The Date That Lives in Infamy

Today commemorates the 71st anniversary of the surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  More than 2,400 Americans were killed and more than 1,200 were wounded.  It was the most significant act of terrorism on US soil in the 20th century.  The only other foreign attack on US soil that took more lives was the one that occurred on 9-11, which occurred early in the 21st century.

While I was not even a "gleam" in my father's eye when the Pearl Harbor attack occurred, that event not only - and most significantly - resulted in US entry into the worldwide conflict known as World War II, it also kick-started the chain of events that inspired my father to enlist in the US Navy and marry his Montana sweetheart before setting off to fight his battles in the South Pacific.  That union resulted in my conception.  But I only arrived on the scene when the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a little more than two years old.  War was raging everywhere - from the ultimately lethal steppes of the Soviet Union, to the scorching deserts of North Africa, to the steamy jungles and tropical islands of South Asia and the Pacific Rim, to nearly the whole of the European continent, which would remain absolutely devastated for years afterward.  When I was born, the Allied Forces were still struggling desperately in each of those areas.  That the Allies would ultimately prevail in this conflict was not at all a sure thing.  In fact, the outlook looked quite bleak at that time.

One day after the Pearl Harbor attack, then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and the US people via radio.  In the first line of his speech that day, he uttered the phrase "a date which will live in infamy" to refer to the events of the previous day.  That phrase has remained one of the most evocative of an era particularly rich in evocative phrases.  Immediately following FDR's speech,

[t]he Senate responded with a unanimous vote in support of war; only Montana pacifist Jeanette Rankin dissented in the House. At 4:00 p.m. that same afternoon, President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war.

Yes, my fellow Montanan Jeannette Rankin - the only woman in Congress - stood alone.   Not even this outrageous act could shake her deep convictions that war was wrong.  She was vilified, threatened and harassed for having those convictions.

But this post is not about Ms Rankin, who remains one of my heroes.  Even if I do not wholly support her on that particular vote, I understand and share her abiding hatred of war.  No, this post instead deals with another remarkable woman of the era, journalist Elizabeth McIntosh, who happened to be covering news in Honolulu in December 1941.  Ms McIntosh wrote a compelling article about what she saw and experienced in the week following the attack.  Her editors "killed" her story, believing that its graphic content would be too "upsetting" for readers and especially upsetting for women, at whom the article was specifically directed.  So the article was never published - until yesterday when it appeared in the Washington Post, 71 years after the event.  Here is a sample of her powerful writing:

      Then, from the neighborhood called Punchbowl, I saw a formation of black planes diving straight into the ocean off Pearl Harbor. The blue sky was punctured with anti-aircraft smoke puffs. Suddenly, there was a sharp whistling sound, almost over my shoulder, and below, down on School Street. I saw a rooftop fly into the air like a pasteboard movie set.     For the first time, I felt that numb terror that all of London has known for months. It is the terror of not being able to do anything but fall on your stomach and hope the bomb won’t land on you. It’s the helplessness and terror of sudden visions of a ripping sensation in your back, shrapnel coursing through your chest, total blackness, maybe death. 

Hers is one of the very few contemporaneous accounts I have read that actually details civilian casualties, describing "charred bodies of children" and bodies lying on slabs in the "grotesque positions" in which they had died, one being that of a little girl in a red sweater and barefoot, who "still clutched a piece of jump-rope in her hand."   Most reporting was about the military casualties, striking enough in its impact.

But military forces are "fair game;" they know what they've signed up for.  Civilians somehow believe that they are exempt.  We simply are not exempt, as was seen not only in World War II war theaters, but in every smaller scale conflict since - whether that conflict occurs between nations or within them.

Ms McIntosh is now a still lively - and incredibly alert - 97 years old.  A short time after her experiences in Hawaii, she joined the newly-created Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today's Central Intelligence Agency, and worked as a spy throughout the duration of the war.  In that, she was like another of my personal heroes, coincidentally another "Betty."  Ms McIntosh has officially joined my pantheon.

"Nile" Frolics and Fantasies

In another brief break from China travels, I would like to pay homage to a best-selling mystery writer who actually lives not too far from where I do when I'm in Maryland.

