Saving Heathens and The Book of Mormon

 

Just waiting for us to save them!

 

Elder Price and Elder Cunningham encounter an African

 heathen before they even leave Salt Lake City! [Scene from

The Book of Mormon, playing at the Eugene O’Neill theatre in New York.]

           

            Our daughter and son-in-law gave Marty and me tickets to see The Book of Mormon in New York, and we saw it the other day. 

            Young people who’ve grown up watching South Park and similar shows don’t even blink when they get hit with the F-word over a hundred times in a night of entertainment, but some youngsters look with apprehension when their parents venture into that environment.

            At my age (78) and after 34 years in the United States Navy, I’ve pretty much heard all the foul words.  However, males of my generation still cling to this idea that we should protect young ears, and those of ladies, from this language. 

            Well, after a few minutes watching the antics of this legion of bright-eyed, white shirt-clad young Mormons striking out to bring Christian and Mormon teaching to the heathen of central Africa, you forget about the “explicit language” and enjoy a wonderfully entertaining and funny musical. 

            The creators of South Park don’t really skewer the Mormon religion.  Instead, they make a lot of fun of idealistic people who launch themselves to the dark side of the Earth to bring the message, any message, to people there. 

            That’s the idea: Fresh young faces handing out the Book of Mormon to people in the jungle of Northern Uganda.  These lads are so filled with “missionary zeal” that they quickly join in singing a catchy Ugandan song, then find that they have blasphemed big time.

They soon discover these Ugandans have larger problems, with murderous war lords, poverty, hunger, AIDS, and female circumcision. 

One rather colorful Ugandan confides to them that he has “maggots in my scrotum”.

Elder Cunningham, played by Josh Gad, is the typical schlemiel.  A momma’s boy, this fat and friendless nerd admits he hasn’t really read the Book of Mormon that he has been sent to share with the natives. 

However, the smart and superior young Elder Price finds out he’s not so smart about spreading the gospel, and the nerd comes out on top.  Cunningham does what all the other missionaries haven’t been able to do--- he starts saving souls.

It’s a jolly, happy musical with plenty of catchy tunes, and the nerd is the winner!

            All this talk about missionaries reminds me that we Americans have been doing this stuff for a long time. 

            Oh, to have been a Missionary in the good old days!  Imagine boarding a ship in Salem Harbor, right here in Massachusetts. You took your whole family, and trunks and trunks of books, clothes, pots, pans, and all the food you would need for a few years. 

            Your voyage would take you to ports in the Caribees, and then down the coast of South America to Cape Horn.  If you were lucky enough to make it around the Horn, after several months you would make it across the South Pacific Ocean and make landfall near the Straits of Malacca, then into the Indian Ocean until you arrived at Hindoostan, which would be your home for the next several years.

            Or, perhaps you might have landed in Cathay, which we now call China.

Missionaries that nations and churches have sent all over the world have done a world of good, in bringing medical care, and better health practices, and teaching people better ways to farm, and to protect themselves from disease, and in many ways missionaries have carried a message of hope and faith that has truly improved the lives of people the world over!

Many, however, have sallied forth without knowing anything about the country in which they would serve, and once there, would not take the time to learn, to listen, and to acquire the local language. 

When you read some of the missionary magazines from the nineteenth century, you can see for yourself that some of our missionary work was based on ignorance, and quite heavy-handed.

            As long as America has been a country, we have been so sure of ourselves that we wanted everyone else in the world to join us.

After all, how can they live without joining us in our religious faith?  I mean, it’s only right that we lead them into the light. 

            Never mind that they have been Hindoos, Buddhists or Mohametans or even tree-worshippers --- for many centuries!

            Well, we really didn’t want those yellow and brown people to come over here, mind you --- but we felt that we needed to make good Christians of them.  While we went to great efforts to give them the wealth of our knowledge and experience, our immigration laws severely limited their coming to live here.

                        Our missionaries have taken Bibles and trinkets to win the hearts and minds of the rest of the world.  We were so terribly sure that if we could turn them into good Christians, they would stop killing each other, and marrying multiple wives, and putting widows on the funeral pyre to be burned alive with their dead husbands.  If we could make everyone in the world into good, God-fearing, teetotaler Christians, the world would be so much safer!

American Baptist Magazine, May 1820

            If you read a few of the books, magazines and papers that religious groups published, you may get the impression that our missionaries went forth to Siam and Hindoostan, Persia, Cathay and Africa--- and to the Indian tribes all over America and Canada --- without knowing much about these people, and with very little respect for their religious faith or culture.  Americans sitting at home here read with eagerness about the adventures in these far-off places.

            I invite you to read a little about the problems of building a missionary college in Serampour, India early in the nineteenth century. 

            Read about missionaries among the Indian tribes right in North America, and read a translation of a letter of King Otaheite of the Society Islands (Tahiti), telling about a comet that has struck his people. 

           

Serampore College in India, founded 1818.

