title: Bili ape

text: The Bili apes or Bondo mystery apes were names given in 2003 in sensational reports in the popular media to a purportedly new species of highly aggressive, giant ape supposedly inhabiting the wetlands and savannah around of the village of Bili in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "The apes nest on the ground like gorillas, but they have a diet and features characteristic of chimpanzees", according to a 2003 "National Geographic" article.


title: Bili ape

text: Scientists soon determined they were common chimpanzees, and part of a larger contiguous population stretching throughout that part of northern Congo. Genetic testing with non-nuclear DNA in 2003 immediately indicated that it was in fact part of the already described eastern chimpanzee ("Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii") a subspecies of the common chimpanzee.


title: Bili ape

text: Skulls of gorillas were first collected near the town of Bili in 1908. These were sent to the colonial power of Belgium, and in 1927 a new subspecies of gorilla, "Gorilla gorilla uellensis", was described based upon these specimens. Colin Groves examined the skulls in 1970 and determined that they were indistinguishable from western gorillas.


title: Bili ape

text: Karl Ammann, a Swiss Kenyan photographer and anti-bushmeat campaigner, first visited the city in 1996, looking for the gorillas, but instead bought a skull that had dimensions like that of a chimpanzee, but with a prominent crest like that of a gorilla. Ammann purchased a photograph from hunters of what looked like a very big chimpanzee. Ammann also measured a faecal dropping three times as big as normal chimpanzee dung and casts of footprints as large as or larger than a gorilla's.


title: Bili ape

text: Ammann, with a group of foreign researchers, returned in 2000 to an area described by a Cameroonian bushmeat hunter he had sent to scout the area first a few years earlier. Although they did not see any chimpanzees, they did find several well-worn ground nests, characteristic of gorillas rather than chimpanzees, in swampy river beds.


title: Bili ape

text: In 2001, an international team of scientists, including George Schaller and Mike Belliveau, were recruited by Karl Ammann to search for apes, but the venture came up empty.


title: Bili ape

text: After the Second Congo War ended in 2003, it was easier for scientists to conduct field research in the Congo. Also recruited by Ammann was Shelly Williams, an experimental psychologist affiliated with "National Geographic" magazine, who claimed to be the first scientist to see the 'Bili apes'. Williams returned to the US with videos, apparently purchased from one of Ammann's long-term trackers. Williams reported on her close encounter, "we could hear them in the trees, about 10 m away, and four suddenly came rushing through the brush towards me. If this had been a mock charge they would have been screaming to intimidate us. These guys were quiet, and they were huge. They were coming in for the kill – but as soon as they saw my face they stopped and disappeared".


title: Bili ape

text: According to Williams, who claims she learnt Lingala, the local populace classified great apes into two distinct groups. There are the "tree beaters", which disperse high into the trees to stay safe, and easily succumb to the poison arrows used by local hunters. Then there are the "lion killers", which seldom climb trees, are bigger and darker, and are unaffected by the poison arrows. Other reports attribute this statement to Ammann. Williams claimed to have observed three species of chimpanzees, including this new one, during her summer tour.


title: Bili ape

text: "The unique characteristics they exhibit just don't fit into the other groups of apes", said Williams. The apes, she argued, could be a new species unknown to science, a new subspecies of chimpanzee, or a hybrid of the gorilla and the chimpanzee. "At the very least, we have a unique, isolated chimp culture that's unlike any that's been studied", she said. These and other sensational pronouncements to the media proved controversial, and Williams was subsequently no longer welcome to study the animals with Ammann. Ammann had published a letter in 2003 decrying Williams' unprofessional involvement. Williams vowed to continue without him, making plans for another expedition. Cleve Hicks, a primatologist recruited by Ammann in 2004, stated "genetically, they're not even a subspecies".


title: Bili ape

text: Mitochondrial DNA resolved from hairs taken from the nests found in 2003 that the chimpanzees belonged to "Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii". Williams countered that all these hairs may have contaminated by real chimpanzees or humans, or that the conventional use of mDNA regions discovered in human research as genetic markers was incorrect in primatology, or that the mDNA, which is only transmitted by mothers, would not reflect one-way hybridisation with male gorillas.


title: Bili ape

text: In 2004 Hicks studied several communities of the chimpanzees approximately 60 km northwest of the town of Bili. Although the apes, including adult males, would surround the humans and display an interest or curiosity in them, somewhat like previous reports, they did not attack or become threatening.


title: Bili ape

text: In 2005 Williams was paralysed in an accident, and her claims to the media ceased. She never mounted her planned expedition.


title: Bili ape

text: By 2006 Hicks and colleagues had completed another long hunt for the chimpanzees during which they were able to observe the creatures a total of twenty hours. Hicks reported, "I see nothing gorilla about them. The females definitely have a chimp's sex swellings, they pant-hoot and tree-drum, and so on". DNA samples recovered from faeces also reaffirmed the classification of these apes in the chimpanzee subspecies "P. t. schweinfurthii". When a report on Hicks' research on the "New Scientist" website was later confused with claims originating from Williams, Hicks wrote to claim the article misreported and misquoted him.


title: Bili ape

text: In 2019 Hicks and others published a comprehensive on the chimpanzees of the wider 'Bili-Uéré region', as they termed the central part of the Uélé watershed. The old giant ape controversy was ignored entirely. Twenty chimpanzee groups were studied over twelve years. In the work, Hicks "et al". classifies the chimpanzees of this area as a behavioural "realm", subdivided into many "regions", united by common preferences and techniques, defined by tool use, dietary preferences and such habits. Chimpanzees of Bili-Uéré, for example, do not eat termites of the "Macrotermes" genus, which are otherwise much loved by the apes, unless the termites are having a mating swarm. Despite early reports of super-long rods used to fish termites, Hicks "et al". document that these chimpanzees do "not" use rods to fish for termites at all, but instead bash the mounds open against roots.


title: Bili ape

text: Williams initially claimed the apes were bipedal (meaning they walk upright) and stand over six feet (almost two meters) tall, with the looks of a giant chimpanzee; making them look more like the extinct Australopithecine, "Sahelanthropus" or Toumaï.


title: Bili ape

text: According to Williams, "They have a very flat face, a wide muzzle and their brow-ridge runs straight across and overhangs. They seem to turn grey very early in life, but instead of turning grey-black like a gorilla, they turn grey all over." They develop uniform grey fur independently of age and sex, which suggests that greying takes place early in life (whereas in all known gorilla species, only males gray as they age and graying is restricted to their backs).


title: Bili ape

text: A single skull from Bili has the prominent brow ridge and a sagittal crest similar to that of a gorilla, but other morphological measurements are like those of chimpanzees. Only one of the many skulls found at Bili had a sagittal crest, thus it cannot be considered typical for the population.


title: Bili ape

text: Female Bili apes have genital swellings similar to other chimpanzees, although Williams claimed otherwise.


title: Bili ape

text: According to Hicks, in some ways, the apes behave more like gorillas than chimpanzees. For example, they build ground nests as gorillas do, using interwoven branches and/or saplings, bent down into a central bowl. However, they frequently nest in the trees as well. Often ground nests will be found beneath or in proximity to tree nests. Their diet is decidedly chimpanzee-like, consisting mainly of fruits (fruiting trees such as strangler figs are visited often).


title: Bili ape

text: Hicks observed one group far from the roads and villages in 2004, saying that when they encountered it, the chimps not only approached the humans, but also would actually surround them with intent curiosity. Hicks found the behavior toward humans intriguing. They would come face-to-face, stare intently, then slide away quietly. There was little to no aggression, yet no fear, either. "Gorilla males will always charge when they encounter a hunter, but there were no stories like that" about the chimpanzees, according to Ammann. Hicks clarifies Williams' claims as follows: the apes within 20 km or so of the roads flee humans almost without exception. The adult males show the greatest fear. Further from the roads, however, the chimpanzees become progressively "naive".


title: Bili ape

text: Even though these apes avoid the camera, they seem to have a curious nature. It has been observed, that when these chimps find humans around, they don’t just approach them; but circle them out of pure curiosity. They would stand face to face and exchange longing glances.


title: Bili ape

text: Bili is a city, and a river tributary, which lies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's far north, about 200 kilometres east of the Ebola River. It lies to the north of the Uélé River, to the south of this river lie deep tropical rainforests, whereas around Bili lie wetlands and the forests are broken by patches of savanna. Civil war and neglect had left the region relatively undeveloped and wild, with people still using home-made guns of ancient design in 2005.


title: Bili ape

text: Chimpanzees were also tracked by Ammann in the region near the city of Bondo, 200 kilometres to the west, in 2004.


title: Bili ape

text: In 2006 Hicks moved the study to the much denser forests around Gangu, and 50 to 55 kilometers from the road to Bili. By 2007 they had grown frightened of the new arrivals to the city of Bili as gold was found in the region, and moved south of the Uélé. In 2007 Hicks was based in the city of Aketi, a few hundred kilometres southwest of Bondo.


title: Bili ape

text: As of 2014, a large contiguous population of chimpanzees is now known to occur in the lands along both sides of the Uélé throughout Bas-Uélé District, in a range of habitats. They can be found throughout the region, in the savannahs around Bili and the dense rainforests a few hundred kilometres south. They are adapted to humans and occur within four kilometres of Bili, as well as other neighbouring towns such as Lebo and Zapay, and within thirteen kilometres of large cities such as Buta.


