ROCKTOBER-Love is all

When you hear “Love is all” you are probably more reminded of something the Beatles may have done rather then a bunch of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal artists. Yet that is exactly who were involved in the creation of this beautiful, colourful even fairytale like tale and melody.

The song was released in 1974 and was written and composed by Jon Lord of Deep Purple and Eddie Hardin of the Spencer Davis group. The song was taken from the concept album “The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast” which featured artists like David Coverdale(Whitesnake) Glenn Hughes(Deep Purple & Black Sabbath) Les Binks(Judas Priest) Jon Lord(Deep Purple) and many more.

In 1973 Roger Glover left Deep Purple because of work pressure and tensions between him and Ritchie Blackmore. Together with Jon Lord he worked on a solo project. Their plan was to make a rock opera based on William Plomer and Alan Aldridge’s book The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast , in itself based on the eponymous poem by British historian William Roscoe.

Eddie Hardin wrote the song Love Is All based on a song featured in The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast named Love’s all you need, which was inspired by The Beatles’ song All You Need Is Love (1967). The song was sung by Ronnie James Dio, although the single was credited to Glover. The B-side was Old Blind Mole/Magician Moth.

I always presumed that the song had been a global hit, but it only reached the no 1 position in the Dutch and Belgian charts.

The song came with an animated music video featuring a guitar playing frog gathering animals in the forest for the upcoming ball. The animation was created by the Halas and Batchelor studio and one of the animators was Harold Whitaker. The video received a lot of airplay over the decades, particularly as a fill-in during technical difficulties, such as on the French TV channel Antenne 2, and in the United States in children’s TV programs such as The Great Space Coaster and Nickelodeon morning shows. Those random airings, together with the psychedelic tone of the clip and the lack of subtitles, made it very popular amongst young viewers.

In 1980, the video was featured on the Australian music show Countdown, and the song entered the Australian Top 10.The video was also used regularly as an interstitial program on Australia’s ABC TV.

The song was covered by Sacha Distel in 1976. In 2002, Flemish singer Dana Winner released a cover version. Other artists who covered the song have been Gonzales (2008), Keedz (2010) and Playing for Change (2013).

But the original is still the best.

Love during the Holocaust

Getting married is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to you in life. It is a union of love which is quite powerful.

However it can also be nerve wrecking, admittedly more so for the bride then the groom. You want to make sure the day goes well, you hope the weather will be good and that the guests won’t complain too much. And of course then there is that all important wedding night, you may have made love before, but the wedding night is just that bit more special , and you may just want to be a bit more adventurous when it comes to sex.

Now go back to the period of 1940-1945. Your country has been occupied by a foreign power, helped by some of those you once may have known as friends or neighbours.

The Nazis who want to eradicate everyone like you, juts because you are Jewish. Your future is uncertain, you don’t know how long it will take before you are picked up and transported to who knows where.

But you are in love with a beautiful lady and the beautiful lady is in love with a handsome man. What do you do? Will you let hate stop you from loving each other?

No, because you know that despite everything there is no stronger power then love.

The loving couple is Elias(Edie) van Biene and Sonja Rood. I don’t know when they got married but it must have been after April 29,1942. That was the date the Dutch Jews were ordered to wear the Yellow star. I believe they got married in Rotterdam. Elias was murdered in Außernlager KZ Auschwitz, KZ Althammer, Poland. On January 20,1945. One week before Auschwitz was liberated. Elias was 26 when he died.

Sonja managed to hide initially, but she was captured and send to Auschwitz. She did survive and moved to Israel after the war where she died on April 25, 1971 aged 52.

Despite the horrors around them, and the hate that surrounded them. The love of these 2 people for each other conquered that hate and got married. The looks in their eyes shows pure unconditional love.

Love is stronger then hate.

sources

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/4e042c32-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/b2c146c6-8a8f-fac5-dcfb-218e35d54ea3?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=Joods%20Huwelijk&rows=1&page=72

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/143581/elias-van-biene

https://www.geni.com/people/Sonja-Rood/6000000078350610530

https://www.geni.com/people/Elias-Edie-van-Biene/6000000056418936867

Don’t lose your head on Valentine’s day

Ah yes, it is that time of year again when men frantically rush into the shops to buy those last minutes cards and presents for their beloved. Sweaty palms, nervous twitches etc. I say men because lets face it, you hardly see any women in shops buying valentine’s gifts(they are clever, they would have bought  stuff a week earlier).

It is the feast day of love and romance but the origin of St Valentine’s day is a brutal one.

Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns.

The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.

To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine.

A Roman priest named Valentine believing that the decree was unfair, went against the cruel emperor’s decree and continued to secretly wed young lovers. When his actions were discovered, Claudius had the defiant Roman priest arrested and put to death. Part of the legend is the priest’s farewell note for his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended. He signed it, “From Your Valentine.”

Valentine was taken to the Prefect of Rome, who sentenced him to be beaten to death and beheaded. Valentine’s execution took place on February 14, around the year 270. He was declared a saint for his service, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Although not much is actually known about this St. Valentine (as there are actually several early Christian martyrs named Valentine), and whether he actually performed his heroic deed for lovers, the world has come to regard him as a true herald of love, and has been celebrating February 14 by exchanging love letters and special gifts.

 

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A WWII love affair that never happened.

As the saying goes “all is fair in love and war”

In the autumn of 1944, an almost twenty-nine-year old English soldier named Jim fell head-over-heels for nineteen-year-old Emelia Sluys. Emelia was staying with relatives on Groesbeekseweg in the city of Nijmegen,the Netherlands, because her home had been destroyed during the Battle of Arnhem. To his regret Emelia did not share his feelings: she also thought he was too old.

