Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Succes 2010: Rochus Misch, bodyguardul lui Hitler. Ultimul supravieţuitor al Führerbunkerului

Rochus Misch a fost garda de corp a dictatorului nazist Adolf Hitler, din 1940 pâna în 1945. Misch l-a urmat pe Fürer pâna la sfârsitul celui de-al III-lea Reich, fiind martor la marirea si prabusirea conducatorilor nazisti.

Vreme de cinci ani, Rochus Misch a fost garda de corp, curierul şi operatorul telefonic al lui Adolf Hitler. "În anturajul lui Hitler eram gărzi de corp", a povestit Misch, într-un interviu pentru BBC. "Când Hitler călătorea îl însoţeam într-o altă maşină. Însă când ne aflam în apartamentul lui Hitler în Cancelarie aveam de asemenea şi alte îndatoriri. Doi dintre noi lucram mereu ca operatori de telefonie. Cu un şef ca Hitler, trebuia să răspundem întotdeauna la multe telefoane".


Odată cu înaintarea Aliaţilor, Hitler s-a retras în buncărul său din Berlin. Rochus Misch îndeplinea funcţia de operator telefonic.

"Lucram într-o cameră mică unde era un telefon şi o maşină de scris", îşi aminteşte el. "În acea cămăruţă se mai putea adăposti doar o singură persoană în cazul unui raid aerian. Buncărul nu era chiar atât de mare. Era alcătuit din cămăruţe de 10 sau 12 metri pătraţi", a mai povestit Misch.

Rochus Misch este ultimul martor al dramei de la 30 aprilie 1945, când Adolf Hitler şi Eva Braun s-au sinucis.

"Deodată, am auzit pe cineva strigând la adjutantul lui Hitler: 'Linge, Linge, cred că s-a întâmplat!' Auziseră o împuşcătură, dar eu nu am auzit nimic. În acel moment, Martin Bormann, secretarul lui Hitler, le-a spus tuturor să facă linişte. Toţi din încăpere au început să şuşotească. Eu vorbeam la telefon şi ridicasem tonul intenţionat pentru a face gălăgie, nu voiam să pară că suntem într-un buncăr al morţii", a declarat Misch.

"Bormann a ordonat ca uşa de la camera lui Hitler să fie deschisă. L-am văzut pe Hitler prăbuşit cu capul pe masă. Eva Braun zăcea pe canapea, cu capul îndreptat spre el. Genunchii îi erau aduşi către piept. Purta o rochie bleumarin cu volane albe. Nu o să uit niciodată acea imagine".
Misch a părăsit buncărul lui Hitler ultimul, cu câteva ore înainte să fie invadat de Armata Roşie, dar a fost capturat rapid şi şi-a petrecut următorii nouă ani în lagărele de muncă sovietice. Capturarea buncărului a devenit un simbol al victoriei Aliaţilor în al Doilea Război Mondial.

Misch s-a stabilit la Berlin, dupa noua ani de captivitate petrecuti în URSS. Astazi traieste singur, la acceasi adresa din apropierea bunkerului, in casa in care s-a mutat dupa ce l-au eliberat rusii. Si-a povestit viata in cartea "Am fost garda de corp a lui Hitler", carte publicata si in Romania, la editura Meteor Press, in 2007.


Rochus Misch (born 29 July 1917) is a former Oberscharführer in the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler who worked as a courier, bodyguard and telephone operator for Adolf Hitler from 1940 to 1945. As of 2011 aged 93, he is the last living survivor of the final days in the Führerbunker.
Misch was born in Alt-Schalkowitz near Oppeln in the Province of Silesia (now Popielów, Poland). He became an orphan at the age of two and grew up with his grandparents. He worked as a painter. He has a daughter named Brigitta Jacob-Engelken.


In 1937, Misch joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), the predecessor to the Waffen-SS. The SS-VT trained alongside Hitler’s personal bodyguard, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) that continued to serve exclusively as his personal protection unit. Misch was badly wounded in Poland when negotiating the surrender of Polish troops. As the last living member of a Lower Silesian family, his company leader recommended him for the Führerbegleitkommando rather than front service.

Misch was transferred to the LSSAH. As a junior member of Hitler's permanent bodyguard, Misch travelled with Hitler throughout World War II. When not serving as a bodyguard, Misch and others in the unit served as telephone operators or couriers. On January 16, 1945, following the German defeat in the Battle of the Bulge, Misch and the rest of Hitler's personal staff moved into the Führerbunker in Berlin. He did not leave it for any significant period of time until the end of the war. Misch handled all of the direct communication from the bunker.