title: Bili ape

text: Primates throughout the Congo are hunted for bushmeat, although less to the north of the Uélé. Beginning in 2007 the Bili area saw an influx of gold miners, prompting concern by Westerners about the animals in the area. Over a 14-month period between September 2007 and November 2008, Hicks and his associates documented 34 chimpanzee young and 31 carcasses for sale in the cities of Buta, Aketi and Bambesa.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: Yamashita's gold, also referred to as the Yamashita treasure, is the name given to the alleged war loot stolen in Southeast Asia by Imperial Japanese forces during World War II and supposedly hidden in caves, tunnels, or underground complexes in different cities in the Philippines. It was named after the Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita, dubbed as "The Tiger of Malaya", who conquered Malaya within 70 days from the British. Though there are accounts that claim the treasure remains hidden in the Philippines and have lured treasure hunters from around the world for over 50 years, its existence has been dismissed by most experts. The rumored treasure was the subject of a complex lawsuit that was filed in a Hawaiian state court in 1988 involving a Filipino treasure hunter, Rogelio Roxas, and the former Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: Prominent among those who have argued for the existence of Yamashita's gold are Sterling Seagrave and his wife Peggy Seagrave, who wrote two books related to the subject: "The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family" (2000) and "Gold Warriors: America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold" (2003). The Seagraves contend that looting, including more than 6000 tonnes of gold, was organized on a massive scale, by both "yakuza" gangsters such as Yoshio Kodama, and the highest levels of Japanese society, including Emperor Hirohito. The Japanese government intended that loot from Southeast Asia would finance Japan's war effort. The Seagraves allege that Hirohito appointed his brother, Prince Yasuhito Chichibu, to head a secret organization named , after a poem that the Emperor Hirohito had written. It is purported that many of those who knew the locations of the loot were killed during the war, or later tried by the Allies for war crimes and executed or incarcerated. Yamashita himself was convicted of war crimes and executed by the United States Army on February 23, 1946, in Los Baños, Laguna, the Philippines.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: According to the Seagraves, numerous Golden Lily vaults were found by Edward Lansdale and Severino Garcia Diaz Santa Romana in caves north of Manila in the high valleys and the ", which was named after Major General William Marquat, was established from Santa Romano and Lansdale's work. Sterling Seagrave alleged that Santa Romana (Santy) tortured Yamashita's driver Major Kojima Kashii to obtain the probable locations of the loot. The Seagraves wrote that Lansdale flew to Tokyo and briefed MacArthur and his Chief of Intelligence Charles Willoughby, later flew to the United States to brief Clark Clifford and returned with Robert Anderson to inspect several caves in Philippines with Douglas MacArthur. More than 170 tunnels and caves were found. Ray Cline believes that both Robert Anderson and Paul Helliwell created 176 "black gold" banking accounts in 42 countries after moving the loot by ship to support future United States operations.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: The stolen property reportedly included many different kinds of valuables looted from banks, depositories, other commercial premises, museums, private homes, and religious buildings. It takes its name from General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who assumed command of the Japanese forces in the Philippines in 1944.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: According to various accounts, the loot was initially concentrated in Singapore, and later transported to the Philippines. The Japanese hoped to ship the treasure from the Philippines to the Japanese Home Islands after the war ended. As the War in the Pacific progressed, United States Navy submarines and Allied warplanes inflicted increasingly heavy sinkings of Japanese merchant shipping. Some of the ships carrying the war booty back to Japan were sunk in combat.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: The Seagraves and a few others have claimed that American military intelligence operatives located much of the loot; they colluded with Hirohito and other senior Japanese figures to conceal its existence, and they used it as "Black Gold" to finance American covert intelligence operations around the world during the Cold War. These rumors have inspired many hopeful treasure hunters, but most experts and Filipino historians say there is no credible evidence behind these claims.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: In 1992, Imelda Marcos claimed without evidence that Yamashita's gold accounted for the bulk of the wealth of her husband, Ferdinand Marcos.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: Many individuals and consortia, both Philippine and foreign, continue to search for treasure sites. A number of accidental deaths, injuries and financial losses incurred by treasure hunters have been reported.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: The National Museum of the Philippines is responsible for the issuance of treasure hunting permits and licenses.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: Rocardo Jose, history professor from the University of the Philippines, has questioned the theory that treasure from mainland Southeast Asia was transported to the Philippines: "By 1943 the Japanese were no longer in control of the seas... It doesn't make sense to bring in something that valuable here when you know it's going to be lost to the Americans anyway. The more rational thing would have been to send it to Taiwan or China."


title: Yamashita's gold

text: Philippines National Historical Institute chairman and historian Ambeth Ocampo commented: "Two of the wealth myths I usually encounter are the Yamashita treasure and gossip that the Cojuangco fortune was founded on a bag of money..." Ocampo also said: "For the past 50 years, many people, both Filipinos and foreigners, have spent their time, money and energy in search of Yamashita's elusive treasure." Professor Ocampo noted "What makes me wonder is that for the past 50 years, despite all the treasure hunters, their maps, oral testimony and sophisticated metal detectors, nobody has found a thing."


title: Yamashita's gold

text: In March 1988, a Filipino treasure hunter named Rogelio Roxas filed a lawsuit in the state of Hawaii against the former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda Marcos for theft and human rights abuses. Roxas claimed that in Baguio in 1961 he met the son of a former member of the Japanese army who mapped for him the location of the legendary Yamashita Treasure. Roxas claimed a second man, who served as Yamashita's interpreter during the World War II, told him of visiting an underground chamber there where stores of gold and silver were kept, and who told of a golden buddha kept at a convent located near the underground chambers. Roxas claimed that within the next few years he formed a group to search for the treasure, and obtained a permit for the purpose from a relative of Ferdinand, Judge Pio Marcos. In 1971, Roxas claimed, he and his group uncovered an enclosed chamber on state lands near Baguio where he found bayonets, samurai swords, radios, and skeletal remains dressed in a Japanese military uniform. Also found in the chamber, Roxas claimed, were a golden-colored Buddha and numerous stacked crates which filled an area approximately 6 feet x 6 feet x 35 feet. He claimed he opened just one of the boxes, and found it packed with gold bullion. He said he took from the chamber the golden Buddha, which he estimated to weigh 1,000 kilograms, and one box with twenty-four gold bars, and hid them in his home. He claimed he resealed the chamber for safekeeping until he could arrange the removal of the remaining boxes, which he suspected were also filled with gold bars. Roxas said he sold seven of the gold bars from the opened box, and sought potential buyers for the golden Buddha. Two individuals representing prospective buyers examined and tested the metal in the Buddha, Roxas said, and reported it was made of solid, 20-carat gold. It was soon after this, Roxas claimed, that President Ferdinand Marcos learned of Roxas' discovery and ordered him arrested, beaten, and the Buddha and remaining gold seized. Roxas alleged that in retaliation to his vocal campaign to reclaim the Buddha and the remainder of the treasure taken from him, Ferdinand continued to have Roxas threatened, beaten, and eventually incarcerated for over a year.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: Following his release, Roxas put his claims against Marcos on hold until Ferdinand lost the presidency in 1986. But in 1988, Roxas and the Golden Budha Corporation, which now held the ownership rights to the treasure Roxas claims was stolen from him, filed suit against Ferdinand and wife Imelda in a Hawaiian state court seeking damages for the theft and the surrounding human rights abuses committed against Roxas. Roxas died on the eve of trial, but prior to his death he gave the deposition testimony that would be later used in evidence. In 1996, the Roxas estate and the Golden Budha Corporation received what was then-largest judgment ever awarded in history, $22 billion, which with interest increased to $40.5 billion. In 1998, the Hawaii Supreme Court held that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that Roxas found the treasure and that Marcos converted it. However, the court reversed the damage award, holding that the $22 billion award of damages for the chamber full of gold was too speculative, as there was no evidence of quantity or quality, and ordered a new hearing on the value of the golden Buddha and 17 bars of gold only. After several more years of legal proceedings, the Golden Budha Corporation obtained a final judgment against Imelda Marcos to the extent of her interest in the Marcos estate in the principal amount of $13,275,848.37 and Roxas’ estate obtained a $6 million judgment on the claim for human right abuse.


title: Yamashita's gold

text: This lawsuit ultimately concluded that Roxas found a treasure, and although the Hawaiian state court was not required to determine whether this particular treasure was the legendary Yamashita’s gold, the testimony relied upon by the court in reaching its conclusion pointed in that direction. Roxas was allegedly following a map from the son of a Japanese soldier; Roxas allegedly relied on tips provided from Yamashita’s interpreter; and Roxas allegedly found samurai swords and the skeletons of dead Japanese soldiers in the treasure chamber. All this led the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal to summarize the allegations leading to Roxas’ final judgment as follows: "The Yamashita Treasure was found by Roxas and stolen from Roxas by Marcos' men."


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism () is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, medicine and material culture. Chinese Buddhism is the largest institutionalized religion in Mainland China. Currently, there are an estimated 185 to 250 million Chinese Buddhists in the People's Republic of China. It is also a major religion in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, as well as among the Chinese Diaspora.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Buddhism was first introduced to China during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE). The translation of a large body of Indian Buddhist scriptures into Chinese and the inclusion of these translations (along with Taoist and Confucian works) into a Chinese Buddhist canon had far-reaching implications for the dissemination of Buddhism throughout the East Asian cultural sphere, including Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Chinese Buddhism also developed various unique traditions of Buddhist thought and practice, including Tiantai, Huayan, Chan Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: From its inception, Chinese Buddhism has been influenced by native Chinese religions and philosophy, especially Confucianism and Taoism, but also Chinese folk religion.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Buddhist missionaries began bringing Buddhism to China during the Han dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE) and the religion was present in China at the beginning of the common era. Buddhist missionaries made use of both the overland Central Asian Silk Road and the Maritime routes. Initially Buddhism was poorly understood and often confused with and mixed with Daoism. The Chinese saw many similarities between the two religions. There was also much criticism leveled at the new foreign religion by the Confucian elites.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: One of the central tasks of the initial missionaries was the translation of Buddhist texts. The first surviving translations of Buddhist texts into Chinese were those of the 2nd century Parthian An Shigao (Ch. ), who worked in the capital of Luoyang. His work was followed by the extensive Mahāyāna translations of the Kushan monk Lokakṣema (Ch. , active c. 164–186 CE) as well as the work of Dharmaraksa (3rd century).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During this early period the Dharmaguptaka school was very influential in establishing Buddhism in China. This resulted in the widespread adoption of the Dharmaguptaka school's Vinaya (monastic rule) by all Chinese Buddhist schools"."