Yesterday, while reading the Washington Post on-line, I noticed an article stating that Barbara Mertz, aka "Elizabeth Peters" and "Barbara Michaels," celebrated her 85th birthday in Frederick, MD on Saturday, 29 September.  One of the best-known - certainly the longest - of her best-selling mystery series deals with the spunky British heroine, Amelia Peabody, who with her intrepid, if irascible, husband Radcliffe Emerson (they refer fondly to each other as "Peabody" and "Emerson"), practices Egyptology during its erstwhile "heyday" in the late Victorian through - to date - post WWI period.  Thus, several among the more than 100 guests who gathered together in Frederick from various locations costumed themselves as Egyptian pharaohs.  Mertz herself wore "a long black gown and jet-black wig" while sitting "in a rattan throne, sipping a drink and smoking from a silver hookah like a character in 'Alice in Wonderland.'"

Mertz's literary tastes are eclectic, to say the least.  Apart from the "Alice" image mentioned in the article, activities took place in the "graciously landscaped yard of Mertz's Hobbit-inspired farmhouse.  A grand pyramid (c. 2012) marked the entrance.  Early in the day, a live camel and a python [?!] dropped by to add Egyptian ambiance.  Belly dancers entertained the audience."

I remain somewhat mystified about the python's relationship to Egyptology - surely an asp would have been a more appropos, albeit substantially more lethal, choice.  Perhaps there are liability issues with parading an asp around carousing guests.  And writing as "Elizabeth Peters," Mertz's work is fiction after all so why not take a few liberties?  But it sounds as if all enjoyed themselves thoroughly.  Among the guests were several of my favorite mystery writers: Joan Hess, Margaret Maron and Aaron Elkins are among those mentioned.

Mertz actually has a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago and began her writing career with a couple popular histories of Egypt. When she began her career writing fiction in the 1960s, her agent suggested that she use pseudonyms so that her readers would not confuse her fictional works with the previously published nonfiction.  Mertz herself says that she finds the different names a "horrible nuisance" but that they do seem to help her readers distinguish among the types of books that she writes.  Mertz writes nonfiction on archaeology; Michaels writes thrillers, many with a supernatural element; and Peters writes mystery suspense, with a substantial element of comedy.

I have read nearly all of her fictional offerings and plan to read the nonfiction as well.  I read "Crocodile on the Sandbank," the first book in the Amelia Peabody series, when it was first published in 1975 and was delighted when many Peabody-Emerson sequels followed in the 1980s.  Being quite busy professionally, I left Amelia, Emerson and their growing brood behind during much of the 1990s, but had my interest rekindled once I had actually visited Egypt for myself.  So it was with great pleasure that I returned to their adventures after the millennium.  Now, I am current through "A River in the Sky," published in 2010, that describes their adventures in pre-WWI Palestine, when it was a province of the Ottoman Empire, because they have been banned from their beloved Egypt.

Mertz has brought a world of joy - and imparted knowledge - to so many people through her writings that I wanted to send her my own very special birthday greetings.  She is an inspiration in so many ways for so many women.  Happy Birthday and thank you, MPM!

A Week of Women

It's been some time since I've posted. Last week was busier than some have been recently. But it was also an eventful week for women - some very well-known, some known less widely.

Major festivities began over a week ago for the Diamond Jubilee of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who acceded to the throne of the British Commonwealth in 1952, when she was not even 26 years old. The British channels that I receive courtesy of my local cable company were full - indeed they still haven't finished - of coverage of events, reminiscences and anecdotes about the Royal Family and its various vicissitudes over the years. For those who are interested, here is a link to the Official Website of the British Monarchy.

Because of our English heritage and also because my mother's name was Elizabeth (when I was little, I believed that the Queen had been named after my mother - OK, I was pretty sheltered), I have always paid attention to the British Royal Family. I am not alone in this, although some people I know would die before they would ever admit their own interest. So, during part of last week - especially when the weather was rotten - I reviewed episodes of The Tudors on DVD.

Yes, I do realize that the current Royal Family is "Windsor." But it was Henry VIII, a Tudor, who so famously - or infamously - broke with Roman Catholicism way back when to found his own Church so that he could get the annulment/divorce that the Catholic Pope had denied him. I have always wondered how history might have been different if the Pope had not been so stubborn, which probably would not have been the case had Queen Katherine's family not been so powerful. After all, many monarchs of the time had annulments granted.  Or even how different it might have been had a much later king, George III, been a tad more understanding about the early colonists' grievances in the Americas. But my alternative histories were not to be.