  

American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer, May 1820, Vol. 2 No. 9 Boston, MA: Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts. Memoir of Rev. Henry Jessey. Review of sermon delivered at the ordination of Rev. Stephen Chapin by Jeremiah Chaplin, Professor of Divinity in the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, at North Yarmouth. Extract of letter from Missionary College, Serampore by W. Ward. [Note: Ward was among founders of this College in India in 1818. It still exists in 2008.] College is open to all denominations of Christians, and to as many heathen scholars as choose to avail themselves of its exercises and lectures. Letter from Pomare, King of Otaheite,Society Islands. Report on efforts to Christianize American Indians of the Oneida and Stockbridge; letter signed with marks by Oneida Indians asking to embrace Christianity.34 pp. 15 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, edges frayed, page corners curled, poor. (6399) $36.00. Religious/Missionary

  

American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer, September 1820, Vol. 2 No. 11 Boston, MA: Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts. Frontispiece engraving of Rev'd James Manning Winchell, A.M. late pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston. Memoir of the death of Mrs. Tamma Winchell, Rev. Winchell's widow. Tribute on death of Rev. Edward W. Wheelock, who, dying of consumption, left Rangoon for Calcutta, and died at sea. Letter from Mrs. Colman on the Burman Mission, mournfully relates last days of Rev. Wheelock. In letter to her sister she chides her for not answering for "nine long months" and goes on to tell her about revival of Buddhism in Burma, and building of pagodas.  32 pp. 15 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, edges frayed, page corners curled, poor. (6400) $36.00. Religious/Missionary

American Messenger, June 1856; "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 14. No. 6 New York, NY: The American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Report on desperate condition of women of China, by Rev. John C. Lord of Ningpo:  They are slaves. Story about a dog who saved a store from burning in Troy, NY. War in Europe is ended, Treaty signed in Paris March 30 by Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Sardinia, Turkey, France, Prussia. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper,  spinefold torn 24 cm,  good. (5361) $20.00. Religious/History

American Messenger, July 1856; "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 14. No. 7 New York, NY: The American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Colporteurs* among the Cherokees. Work of Grace among the Karens of Burmah. The Chinese Language and Dialects. Agent of American Bible Society in Turkey sees declining interest in Mohammedanism and increased interest in the Christian religion among Moslems. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper,  biopredation in horizontal fold, fair. (5362) $20.00. Religious/History

*Colporteurs were peddlars or distributors of religious booklets and tracts.

American Messenger, August 1856; "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 14. No. 8 New York, NY: The American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Letter from a Slave--Thanks for  the American Messenger! Report of Mexicans in Metamoras (sic) who are willing to read. Progress in the North-west, among Romanists who have renounced Popery and then united with Protestant churches. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper, very good. (5363) $20.00. Religious/History

American Messenger, September, 1856; "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 14. No. 9 New York, NY: The American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Story about lumbermen on the head waters of the Kennebec River in Maine, one who swore that God Almighty is not quick enough to kill me with a tree. The next day, while felling their first tree, a small branch was thrown with fatal  aim, as by the hand of the Almighty, and killed him. Story of brutal Indian swinging festivals honoring Shiva near Calcutta. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper,  top edge ragged. very good. (5364) $20.00. Religious/History

American Messenger, April 1857; "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 15. No. 4 New York, NY: The American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Florence Nightingale, her upbringing, and her service in the recent war in the Crimea. The Rev. Dr. Eli Smith died Jan. 11 in Beyrout,Syria, aged 55. His work was in translating, preparing and issuing a Bible in Arabic. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper,  very good. (5365) $20.00.  Religious/History

American Messenger, June 1858; "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 16. No. 6   New York, NY: The American Tract Society. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Bishop McIlvaine's Address at 33rd anniversary of the Society. Position on "anti-slavery".Minnesota was admitted into the confederacy of the United States May 12, making the number of states in the Union 32. Russia to adopt the new style of calendar, so that by 1912 their calendar will coincide with the Gregorian. The children's missionary vessel,"Morning Star" since arriving at the Sandwich islands in 1857 has made two important cruises. Newspaper,  very good.  (5372) $20.00.  Religious/Hist

Boston Investigator, The; Devoted to the development and promotion of universal mental liberty. Boston, Massachusetts, June 2, 1869 Seaver, Horace, Editor 1869 Boston, MA: Josiah P. Mendum. Unique newspaper, now in its 39th year, dedicated to Rationalism, fighting bigotry and superstition. Originally founded by the noted atheist Abner Kneeland, J.P. Mendum carried on the cause of fighting religion and religiosity. Editorial on benefits and advantages of Atheism. "Why should we not applaud the heroism of Atheistical martyrs... who were burnt by their Christian enemies?"  Paganism: "It would be difficult to prove that Paganism contained a greater mass of absurdities, follies, immoralities, madness, and fanaticism than modern Christianity." Report of circulation of the Gospel and the Holy Bible in Spain. Upwards of 5,000,000 tracts have been given away, and on Good Friday the Puerta del Sol resembled a vast reading room. Report of Indian fight. Seven companies of the Fifth Cavalry, led by General Carr, while moving from Kansas toward Fort McPherson, struck a camp of about 500 Cheyennes, and a big fight ensued, in which the Indians were badly defeated. The YMCA of Milwaukee has decided to leave its reading rooms open on Sunday, and Lake Michigan has not risen its banks and inundated the town. 8 pp. 36 x 42 cm. Newspaper, tiny holes in intersection of folds; letter "c" pencil on about five articles. Good. (7402) $49.00.  Religious/Atheism