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The arrival of the Kuchan scholar Kumārajīva (334–413 CE) was a key event. Unlike the previous translators, Kumārajīva was supported by the state and given the title of national preceptor. The numerous high quality translations of his translation team had a great impact on Chinese Buddhism. He is also known for introducing the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy, which would later be called Sanlun (the "Three Treatise school"). His work also established a thoroughly Indic foundation for Chinese Buddhist philosophy, which previously had been heavily influenced by Daoist philosophy.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Another important translator of this period was Paramārtha ("Zhēndì", 499-569 CE). Paramārtha along with his team of Chinese disciples translated numerous works on Abhidharma, Yogacara philosophy and other Mahayana texts.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), the monk Xuanzang (602-664) journeyed to India and back, and wrote extensive and detailed reports of his findings, which have subsequently become important for the study of India during this period. Xuanzang also brought back many Buddhist texts and led a translation team which is responsible for many influential Chinese translations of classic Buddhist works. His efforts led to the establishment of the idealistic Yogacara (Consciousness-only) tradition in East Asia.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The Tang era was one of the golden ages of Buddhism in China. During this time, a sinicized Buddhism was widely accepted and practiced throughout the empire at this time, with many monasteries and temples. Buddhism was popular with all social classes and was very influential on Chinese culture. Buddhist themes can be found in much of the literature of this period, such as in the works of famous poets like Wang Wei (701 – 761) and Bo Juyi (772 – 846). The various artistic complexes from this period, such as the Longmen Grottoes also attest to the artistic vibrancy of Chinese Buddhism at this time.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: A famous proponent of Buddhism during the Tang era was empress Wu Zetian (r. 690–705) and she is known for her promotion of the Longmen cave complex. She also depicted herself as a bodhisattva.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The next important event in the history of Chinese Buddhism was the arrival of Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra, and their establishment of Esoteric Buddhism in China from CE 716 to 720 during the reign of emperor Xuanzong. This Chinese form of Vajrayana Buddhism now became popular with the elites and by the time of emperor Tang Daizong (r. 762–779) its influence among the upper classes was significant.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution (841–845) under Emperor Tang Wuzong greatly impacted and weakened the Buddhist institutions in China. Perhaps the main reason for this persecution was the Chinese state's need for tax and wealth.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960/979), an era of great political upheaval and civil war also negatively impacted Chinese Buddhism. Various Chinese Buddhist traditions contracted or died out during this period.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The Song Dynasty (960–1279) saw the flourishing of Chinese Buddhist culture. During the Song, Chan Buddhism grew to become the most influential school with close ties to the imperial government and a highly organized system of temple rank and administration system developed. It was during this time that the classic Five Houses of Chan developed. Many classic Chan texts were written during this era, such as the famed koan collections of the Linji school, like the "Blue Cliff Record" (1125) and "The Gateless Gate" (1228).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Likewise, during this time, the works of Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157) developed the silent sitting method of "silent illumination". Both of these traditions of Chan practice were very influential (and remain so) on East Asian Zen Buddhism (including on Japanese Zen, Korean Seon and Vietnamese Thien).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) patronized Tibetan Buddhism and thus during this period there was a steady growth of this tradition in China. A common perception was that this patronage of lamas caused corrupt forms of tantra to become widespread. When the Yuan dynasty was overthrown and the Ming dynasty was established, the Tibetan lamas were expelled from the court, and this form of Buddhism was denounced as not being an orthodox path.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) there was a revival of the study of native Chinese traditions like Tiantai, Huayan, Yogacara and most monks belonged to the two dominant Chan schools: Linji and Caodong. At this point in its history Chinese Buddhism had also become quite eclectic, drawing from all the main Chinese traditions. An example of this is the figure of Hanshan Deqing, one of the great reformers of Chinese Buddhism. Like many of his contemporaries, he advocated the dual practice of the Chan and Pure Land methods. He also directed practitioners in the use of mantras as well as scripture reading. He was also renowned as a lecturer and commentator and admired for his strict adherence to the precepts.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the imperial court shifted its support to the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Chinese Buddhism suffered much during the various imperial and internal conflicts of the Qing dynasty, especially the devastating Taiping rebellion (December 1850 – August 1864), which saw many temples destroyed and scriptures burned by rebels. This era also saw the arrival of Christian missionaries to China, a right which had been granted to Western powers after the Opium Wars.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During the Republican Period (1912-1949), there were various attempts to reform and modernize Chinese Buddhism and to respond to the various challenges of modernity. The most notable of these reformers were the Humanistic Buddhists like Taixu and Yin Shun. Humanistic Buddhism sought to move away from ritualistic and otherworldly obsessions to embrace more this worldly pursuits like education and charitable work. There was also a revival of Chinese Chan by Hsu Yun and Sheng Yen, as well as a revival of Tiantai Buddhism by Dixian and Tanxu (1875 – 1963).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: After the communist takeover of Mainland China, many Buddhists and monastics followed the Republican exodus to Taiwan. In the latter half of the twentieth century, many new Buddhist temples and organizations were set up by the exiles in Taiwan, including Fo Guang Shan, Dharma Drum Mountain and Tzu Chi. These organizations also became influential back in Mainland China after the end of the Cultural Revolution.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhism suffered extensive repression, persecution and destruction during the Cultural Revolution (from 1966 until Mao Zedong's death in 1976). Maoist propaganda depicted Buddhism as one of the four olds, as a superstitious instrument of the ruling class and as counter-revolutionary. Buddhist Clergy were attacked, disrobed, arrested and sent to camps. Buddhist writings were burned. Buddhist temples, monasteries and art were systematically destroyed and Buddhist lay believers ceased any public displays of their religion.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During the normalization period (Boluan Fanzheng, 1977 to early 80s) led by Deng Xiaoping, a new revival of Chinese Buddhism began to take place. This was a period which saw the restoration of damaged Buddhist temples like Guoqing Temple and Guanghua Temple as well as the return of monastic ordination and Buddhist institutions. Monks like Zhenchan (真禪) and Mengcan (夢參), who were trained in the Chan and Huayan traditions, traveled widely throughout China as well as other countries such as the United States and lectured on both Chan and Huayan teachings. Monks who had fled overseas were also allowed back into the mainland.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During the late 20th century, Chinese Buddhism also became established in some Western countries, especially in the USA. The first Chinese master to teach Westerners in North America was Hsuan Hua, who went on to found the City Of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Chuang Yen Monastery (New York) and Hsi Lai Temple (Los Angeles) are other large Chinese Buddhist temples in the USA.Teaching and Practice


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhism is a sinicized form of Mahāyāna Buddhism which draws on the Chinese Buddhist Canon (大藏經, "Dàzàngjīng", "Great Storage of Scriptures") as well as numerous Chinese traditions. Chinese Buddhism focuses on studying Mahayana sutras and Mahāyāna treatises and draws its main doctrines from these sources. Some of the most important scriptures in Chinese Buddhism include: the "Lotus Sutra", the "Flower Ornament Sutra", the "Vimalakirtī Sutra", the "Nirvana Sutra," and the "Amitābha Sutra".


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: As such, Chinese Buddhism follows the classic Mahāyāna Buddhist worldview, which includes belief in many realms of existence, the existence of many Buddhas and bodhisattvas (菩薩) as well as many other kinds of divine beings, ghosts and so on. Chinese Buddhism also upholds classic Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrines like karma () and rebirth (), the bodhisattva path, and the doctrines of emptiness (空, "kōng"), buddha-nature (佛性, "fóxìng") and the one vehicle (一乘, "yīchéng").


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: When it comes to Buddhist philosophy, Chinese Buddhism contains various doctrinal traditions, the most important being the Tiantai, Huayan, Sanlun and Weishi schools of thought. These different doctrinal traditions developed their own scriptural commentaries and treatises and also various doctrinal classifications (panjiao) which hierarchically ordered the mass of Buddhist scriptures in order to advance their school's hermeneutical worldview. For example, according to master Zhiyi's "eight teachings and five periods" classification, the final and supreme teaching of the Buddha is found in the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra. According to the Huayan masters like Fazang, the Huayan sutra contains the supreme teaching, while the Weishi school held that the Yogacara texts where the "third turning" of the Dharma, and thus the final and ultimate teaching of the Buddha.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhism contains a wide array of religious practices and observances. Ritual and devotional practices are commonly seen as generating karmic merit, which can bring about positive results in this life or the next.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: According to Mario Poceski, for the vast majority of ordinary Chinese Buddhists "prevalent expressions of Buddhist piety were (and still are) channeled via a variety of popular modes of worship and ritual observance." Worship services can include Buddhist devotional practices like offerings to an altar (of items like incense, flowers, food, and candles), ceremonial bowing, and extensive liturgies (including repentance ceremonies, rites for good health, and memorials for dead). According to Chün-fang Yü, the most popular Chinese Buddhist ritual that is most widely performed today is the Great Compassion Repentance associated with Guanyin and the "Great Compassion Dharani".