Following the suicides of Hitler and Joseph Goebbels on 30 April and 1 May 1945 respectively, Misch and mechanic Johannes Hentschel, two of the last people remaining in the bunker, exchanged letters to their wives if anything were to happen to one of them. Misch had witnessed the discovery of the bodies of Eva Braun and Hitler after their suicide, and was present (in the bunker complex) during the time the Goebbels' poisoned their children.[2] Misch fled the bunker on 2 May only hours before the Red Army seized it.[2] He was captured shortly thereafter by Soviet forces. Misch was then tortured as they tried to extract information regarding Hitler's exact fate. Misch spent nine years in Soviet labor camps.
After his release from captivity in 1954, Misch returned to Berlin where he lived two miles from the Führerbunker. Following the rediscovery of the bunker in the 1990s, Misch stated publicly that the bunker should not be completely destroyed, being an important part of world history.

He struggled for several years with what to do with his life post captivity. He was offered various odd jobs among others as a bodyguard and as a driver. While he entertained these offers, which for the most part were through his war veteran contacts, all early offers would entail moving away from Berlin which his wife refused unconditionally. He finally obtained credit backed by wealthy German philanthropists to buy out a painting business from a retiree in Berlin. He ran this modest business successfully, and during the early Allied occupation of Berlin also became involved in the making of peanut butter destined for American troops. This sideline became so successful that he considered exiting painting. His wife, again, intervened and he remained in the painting business until retirement. He wrote his memoirs in German, Der Letzte Zeuge (The Last Witness) which was published in 2008.

In May 2005, Misch appeared in the news when he was accused of taunting the sensibilities of Holocaust victims after calling for a plaque in memory of the Goebbels children, who were murdered by Magda Goebbels, shortly before her own suicide on 1 May 1945.


Since the deaths of Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven on 27 February 2007, and Armin Lehmann on 10 October 2008, Rochus Misch is now the last survivor of the Führerbunker.

On the occasion of the release of the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang) in France, a French journalist (Nicolas Bourcier) interviewed Misch on multiple occasions during the second half of 2005.[clarification needed] The resulting biography was published in French as J'étais garde du corps d'Hitler 1940–1945 (I was Hitler's bodyguard 1940-1945) in March 2006 (ISBN 2253121541). Translations were released in South America, Japan, Spain, Poland, Turkey and Germany in 2006 and 2007.

Misch served as consultant to writer Christopher McQuarrie on the 2008 film Valkyrie, a depiction of the 20 July plot.


As of January 2010, Misch still lives in Berlin in the same house he moved into when he was released from prison by the Russians. The house is located in the district of Rudow in South Berlin. Misch regularly receives visitors from the public who wish to speak to or interview him.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Succes 2010: Steve MacLean, astronaut


Steven Glenwood MacLean (born December 14, 1954) is a Canadian astronaut. He is the current President of the Canadian Space Agency, appointed on September 2, 2008.
In December 1983, MacLean was one of six astronauts selected by the National Research Council of Canada. He began astronaut training in February 1984 and, in December 1985, was designated as the Canadian Payload Specialist to fly with the CANEX-2 set of Canadian experiments in space. MacLean was assigned to mission STS-71-F that scheduled for launch in 1987, but was canceled after Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. His mission, STS-52, took place October 22 to November 1, 1992.

From 1988 to 1991, he was astronaut adviser to the Strategic Technologies in Automation & Robotics Program (STEAR).

From 1987 to 1993, he was program manager of the Advanced Space Vision System (SVS). In July 1992, NASA agreed to outfit the shuttle fleet with an operational version of the Orbiter Space Vision System (OSVS) which will give eyes to the Canadarm on board the space shuttle, and the Advanced Vision Unit (AVU) which will be used with the Mobile Servicing System (MSS). The MSS is Canada’s contribution to the International Space Station. MacLean was Program Manager for the OSVS until his interim assignment, in July 1993, to a collateral duty as Science Advisor for the International Space Station.

In 1993, he became an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.

In April 1994, he was appointed acting director-general of the Canadian astronaut program. In July 1996 he was selected to attend NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Training at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. MacLean was initially assigned technical duties in the astronaut office robotics branch. More recently, he served as a CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) in the JSC Mission Control Center.

MacLean served as a Mission Specialist on STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006 and returned on September 21, 2006. He became the first Canadian to operate the robotic arm Canadarm2. On September 13, he performed his first spacewalk, a 7 hour EVA to activate the solar panels on the P3/4 truss — the second Canadian to do so, after Chris Hadfield.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Succes 2010: James Leavelle





James R. Leavelle (born August 23, 1920) is the former Dallas, Texas homicide detective who was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby.
Another view of Ruby's shooting of Oswald, from the Warren Commission report.