Last Thursday and Friday, another very famous woman, the courageous Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, passed briefly through Geneva, then Bern, on her way to Oslo, belatedly to collect the Nobel Peace Prize that she won in 1991. Unfortunately, her passage through Switzerland was not physically pleasant for her as she was taken ill after finding the "plane trip out to the West extremely exhausting and a little bit disorienting because [she] couldn't adjust to the new time as quickly...."

But my last woman reference for this post is State Representative Lisa Brown, who was little-known outside the US State of Michigan until the memorable day last week when she dared to utter the word "vagina" while protesting a GOP measure intended to restrict - yet again - women's reproductive choices. The delicate ears of the GOP Representatives were so afflicted that they would not allow her and another legislator, Barb Byrum, to speak again - on any subject - for the remainder of the session because "what she said was so offensive." Today, Rep. Brown has been joined by other Michigan women lawmakers in a public recitation of the 1996 play, "The Vagina Monologues" on the Michigan Capitol steps.

Hey there, Good Ole GOP Boys, if you are so offended by the anatomically correct term "vagina," then don't try to regulate it! Frankly, if there is anyone who is offensive, it is you!  

Unbecoming Swiss

LOL, Michele Bachmann is requesting that her Swiss citizenship be withdrawn - less than two months after she acquired it! Here is a compilation of reactions to what the compiler calls "a bizarre move by a bizarro politician."

In relinquishing her Swiss citizenship, Michele, of course, inevitably skews the facts. This is a tendency that others in her political party do on a regular basis and she is definitely no exception to the rule. In her announcement relinquishing Swiss nationality, she said, "Today I sent a letter to the Swiss consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978." Also according to Michele, the recent news was merely because she and her husband had updated their documents.

"... which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978 ...?"

Uh ... no. And Michele, purportedly a lawyer, should know better.

First of all, while her husband Marcus may automatically have been considered Swiss at birth because he was the child of married Swiss parents, there is nothing so far to show that he ever formally applied for recognition of that status earlier than this year. He certainly never informed the Swiss consulate of his marriage in 1978. Even if his Swiss nationality had been recognized at the time of their marriage, marriage to a Swiss citizen does not automatically confer Swiss nationality. The non-Swiss spouse must formally apply for it, although the naturalization process is fast-tracked. It was easier for spouses in 1978; now there is a requirement for non-resident spouses to show that the marriage has lasted at least six years. Today, one must also make a showing of "close ties" to Switzerland.

There is intrinsically nothing wrong with dual national status. The US government recognizes it, albeit reluctantly, but dual nationality is generally considered a disadvantage for those who wish to work in sensitive positions in government and industry where perceptions of dual loyalty may arise.

Still, I was flabbergasted by Ms Bachmann's formal application in the first place, considering that she is so associated with those who love to hate Europe. While I understand that Swiss naturalization authorities were merely following the law in granting her citizenship, I wonder whether they really understood what a polarizing - and yes, bizarro - figure she is.

Becoming Swiss

Well, knock me over with a feather! Michele Bachmann, erstwhile (and crazy-eyed) GOP Presidential hopeful, has become a Swiss citizen, without ever having resided in Switzerland. I hope that Ms Bachmann realizes that the Socialist party is very strong here. Judging by her rhetoric while campaigning, her political philosophy is very much at odds with that prevailing here. I, for one, hope that the Swiss political philosophy never goes the Tea Party route. This country is in many ways as close to Paradise on earth as it gets.

Luckily for Michele, since she is adamantly anti-mandate for health insurance - a key point of US health care reform - the Swiss insurance mandate will not apply to her. Interestingly, it applies to me even though I am not a Swiss citizen. But Michele must be resident in Switzerland for the Swiss mandate to apply. Of course, her health insurance is already paid for by US taxpayers, so she has little understanding of the difficulties many of her fellow US citizens face. IMO, her inability to connect with reality is her main problem. I will grant that she seems to realize that she would be WAY out of her depth if she tried to campaign against candidates here - you know, people who have more than the barest facsimile of an intellect, believe in facts and make fact-based decisions.

Ms Bachmann gained her Swiss citizenship with little to no merit or effort on her own. Her husband's parents were both Swiss, having immigrated to Wisconsin where he was born. Because the three youngest Bachmann children wanted the privileges that dual-citizenship might confer, their father exercised his option to become a Swiss citizen earlier this year. As his wife, Michele received the option through him and so did the children. Presto, zippo! And Now They Are Swiss! They make it look easy.

