title: F for Fake

text: The film opens with Welles performing magic tricks for some children while Kodar watches nearby. Welles quotes Robert-Houdin to the effect that a magician is just an actor. Welles promises that for the next hour everything in the film will be based on solid fact. Kodar is then shown strolling around a street in a miniskirt while being ogled by the men on the street. Welles reveals the footage is taken from another experiment about girl-watching, where Kodar deliberately drew attention to herself and the men were unaware they were being filmed. Welles says her story will continue later in the film, and then narrates the story of Elmyr de Hory, an art forger who sold many fake paintings to museums and collectors all over the world. De Hory is shown throwing a dinner party at his home in Ibiza and being feted by European society, although he dances around the question of whether he is guilty or not. One of those filmed is Clifford Irving, who had published a biography of de Hory called "Fake", and was later revealed to have been the forger of a fake "authorized biography" of Howard Hughes. Welles discusses the irony of Irving commenting on de Hory's forgery while having committed a version of it himself (Welles states his belief that Irving must have been in the process of working on the hoax at the time he was filmed for the de Hory project). Irving and de Hory tell about the art dealers who were fooled by the forgeries, and Welles considers the question whether this means art dealers and appraisers are fake also.


title: F for Fake

text: Welles presents more of Irving's story of having had secret contact with Hughes, and the odd stories of Hughes's behavior that may or may not have been true. He wonders if believing such stories makes a person credulous or not, and questions the true wisdom of so-called experts, who verified Irving's forgery as authentic. Reichenbach is shown telling how de Hory provided him with several paintings of questionable authenticity, but the art dealers he gave them to were willfully blind to it. Welles notes that de Hory does not even own the house he lives in; it is provided for him by an art dealer. Welles recounts his own past use of fakery: how he got a job in Ireland by falsely claiming to be a famous New York actor, and how his broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" made deliberate use of fake news to enhance the story. He also notes the coincidence that his first film "Citizen Kane" was originally going to be a fictionalized version of Howard Hughes.


title: F for Fake

text: Irving describes how de Hory was nearly destitute when younger and subsisted in America by making and selling forgeries that were indistinguishable from the real works, while remaining one step ahead of the law through frequent relocations. He finally moved to Ibiza, but was not prosecuted for lack of witnesses to the actual forging, as well as the scandal that might be aroused by revealing the depth of the art market's complicity in the deception. de Hory insists he never signed any forgery, and Welles wonders whether, given the fact that all art eventually falls away to ruin, a signature truly matters to any art work. He illustrates the point by shots of the cathedral of Chartres, pointing out that the names of the men who created the magnificent building and the sculptures which adorn it are unknown. They did not sign their work, but it has endured.


title: F for Fake

text: Welles finally presents Kodar's story: she holidayed in the same village as Picasso, who noticed her and painted 22 pieces with her as the model. She insisted she be allowed to keep the paintings, but later when Picasso read about an acclaimed exhibit of 22 new pieces of his, he flew there in a rage, only to discover the pieces were all forgeries. Kodar took Picasso to her grandfather, the forger. In a verbal re-enactment by Welles (grandfather) and Kodar (Picasso), the forger defended his work with pride, saying he invented a new Picasso period. The grandfather suggests that the forgeries go un-reported, to allow him an artistic legacy that Picasso already has. Picasso angrily demanded the paintings back, which is impossible because the grandfather had burned them. Welles then confesses that he had promised everything in the "next hour" was true, and that hour had already passed. He admits the entire story of Kodar, her grandfather, and Picasso was made up. He apologizes, quotes Picasso's statement that art is a lie that makes us see the truth, and bids the audience good evening.


title: F for Fake

text: Orson Welles was hired to edit a documentary by François Reichenbach about the art forger Elmyr de Hory. The film grew over time to encompass de Hory, as well as de Hory's biographer Clifford Irving, who was revealed to be a forger himself. Keith Woodward explains: "following Irving’s hoax, Welles and his cinematographer, Gary Graver, shifted gears, scrambling to keep up with the Hughes affair, adding new shots, re-thinking the narrative, re-editing, re-combining different themes, incorporating emerging material." Welles used these circumstances to produce a meditation on the nature of fakery, which he called " a new kind of movie … it’s a form, in other words, the essay, the personal essay, as opposed to the documentary."


title: F for Fake

text: Several storylines are presented in the film, including those of de Hory, Irving, Welles, Howard Hughes and Kodar. About de Hory, we learn that he was a struggling artist who turned to forgery out of desperation, only to see the greater share of the profits from his deceptions go to doubly unscrupulous art dealers. As partial compensation for that injustice, he is maintained in a villa in Ibiza by one of his dealers. What is only hinted at in Welles's documentary is that de Hory had recently served a two-month sentence in a Spanish prison for homosexuality and consorting with criminals. (de Hory would commit suicide two years after the initial release of Welles's film, on hearing that Spain had agreed to turn him over to the French authorities.)


title: F for Fake

text: Irving's original part in "F for Fake" was as de Hory's biographer, but his part grew unexpectedly at some point during production. There has not always been agreement among commentators over just how that production unfolded, but the now-accepted story is that the director François Reichenbach shot a documentary about de Hory and Irving before giving his footage to Welles, who then shot additional footage with Reichenbach as his cinematographer.


title: F for Fake

text: In the time between the shooting of Reichenbach's documentary and the finishing of Welles's, it became known that Irving had perpetrated a hoax of his own, namely a fabricated "authorized biography" of Howard Hughes (the hoax was later fictionalized in "The Hoax"). This discovery prompted the shooting of still more footage, which then got woven into "F for Fake". Interweaving the narratives even more, there are several pieces of footage in the film showing Welles at a party with De Hory, and, at one point, De Hory even signs a painting with a forgery of Welles's signature. Some of Hughes's career is outlined in the form of a parody of the "News on the March" sequence in "Citizen Kane". Welles also draws parallels between the De Hory and Irving hoaxes and his own brush with early notoriety by including a recreation of part of his 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio drama, which had simulated a newscast about a Martian invasion and sparked panic among some listeners.


title: F for Fake

text: The story about Kodar, her grandfather, and Picasso and some forger paintings that the grandfather supposedly made is presented at the end of the film before Welles reminds the viewer that he only promised to tell the truth for an hour and that "for the last 17 minutes, I've been lying my head off." In the commentary to the Criterion Collection DVD release of "F for Fake", Kodar claims the idea for this segment as her own. She also claims credit for the movie's opening sequence, which consists of shots of a miniskirt-clad Kodar walking down streets while rubbernecking male admirers (unaware that they are being filmed) stop and openly stare. This sequence is described by Kodar as inspired by her feminism; in his narration, Welles claims the footage was originally shot for an unrelated production.


title: F for Fake

text: "F for Fake" was not released in the USA until 1976. When it finally came out, Welles produced a preview "trailer" for it, which was effectively a wholly original 9-minute film, shot and edited in a similar style to the film itself. Apart from some very brief split-second camera shots, the entire film is a self-contained short containing original material starring Welles, Gary Graver and Oja Kodar. The trailer raises new questions about key people in the main film - Picasso, Kodar, Elmyr, and others. These allegations are supposedly revealed in the main film. They include a wig, Oja Kodar's fake name, her tiger (not shown in the film at all), and extraterrestrial sponsors of Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast. The trailer has subsequently been restored in colour, and is included as an extra on some DVD versions of the film.


title: F for Fake

text: "F for Fake" faced widespread popular rejection. Critical reaction ranged from praise to confusion and hostility, with many finding the work to be self-indulgent or incoherent. "F for Fake" has grown somewhat in stature over the years. The film embraces ideas from the self-conscious notation of the film process to the ironic employment of 1950s-era B movie footage ("Earth vs. the Flying Saucers"). Welles thought he was creating a new form of cinema. When writer Jonathan Rosenbaum asked Welles if he was creating a documentary, he replied, “No, not a documentary — a new kind of film."


title: F for Fake

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7.79/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "F for Fake playfully poses intriguing questions while proving that even Orson Welles' minor works contain their share of masterful moments." In July 2021, the film was shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.


title: F for Fake

text: Author Robert Anton Wilson, a great fan of the film, argued in "" that the film was itself largely an intentional effort at fakery by Welles in support of the film's themes. Most directly, Wilson reports that in the BBC documentary "Orson Welles: Stories of a Life in Film", Welles stated that "everything in that film was a trick." Secondly, many of the interviews in the film were with people who were themselves directly involved with forgery in one way or another, often making statements that would have been known by the filmmakers to be false, but which were allowed to pass without comment in the film. Similarly, Welles himself made numerous false statements about Oja Kodar in the film. Finally, Wilson points out several scenes which, while presented in a way that implies they were filmed in real time, were upon further inspection clearly fabricated from unrelated pieces of footage in a way guaranteed to mislead the casual viewer. An example of this appears with a series of near-wordless shots of Irving and de Hory seemingly in debate as to whether de Hory ever signed his forgeries; the shots of Irving and de Hory were in fact taken at different times.


