Hi friends,
Eight years ago in a Dispatch I wrote about crystallography- I think it is rather humorous and bears repeating:
“Before I fell into an administrative time trap, during the last century, I studied geology.
Our oldest lecturer was Professor Tatham, a small wiry energetic man, he was way past retirement age when he took us for crystallography.
I remember him with fondness for his infectious enthusiasm.
This was long before computer graphics, and crystallography was taught using models made from sticks and balls.
Prof. Tatham’s lectures were very popular and well attended.
I didn’t learn much crystallography, and I suspect not many of his other students did either.
Don’t know much about crystallography….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfzpAv1hi2Y
The professor would hold up a model of say a monoclinal crystal, and then proceed to tell us all about it. As he got into the swing of things he’d start to crouch over the model and his voice gradually descended into a mumble. At the climax his body would be arched over and envelop the model. He would furiously point into the model whilst explaining the attributes of the crystal.
The model was barely visible and the professor was barely audible.
We never tired of his lectures and week after week we’d watch with renewed astonishment and fascination as Prof. Tatham worked his way through the crystal classification system.”
Not so humorous is what happened on 9th November 1938. In Germany an event took place that became known as Kristallnacht. On the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht Andy Factor was interviewed on the ABC (Australia’s public broadcaster). Andy Factor was a 14 year old witness to Kristallnacht, whose Jewish family through some fortuitous circumstances landed in Fremantle 15 months later. I chanced on the tail end of the interview in which Andy was asked why did he think it was important to remember and speak about Khristallnacht. He said he feared for his children and grandchildren. He saw a trend in the world which indicated it could all happen again.
My father grew up as a Dutch child in Germany (1917-1932). Before dad fell off the twig I wrote up his anecdotes, and I quote:
“Dad was an astute witness to the descent into barbarity. He’s always maintained that if it could happen in the land that gave us Göethe, Schiller and Schubert, it could happen anywhere and anytime. To me, this was confirmed by what happened in Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Dad doesn’t consider Australia to be immune either.”
So here, my late mother’s favourite piece of music- ‘Leise flehen meine Lieder’…..
Richard Tauber sings Serenade (Schubert)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kVrbz_oJ3g
I think dad and Andy Factor would have had a fascinating conversation over a glass of port. Probably in German with the occasional Yiddish word thrown in for fun.
On 6 December 1938, several weeks after Kristallnacht, William Cooper led a delegation of the Australian Aboriginal League to the German Consulate in Melbourne to deliver a petition which condemned the “cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi Government of Germany.” The petition met the same fate as the Uluru Statement from the Heart would meet eight decades later, it was all but ignored. If you’ve never heard of William Cooper, I suggest you look him up on the internet. One of Australia’s unsung heroes, a true warrior for human rights.
During the Second World War, conspiracy theories of Aboriginal Australia being potential pro-Nazi fifth columnists abounded. Descendants of Lutheran missionaries at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) will confirm that they were given a hard time by the authorities. After the war the cloud of suspicion shifted to communists. In 1982 Veritas Publishing, launched Geoff McDonald’s book ‘Red over black (behind the aboriginal land rights)’. ‘Veritas’ means ‘truth’ in Latin. ‘Red over black’ being published by Veritas is a veritable oxymoron.
In 1942 Hope Vale in Northern Queensland was forcibly evacuated for fear of Aboriginal co-operation with Japanese. Georg Zwartz, the Lutheran missionary was arrested and interned. Of the app. 350 Aborigines evacuated, 60 died in the seven year period of exile.
When dad and Andy Factor asserted that it could happen again anytime and anywhere they failed to spot the elephant in the room.
Kristallnachten in various forms have been happening for aeons, and continue to happen and sadly will continue to happen.
I’ve already alluded to Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’
There are many parallels with the recurring anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia and the German Kristallnacht.
The Cathars, the Hugenots, the Walloons, the Haitians in the Dominican Republic, and the list is endless, all suffered their equivalent of Kristallnacht and its aftermath.
The Armenian and Rwandan genocides, the Maoist Cultural (!) Revolution, Jim Crow in the deep south of the U.S.A.
Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c52ElU5tQNo
Endless indeed.
Usually these Kristallnachten are driven by xenophobic dog whistlers. Political or military is neither here nor there to the victims. The ease with which the masses are swayed by the politics of fear and loathing is something to be truly feared. And as my father said “Australia isn’t immune either”
The latest Kristallnacht to be visited upon Remote Aboriginal society in the Northern Territory of Australia was the so called Intervention. I’m not aware of any shop windows to have been shattered by the Northern Territory Emergency Response. In any case there weren’t too many to shatter in the first place. What was shattered were a lot of hopes, dreams and spirits.
Neil Murray- Calm & Crystal Clear- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnp4-YlrCaw
So what is one to do?
Bo Diddley- Stop the pusher-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_XJTi2p9E
The only way to hurt the pusher- don’t buy!
If you hear the dog whistles- don’t buy!
And try and teach your children not to buy.
Crosby Stills and Nash … Teach Your children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqRIGjfN0mk
Shalom.
Frank
PS-I did find ‘Holy Night’ played on crystal glasses- i.e. a Youtube ‘Kristallnacht’
However nothing as virtuoso as this performance:
Water & Crystal Music – Playing Crystal Glasses in Prague
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4AUA5RcYa8