In fact, for those of us who were not born to Swiss parents or grandparents, it is not easy to become a Swiss citizen. Had Michele married Marcus more recently (their marriage dates to 1978), she herself would not automatically have had the option. I have resided here legally for nearly 18 years and have a permis C, which grants me most of the benefits of Swiss citizenship, less the right to vote in cantonal and federal elections. And yes, I am also eligible for Swiss citizenship. For the moment, it is an option I choose not to exercise for a variety of reasons. Perhaps someday I will.

Now, I wonder. Will Michele's fellow TPers go crazy? If such a True Believer can be seduced by a Socialist state, will she be shunned? Given how TPers evidently love to hate Europe, one might think so.

But I won't hold my breath.

More Scandinavian "Noir"

In an earlier post, I noted the growing fascination hereabouts with a genre broadly known as "Scandinavian 'Noir.'" The first glimmerings of this came with the amazing posthumous success of Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy of novels featuring Lisbeth Salander, who is one of the most original - certainly among the most asocial - female characters in literature.

Scandinavian police procedurals, such as the Kurt Wallander series from the pen of Swedish writer Henning Mankell, have also become popular. In fact, British actor Kenneth Branagh was so enthralled by the possibilities in their plots that he obtained Mankell's permission to recreate the original Swedish TV series (shown with English subtitles in the UK) in English, with himself as star. I have viewed both the subtitled Swedish and the Branagh versions and have enjoyed both. Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo has written a series of best-selling crime novels featuring Detective Harry Hole. I have not yet seen any of these novels staged for TV, but with the phenomenal success of the Swedish crime writers, can a Norwegian TV series be far behind?

Last fall, I was introduced to "The Killing," a wonderfully suspenseful Danish series that is extremely popular worldwide, even in the original Danish with subtitles. The lead female role, that of Detective Sarah Lund, is wonderfully portrayed by Danish actress Sofie Grabol, who has also raised global consciousness about Faroe Islands jumpers (pullover sweaters in American English) to an extent that she should receive a commission on sales. I am not alone in anticipating Series III on this side of The Pond this fall.

Earlier this year, another Danish series, "Those Who Kill," introduced another quirky Danish police detective, Katrin Ries Jensen. While local friends and I enjoyed the series, it never enjoyed the viewer share in Denmark that it was expected to receive and thus will not continue beyond this season. We unhappy viewers elsewhere in Europe were slightly mollified when BBC 4, which my local cable channel provides as part of its service, began showing a brand-new Danish-Swedish series, "The Bridge." I viewed the first two episodes last night and was not at all disappointed. Again, a female detective, Swedish this time and named Saga Noren, is in one of the lead roles. She must, however, collaborate with her male Danish counterpart Martin Rohde to solve a series of murders that involve both jurisdictions.

While Sarah Lund will likely remain my preferred Scandinavian female sleuth (Lisbeth Salander is in a class of her own because she does not function within institutional systems or boundaries but rather in spite of them), Saga Noren is, in my opinion, the quirkiest of the three detectives. Her lack of inhibition in matters sexual matches that of Lisbeth Salander. All four females share a single-mindedness that borders on obsession in their quests for answers.

Still, it is refreshing to see female characters who are allowed to be every bit as effective as males in similar positions are usually seen. If some scenes raise eyebrows, perhaps that means that we should finally realize - once and for all - that women are not lesser beings. If their behavior in some circumstances is unacceptable to some simply because they are women, perhaps that same behavior should also be unacceptable when men do it.
 

Too True!

Bless you, Hillary!  Let us not forget this.

International Women's Day 2012

Today, 8 March, is International Women's Day.  I loved this design from HennaMehndi in India and am reposting it here because it is a reference to henna as often used by my "sisters" in Morocco (and elsewhere in the world) as well as a beautiful design that celebrates women everywhere.

Although IWD is being celebrated in different ways around the world, information about events in specific countries may be found at the International Women's Day site.  A troubling and mysterious footnote here:  while using Chrome, my usual browser of choice, this morning, I found that the IWD site was blocked. !!!! I had to find the link on Internet Explorer.  So I hope that it works.  What mysterious little gremlins have been at work here?  And why?  Hmmm ....

In January, Swiss women in the tiny hamlet of Fahrwangen celebrated a centuries-old tradition where their "equality" was effectively demonstrated in a documented way.  As described in this video courtesy of Swiss Info, during religious infighting (heavy sigh here!) in 1712, the women marched into the woods, making so much noise that they gave invading forces the impression that the village was much better armed than it actually was.  The invaders backed off without firing a shot.  Thanks to the women and their courage for preventing bloodshed, they received a "reward:" one day of the year when they could command.