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Keeping sets of ethical rules, like the classic Buddhist five precepts, are another key part of Buddhist practice. Taking up the ethical precepts in a ceremony, along with taking refuge in the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) is a common way of entering the Buddhist path. Another important set of ethical precepts is the “bodhisattva precepts” of the "Brahmā’s Net Sutra", which are often practiced by both laity and monastics. Acts of charity or social service () are also an important of part of Chinese Buddhist ethics.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Another key part of Chinese Buddhism is engaging in Buddhist meditations such as chanting the Buddhas name (念佛, "niànfó") which is the core practice of Pure Land Buddhism and seated meditation (坐禪", zuò chán"), which is the focus of the Chan tradition. The practice of recitation of the Buddhas name is commonly done in a group setting, sometimes as part of an intensive nianfo recitation retreat, which can last for several days. These retreats might also include chanting sutras, taking of the eight precepts, silent meditation and Dharma lectures.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Textual practices are also commonly practiced by monks and laypersons. These include printing, copying, propagating and reciting Buddhist scriptures, studying Buddhist texts, and attending lectures. Buddhist temples may also have special elements associated with sacred texts, such as lecture halls or dharma halls ( 法堂), libraries and scripture platforms (施法壇), a kind of sacred podium.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Other important Buddhist rituals are those related to death, which is seen as a key moment for Buddhists who want to attain a good rebirth in the pure land of a Buddha (the most popular being Amitabha's pure land). The focus of these rituals is to keep the dying person free of distractions and offer spiritual support (so they can focus their minds on Amitabha Buddha through the repetition of the Buddha's name). It is commonly believed that during these rituals one can experiences auspicious signs like visions of Amitabha and bright lights.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Pilgrimages to well-known monasteries and sites, like the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains (Wǔtái Shān, Éméi Shān, Jǐuhuá Shān, Pǔtuó Shān) are also undertaken by monastics and lay practitioners alike.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Another popular practice is the use of mantras and "dhāraṇī"s, such as the popular "Mahā Karuṇā Dhāraṇī" and the "Cundī Dhāraṇī". Robert Gimello has also observed that in Chinese Buddhist communities, the esoteric practices of Cundī enjoyed popularity among both the common people and the elite.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Various Mahāyāna Buddhist deities are venerated in Chinese Buddhism, most of which are Buddhas (佛 fó) and bodhisattvas (菩薩 púsà). Some of the key figures include:


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhist temples usually include numerous images and statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. They are often ritually carved and installed as part of a consecration ritual that may include chanting and scripture reading. Devotion towards these are a major part of Chinese Buddhism. As Chün-fang Yü writes "people in China worship buddhas and bodhisattvas in rituals, write poems and novels about them, praise them in songs and hymns, and tell stories and stage plays about them. And above all else, they worship the images of these holy beings."


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: According to Mario Poceski, Chinese Buddhist temples generally follow a traditional Chinese palace layout. They "consist of a series of halls and courtyards that are arranged symmetrically around a central axis, which usually runs from north to south. The main hall is typically a large building that is centrally located along the main axis. In larger monasteries or temples, a number of ancillary halls also house the images of lesser Buddhist divinities, giving residents and visitors alike a wide choice of objects of worship and supplication."


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Another common structure is a pagoda which may contain Buddhist relics and statues or images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Buddhist monasticism is an important part of Chinese Buddhism. Chinese Buddhist monastics (both male and female) follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, which is known as the "Four Part Vinaya" ("Sifen lü") in China and has 250 rules for monks and 348 for nuns.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Buddhist monks and nuns perform numerous religious practices and services, including offerings to altars, liturgical services, circumambulating the Buddha hall, preaching the scriptures, Dharma lectures, rituals meals and chanting at mealtime, as well as confession and repentance rituals.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: There have been many different types of monasteries throughout Chinese Buddhist history. There are city monasteries, country monasteries and monasteries deep in the mountains. Some monasteries may be large and rich, with thousands of monastics while others are small with just a few monastics. The most prestigious monasteries have support from rich elites, and the smallest are usually in small villages.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Vegetarianism is widely promoted and practiced in Chinese Buddhism, though not all Chinese Buddhists are necessarily vegetarians. The monastic Vinaya does not require vegetarianism, but the practice is promoted in various Mahayana sutras, like the "Lankavatara Sutra".


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Monastics are often required to be vegetarian and meat is often banned in Buddhist temples and monasteries. Other dietary restrictions may include avoiding eggs, dairy, and certain types of leeks.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Devout laity are also often vegetarian. Some laypersons may practice vegetarian on certain sacred days, during religious retreats or on certain festivals.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Temples and monasteries often have vegetarian dining halls and vegetarian feasts are a common feature of popular celebrations.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: In Chinese Buddhism, lay Buddhist practitioners have traditionally played an important role, and lay practice of Buddhism has had similar tendencies to those of monastic Buddhism in China. Many historical biographies of lay Buddhists are available, which give a clear picture of their practices and role in Chinese Buddhism. In addition to these numerous biographies, there are accounts from Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci which provide extensive and revealing accounts to the degree Buddhism penetrated elite and popular culture in China.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Traditional practices such as meditation, mantra recitation, mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha, asceticism, and vegetarianism were all integrated into the belief systems of ordinary people. It is known from accounts in the Ming Dynasty that lay practitioners often engaged in practices from both the Pure Land and Chan traditions, as well as the study of the Buddhist sūtras. The "Heart Sūtra" and the "Diamond Sūtra" were the most popular, followed by the "Lotus Sūtra" and the "".


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhism may also include influences from Native Chinese Religions, including Confucianism, Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion. This ecumenical attitude and embrace of religious pluralism has been a common feature of Chinese culture since ancient times. For example, Chinese Buddhists may practice qigong, tai chi and gongfu, venerate native Chinese deities (like Guan Yu, Mazu and Monkey King), engage in ancestor veneration, practice traditional Chinese medicine and make use of Feng shui and Chinese talismans. Chinese religions like Taoism and Confucianism were also in turn influenced by Chinese Buddhism.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The ancient idea of the compatibility of the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism) is common in China and is expressed in the phrase "the" "three teachings harmonious as one" (). Chinese Buddhism developed Chinese mythologies and philosophies which incorporated and accommodated Chinese religions. For example, Chinese Buddhist apocryphal texts tell of how Laozi was actually a disciple of the Buddha and also how Confucius was a bodhisattva. Chinese Buddhist thinkers like Guifeng Zongmi argued that all three teachings should be followed and practiced since they all contain important truths (though he also considered Buddhism to reveal the highest truth).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: One such important element of Chinese Buddhism are religious practices focused on one's ancestors, something that is shared in common with other traditional Chinese religions. This can include paying respect to them at various sites and at festivals like the Qingming and Zhong Yuan Festival as well as participating in services to pray for one's deceased ancestors.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The ritual burning of incense (shaoxiang, jingxiang) is another common religious practice in Buddhist spaces derived from traditional Chinese religion. During the Zhou dynasty, the Chinese believed that smoke resulting from burning of sandalwood would act as a bridge between the human world and the spirits. The practice remains a common offering in Chinese Buddhism, which it shared with other Chinese religions.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Another common feature of Chinese religion is multiple religious belonging. As such, Chinese adherents may also practice Buddhism alongside other Chinese religious practices without seeing this as conflicting. According to Mario Poceski:many or even most people who actually come to worship at Buddhist temples are not hardcore believers. A good number of them assume the kinds of fuzzy or hybrid religious identities that are typical of Chinese religiosity; among other things, that can mean that many of them also worship at Daoist temples or shrines associated with popular religion. This is one of the reasons why it is very difficult to arrive at reliable data about the number of “ Buddhists ” in China.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Traditional Chinese Buddhist scholars like Sheng-yen enumerate thirteen Buddhist traditions or schools (Chinese: "zōng"). This list is also found in traditional Japanese Buddhist histories, particularly that of Gyōnen (1240–1321).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Over time, some of these schools survived or were revived as living traditions, while others are now defunct historical traditions or were absorbed into other schools. These "traditions" are not rigid designations and there has always been much intermixing and many temples and communities are influenced by many of these traditions (and also by local Chinese custom and traditional Chinese religions like Daoism). Some traditions may also have numerous sub-schools or sects.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The various Chinese Buddhist traditions are not exclusivist, and are better seen as trends, emphases, schools of thought or "dharma-gates" (法門, fǎmén), instead of as separate sects. Chün-fang Yü quotes a famous saying which describes the harmonious situation in Chinese Buddhism, "Tiantai and Huayan for doctrine, Chan and Pure Land for practice."


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: As Mario Poceski notes, Chinese Buddhism "lacks clear sectarian divisions of the kind we find in other Buddhist traditions". All Chinese monastics follow the same ordination procedures and monastic precepts, and as such there is no rigid separation between "schools" or "sects". While traditions like Chan and Tiantai are understood as distinctive teachings, they are all part of the single Chinese Buddhist tradition which is "characterized by broad - minded acceptance of a variety of styles of discourse, modes of worship, and approaches to spiritual cultivation." Due to Chinese Buddhism's acceptance of diversity, ecumenism and difference, most Chinese Buddhists would not identify themselves as being part of a specific "school". That being said, there are still disagreements and doctrinal debates within the community.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Many of these traditions were also later exported to other East Asian nations, like Japan, Korea and Vietnam.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: According to Sheng-yen, the Chan school is the most popular school in China today, though this is often combined with Pure Land practice as well. Sheng-yen also notes that the Tiāntāi, Huáyán, Three Treatises, Consciousness Only, Vinaya and Esoteric traditions are also present in modern Chinese Buddhism, though to a lesser extent.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: There is also modernist movement called Humanistic Buddhism (人間佛教; "rénjiān fójiào") which emphasizes humanism, charity and other humanitarian practices that help improve social conditions.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: There are many sects and organisations proclaiming a Buddhist identity and pursuit ("fo" or "fu": "awakening", "enlightenment") that are not recognised as legitimate Buddhism by the Chinese Buddhist Association and the government of the People's Republic of China. This group includes:


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: Chinese Buddhists celebrate numerous religious festivals and holidays and these are the most widely attended and popular Chinese Buddhist events.


