The very first female agent that served with SOE was a Polish-Jewish Aristocrat known as Krystyna Skarbek. In addition to being the first woman to serve with the SOE, Skarbek was also the longest serving field agent, male or female, during the SOE’s existence.
Many people in Poland saw the 1st of August 1944 as a call for change. By 1944, German occupation of Poland had persisted for five years, yet the Polish Home Army, an underground resistance group, took it upon themselves to liberate the capital of Warsaw. Jadwiga Klarner-Szymanowska, a 22 year old student, awaited this announcement for months. With just a first aid kit, she left her family home, and presented herself to the Polish Home Army.
Whenever anyone imagines the “Wild West” certain images are always conjured up. A heroic gun-toting cowboy (probably John Wayne), a grand stallion, free in the desert plains, delivering justice, saving the girl. These Hollywood visions are increasingly resisted. Historians of the American West are recovering the stories of marginalised groups and individuals, helping us understand the way of life and identity of the “real Wild West”.
The effect of menstruation on females in concentration camps has often been omitted from popular research. Until recently, the history of the body has been somewhat omitted from historiography regarding the Holocaust, yet menstruation must be recognised as a feature which defined the female experiences of the Holocaust. Menstruation became a symbol of the horrific atrocities and struggles imposed upon the female body. This article will therefore explore whether menstruation in concentration camps was a gender identity crisis, or whether it facilitated female solidarity within the camps.
The Russian Civil War (1917-1922) broke out after the Bolshevik seizure of power between the Bolshevik Red Army and anti-Bolshevik White armies. Victory in the Civil War saw the true consolidation of the revolution, which allowed the Bolshevik state to create history. However, millions died during the Civil War, from starvation, disease, the war itself and the Red Terror. Russia’s population, which stood at 170.9 million in 1913, had fallen to 130.9 million by 1921 as the country had been fraught with constant warfare and devastation.