One day!  The menfolk's generosity was breathtaking!

It took Switzerland a long time to consider its women citizens on the same political footing as men.  Switzerland was one of the last countries in Europe to grant women the right to vote.  In 1971!  Swiss Info also has an interesting photo gallery illustrating the struggles.

Interestingly, despite this late start, a recent study by George Washington University compared the situations of women in the workplace in both the US and Switzerland, concluding that while there were good and bad points to be made about each country, there is more gender equality in - wait for it - Switzerland.  Imagine that!  

Still, even in these two industrialized nations, women - especially those in politics or who take what are perceived as political stances - are seen as fair game for those who would never dream of attacking men - or at least attacking white, heterosexual men.  Thus, in the US, the bloviator controversy continues (I sincerely hope that the very offensive offender is removed from the airwaves altogether - it should have happened long ago) and too many others egregiously attack women's control over their own bodies.  Make no mistake, these attacks are not about religious choices.  They are all - and only - about power.

And in Switzerland, Micheline Calmy-Rey, twice President of the Swiss Republic and a personal political favorite of mine, was just this past Monday hit in the face with a cream pie by an unhappy constituent.  Male, naturally.  There is video of the incident at the link.  Ms Calmy-Rey, as the admirable human being that she is, rose above this incident and will not have the man charged as is her right.

No matter how far women may seem to have come, there is still much educating to be done.  So please, celebrate today by remembering the many women you admire or who made positive differences in your own lives.

I Am Woman

In the United States, March has the distinction of being celebrated as Women's History Month.  It is too bad that some of our politicians, and particularly some of our most loud-mouthed media bloviators, can't seem to remember that not only do women make up at least one-half of the population, but we also vote.  The last time I checked, we can also read, write and speak articulately.  Over the past weeks, we have been treated to the spectacle of GOP political candidates running as far to the right as possible to try to establish their so-called "conservative" credentials.  Among other things, these loons have been revisiting access to contraception, trying to grant "personhood" status to zygotes at the state level and holding hearings in the U. S. House of Representatives about contraception at which women were not even allowed to speak.  These politicians have totally "jumped the shark" and are continuing a headlong downward spiral in meaningful political discourse.

Today's Independent newspaper has an article describing the "best and worst places in the world" to be a woman and it's truly a mixed bag - with some surprising results.  The article is most noteworthy for the fact that neither the UK nor the US was - thankfully - ranked among the worst places in the world for women, but also because the UK doesn't lead the world in any of the 20 "best" categories, while the US leads the world in only one: the best place in the world for a woman to be an athlete.  The mind literally boggles.

Scandinavian countries are as a group the most women-friendly in the world, with Iceland the best place for women overall, taking into account politics, education, employment and health indicators.  Norway won out as the best place to be a mother.  Sweden was first in two categories: best place for a woman in the arts and best place for a woman's right to choose.  Denmark was the best place for a woman to have more leisure time.

So, this begs the question: why can't all countries - including my own - aspire to imitate the Scandinavian countries, whose economies are also booming and whose quality of life is very high?

I, for one, have never had a satisfactory answer to that question.  But I will keep on asking it.  Perhaps, one day, I will no longer have to.

Velvet and Amethyst

Almost exactly a year ago, Friend D was visiting.  As I was showing her around this area, we stopped in the lovely little village of Céligny, and found the cemetery where the great Welsh actor Richard Burton was buried in 1984, after spending his last years living in this area.  I described that visit in this post.

Two days ago, on Wednesday, Burton's ex-wife (twice), the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, died in Los Angeles, where she had been hospitalized with symptoms of congestive heart failure for six weeks.  According to the local paper, there was speculation as to whether she would be buried here in Switzerland.  She is reported to have said, when she attended Burton's funeral in 1984, that she wished to be buried next to him.  Of course, later on, she stated that she would like to be buried next to Michael Jackson.  It is probably just as well that she had a change of heart.  Burton had originally purchased a plot for her next to his own.  It is reported that he ultimately cancelled the purchase.  No doubt such a threesome would not have been welcomed by Burton's widow.