title: F for Fake

text: Welles's autobiographical asides in the film reflect on his 1938 radio adaptation of "The War of the Worlds", which he alleges caused a nationwide panic with its fake news broadcast. In introducing this chapter of his life, Welles declares his uncertainty as to his own authenticity, as he believes he too has engaged in fraud. While the basic facts of "The War of the Worlds" incident are correctly given, the apparent excerpts from the play featured in the movie are fabrications, including a scene in which President Roosevelt meets the Martian invaders—something which did not happen in the original broadcast.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition is a 2005 American picture book for children, written by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell and illustrated by Coë Steinwart. The book tells a Christmas-themed story, written in rhyme, that explains how Santa Claus knows who is naughty and nice. It describes elves visiting children from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, after which they return to the North Pole until the next holiday season. "The Elf on the Shelf" comes in a keepsake box that features a hardbound picture book and a small scout elf. The story was inspired by a family tradition started by Carol Aebersold for her twin daughters, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts, in Georgia.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: The book tells the story of a scout elf who hides in people's homes to watch over events. Once everyone goes to bed, the scout elf flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa the activities, good and bad, that have taken place throughout the day. Before the family wakes up each morning, the scout elf flies back from the North Pole and hides. By hiding in a new spot around the house each morning, the scout elf plays an ongoing game of hide and seek with the family.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: "The Elf on the Shelf" explains that scout elves get their magic by being named and loved by a child. In the back of each book, families have an opportunity to write their elf's name and the date that they adopted it. Once the elf is named, the scout elf receives its special Christmas magic, which allows it to fly to and from the North Pole.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: The book tells how the magic might disappear if the scout elf is touched, so the rule in the book states, "There's only one rule that you have to follow, so I will come back and be here tomorrow: Please do not touch me. My magic might go, and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know." Although families are told not to touch their scout elf, they can speak to it and tell it all their Christmas wishes, so that it can report back to Santa accurately.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: The story ends on Christmas Day, with the elf leaving to stay with Santa for the rest of the year, until the following Christmas season.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: "The Elf on the Shelf" was written in 2004 by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell. Bell suggested they write a book about an old tradition of an elf sent from Santa who came to watch over children at Christmas time. Aebersold's other daughter, Christa Pitts, was recruited by the family to share her expertise in sales and marketing. Together, the trio devoted the next three years to promoting their self-published book and attending book signings and trade shows.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: "The Elf on the Shelf" won the Best Toy Award by Learning Express, a Book of the Year Award from Creative Child Awards, and a National Best Books Award sponsored by USA Book News in 2008.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: On November 26, 2011, a thirty-minute animated special, titled "An Elf's Story: The Elf on the Shelf", directed by Chad Eikhoff, aired on CBS. "The Washington Post" criticized the quality of the animation and dismissed it as "just a half-hour advertisement for a book and a toy", which it felt would not join "the canon of prime-time animated Christmas specials that actually move the spirit". Common Sense Media disagreed, calling the special "a great addition to families' holiday TV traditions". However, they also warned parents about the consumer-driven nature of the story, and made note of its lack of educational value.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: In 2012, "The Elf on the Shelf" made its first appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, alongside fellow parade newcomers Hello Kitty and Papa Smurf. In 2013, the book hit the No. 1 spot on the "USA Today" bestsellers list. In October 2013, "The Elf on the Shelf: A Birthday Tradition" was released. Written and illustrated by the same team that created the first book, it offers instructions for inviting a scout elf to visit for a child's birthday party and describes how the elf decorates a chair for the child. In April 2014, two supplemental birthday products were released: The Elf on the Shelf Birthday Countdown Game and The Elf on the Shelf Birthday Chair Decoration Kit.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: A Jewish counterpart to Elf on the Shelf has also been designed: Mensch on a Bench, a stuffed toy that looks a bit like a rabbi or a Hasidic Jew. Jewish father Neal Hoffman, a former Hasbro Toys toy marketing executive, raised more than $22,000 using the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to fund the creation of the toy in 2011. "Mensch", in Yiddish, means a person of integrity or honor.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: Cody Decker, the starting left fielder for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, brought the team's mascot, a five-foot version of Mensch on a Bench, with him to Asia from the United States for the World Baseball Classic. Decker said he "tried getting him a first-class ticket. But that didn't fly, so he was put in a duffel bag and checked." The mascot proved to be a big hit. He gets his own locker, sits on Team Israel's bench in the dugout during every game, and sat alongside Decker at a press conference in South Korea. Decker said:


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: He's a mascot, he's a friend, he's a teammate, he's a borderline deity to our team ... He brings a lot to the table ... Every team needs their Jobu. He was ours. He had his own locker, and we even gave him offerings: Manischewitz, gelt, and gefilte fish... He is everywhere and nowhere all at once. His actual location is irrelevant because he exists in higher metaphysical planes. But he's always near.


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: Team Israel Manager Jerry Weinstein said: "He's on the team. Everybody brings something to the team, and certainly The Mensch is a unifying factor for the ball club." Pitcher Gabe Cramer said: "The Mensch on a Bench is...a symbol we can rally around as a team. We are proud to be Jewish, but we know how to make and take a joke, something Jews have a long history of doing. The Mensch is a great way to have fun in the dugout while reminding us of why we're here and who we're representing."


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: "The Atlantic" columnist Kate Tuttle calls The Elf on the Shelf "a marketing juggernaut dressed up as a tradition", whose purpose is "to spy on kids". She argues that one shouldn't "bully [one's] child into thinking that good behavior equals gifts." Writing for "Psychology Today", David Kyle Johnston calls it a "dangerous parental crutch", with much the same reasoning as what he terms the "Santa lie".


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: Many privacy organizations and researchers criticize the product for teaching children that involuntary, non-consensual surveillance is normal. "Washington Post" reviewer Hank Stuever characterized the concept as "just another nannycam in a nanny state obsessed with penal codes". Professor Laura Pinto suggests that it conditions kids to accept the surveillance state and that it communicates to children that "it's okay for other people to spy on you, and you're not entitled to privacy." She argues that, "if you grow up thinking it's cool for the elves to watch me and report back to Santa, well, then it's cool for the NSA to watch me and report back to the government... The rule of play is that kids get to interact with a doll or video game or what have you, but not so with the Elf on the Shelf: The rule is that you don't touch the elf. Think about the message that sends."


title: The Elf on the Shelf

text: Using the elf in public school classrooms has been criticized for making children feel excluded if their families do not celebrate Christmas or Santa Claus.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: Jeff Gutheim (born September 16, 1971) is an American screenwriter, who specializes in the comedy genre.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: Gutheim has penned scripts for Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, New Line Cinema and WWE Studios, including rewrites of "Full of It" (2007) and "Knucklehead" (2010). His latest project is the upcoming six-part BBC One series "Queen of Oz" (2023), starring Catherine Tate as a disgraced member of a fictional British Royal Family sent to rule Australia.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: Gutheim started down the path to becoming a screenwriter quite accidentally. He and his friend since the third grade, Ari Michael Steinbeck, decided to write a screenplay for fun. After finishing their first screenplay, a dark comedy called "Don't Call Unless the Maid Dies" (originally titled "Sand Traps and Eskimo Pies"), a friend of theirs submitted it to his literary agent, Gayla Nethercott. She found their fresh voice inspiring and immediately signed them to her agency, Broder Kurland Webb Agency, which has since merged into ICM Partners.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: They quickly found out that Hollywood agreed with their agent's opinion and they were hired to write "Crash Test Dummy" for New Line Cinema. Soon after that, they sold "Day Traitor" (2000) to Warner Bros. The film was later renamed "Cash Money" and was supposed to tell the story of a nerdy teenager who decides to participate in a little day trading and strikes it rich. Jerry Weintraub was attached to the film as a producer. The following year they sold the script for "Crackerjack" (2001), a comedy about a card shark and a security guy who team up to pull off one of the biggest scams in Las Vegas, to Intermedia Films. All three projects were eventually scrapped.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: In 2002, Gutheim and Steinbeck decided to end their writing partnership. Steinbeck has since started a hedge fund, with Gutheim continuing as a screenwriter.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: In 2005, Gutheim was again hired by New Line Cinema to write the last draft of "Full of It" (2007), a teen comedy starring Ryan Pinkston, Kate Mara, Craig Kilborn and Carmen Electra. In September of the following year he was hired by Paramount Pictures to write the screenplay, "Stitch 'n Bitch", based on the best-selling series of books written by Debbie Stoller.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: In June 2007, Gutheim wrote and went on tour to shoot a series of webisodes centered on the band Fall Out Boy.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: In 2009, Gutheim was hired by WWE Studios to write the final draft of "Knucklehead" (2010), a comedy film starring wrestler Big Show, Mark Feuerstein, Melora Hardin, Dennis Farina and Will Patton.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: In August 2022, the BBC announced that Gutheim had co-written the upcoming six-part comedy series "Queen of Oz" (2023), starring his partner Catherine Tate as the scandalous Princess Georgiana, a disgraced member of a fictional British Royal Family sent to rule Australia. Filming is due to begin at the end of 2022.


title: Jeff Gutheim

text: In early 2019, it was announced that Gutheim had become engaged to English comedian, actress and writer Catherine Tate.


title: Jo Byeong-kyu

text: Cho Byeong-kyu (born April 23, 1996) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series "SKY Castle" (2018–2019), "Hot Stove League" (2019–2020), and "The Uncanny Counter" (2020–2021).


title: Jo Byeong-kyu

text: In February 2021, Cho Byeong-kyu was accused of being a former bully back in his school days, which led to a suspension of his career and investigations being made on the veracity of these allegations. In July 2021, police investigations had concluded that the allegations were fabricated and the accuser had apologised to Cho, who was set to recover his career and in talks to star in a new drama serial.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his "Lives of the Artists" as having "a rare and perfect talent". He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence.


title: Fra Angelico

text: He was known to contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (Brother John of Fiesole) and Fra Giovanni Angelico (Angelic Brother John). In modern Italian he is called Beato Angelico (Blessed Angelic One); the common English name Fra Angelico means the "Angelic friar".


