Byte Sized Biographies…

Georg Elser’s failure is one of the most remarkable stories in European history. The contrast between Adolf Hitler and Georg Elser could not have been more dramatic.  Hitler was a fanatically driven over achiever who had overcome his lower middle class background, lack of education and early personal failures to become one of the most charismatic and extroverted political figures of the twentieth century.  Elser was a simple woodworker, with an intermittent work history, an … Continue reading Georg Elser’s Bomb Plot To Kill Hitler (Volume 2, Number 4) Part One →

Georg Elser's failure is one of the most remarkable stories in European history. Burgerbraukeller, After Explosion At precisely 9:20, the first of George Elser’s clocks activated perfectly the bomb detonated with a tremendous blast that pulverized the speaker’s platform, shattered the pillar behind it and brought the roof of the building down upon its inhabitants.  Dust and debris filled the air, the room now shrouded in darkness with beams falling and screams for help.  Seven people were killed immediately, one would die later at the hospital. Gestapo Headquarters, Berlin, Prinz Albrecht Strasse Surprisingly, it took a while for anyone to connect Georg Elser with the bombing, but he was eventually brought to Munich.  Himmler was placed in charge of the investigation and he quickly delegated direct authority to his immediate subordinates.  By November 12, several employees of the Burgerbraukellar, including the manager who had confronted him in the storage closet incident, positively identified him as a habitual customer.  This was enough to bring on what could be termed “enhanced interrogations” essentially beatings that left him moaning and bloody according to one eyewitness.  Stuttgart Gestapo officer would descend on Konigsbrunn and quickly talk to the daughter of one of Elser’s benefactors who let him live in their home in exchange for carpentry.  She told of Georg showing her pictures of the Burgerbraukellar and his funny wooden suitcase with the false bottoms and his work at the quarry with dynamite.  This must have arched a few Gestapo eyebrows in Munich and intensified the physical thrashing typical when a suspect needs to make a confession.  Elser was eventually taken to Gestapo headquarters in Berlin. Dachau, Crematorium Building On April 9, an SS officer came to Elser’s cell and ordered him to prepare for an interrogation.  Elser was confused, he had not been formally interrogated for many years, now so close to the end of the war, what questions could he possibly answer?  He walked out of his cell, escorted by another SS man who lead Elser in a general direction that might hopefully end at the camp entrance.  But suddenly the guard directed Elser along the path that lead to the crematorium in the rear of the camp.  Elser knew then that the end had come. Georg Elser Plaque, Site of the Burgerbraukeller, Munich The Burgerbraukeller was finally demolished in 1979, ten years later a plaque would be installed at the site of the pillar where Elser’s bomb was detonated, a small square was named after Elser near the home in Munich where he stayed briefly before the attack. Elser Memorial, Wilhelmstrasse, Berlin In 2011, official recognition of Elser as a national hero was evidenced by the dedication of a fifty-five foot steel profile sculpture installed on the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin.  Elser never set foot in the German capital, but today any pedestrian who passes by his memorial will have to pause and reflect on the remarkable determination and sacrifice of a simple man who only wanted to save his country.

Georg Elser’s failure is one of the most remarkable stories in European history. At precisely 9:20, the first of George Elser’s clocks activated perfectly the bomb detonated with a tremendous blast that pulverized the speaker’s platform, shattered the pillar behind it and brought the roof of the building down upon its inhabitants.  Dust and debris filled the air, the room now shrouded in darkness with beams falling and screams for help.  Seven people were killed … Continue reading George Elser’s Bomb Plot To Kill Hitler (Volume 2, Number 4) Part 2 →

