Books read

Tags

art., Civil war, Germany, Kaiser, Lebanon, life, reading, Travel

While on our cruise to Norway I read 2 books both very different from one another. The first book was a shorter version of a 4000 page book on Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The author John C.G. Rohl did what can only be described as an academic and scholarly study of the life of the last German Emperor, examining in detail his family, his relationship and his numerous health problems and the handicap of his lame left arm which caused him enormous pain all his life and very serious mental problems. Reading the book I did not have any sympathy for the man but certainly understood how Royal Families mixing dynastic ambitions, politics, family rivalries between the British Royal Family and the German Royal Family can be a recipe for disaster. His mother was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and in turn the families are first cousins. Her marriage to Prince Frederick who will be Kaiser for 99 days in 1888 was arranged by Queen Victoria and British politicians to cement the alliance between Britain and Germany.

The author examines European politics of the time and the political actors who all have a responsibility to bear in what would happen. Personal political ambitions coming before the good of one’s country or people, failure to understand a changing world, rejection of a Constitutional Monarchy like Britain’s, the decline of colonial empires, trade wars, military competition between Britain and Germany and visions of world domination in both Britain and Germany lead us straight into the First World War. The author does not blame, he explain the toxic soup in which the world found itself between 1870 and 1919. On the margins we also see the weaker States like Russia, Austria and the Ottoman Empire and their role. Kaiser Wilhelm II saw himself as the personification of his famous ancestors and much of his political ideas would be championed later in the 1930’s by the Nazi Party. Germany did try during the Weimar Republic to become a democratic and constitutional State but events intervened.

Wilhelm II is a very interesting subject and a sad one, as a child he had a horrific upbringing, his mother wanting to have the perfect child for dynastic reasons and to please her difficult mother Victoria will submit Wilhelm to sadistic military and civilian tutors, weird medical experiment to try to heal is lame left arm, exposing the medical ignorance of the time. The mistakes of incompetent doctors, a breech birth, the authors gives a complete medical explanation of what happened causing irreparable neurological damage to Wilhelm’s left arm and other infirmities to his spine and neck. It is a fascinating read if only to get us to understand that part of world history we still speak about today and remember on November 11 each year. Wilhem II died in exiled in 1941 at his little castle in Doorn, The Netherlands.

Berlin view from the top of the Brandenburg Gate behind the quadriga of Peace looking down (Eastward) Unter den Linden towards the now reconstructed Imperial City Palace which will open as the Humboldt Forum in 2020.

The second book I read, though I found it interesting and certainly brought back many memories of my time in the Middle East was Beirut Hellfire Society by Canadian author Rawi Hage who was born in Beirut and lived the early years of the civil war in that city. It should be remembered that this vicious war with countless atrocities that defy the imagination started in 1973 and ended in 1990, without resolving the issues that still haunt Lebanon today. If you have not lived in the Levant or Middle East as the USA calls it. It is very difficult to understand / believe the story of this book and the actors. You may wonder why or is it possible for people to be so cruel and malicious, I would say yes it is possible human being have shown what they are capable of when organized society, Law and Order disappears. Chaos and brute force become the only rule of the game and anything goes.

Reading this book, thinking back to what I witnessed and the testimony of those who lived through it, I always think of our own society with its pre-conceived notions and petty prejudice, always quick to judge and offer simplistic solutions. I wonder what Canadians would do in such a situation, no better probably. Currently we are having a Federal Election Campaign, in a situation like that of Lebanon between 1973-1990 being a politician, one would have to be very brave, death stalks you and your family.

The author Rawi Hage also attacks in his book the various religions who stoked the hatred of others, be they muslims, (shia or sunny) Druze, Christians etc. Everyone belongs to a tribe and you pay the militia to protect your tribe against the other tribe. Unless someone in your family wants you dead. The events described in the book did happen, there are no embellishments. A powerful book on a country and a region so little understood.

 

 

Bourreaux de l’Etat

Tags

Bourbon, Civil war, executioner, France, Louis XVI, profession, Revolution, Sanson

I follow a blog written in French by Marie-Christine Pénin called www.tombes-sepultures.com which specialize in locating the tombs of famous people in France. The period covered is usually 17th, 18th  and 19th centuries. I often wonder where is so and so buried, a famous name does not necessarily have a famous grave. Each entry gives you the story of the person and how it ended with often some strange family detail about the burial. One entry recently was about the French Revolution (Civil War) and how the Kings and Queens of France buried in the St-Denis Cathedral were dug up and their tombs smashed. Some with vivid description of the cadaver, like that of Louis XV whose body was black and gave out a powerful stench despite the fact that he had died some 17 years prior.

This week it is about the family Sanson, who for 7 generations where the Official Executioner of France, from 1688 to 1847. A profession that no longer exist, but a profession nonetheless required for putting to death the great and the not so great of France who had been condemned by the State. Official Executioner was a title given by the King and then at the Revolution by the Committee in charge. It was  a paid job with honours and benefits. One benefit was on the death of the Executioner, he was entitled to a Funeral Mass with full Civilian Honours. So for 159 years the Sanson, from fathers to sons where in charge of executing by whatever means decreed, prisoners. They not only exercised their profession in Paris but also in several other cities of France. The head of the Family usually had Paris and his sons had other cities, some  sons were also helpers in the putting to death of a condemned person. They were responsible for maintaining the tools of their trade and setting up the scaffolds etc ensuring that all would go well.

