History

2021-09-05 01:07:44 'Assignment from the White House'

'Colorado and Washington Beetles' (1950). Open / Comment

2021-09-05 00:59:44 HALT, AMERICAN BEETLE (Anonymous, DDR, 1950s).
The Colorado beetle devastated potato crops across the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. A Soviet conspiracy was that it had been spread deliberately by the Americans as a method of warfare. Mass pesticide campaigns were initiated, including the mobilisation of school children to kill as many as possible. It even eventually became resistant to DDT.
In reality, the beetle had been present in Europe since the 19th century. It had been eradicated, but was then reintroduced with the arrival of American troops in WWI. Lingering in France, it eventually spread to Germany and by the 1930s was being spread by German expansion. Source Open / Comment

2021-09-04 01:56:36 Carl Burchard König, of Altona, Hamburg, demonstrates his 'smoke helmet' (Rauchhelm), c.1900-1910. Source: German Historical Institute, London. Open / Comment

2021-09-04 00:47:20 Open / Comment

2021-09-03 01:30:07 'Sleep, when you wake up, the sun will rise', from the Soviet animated film Umka (Умка) (Youry Yakovlev and Soyuzmultfilm 1969). The film and book is notable for centring on the Chukchi people, the language of whom give it the name (Umka is polar bear). Open / Comment

2021-09-02 00:28:25 Reconstruction of Castle Duurstede in the Netherlands (Matthijs de Rijk) and the castle now. The castle originates in the 13th century. It fell into disrepair at the end of the medieval era, and parts were dismantled to help rebuild Wijk bij Duurstede, the nearby town, after it was badly damaged during war with the French. Open / Comment

2021-09-01 02:57:01 'Go there and do as they do!'
A leaflet encouraging migration to the Belgian Congo and celebrating its "achievements," 1922. Open / Comment

2021-08-30 20:41:51 Parade observing the millennium of the Polish state in Warsaw (Plac Defilad, 22 July 1966). Open / Comment

2021-08-29 00:03:19 'Tripoli is Italian!' (1912).
Tripoli was captured from the Ottomans in 1911, and was held until capture by the British in 1943. Source Open / Comment

2021-08-27 22:50:10 https://www.uliwestphal.de/elephas-anthropogenus/index.html Open / Comment