In a 2006 interview Leavelle, who was the first to interrogate Oswald after his arrest, recalled joking to Oswald before the transfer, " 'Lee, if anybody shoots at you, I hope they're as good a shot as you are.' He kind of smiled and said, ‘Nobody’s going to shoot at me.’ ”

He personally believes that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy, and says[citation needed] that in a 2006 discussion, he was told by Oswald's brother Robert that he believes the same thing, "because I knew my brother."

Leavelle was a sailor on board the USS Whitney during the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Succes 2010: Robert Curl, laureat al Premiului Nobel pentru Chimie (1996)


Robert Floyd Curl, Jr. este un chimist american, laureat al Premiului Nobel pentru chimie (1996).

Succes 2010: Ueli Steck, alpinist. Cel mai bun căţărător solitar din lume




Ueli Steck is a Swiss climber. He is a skilled carpenter and lives in Ringgenberg in Interlaken.

Steck is one of the world's best solo climbers. At the age of 17, he achieved the 9th Difficulty rating (UIAA) in Climbing. As an 18-year-old he climbed the north face of the Eiger, and the famous Bonatti Pillar in the Mont Blanc massif. In June 2004, he climbed with Stephan Siegrist the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau within 25 hours. Another success was the so-called Khumbu-Express in 2005, for which the climbing magazine "Climb!" named him one of the three best alpinists in Europe. The project consisted of the first solo-climb of the north wall of the Cholatse (6440 m) and the east wall of the Tawoche (6505 m).

In 2007, whilst climbing up the direct line on the southern flank to the summit of Annapurna in the Himalayas, he was hit by a falling rock which smashed his helmet. He was knocked unconsious, slipped more than 200 feet, but survived with just bruises and a concussion injuries. In May 2008 again climbing Annapurna he broke off his ascent of the route to a assist a Spanish climber Iñaki Ochoa de Olza who had collapsed. Medical help was slow in coming and the Spanish climber died despite Steck's help.

In 2008 Steck was the first recipient of the Eiger Award for his mountaineering achievements.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Succes 2010: Radu Beligan, un monstru sacru greco-român, urmaș al lui Ion Creangă


Radu Beligan (n. 14 decembrie 1918) este un actor român, cu o bogată activitate în teatru, film, televiziune și radio. Pe linie maternă este grec de origine, pe linie paternă, fiind urmaș al unuia dintre frații lui Ion Creangă, potrivit unui interviu.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Succes 2010: Dr. Nicholas J. O. Liverpool, preşedinte al Commonwealth of Dominica





Dr Nicholas Joseph Orville Liverpool is a Dominican politician and jurist who has served as the sixth President of Dominica since October 2, 2003.

In 1957 he entered the University of Hull and obtained an LL.B (Hons.) degree in 1960. He was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1961. He obtained a Ph.D degree from University of Sheffield in 1965.

He became Ambassador to the United States in March 1998 and served in that capacity until 2001.

In July 2008 he agreed to serve a second term as President upon the expiration of his first term, following a joint nomination by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and Opposition Leader Earl Williams.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Succes 2010: Rita Simons (EastEnders)


Rita Joanne Simons is an English actress, singer, and model. She is currently known for playing the role of Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders.
She has made appearances in the British television shows Mile High, Dream Team and London's Burning.
Before her acting career, Rita was in the band Girls@Play, who had a couple of songs before splitting up. Their songs included Airhead and they covered Mel and Kim's "Respectable". She was also in a different group with three other members, including Shar from The Paradiso Girls, and released a single titled "Free Me".
Her portrayal of Roxy Mitchell won her Best Newcomer at the Digital Spy Soap Awards along with Best Onscreen Partnership for her character partnership with Ronnie Mitchell played by Samantha Womack. She also won Best Newcomer at the TV Now awards and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2008 British Soap Awards, but lost to Coronation Street's Michelle Keegan. She also won the award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Inside Soap Awards and won the award for Most Popular Newcomer at National Television Awards 2008.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Via Venue: Florida


Gazde ale unor evenimente care va vor facilita transferul corespondentei catre cei carora le solicitati autografe:


-Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (foto)

-The Orlando Centroplex

-Pensacola Civic Center

-The Philharmonic Centre for the Arts

-Ruth Eckerd Hall

-Sound Advice Amphitheatre

-St. Pete Times Forum

-TD Waterhouse Center

-Tinker Field


Gazde ale unor evenimente care e posibil sa NU va faciliteze transferul corespondentei catre cei carora le solicitati autografe:

-Cuzan Beach Amphitheatre

-Florida Strawberry Festival

-House of Blues Orlando

-Jannus Landing

-Seminole Hard Rock

-The Florida Theatre

-UCF Arena

-Universal Orlando Studios