Only fools rush in.....

unless, of course, you are talking about the Fools Tower in Vienna, Austria, in which case, no one in their right mind would rush in.

If being plagued by the daunting fact that Austria is the birthplace of Hitler, welcome to an even darker history of the abused and the tortured of Vienna, Austria.

The Narrenturm, Europe's oldest building and one of the first asylums, was built in 1784 to accommodate psychiatric patients and now is home to the Federal Pathologic-Anatomical Museum.

This medieval prison looking structure is a 5-story fortress built by Isidore Canevale for Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II.  The massive structure was completed with underground passages and dungeons and was actually built over a Capuchin Monastery.  It is believed that the monks hid their own mentally-deficient brethren there.  It is a sprawling 28 room building designed in a circular fashion.  There was also a lightning rod installed on the roof. 

The asylum contained 139 individual cells for the mentally ill sent there.  They were referred to as inmates, lunatics, idiots, and madmen.  These inmates were essentially treated like animals and often times chained to the walls.  Their sleeping provisions included just a single straw mat for the floor.

Photo from Wiki

These people were essentially locked away in unsanitary conditions from others in society because of their lunacy.  They were ridiculed, degraded, and physically abused.  Sick patients were provided with little-to-no treatments.

Today, the museum houses at least 4,000 extremely shocking anomalies from the past which a few are never on display to the public but can be viewed with special arrangements.  They are said to have a stillborn "devil baby" born in 1827 that looks like Satan himself. 

The Viennese people are said to be conflicted by which scenario is actually the worst when it comes to the history of this fortress.  The rounding up and abuse of the poor or the grotesque abnormalities currently residing there.  Either way, that is enough spooky, sadness to last until next Halloween.

Just a little example of what you might encounter if you dare to visit.

Photo from Federal Pathologic-Anatomical Museum.

Influential, dictator, political, and controversial? Comparable to the likes of Hitler

Lets talk about Stalin:  Renegade rebel causing Hell on earth.

Joseph Stalin was an epic leader of the powerhouse known as the USSR for more than 30 years.  He is considered the dictator/person who is responsible for more deaths than any other dictator/person in history.  Here are a few factoids of his life.

~He was born in the small village of Gori, Georgia (formerly the Georgian Empire in Medieval times) on December 18, 1879.  Most people are taught that Stalin was Russian but he was actually Georgian.

~His birth name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Junghashvili.  The name Stalin comes from the Russian word for steel which is the name Stalin was given while he was a revolutionary.

~He experienced many difficulties growing up (don't we all?) for example, he was born with two adjoined toes on his left foot, he suffered from Smallpox around the age of seven which left his face scarred and caused his left arm to be permanently damaged with a length discrepancy compared to his right arm, at the age of 12 he was in an accident involving a horse-drawn carriage, and he was the victim of domestic violence/abuse by his alcoholic father.

The Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary
from the side of the Soldier's Bazaar, 1870s.

~His mother enrolled him in a church school so he could become a priest but unfortunately for the world, he dropped out.  He actually became an atheist.

~In 1906, he married Ekaterina Syanidze who was presumably already one month pregnant.  Ekaterina gave birth to a baby boy, Iakob.  Ekaterina died in August 1907 from typhus.  Their son, Iakob died in prison during WWII in Germany of a gunshot wound to the head; suicide was not ruled out.

~Stalin gave marriage a second chance with Nadezhda Alliluyeva, the youngest child of a Russian Revolutionary.  They were married from 1919 until 1932.  Alliluyeva, allegedly, shot herself in the head after she fought with Stalin pubicly at a party but official documents claim she died of an appendicitis.

Other interesting facts include:

~As I previously stated, Stalin killed more people than any other person in history but ironically he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, not once but twice.

~Did I mention he was only 5'4?

~He was a lover of red wine.

~He used to air brush his photos to make himself appear more attractive.

~He claimed to be John Wayne's biggest fan.

~Can you believe that the legendary Johnny Cash knew that Stalin had died even before President Dwight Eisenhower?  Yep, turns out, Johnny Cash was trained to decipher Russian Morse Code. Cash was working as a radio operator that very day when the message came through.  Another side note on Johnny is that job bought him his first guitar.

~It is alleged that Stalin was trying to make a hybrid ape-man.  He wanted to create semi-intelligent super beings.  Strong, super beings that could eat bad food and work long hours.  Basically, he wanted war machines.  He ordered a Russian scientist to create this being but when he failed, he was arrested and exiled.  You can check out this documentary here.

~Stalin died March 5, 1953.  He was 74 years old.

Find out more:
History.com
Ducksters
Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
More about the ape-man super beings here.

Now that we have WWI behind us, lets talk Mussolini.........

which is the next lesson in Mystery of History Volume 4 (you can buy your own amazing copy here).

You have probably already heard of Mussolini as a ruler, political, socialist, radical, loose cannon, dictator, fascist, and the list goes on and on but I will stop here.