A very grim business and not always a quick affair, sometimes in the 17th and 18th centuries executions which were a public spectacle required some showmanship. However amongst the duty of the Executioner, he had to meet with the condemned prior to the execution, they would have a surreal conversation about what was to take place and the condemned could make a request that he be dispatched quickly if possible, often giving the Executioner a sum of money. One of the Sanson was known for his consideration and kindness toward the condemned person, his job was to put them to death not to make them suffer unduly or turn a public execution into butchery.

It was Charles-Henri Sanson who had to execute King Louis XVI. Though he had been a revolutionary in 1789 by 1793 he had lost his appetite for the revolution and turned against it. In his opinion far too many innocent people had been condemned by comedy show trials, where the results were more important than the facts or the truth. When he was given the paper ordering the execution of the King, Charles-Henri Sanson said he felt faint and wanted to run. He knew the trial had been rigged against the Sovereign and Sanson was hoping for a last minute reprieve or a plot to free the king. This royal execution would haunt him for the rest of his days and in his will he left money so that a Mass could be said  monthly to ask God for forgiveness for this horrible business.

Sanson’s son would execute 9 months later Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was leaving behind two young children. The day of the execution the Parisian crowds were in an ugly mood and sullen, very much against putting the Queen to death. He also dispatched other revolutionaries like Danton and Robespierre. He like other members of his family are buried around Paris in churches or in cemeteries amongst other dignitaries.  We do not know much about the Sanson family except for the journals and correspondence they left behind, they had a job to do and it required a certain amount of discretion.

 

 

 

This and that

Tags

Assad, carpets, Civil war, Damascus, Diana Darke, Iran, Italy, Line C Metropolitana, Line C Roma, Museums, Roma, Rome, Russia, Souk al-arwam, Syria

Have you ever noticed that if you hear Jazz on the radio the announcer always has a smoky voice. It seems that you cannot have Jazz music without that voice, it goes together and this is true of every station I have ever heard, from Radio Jordan to Catalunya Musica from Barcelona or BBC3 or Radio-Canada, etc.

I just finished reading an excellent book My house in Damascus by Diana Darke.

Diana Darke is a fluent Arabic speaker and has specialised in the Middle East for over 30 years. The owner of an old courtyard house within the walls of Old Damascus, she is well known as an authority on Syria and has written for the Sunday Times, the
Guardian, the Financial Times and the BBC. Diana Darke is the author of several guides to Syria and Eastern Turkey.

At the moment Syria is in the news everyday and Canada is taking some 25,000 refugees selected by the UNHCR, people who reside in those immense camps in Jordan. Very low risk for Canada and mostly poor people with large families who could not flee elsewhere.

Diana Darke tells the story of the house she bought in the old walled city of Damascus surrounded today by the modern city. It is an area I know well, since I went to it many times to buy my carpets from the brothers Khaled and Anas Lahham in the Souk Al-Arwam in the days under the dictator Hafez and then his son Bashar Al-Assad.

1920 photo of Souk Al-Arwam in Old Damascus. The carpet shop is or was on the left of this photo a man is standing at the entrance.

Her house was from the Ottoman Period several hundred years old and she tells the tale of her Syrian friends and how she came about to buying and renovating the house, its history, her friends and how the Civil War starting in 2011 overtook them and she had to return to Britain.

It’s a very good book and very accurate in its description of the people and their terrible situation, something very few readers will be able to grasp the full horror of a people condemn to be bystanders in their own tragedy while the political actors great and small play. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about the ordinary human face of this civil war. I travelled and stayed in Syria many times during my 8 years in the region and while living in Jordan, I wish I could say I enjoyed my time in Syria but no, having to deal with the monumental stupidity, greed and sheer idiocy of the Baath Party and the government officials in Syria was enough to put anyone off the country.

As Diana Darke points out astutely the civil war in Syria could go on for many more years since Assad is unlikely to let go as long as Iran and Russia support him fully. Unless Iran is promised or given something they want from the USA and then they could switch camps and abandon Assad, but the prize will have to be fairly important for Tehran for this to happen. Then what will Russia do? As another observer pointed out, in Arab countries whenever there is a revolution it is always about political institutions there is never talk about enhancing or creating a new social framework and institutions.

Finally reading the Italian newspapers this news item, Line C of the Metro of Rome which has been under construction for 9 years and is 5 years late and 1 Billion Euros over budget has been shut down for gross mismanagement, 500 workers have been laid off, the City of Rome is 225 million Euros short and can no longer pay. The line will now end at the St-John Lateran Station only one third of it built. The two critical stations going by the Colosseum and down the avenue through the Roman Forums, the most archeologically sensitive area of the Eternal City will not be completed for the time being and the rest of the Line which was to go all the way to the Vatican and down to the Olympic Stadium may never be completed now since work has not started on that portion. The portion of Line C which opened last year only carries a third of the passengers it is meant to carry, the planning predictions were way off.

Another story which made headlines in this time of austerity in Italy with Museums forced to close or stay open only a few days a week, all have budget problems. How can this be with more and more tourists coming to Rome and flocking to the numerous museums?  All the money that is collected from ticket purchases, usually 12 Euros per ticket, only 30% actually goes to the Museums the rest or 70% of the profits go directly into the pocket of the company running the ticket app. online. Who allowed this to happen?  Another Roman story or farce.

None of this surprises me, this is the way things work or don’t in Italy. Some are saying, I am not kidding, where is Benito Mussolini to help us out of this mess, but I somehow doubt it. Even Il Duce would say that Italy was impossible to govern.