Category Archives: World War 2

Notebook

Posted on May 5, 2018 by

These were the days when announcers wore dinner jackets in the evenings, and he explains this practice: “In the evening most of the people of our sort did change into dinner jackets, if they weren’t wearing white ties and going … Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Media, Notebook, World War 2 | Tagged , , , ,

California, 1936

Posted on February 14, 2018 by

Erecting a swastika at a German Day party in Hindenburg Park, near Los Angeles. From a Weekly Standard review of two books about Hollywood & the Nazis. (There’s more background on the murky history of the park in this LA Times … Continue reading →

Posted in History, World War 2 | Tagged , , , ,

Notebook

Posted on February 7, 2018 by

We have a Committee meeting at which several representative Jews tell us of the extermination of their fellows by the Nazis. They have ringed off the Warsaw ghetto and transported two-thirds of the inhabitants in cattle-trucks to die in Russia. … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook, Uncategorized, World War 2 | Tagged , , ,

Notebook

Posted on December 8, 2017 by

At the beginning of December I took a trip to New York, and saw Berthold Viertel. I got home just as war was declared with Japan. Of course, our group was wildly excited – which surprised me, in a way, … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook, World War 2 | Tagged , ,

Stripes

Posted on October 20, 2017 by

[I posted this at The Times’ First Edition Facebook page] Andrew Bacevich, an academic with a rare insider’s understanding of the American army (he was a senior officer and lost a son in the Iraq war) has written a good … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literature, World War 2 | Tagged , , ,

Notebook

Posted on October 17, 2017 by

All of the documents through 1938 that survive among Gould’s papers give his surname as “Gold”, but beginning at least as early as June 1939 the family name was almost always printed “Gould” in newspapers, programmes, and other sources… Xenophobia … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Music, Notebook, World War 2 | Tagged , , ,

Marooned

Posted on July 27, 2017 by

Well, I went in with my expectations set reasonably low – the swooning and gasping from many of the critics automatically put me on my guard. (Remember how they tried to convince us that “Skyfall” was the best Bond film … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, History, Reviews, Uncategorized, World War 2 | Tagged , ,

Truth and lies

Posted on January 4, 2017 by

I have a feature in the Express on “Denial”, the compelling new film about the David Irving vs Deborah Lipstadt libel trial. When Richard Rampton rose to deliver his opening statement he was blunt: “My Lord, Mr Irving calls himself … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, History, World War 2 | Tagged , , , , ,

Notebook

Posted on January 4, 2017 by

Often, even in court, one had to pinch oneself to realize the enormity of the events we were discussing. Much of the time, however, merely to keep oneself from becoming uncontrollably angry, it was necessary to erect some kind of … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook, Uncategorized, World War 2 | Tagged , , , ,

Notebook

Posted on January 1, 2017 by

It is said children still have a sense of wonder, later one becomes blunted. Nonsense. A child takes things for granted, and most people get no further; only an old person, who thinks, is aware of the wondrous. Victor Klemperer, diary, … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Notebook, World War 2 | Tagged ,