title: Fra Angelico

text: In 1982, Pope John Paul II proclaimed him "blessed" in recognition of the holiness of his life, thereby making the title of "Blessed" official. Fiesole is sometimes misinterpreted as being part of his formal name, but it was merely the name of the town where he took his vows as a Dominican friar, and was used by contemporaries to distinguish him from others who were also known as Fra Giovanni. He is listed in the Roman Martyrology as "Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus"—"Blessed John of Fiesole, surnamed 'the Angelic' ".


title: Fra Angelico

text: Vasari wrote of Fra Angelico that "it is impossible to bestow too much praise on this holy father, who was so humble and modest in all that he did and said and whose pictures were painted with such facility and piety."


title: Fra Angelico

text: Fra Angelico was born Guido di Pietro in the hamlet of Rupecanina in the Tuscan area of Mugello near Fiesole towards the end of the 14th century. Nothing is known of his parents. He was baptized Guido. As a child he was probably known after the Italian fashion as Guidolino ("Little Guido"). The earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from October 17, 1417 when he joined a religious confraternity or guild at the Carmine Church, still under the name of Guido di Pietro. This record reveals that he was already a painter, a fact that is subsequently confirmed by two records of payment to Guido di Pietro in January and February 1418 for work done in the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte. The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, when he is first referred to as Fra Giovanni (Friar John), following the custom of those entering one of the older religious orders of taking a new name. He was a member of the local community at Fiesole, not far from Florence, of the Dominican Order, one of the medieval Orders belonging to a category known as mendicant Orders because they generally lived not from the income of estates but from begging or donations. Fra, a contraction of "frater" (Latin for 'brother'), is a conventional title for a mendicant friar.


title: Fra Angelico

text: According to Vasari, Fra Angelico initially received training as an illuminator, possibly working with his older brother Benedetto who was also a Dominican and an illuminator. The former Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, now a state museum, holds several manuscripts that are thought to be entirely or partly by his hand. The painter Lorenzo Monaco may have contributed to his art training, and the influence of the Sienese school is discernible in his work. He also trained with master Varricho in Milan He had several important charges in the convents he lived in, but this did not limit his art, which very soon became famous. According to Vasari, the first paintings of this artist were an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) of Florence; none such exist there now.


title: Fra Angelico

text: From 1408 to 1418, Fra Angelico was at the Dominican friary of Cortona, where he painted frescoes, now mostly destroyed, in the Dominican Church and may have been assistant to Gherardo Starnina or a follower of his. Between 1418 and 1436 he was at the convent of Fiesole, where he also executed a number of frescoes for the church and the Altarpiece, which was deteriorated but has since been restored. A predella of the Altarpiece remains intact and is conserved in the National Gallery, London, and is a great example of Fra Angelico's ability. It shows Christ in Glory surrounded by more than 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans. In this period he painted some of his masterpieces including a version of "The Madonna of Humility", well preserved and property of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum but on loan to the MNAC of Barcelona, an "Annunciation" along with a "Madonna of the Pomegranate," at the Prado Museum.


title: Fra Angelico

text: In 1436, Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built convent or friary of San Marco in Florence. This was an important move which put him in the centre of artistic activity of the region and brought about the patronage of Cosimo de' Medici, one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority (or "Signoria") and founder of the dynasty that would dominate Florentine politics for much of the Renaissance. Cosimo had a cell reserved for himself at the friary in order that he might retreat from the world.


title: Fra Angelico

text: It was, according to Vasari, at Cosimo's urging that Fra Angelico set about the task of decorating the convent, including the magnificent fresco of the Chapter House, the often-reproduced Annunciation at the top of the stairs leading to the cells, the Maesta (or Coronation of the Madonna) with Saints (cell 9) and the many other devotional frescoes, of smaller format but remarkable luminous quality, depicting aspects of the Life of Christ that adorn the walls of each cell.


title: Fra Angelico

text: In 1439 Fra Angelico completed one of his most famous works, the "San Marco Altarpiece" at Florence. The result was unusual for its time. Images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints were common, but they usually depicted a setting that was clearly heaven-like, in which saints and angels hovered about as divine presences rather than people. But in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory. Paintings such as this, known as Sacred Conversations, were to become the major commissions of Giovanni Bellini, Perugino and Raphael.


title: Fra Angelico

text: In 1445 Pope Eugene IV summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's, later demolished by Pope Paul III. Vasari claims that at this time Fra Angelico was offered the Archbishopric of Florence by Pope Nicholas V, and that he refused it, recommending another friar for the position. The story seems possible and even likely. However, if Vasari's date is correct, then the pope must have been Eugene IV and not Nicholas, who was elected Pope only on 6 March 1447. Moreover, the archbishop in 1446–1459 was the Dominican Antoninus of Florence (Antonio Pierozzi), canonized by Pope Adrian VI in 1523. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in Orvieto with his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, executing works for the Cathedral. Among his other pupils were Zanobi Strozzi.


title: Fra Angelico

text: From 1447 to 1449 Fra Angelico was back at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the Niccoline Chapel for Nicholas V. The scenes from the lives of the two martyred deacons of the Early Christian Church, St. Stephen and St. Lawrence may have been executed wholly or in part by assistants. The small chapel, with its brightly frescoed walls and gold leaf decorations gives the impression of a jewel box. From 1449 until 1452, Fra Angelico returned to his old convent of Fiesole, where he was the Prior.


title: Fra Angelico

text: In 1455, Fra Angelico died while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, perhaps on an order to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Pope John Paul II beatified Fra Angelico on October 3, 1982, and in 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Fra Angelico was working at a time when the style of painting was in a state of change. This process of change had begun a hundred years previous with the works of Giotto and several of his contemporaries, notably Giusto de' Menabuoi, both of whom had created their major works in Padua, although Giotto was trained in Florence by the great Gothic artist, Cimabue, and painted a fresco cycle of St Francis in the Bardi Chapel in the Basilica di Santa Croce. Giotto had many enthusiastic followers, who imitated his style in fresco, some of them, notably the Lorenzetti, achieving great success.


title: Fra Angelico

text: The patrons of these artists were most often monastic establishments or wealthy families endowing a church. Because the paintings often had devotional purpose, the clients tended to be conservative. Frequently, it would seem, the wealthier the client, the more conservative the painting. There was a very good reason for this. The paintings that were commissioned made a statement about the patron. Thus the more gold leaf it displayed, the more it spoke to the patron's glory. The other valuable commodities in the paint-box were lapis lazuli and vermilion. Paint made from these colours did not lend itself to a tonal treatment. The azure blue made of powdered lapis lazuli went on flat, the depth and brilliance of colour being, like the gold leaf, a sign of the patron's ability to provide well. For these reasons, altarpieces are often much more conservatively painted than frescoes, which were often of almost life-sized figures and relied upon a stage-set quality rather than lavish display in order to achieve effect.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Fra Angelico was the contemporary of Gentile da Fabriano. Gentile's altarpiece of the "Adoration of the Magi", 1423, in the Uffizi is regarded as one of the greatest works of the style known as International Gothic. At the time it was painted, another young artist, known as Masaccio, was working on the frescoes for the Brancacci Chapel at the church of the Carmine. Masaccio had fully grasped the implications of the art of Giotto. Few painters in Florence saw his sturdy, lifelike and emotional figures and were not affected by them. His work partner was an older painter, Masolino, of the same generation as Fra Angelico. Masaccio died at 27, leaving the work unfinished.


title: Fra Angelico

text: The works of Fra Angelico reveal elements that are both conservatively Gothic and progressively Renaissance. In the altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin, painted for the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella, are all the elements that a very expensive altarpiece of the 14th century was expected to provide; a precisely tooled gold ground, much azure, and much vermilion. The workmanship of the gilded haloes and gold-edged robes is exquisite and all very Gothic. What makes this a Renaissance painting, as against Gentile da Fabriano's masterpiece, is the solidity, the three-dimensionality and naturalism of the figures and the realistic way in which their garments hang or drape around them. Even though it is clouds these figures stand upon, and not the earth, they do so with weight.


title: Fra Angelico

text: The series of frescoes that Fra Angelico painted for the Dominican friars at San Marcos realise the advancements made by Masaccio and carry them further. Away from the constraints of wealthy clients and the limitations of panel painting, Fra Angelico was able to express his deep reverence for his God and his knowledge and love of humanity. The meditational frescoes in the cells of the convent have a quieting quality about them. They are humble works in simple colours. There is more mauvish-pink than there is red, and the brilliant and expensive blue is almost totally lacking. In its place is dull green and the black and white of Dominican robes. There is nothing lavish, nothing to distract from the spiritual experiences of the humble people who are depicted within the frescoes. Each one has the effect of bringing an incident of the life of Christ into the presence of the viewer. They are like windows into a parallel world. These frescoes remain a powerful witness to the piety of the man who created them.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Vasari relates that Cosimo de' Medici seeing these works, inspired Fra Angelico to create a large Crucifixion scene with many saints for the Chapter House. As with the other frescoes, the wealthy patronage did not influence the Friar's artistic expression with displays of wealth.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Masaccio ventured into perspective with his creation of a realistically painted niche at Santa Maria Novella. Subsequently, Fra Angelico demonstrated an understanding of linear perspective particularly in his Annunciation paintings set inside the sort of arcades that Michelozzo and Brunelleschi created at San’ Marco's and the square in front of it.