All speculation ceased when it was reported today that her funeral, a small private service, took place yesterday and that she was buried in the cemetery where other screen greats such as James Stewart, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy lie.  In the end, she was buried closer to Michael Jackson, who also has his last resting place there, than to Burton.  Note: the story linked to erroneously reports that Burton was buried in Wales.

Elizabeth Taylor was an cinematic icon of my youth.  Who can forget her as the beautiful, feisty Velvet Brown, who rides her gallant horse to win the Grand National in National Velvet and then is denied the prize because girls were not allowed to be jockeys?  She was barely 12 years old at the time.  Thus began one of the most tumultuous screen careers of the 20th century, both on- and off-screen.  Married eight times to seven different men (Burton counts twice in the marriage statistics), the black-haired amethyst-eyed beauty accumulated two Oscars for Best Actress.  Among her many movies, two of my personal favorites are Giant and Raintree County.  Both are movies that I like to watch over and over again.  Each time I see them, it renews for me the age I was and the era I experienced when I first saw them.

I remember the shock we all felt to hear of the sudden death of her third husband, Mike Todd, in a plane crash.  I also remember the deep disappointment so many of us felt when she turned to the married Eddie Fisher, husband of her erstwhile friend, Debbie Reynolds, for comfort.  Soon after that, she and the ill-fated Fisher went to Europe for the filming of Cleopatra, where she met Richard Burton.  And that was that.  Yes, there were a couple other husbands after Burton, but Burton looms largest.  For those who might be interested, here is an interesting blog post about the various homes she resided in with her various husbands.

Elizabeth's leaving Fisher and the United States for Burton and the Europe of her birth happened around the time - just a bit earlier - that I myself left the US for Morocco.  Her turbulent years with Burton spanned several of my own turbulent years, not nearly as headline-grabbing or public, but important to me.  When I returned to the US with HWMBO in 1982, it was to a Washington scene where she was married to a Republican Senator, an incongruous marriage at best, given her own activism for causes like AIDS, not at all dear to Republicans.

Part of my early fascination with her dealt with her regal name, "Elizabeth," one she shared with the current English monarch, as well as with the first Elizabeth, the great Queen Bess of the Renaissance, and my own mother.  Rest In Peace, Liz, Velvet and so many other characters to whom you gave life!  Your work will live on after you - and so will the memories!

Milestones

About mid-August, HWMBO and I journeyed to Maryland's Eastern Shore to help celebrate a major milestone achieved by one of our friends, "Big Sister" to our wonderful friend "Intrepid Woman."  The milestone in question was Big Sis's 90th birthday.

The actual birth date for Big Sis had occurred in July, but the celebration for her 90th was deferred to August for various reasons.  HWMBO and I were most delighted to be invited.  We had met Big Sis, along with Intrepid Woman's Littlest Sis, while visiting Majorca in 1999 during their mini-family reunion to commemorate Littlest Sis's retirement from teaching full-time.

None of us could believe how quickly the time had passed since then.  Of course, not a one of us looked a day older!  But some of us, notably myself, have put on a few more pounds since that time.  Well, quite a few more, if the truth be told ....  

The weather for the celebration that day was glorious, warm but less humid than most of the Maryland summer days before or since.  HWMBO and I had quite a pleasant drive to the Eastern Shore and made our way quite enjoyably to the town where the celebration was being held.   I must admit that I was so comfortable that I even dozed for part of the way, especially before crossing the Bay Bridge.  This growing older seems to bring that on more frequently so it was fortunate that I was not on driving duty at the time.

The celebration was held in an outdoor pavillion, so there was shade and just enough of a breeze to keep everyone comfortable.  There were quite a few of us in attendance, primarily family members and close friends who had known the family and grown up with the "girls."  There was a picture board containing pictures of Big Sis as a girl

and as a younger woman, living in the Yukon, and raising a family there when the area was still practically a pioneer area.

Her birthday cake reflected the Yukon heritage.

The family is now grown and Big Sis is now a great-grandmother several times over.  Here she poses with some of her children.

And here is another perspective.

And here she poses with Intrepid Woman and Littlest Sis.  Like Intrepid Woman, Big Sis actively assisted abroad with Allied War efforts during World War II.

A third sister, just younger than Intrepid Woman and who is no longer with us, was the third part of this amazing triumvirate.  Littlest Sis was much too young to be included in war efforts abroad.  But, like the other amazing women in her family, she continues to carry the torch.

We were indeed privileged to participate in and share this momentous occasion.  These woman have served as inspirations to me and to others who have known them.  Long may such milestones continue to be achieved!

