Wolf Messing was one of the most famous predictors of the 20th century. You know, he met with Einstein and Freud, predicted defeat to Hitler in the World War, communicated with Stalin and Beria, with the leaders of the CPSU and even received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. But, as those who knew him closely said, this unique person was intended for other purposes that he never achieved …
The uniqueness of Wolf Messing manifested itself in the first years of his life, when it turned out that the boy, who was born in a Jewish family in 1899 in Poland, suffered from sleepwalking. His parents put a basin with cold water in front of his bed, the boy stepped into the water and instantly woke up. This radical remedy helped him.
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The name Citroën is not French, but Dutch and comes from the word “lemon”. Citroën’s great-grandfather came with a cart to the port, filled it with citrus, brought from overseas colonies, and cheerfully rolled it across Amsterdam. You know, he was the first in the family to be given a surname. The lemon business was going well and his son Barend Citroën went into the jewelry business as Amsterdam became a center for cutting and selling diamonds. And Barend taught his son this profitable craft. During one of his visits to Warsaw the businessman met charming Masha Kleinman, persuaded her to become his wife and moved to Paris. She became the mother of Levi Citroën. Levi was a member of the Paris elite. His partners and friends called him Louis, Louis Bernard Citroën.
All his life he had dreamed of a business that combined three processes: the extraction of diamonds, their processing and sale. And finally, that day was near. The exact date of the purchase of diamond-bearing sites in South Africa had already been appointed, but the deal fell through at the last moment.
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Osceola was a military leader of the Native American people, Seminole. In the 1830s he fought against the U.S. government, because they wanted the Seminole to leave their homeland in Florida.
Osceola was born in 1804 in Georgia. His mother was a Native American, member of the Creek nation. A white Scottish trader, William Powell, became his mother’s second husband. The family moved to northern Florida and joined the Seminole when Osceola was a boy.
In 1819 Spain sold Florida to the United States and this opened the fertile lands of the Seminole for white Americans. Later, in 1823, an agreement was signed according to which the Seminole had to leave the coastal territories and move inland, to the marshy lands of central Florida, which were not suitable for habitation. Osceola spoke out against it and was sent to prison. After the release he organized a fighting force. The warriors killed the U.S. official and the Seminole chief who had signed the treaty. So the Second Seminole War began in 1835. Resistance lasted almost two years.
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There are few figures in the history of the Western European Middle Ages who were worshiped by the contemporaries during their lifetime. Death only promoted the growth of the already great glory.
Albert von Bollstedt was born in 1193 into a wealthy family in the small Bavarian town of Lauingen. As a child, Albert didn’t have any outstanding abilities that would indicate his bright future. However, little Albert had one passion: the future scientist and theologian had thirst for knowledge.
There is a legend that survived Albert for centuries. Once, Blessed Virgin appeared to the young man during his hot prayer and asked him what science he wanted to succeed in. Albert wished to achieve success in studying the queen of sciences – philosophy. Nodding, the Mother of God said with sadness: “I will fulfill your request – you will become a great philosopher. But, alas, you’ve chosen philosophy not theology. And it is theology that deserves the greatest preference over all other sciences, for there is nothing more beautiful than comprehending the greatest wisdom of our beloved God. As punishment for the lack of piety, you will return to your previous stupidity before your death.”
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The love story of Louise (Lou) Andreas-Salome (1861-1937), one of the most intelligent women of Europe of the XIX century, and the great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is still the subject of disputes among dozens of biographers. It was so incomprehensible love story of the two brightest personalities of the time.
Lou Salome was born in St. Petersburg into the family of General Gustav von Salome, a German from the Baltic States. She spent her childhood and youth in Russia and it was her motherland to the end of her days. At the age of twenty the girl was already extremely educated and free-thinking. In addition, she had a very attractive appearance, which, coupled with her bright mind, drove famous and notable men not only in Russia, but throughout Europe, crazy.
The acquaintance of Lou Salome with Europe began in 1880, when she studied history of art and theology in Zurich under the supervision of her mother. In 1881, the girl went to Rome for treatment as she had a serious lung disease. There young twenty-year-old Lou won the hearts of many men. Famous German philosophers Paul Ree (1849-1901) and Friedrich Nietzsche were among them.
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Heinrich Himmler was one of the organizers of the concentration camps across conquered Europe. He headed the elite units of the German army, SS divisions. By the way, he was responsible for the internal security of the Reich and was Hitler’s right hand, and in fact – the most powerful man after him.
To tell the truth, Himmler was responsible for inhumane experiments on prisoners to determine the possibility of survival in extreme conditions. Also he had an idea of experiments to increase the number of Aryan race. At the same time, he was an impeccable official and an ideal family man, also known for his punctuality.
The future head of the SS was born on October 7, 1900 in Munich, Bavaria, into the family of the director of the classical gymnasium. A frail and physically weak boy dreamed of becoming a great military leader. However, even at the end of the First World War, when the Kaiser’s army needed soldiers, the medical commission rejected Heinrich. Thus, he was unable to take part in hostilities, although subsequently he told a lot about his “front-line feats”.
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At the end of the XIX century, the Russian Empire was changing rapidly. In the merchant families, sons wanted to leave the family business for completely new affairs, conquer the peaks that their ancestors could not even dream about … Sergei Utochkin, one of the first Russian pilots, was among the adventurers.
The future star of aviation, Sergei Utochkin was born on June 30, 1876 in Odessa. Sergei and his two brothers became orphans very early. The boys inherited father’s money and were raised in different homes as boarders. In one of these houses there was a tragedy that left a mark on the rest of Sergei’s life. Alcoholic father of the family in which the boy lived, once hanged himself in the attic, and his wife having found the body took a kitchen knife and killed all her children. Fortunately, Sergei managed to escape. This case, according to the biographers, was one of the reasons for violations of his psyche in the future.
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