Christian Register, The, Boston and Chicago, Saturday, April 4, 1874 Boston, MA: Christian Register Association. Writing in this newspaper is as tart and alert, educated with a good sense of humor, that one can observe even after all these years. "A Sunday among the Szekler Unitarians" by Robert S. Morison reports of visit to religious community in Almas on Homorod, Transylvania. Nearly everyone in these villages is Unitarian...visit to funeral of old woman.  "A Burman Dandy" description of a man who thinks himself the most worthy to be admired  of any dandy in all of Burmah. "An Answer to 'T.H.’ on Darwinism" gives erudite argument to earlier statements.  Editorial reports decision of the Brooklyn Trinitarian Congregational Council which justifies and approves the course of the churches of Rev. Dr. Storrs and Budington, and favors the continuance of fellowship with Plymouth Church, with stipulations. Letter from Michigan reports the Festival of the Annunciation in Ann Arbor, one of the most solemn and joyous festivals of the Catholic Church. Writer compares celebration to one in Nazareth, Palestine, with little Syrian children, 20 years ago. 4 pp. 54 x 70 cm. Newspaper,  small holes in folds, fair. (7721) $20.00. Religious/Unitarian

Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Volume I; bound volume of numbers 1-12, from July 1800 to June 1801; First Edition Cogswell, James, D.D. Editor et al   1801 Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin, Printers.  Evangelical magazine by Missionary Society of Connecticut to support of missions in the new American settlements and among the heathen. News from London Missionary society about missionary work in the South Seas. Misfortunes of the Otaheitean Mission. News about Missionary work among the Indians. Letter to Indian Tribes bordering on Lake Erie. Report of unusual religious appearances by Rev. Samuel J. Mills of Torringford, Connecticut. Memoirs of Mrs. Sarah Storrs, consort of Rev. Richard Salter Storrs.  Address to backsliding Christians. Confession of the Freethinker John James Rosseau. History of the Moravians, or Unitas Fratrum. Thoughts on the future glory of the Jewish nation. Character and experiences of Mrs. Nancy Bishop. Death of Clarissa. Revival of Religion in New-Hartford.  237 pp. 12 x 21 cm. Calf on board, corners bumped, worn, spine cracked and shriveled.  Pp. 155-156 missing bottom part of page; pp. 157-158 torn and poorly repaired. Bookplate on front pastedown from "First Social Library in Newbury port".  Overall poor condition. (4843) $68.00. Religious

Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Volume III; bound volume of numbers 1-12, from July 1802 to June 1803; Williams, Nathan, D.D. Editor et al 1803 Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin, Printers. Evangelical magazine by Missionary Society of Connecticut to support of missions in the new American settlements and among the heathen. Report on attempts to Christianize the Indians; Thomas Mayhew among the Indians on Martha's Vineyard, continued from Vol. II.  On the Revival of Religion in Yale-College, New Haven.  On the Comfort of the Holy Ghost. Reflections on God's Feeding his ancient church with Manna. Revival in Middlebury. Thoughts on the Angel of the Lord. Memoirs of Miss Deborah Thomas. Extract of a Letter from Rev. David Bacon, Missionary to the Indians, dated Machilimakinak, July 2, 1802. Ottawas and Chippeways. Account of Japhet Hannit as teacher of the first Indian church on Martha's Vineyard.  Life and dying exercises of Mrs. B-----, who died July, 1802 in one of the towns of the state ofMassachusetts in the 30th year of her age.484 pp. w/ index 12 x 21 cm. Calf on board, worn,  pencil  notations on front inside pastedown. Good. (4844) $74.00. Religious          

Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, The; Vol. IV, Consisting of 12 numbers, to be published monthly, from July 1803 to June 1804 Williams, Nathan, D.D.; Smalley, John, D.D.; Day, Jeremiah, D.D.; Trumbull, Benjamin, D.D.; Parsons, Elijah, D.D., et al, Editors  1804. Hartford, CT: Hudson & Goodwin Bound volume of twelve issues of Evangelical Magazine.  "Attempts to Christianize the Indians  in New-England & c."continued from the previous year.  Mention of attempts by Romish priests, which are opposed to actions of Protestant priests, include "teaching them the Pater Noster and rubbing a few beads, then baptising them."  In November 1803 issue is description of Religious exercises in the Indian Congregations, from a letter from Dr. Increase Mather in 1687.    Before he died, Rev. Mr. Atwater of Westfield wrote an Advice for his only son, William. That advice is published in the October 1803 issue.  Report of Revival of Religion in Lebanon, New York, in 1799.  "Reflections of a Youth once dissolute, brought to serious consideration" published in April 1804 issue.  484 pp. 12.4 x 21.5 cm. Whole calf on board, edges lightly worn, text block slightly fanned; contemporary signature of Elijah Loomis written three times on front endpapers, with "Cost 11/". Text block tight, slight foxing.  Good copy. (5260) $66.00. Religious/Missionary