"Les Justes" de France

In yesterday's post, I used the expression "les Justes" to refer to the individuals associated with the Swiss convent who gave refuge to Jewish women from 1942-1944.  In fact, the expression comes from "Les Justes parmi les nations" ("the Righteous Among the Nations"), as it is used at Yad Vashem, the official memorial in Jerusalem to Jewish victims of the Holocaust.   The title is used to describe and honor non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from being exterminated by the Nazis.  Since the 1960s, some 22,000 individuals have been awarded the title.  Nearly 2,000 of these individuals are French.  I have had the honor - and distinct pleasure - of meeting one of them.

The history of Jews in France dates back over 2,000 years.  However, it wasn't until the 18th century, during the French Revolution, that France emancipated its Jewish population.  Still, France was the first European nation to establish legal equality for Jews.  Even with that, anti-Semitism remained an issue, as illustrated vivdly in the late 19th century by the shameful Dreyfus affair.  Today, France has a Jewish population of around 500,000 - the largest Jewish population in Europe.  Most live in metropolitan areas.

In the early months of WWII, it is estimated that there were approximately 350,000 Jews residing in France.  Some had fled pogroms in Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  In addition to French Jews and Eastern European Jewish immigrants, others were more recent refugees from Nazi-occupied areas.  Their situation did not grow perilous until after the defeat of France by Nazi Germany in June 1940.   Even without prompting from the Nazis, as early as October 1940, the Vichy Government began working with the Gestapo to round up Jews for deportation to concentration camps.  In all, some 76,000 Jews were deported from France.  Only a small fraction of that number survived deportation.

Still, given the pre-war numbers, it is interesting to note that most Jews in France, in contrast to what happened in other Nazi-occupied areas of Europe, were not deported at all.  Several sources also report that, until great pressure was put on the Vichy Government by the Nazis, those who were deported were generally non-French Jews, who were considered not to have "assimilated."  The fact that so many were not deported and, indeed, even survived the Nazi Occupation was due in large part to segments of the non-Jewish French population who either hid them, often in plain sight, or helped them escape to a neutral third country such as Switzerland.   Those non-Jews who assisted with this heroic, albeit "passive," resistance literally risked their lives to do so.  If caught, they were either summarily imprisoned, executed, or themselves deported to concentration camps where they met the same horrific fates as did Jewish deportees.

I met the still lively and vivacious Jeanne Brousse in 2006 when she came to my workplace to speak about her experiences and those of others she knew who are no longer here to speak for themselves.  In 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, Jeanne was 18 years old.  By 1942, she was 21, a French civil servant, working in administration at Haute-Savoie headquarters in Annecy.  Fortuitously, she worked in a modest office position with refugee services.  In that capacity, she was able to obtain forms in order to forge identification documents and other necessary papers.  In some cases, these forged documents would describe Jews as Gentiles so that they were able to live among the population without attracting undue official attention.  In others, she was able to forge work papers and permits so that individuals could pass for seasonal workers on farms in the region.  In some cases, she helped to provide school identification documents so that Jewish children could attend school.  As she pointed out, however, she could only function effectively as part of a much larger network of individuals who collaborated to keep persecuted people hidden, who passed them off to nosy neighbors as visiting relatives and who, in extremis, assisted them to get across the border into Switzerland.  Whether they were rural farmers, businessmen, Muslim or Christian, they all helped out.  Their convictions, determination and their consciences were stronger than their fear.

In some cases, Jeanne herself made courier runs, carrying supplies and medicines to individuals participating in the French Resistance - although this was much rarer since her primary value was as an office worker.  She also described how, in certain instances, her superiors - who almost certainly knew or at least suspected what she was doing - simply turned a blind eye.  She realized how fortunate she was because she could very easily have been betrayed.  Her tales are literally hair-raising.  They also renew one's faith in the essential decency of most human beings.

About her efforts, she says simply, "Je n'ai fait que mon devoir ... ."  [I just did what I had to do ... what had to be done], although she has spoken in more detail about her inspirations at the time and her continuing relationships with those whom she saved, most of whom she had never known before. 

Many of her experiences are described in "Les Armes de Jeanne ["Jeanne's Weapons"] (1940-1945)."  It goes without saying that the world is indeed a better place so long as people like Jeanne exist.