title: Fra Angelico

text: When Fra Angelico and his assistants went to the Vatican to decorate the chapel of Pope Nicholas, the artist was again confronted with the need to please the very wealthiest of clients. In consequence, walking into the small chapel is like stepping into a jewel box. The walls are decked with the brilliance of colour and gold that one sees in the most lavish creations of the Gothic painter Simone Martini at the Lower Church of St Francis of Assisi, a hundred years earlier. Yet Fra Angelico has succeeded in creating designs which continue to reveal his own preoccupation with humanity, with humility and with piety. The figures, in their lavish gilded robes, have the sweetness and gentleness for which his works are famous. According to Vasari:


title: Fra Angelico

text: In their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Fra Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist.


title: Fra Angelico

text: It is probable that much of the actual painting was done by his assistants to his design. Both Benozzo Gozzoli and Gentile da Fabriano were highly accomplished painters. Benozzo took his art further towards the fully developed Renaissance style with his expressive and lifelike portraits in his masterpiece depicting the Journey of the Magi, painted in the Medici's private chapel at their palazzo.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Through Fra Angelico's pupil Benozzo Gozzoli's careful portraiture and technical expertise in the art of fresco we see a link to Domenico Ghirlandaio, who in turn painted extensive schemes for the wealthy patrons of Florence, and through Ghirlandaio to his pupil Michelangelo and the High Renaissance.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Apart from the lineal connection, superficially there may seem little to link the humble priest with his sweetly pretty Madonnas and timeless Crucifixions to the dynamic expressions of Michelangelo's larger-than-life creations. But both these artists received their most important commissions from the wealthiest and most powerful of all patrons, the Vatican.


title: Fra Angelico

text: When Michelangelo took up the Sistine Chapel commission, he was working within a space that had already been extensively decorated by other artists. Around the walls the "Life of Christ" and "Life of Moses" were depicted by a range of artists including his teacher Ghirlandaio, Raphael's teacher Perugino and Botticelli. They were works of large scale and exactly the sort of lavish treatment to be expected in a Vatican commission, vying with each other in complexity of design, number of figures, elaboration of detail and skillful use of gold leaf. Above these works stood a row of painted Popes in brilliant brocades and gold tiaras. None of these splendours have any place in the work which Michelangelo created. Michelangelo, when asked by Pope Julius II to ornament the robes of the Apostles in the usual way, responded that they were very poor men.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Within the cells of San’Marco, Fra Angelico had demonstrated that painterly skill and the artist's personal interpretation were sufficient to create memorable works of art, without the expensive trappings of blue and gold. In the use of the unadorned fresco technique, the clear bright pastel colours, the careful arrangement of a few significant figures and the skillful use of expression, motion and gesture, Michelangelo showed himself to be the artistic descendant of Fra Angelico. Frederick Hartt describes Fra Angelico as "prophetic of the mysticism" of painters such as Rembrandt, El Greco and Zurbarán.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Each cell is decorated with a fresco which matches in size and shape the single round-headed window beside it. The frescoes are apparently for contemplative purpose. They have a pale, serene, unearthly beauty. Many of Fra Angelico's finest and most reproduced works are among them. There are, particularly in the inner row of cells, some of less inspiring quality and of more repetitive subject, perhaps completed by assistants. Many pictures include Dominican saints as witnesses of scene each in one of the nine traditional prayer postures depicted in De Modo Orandi. The friar using the cell could place himself in the scene.


title: Fra Angelico

text: The Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, at the Vatican, was probably painted with much assistance from Benozzo Gozzoli and Gentile da Fabriano. The entire surface of wall and ceiling is sumptuously painted. There is much gold leaf for borders and decoration, and a great use of brilliant blue made from lapis lazuli.


title: Fra Angelico

text: Worldwide press coverage reported in November 2006 that two missing masterpieces by Fra Angelico had turned up, having hung in the spare room of the late Jean Preston, in her terrace house in Oxford, England. Her father had bought them for £100 each in the 1960s then bequeathed them to her when he died. Preston, an expert medievalist, recognised them as being high quality Florentine renaissance, but did not realize that they were works by Fra Angelico until they were identified in 2005 by Michael Liversidge of Bristol University. There was almost no demand at all for medieval art during the 1960s and no dealers showed any interest, so Preston's father bought them almost as an afterthought along with some manuscripts. The paintings are two of eight side panels of a large altarpiece painted in 1439 for Fra Angelico's monastery at San Marco, which was later split up by Napoleon's army. While the centre section is still at the monastery, the other six small panels are in German and US museums. These two panels were presumed lost forever. The Italian Government had hoped to purchase them but they were outbid at auction on 20 April 2007 by a private collector for £1.7M. Both panels are now restored and exhibited in the San Marco Museum in Florence.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: AlphaTauri is a fashion brand founded in 2016 as a brand extension of Red Bull into the fashion industry. The brand is named after the Alpha Tauri star, and pays tribute to the founding company, Red Bull. Its headquarters are in Salzburg, Austria.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: AlphaTauri launched its first campaign for the Autumn/Winter 2018 season. The collection in 2018 included parkas, coats, shirts, sweaters, T-shirts, caps, belts and bags. In 2019, a pop-up store was presented, which is built into a truck and can be set up within 20 minutes and is around 60 square meters in size. Its first mission was planned for autumn 2020.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: In 2020, AlphaTauri launched a capsule collection of heatable clothes developed with Schoeller Textil and Telekom.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: Since its launch, the brand has participated in various international fashion fairs such as FashionTech as well as the bi-annual Berlin Fashion Week, where the brand showcased its use of 3D technology in clothing design, through 3D Knit lab from Japanese company Shima Seiki.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: Alpha Tauri develops and patents its own textile technologies, such as Taurex, developed in collaboration with the Swiss company Schoeller Textil AG specializing in the development and production of innovative fabrics and textile technologies.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: The Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team was rebranded to Scuderia AlphaTauri from the 2020 Formula One season. Pierre Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix while driving for the team.


title: AlphaTauri (fashion brand)

text: AlphaTauri signed a two-year deal with Formula One to become the official premium fashion apparel supplier, starting from the 2022 season.


title: CamScanner

text: CamScanner is a Chinese mobile app first released in 2011 that allows iOS and Android devices to be used as image scanners. It allows users to 'scan' documents (by taking a photo with the device's camera) and share the photo as either a JPEG or PDF. This app is available free of charge on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. The app is based on freemium model, with ad-supported free version and a premium version with additional functions.


title: CamScanner

text: On August 27, 2019, Russian cyber security company Kaspersky Lab discovered that recent versions of the Android app distributed an advertising library containing a Trojan Dropper, which was also included in some apps preinstalled on several Chinese mobiles. The advertising library decrypts a Zip archive which subsequently downloads additional files from servers controlled by hackers, allowing the hackers to control the device, including by showing intrusive advertising or charging paid subscriptions. Google took the app down after Kaspersky reported its findings. An updated version of the app with the advertising library removed was made available on the Google Play Store as of September 5, 2019. Kaspersky later acknowledged "We appreciate the willingness to cooperate that we've seen from CamScanner representatives, as well as the responsible attitude to user safety they demonstrated while eliminating the threat…The malicious modules were removed from the app immediately upon Kaspersky's warning, and Google Play has restored the app."


title: CamScanner

text: In June 2020, as tensions along the Line of Actual Control between China and India continued, the Government of India decided to ban 118 Chinese apps, including TikTok and CamScanner citing data and privacy issues. On January 5th, 2021, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning Alipay, Tencent's QQ, QQ Wallet, WeChat Pay, CamScanner, Shareit, VMate and WPS Office to conduct US transactions. The Trump administration explained this act by saying that this move helps prevent personal information such as text, phone calls and photos collected from rivals. However, the Biden administration did not meet the February 2021 deadline for implementing the executive order, allowing these apps to operate in the US.


title: CamScanner

text: The app allows user to scan documents by taking a picture with the phone camera. Optical character recognition feature recognizes texts in images and extract them from images for later searching, editing or sharing.


title: CamScanner

text: Users can make annotations, add watermarks, signature on the scan or documents imported from local folder. The app also allows user to add passwords to protect their files before sharing out via email, fax, or social media.