In early 1945 Jim departed from Nijmegen to take part in the Rhineland Offensive in Germany. He returned a few months later with a curious gift: he had found this silver tea set in the deserted ruins of the German city of Cleves and thought it would make a nice gift for Emelia’s mother.

But Mother Sluys wanted nothing to do with this stolen property and hid the present in a closet. She saw the residents of Cleves, a city just over the border, as her neighbours and found stealing from them intolerable. The tea set was never used and Jim and Emelia never married.

It is not known who the rightful owner of the stolen silver tea set might have been.

courtesy of Nationaal Bevrijdingsmuseum.

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Eternal love

These human remains were unearthed in 1972 at the Teppe Hasanlu archaeological site, located in the Solduz Valley in the West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. The site was burned after a military attack. People from both fighting sides were killed in the fire, which apparently spread quite unexpectedly and quickly through the town. The skeletons were found in a plaster grain bin, probably hiding from soldiers, and they almost certainly asphyxiated quickly. The “head wound” is actually from modern-day excavators.

The image depicts two human skeletons, seemingly in an embrace, which earned the photograph its title The 2800 Years Old Kiss. Though many sources identify the skeletons as both being male, according to “The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran” by Muhammad A. Dandamaev, Vladimir G. Lukonin, Philip L. Kohl published by Cambridge University Press, the skeletons are male and female (female on the left). Archaeology magazine also identifies them as male and female with the additional information of their height (around 5 foot 2 inches each).

The skeletons were found in a bin with no objects. The only feature is a stone slab under the head of the skeleton on the left hand side. Some sources claim that skeletons, appearing to kiss each other, were buried 6,000 years ago, but that’s not true. The archaeologist who studied the skeletons confirms they were there since 2,800 years ago. The University of Pennsylvania has determined that the couple died together around 800 BC. The skeletons do appear like they are kissing each other before they died – as if to signify that love is eternal.

The original source of this image is the Penn Museum and officially named “The Lovers”. Its description in the museum label reads:

“The Lovers” from 1972 season at Hasanlu.
Hasanlu is an archaeological excavation site in Iran, Western Azerbaijan, Solduz Valley. Theses skeletons were found in a bin with no objects. The only feature is a stone slab under the head of the skeleton on the left hand side (SK335).

Teppe Hasanlu, located in northwest Iran is a very famous archaeological site of an ancient city and was excavated in ten seasons between 1956 and 1974 by a team from the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Many valuable artifact were unearthed, including this eternal couple.

David And Perla Szumiraj-An Auschwitz Love story

Amid the horrors of the Nazi death camps, somehow, some people managed to survive. One such couple is David Szumiraj and his wife Perla, who actually met in Auschwitz.

David Szumiraj went to Auschwitz in late 1942. During his time there, he tended potato fields, where he worked near a young woman named Perla. The two weren’t allowed to speak, but when guards weren’t looking they made eye contact.

The shared glances were enough for the two to develop feelings for each other. Once they were able to talk for the first time, David says, “It was already inside us, the idea that we were a couple, that we were going to get married.” Their first conversation ended with their first kiss.

In January 1945, with Soviet forces approaching, the Nazis began moving prisoners. The evacuation of Auschwitz was one of the most notorious death marches in history, killing 15,000 people.

After a week of passengers eating nothing but snow, David’s train was attacked by British planes. Weighing just 38 kilograms (83 lb), he survived by eating grass until American soldiers picked him up. Today, he still won’t eat lettuce.

David had no idea where Perla was. He sent a friend to a camp in Hamburg that housed lots of women—and she was there. The first David knew of his friend’s success was when Perla jumped out from behind a tree at the army base where David was staying.

They married, had a daughter, and decided to move to Argentina to be with some of David’s surviving family.

But getting to Argentina was not easy for Jews. Argentina’s government had supported the Nazis during the war, and had issued a secret order, effectively banning Jewish immigrants.

To enter Argentina, many Jews said they were Catholic. For others, the only way in was to pay large bribes

They couldn’t afford the $20,000 immigration fees, so they had themselves smuggled into the country from Paraguay instead,so they went to neighbouring Paraguay, where they got in touch with people smugglers who would take them to Argentina. When they finally arrived in Buenos Aires, David’s family was waiting.

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Romance during WW2

Amidst all the fighting and destruction there was still some time for romance during World War 2.

A Sailor Kissing A Nurse In New York’s Times Square. This Iconic Photo Symbolizes The End Of World War II. This is probably the most famous romantic WW2 picture.

A Young Woman Lifts Her Feet While Embracing And Kissing A Uniformed Us Soldier At The Train Station, Connecticut, 1945.

Farewell To Departing Troops At New York’s Penn Station, April 1943

A Woman Leans Over The Railing To Kiss A British Soldier Returning From World War II, London, 1940

Jean Moore Kneels And Kisses Her Fiancé, Wheelchair-Bound World War II Veteran Ralph Neppel, 1945

A Soldier Comes Home From War, 1940s

Saying Goodbye At The Train Station Before Departing To WWII

American Soldier Kissing His English Girlfriend On Lawn In Hyde Park, 1945

An English ATS And Eighth Air Force Sergeant Enjoy A Blissful Kiss, 1945

Another Farewell To Departing Troops At New York’s Penn Station, April 1943

A British Soldier Whispers Into The Ear Of A Loved One As He Leaves For The Front, 1939

Coffee Served On Porch Of Ante-Bellum Mansion, At Party For Cadets From Local Army Flying School, Mississippi, US, 1943

A Young Woman On Roller Skates And Her Soldier Honey, 1940s

A British Soldier Kisses His Wife On His Return From Serving With The Armed Forces, 1945

Young Couple Chalking Hearts Onto A Tree, Valentine’s Day, 1944

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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