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: During religious festivals, Chinese people visit temples to take part in rituals, chanting, food, celebrations, parades and to make offerings of prayers, incense, fruits, flowers and donations. On such days they may observe the moral precepts very strictly as well as a full day's vegetarian diet. Some of the most important holidays celebrated by Chinese Buddhists include: Buddha's Birthday (on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month), Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival (on the first and fifteenth days of the first lunar month), and the Ghost Festival (fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month).


title: Chinese Buddhism

text: The following holiday dates given are based on the Chinese calendar system so that 8.4 means the "Eighth day of the fourth month in Chinese calendar" and so on.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 132,000 women who were in the camp during the war includes about 48,500 from Poland, 28,000 from the Soviet Union, almost 24,000 from Germany and Austria, nearly 8,000 from France, and thousands from other countries including a few from the United Kingdom and the United States. More than 20,000 of the total were Jewish, approximately 15%. 85% were from other races and cultures. More than 80% were political prisoners. Many prisoners were employed as slave labor by Siemens & Halske. From 1942 to 1945, the Nazis undertook medical experiments to test the effectiveness of sulfonamides.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: In the spring of 1941, the SS established a small adjacent camp for male inmates, who built and managed the camp's gas chambers in 1944. Of some 130,000 female prisoners who passed through the Ravensbrück camp, about 50,000 perished; some 2,200 were killed in the gas chambers.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Construction of the camp began in November 1938 by the order of the "SS" leader Heinrich Himmler and was unusual in that it was intended exclusively to hold female inmates. Ravensbrück first housed prisoners in May 1939, when the SS moved 900 women from the Lichtenburg concentration camp in Saxony. Eight months after the start of World War II the camp's maximum capacity was already exceeded. It underwent major expansion following the invasion of Poland. By the summer of 1941 with the launch of Operation Barbarossa, an estimated total of 5,000 women were imprisoned, who were fed gradually decreasing hunger rations. By the end of 1942, the inmate population of Ravensbrück had grown to about 10,000. The greatest number of prisoners at one time in Ravensbrück was probably about 45,000.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Between 1939 and 1945, some 130,000 to 132,000 female prisoners passed through the Ravensbrück camp system. According to "Encyclopædia Britannica", about 50,000 of them perished from disease, starvation, overwork and despair; some 2,200 were murdered in the gas chambers. On 29–30 April 1945, some 3,500 prisoners were still alive in the main camp. During the first year of their stay in the camp, from August 1940 to August 1941, roughly 47 women per day died. During the last year of the camp's existence, about 80 inmates died each day from disease or famine-related causes.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Although the inmates came from every country in German-occupied Europe, the largest single national group in the camp were Polish. In the spring of 1941, the SS authorities established a small men's camp adjacent to the main camp. The male inmates built and managed the gas chambers for the camp in 1944.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: There were children in the camp as well. At first, they arrived with mothers who were Romani or Jews incarcerated in the camp or were born to imprisoned women. There were few children early on, including a few Czech children from Lidice in July 1942. Later the children in the camp represented almost all nations of Europe occupied by Germany. Between April and October 1944 their number increased considerably, consisting of two groups. One group was composed of Romani children brought into the camp with their mothers or sisters after the Romani camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau was closed. The other group included mostly children who were brought with Polish mothers sent to Ravensbrück after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Most of these children died of starvation.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Ravensbrück had 70 sub-camps used for slave labour that were spread across an area from the Baltic Sea to Bavaria.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Among the thousands executed at Ravensbrück were four members of the British World War II organization Special Operations Executive (SOE): Denise Bloch, Cecily Lefort, Lilian Rolfe and Violette Szabo. Other victims included the Roman Catholic nun Élise Rivet, Elisabeth de Rothschild (the only member of the Rothschild family to die in the Holocaust), Russian Orthodox nun St. Maria Skobtsova, the 25-year-old French Princess Anne de Bauffremont-Courtenay, Milena Jesenská, lover of Franz Kafka, and Olga Benário, wife of the Brazilian Communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes. The largest single group of women executed at the camp were 200 young Polish members of the Home Army. A number of lesbians were imprisoned and murdered at the camp, including Henny Schermann and Mary Pünjer.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Among the survivors of Ravensbrück was author Corrie ten Boom, arrested with her family for harbouring Jews in their home in Haarlem, the Netherlands. She documented her ordeal alongside her sister Betsie ten Boom in her book "The Hiding Place", which was eventually produced as a motion picture. Polish Countess Karolina Lanckoronska, an art historian and author of "Michelangelo in Ravensbrück", was imprisoned there from 1943 until 1945. SOE agents who survived were Yvonne Baseden and Eileen Nearne, who was a prisoner in 1944 before being transferred to another work camp and escaping. Englishwoman Mary Lindell and American Virginia d'Albert-Lake, both leaders of escape and evasion lines in France, survived. Another SOE agent, Odette Sansom, also survived and is the subject of several biographies documenting her ordeals. Among the Communist survivors of the camp was French Resistance member Louise Magadur.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Ravensbrück survivors who wrote memoirs about their experiences include Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, as well as Germaine Tillion, a Ravensbrück survivor from France who published her own eyewitness account of the camp in 1975. After liberation, Anna Garcin-Mayade, French painter and member of the French Resistance, painted works illustrating prisoners and the terrible conditions of the camps; these were recreations of works she had created while in the camps.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: In 2005, Ravensbrück survivor Judith Sherman published a book of prose and poetry titled "Say the Name". Sherman writes of her childhood home in Kurima, Czechoslovakia, and of several deportations, hiding in homes and in the forest, undergoing torture, and witnessing murder in Ravensbrück before her final liberation. Approximately 500 women from Ravensbrück were transferred to Dachau, where they were assigned as labourers to the Agfa-Commando; the women assembled ignition timing devices for bombs, artillery ammunition, and V-1 and V-2 rockets.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: A male political prisoner, Gustav Noske, stayed in Ravensbrück concentration camp after his arrest by the Gestapo in 1944. Later Noske was freed by advancing Allied troops from a Gestapo prison in Berlin.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Besides the male Nazi administrators, the camp staff included over 150 female SS guards assigned to oversee the prisoners at some point during the camp's operational period. Ravensbrück also served as a training camp for over 4,000 female overseers. The technical term for a female guard in a Nazi camp was an "Aufseherin". The women either stayed in the camp or eventually served in other camps.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Some of these women went on to serve as chief wardresses in other camps. Several dozen block overseers (Blockführerinnen), accompanied by dogs, SS men and whips oversaw the prisoners in their living quarters in Ravensbrück, at roll call and during food distribution. At any single time, a report overseer (Rapportführerin) handled the roll calls and general discipline of the internees. Rosel Laurenzen originally served as head of the labour pool at the camp (Arbeitdienstführerin) along with her assistant Gertrud Schoeber. In 1944 Greta Bösel took over this command. Other high ranking SS women included Christel Jankowsky, Ilse Göritz, Margot Dreschel, and Elisabeth Kammer. Head wardress at the Uckermark death complex of Ravensbrück was Ruth Neudeck (January 1945 – March 1945). Regular Aufseherinnen were not usually granted access to the internees' compound unless they supervised inside work details. Most of the SS women met their prisoner work gangs at the gate each morning and returned them later in the day. The treatment by the SS women in Ravensbrück was normally brutal. Elfriede Muller, an SS Aufseherin in the camp was so harsh that the prisoners nicknamed her "The Beast of Ravensbrück". Other guards in the camp included Hermine Boettcher-Brueckner, Luise Danz, Irma Grese, and Margarethe de Hueber.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: In 1973, the United States government extradited Hermine Braunsteiner for trial in Germany for war crimes. In 2006, they expelled Elfriede Rinkel, an 84-year-old woman who had lived in San Francisco since 1959. It was discovered that she had been a guard at Ravensbrück from 1944 to 1945.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: When a new prisoner arrived at Ravensbrück she was required to wear a colour-coded triangle (a "winkel") that identified her by category, with a letter sewn within the triangle indicating the prisoner's nationality. For example, Polish women wore red triangles, denoting a political prisoner, with a letter "P" (by 1942, Polish women became the largest national component at the camp). Soviet prisoners of war, and German and Austrian Communists, wore red triangles; common criminals wore green triangles; and Jehovah's Witnesses were labelled with lavender triangles. Prostitutes, Romani, homosexuals, and women who refused to marry were lumped together, with black triangles. Jewish women wore yellow triangles but sometimes, unlike the other prisoners, they wore a second triangle for the other categories. For example, quite often it was for "rassenschande" ("racial pollution").


