Tagged With "Finding Reiner"
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#288)
Gumbo gets on the train and sees some low tech.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#288)
Leave the station and you might run into this scarecrow.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#288)
Since this is a hard puzzle, Gumbo is showing you Sundays clue early for extra time to solve it!. This clue is of a train along the line
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#288)
Absolute extreme difficulty Travel Rob. Just had a family emergency and sent in my best wild guess without any real confirmation.
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'Finding Reiner' letters now available as book
The letters behind the prize-winning series Finding Reiner, published here, are now available in hardcover or Kindle.
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Start Planning Your Summer Vacation Now!
Will you be going on a vacation this summer? If the answer is yes, then you should already start making plans. Even though January is far from June, July, and August, time is flying when you’re having fun, and not to mention that the prices are rising at a rapid pace. Vague plans made in March will be much more difficult to put into action in summer, and if you prepare for your vacation in time, you will benefit from it more than you might realize at first. Choices, choices everywhere ‘Early...
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
It is a sad - difficult story. I want to meet Reiner too. Your work and research and photos of the land where he was "found" bring his story alive - right here, right now!
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
ALL of those. Wish I could sit down for lunch with you and hear the rest. I'm quite interested in using my Reiner research material for various genres—adult lit, young adult lit, and film.
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
GarryRF. Yes please send that email. Or DM me on Twitter @whitneystewart2. My uncle was shot down by Germans, but was saved and mended by Partisans. See Finding Reiner #2.
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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
Here we go! I am so eager to learn more about that old house which is pictured so beautifully in the mountain idyll of Poland. My fantasy is of undiscovered family treasures in the attic which the Polish police, who now occupy that building, would gladly be rid of. Whit, don't forget to search the attic when you get there. Ha! I am sure glad you are Finding Reiner.
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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
Dr. Fumblefinger—yours is a fascinating response. How lucky your father was to have escaped and survived. I'm glad he told you his story, which I would like to hear. Where was he from? Reiner's family members were also born in now Poland. Episode 3 will detail more of the Nazi oppression in Cologne that trapped Reiner and his family.
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Re: Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones
Beautiful image - grabbing on to the spider web and flying into a peaceful land/world. Reiner wrote beautifully!!!
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Re: Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones
Originally Posted by Carlin Scherer: Beautiful image - grabbing on to the spider web and flying into a peaceful land/world. Reiner wrote beautifully!!! Reiner was a great writer, and I'm sure in the original German it's even more elegantly phrased than in this fine translation! PHeymont -- agree with the sentiment. Believe we'll always have evil, power grabbing tyrants in our midst and our challenge is not to keep them from seizing power. Not an easy task. I've been reading Eric Metaxas...
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Re: TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award
Thank you so much Whitney.!We are proud of you Here's part one of Finding Reiner! https://www.travelgumbo.com/blo...isaster-to-discovery
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Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
I'm deep into last-minute research for my "Finding Reiner" adventure. My suitcase is packed with device chargers, plug adaptors, Swiss Army knives, bandaids, spare batteries, and clip-on, flat water flasks for the trail. But, my desk is covered...
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Finding Reiner 4: Who Was He?
After a brief holiday, I am back to Finding Reiner. I am writing this family mystery as a travelogue ( and as a graphic book illustrated by the fabulous Maria Lebedeva whose illustrations I include here ) for two reasons. First, war stories mean...
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Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones
Paweł and I are back in his little red car on one-lane Polish roads behind tractors. Google Maps underestimates our driving time, and we’re going nowhere fast. Nothing fazes Paweł though, and he's ready with cameras for any kind of...
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Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
On Monday August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. My son, my elderly German mother-in-law, Lütte, and I were hunkered down in my husband’s office at Tulane Medical School. Our decision to stay seemed smart at the time. My...
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Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
" To be honest, I no longer try to calculate how things are going to turn out in this war. No one is going to escape unscathed. One must not be miserly with the little life that we have. Those who are anxious and fearful, they will be struck first....
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TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award
We at TravelGumbo are incredibly proud and pleased to announce that Whitney Stewart, HistoryDigger on Gumbo, has won a Bronze Award from the North American Travel Journalists Association for the 8-part series Finding Reiner, which ran in 2014....
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Re: 'Finding Reiner' letters now available as book
So glad this is a book! Congratulations Whitney and Denis!
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Re: 'Finding Reiner' letters now available as book
Thank you for posting this update. What an honor to find these letters and collaborate on this book with Denis Havel. The travel adventure will always inspire me to look beyond the ordinary.
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Re: 'Finding Reiner' letters now available as book
Congratulations Whitney! Need to get my Kindle copy ordered.
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Re: Finding Reiner #5: Behind the Veil of Time
I am just now catching up on reading, and I continue to be touched by not only your persistence and care in searching for Reiner, but also helping us search for meaning in so much that has been left behind in our understanding, because it doesn't fit under the grand tags that "simplify" history for posterity. This summer commemorates the start of World War I, important events of the end of World War II...and yet, so little of the individuals and their fates. Even the exhibits we saw this...
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Re: Finding Reiner #5: Behind the Veil of Time
I am finding the same is true for all wars I have studied. We know so little about the people in the trenches whose lives meant little to the leaders. I hope this bog series reveals at least one life. The journey to find Reiner has been life-changing for me, his nephew's wife.
