The secret Indian army of WWII

I’m always fascinated by lost tales from World War II – small unknown facts that have only now been made public.

Such stories are not becoming rare, so I was interested to read this report on a secret army of recruits from India that had trained in Germany.

The information had originally been locked away for 75 years, having been deemed too sensitive to be made public any earlier, but now it has been and it really does stun me as to the countries involved.

When you learn about the British Raj in India and the time around WWII, you learn about the threat from the Japanese army. The thought that Nazi Germany was training Indian recruits in secret is something completely new.

I have certainly never heard of the “Free India Legion” defending the Atlantic Wall before.

I wonder what other secrets are in the archives, waiting to be discovered before the people who were alive then can no longer enlighten us to their personal experiences.

One example are the documents concerning the occupation of the Channel Islands – these were sealed for 100 years!

Will these now be available earlier as well?

I’ll leave the 9th May 2045 in my diary for the moment.

Doch kein Rauchverbot?

Zumindest nicht ganz in Rheinland-Pfalz. Dort war es sowieso für mich eine Lachnummer: andere Länder haben bereits im letzten Jahr oder zum Jahresende ein Rauchverbot eingeführt. Rheinland-Pfalz hat zwar das Gesetz verabschiedet, jedoch das Verbot erst nach der Karnevalzeit eingeführt!

Nun ist auch das geändert worden, wie man in diesem Bericht lesen kann. Inhabergeführte Kneipen – also da wo der Inhaber selbst bedient – dürfen doch das Rauchen zulassen.

Als Nichtraucher finde ich das blöd: sollen kleinere Kneipen nun zu Raucherecken werden? Größere werden es eher nicht, wegen den Mitarbeiter.

Aber gut, es gibt ja noch andere Bundesländer in Deutschland wo man Abends hingehen kann 🙂

Bolivia: the next Kosovo?

You might think that the headline is a little over the top, or at least you are hopefully thinking “perish the thought!”

But actually, the ideas is not as far off as it may seem, as this report shows.

Apparently the U.S. sees Bolivia as a possible country to be split up into it’s regional areas – just as Serbia and Kosovo were split last week.  And why?  Allegedly because the U.S. does not agree with the current politics of the Bolivian Government.

I think that this is a pretty scary thought.  Whatever you feelings may be towards or against the Bolivian Government and its President, should a foreign power really be pursuing such a policy?

Have they considered the damage, that this could do to the people of Bolivia?

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