Michelangelo, the Eternal Genius Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarroti-Simoni was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy in Tuscany , about sixty miles east of Florence.  A month later his father moved the family back to the Tuscan capital.  Ludovico Buonarroti’s family were bankers and money lenders and despite the failure of the family bank, Michelangelo’s father managed assets and property that allowed an upper middle class existence.  He occasionally served as a bureaucrat and at the time of Michelangelo’s birth he was assigned to Caprese as an administrator within the local government. The Pieta in November of 1497, Michelangelo set out for Carrara and the marble quarries there that supplied the legendary stone for the region’s most important art works.  In his possession, he had a letter of introduction from the French cardinal to help him to procure the most magnificent marble available.  Michelangelo’s personal visit to Carrara was highly unusual, most customers merely ordered a certain amount of stone and had it shipped to Rome or Florence.  It would take six months before Michelangelo selected an appropriate block of material and it was not until August of 1498 that Michelangelo began work on his next project: The Pieta, a portrayal of Mary mourning the death of her crucified son, Jesus Christ. The David Despite the success of the Pieta, Michelangelo decided to return to Florence in the Spring of 1501.  The specifics are not known but certainly his father would have encouraged such a move and the political climate would have quieted greatly after the removal and execution of Savonarola and the installation of a more stable government. Perhaps Michelangelo might have heard rumors that a major commission might soon be awarded concerning an ongoing project of the Overseers of the Office of Works of Florence Cathedral, The Operai.  This project was a series of Old Testament statues that were to adorn the exterior of the cathedral.  A figure of Joshua was sculpted by Donatello in 1410, and another figure of Hercules was added in 1463.  The Overseers then attempted to commission a sculpture of David, but the project ran into continual obstacles including the death of Donatello and by 1500, the massive block of marble intended to be the statue lay unfinished outside of the cathedral workshop.  Concerned that the valuable piece of stone would be damaged by continual exposure, the Operai decided to commission Michelangelo to finish the project.  He began work on September 13, 1501.  As the work progressed, one obvious problem presented itself.  Initially meant for the roof of the cathedral, the statue even when finished would weigh over six tons.  It couldn’t possibly be successfully lifted off of the ground.  The statue, with obvious symbolic overtones concerning the recent expulsion of the Medici and the establishment of a democracy, could be seen as a powerful statement of the determination of the small city-state to repel any incursion by its powerful neighbors.  Upon completion in May of 1504, the statue was placed in front of the then Palazzo della Signoria (today’s Palazzo Vecchio).  With its piercing glare turned in the direction of Rome as well as the Medici who were already scheming to retake control of the city, the David initially served a political purpose. The Doni Tondo Michelangelo is said to have delivered the finished painting with a note requesting the payment of seventy ducats, Doni, a wealthy but financially astute merchant, sent back forty.  A typical artwork of this type would usually cost about ten ducats and Doni reasoned that forty was already a very fair price.  Michelangelo responded by demanding either one hundred ducats or the return of the painting.  Since Doni was happy with the work and it was meant to commemorate his marriage, he gave Michelangelo his original asking price of seventy ducats.  This time, Michelangelo demanded double the original price, one hundred and forty ducats.  Supposedly, Doni grudgingly paid up.  Such a tale is indicative of the self-image that the artist had developed as no mere tradesman. The Bruges Madonna Although he was always preoccupied with money and would have personal issues that impacted his output, Michelangelo would never have to struggle for work or commissions again.  In fact his reputation spread to the point where rulers of Venice, France and even Turkey attempted to retain his services.  All of these attempts failed.  However, during this time period a group of Flemish merchants were able to get Michelangelo’s attention and obtain the remarkable Bruges Madonna.  They did it by secretly outbidding Pope Julius II.  Unlike the Pieta, this statue depicts a younger Virgin and infant Jesus.  Approximately six feet tall, this ornate statue features much of the same intricate detail of the Pieta.  It also achieved the same artistic profile as some of Michelangelo’s most coveted and prestigious works.  The only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy during the artist’s lifetime, it was first seized by the French when Bruges was successfully invaded in 1794 and Napoleon decided that he would enjoy its company.  It was returned in 1815.  The Nazis also stole it in 1944, luckily it was not damaged before being retrieved by the Monuments Men from Hitler’s stash cave at Altaussee, Austria. Sistine Chapel Detail, The Creation of Adam 1508 would bring Michelangelo the most challenging assignment of his life.  He was paid 500 ducats by Julius to paint the ceiling of the chapel of Pope Sixtus, the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo, the Eternal Genius Michelangelo Buonarroti-Simoni was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy in Tuscany , about sixty miles east of Florence.  A month later his father moved the family back to the Tuscan capital.  Ludovico Buonarroti’s family were bankers and money lenders and despite the failure of the family bank, Michelangelo’s father managed assets and property that allowed an upper middle class existence.  He occasionally served as a bureaucrat and at the … Continue reading Michelangelo (Volume 2, Number 3) Part 1 →