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows
Reiner was such a dutiful letter writer that we have this info allowing us to retrace these steps. Amazing resources - Reiner's letters and Whit's dogged research. Loving this story more each day.
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows
Whitney your story about Reiner and retracing his steps gets people thinking about their own life and family too, so beyond being fascinating history, it's very relevant to us all.25 years ago this summer I went through an incredible ordeal in Europe. Your journey for Reiner has me thinking back to that time and has me thinking of retracing some steps too.Keep it up and thank you!
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Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows
My “Finding Reiner” blog continues to be a challenge in crossing historical time zones. Reiner’s old letters describe his school and neighborhood, and I search 1940s maps and the Internet to find my route to his past. If I had...
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Finding Reiner #5: Behind the Veil of Time
Reiner’s grave in Poland used to be unmarked, but I’ve made three trips to this beautiful country to fix that one error of war. My upcoming posts will highlight the progression of my research here to learn Reiner’s fate. In...
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Re: National Parks Centennial to get big marketing push
I hope everyone rushes right out to get their Senior Passes, as I did, when you reach 62. $10 to get into every federal recreation site managed by the Forest Service, the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation, for life. Details for it, and other passes here: http://www.store.usgs.gov/pass/senior.html
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National Parks Centennial to get big marketing push
The U.S. National Park Service will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2016, and plans to get ready for the party with its biggest-ever marketing push, including a TV series, in IMAX movie and a big promotional campaign on the theme "Find Your Park."...
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Re: Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
Reiner is far from forgotten, thanks to all your research. Poland too holds special memories for me and from what you show of Świeradów Zdrój,it is spectacular. Thanks again Whitney for your incredible moving series.Reiner would be proud!
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Re: Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
I have enjoyed sharing my search for Reiner with your readers. Joy!
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Re: Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
It would have been so very nice for you to have found Reiner as an elderly man slowly walking home with the aid of his cane from his daily dip in the mineral spring, and joined him for a revitalizing sip of schnaps and shared with him your journey. How cool would it have been for you to say, "Hi, Reiner. I'm your nephew's wife, Whitney". I think he'd be tickled to no end to know how much you've cared and how hard you've tried to find him.... Sadly, the absence of an ending like this should...
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Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
I’m reluctant to say goodbye to Łukasz and his family because now I want to buy my own metal detector and continue digging in Poland. But, Paweł and I have a long drive ahead to Świeradów Zdrój , a Polish spa town in the...
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
Very powerful. I keep thinking of that local man's mothers story and it's similar to stories I've heard from some ,in the the WW2 generation living in Eastern Europe ,about the Russian Army of WW2.
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
I'm really enjoying this moving series, History Digger. It is a captivating narrative. Admire your dogged determination to find the truth. Thanks for making us all a part of your journey.
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
I wanted to add the photography by Pawel Wyszomirski is just wonderful and timeless. Really captures your journey.
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
Amazing story indeed. I've heard many recollections from veterans of WW2 and all of them beyond belief. When I was a schoolboy (in England) my Math Teacher was in the real "Great Escape" in 1944 and told us boys stories to make your hair stand up ! But when he told us of the Germans making an "example" of repeat escapees his eyes were full of the horrors of war. Then we'd get back to the Math lesson. "Tomorrow we'll found out how we hid the guard dogs!"
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
GarryRF, Thanks for your response. I'd like to hear those stories, despite the horror in them. What a way to teach kids math. Yikes.
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
Whitney. I was just emailing TravelRob. Maybe you could contact a TV station here in England. The Centenary of WW1 is big news across Europe this year 1914 - 1918 and we have many programmes looking back at all the wars since. Have you seen the "Great Escape" Movie. ( Steve McQueen - James Garner and all ) ? Some facts are true - some "based" on the true story. It's very late here in England. Contact you tomorrow.
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
Just having lunch - what subject you interested in ? Prison Camps, What was untrue in the Great Escape or what was true ? Vanishing guard dogs ?
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
As you've seen in the Great Escape, taking prisoners into the forest and killing them wasn't just a Russian idea. It was used against the Allied POWs by the SS. But there were many allied airmen shot down over Germany who returned home after the war with life saving surgery by the "enemy" Metal plates fitted to the skull where the bone had been shot away I remember. Shall I send an email to your website Whitney ?
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
Just to add a note: on our way to Mont-Saint-Michel this morning, we noticed signs pointing to a Deutschesoldatenfriedhof, or German Soldiers' Cemetery. Curiosity took us to it and we were surprised by its story. It was constructed in 1961 for reburial of soldiers who had been buried in small locations all over Normandy, the Channel Islands and other nearby areas. It is a solemn place, and quiet, and the spirit expressed in the signs and in the design was one of reconciliation and hope for...
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Re: Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave
Paul, Thanks for that note about the German cemetery in France. I may make a trip to several of these war cemeteries on my next trip overseas. I just heard from the German War Graves Commission this morning with more photos of Reiner's grave.
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
Thanks for the start of an extraordinary journey, which also reminds us that travel isn't only for pleasure, or even always voluntary. It is also important for us never to reduce history to acts of state and leaders and lose sight of all the Reiners of the world.