized) — Hungarian Revolution in Budapest, October1956 (colorized)

On October 23rd 1956, thousands of Hungarian workers and students flooded the streets of Budapest. With fists raised in defiance, they shouted for “Freedom from Soviet tyranny!” The students issued a declaration in Parliament Square called the Sixteen Points. It included demands for withdrawing Soviet troops, personal freedom, economic reform, eliminating the hated Secret Police, and removing their Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi. The Hungarian Revolution had begun.

Rákosi, appointed by Soviet Premier Josef Stalin himself, had presided over a decade-long, oppressive regime that finally brought people’s resentment to a boiling point. When crowds of unarmed civilians were gunned down by security forces 2 days later, the Rebellion became a Revolution, between ragtag armed rebels and heavily armed Soviet troops.

Peaceful demonstrations in Budapest quickly escalated into an armed resistance across Hungary.

Protestors tore down a statue of Josef Stalin in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square, dragged its metal carcass through the city before decapitating it for all the world to see. Soviet red star flags were ripped down from government buildings. Russian stores were painted with slogans “Ruszkik Haza!” (Russians, Go Home!).

The Soviet emblem, cut from the center of the Hungarian tricolor flag, became the new revolutionary banner. Communist leaders were arrested and publicly beaten. Although many called for peace and condemned the violence, reprisals against communist leaders continued. Communist henchmen suddenly reaped the wrath they had brutally sowed for over a decade under Stalin.

Poorly armed but fearless fighters, carrying only rifles and Molotov cocktails, proved surprisingly effective at knocking out some Soviet tanks. Young men and women with no military training managed to outmaneuver the Russian Red Army. Most of the Hungarian military, siding with the rebels, though reporting to Moscow, did nothing.

Radio Free Europe urged the rebels to continue the fight, raising hopes that Western aid was imminent.

In response, the Communist Party sacked Rákosi. They appointed the more reform-minded Imre Nagy as the new leader, a politician who’d been dismissed for his open criticisms of Stalin. The Kremlin said it was simply a way to appease the Hungarian “hooligans.”

It was an offer Nagy reluctantly accepted, hoping at best to steer the uprising towards a peaceful end. He failed at first to connect with the shouting crowds – thousands massed in front of the neo-gothic Parliament building on the Danube River. But over the course of a week, Nagy underwent a remarkable transformation into a leader willing to sanction unprecedented and daring reforms.

Nagy restored peace by asking the Soviets to withdraw their troops from Hungary. Thousands of Russian troops had been stationed in Hungary since 1945. As another gesture of appeasement, the Kremlin agreed and the Red Army pulled out. But he pushed the revolt even further,

Nagy abolished one-party Communist rule, allowing for a new multi-party state!

For a few weeks, it seemed like the rebels might actually pull this off. After a ceasefire was declared on October 28, the atmosphere in Budapest was euphoric as Soviet forces continued to withdraw. Images of triumphant rebels posing for pictures atop burnt Soviet tanks stunned the world.

Decapitated head of Josef Stalin in Parliament Square, Budapest, 1956

On October 31, the Russian newspaper Pravda published a Kremlin declaration promising greater equality between the USSR and Hungary. The crisis seemed on the verge of being resolved in a way no-one in the world had dared to dream. On November 1st, Nagy took the dramatic step of declaring that Hungary would withdraw from the Soviet’s Warsaw Pact!

That was a step too far and would prove to be a fatal mistake.

Even as Soviet forces retreated, victory was to be short-lived. Regardless of the Pravda statement, Nikita Khrushchev had already decided to restore strict order in Hungary with brute military force. Hungary would NOT become the 1st Soviet satellite behind the Iron Curtain to reject the Kremlin’s iron fist.

On November 4, Soviet troops launched Operation Whirlwind. Hundreds of Soviet tanks reversed course and invaded Hungary. They rolled back into Budapest in an overwhelming force to crush the rebellion, restore Communist order and install a new puppet leader. The Hungarians were stunned and unprepared for hundreds of Soviet tanks in the streets of Budapest.

Vicious street fighting broke out, but the Soviets’ greater power was undeniable. The Soviet military struck back with Stalin-like savagery. They poured reinforcements in, completely encircling the capital Budapest. Prime Minister Nagy announced the invasion to the nation in a grim broadcast, declaring:

“Our troops are fighting! The Government remains in place!”
Imre Nagy, 1956

The Red Army captured and executed the leaders of the Revolution; and eliminated the last pockets of resistance within a single week. They acted with immense brutality, killing even the wounded insurgents. Tanks dragged rebel bodies through the Budapest streets as a warning to the population. Resistance was futile.

At the end of the week, Budapest Radio burst out: “Russian MiG fighters are over Budapest! The Soviet infantry is advancing toward Parliament! We shall die for Hungary! Any news of help? Quickly, quickly please!” … then Budapest fell.

Soviet tanks in Budapest, Hungary 1956 — Soviet tanks in Budapest, Hungary, November 1956

By November 7, Soviet forces had Janos Kádár, a former colleague of Nagy, take the oath of office in Parliament as the new Communist leader. The USSR’s brutality stunned the West. Much like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had pledged a retreat from Soviet-style repression, but the violent actions in Budapest proved otherwise.

U.S. President Eisenhower was deeply upset by the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution. He spoke out: “I feel with the Hungarian people. To all those suffering under communist slavery, let us say you can count on us.” But in the end, America and NATO countries never answered the Hungarian’s pleas and did nothing. Both sides in the Cold War were nuclear powers and the risk of all out World War III over one nation was far too great.

By November 14th, Soviet control had been restored across all of Hungary.

3,000 men, women and children were killed and 200,000 more fled to Austria in the west as refugees. The Communists arrested Nagy and found him guilty of treason. He was publicly executed by hanging, and buried in an unmarked prison yard grave. For the next three decades, to even mention the name of Imre Nagy was to risk incarceration, or worse.

Today, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 serves as a haunting symbol of martyrdom for all Hungarians. Though their revolution failed, they were the first to stand up against Soviet tyranny. The Soviet Union began to unravel in the late 1980s. In 1989, 33 years to the day, Hungary was officially and finally declared a Republic. Poland’s Solidarity party had already taken control from the Communists that summer. A month later in November, thousands of German citizens attacked another hated symbol of the Cold War – the Berlin Wall. It had not even been built when Budapest citizens first rose up against their Soviet oppressors. Czechoslovakia followed in December 1989 with its Velvet Revolution.

Every year, on October 23^rd, Republic Day, the iconic Hungarian flag with hollow circles adorns the streets of Budapest and across the country. The Iron Curtain had fallen and the Cold War was finally over. Today, we sadly see the history of Soviet expansion repeat itself; this time under President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation’s invasions into neighboring Chechnya (1999), Crimea (2014), and Ukraine (2022).

For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.

Lost in History