दुसरे महायुद्ध १९७०च्या दशकात आमच्या डोळ्यादेखत जिवंत होते!...Two Bicycles from WWII

"...In conclusion, to assess the contribution made by cyclist units, one only needs to look among the graves in the British Commonwealth War Grave Commission cemeteries from the First World War to see the headstones of the men who served with units such as the British Army Cyclist Corps, or the names on the memorials to those with no-known-grave such as Tyne Cot in Belgium. Cyclist units are also included on Divisional memorials, such as that to the British army’s 14th Light Division at Hill 60 near Zillebeke, and that to the cyclists of the Belgian army near Haelen.

...They have been used by standing national armies, insurgents, resistance groups and all manner of other organizations in time of war. After all this time, there is no reason to believe bicycles should not continue to be used by armies in the future. To have lasted for as long as they have, there must have been much wisdom in their use."

मिरजेला आम्ही एकाच घरात १९६१- १९८४ राहिलो. तो भाग त्या काळात खूप बदलला असे म्हणता येणार नाही, आम्हीच खूप बदललो.... 

पण काही बदल जन्म, मृत्यू,लग्ने, बदल्या, घरांचे नूतनीकरण यांमुळे होत राहिले... 

असाच एक बदल म्हणजे आमच्या समोरच्या वाड्यात, १९७०च्या दशकात काही बदल होऊन, तिथे समोरच्या बाजूला, आमच्या घरासमोर एक दुकान तयार करण्यात आले आणि ते चालवायला एक दिवस नाना (पत्नी नव्हती) आणि त्यांची दोन अविवाहित मुलगे आले. ते सगळे राहायला नंतर त्या वाड्यातच होते. 

त्यांच्या आणि आमच्या संबंधात काही कडू गॊड आठवणी आहेत पण त्या आत्ता येथे लिहित नाही. 

लिहणार आहे ते: त्यांच्या बरोबर आलेल्या दोन विचित्र दिसणाऱ्या, बुटक्या , जुनाट पण तगड्या  सायकली. आमच्या सायकलीसमोर तर त्या खूपच विचित्र दिसत असत.  ते तिघे त्या सायकलींना दुसऱ्या महायुद्धात वापरलेल्या सायकली म्हणत असत. त्या त्यांनी विकत घेतल्या असाव्यात. 

पहिले अनेक महिने  (जो पर्यंत ते राहायला दुकानाच्या मागेच आले नव्हते तो पर्यंत) ते त्या सायकली बऱ्याच वेळा वापरत असत. नंतर त्यांचा वापर कमी झाला, त्या वाड्याच्या बाहेरच्या दरवाज्याला टेकवून उभ्या असत, शेवट त्या बहुतेक भंगारात गेल्या. त्या चालवावेसे मला एकदाही वाटले नाही.

अशा तर्हेने दुसरे महायुद्ध १९७०च्या दशकात आमच्या डोळ्यादेखत  जिवंत होते!

Infantry on bicycles during the Blitzkriegs in 1939 and 1940.

courtesy: "The Military History of the Bicycle: the Forgotten War Machine" by John Norris , 2021

Why was Unpastoralized Germany So Wealthy by 1960s?

I read on twitter following: 

 

"We don't realize how badly Nehru/Indira ran India, After WW2, USA gave $13 billion to Europe, $10 billion to India, Germany had been bombed to dust in WW2,

By 1960s, they were giving aid to India, In 1974, after 27 yrs of Cong rule, India still begging US, UK & Canada for food" 

 

(Abhishek @AbhishBanerj, Jun 26)

 

I have witnessed how socialism inflicted upon Indian poor and middle-class untold misery for almost 50 years since independence but I have a problem with Germany's wealth by 1960s...

 

Read a small para from David de Jong's recent bestseller book "Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties": 

 

"...But this book isn’t just about the sins of Germany’s titans of industry and finance. Here too is the story of how, after the war, it fell to the victorious Allies to decide the fate of these Nazi profiteers. But for the sake of political expediency, and for fear of the looming threat of Communism, the United States and the United Kingdom quietly handed most of these tycoons back over to Germany, which in turn allowed most of the guilty moguls to walk free, with little more than a slap on the wrist. In the decades that followed, the western part of a divided Germany developed one of the world’s most prosperous economies, and those same Nazi businessmen amassed billions of dollars, joining the ranks of the world’s wealthiest tycoons. All the while they kept silent, or outright lied, about their ties to genocide.

 

As of today, a small few of these men’s heirs have truly reckoned with the family past. Others still refuse to do so, with little negative effect. ..."

 

If Germany's money had been taken away from them by the allies at the end of WWII, Germany too might be asking for money just like India in 1960s...I am not alone in such thinking...

 

Evan Thomas, 'Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II", 2023:

 

"...When Treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau recommended that Germany be “pastoralized”—its industry plowed under—Stimson vigorously protested, not just because it would weaken postwar Europe’s recovery but because Germany might become a wasteland of starving peasants. In his diary, he noted that “it is very singular that I, the man who had charge of the Department which did all the killing in the war, should be the only one to have any mercy for that other side.” ..."

 

Threat of communism kept Germany wealthy, no wonder the current German leadership is doing the bidding of the allies by making threats to Russia because of their war with Ukraine....

 

I never believed for one second that the country responsible for tens of millions of deaths across the world just 75+ years ago has bounced back so much and so hard without using illegitimate resources.