Journal of Missions "The Field is the World" Boston, September, 1855 Boston, MA: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Summary of Intelligence: North American Indians. Choctaws, 121 have professed their faith as Christians. Cherokees: Four have joined the church, and the cause of temperance wears "a somewhat brightening aspect." Ojibwas. Not so good, little interest in education for their children. But we have noted a marked change for the better in temperance. We have not seen a drunk Indian for two years. Report from Ceylon: Cholera has abated, but still prevails at Tillipally. Small-pox is prevalent. "Has anything been done by the Mission to Syria in 25 Years?" Report by G.B.W. from Beyroot notes that work has been attempted and steadily persevered in. Reports from Hindustan, Burmah, China and Siam. Facts about the Island of Bonabe, or Ascension by one of the Micronesian Missionaries. 4 pp. 38 x 55 cm. Newspaper, paper very durable, with small stains, good. (7142) $26.00. Religious/Missionary

Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, July 1804, Vol. II No. 2  Boston, MA:Massachusetts Missionary Society. Biography:  Life of Lieutenant John Wills, late of the Royal Navy, d. 1764. He fell asleep in the embraces of God his Saviour, to his eternal gain. "Letters on Solitary Devotion-- From Pascal to Julia, letters XIII and XIV.”"Narratives by a Young Lady" After our pastor died in 1800 the religious attention declined, till an unusual stupidity took place... youth were gliding down the stream of dissipation and carelessness.  In 1803 vice and immorality seemed to rise to greater height than ever.  At this time God was pleased to send a faithful pastor to guide the flock... "The Pilgrims"--- Primus from Europe, Secundus from Asia, Tertius from Africa and Quartusfrom America. Says Quartus: "My blood chills in my veins while I contemplate the danger to which the Southern states are exposed. The debt contracted is great, and must be paid." Talk against slavery and idea for Negro missionaries from America returning toAfrica to preach the Gospel.  Quartus also talks about how Americans have mistreated the Indians in America. 38 pp. 13 x 21 cm. Paper booklet, no wraps, worn, good.  (7522) $43.00. Religious

Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, The June 1807, Vol. V No. 1 Boston, MA:Massachusetts Missionary Society. Religious and interesting communications calculated to edify Christians and inform the rising generation; profits of this work are to be applied to the support of Missionaries in the New Settlements and among the Indians of North America. Memoirs of Dr, Witherspoon. The Pious Negro Woman. Edinburgh Society'sMission to Tartary: a letter from Pinkerton in Karass. Group of missionaries crossed the Pod-Kuma, dined with Circassian shepherds, engaged in discussion of the New Testament with Muslim men. Found Tartars "miserably ignorant" of Christ and His works.Eulogium on the Late Chancellor Wythe. 40 pp. 14 x 23 cm. Paper periodical, pages uncut, edges frayed, rough, poor. (6397) $44.00. Religious/Missionary

Missionary Herald, The; Vol. XXXV No. 10, October, 1839 Boston, MA: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Journal of Mr. Thomson at Beyroot; gets in trouble handing out tracts. Visit from Arab and long, circular conversation aimed at getting a Bible. Recommendation of Antioch as a field for missionary labor. Mahrattas. Letter from Ahmednuggur. Journal from Mr. Riggs, missionary among the Sioux Indians at LakeTravers. "the Sioux love dog-meat as well as white people do pork." 32 pp. 16 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, name of "Miss Sally Howe" inscribed on cover wrap, very good. (6097) $28.00. Religious/Missionary. 

Missionary Herald, The;  Vol. XXXV No. 11, November, 1839 1839 Boston, MA American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 48 pp. 16 x 24 cm. Report from Syria and the Holy Land, discouraging and daunting task; The Druzes continue to throng our dwellings  until they are persecuted by the Maronites.  Work in Beyroot. Letter from Broosa (probably Bursa, Turkey) among the Armenians and Greeks, burning of missionary books in public bonfire. Report from Borneo of a sea voyage to the mouth of the Sambas river. Six precise and strict Mohammedans, "apparently honest and sincere followers of the false prophet and his delusions." Paper periodical, name of "Miss Sally Howe" inscribed on cover wrap, very good. (6095) $28.00. Religious/Missionary  [p. 417: The Dyaks of this village (in Borneo) still continue the barbarous practice of cutting off heads, and boast of bringing in two or three fresh ones every year.  In the verandah where we have our lodgings, there  are 15 or 20, and some suspended immediately over the place assigned us to sleep."]

Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

Rockport’s Millbrook Meadow and Pond

Saving Rockport’s Garden Jewel…

Mill Pond in Rockport, 1975

In foreground, young Paula Cole*

            At the start of the 18^th century, men built a dam here in what is now Rockport, Massachusetts, to create the power for a saw mill.

            That saw mill turned out lumber that built some of the first piers in Boston, and furnished the wood for houses all over Cape Ann.

            Rockport, then a part of Gloucester, was all about work.  The Mill Pond provided the water power for a grist mill, and then, into the twentieth century, an isinglass mill, grinding up the dried swim bladders of fish for use in brewing beer.  

            Kids loved playing hockey on the frozen pond, and Reuben Norwood harvested ice from the pond all winter long.

Kids on Mill Pond ca. 1910

            Other mills in town provided the power for a new industry of quarrying the rich  granite beneath the whole town.  In 1840, the village separated from Gloucester and became Rockport.

            Then in 1920 came Prohibition and the mill shut down, then burned to the ground. 

            About this time, artists discovered Rockport’s beautiful seashore and amazing light, and this grungy, working-class town began to become an art colony. 

            Lura Phillips led the charge in the 1950s to beautify Millbrook Meadow, and with the Rockport Garden Club turned it into a wonderful, green place to play, stroll, picnic, and have festivals, concerts and weddings. 

Each year at Summer Solstice Rockport’s large Scandinavian 

community celebrates  Midsommer in Millbrook Meadow.

Here’s our dam on May 15, 2006, just after it blew out.

Millbrook Meadow after the 2006 Mother’s Day storm

(looking west, toward the pond)

Millbrook Meadow as it flooded, May 15, 2006

(looking northeast, toward the ocean)

  

In May 2006 we had several days of heavy rain (about 15 inches), and our Mill Dam blew out.  Our Public Works department quickly built up a temporary replacement dam, and soon, we hope this summer, we’ll see our fine old granite dam rebuilt.

The failure of the dam, and the flooding that followed made us look critically at the whole Millbrook watershed, from the hills that send water down to the area around our Commuter Railway station, then into the Millbrook, into the Mill Pond, then into the lower Millbrook, and out to the Atlantic Ocean at Front Beach.

Our Pond is choked with invasive plant life and its bottom probably laden with over a century’s worth of oil and other pollutants from the railroad yard around the station.

Mill Pond has become heavily silted and full of non-native invasive plant life.

Mission: Create a Sustainable Landscape

            It’s time for Rockporters to join together to take action to preserve this beautiful jewel of ours, before the pond disappears into a weed-clogged swamp, and our Meadow, with poor drainage getting worse with each year, slumps into a soggy wetland during much of the year. 

            We must protect our Front Beach from harmful pollutants.

            The stones lining our Millbrook need to be rebuilt, the culvert under Beach Street needs work.

            After the dam is rebuilt, we’ll need to rebuild the sluiceway.

            The Meadow needs to have expert help in improving its drainage.  We need to plant new trees and shrubs.

            With a little help, and a lot of sweat and agitation, we can make it all happen.

Look at this jumble of rocks along the Millbrook as the water heads out to Front Beach.

            We need volunteers to join the Millbrook Watershed Conservancy  [This is a brand new name!].  If you live in Rockport, you can help, by joining us.

• Your energy, your enthusiasm and your experience can help.
• We need energetic neighbors to help on cleanup days.
• We need Rockporters to help us in learning about the ecology of the Pond and Meadow, and helping us fight to get government and private funding to protect this wonderful little piece of our town. 

            Protecting our fragile watershed will take work, and we hope you’ll help!

            If you can help, Contact Sam Coulbourn at 978-546-7138

( scoulbourn1@verizon.net ) or John Sparks at 978-546-9098

( jsdesign@gis.net ).

The photo at the top was provided by Jim and Stephanie Cole, showing the Pond when it was much clearer and cleaner, not clogged with invasive plant life.  Paula, their little girl, shown in the picture, grew up to become a nationally-known singer, winner of one Grammy and nominated for seven more. 

Nazi Siege of Leningrad

We suffered….

(Мы страдали)

Poster, “We Defend the City of Lenin”

One of the things that stands out in my memory is the midnight train from Moscow to Leningrad.  During my two years in the USSR, I visited Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) 53 times. 

            Before daylight the old Russian woman on the train would knock on our cabin door, and hand each of us a glass of steaming tea. 

            As we rolled through the train yards enroute to the station, we got dressed, and when we arrived, we were ready for a couple of days of traveling around the industrial areas of this huge city. 

            Our job was to check on the various shipyards around the city to monitor the progress of building new ships for the Red Fleet. 

            During part of the year, darkness started to gather after 2 p.m., and since we couldn’t see shipyards, we’d visit the magnificent museums and other cultural sights. 

Once when we visited the Peter and Paul cathedral that is a part of the 18^th Century Fortress, to see the sarcophagi of Russian czars, I talked with the older woman guide, and she told me, in Russian, that during “The Great Patriotic War”, which is the Russian name for World War II, she was part of an antiaircraft gun crew right there in the fortress.