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Some detainees had their hair shaved, such as those from Czechoslovakia and Poland, but other transports did not. In 1943, for instance, a group of Norwegian women came to the camp (Norwegians/Scandinavians were ranked by the Nazis as the purest of all Aryans). None of them had their hair shaved.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Between 1942 and 1943, almost all Jewish women from the Ravensbrück camp were sent to Auschwitz in several transports, following Nazi policy to make Germany "Judenrein" (cleansed of Jews). Based on the Nazis' incomplete transport list ("Zugangsliste"), documenting 25,028 names of women sent by Nazis to the camp, it is estimated that the Ravensbrück prisoner population's ethnic structure comprised: Poles 24.9%, Germans 19.9%, Jews 15.1%, Soviets 15.0%, French 7.3%, Romani 5.4%, other 12.4%. The Gestapo further categorised the inmates as: political 83.54%, anti-social 12.35%, criminal 2.02%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.11%, "rassenschande" (racial defilement) 0.78%, other 0.20%. The list is one of the most important documents, preserved in the last moments of the camp operation by members of the Polish underground girl guides unit "Mury" (The Walls). The rest of the camp documents were burned by escaping SS overseers in pits or in the crematorium.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: One form of resistance was the secret education programmes organised by prisoners for their fellow inmates. All national groups had some sort of programme. The most extensive were among Polish women, wherein various high school-level classes were taught by experienced teachers.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: In 1939 and 1940, camp living conditions were acceptable: laundry and bed linen were changed regularly and the food was adequate, although in the first winter of 1939/40, limitations began to be noticeable. The German Communist, Margarete Buber-Neumann, came to Ravensbrück as an inmate after nearly two years in a Russian Soviet Gulag. She described her first impressions of Ravensbrück in comparison to the Soviet camp in Karaganda:


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: I looked across the great square, and could not believe my eyes. It was surrounded by manicured lawns, covered by flower beds on which bloomed bright red flowers. A wide street, which led to a large open area, was flanked by two rows of wooden barracks, on both sides stood rows of young trees and along the roadside ran straight flower beds as far as the eye could see. The square and the streets seemed freshly raked. To the left towards the watchtower, I saw a white wooden barrack and beside it a large cage, the size of a birdhouse the like you see at a zoo. Within it paraded peacocks ("stolzierten") and on a climbing tree dangled monkeys and a parrot which always screamed the same word, "Mama". I wondered, "this is a concentration camp"?


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Buber-Nuemann wrote how her first meal in Ravensbrück exceeded her expectations, when she was served sweet porridge with dried fruit ("backobst"), plus a generous portion of bread, margarine, and sausage.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Conditions quickly deteriorated. Elsie Maréchal, a young Belgian who worked with the Comet Line, was a prisoner at Ravensbrück from 1943 to 1945. She described the conditions:


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: They didn't shoot the women. We were to die of misery, hunger and exhaustion...when we arrived at Ravensbrück, it was the worst. The first thing I saw was a cart with all the dead piled on it. Their arms and legs hanging out, and mouths and eyes wide open. They reduced us to nothing. We didn't even feel like we had the value of cattle. You worked and you died.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Starting in the summer of 1942, medical experiments were conducted without consent on 86 women; 74 of them were Polish inmates. Two types of experiments were conducted on the Polish political prisoners. The first type tested the efficacy of sulfonamide drugs. These experiments involved deliberate cutting into and infecting of leg bones and muscles with virulent bacteria, cutting nerves, introducing substances like pieces of wood or glass into tissues, and fracturing bones.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: The second set of experiments studied bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration, and the possibility of transplanting bones from one person to another. Out of the 74 Polish victims, called "Kaninchen", "Króliki", "Lapins", or "Rabbits" by the experimenters, five died as a result of the experiments, six with unhealed wounds were executed, and (with assistance from other inmates) the rest survived with permanent physical damage.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Four such survivors—Jadwiga Dzido, Maria Broel-Plater, Władysława Karolewska, and Maria Kuśmierczuk—testified against Nazi doctors at the Doctors' Trial in 1946.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Between 120 and 140 Romani women were sterilized in the camp in January 1945. All had been deceived into signing the consent form, having been told by the camp overseers that the German authorities would release them if they complied.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: All inmates were required to do heavy labor ranging from strenuous outdoor jobs to building the V-2 rocket parts for Siemens. The SS also built several factories near Ravensbrück for the production of textiles and electrical components.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: The women forced to work at Ravensbrück concentration camp's industries used their skills in sewing and their access to the factory to make soldiers' socks. They purposely adjusted the machines to make the fabric thin at the heel and the toes, causing the socks to wear prematurely at those places when the German soldiers marched. This gave the soldiers sore feet.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Ravensbrück was the main supplier of women for the brothels set up at many major Nazi camps toward the end of the war. Although women often volunteered for these positions, hoping they would be spared the most difficult physical labour and perhaps receive better rations, most in fact died quickly due to sexual abuse and the rampant spread of venereal disease.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: For the women in the camp, it was important to retain some of their dignity and sense of humanity. Therefore, they made necklaces, bracelets, and other personal items, like small dolls and books, as keepsakes. These personal effects were of great importance to the women and many of them risked their lives to keep these possessions. Some of these types of effects can be seen at the exhibition "Voices from Ravensbrück" (hosted by Lund University Library, Sweden).


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: The bodies of those killed in the camp were cremated in the nearby Fürstenberg crematorium until 1943 when SS authorities constructed a crematorium at a site near the camp prison. In January 1945, the SS also transformed a hut near the crematorium into a gas chamber, where they murdered several thousand prisoners before the camp's liberation in April 1945; in particular, they executed some 3,600 prisoners from the Uckermark police camp for "deviant" girls and women, which was taken under the control of the Ravensbrück SS at the start of 1945.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: In January 1945, prior to the liberation of the remaining camp survivors, an estimated 45,000 female prisoners and over 5,000 male prisoners remained at Ravensbrück, including children and those transported from satellite camps only for gassing, which was being performed in haste.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: With the Soviet Red Army's rapid approach in the spring of 1945, the SS leadership decided to remove as many prisoners as they could, in order to avoid leaving live witnesses behind who could testify as to what had occurred in the camp. At the end of March, the SS ordered all physically capable women to form a column and exit the camp in the direction of northern Mecklenburg, forcing over 24,500 prisoners on a death march. Some 2,500 ethnic German prisoners remaining were released, and 500 women were handed over to officials of the Swedish and Danish Red Cross shortly after the evacuation. On 30 April 1945, fewer than 3,500 malnourished and sickly prisoners were discovered alive at the camp when it was liberated by the Red Army. The survivors of the death march were liberated in the following hours by a Soviet scout unit.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: The SS guards, female "Aufseherinnen" guards, and former prisoner-functionaries with administrative positions at the camp were arrested at the end of the war by the Allies and tried at the Hamburg Ravensbrück trials from 1946 to 1948. Sixteen of the accused were found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Having fled to Bavaria, Fritz Suhren and were caught by the American troops in 1949 and were sent to the French occupation zone. The trial and appeal took place from February to May 1950. The jury was composed of representatives from the French, Dutch and Luxembourg governments, presided by the chief justice officer of the French zone. Several dozens of former prisoners were subpoenaed. Suhren and Pflaum were accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were sentenced to death and executed on 12 June 1950.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: On the site of the former concentration camp, there is a memorial. In 1954, the sculptor Will Lammert was commissioned to design the memorial site between the crematorium, the camp wall, and Schwedtsee Lake. Up to his death in 1957, the artist created a large number of sculpted models of women.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: On 12 September 1959, the Ravensbrück National Memorial was inaugurated outside the former concentration camp on an area of 3.5 ha between the former camp wall and the shore of the Schwedtsee Lake. Rosa Thälmann, a former concentration camp inmate and widow of the politician Ernst Thälmann, held the opening speech. Compared to Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, it was the smallest of the three National Memorials of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: For the inaugural opening of the National Memorial site, a scaled-up version of "Tragende" ("Woman with Burden") was created (under the supervision of Fritz Cremer) and exhibited. This central symbolic figure, also known as the ""Pietà" of Ravensbrück", stands atop a stele on the peninsula in Lake Schwedtsee. The "Zwei Stehende" ("Two Women Standing") monument also has its origins in Lammert's models. Other statues, which were also originally created for Ravensbrück, have been on display at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Berlin Mitte since 1985, in commemoration of the Jewish victims of fascism.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Since 1984, the former SS headquarters have housed the "Museum des antifaschistischen Widerstandskampfes" (Museum of Anti-fascist Resistance). After the withdrawal from Germany of the Soviet Army, which up to 1993 had been using parts of the former camp for military purposes, it became possible to incorporate more areas of the camp into the memorial site.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: The three National Memorials Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrück played a central role in the GDR's remembrance policy under Erich Honecker. They were controlled by the Ministry of Culture and served as places of identification and legitimisation of the GDR. According to historian Anne-Kathleen Tillack-Graf the political instrumentalisation of these memorials, especially for the current needs of the GDR, became particularly clear during the major celebrations of the liberation of the concentration camps.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Today, the former accommodation blocks for the female guards are a youth hostel and youth meeting center. In the course of the reorganization, which took place in the early 1990s, the "Museum des antifaschistischen Widerstandskampfes" was replaced by two new permanent exhibitions: "Women of Ravensbrück", which displays the biographies of 27 former prisoners, and "Ravensbrück. Topography and History of the Women's Concentration Camp", which provides information about the origins of the camp, describes daily life in the camp, and explains the principle of "Vernichtung durch Arbeit" (extermination through work). Since 2004 there has also been an exhibition about the female guards at the Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp, housed in another of their former accommodation blocks. Additionally, temporary exhibitions of special interest are held regularly at the memorial.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: On 16 and 17 April 2005, a ceremony was held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the camp's liberation. Among those invited were approximately 600 survivors from all over the world, mostly eastern Europe. At the same time a new, permanent outdoor exhibition was opened, on the theme of the train transports to Ravensbrück. Its central exhibit is a refurbished goods wagon. The exhibition's information boards describe the origins of the transports and how they developed over time and explain the different types of trains, where they arrived, and the part played by the local residents. It is probably the only exhibition so far at a German memorial which is dedicated solely to the subject of the transports to the camp.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: A monument to the French victims of Ravensbruck is one of the memorials to several concentration camps in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Ravensbrück did not have its own burial site, so most of the bodies were kept nearby at the site of their cremation. In 2019, the archaeological remains of Polish women were found in the Fürstenberg cemetery. Nine urns and two plaques were discovered. Their ashes were found buried with metal plaques that had once been part of their urns. The urns had since broken down in the soil but the plaques still have the identities of those who were buried there. Previously in 1989, a mass grave was found by the cemetery accidentally. In more recent excavations, archaeologists have found human body parts that were never fully burned in cremation. Ravensbrück archaeology is hard to come by from the actual site itself, as most of its artifacts escaped with its survivors.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Many of these artifacts were lost once some of the survivors reached Sweden. Survivors kept them hidden in the waistbands and hems of their clothes. As the women were being cleaned, their clothes were burned. While the women showed hesitation in getting rid of their clothes, no one voiced why they were upset about it. They didn't yet trust the people taking care of them after all they had endured. Karin Landgren Blomqvist helped the survivors but regrets this detail:The clothes one was to take care of proved to be dirty rags, infested with lice, which were according to Swedish standards too worn down to be worth cleaning. The consequence was that it was all burned. Many survivors protested, but few dared to say why. They dared not believe we were fully without German influence. We had been too naïve and unsuspecting. Inseams, hems, and waistbands, many had with great effort and danger for life during internment in camp managed to save personal souvenirs and treasures. Now, when liberation was a fact, they lost these very last objects from their original lives. These were things secretly made in the camp. Prisoners could be punished if caught but many disregarded camp rules and continued to make art in secret, such as dolls for orphaned or lost children. Chances were not good for children at Ravensbrück. Many lost their mothers, and as a result lost what little protection they did have. Many were medically experimented on or killed. Children on their own would not survive in the camp but women would step forward and behave as surrogate/adoptive mothers, making dolls and taking care of them.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: The creation of art or personal belongings in the camp was strictly prohibited. Despite this, there are still artifacts found today that display resistance. A sprig of the lily of the valley is a prime example. While only a piece of plastic, if caught could be considered an act of "sabotage" and largely punishable. In an interview done just after liberation in Sweden, Interview 420 describes: "The smallest infractions were elevated to the level of 'sabotage', which brought the highest possible sentences: whipping, the bunker, and even execution by shooting. For making toe-warmers with camp wool for her stockings in the winter, a prisoner would get 25 blows and two weeks in the bunker". Many of the items were made of spare bits of plastic, wood, or cloth.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: In 2017, 27 secret letters were gifted to the Museum of Martyrology in Lublin. These letters describe the camp in detail, including the doctors practicing medical experimentation. Concealed in the sofa of Krystyna Czyż, they spent decades hidden away until their donation. In September 1941, sisters Janina and Krystyna Iwańska, Wanda Wójtasik, and Krystyna Czyż were sent to Ravensbrück for their assistance of the Polish Underground. In 1942, medical experimentation was introduced and began with a group of 86 women, including the four letter-writers. As detailed in the letters, their legs were sliced open with glass or wood before the doctors introduced bacteria and test medicine. If the wounds did not heal, they later found out that it would result in execution. The four survived and lived to write the letters.


