My First Thoughts On Creating A Blog

Well, here I am--better late than never to the blogosphere! Now that I'm here, how do I start? Let me say that I am someone who loves history--I've been that way since my childhood, when my parents, sisters and I would watch all sorts of historical programs on TV. I got my introduction to the history of the Second World War at that time; I particularly remember a series about Winston Churchill entitled "The Valiant Years". If anyone out there knows where there might be a DVD copy of this series, please let me know?

As I was saying: my interests tend to the military side of history. Besides the Second World War, I've become fascinated by the story of the American Civil War and the First World War--particularly the latter most recently, as my mother's family lived in Germany at that time, and she was just a little girl of around a year old when the Armistice was signed. I've read a little about the famine sweeping Germany at the time, and am amazed that she and her family (parents, one brother and two other sisters) survived that terrible time. In fact, during a visit to Germany in 1990, I saw the house where my mother and her family lived, in Oggersheim, in the Ruhr Valley. I was amazed that the house was still standing, in spite of heavy Allied bombing of the nearby cities of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim.

Besides military history, I enjoy reading European history, from the Middle Ages to today. It's my dream to visit the UK in the near future, to meet several of my online correspondents--including (if I may be so bold as to drop a famous name) Sir Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill's official biographer. I would love to see the places that Mr. Churchill knew, and lived in.

I also have an interest in Jewish history (even though I am a 'gentile'); I traveled to Israel nine times in 12 years, from 1977 to 1989. The subject has always fascinated me! I can remember first learning about The Shoah ("Holocaust" in Hebrew--I prefer using the Hebrew term because the word "holocaust" is being used very cavalierly by too many groups and individuals today) in fifth grade, and wondering WHY?? What was it that Hitler hated so much about the Jewish people that he had six million of them murdered?? When I visited Yad Vashem--Israel's memorial to the Six Million--there were no words I could use to describe how I felt, at what I saw and read.

There are almost too many other subjects I could talk about--but this is enough for a first blog entry. As time goes on, I plan on posting my thoughts on various issues related to history, and to Christianity and Judaism, and current events. I invite you to come along for the ride.