Tagged With "Reiner"
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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' letters now available as book
So glad this is a book! Congratulations Whitney and Denis!
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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?
Check out more of Pawel Wyszomirski's documentary photography here at http://www.testigo.pl/members/pawel-wyszomirski/
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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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Re: Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
Dr. Fumblefinger—your response moves me. And I agree with you about looking for wiser solutions to conflict. Travel leads me to see what connects us to each other, not what separates us.
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Re: Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
I've travelled to Brisbane Australia looking for clues to my fathers war record. It was a hot summers day when I found Roe Street Barracks - still in use ! I was convinced it would have gone years ago to a development. I stood in the entrance and I felt a shiver run down my back. A feeling I've heard described as "someone walking on your grave"
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Re: Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?
I know that feeling, GarryRF. Though, in this case, I would call it walking on HIS grave.
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Re: Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones
I can't help thinking, as I read your descriptions, and the memories of the people you met, at the people, old and young, caught up in Palestine and in Iraq in circumstances not very different. It is sad that we continue to live in a world where their wishes and hopes are of so little consequence to those who call the shots. Literally.
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Re: Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones
I can't help thinking the same thing. If only we could see through the eyes of others.
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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: Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones
DrFumblefinger—I've been meaning to read that book about Bonhoeffer. In fact, I'll do so, as soon as I finish Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944 by Richard C. Lukas and Norman Davies . My affection for the Polish people I've met has spurred me to deepen my understanding of the German occupation and devastation of Poland.
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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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Re: TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award
That accolade was well earned! Your story was an interesting mix of travel and history. Everyone who read your words enjoyed it - including me. It was fascinating. Congratulations !!
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Re: TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award
Award well deserved. Toutes mes félicitations!
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Re: TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award
Well deserved award for a captivating, well- researched and well-written story. We're very proud of you!
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Re: TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award
Thank you very much. Team effort! Three cheers!
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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 #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
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
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
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
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 #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.
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
What a discovery! And thanks for taking us along. I can't wait to hear what happens.
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
Baited, hooked and (almost) landed, like I'm some kind of reading marlin! Can't wait for the next installment! Wonderfully done, HistoryDigger! Thanks so much for sharing this story with us!
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
Fantastic! A WWII story, personal journey and travel story all rolled into one! I'm totally hooked and will be following your unfolding story this summer, Whitney! All luck!
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
Merveilleux!! Un vrai bijou! Thanks so much for sharing this amazing story. Can't wait to read more.
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
This really is a wonderful post, Whitney. I love the family history you have there. And fantastic photos! I'm looking forward to reading more of your writing.
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Re: Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery
Thanks, Jessica, for your kind words. I'll check out your blog as well.
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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
what a great way to start a Sunday! can't wait to read more. I'm with you in spirit Merci pour ce beau partage historique et familial.
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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
Merci encore une fois, Vivie. Je suis sur le point de partir. Thanks for reading. I'm about to depart. Hope you'll follow along.
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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
I found myself racing to the computer this morning to read Part 2 of your incredible and moving series. It's made me reflect on what war does to a family .
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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts
Another brilliant post, HistoryDigger! Thanks. I think you've described the situation many young German men were in, and it's a lesson for all of us to fight tyranny at every step and with all we have. It is also a reminder to me how a government that is "a friend of the people" can crush those same people if their power isn't checked. After the Nazis had seized power, there was no tolerance for dissent. You were either with them -- or you were in big big trouble (possibly even fatal...
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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.