Factoids:

~Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born in Northern Central (Forli) Italy July 29, 1883.  Due to financial hardships, he was forced to move to Switzerland around 1902.  He did return to Italy in 1904 and joined the Italian army during WWI.

~His father, Alessandro, was a blacksmith.  His mother, Rosa, was a teacher.

~Big surprise to hear that Mussolini was a very difficult child with a short temper.  He was constantly expelled from school for assaulting fellow students with a penknife.

~He had a sister named Edvidge and a brother named Arnaldo.

~Mussolini had five children with his wife, Rachele.

~He was the leader of the National Fascist Party from 1922 to 1943.  He spent a lot of his time with the local socialists.

~Mussolini was restless when he returned to Italy in 1904 so in  1909, he headed out to Austria.  He was only there for a short while as he was forcibly removed from Austria due to his critiques on militarism and nationalism.

~He returned again to Italy where he gained support from the National Fascist Party and was elected prime minister of Italy.  He was the youngest prime minister of Italy.  He was the 40th prime minister of Italy and served 20 years.

~Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1936 with a little support from, his buddy, Adolf Hitler (shocking-crazy helping crazy).  Mussolini and Hitler did not bond instantly, it took a while for that to happen but once it did, they form an unbreakable alliance.  Hitler had great admiration for Mussolini which seemed to go reciprocated.

~In 1943, by order of Hitler, Mussolini became the head of the Italian Social Republic of Northern Italy.

~Even though he was married to Rachele Mussolini, Mussolini had a mistress (shocking), Clara Pettacci, who was subsequently executed along side of Mussolini in 1945.  After their execution, both bodies were taken to the Piazzale Loreto (a suburban square in Milan) where an angry crowd gathered to abuse their bodies.  Rumor has it that Mussolini and Pettacci planned to escape to Switzerland prior to the execution but did not make it out in time.  Oh well!

~In 1946, the body of Mussolini was dug up by fascist supporters.  His body was, however, found four years later and hidden for more than 11 years.

~Mussolini was shot two days before Hitler committed suicide.  So the world was rid of two miserable dictators at the same time. There is nothing wrong with a little poetic justice in my opinion.

It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better."  Mussolini

History Channel
Mussolini soft school
Biography

Next up, Joseph Stalin, Russian, communist, dictator.

Hitler's letter unveiled.

A letter written by Adolph Hitler has been unveiled.  The letter basically details his belief that all Jews should be removed.   You can see the letter  and watch a small news clip if you are interested.

Anne Frank

We finished reading Who Was Anne Frank? in record time.  This was such a well-written biography, we did not want to stop reading it.

Anne Frank was born in Germany in 1929.  She was a warm and caring young lady who unfortunately was living in a time of war.  A war against Jewish people started by Adolph Hitler.  Hitler hated all Jews and forced them to leave Germany or killed them.  Hitler came to power in 1933.  He was the head of the National Socialist (Nazi) party.  Hitler made the Germans feel better about themselves and told them they were smarter and better than any other people on earth.  Hitler was referring to "Pure" Germans, Not Jews.

The Frank family had to flee from Germany and go into hiding.  They went to live in the Netherlands.

On her 13th birthday, Anne was given a diary.  She wrote in her diary every day.  She named her diary Kitty.  It was HER most treasured item and an extremely important eyewitness account of history for us.  In her dairy she wrote, "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

The Frank family was captured and sent to a concentration camp.  Anne and her sister Margot were separated from their father and mother.  Most people were put to death right away and those who were not, struggled to stay alive.  Anne and Margot struggled  until they both came down with typhus.  They died in March of 1945.  Just one month later in April of 1945, British soldiers arrived and freed the Jews that were still alive in the camp.  Unbelievably sad!  Anne's father, Otto Frank, was still alive and did not find out until later his wife and children were dead.

Please watch Discovered and Arrested to learn more.

World War II memorabilia

When Grandma found out that we were studying WWII, she was kind enough to look through some of the keepsakes that her mother had saved from her father who was a gunner  in WWII.  There was so much stuff!  We found more than a few interesting things.

For example, this newspaper from December 30, 1945.

We read through a few of the articles.

This is an article about Hitler himself.  In the article, it states that Hitler picked who he wanted to take over his evil leadership.  It also tells us that Hitler married his girlfriend before they both committed suicide.  He wrote,  "Myself and my wife choose death to escape the disgrace of being forced to resign or to surrender."

COOL!  Various metals and pins.  At the top of this photo is the top part of  a 37 mm anti-tank bullet. 

There were also a few handkerchiefs. 

This one says Greetings from England.

These were great finds.  There were also ration books and a lot of letters that were still in the envelopes in which they were sent.

As odd as it sounds, so far we are really enjoying our study of WW II.

And thanks to grandma for providing us with all of these historical treasures.