“Miy stradali,” (Мы страдали) (We suffered), she said. 

            Russians old enough to have lived through World War II often told us how they suffered.

Peter and Paul Fortress with Neva River in foreground

Indeed, Americans cannot imagine the suffering that Leningraders endured during the 900 days that the Nazis held the city under siege during World War  II.

            Two books give English-language readers a better feeling of this horrible tragedy, as Leningraders were squeezed to death in a standoff between Hitler and Stalin.  Harrison Salisbury produced his landmark book about the Siege in 1969; a Russian-language version did not appear until 1994, two years after his death. 

Here is my review of Harrison Salisbury’s fascinating story of that siege:

 

The 900 Days; The siege of Leningrad by Harrison E. Salisbury, 1969. New York:

Harper & Row, 635 pp. 8vo.

Salisbury was an old Russia hand. His first assignment was as head of the United Press bureau in Moscow in 1944. Five years later he joined the New York Times and was its Moscow correspondent through 1954.

The 900 Days tells the incredible story of how this huge country—the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was so crippled by wishful thinking that Stalin and its other top leaders refused to believe that those Hitlerites would attack them. 

Leningrad on Saturday, June 21, 1941—the longest day of the year, when the White Nights of this northern city are at their peak.  People are enjoying meals and drinking, dancing and strolling all night along the streets and boulevards of the city by the Neva. 

At around 3 am on Sunday, June 22, German bombers attacked Sevastopol in the Crimea, and also bases at Kronstadt, Liepaja, Kovno, Rovno and Odessa.  Stalin was nowhere to be found—his generals and admirals could not reach him.

German forces soon began a march toward Leningrad; the Red Army and Soviet Navy set up defenses. The Germans formed an iron circle around the city.  The Soviets used Lake Ladoga, to the north, as a means of supply and escape.  Over a million people were moved out to safer parts of the country, and supplies were shipped in the same way.  However, it soon came to pass that this path was only usable across the ice of the frozen lake, and until it froze hard enough for trucks to pass, the city starved. 

Leningrad Blockade by Sergey Nemenov, 2006

Rations were reduced to the equivalent of two slices of bread a day, as the city’s leaders attempted to save dwindling supplies of food until the Lednaya Magistral’ (Ice highway) was operating. Even at this starvation level, they were using 30 carloads of flour a day.  They ate cats, sparrows, crows.  As flour supplies continued to dwindle, they “augmented” the bread recipe with so-called “edible” pine bark and other cellulose products.

This is a story of incredible strength, incredibly incompetent military and civilian leaders, heroic, wonderful leaders and ordinary people.  We talk of terrorism today—3000 killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.  Still more killed every day in Afghanistan and Iraq, Chechnya and Spain, and elsewhere.  We cannot imagine the bitter, sub-zero cold and starvation of Leningrad.  Three thousand people were dying each day. Then, there were the daily bombings and artillery attacks that killed still more.  Some 800,000 Leningraders are believed to have died in the 900 days.

p. 376: “The first day or two or three were the worst…If a man had nothing but a slice of bread to eat, he suffered terrible hunger pangs the first day. And the second. But gradually, the pain faded into quiet despondency, a gloom that had no ending, a weakness that advanced with frightening rapidity. What you did yesterday you could not do today. You found yourself surrounded by obstacles too difficult to overcome. The stairs were too steep to climb. The wood was too hard to chop, the shelf too high to reach, the toilet too difficult to clean. Each day the weakness grew. But awareness did not decline. You saw yourself from a distance. You knew what was happening, but you could not halt it.”

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            Anna Reid was Ukraine correspondent for the Economist and The Daily Telegraph from 1993 to 1995.  She lives in London, where she is an advisor to Her Majesty’s Government.  She has written an excellent book which takes advantage of much information that has been revealed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

            Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944, by Anna Reid, 2011 New York: Walker and Co. 492 pp. 8vo.

            Ms. Reid’s Leningrad paints a far more graphic picture of the criminal behavior of Marshal Stalin, Voroshilov, Zhdanov, and many more Soviet leaders which led to the deaths of some 750,000 in Leningrad during the brutally cold winters of 1941-1943.  Their cruelty and colossal mismanagement made this the deadliest siege in modern history. 

            Using a collection of diaries and journals from prominent Leningrad literary figures and plain citizens, she gives a grim and very personal view of the Siege from inside the city as members of a family died, one by one, while others struggled to exist on ever-diminishing rations of bread made with sawdust and wallpaper paste.

            Why weren’t the Nazis able to smash the ring around Leningrad and take the city?  They could have, but they pulled away troops and tanks to attack other targets in the USSR, and they thought, rather than having to deal with feeding over two million Russians, it was better to let them all starve to death.

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World War II sign on Nevsky Prospekt

One particularly poignant reminder of the daily shellings of the city that Leningraders endured is a sign that we saw in 1981 on Nevsky Prospekt “During artillery shelling this side is more dangerous.”  That sign is still in place.