title: Ravensbrück concentration camp

text: Once a month, prisoners were allowed to write letters to their families. These messages were monitored by the guards. The women wrote a message in visible ink, and then in between the lines, they wrote in their own urine. This worked as a version of invisible ink. When held over a heat source or ironed, the message would appear. Cyż communicated this with her brother by referring to a children's book. It instructed him to look for a message using the first letter of every line. It spelled out: "list modem" which translates to "letter in urine". From there the women delivered intelligence about the medical experiments. In 1943, one of the many letters read "Further details of operations. Up to 16 January 1943, 70 people in total have been operated on. From this, 56 from the Lublin September transport, of which 36 were infection operations (without incision), 20 bone operations. ... In bone operations, each cut is reopened. Bones are operated on both legs or just one." and "We are worried that they will want to get rid of the ones who have been operated on as living proof. Bear in mind that in the course of 20 months about a quarter of all the Polish women from political transports have been shot. On 30 April, five more were shot under the guise of being sent to Oświęcim." Not only did they detail medical experiments but brothel work as well. These letters and their information made their way into the Polish Underground, the International Red Cross, the Vatican, and the Polish government-in-exile in London. Eventually, these letters would be used as evidence for the trials. These artifacts give records and witness accounts from Ravensbrück and are now being preserved.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: 3 Days to Kill is a 2014 action thriller film directed by McG and written by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak. It stars Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen, Richard Sammel, and Eriq Ebouaney. It was released on 21 February 2014, received mixed reviews, and grossed $52.6 million against its $28 million budget.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: American CIA agent Ethan Renner works with a team to capture the Albino, the lieutenant to an arms trafficker (called the Wolf) who is selling a dirty bomb to terrorists in a hotel in Belgrade. The Albino deduces the trap when he recognizes one of Renner's fellow agents (disguised as a chambermaid), whom he kills. Renner, suddenly dizzy as he pursues The Albino, only manages to cripple him by shooting him in the leg, then blacks out, allowing the Albino to escape. Meanwhile, elite CIA assassin Vivi Delay, a "Top Shelf agent", has been personally assigned by the Director to kill the Wolf. Vivi monitors the operation and suspects Renner has unknowingly seen the Wolf.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: Renner is nearly disabled by an extreme cough, which is diagnosed as terminal glioblastoma cancer that has spread to his lungs. He is given only a few months to live, and will not see the next Christmas. For decades he has kept his dangerous career a carefully guarded secret from his wife Christine and daughter Zooey, at the cost of losing them. He decides to spend his remaining time trying to fix his relationship with his estranged daughter, and if possible, his ex-wife. He returns to Paris, where he and his family live separately, to find the Réunion family of Jules is squatting in his apartment. He is told by the police that he is not permitted to evict indigent squatters until after the winter. He makes an awkward reconnection with Christine, and tells her of his terminal illness. She allows him to reconnect with Zooey, and when she has to go out of the country on business, she agrees to let him look after Zooey.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: Vivi recruits him to find and kill the Wolf, in exchange for an experimental drug that could extend his life significantly. Renner reluctantly accepts, to get more time with his family. Vivi tells him the way to trap the Wolf is by getting the Albino, in turn by getting his accountant, in turn by kidnapping the gang's limousine driver. All the while Renner is fighting the hallucinogenic effect of the medicine, which occurs whenever his heart rate goes too high, and which he can only control by consuming alcohol. He must also deal with Zooey's school problems, including her habit of lying so she can sneak out partying. He manages to keep her out of trouble, and slowly reestablishes a father relationship with her, which impresses his wife.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: He tracks the Wolf and the Albino into the subway, but they gain the upper hand when he is disabled by the hallucinations. The Albino attempts to kill him by pushing him in front of an oncoming train, but Renner manages to push the Albino on the track instead. The Wolf escapes, then contacts a business partner who can help him to flee the country.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: The family is invited to a party thrown by Zooey's boyfriend's father, who happens to be the Wolf's business partner. Renner manages to protect Christine and Zooey, kill all the Wolf's men, and trap the Wolf in an elevator before breaking the cables, causing the cabin to free-fall to the ground. The Wolf survives, severely injured, but Renner is again disabled and, also feeling guilty for all the damage his work has done to his family, he's suddenly unable to pull the trigger, and drops his gun where the Wolf can get it. Vivi intervenes and kicks the gun back to Renner, telling him to finish the job and kill the Wolf, but he decides not to, because "I promised my wife I'd quit." Vivi then kills the Wolf.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: At last retired, Renner survives to Christmas, which he is spending at a beach house with Zooey and Christine. He discovers a small, red wrapped gift package, which contains another vial of the cancer medicine. Vivi is seen on a hill behind the house smiling as Renner opens the package.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: On 7 August 2012, "Deadline" reported that Kevin Costner had been offered the role of Ethan Renner, a government assassin in the McG-directed film. The film, set in France, was scripted by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, with EuropaCorp having produced while Relativity Media has North American rights. On 2 October 2012, it was confirmed that actor Costner had closed the deal to star as lead in the film. On 29 November 2012, Hailee Steinfeld joined the cast of the film as the female lead, and the film began production in early 2013. On 13 December, Amber Heard also joined the cast. Later, on 7 January 2013, Connie Nielsen was added to the cast.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: On 7 January 2013, crews were filming scenes in Paris and Belgrade, and shooting wrapped in April. Some scenes in Paris were filmed in the studios and in the central nave of the Cité du Cinéma, founded by Luc Besson in Saint-Denis. Scenes in Belgrade were filmed in front of Hotel Jugoslavija.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: On 31 January 2013, photos from the set of the film were released. In November 2013, stills from the film were released. On 17 December 2013, the studio released the first trailer and the poster for the film. On 30 January 2014, Relativity released a new Super Bowl 2014 spot.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: On 28 May 2013, Relativity set a release date of 14 February 2014 for the film. Later, on 30 October, the film's date was shifted back a week, to 21 February 2014.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: , "3 Days to Kill" holds a 28% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 119 reviews with an average rating of 4.38/10. The site's consensus states: ""3 Days to Kill" uneasily mixes technically accomplished action sequences with an underdeveloped family conflict." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews" from critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: Geoff Berkshire of "Variety" wrote: "The lukewarm family dynamics sit awkwardly alongside equally underwhelming action sequences."