title: CamScanner

text: CamScanner support a variety of format conversion including converting PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, JPG and vice versa.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: The Hitcher is a 2007 American road slasher film starring Sean Bean, Sophia Bush and Zachary Knighton. It is a remake of the 1986 film of the same name starring Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. "The Hitcher" was directed by Dave Meyers and produced by Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: College students Jim Halsey (Zachary Knighton) and Grace Andrews (Sophia Bush) are driving across New Mexico to meet her friends for spring break. On their first night of driving, they nearly hit a hitchhiker (Sean Bean) who is standing in the middle of the road; Jim swerves and the car spins out of control to a stop. As the man approaches, Grace insists that someone else will stop to help him, and they take off.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: Later that night at a gas station, Jim meets the hitchhiker who introduces himself as John Ryder and asks for a ride. Reluctantly, Jim agrees. While on the road, he becomes increasingly violent and attacks them, holding a knife to Grace's eye. He tells Jim the only way to save them both is to say "I want to die." Jim hits the brakes, causing John to hit his head on the windshield, and then Jim kicks him out of the car. Grace tells Jim she wants to go home but he persuades her to continue with their trip.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: The following day, Jim and Grace spot John in a family's car; the two try to warn the family but crash their car. They are forced to continue on foot and eventually find the family's car on the side of the road; both the children and mother are already dead, with the father badly wounded. They take the car and stop at a nearby cafe for them, but the man dies.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: Suspected of having committed the murders, Jim and Grace are arrested and brought to the police station. John arrives shortly after and kills everyone at the station, while Jim and Grace flee. Lieutenant Esteridge has the rest of the station pursue the couple, but John shows up and single-handedly takes out all of the police cruisers and a helicopter, helping Jim and Grace escape the police.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: Grace and Jim check in at a motel. Grace falls asleep but is woken by John, who sexually assaults her. She fights him off and hides in the bathroom. John disappears so Grace leaves the motel to look for Jim, and finds him chained at the wrists and ankles between a truck and a trailer. Grace approaches the truck, which is being revved up by John, and demands that he stop. The police arrive and tell her to drop her gun, as John drives forward and splits Jim in half, killing him. John is then apprehended by the police.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: The next morning, Lt. Esteridge tells Grace that the real John Ryder is missing and they do not know the true identity of the hitchhiker. He informs her the hitchhiker will be transported across the state to another prison. During the journey, the hitchhiker breaks free from his restraints and kills everyone in the van, causing the vehicle to crash, with Lt. Esteridge and Grace crashing close behind them. The hitchhiker shoots a pool of gasoline, igniting it, as Grace escapes from the car. The hitchhiker shoots and kills Lt. Esteridge, who is trapped in the car. Grace shoots the hitchhiker in the back and then in the chest. The hitchhiker asks her, "Feels good, doesn't it?" to which she replies, "I don't feel a thing," before she shoots him in the head.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: "The Hitcher" is a remake of the 1986 film of the same name. It is the third remake of a horror film to be produced by Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, following the commercially successful films "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003) and "The Amityville Horror" (2005). Bay said of the original, "I loved it as a kid, and we can add some cool twists and turn it into a rocking film." Bay also suggested that the protagonist in the remake would be female. On June 20, 2005 it was announced that Dave Meyers would direct the remake. Sean Bean and Sophia Bush were announced as part of the cast in January 2006; in June, Zachary Knighton joined the project. Production began in June 2006.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: "The Hitcher" held a special screening on January 18, 2007 at the ArcLight's Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California; a majority of the cast and crew were in attendance. The film was released in theaters the following day on January 19, 2007.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: The DVD was released on May 1, 2007, featuring the theatrical R-rated cut in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. "The Hitcher" became available on Blu-ray in Australia on December 10, 2008. "The Hitcher" was also released on the HD DVD format.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: The film debuted at number 4 at the US the box office with $7,818,239 made in the opening week. After three weeks, the film placed number 11 at the box office and subsequently made $16,366,370. Five weeks after its nationwide release, "The Hitcher" had been pulled from most screens and was completely removed from cinemas after nine weeks. "The Hitcher" began its international release on March 1, 2007. As of June 30, 2009, the film has had a lifetime gross of $25.4 million.


title: The Hitcher (2007 film)

text: , the film holds a 19% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 108 reviews with an average rating of 3.84/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Sean Bean tries giving motive and emotion to "The Hitcher", but director Dave Meyers is more interested in cheap shocks, and gratuitous gore and torture." On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 28/100, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". "Empire Magazine" gave the film two stars and said that the picture was totally inferior to the original. "The Guardian" said "Don't even slow down for this one, certainly don't tag along for the ride." New York Post called it "the Jessica Simpson of psycho killer flicks – cheerfully in touch with its own brainlessness."


title: Universiade

text: The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".


title: Universiade

text: The Universiade is referred to in English as the World University Games or World Student Games; however, this latter term can also refer to competitions for sub-University grades students. In July 2020 as part of a new branding system by the FISU, it was stated that the Universiade will be officially branded as the FISU World University Games.


title: Universiade

text: The most recent games were held in 2019: the Winter Universiade was held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia while the Summer Universiade was held in Naples, Italy. The next Winter World University Games are scheduled to be held in Lake Placid, United States between 11–21 January 2023, after the 2021 edition scheduled to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland was cancelled due the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 Summer World University Games were scheduled to be held in Chengdu, China, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been postponed three times and will now be held in 2023, after the 2023 Summer World University Games, set to be held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, were cancelled after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Universiade

text: The idea of a global international sports competition between student-athletes pre-dates the 1949 formation of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), which now hosts the Universiade, and even the very first World University Games held in 1923. English peace campaigner Hodgson Pratt was an early advocate of such an event, proposing (and passing) a motion at the 1891 Universal Peace Congress in Rome to create a series of international student conferences in rotating host capital cities, with activities including art and sport. This did not come to pass, but a similar event was created in Germany in 1909 in the form of the Academic Olympia. Five editions were held from 1909 to 1913, all of which were hosted in Germany following the cancellation of an Italy-based event.


title: Universiade

text: At the start of the 20th century, Jean Petitjean of France began attempting to organise a "University Olympic Games". After discussion with Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Petitjean was convinced not to use the word "Olympic" in the tournament's name. Petitjean, and later the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE), was the first to build a series of international events, beginning with the 1923 International Universities Championships. This was followed by the renamed 1924 Summer Student World Championships a year later and two further editions were held in 1927 and 1928. Another name change resulted in the 1930 International University Games. The CIE's International University Games was held four more times in the 1930s before having its final edition in 1947.


title: Universiade

text: A separate group organised an alternative university games in 1939 in Vienna, in post-Anschluss Germany. The onset of World War II ceased all major international student sport activities and the aftermath also led to division among the movement, as the CIE was disbanded and rival organisations emerged. The "Union Internationale des Étudiants" (UIE) incorporated a university sports games into the World Festival of Youth and Students from 1947 to 1962, including one separate, unofficial games in 1954. This event principally catered for Eastern European countries.


title: Universiade

text: After the closure of the CIE and the creation of the first UIE-organised games, FISU came into being in 1949 and held its own first major student sport event the same year in the form of the 1949 Summer International University Sports Week. The Sports Week was held biennially until 1955. Like the CIE's games before it, the FISU events were initially Western-led sports competitions.


