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Karlis Ozols
Karlis Aleksandrs Ozols ( lv, Kārlis Aleksandrs Ozols; 9 August 1912, in Riga – 23 March 2001, in Australia) was a Latvian lieutenant in the Nazi-controlled Latvian Auxiliary Police and a member of Heinrich Himmler's SS during WW2. After later migrating to Australia, he was recommended to be charged under that country's War Crimes Act for helping oversee the mass-killings of Jews and anti-fascist insurgents in both Latvia and Belarus, but this was not pursued to prosecution. Ozols was also a champion Latvian-Australian chess player. Early life Ozols was born in Riga in 1912. He studied law at university in that city from 1932 to 1938. His studies were interrupted by his joining the Latvian army as an officer in 1938. He became a lieutenant in 1940 and was able to complete his law degree the following year. Nazi career With the Nazi Germany invasion of Latvia in 1941, Ozols volunteered to join the Nazi-controlled Latvian Auxiliary Police. This force, of which the infamous Ara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers and lies above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain. Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, 2013 World Women's Curling Championship and the 2021 IIHF World Championship. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2017, it was named the European Region of Gastronomy. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravensbrück Concentration Camp
Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 132,000 women who were in the camp during the war includes about 48,500 from Poland, 28,000 from the Soviet Union, almost 24,000 from Germany and Austria, nearly 8,000 from France, and thousands from other countries including a few from the United Kingdom and the United States. More than 20,000 of the total were Jewish, approximately 15%. 85% were from other races and cultures. More than 80% were political prisoners. Many prisoners were employed as slave labor by Siemens & Halske. From 1942 to 1945, the Nazis undertook medical experiments to test the effectiveness of sulfonamides. In the spring of 1941, the SS established a small adjacent camp for male inmates, who built and managed the camp's gas chambers in 1944. Of some 130,000 fem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess Olympiads
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and 2021, with a rapid time control that affected players' online ratings. The use of the name "Chess Olympiad" for FIDE's team championship is of historical origin and implies no connection with the Olympic Games. Birth of the Olympiad The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players. While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad. FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konrads Kalejs
{{disambiguation, given name, surname ...
Konrads may refer to: * The Konrads, a band formed by David Bowie in 1962 People with the surname Konrads * Ilsa Konrads, Australian swimmer at the 1960 Olympics * John Konrads, Australian swimmer at the 1960 Olympics People with the given name Konrāds * Konrāds Kalējs, WWII Latvian soldier, Nazi collaborator * Konrāds Ubāns (1893–1981), Latvian painter See also * Conrads (other) * Konrad (other) Konrad is a German (with variants ''Kunz'' and ''Kunze'') given name and surname that means "bold counselor" and may refer to: People Given name Surname *Alexander Konrad (1890–1940), Russian explorer *Antoine Konrad (born 1975), birth name o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropolitan area known as Greater Melbourne, comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities, although the name is also used specifically for the local municipality of City of Melbourne based around its central business area. The metropolis occupies much of the northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula, part of West Gippsland, as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong and Macedon Ranges. It has a population over 5 million (19% of the population of Australia, as per 2021 census), mostly residing to the east side of the city centre, and its inhabitants are commonly referred to as "Melburnians". The area of Melbourne has been home to Aboriginal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Menzies Government
Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived from the Norman name Mesnières, from the town of Mesnières-en-Bray in Normandy.David HeyClan Menzies website/ref> Pronunciation The name is traditionally pronounced — and still is in Scotland — . The current spelling arose when the similar-looking tailed variant of the letter (i.e., ) was used as a substitute for the now obsolete letter (yogh) in the Scots language (). However, outside Scotland it is often erroneously given the spelling-pronunciation . A Scottish limerick plays on the traditional, correct pronunciation: There wis a young lassie named Menzies, That askit her aunt whit this thenzies. Said her aunt wi a gasp, "Ma dear, it's a wasp, An you're haudin the end whaur the stenzies!" The second and fifth lines are pron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Displaced Persons Camps In Post–World War II Europe
Displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe were established in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the former inmates of the Nazi German concentration camps. A "displaced persons camp" is a temporary facility for displaced persons, whether refugees or internally displaced persons. Two years after the end of World War II in Europe, some 850,000 people lived in displaced persons camps across Europe, among them Armenians, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Yugoslavs, Jews, Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Czechoslovaks and Belarusians. DP Camps in Europe Intro from: ''DPs Europe's Displaced Persons, 1945-1951'' by Mark Wyman At the end of the Second World War, at least 40 million people had been displaced from their home countries, with about eleven million ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 October 1990. During the Cold War, the western portion of Germany and the associated territory of West Berlin were parts of the Western Bloc. West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, established from eleven states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The FRG's provisional capital was the city of Bonn, and the Cold War era country is retrospectively designated as the Bonn Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided between the Western and Eastern blocs. Germany was divided into the two countries. Initially, West Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, representing itself as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Re-occupation Of Latvia In 1944
The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the military occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. During World War II Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941–1944, and after which it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union. Battle of the Baltic Army Group Centre was in tatters, and the northern edge of the Soviet assault threatened to trap Army Group North in a pocket in the Courland region. Panzers of Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz had been sent back to the capital of Ostland, Riga and in ferocious defensive battles had halted the Soviet advance in late April 1944. Strachwitz had been needed elsewhere, and was soon back to acting as the Army Group's fire brigade. Strachwitz's Panzerverband was broken up in late July. By early August, the Soviets were again ready to attempt to cut off Army Group North from Army Group Centre. A massive Soviet assault sliced through the Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kriegsverdienstkreuz
The War Merit Cross (german: Kriegsverdienstkreuz) was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 by the ''Bundeswehr'' for its veterans. History This award was created by Adolf Hitler in October 1939 as a successor to the non-combatant Iron Cross which was used in earlier wars (similar medal but with a different ribbon). The award was graded in the same manner as the Iron Cross: ''War Merit Cross Second Class'', ''War Merit Cross First Class'', and ''Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross''. The award had two variants: ''with swords'' given to soldiers for exceptional service "not in direct connection with combat", and ''without swords'' given to civilians for meritorious service in "furtherance of the war effort". Recipients had to have the lower grade of the award before getting the next level. The weari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obersturmführer
__NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and the need for an additional rank in the officer corps. ''Obersturmführer'' also became an SS rank at that same time. An SA-''Obersturmführer'' was typically a junior company commander in charge of fifty to a hundred men. Within the SS, the rank of ''Obersturmführer'' carried a wider range of occupations including staff aide, Gestapo officer, concentration camp supervisor, and Waffen-SS platoon commander. Within both the SS and SA, the rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was considered the equivalent of an ''Oberleutnant'' in the German ''Wehrmacht''. The insignia for ''Obersturmführer'' was three silver pips and a silver stripe centered on a uniform collar patch. The rank was senior to an ''Untersturm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