After the siege was lifted and the tremendous job of rebuilding lives and homes began, Stalin lined up his top leaders from Leningrad and had them shot.  Stalin was always jealous and envious of this beautiful city on the Gulf of Finland.  He never trusted Leningraders or their leaders.  During the whole conduct of the war, nothing was as important to Stalin as his ongoing struggle for supremacy.  His life was filled with jealousy, plotting and scheming.  Yet, when he died in 1953, millions of regular, average Soviet citizens wept at his funeral.

We lived in Moscow when Soviet Premier Brezhnev died in 1982.  Russians told us that the mourning for Stalin 29 years earlier was much more profound.   His death to the average Soviet marked a major milestone in the lives of a people who suffered greatly.

-end-

The Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:

Guinea Gold, American Edition, Saturday, December 30, 1944                Port Moresby, Papua-New Guinea: U.S. Army/Royal Australian Army. This unique World War II newspaper, published in New Guinea and flown daily to U.S. and Australian troops all over South West Pacific command, often scooped the world, since General MacArthur released his communiques to them 20 hours before they were released to the world press.  This issue's lead story:  "New Hungarian Government Declares War on Reich, Says Moscow." New provisional Hungarian government is set up in Debreczen in east Hungary. German troops in Budapest have been ordered to hold out to the last man. "Churchill, Eden Leave Athens: Will Recommend Regency to Greek King" Sides (left wing ELAS and right wing EDES) agree on formation of a Regency. Report from SEAC HQ in Kandy, Ceylon: British forces striking through Arakan, southwest Burma, towards main Japanese port of Akyab have reached the tip of Mayu peninsula and are now bombarding island positions.  Report from GHQ SWPA in Brisbane: The heavy toll of Japanese annihilated on Leyte was increased further yesterday when 912 of the enemy were killed by U.S. forces mopping up in the west part of the island. Noted Berlin Bookseller hunted by Gestapo for using bookstore to distribute millions of anti-Nazi leaflets. 4 pp.                26.2 x 39 cm. Newspaper,  small tears in folds, fair. (8207)             $39.00. World War II          

  

Der Grosse Deutsche Feldzug Gegen Polen, [The Great German Campaign in Poland] Eine Chronik Des Krieges in Wort und Bild; Herausgegeben im Einvernehmen mit dem Reichsbildberichterstatter der NSDDAP, Prof. Heinrich Hoffman, Geleitwort Generaloberst Von Reichenau [Text in German] ca. 1940 Vienna, Austria:  Verlag Für Militär Und Fächliteratur A. Franz Göth & Sohn.  Triumphant book of pictures and German text extolling German march into Poland in 1939, with many references to the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919. Geleitwort [Preface by] Generaloberst Von Reichenau. [Many photos of Adolf Hitler and his generals, happy “liberated” Germans in Danzig and other cities in Poland greeting Hitler and his troops with enthusiastic "heils".  Many spirited exhortations from A. Hitler, General von Brauchitich, Field Marshal Hermann Göring, Admiral Raeder. Pictures of children presenting flowers to troops. Picture of truckload of Jews, text notes that a million Jews live in Poland. This is one of many propaganda pieces created by the Nazis to "explain" their attack against the “aggressive” Poles to "rescue" the beleagured Germans in the City of Danzig. Der Feldzug in Polen; Zusammenfassende Darstellung, Die polnische Wehrmacht; Der polnische Angriffsplan; Ziel und Anlage der deutschen Operationen.  Maps show how German troops stormed across Polish border, with attacks from Czechoslovakia, Germany and East Prussia; Drives on Lodz, Warsaw and Krakow. Maps show attacks as of 2, 6, 11, 14, 18 and 19 September. Last two maps show attacks from East by Soviet troops. Full-page portrait photos of Göring, Von Brauchitsch, Halder, von Rundstedt, von Bock, List, von Reichenau, von Kluge, von Küchler, Keitel, Guderian, Hoepner, Strauss, Hoth, Schmidt, von Briefen, Reinhardt, Kübler, Olbricht, Admirals Albrecht, and Schniewind. 344 pp. 22 x 32 cm.Green cloth on board, front and back hinges cracked, inside front hinge mended with black plastic tape, but front board loose; frontispiece of Hitler loose, top 6 cm of each page warped from moisture.  On front free endpaper is inscription: "Sgt. H. White, Salzburg '45". All pictures and text completely readable, clear. Poor. (7697) $95.00. World War II/Propaganda

 Richard's Photo Scrapbook of World War II

Richard's Photo Scrapbook with World War II Navy pictures, trip to Canada, life in affluent New York home after the war  1945 Mill Neck, NY; ephemera.  Lieutenant Commander Richard Tucker commanded USS Brister (DE-327) and was commended for his leadership in rescuing survivors after a collision between two oil tankers. Photos show an affluent, upper class family enjoying trip to Canada just after Richard came home, at war's end.  ~80 pp. 29 x 25 cm. Photo album with many postcards and other memorabilia pasted in. Very good. (6143) $62.00.  World War II/Ephemera