Women, the vote and power

I learned from today's print edition of the Tribune de Genève that tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of women's right to vote in Geneva.  Yes, it was on 6 March 1960 that 55 per cent of the then 100 per cent male electorate granted Swiss women residents of Geneva canton the right to vote.  They were thus able to join their counterparts in Vaud (the first canton to grant women that right) and Neuchâtel (the second) in order to cast their ballots in cantonal elections.  Both Vaud and Neuchâtel said "oui" to women's suffrage a year earlier, in 1959.

It took eleven more years, until 1971, for Swiss women, residents of one of the world's oldest direct democracies, to achieve the right to vote in Swiss federal elections.  Thereafter, Swiss women wasted no time in ensuring that their votes would be taken seriously at all levels by electing women to office.  By 2007, some 36 years later, the Interparliamentary Union ranked Switzerland as 22nd in the world for its proportion of women in parliament.  In the same table, the United Kingdom shared 51st place with the Dominican Republic.  The United States, on the other hand (US Congress = parliament, for this purpose), was ranked 65th.  This is somewhat shameful considering that the United Kingdom passed universal suffrage for all adults over the age of 21 in 1928.  The United States passed the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, granting voting rights to women in 1920.

Women's right to vote did not necessarily help woman politicians achieve significant power faster in the United States and the United Kingdom.  The United Kingdom is a special case because the Queen, most definitely a woman, is a constitutional monarch and considered as the ceremonial head of state.  Still, it was also the first country as among the UK, the US and Switzerland to have a woman politician actually in charge of the government.  This occurred when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 as Prime Minister and held that office until 1990.   It was only in 2008, however, that the US had its first woman candidate with a serious chance of winning the Presidency when Hillary Clinton gave the ultimate Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, a real run for his money in the primary elections.

Compare the situations in the US and the UK to that in Switzerland.  Despite women's tardy access to political parity in Switzerland, the country has had three (!) women serve as President of the Swiss Confederation.  They are, in order, the following: Ruth Dreifuss (1999); Micheline Calmy-Rey (2006); and Doris Leuthard (2010).   While Ruth Dreifuss was born in eastern Switzerland, her political career and residence are in Geneva.  Micheline Calmy-Rey is "genevoise" from birth.  It is fitting for both of these French-speaking women to be the first ascending to that office, considering that it was the westernmost French-speaking cantons that led the way to women's emancipation in Switzerland.  Both are pictured below.  For information about other women presidents or heads of state in the world, see here.

As a female born in Montana, I am particularly proud of one Montana woman who was in the vanguard of two movements close to my heart: women's rights and world peace.  Her name was Jeannette Rankin.  Early in her career, she became a lobbyist for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).  Her speaking and organizational efforts were in large part responsible for convincing Montana's male voters to give women the right to vote in 1914, six years prior to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.  Following that victory, she successfully ran for office herself.  She was the first woman politician in the US to be elected to national office.  She was fully conscious of the historical significance.   When she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1916, she remarked, “I may be the first woman member of Congress.  But I won’t be the last.”

After her first term, she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the US Senate.  Then she devoted herself to women's suffrage, social welfare and peace efforts in general.  She actually travelled to Switzerland in 1919 to attend the Women’s International Conference for Permanent Peace.  From the beginning, she was a dedicated pacifist and did not hesitate to make her pacifist views known.   Whether because of or in spite of those views, she was returned to the House in 1941.  During that second term, she distinguished herself for being the only individual to vote against US entry into World War II, thus becoming the only person to vote against US entry into both World War I and World War II.  While she had been one of 20 representatives who voted against US entry into WWI, she was the alone for the WWII vote.  When the roll call vote was taken, Rankin voted “No” amid “a chorus of hisses and boos.”  Rankin stated, “As a woman I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else.”  The war resolution passed the House 388–1.  Although she finished out her term, Rankin's political career was over.  But she continued being outspoken, marching in protest against the Vietnam War even late in her life.

In a world dominated by testosterone, where guns count more than butter, where powerful interests manipulate economies and where war is considered by some to be the first response, rather than the last of all possible options, we need more people in power to stand firm for something positive.  Whether one is completely in agreement with her beliefs or not, Jeannette Rankin stood firmly for what she believed in until the end of her life, sacrificed a lot, and worked very hard to improve life for many.  I personally am impressed with how pragmatic, practical and progressive Swiss women politicans have been both in vouchsafing women's rights and in keeping this lovely country highly-placed on the quality of life index.  Bravissima!   Well-done and enjoy this well-deserved celebration!