title: Universiade

text: Division between the largely Western European FISU and Eastern European UIE eventually began to dissipate among broadened participation at the 1957 World University Games. This event was not directly organised by either group, instead being organised by Jean Petitjean in France (which remained neutral to the split), but all respective nations from the groups took part. The FISU-organised Universiade became the direct successor to this competition, maintaining the biennial format into the inaugural 1959 Universiade. It was not until the 1957 World University Games that the Soviet Union began to compete in FISU events. That same year, what had previously been a European competition became a truly global one, with the inclusion of Brazil, Japan and the United States among the competing nations. The increased participation ultimately led to the establishment of the Universiade as the primary global student sport championship.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Mariekson Julius "Didi" Gregorius (born February 18, 1990) is a Dutch professional baseball shortstop who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius was born in Amsterdam to Johannes Gregorius Sr., a Dutch professional baseball player. His family moved to Curaçao when Gregorius was five years old, at which point he began playing tee-ball and youth baseball. MLB scouts began taking notice of Gregorius when he was a teenager, and he chose to sign with the Reds in 2007 after they offered to bring him to the United States. Gregorius' rise through the Reds' farm system was hindered in 2011, when a chronic kidney malfunction caused him to miss two months of the season, but he made his major league debut in September 2012. After the 2012 season, with Gregorius' path to the majors blocked by starting shortstop Zack Cozart, Cincinnati traded him to Arizona, where he split his playing time with Chris Owings and Cliff Pennington.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: The Yankees, who were searching for a shortstop to replace the recently-retired Derek Jeter, acquired Gregorius in December 2014, and he spent the next five seasons with the team. Gregorius improved his batting with the Yankees: in addition to breaking Jeter's single-season home run record in 2017, he put up 20 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons. Despite missing several weeks of the 2019 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Gregorius continued to hit for power upon his return, with a postseason grand slam securing the Yankees' place in the 2019 American League Championship Series. The Yankees chose not to extend his contract at the end of the season, and the Phillies signed Gregorius as a free agent that winter. Gregorius' first two seasons with the Phillies were hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic, associated visa issues, and a battle with pseudogout, and he batted a career low .209 in 2021.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: In addition to playing in MLB, Gregorius has represented the Dutch national baseball team at the Baseball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic. At the 2011 Baseball World Cup, he and his teammates received honorary knighthood after defeating Cuba in the gold medal match.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius was born in Amsterdam on February 18, 1990. His father, Johannes Gregorius Sr., worked as a carpenter and pitched for the Amsterdam Pirates of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the Dutch professional baseball league, while his mother, Sheritsa Stroop, had previously played for the Netherlands women's national softball team. Gregorius' paternal grandfather, Antonio, was also a baseball player, pitching in four games for the Netherlands Antilles at the 1955 Pan American Games.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: The Gregorius family moved from Amsterdam to Curaçao in 1995, to follow Gregorius Sr.'s baseball career. Gregorius, inspired by his older brother Johannes Jr., began playing tee-ball and Little League Baseball in the Netherlands, and took up drawing in his free time. In addition to baseball, Gregorius played soccer and basketball throughout his childhood, but he was not as invested in those other sports.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Jim Stoeckel, a scout for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB), became interested in Gregorius after watching him play an under-18 tournament with the Dutch Antilles in 2006. The Reds signed Gregorius as an international free agent two years later at the behest of Stoeckel, for a signing bonus of $50,000. The Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres had also expressed interest in Gregorius, but he chose to sign with the Reds because they offered him an opportunity to begin playing professional baseball in the United States rather than in the Venezuelan or Dominican Summer Leagues. He made his professional baseball debut in 2008 with the Gulf Coast Reds, a Rookie League team. His rookie outing was mostly unremarkable, with a .155 batting average in 109 plate appearances, as well as 10 strikeouts and 12 errors in 134 chances.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: In 2009, Gregorius primarily appeared with the Rookie-level Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League, batting .314 in 50 games, but he also played in the Class A-Advanced Florida State League for the Sarasota Reds. In 22 games with Sarasota, Gregorius batted .254, with eight runs, four doubles, and two RBIs. The following year, while playing with the Class A Dayton Dragons, the Reds' farm system took notice of Gregorius' powerful infield arm, as well as his speed on the base path: he fell one triple short of the club record with 11, and stole 16 bases, in addition to hitting .273 with five home runs. On August 31, after Miguel Rojas was promoted to Double-A, Gregorius joined the Class A-Advanced Lynchburg Hillcats to serve as that team's starting shortstop. He played seven games with Lynchburg, batting .240 with six hits and four runs. After the regular season, Gregorius played in the Australian Baseball League with the Canberra Cavalry, where he was named as the ABL's Defensive Player of the Year. Despite batting only .189, he enjoyed his time in Australia, and said that playing against major league veterans helped him when he returned to the United States.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: During a routine test in the spring of 2011, doctors found that Gregorius had elevated blood levels of cholesterol and proteins, as well as hypertension. He was initially suspected of using performance-enhancing substances, but further tests revealed a kidney malfunction. Gregorius was ordered not to play baseball and to adopt a vegetarian diet; these lifestyle changes, combined with a medication regimen, allowed him to return to the field after two months of recovery. When he returned to the field, it was with the Class A-Advanced Bakersfield Blaze, before a midseason promotion to the Double-A Carolina Mudcats. Between the two teams, Gregorius batted .289 for the season, with seven home runs, 44 RBIs, and 48 runs in 84 games and 363 plate appearances. That November, Gregorius was one of six players that the Reds added to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius entered the 2012 season as a top Double-A prospect with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Through the first 80 games of the season, he batted .282 with one home run, 31 RBIs, 45 runs, and three stolen bases, enough to receive midseason All-Star honors from the Southern League. After 81 games in Pensacola, the Reds promoted Gregorius to the Triple-A Louisville Bats of the International League. In 48 games there, he batted .243 with six home runs, 23 RBIs, and 25 runs in 202 plate appearances.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: A September call-up for the Reds, Gregorius made his major league debut on September 5, 2012, starting in place of Zack Cozart for a 6–2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. In eight games at the end of the season, Gregorius batted .300 with two RBIs. After the season, Gregorius played in the Arizona Fall League, helping take the Peoria Javelinas to a championship title by batting .278 with one home run and eight RBIs in 74 at bats.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius' future with the Reds was hindered by Cozart, a more experienced shortstop who was presumed to have more offensive power, and thus he became an attractive trade target for Cincinnati after the 2012 season. On December 11, 2012, Gregorius was part of a three-team trade for Cincinnati: initially, he and Drew Stubbs were sent to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and infielder Jason Donald, but, as the Indians already had an established shortstop in Asdrubal Cabrera, they traded Gregorius to the Arizona Diamondbacks to acquire pitcher Trevor Bauer.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Later that month, Gregorius injured his elbow while playing catch, and he was unable to resume throwing until spring training had already begun. The Diamondbacks agreed to start Gregorius with the Triple-A Reno Aces until his rehab assignment was completed, but after Aaron Hill was sidelined with a fractured hand, Gregorius was called up to start at second base. In the first pitch of his first at-bat on April 18, 2013, Gregorius hit his first major league home run off of New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes. He was the seventh Diamondback to hit a home run in his first at-bat with the team, and the first to do so on the first pitch. On April 27, Gregorius was hit by a pitch from Colorado Rockies reliever Josh Outman; he was struck in the right temple with a fastball and fell to the ground; ultimately, Gregorius was able to leave the plate on his own, and, while Cliff Pennington filled in as a pinch runner, Gregorius remained in the game at shortstop. He was placed on the seven-day concussion list after the game and was reinstated on May 4. Gregorius put up a sturdy .252 average in 103 games, but began to lose playing time towards the end of the season due to his inefficiency against left-handed pitchers, averaging only .200 with a .267 on-base percentage.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius entered spring training in 2014 in competition with prospect Chris Owings for the starting shortstop role within the Diamondbacks organization. Owings was ultimately named to the Diamondbacks' opening day roster, with Gregorius sent to Triple-A in the most controversial roster decision of the season. Previously, general manager Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson had suggested that Owings and Gregorius would both make the 25-man roster and split time in the middle infield, especially as outfielder Cody Ross was starting the season on the disabled list, but Towers instead optioned Gregorius to the minors and told reporters that he would be called up in case of injury. That June, Pennington, serving as the team's backup shortstop, suffered an injury that forced Arizona to call up Gregorius. Gibson wanted to keep Owings as the starting infielder, but intended to split his playing time with Gregorius more equitably than Owings had split with Pennington. Gregorius played in 80 major league games in 2014, batting .226 in 270 at bats, with six home runs, 27 RBIs, and 35 runs. He played 67 of those games at shortstop, with 11 at second base and two at third base.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Derek Jeter, the longtime shortstop for the New York Yankees, announced in February 2014 that he would retire at the end of the year, leaving the team to find an appropriate replacement. Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, and J. J. Hardy were all speculated as acquisition targets for the team, who ultimately focused on acquiring Gregorius. The Yankees acquired Gregorius on December 5, 2014, in a three-team trade with Arizona and the Detroit Tigers: Gregorius went from Arizona to New York, Shane Greene went from New York to Detroit, and Robbie Ray and Domingo Leyba went from Detroit to Arizona.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius, who was named the opening day shortstop for the Yankees, told reporters that he was not worried about having to replace Jeter, and that he was more focused on his own performance than any comparisons to the previous infielder. He struggled through the first part of the season, making six errors by the end of May and batting only .222, but he began to find his stride in June, committing only one error between June 7 and August 3 and increasing his batting average to .260 in the same span. On August 28, Gregorius went 4-for-5 with one home run and set a career-high six RBIs in a 15–4 rout of the Atlanta Braves. His first-inning home run was the seventh of the season, and came only a day after his sixth. In his first season with the Yankees, Gregorius played in 155 games, batting .265 with a career-high nine home runs and 56 RBIs. After the season ended, Gregorius was named a finalist for the American League (AL) Gold Glove Award at shortstop, an award which ultimately went to Alcides Escobar of the Kansas City Royals.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius, who entered the 2016 season last in the batting order, had a breakout year, setting career highs with a .447 slugging percentage, 32 doubles, 20 home runs, and 70 RBIs. He told reporters that he had not focused on hitting home runs, and that he was actually working on line drives, but that, "If they go out, they go out." He had spent the offseason working with fellow Curaçao native Hensley Meulens, the hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants. Meulens focused on improving Gregorius' efficacy against left-handed pitchers, and by mid-July, his .366 average against southpaws was the best in the league among left-handed hitters. On June 29, Gregorius hit his first walk-off home run of his major league career, a two-run blast against the Texas Rangers, the team at the time with the best record in the AL. The 2016 Yankees season was considered an overall disappointment, but Gregorius' performance established him as a central piece as the team looked ahead towards rebuilding during the offseason.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Prior to the 2017 season, Gregorius suffered a shoulder injury while fielding a double play during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He was required to spend two weeks engaging in no baseball activity, followed by an estimated four weeks of rehab assignments, leaving the Yankees without an opening day shortstop. He began a series of rehab assignments for the Tampa Yankees on April 22, with an estimated major league return date of May 1. Gregorius was activated on April 28, starting in a 14–11 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Upon his return, Gregorius said that he felt "locked in" at the plate, putting up an eight-game hitting streak in mid-July, with home runs in three consecutive games. He was a finalist for a position in the 2017 MLB All-Star Game, but the fan vote ultimately went to Mike Moustakas of the Royals. On September 4, 2017, Gregorius hit his 20th home run of the year, becoming the first Yankees shortstop to knock in 20 or more home runs in back-to-back seasons. Later that month, on September 20, Gregorius hit his 25th home run of the season, passing Jeter's record for most single-season home runs by a Yankees shortstop. Limited to 136 games with his shoulder injury, Gregorius batted .287 for the regular season, with 87 RBIs and 73 runs.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Facing the Minnesota Twins in the 2017 American League Wild Card Game, Gregorius hit a game-tying three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, helping the Yankees to take the game 8–4 and advance to the 2017 American League Division Series (ALDS). In the series-deciding Game 5 of the ALDS, Gregorius hit two home runs against Indians ace Corey Kluber. The Yankees defeated the Indians 5–2 and advanced to the 2017 American League Championship Series (ALCS), and Gregorius became the second Yankee to hit two home runs in a winner-take-all postseason match. The Yankees lost the ALCS to the Houston Astros in seven games.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius began the 2018 season with a career-high eight-RBI performance in the Yankee's April 3 home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, helping to push the team to an 11–4 victory. Through the month of April, Gregorius led the league with 10 home runs, 30 RBIs, and a .766 slugging percentage, and he received both AL Player of the Week and Player of the Month honors at the end of the month. His performance in April was followed by a slump through May and the start of June, during which Gregorius batted .177 and scored only one home run. He snapped this dry spell with two home runs against the Washington Nationals on June 12. In addition to putting Gregorius back on pace to record 20 home runs in a season, he also became, in that game, the first Yankees shortstop to have three multi-home run games in a season. Gregorius batted .268 for the regular season, with 86 RBIs and 89 runs in 504 at bats. His 27 home runs, meanwhile, helped the Yankees break the MLB single-season record, set by the Seattle Mariners in 1997; Gleyber Torres had the honor of hitting the Yankees' 265th home run of the year on September 29.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: On September 23, 2018, Gregorius' game-winning run against the Orioles helped the Yankees clinch a Wild Card berth, but he tore the cartilage in his wrist while sliding home, leaving it in question whether he would be healthy for the postseason. He received a cortisone shot and returned to the lineup on September 28 for the final game of the regular season, an 11–6 rout of the Red Sox. The Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 7–2 in the Wild Card game, with Gregorius scoring an RBI on a sacrifice fly that brought home Luke Voit. Gregorius struggled defensively against the Red Sox in the 2018 ALDS, uncharacteristically missing throws in Games 3 and 4. The Red Sox took the series in four games.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius, who had already suffered an "asymptomatic" partial ulnar collateral ligament tear when he was acquired by the Yankees in 2014, aggravated his injury when he made a throw from the outfield in Game 2 of the ALCS. He had been able to push through the rest of the Yankees' playoff run, but required Tommy John surgery after the season to repair the elbow. Gregorius subsequently began the 2019 season on the 60-day injured list, and was activated on June 7, 2019, after eight months of rehab. On July 23, Gregorius batted a perfect 5-for-5 against the Minnesota Twins, picking up seven RBIs to help the Yankees win 14–12 in extra innings. It was the second time that Gregorius had gone 4-for-4 or better with seven RBIs in a game, joining Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio as the only Yankees to accomplish the feat multiple times. In the sixth inning of that same game, Gregorius hit his 100th career home run, off of Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson. He finished the regular season with a .238 average in 324 at bats, with 16 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 47 runs. The Yankees faced the Twins again in the 2019 ALDS, and in Game 2, Gregorius hit the first ever postseason grand slam by a Yankees shortstop. The Yankees advanced to the 2019 ALCS, but were defeated in six games by the Houston Astros. On November 4, 2019, the Yankees chose not to extend a $17.8 million qualifying offer to Gregorius, making him a free agent.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: The Philadelphia Phillies signed Gregorius to a one-year, $14 million contract on December 16, 2019; he and pitcher Zack Wheeler were considered the team's most important free agent acquisitions for the 2019–20 offseason. The 2020 MLB season was delayed until July and shortened to 60 regular-season games due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Gregorius' kidney disorder meant that he was considered "high-risk" for the virus, and he had an opportunity to decline playing during the pandemic and earn a protracted salary. Instead, Gregorius chose to remain the team's starting shortstop and to wear a face mask at all times on the field. Gregorius proved to be an offensive strength for the Phillies in the pandemic-shortened season: among all MLB shortstops, he was third in RBIs (40), fifth in hits (61) and home runs (10), and sixth in batting average (.286). Additionally, he hit .345 for the season with runners in scoring position.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: The Phillies resigned Gregorius to a two-year, $28 million contract on February 10, 2021. Due to the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gregorius was one of seven Phillies who ran into visa issues and reported late to 2021 spring training. Girardi was unconcerned about Gregorius' late start to training camp, telling reporters, "I would expect that Didi's in pretty good shape because that's who he is and that's what I'm used to seeing." On March 29, Gregorius was named as the Phillies' starting shortstop for the 2021 season, splitting the middle infield with Jean Segura. On opening day, Gregorius made an over-the-shoulder catch to stop Ozzie Albies and help take the game to extra innings, where the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 3–2. In mid-April, Gregorius injured his elbow while making a catch, and missed three games due to swelling in the area. He initially avoided going on the injured list as doctors drained the elbow, but a recurrent swelling in mid-May forced him out of the lineup again. The elbow injury continued to hinder Gregorius through a series of rehab assignments with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and on June 16, he was diagnosed with pseudogout and was able to begin an appropriate treatment program. He returned to the lineup on July 2, after missing a total of 41 games to the injury. In his first game off of the injured list, Gregorius hit a solo home run in the fifth inning of a 4–3 extra innings win against the San Diego Padres. Gregorius proceeded to have the worst season of his MLB career, batting only .210 with a .667 on-base plus slugging (OPS) in his first 200 at bats following his stint on the injured list. The shortstop blamed his offensive difficulties on the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, which he claimed led to his battle with pseudogout, a conclusion that doctors at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said was incorrect. Gregorius batted .209 in 103 games for the Phillies, with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs in 368 at bats. He was released by the Phillies on August 4, 2022.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius first represented the Netherlands internationally while playing for the Dutch national baseball team at the 2009 Baseball World Cup. At the 2011 Baseball World Cup, after the Netherlands defeated Cuba 2–1 in the final match, Gregorius and his teammates were knighted under the Order of Orange-Nassau, 5th class. Since then, Gregorius' official title is "Sir", which he has incorporated into his Twitter handle.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: While working out to represent the Netherlands in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Gregorius suffered a strained ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, which kept him out of the tournament and much of spring training. Gregorius did participate in the 2017 tournament, serving primarily as a designated hitter on a Dutch national team with an ample selection of MLB shortstops. He was an offensive success, batting .348 with one home run and eight RBIs, helping to take the Dutch team to the semifinals, before a hematoma of the subscapularis muscle in Gregorius' shoulder forced him to pull out of the tournament early.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: Gregorius adopted the nickname "Didi" in 2009, when his American teammates had trouble pronouncing the name "Mariekson". His father and brother also go by "Didi". Gregorius, like many Curaçao natives, is fluent in four languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, and Papiamento. In his free time, he enjoys photography, and he picked up tattooing when the COVID-19 pandemic paused the 2020 MLB season.


