What do you do when you have the bubonic plague, more bones than you know what to do with and a arguably healthy sense of imagination. You use them for decorating. Most people I have shown these photos to find it twisted or sick. But these people weren’t murdered, they died naturally and at the time they didn’t have the resources to properly bury them. In the circumstances I think it’s quite creative. What do you think? Disrespectful or Artistic?
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As today, or possibly yesterday now (I’m in Australia, time zones are confusing) was the 70th anniversay of the attack on Pearl Harbour. I have been thinking about signifcant events in history and their effects on the world. Thinking amongst this theme I have to question. Is there a more signifcant event then Pearl Harbour in terms of changing the world?
I realise to some this might seem like a strong and misguided statement, but hear me out
Before WWII America had a isolationist foreign policy. I am well aware that America did become involved in WWI as well, but that was in more of an ecomonic way and very last minute.
But after WWII in which America become involved because of the attack on Pearl Harbour, America’s foreign policy changed dramatically. They no longer believe in the isolationist policy wanted to stay out of foreign affairs. They got very involved in foreign affairs.
But is there an other event that changed the world as much as this one has?
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Whilst the term ‘history buff’ might be at little strong a name to describe myself, I love history and learning about recent past events of the world. And there is no better way to learn about these events then being exactly where they happened, hearing first hand accounts and seeing these sites for yourself. These are my 5 top destinations based on modern history. Keep in mind, I’m only mentioning places I have been. I’m sure there are many more fasinating destinations for this, in which I intend to find.
1.) Northern Ireland (Belfast and Derry) - Belfast and Derry both share a sad politcal past. Whilst there is peace in these areas, tensions of past conflicts still remain to be seen. It was an area where a Union Jack made me feel a little uneasy. The murals found at Derry and Belfast show messages of hope, inspiration and strength and these murals were often the only way for the Irish Catholics to get there points of view across due to the censorship of the media. The Bloody Sunday site of Derry, shows the world what really is at stake. The Black Cabs Taxi Tour I did in this area was a highlight of my travels worldwide. The first hand accounts of bullets, bloodshed and brotherhood are vivid, passionate and incredibly moving.
2.) S21 and the Killing Fields (Phnom Penh)- In 2009 I travelled to Phnom Penh. Having studied the Khmer Rouge in high school it was always a period of history that compelled me. Being at S21, the school the Khmer Rouge transformed into a torture chamber and concentration camp was amongst some of the haunting stories I have ever heard. However it is not for everyone, blood stains still clearly visable and teeth and bone fragments can be seen at the killing fields. However it is a dark part of history that I feel everyone should know about. A greater percentage of the Khmer population died then Hilter took of the Jewish population, yet it seems to be missed in the history books.
3.) Berlin Wall – As a child my parents always told me of their travel stories. Amongst my favourite was the story about how they got a visa to go through east germany and out the other side of Checkpoint Charlie. Since then it has always been somewhere I wanted to go, to see for myself. The wall is not what you imagine, its wider and had large monuments stuck in the middle of no man’s land. The stories of separation, escape successes and failures and oppression in such a recent time really rang true how lucky I felt that my ancestors never experienced this, but many people did.
4) Budapest Prague and Other parts of Central Europe. – Firstly these areas faced the horrors of the Nazi’s. These areas were then ‘liberated’ by the Soviet Union, only to be passed onto another regime of horror by the Soviets through a dictatorship of communism. However despite these horrors you still manage to see human kindness in these tragedies. At the ‘House of Terror’ muesum in Budapest I heard a story. A story of a man who was in a prison chamber with his friend. Starving. They both were. His friend dissapears. He wonders if he will ever see him again. His friend reappears but doesn’t say anything, just grabs both hands and kisses him. But he was not really kissing him, but placing sugar cubes into his mouth with his. He committed that this single act of friendship in sharing these sugar cubes was the reason that he was still alive. The reason he had a wife and kids and a happy family and a furfilling life. I haven’t been able to repeat that story to anyone because I can’t bring myself to say it out loud without crying. Deeply moving.
5) Bratislava Slovakia. – Whilst I know this area is in Central Europe. I am going to give it a special mention. It was a very last minute thing to go here in the first place and it was somewhere I’d never really considered. However the history I learnt here was unlike other history. It was almost unknown. Did you know that the famous tank man photo of Prague Spring was actually taken in Bratislava. And that mysterious car crashes of officials are now being investigated by the UN. Need I say more.
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