#ww2

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WWII is often held up as a good example of unity against fascism.

And it was.

But not in the way that people usually think.

That alliance against fascism was ugly as fuck.

It was explicitly racist, explicitly sexist, at least antisemitic-adjacent, and, so anti-lgbtq that the concept was generally unknown.

It committed its own war crimes.

The alliance was ugly as fuck. Don't believe the Hollywood version that is still being generated.

And yet - I am still grateful the Allies won.

If I were alive then I would be 110% pro Allies.

Do not believe people who refuse to stand together because today's alliance isn't morally good enough.

Stand up to fascism today so that we have a chance to continue making moral progress tomorrow.

"Balkan plot to dig up Yugoslav leader Tito’s remains hits a wall"

https://www.politico.eu/article/balkan-exhume-yugoslav-leader-josip-tito-aleksandar-vucic-serbia/

’s nationalist mayor, Aleksandar Šapić: 'instead of maintaining Tito’s mausoleum, which is part of the wider Museum of Yugoslav History complex in the capital, Belgrade should consider erecting a monument to Dragoljub “Draža” Mihailović, the leader of the -collaborating movement who was sentenced to death by Tito after World War II.'

'Germany fact-checks Russia for defending 1939 invasion of Poland'

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-mocks-russia-defending-1939-invasion-poland-protect-ukrainian-population-pseudo-historical-theory/

'Germany’s foreign ministry replied to Russia’s post Thursday with a single word: “Seriously?”

'It also posted a map of Poland, signed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Nazi Germany’s Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, showing how the country would be divided between them, with the hashtags and .'

The bell that tolls my syllables can tell
An underwater tale, clang how there fell
Suddenly out of a surface shouting world
Into dumb calm doomed children…

—George Sutherland Fraser (1915–1980), “S.S. City of Benares”

, 18 Sept, 1940, at one minute past midnight, the SS CITY OF BENARES was torpedoed in the Atlantic. Of 134 passengers, 90 were child refugees bound for Canada. Only 13 children survived.

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/from_the_line/

G. S. Fraser S.S. City of Benares (Drowned refugee children, 1940) The bell that tolls my syllables can tell An underwater tale, clang how there fell Suddenly out of a surface shouting world Into dumb calm doomed children, and there curled (Currents’ sick fingers whispering at their hair) Round them a coiling clutch, was our despair. Sea’s soft sad pressure, like the sprawl of love, Darkly spreadeagled, so they could not move, The wide wet mouth was heavy, they would choke, Till in that cold confusion pity spoke: ‘This is a nightmare and one is asleep. This is a dream, my brave one, do not weep, Often may drown in dreams and not be dead: Such weight is mother leaning on your bed.’ But having thought of this to cheat my pain, That woe and wonder harrows me again, Fat clouds seem bulked like whales, while through the green Grave tons of twilight, in a submarine Solidity of air like sea I move, Pressure of horror how our hate hurts love. Deeper than grief can plummet, mercy lies, But not so deep as trust in children’s eyes, Justice is high in heaven, but more high Blood of the innocent shall smear the sky— Or think that red the flame of seraph wings, See stained-glass heaven, where each darling sings In God’s dark luminous world of green and gold As lovely as death’s waters, but less cold: Think what you will, but like the crisping leaf In whipped October, crack your thoughts to grief. In the drenched valley, whimpering and cold, The small ghosts flicker, whisper, unconsoled.

Yesterday was an important anniversary that supporters of (Soviet Union) do not like to remember:

September 17, 1939 was the day when the Soviets enthusiastically joined the Second World War, on the side of their ally - Nazi Germany.

That's why in Russia they don't like to talk about the Second World War, which they helped start.They prefer to talk about the Patriotic War, that is, the events after they were betrayed and attacked by their former ally.

'Nigel Farage blames admin error for candidates praising Hitler'

https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-blame-admin-error-candidate-vetting-praise-hitler-reform-uk/

'One praised Adolf Hitler as “brilliant,” said he was “able to inspire people to action,” and called Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “legitimate.” Another said Britain “should have accepted Hitler’s offer of neutrality” in the run-up to the Second World War.

We’re the D-Day Dodgers out in Italy,
Always on the vino, always on the spree…

—“The Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers”, a soldiers’ song collected by Hamish Henderson

Sung by Rod Paterson

(The term “D-Day Dodger”, an insulting reference to Allied troops fighting in Italy in 1944, was widely attributed to Viscountess Astor, a Conservative MP – although she denied saying it & there is no record of her using this phrase)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDXoXx7RRWs&list=OLAK5uy_lyHb3w_CdLiyDsHl84M6obGIoyIc2Ydl4&index=2

As ever, no-one seems to mention the contribution of the people of the British Empire and Commonwealth, or the promises made to those people regarding independence.

'D-Day anniversary: Britons disagree with other countries on who did the most to defeat the Nazis'

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49613-d-day-anniversary-britons-disagree-with-other-countries-on-who-did-the-most-to-defeat-the-nazis

'In 1945, the French public said the Soviets did the most to defeat Nazi Germany - but in 2024 they're most likely to say it was the Americans'