title: Didi Gregorius

text: While playing with the Yankees, Gregorius began to post "victory tweets" after every winning game, often accompanied by the hashtag "#startspreadingthenews". These tweets would often incorporate specific emojis that Gregorius had assigned to various teammates. Gregorius briefly stopped posting during the start of the 2019 season, while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, because he "didn't want to make [the wins] all about me", but resumed when he was activated from the injured list. He continued the tradition after signing with the Philadelphia Phillies, telling reporters that he would "have new emojis" for his new teammates.


title: Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943)

text: The Italian protectorate of Albania, also known as the Kingdom of Albania or Greater Albania, existed as a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. It was practically a union between Italy and Albania, officially led by Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III and its government: Albania was led by Italian governors, after being militarily occupied by Italy, from 1939 until 1943. During this time, Albania ceased to exist as an independent country and became an autonomous part of the Italian Empire. Officials intended to make Albania part of a Greater Italy by assimilating Albanians as Italians and colonizing Albania with Italian settlers from the Italian Peninsula to transform it gradually into an Italian land.


text: In the Treaty of London during World War I, the Triple Entente had promised central and southern Albania to Italy as a reward for fighting against the Central Powers. In June 1917, after Italian soldiers seized control of substantial areas of Albania, Italy formally declared a protectorate over central and southern Albania; however this was overturned in September 1920 when Italy was pressured to withdraw its army. Italy was enraged with the minimal gains that it received from peace negotiations, which it regarded as having violated the Treaty of London. Italian Fascists claimed that Albanians were ethnically linked to Italians through links with the prehistoric Italiotes, Illyrian and Roman populations, and that the major influence exerted by the Roman and Venetian empires over Albania gave Italy the right to possess it. In addition, several hundred thousand ethnic Albanians had already been absorbed into southern Italy, which was used to justify annexation as a measure that would unite all Albanians into one state. Italy supported Albanian irredentism, directed against the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo in Yugoslavia and Epirus in Greece, particularly the border area of Chameria, inhabited by the Cham Albanian minority.


text: Prior to direct intervention in World War I, Italy occupied the port of Vlorë in Albania in December 1914. Upon entering the war, Italy spread its occupation to region of southern Albania beginning in the autumn 1916. Italian forces in 1916 recruited Albanian irregulars to serve alongside them. Italy with permission of the Allied command, occupied Northern Epirus on 23 August 1916, forcing the Greek Army to withdraw its occupation forces from there. In June 1917, Italy proclaimed central and southern Albania as a protectorate of Italy while Northern Albania was allocated to the states of Serbia and Montenegro. By 31 October 1918, French and Italian forces expelled the Austro-Hungarian Army from Albania. After World War I ended, Italy withdrew its military forces on 2 September 1920 from Albania as a result of foreign pressure and defeat in the Vlora War.


text: The Italian Fascist regime had politically and economically penetrated and dominated Albania during Zog's rule and was planning for annexation of Albania years prior to the event. Albania came under strong Italian influence after the signing of the Treaties of Tirana of 1926 and 1927. Under Zog, Albania's economy was dependent on multiple financial loans given from Italy since 1931.


text: In August 1933, Mussolini placed stringent demands on Zog in exchange for Italy's continued support of Albania, including demands that all new appointments to leading positions in the Albanian government had to have received an "Italian education"; that an Italian expert was in the future to be in all Albanian government ministries; that Italy would take control of Albania's military – including its fortifications; that British officers that were training Albania's gendarmerie be replaced by Italian officers; and that Albania must annul all of its existing commercial treaties with other countries and make no new agreements without the approval of the Italian government; and that Albania sign a commercial convention that would make Italy Albania's "most favoured country" in trade. In 1934 when Albania did not deliver its scheduled payment of one loan to Italy, Italian warships arrived off the coast of Albania to intimidate Albania to submit to Italian goals in the region. However, the British opposed Italy's actions and under pressure, Italy backed down and claimed that the naval exercise was merely a "friendly visit".