Michelangelo, the Eternal Genius Pope Julius II, by Raphael The relationship between Julius II and Michelangelo has been dramatized as a nasty battle of wills between two egocentric men.  In actuality, Michelangelo’s issue with the Pope stemmed from the reality that Julius’ main focus was to expand the territory of the Papal States and the ensuing warfare that would be required.  Michelangelo’s artistic projects would always be secondary to this fundamental. Moses, St. Peter in Vincoli, Rome As soon as the Last Judgment was completed the Della Rovere clan began agitating for a completion of Julius II’s tomb.  Luckily, Pope Paul wished to have Michelangelo focus on his own pet projects, namely a Vatican chapel dedicated in his honor.  The pontiff helped negotiate a new agreement that limited Julius’ tomb to three main sculptures, including the Moses. Julius II Tomb, St. Peter in Vincoli, Rome This was accepted and the more modest tomb was brought to a anti-climatic conclusion in 1545, with the completion of two statues, Leah and Rachel, placed to the left and right of Moses in a two story facade installed in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, the parish of Julius II.  Although it has been described as the most impressive burial vault in Rome, Michelangelo summed up his perspective with one sentence “I lost the whole of my youth, chained to this tomb.” Tomb of Lorenzo Il Magnifico, Medici Chapel, Florence With the ascendance of Giovanni as Leo X, Michelangelo’s brother Buonarotto achieved a prominent position within the Florentine government.  Members of the Medici clan clamored for Michelangelo to return to his hometown and begin work on the unfinished facade of their parish church.  A commission was formally offered, enormous amounts of marble were selected and ordered and a wooden model of the new facade was constructed.  Just as work was to begin, Lorenzo de Medici, grandson of Il Magnifico and the most enthusiastic supporter of the project, died suddenly.  Pope Leo X took another look at the probable expenses and cancelled the project, suggesting that a modest tomb be substituted.  The tomb would evolve into the Medici Chapels, burial place of four members of the ruling family, including Lorenzo, Il Magnifico.  Michelangelo would have to settle on spending the next two years on this project, also sweating out the death of Leo X and a new pope, Adrian VI, a reformer who bandied about the idea of destroying the Sistine chapel murals. Minos, The Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City When Michelangelo refused new commissions from the Pope claiming his contract with Julius heirs’ forbade it until the troublesome tomb was complete, Paul III interceded and helped renegotiate the agreement.  This allowed Michelangelo to work on another project, a fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.  Conceptually discussed with Clement VII as a depiction of the Resurrection, Michelangelo reconsidered and focused his creation on the the Last Judgment.  Twenty-five years after finishing his previous work on the chapel, Michelangelo presented a different kind of painting.  This work contained a wide range of emotion, depictions ranging from the sublime to the grotesque, and a focus on nudity that accentuated sensuality.  This groundbreaking depiction of such a religious theme was controversial and at least one church official, Biagio da Cesena commented, “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have depicted all of those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully.”  He added that the work was more appropriate for a public bath or a tavern.  Da Cesena’s reward for his art criticism was his depiction in the lower right corner of the painting, as Minos, judge of the underworld.  To underline his contempt, Michelangelo added donkey ears, and a serpent biting Minos’ testicles. Detail, Sistine Chapel, St. Bartholomew and Likeness of Michelangelo, Vatican City Michelangelo himself was not above ridicule in this depiction of symbolic judgment.  In a central part of the fresco, St. Bartholomew is depicted holding a knife and the skin that represents his death by being skinned alive.  This layer of skin has retained a human form and the head adorning this mass is clearly the tortured, gnarled face of Michelangelo.  It would not be until the 1920’s that this detail was noticed. Michelangelo's Tomb, Santa Croce, Florence Leonardo knew that the current Pope Pius IV would insist that Michelangelo be enshrined at the finished St. Peter’s Basilica and he was determined to return him to Florence, which was his uncle’s wish.  Leonardo hired a cart to surreptitiously and unceremoniously transport the wrapped body back to Tuscany, a trip that took eleven days.  Michelangelo was interred with great fanfare in the Basilica of Santa Croce, in Florence, in an elaborate vault sponsored by both Cosimo de Medici and Giorgio Vasari.

Michelangelo, the Eternal Genius The relationship between Julius II and Michelangelo has been dramatized as a nasty battle of wills between two egocentric men.  In actuality, Michelangelo’s issue with the Pope stemmed from the reality that Julius’ main focus was to expand the territory of the Papal States and the ensuing warfare that would be required.  Michelangelo’s artistic projects would always be secondary to this fundamental. As soon as the Last Judgment was completed the … Continue reading Michelangelo (Volume 2, Number 3) Part 2 →