title: 3 Days to Kill

text: "3 Days to Kill" grossed $12,242,218 in its opening weekend across 2872 theaters, finishing in second place behind "The Lego Movie" ($31.3 million). The film grossed a domestic total of $30,697,999 and an international total of $22,562,231, bringing its total gross to $53,260,230.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: Quest for Camelot (released internationally as The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot) is a 1998 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Frederik Du Chau and very loosely based on the 1976 novel "The King's Damosel" by Vera Chapman. It features the voices of Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jaleel White, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, John Gielgud (his final film), Frank Welker and Sarah Rayne. Andrea Corr, Bryan White, Celine Dion and Steve Perry perform the singing voices for Gilsig, Elwes, Seymour and Brosnan.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: In May 1995, the film, initially titled "The Quest for the Holy Grail", was announced to be Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first project, with Bill Kroyer as director. The film went into production later that year, but was delayed when animators were reassigned to help finish "Space Jam" (1996). During the interim, the story was heavily re-tooled, among of which the central focus on the Holy Grail would be replaced with Excalibur. This resulted in creative differences, in which Kroyer was replaced with Du Chau. This was later followed with prominent departures of the animation and management staff. Because of the production troubles, the film's release was delayed by six months, from November 1997 to May 1998. Animation was mostly done in Glendale, California and London, England.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: "Quest for Camelot" was released by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment label on May 15, 1998 in the United States and Canada. It received mixed to negative reviews and was an "expensive flop", grossing $38.1 million against a $40 million budget. One of the songs, "The Prayer", won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, losing to "When You Believe" from "The Prince of Egypt".


title: Quest for Camelot

text: Sir Lionel is a knight of the Round Table who is killed foiling an assassination attempt on King Arthur by the evil lord Ruber. Ruber is then driven off by Excalibur, Arthur's sword. At Lionel's funeral, Arthur tells Lionel's daughter Kayley and his wife Juliana that they will always be welcome at Camelot. Kayley dreams of becoming a Knight, like her father, and trains herself while working on their farm.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: A decade later, Ruber's griffin attacks Camelot, where he steals Excalibur and injures King Arthur. Merlin's pet falcon, Ayden, attacks the griffin, causing it to drop the sword into the Forbidden Forest. The Griffin is driven away by the forest's sentient trees. When Kayley hears news of this she plans to search for Excalibur herself, which displeases her mother. Ruber turns his henchmen into steel men and a henpecked rooster into Bladebeak using a witch's potion to aid him. He attacks the farm and captures Kayley, planning to use her to gain entry to Camelot. After hearing Ruber's plans, Kayley escapes and heads to the forest, pursued by the griffin, steel men and Bladebeak. Garrett, a blind hermit, and Ayden, save her. They decide to search for Excalibur, and Kayley persuades him to let her join the quest.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: They meet a wisecracking two-headed dragon named Devon and Cornwall, whose two heads can't stand each other and dream of being separated, and can neither fly or breathe fire. They fight off another attack from Ruber and his henchmen, and Devon and Cornwell join their quest. Garrett reveals he was once King Arthur's stable boy, who wanted to be a knight. He was kicked in the head while saving the King's horses from a fire, causing his blindness.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: The next day, they find the belt and scabbard of Excalibur in a giant footprint. Kayley's insistence of distracting Garrett causes him to miss Ayden's signal, and he is injured by one of Ruber's men. Kayley uses the sentient trees to trap Ruber and his men, and escorts Garrett into a remote cave where the magic of the forest heals Garrett's wounds. Whilst in the cave, Kayley and Garrett profess their love for each other. The next day, the group goes into a giant cave where a rock-like ogre holds Excalibur, using it as a toothpick. They snatch Excalibur and flee from Ruber in the process.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: They reach the edge of the forest Garrett says he belongs here, not in Camelot, and gives Kayley the Excalibur. Ruber captures Kayley, takes Excalibur and fuses it with his right arm. He imprisons Kayley in the wagon with Juliana. Devon and Cornwall, who witness this, rush to Garrett and convince him to save Kayley. By working together for the first time, Devon and Cornwall are able to fly and breathe fire, and they fly Garrett to Camelot. Bladebeak reconciles with his constantly henpecking hen and frees Kayley from her ropes, and she warns the guards of Ruber's trap, exposing him and his steel men. Garrett, Devon and Cornwall arrive shortly after and come to her aid. Garrett enters the castle while Devon and Cornwall rescue Ayden from the Griffin by breathing fire at the creature, roasting it to death.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: Inside, Kayley and Garrett find Ruber attempting to kill Arthur with Excalibur, gloating about how all-powerful he has become now. They intervene and trick Ruber into returning Excalibur to its stone, causing its magic to disintegrate Ruber, revert the steel men, including Bladebeak, back to normal and temporarily separate Devon and Cornwall, but they decide to end up back together again. Later, with Camelot restored to its former glory, Kayley and Garrett marry and both become Knights of the Round Table. The movie ends with the newlyweds riding off into the distance together on their horse.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: In May 1995, "The Quest for the Grail" was Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first announced project. Bill Kroyer and Frederik Du Chau were announced as the directors, with Sue Kroyer serving as co-producer. The initial story centered around a young female character named Susannah who embarks on a dangerous quest for the Holy Grail to save her sister from a ruthless and powerful knight. The film was put into production before the story was finalized. However, during the fall of 1995, the animators were reassigned to finish "Space Jam" (1996). Meanwhile, in April 1996, Christopher Reeve was cast as King Arthur. During the interim, several story changes were made that resulted in creative differences between the Kroyers and the studio management. In particular, the Holy Grail was replaced with Excalibur, in which Warner Bros. Feature Animation president Max Howard felt better reflected the film's setting: "The symbol of Camelot is the power of Excalibur, and that became a more interesting theme: Whoever held the sword, held the power." By the middle of 1996, the Kroyers were allegedly fired by Howard, who later moved on to developing another project at Warner Bros. Feature Animation.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: Following the departure of the Kroyers, two supervising animators along with several employees in the studio's art department subsequently left the project. The film's initial producer, Frank Gladstone, left the project in February 1997 and was replaced with Dalisa Cohen. Effects supervisor Michel Gagné recalled that "People were giving up. The head of layout was kicked out, the head of background, the executive producer, the producer, the director, the associate producer—all the heads rolled. It's kind of a hard environment to work in." Eventually, Du Chau was promoted to be the film's director. Meanwhile, Reeve was replaced by Pierce Brosnan when he became unavailable to record new dialogue.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: In an article in "Animation Magazine", Chrystal Klabunde, the leading animator of Garrett, stated, "It was top heavy. All the executives were happily running around and playing executive, getting corner offices—but very few of them had any concept about animation at all, about doing an animated film. It never occurred to anybody at the top that they had to start from the bottom and build that up. The problems were really coming at the inexperience of everyone involved. Those were people from Disney that had the idea that you just said, 'Do it,' and it gets done. It never occurred to them that it got done because Disney had an infrastructure in place, working like clockwork. We didn't have that." Reportedly, "cost overruns and production nightmares" led the studio to "reconsider their commitment to feature animation." Filmmaker Brad Bird (who helmed "The Iron Giant", Warner Bros.' next animated film) thought that micromanaging, which he said had worked well for Disney but not for Warner Bros., had been part of the problem.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: The film was mainly animated at the main Warner Bros. Feature Animation facility located in Glendale, California and London, England. In January 1996, the London animation studio was opened where more than 50 animators were expected to animate 20 minutes of animation, which would be sent back to Glendale to be inked-and-painted. Additional studios that worked on the film included Yowza! Animation in Toronto, Ontario, where they assisted in clean-up animation, Heart of Texas Productions in Austin, and A. Film A/S in Copenhagen where, along with London, about a quarter of the film was animated overseas. The supervising animators were Athanassios Vakalis for Kayley, Chrystal Klabunde for Garrett, Cynthia Overman for Juliana, Alexander Williams for Ruber, Dan Wagner for Devon and Cornwall, Stephan Franck for the Griffin and Bladebeak, and Mike Nguyen for Ayden.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: To create the rock-like ogre and other computer-generated effects, the production team used Silicon Graphics' Alias Research software. According to Katherine Percy, the head of CGI effects, the software was originally designed for special effects used in live-action films.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: On January 31, 1996, Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster were attached to compose several songs for the film. The album peaked at #117 on the "Billboard" 200, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Prayer". The song was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, though it lost to "When You Believe" from DreamWorks' "The Prince of Egypt".


title: Quest for Camelot

text: On the soundtrack, "The Prayer" was performed separately by Celine Dion in English, and by Andrea Bocelli in Italian. The now better-known Dion-Bocelli duet in both languages first appeared in October 1998 on Dion's Christmas album "These Are Special Times"; it was also released as a single in March 1999 and on Bocelli's album "Sogno" in April 1999.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: "Looking Through Your Eyes" was the lead single for the soundtrack. Other original songs composed for the film include "United We Stand", "On My Father's Wings", "Ruber", "I Stand Alone", and "If I Didn't Have You". The soundtrack also includes pop versions of "Looking Through Your Eyes" and "I Stand Alone" performed by LeAnn Rimes and Steve Perry, respectively.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: The film was originally slated for November 14, 1997, but was pushed to May 15, 1998, to give the production team more time to finish the film.


title: Quest for Camelot

text: The film was accompanied with a marketing campaign with promotional licensees including Tyson Foods, Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Kodak, Act II Popcorn, and Kenner Products. The fast food restaurant Wendy's had toys based on the characters included in a Happy Meal, while Kodak had print advertisements on over 200 million photo processing envelopes. Warner Bros. also partnered with Scholastic to produce children's books based on the film.