Social Justice, Father Coughlin's National Weekly, March 14, 1938  Coughlin, Rev. Charles E., LL.D.  1938                Royal Oak, MI: Social Justice Publishing Co. 20 pp. 28 x 40 cm. "Fellow Citizens:" by Andrew Jackson--a farewell warning to the people of the United States by one of the Nation's greatest Presidents. Coughlin was a bitter opponent of President Roosevelt, and the free-wheeling fiscal policies of the New Deal. Coughlin holds up Jackson's fierce opposition to the Bank of the United States during his time in office (1829-1837)  to sound the alarm for FDR's monetary policy. "Innocents at Home and Abroad" --American Labor Needs to Remember That Charity Begins at Home, by Edward Lodge Curran, Ph.D. Another warning about American labor getting involved overseas. Social Justice fought involvement in the troubles in Europe and Asia. "The Garbage Man Who Became Mayor" by James F. Edwards. Social Justice writer finds Communism in Spain's Labor Unions. The Spanish Civil War, a proxy fight between Nazi-backed Fascists and Stalin-backed Communists, gave the world a preview of some of World War II."Child 'Slaves' in Missouri Mines" by Thomas L. McNamara. Tiny hands that should hold a kindergarten primer wield a pick in a murky mine. Magazine, large format, cover wraps loose.  Fair.  (8232) $25.00. History/World War II                                                                         

  

Social Justice, Father Coughlin's National Weekly, June 19, 1939  Royal Oak, MI: The Social Justice Publishing Co. Lead headline: "50,000 Spanish Reds Coming to U.S. Border"-- Del Vayo and Negrin arranging to settle refugees in Mexico. Delores Ibarruri; Leon Trotzky, self-appointed leader of the Fourth International; Rear cover shows Rep. Martin Dies, with headline: "Inquiry Seeks to Find Real Enemies of America." Criticism of New Deal, Roosevelt. "An Answer to Father Coughlin's Critics"-- among whom are the Jewish General Council. 20 pp. 28 x 40 cm. Newspaper,  very good. (6800) $29.00. World War II/Newspapers/Religious

United States Naval Institute Proceedings, November, 1942, Vol. 68 No. 477 Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. World War II issue includes excellent photos, including Battle of Midway, June 4-6, 1942, sinking of carrier Yorktown after Midway, aerial view of convoy in South Pacific, , formation of VB-3's, modern Navy fighter, tail marking XF-4F-2, Navy Patrol Bomber by Glenn L. Martin Co., Cruiser USS Memphis.  "The Case for Aircraft-Carrying Oil Tankers" by B. Orchard Lisle. "Fox's Mission to Russia" by Commander L.J. Gulliver, USN (Ret.) writes of Civil War Mission of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox to Russia, and of Russian fleet visits to American ports during that war. "The Captain of the 'Whip' Pearl Harbor to Australia" by Lieut. Commander C.A. Ferriter, USN (16 p.). Professional Notes: USS Yorktown. Commander Irving Day Wiltsie, USN, ace aviator and formerly navigator of Yorktown describes the final hours of that ship. Ads for Kollsman, Bethlehem Steel Co., Foote Bros. Gear and Machine, Remler, Kellogg's Cereals, Electric Boat Co., Chicago Wheel & Mfg. Co., New York Shipbuilding Corp., Higgins Industries, Inc., Cramp Shipbuilding Co., Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Co., RCA, Alcoa, Nordberg Mfg. Co., and more. 152 pp. + adv. 17 x 25 cm. Paper periodical, minor nicks and soiling  in cover wrap, very good.      (7901) $28.00. Navy/World War II

Washington’s Death:         Ulster County Gazette, Published at Kingston, (Ulster County) Saturday, January 4, 1800  Kingston, NY: Samuel Freer & Son. 4 pp. 28 x 40 cm. This issue of Ulster county newspaper mourns the death of President Washingon on Dec. 14, 1799 in his 68th summer. Report of the funeral and interment from George Town, Dec. 20, 1799, description of military procession, pallbearers, and procession.  Poem "On the Death of General Washington" by a Young Lady, for the Ulster County Gazette.Exchange of speeches on December 10th, 1799 upon opening of Congress, by President John Adams and members of Congress. Foreign news obtained from latest ship arrivals: English account of the battle of Zurich; Buonaparte and Berthier are in France, at the very moment when the fame of their triumphs at Paris, they disembarked at Frejus. It appears they were afraid of being taken by the English when they attempted to land at Toulon. They have left the army of Egypt in a most satisfactory state. Letter from the U.S. Senate to the President on the death of General Washington, and answer from President Adams.  Advertisement for a Stout, Healthy Negro Wench. Any person inclined to purchase apply to John Schoonmaker, Jun at Rochester, Nov. 23, 1799.               Newspaper, fair. (8233) $58.00. History/American

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