Harriet Tubman, righteous heroine Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in the eastern shore region of Maryland in 1822.  Her exact date of birth remains unknown.  Both of her parents were slaves, Harriet (Rit) Green and Ben Ross. John Brown The summer of 1859 also brought a resumption of John Brown’s plan for rebellion.  He was already gathering assets in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in anticipation of his planned attack on the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.  His plan was to seize the arsenal and armory, incite local slaves to join his rebellion and spread a slave revolt as effectively as possible.  Brown was fanatically opposed to slavery with an opposition rooted in a deep religious fervor.  He considered himself a divine instrument intent on imposing punishment on those conducting the sinful practice of slavery.  Based on his interaction with Harriet Tubman, Brown fully expected her to join his effort.  He repeatedly attempted to contact her to no avail but he did meet with Frederick Douglass in Chambersburg.  When Douglass realized that Brown was intent on attacking a federal arsenal he told him that “he was going into a perfect steel trap, once in, he would not get out alive.” St. Gaudens Panel Commemorating 54th Volunteer Massachusetts Regiment, Monument is situated on the Northeast Corner of the Boston Common. Harriet Tubman also aided in the celebrated 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment in its participation in the attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor on July 19, 1863.  The 54th was one of the first African-American regiments assembled during the Civil War.  Commanded by a white abolitionist, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th was in the vanguard of the assault on Fort Wagner, a heavily fortified beachhead that was part of the defensive infrastructure protecting the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.  After a lengthy bombardment, the Regiment began a frontal assault on the fort.  Despite heavy losses, the 54th was able to briefly seize part of the south wall but heavy hand-to-hand combat and artillery fire pushed the unit back.  Other Union regiments also attempted to breach the fort around its perimeter but were repulsed with terrible losses.  An estimated 1,500 hundred Union troops were killed, wounded or captured.  The 54th lost over two hundred and fifty men.  Robert Gould Shaw was killed in the initial storming of the fort and buried in a common grave with his fellow black soldiers.  While the grave was eventually washed away by storms and the remains of these soldiers disappeared, the heroic story of Gould Shaw and his men has been immortalized in the film “Glory.” William Seward, US Senator and Secretary of State Five days after the armistice at Appomattox, President Lincoln was assassinated and Harriet’s benefactor Secretary of State William Seward was incapacitated by an assailant involved in the same plot.  Although Seward would survive and even attempt to help Tubman in her attempts to receive back pay, she eventually decided to head back to her home in Auburn, NY.

Harriet Tubman, righteous heroine Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in the eastern shore region of Maryland in 1822.  Her exact date of birth remains unknown.  Both of her parents were slaves, Harriet (Rit) Green and Ben Ross. The summer of 1859 also brought a resumption of John Brown’s plan for rebellion.  He was already gathering assets in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in anticipation of his planned attack on the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.  His … Continue reading Harriet Tubman (Volume 2, Number 2) →

Alexander Hamilton, the Zelig of American military and political history. Alexander Hamilton, First Secretary of the US Treasury The circumstances surrounding the birth of Alexander Hamilton are complicated and even when he was born is a matter of dispute.  His mother, Rachel Faucette, was of British and French descent.  His father, James Hamilton was a Scot.  They met on the island of St. Kitts in the British West Indies where James Hamilton was unsuccessfully attempting to build a career trading sugar and other goods. Crossing the Delaware, December 25, 1776 Although it only involved a total of less than four thousand men and less than twenty-five artillery pieces, the Battle of Trenton is revered as one of the most important moments in US military history.  On Christmas night, 1776, George Washington ordered approximately 2,000 troops to begin crossing the Delaware River, near Trenton, New Jersey.  Hamilton and his company, now only thirty men in total were part of this attack.  In spite of dreadful weather, the entire American force made it across the Delaware River and as dawn approached, marched a dozen miles to the outskirts of the town.  At eight in the morning, a coordinated attack on the Hessian barracks began. Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton In the summer of 1791, according to Hamilton, a woman named Maria Reynolds knocked on the door of his Philadelphia home and met with him privately (despite the presence in the house of Hamilton’s wife).  She recounted a terrible tale of mistreatment at the hands of her husband, claimed she was abandoned and utterly destitute and pleaded with Hamilton for financial help for her and her young daughter.  That very evening Hamilton walked over to Maria’s residence and handed cash to the twenty-three year old and impulsively began a physical relationship that would last for two years. Aaron Burr The United States finally began to experience peace and prosperity in the first term of Thomas Jefferson and with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Hamilton’s former adversary enjoyed his greatest popularity.  Hamilton was reduced to practicing law but political developments in 1804 again involved him in New York State politics.  It was clear that Jefferson fully intended to dump Aaron Burr as vice-President in the upcoming presidential election.  In the machinations surrounding the Presidential election of 1800, Burr had refused to publically state that he was Jefferson’s Vice-Presidential running mate and even maneuvered behind the scenes to try and win in the House of Representatives.  As a result Jefferson completely isolated him from any role in the administration and replaced him on the 1804 ticket with New York State governor George Clinton.  Burr then decided to run for Governor of New York.  He would be soundly defeated in a bitter campaign marked by personal attacks of all kinds.  For this, he and his followers blamed Alexander Hamilton.  Burr personally began to obsess about the man who had blocked both his Presidential and gubernatorial aspirations.