text: On 25 August 1937, Italian foreign minister Count Ciano wrote in his diary of Italy's relations with Albania in the following: "We must create stable centres of Italian influence there. Who knows what the future may have in store? We must be ready to seize opportunities which will present themselves. We are not going to withdraw this time, as we did in 1920. In the south [of Italy] we have absorbed several hundred thousand Albanians. Why shouldn’t the same thing happen on the other side of the entrance to the Adriatic.". On 26 March 1938, Ciano wrote in his diary of annexing Albania like Germany did with Austria shortly prior: "A report from Jacomoni on the situation in Albania. Our penetration is becoming steadily more intense and more organic. The programme which I traced after my visit is being carried out without a hitch. I am wondering whether the general situation – particularly the Anschluss [with Austria] – does not permit us to take a step forward towards the more complete domination of this country, which will be ours." and days later on 4 April of that year wrote "We must gradually underline the protectorate element of our relations with Albania".


text: In spite of Albania's long-standing alliance with Italy, on 7 April 1939 Italian troops invaded Albania, five months before the start of the Second World War. The Albanian armed resistance proved ineffective against the Italians and, after a short defense, the country was occupied. On 9 April 1939 the Albanian king, Zog I fled to Greece. Although Albania had been under strong Italian influence since 1927, Italy's political leader, Benito Mussolini wanted direct control over the country to increase his and Italy's prestige, provide a response to Germany's annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia, and to have firm control over Albania to station large forces of the Italian military for future operations involving Yugoslavia and Greece.


text: Albania became an Italian protectorate subordinated to Italian interests, along the lines of the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Victor Emmanuel III was proclaimed king of Albania, creating a personal union with Italy; he was represented in Tirana by a viceroy. A customs union was created, and Rome took over Albanian foreign policy. The Albanian armed forces were subsumed into the Italian military, Italian advisers were placed inside all levels of the Albanian administration, and the country was fascisticized with the establishment of an Albanian Fascist Party and its attendant organizations, modelled after the Italian prototype. The Albanian Fascist Party was a branch of the National Fascist Party of Italy, members of the Albanian Fascist Party took an oath to obey the orders of the Duce of Fascism, Mussolini. Italian citizens began to settle in Albania as colonists and to own land so that they could gradually transform it into Italian soil. The italianization of Albania was one of Mussolini's plans.


text: While Victor Emmanuel ruled as king, Shefqet Vërlaci served as the prime minister. Vërlaci controlled the day-to-day activities of the Italian protectorate. On 3 December 1941, Shefqet Vërlaci was replaced as prime minister by Mustafa Merlika-Kruja. The country's natural resources too came under direct control of Italy. All petroleum resources in Albania went through Agip, Italy's state petroleum company.


text: Albania was important culturally and historically to the nationalist aims of the Italian Fascists, as the territory of Albania had long been part of the Roman Empire, even prior to the annexation of northern Italy by the Romans. Later, during the High Middle Ages some coastal areas (like Durazzo) had been influenced and owned by Italian powers, chiefly the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice for many years (cf. Albania Veneta). The Italian Fascist regime legitimized its claim to Albania through studies proclaiming the racial affinity of Albanians and Italians, especially as opposed to the Slavic Yugoslavs. Italian Fascists claimed that Albanians were linked through ethnic heritage to Italians due to links with the prehistoric Italiotes, Illyrian and Roman populations, and that the major influence exhibited by the Roman and Venetian empires over Albania justified Italy's right to possess it.


text: Italy also attempted to legitimize and win public support for its rule over Albania by supporting Albanian irredentism, directed against the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Epirus in Greece, particularly the border area of Chameria, inhabited by the Cham Albanian minority. Thus a Fascist Italian publication named "Geopolitica" claimed that the population of the Epirus-Acarnania region of Greece belonged to Albania due to it being racially Dinaric, and formed a 'single geographic system' with the Adriatic zone. Despite the efforts of the Italian vicegerent, Francesco Jacomoni, to stir up insurrections and create a fifth column, and the favourable reports he sent to the Italian foreign minister Count Ciano, events proved that there was little enthusiasm among the Albanians themselves: after the Italian invasion of Greece, most Albanians either deserted or defected.


text: Strategically, control of Albania gave Italy an important beachhead in the Balkans: not only did it complete Italian control of the Strait of Otranto and the entrance to the Adriatic Sea, it could be used to invade either Yugoslavia (in tandem with another thrust via Venezia Giulia) or Greece.


text: In 1939, Count Ciano spoke of Albanian irredentist claims to Kosovo as valuable to Italy's objectives, saying:


text: The Corporative Council of the Albanian Fascist Party, a quasi-statal organization, issued a directive on 16 June 1940, shortly after Italy's declarations of war against Britain and France, that stated that "The Kingdom of Albania considers itself at war with all nations against which Italy is at war—at present or in the future."


text: In October 1940, during the Greco-Italian War, Albania served as a staging-area for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's unsuccessful invasion of Greece. Mussolini planned to invade Greece and other countries like Yugoslavia in the area to give Italy territorial control of most of the Mediterranean Sea coastline, as part of the Fascists' objective of creating the objective of "Mare Nostrum" ("Our Sea") in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean. But the Albanian army under the command of colonel (later general) Prenk Pervizi abandoned the Italians in combat, causing a major unraveling of their lines. The Albanian army believed to be the cause of the betrayal was removed from the front. The Colonel Pervizi and his staff of officials was isolated in the mountains of Puka and Shkodra to the North. This was the first action of revolt against the Italian occupation.


text: But, soon after the Italian invasion, the Greeks counter-attacked and a sizable portion of Albania was in Greek hands (including the cities of Gjirokastër and Korçë). In April 1941, Greece capitulated after an overwhelming German invasion. All of Albania returned to Italian control, which was also extended to most of Greece, which was jointly occupied by Italy, Germany and Bulgaria. Italian plans however to annex Chameria to Albania were shelved due strong opposition and ethnic conflict between Albanians and Greeks, as well as opposition by Aromanians to the region being Albanianized.


text: After the fall of Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941, the Italian government began negotiations with Germany, Bulgaria, and the newly established client state, the Independent State of Croatia, on defining their borders. In April Mussolini called for the borders of Albania to be expanded – including annexing Montenegro into Albania that would have an autonomous government within Albania, and expanding Albania's border eastwards, though not as far as the Vardar river as some had proposed – citing that Ohrid should be left to the Slavic Macedonians, regardless of whether Vardar Macedonia would become an independent state or be annexed by Bulgaria. However the Italian government changed its positions on the border throughout April, later supporting the annexation of Ohrid while giving the territory lying directly outside of Ohrid (including the sacred birthplace of Saint Clement) to the Slavic Macedonians. After a period of negotiations Italy's new Balkan borders – including Albania's new borders, were declared by royal decree on 7 June 1941.


text: After the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the country was occupied by the Germans until the end of the war.


text: Around 200 Albanian Jews and 400 Jewish refugees resided in Albania proper prior to World War II. Albanian Jews were generally protected but faced some restrictions. Foreign Jews were placed into concentration camps. The Jewish population of Kosovo fared comparatively worse as Italian authorities turned them over to the Germans where they were murdered or sent to camps in Albania. Others were taken to Albanian cities where the local population protected them.


text: Kosovar Albanians collaborated with the Axis powers who promised them a Greater Albania. This was seen as a better alternative to the repressive measures instilled by Serbian politicians during the interwar period. In June 1942 Prime Minister Mustafa Kruja stated that Serbs would be sent to concentration camps or killed. Between 70,000 and 100,000 Kosovar Serbs were transferred to concentration camps in Pristina and Mitrovica or expelled to Serbia proper, in order to Albanianize the province. During the occupation, the population was subject to forced labour, torture, destruction of private property, destruction and damaging of cultural and historical buildings and graveyards. The expulsion of Serbs proved problematic, as they had performed important functions in the region, and been running most of the businesses, mills, tanneries, and public utilities, and been responsible for most of the useful agricultural production. According to Serbian sources, it is estimated that the Vulnetari and other paramilitaries murdered up to 10,000 Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo.


text: Upon the occupation of Albania and installation of a new government, the economies of Albania and Italy were connected through a customs union that resulted in the removal of most trade restrictions. Through a tariff union, the Italian tariff system was put in place in Albania. Due to the expected economic losses in Albania from the alteration in tariff policy, the Italian government provided Albania 15 million Albanian leks each year in compensation. Italian customs laws were to apply in Albania and only Italy alone could conclude treaties with third parties. Italian capital was allowed to dominate the Albanian economy. As a result, Italian companies were allowed to hold monopolies in the exploitation of Albanian natural resources.


text: In 1944, the number of companies and industrial enterprises reached 430, from just 244 in 1938 and only 71 such in 1922. The degree of concentration of workers in industrial production in 1938 doubled compared with 1928. At this time, Albania's economy had trade relations with 21 countries, but most developed were first to Italy and then to Yugoslavia, France, Germany, Greece, etc.


text: The country entered capitalist economic development much later than other European countries. Despite the presence of some foreign (mainly Italian) investment, Albania had made little move towards industrial development at the onset of World War II. Agriculture, which employed over 87% of the workforce, was the main sector of the economy and contributed 92.4% of the national income, with main outputs being wheat, maize and rye. Agriculture used primitive tools such as wood ploughs, whilst fertilisers were hardly known at all, and drainage poor. The level of productivity and level of organization and mechanization of agriculture in this period were very low.