Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 June 12

= June 12 =

War
What is it good for? 80.2.21.170 (talk) 00:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * George Clooney, producer of a television version of Joseph Heller's Catch 22, was quoted in the London Daily Telegraph on Saturday.

"'We sent millions of people overseas, and we didn't just fight a war, we learnt about culture, we learnt about food and art and music, and skiing. Then they came home and it changed our country, made it so much better,' he sighs.   'The next couple of generations travelled less and less.   I think in 1990 less than 10 per cent of Americans had passports' - according to the BBC, the figure was as low as 4 per cent - 'and when you don't travel, you can so easily cast other people as the enemy.   You can be made to believe that all refugees are terrorists.'"

See also Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 June 5. 2A02:C7F:A42:AD00:6D9E:CD5D:662E:5310 (talk) 16:48, 14 June 2019 (UTC)

Courtesy link: "War" (The Temptations song), 1970, famously covered by Edwin Starr. -- ToE 17:15, 14 June 2019 (UTC)

Esposito Pork Shop
Why is Esposito Pork Shop a redirect for Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn? Bus stop (talk) 00:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Let us see if who created the redirect might know. Now it was created over 10 years ago so they may not remember and MJB only edits sporadically so they may not respond here. MarnetteD&#124;Talk 00:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Bus stop (talk) 01:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I don’t remember why, but at the time, “G. Esposito & Sons Pork Shop” was listed under a “Historical sites” section of the Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn article. My best guess is that the shop was mentioned in something I watched or listened to in a way that made me think people would try and look it up, and all I found at the time was the Carroll Gardens article. ―MJBurrage(T•C) 02:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * OK, thank you. Bus stop (talk) 13:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Trade and travel during WWII
Reading an article about Omega, and it notes this: "Despite being surrounded by Nazi-occupied countries, Switzerland continued to supply wristwatches to the Allied forces throughout the war." My question is: how? I know according to the laws of warfare, combatants cannot attack cargo vessels from neutral nations, but how would Omega get its RAF-bound watches to port in the first place when surrounded by Axis or occupied countries? Was it air freight? And if so does that mean commercial air travel between neutral European countries continued unabated? I also read one of the British prisoners in the Great Escape POW camp was released back to England because of his poor health, which apparently wasn't uncommon - but what would the travel logistics of getting back to England involve? Dr-ziego (talk) 00:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Portugal would have been one route. AnonMoos (talk) 02:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * But German occupied France would be in the way. HiLo48 (talk) 02:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * We miss some articles about global trade/business during WWII, it seems to me, but Switzerland_during_the_World_Wars and Switzerland_during_the_World_Wars provide some info. It seems that Germany had enough interest (buying tungsten from non warring countries, using road/railways to Italy, financial services...) to let Swiss traders go through French, Spanish and Portuguese borders to sell a few things worldwide . Gem fr (talk) 03:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The Nazis used Switzerland to launder large quantities of gold and other valuables plundered from the treasuries of countries that it occupied as well as individual Jewish civilians. Our Nazi gold article has some details; see also Swiss Acknowledge Profiting From Nazi Gold and Swiss banks and Nazi gold.
 * The system is explained in History of Nazi Dental Gold: From Dead Bodies till Swiss Bank, which makes unpleasant reading. Alansplodge (talk) 18:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Or if you'd rather read a work of fiction based around these issues, try The Devouring (from 2017), one of the Billy Boyle novels by James R. Benn. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 19:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * A slight tangent, but First World War glass–rubber exchange may be of interest to readers of this thread. DuncanHill (talk) 12:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * To answer the second part of your question, BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION 1940 – 1950 AND ITS LEGACY  says that civilian flights continued to Scandinavia until the German invasion of April 1940, during which BOAC lost three aircraft. Portugal remained an important staging point for BOAC flights to Africa throughout the war. Alansplodge (talk) 18:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * And our Red Cross parcel article has some information about the repatriation route:
 * "For PoWs held by Axis forces in Europe the parcel route through Lisbon required escorted ships to bring the crates of parcels, or for British, mail bags full of parcels, to Lisbon, there being no safe conduct agreement. In Portugal, parcels would be loaded onto Red Cross marked ships with many taken through the port of Marseilles, for onward freighting by rail to Geneva, from where they would be sent to various camps by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Barcelona was also used as an Iberian transit port, with Toulon as an alternative French port. The returning ships sometimes carried allied civilians and wounded being repatriated".
 * Alansplodge (talk) 18:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * One of the most famous examples of such trade would be the Swiss Wild Heerbrugg A5 Autograph steroscopic imaging mapmaking machine, which was installed at RAF Medmenham, and was so important for Operation Crossbow. This was smuggled out through Portugal (with the assistance of General José Norton de Matos, previously ambassador to London) under the cover of repairing an existing machine, which had actually been destroyed by bombing. This machine was so important that HMS Hood was sent to collect it from Gibraltar! Andy Dingley (talk) 20:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Jung and the afterlife and god
Did Carl Jung believe in life after death and god? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gogetter764 (talk • contribs) 04:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Jungian interpretation of religion may provide some insight. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * One of his more famous statements was I do not believe there is a God. I know there is a God. And he always chose his words carefully.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Anthems of the Republic of China
Per Republic of China (1912–1949), it had a whooping of six anthems (presumably official) throughout its 37-year existence, while in 1937–1949 there were two anthems simultaneously. Why so many? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 16:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Hi, in the infobox of that article, there are links to the article for each anthem. If you read them through, you can trace the history of why there were changes. The first was provisional, the second was the official replacement for the provisional one, a later change was to replace a party-focused anthem with a nation-focused one, one is not actually official, etc. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 16:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)