the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
The others are elected by the Bundesrat.
Choosing a judge needs a two-thirds majority.
The judges have a 12-year term, but they must retire when reaching the age of 68.
A judge must be at least 40 years old and must be a well-trained jurist.
Three out of eight members of each Senate must have been a judge of a Federal Supreme Court.
Of the other five members of each Senate, most judges have been a professor of law at a university, a public servant or a lawyer.
At the end of their term, most judges retire from public life.
One notable exception was Roman Herzog, who was elected Federal President in 1994, shortly before the end of his term as President of the Court.
www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de, the Court's website
Federal Constitutional Court Act (BVerfGG) in German
Federal Constitutional Court Act (BVerfGG) in English
The Kaaba is a large cuboid-shaped building inside the mosque known as al-Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Muslims believe that the Kaaba was built by the command of Allah.
The Kaaba’s original architecture has remained the same for centuries.
Before Prophet Muhammad
According to Islamic sources, the Kaaba was a place of worship for angels before the creation of men.
After the creation of Adam, the Kaaba was built by him.
According to Qur'an, it is the first house on Earth.
The Kaaba was buried under the sand by the Noah's flood.
After a period of time, it was rebuilt by Prophet Abraham and his son, Prophet Ishmael.
The Kaaba was a place of monotheism for centuries.
Then Amr bin Luhayy brought an idol to the Kaaba.
After that, the Kaaba became a place of pagan belief.
After Prophet Muhammad
The Kaaba began to be managed by Muslims in 630 AD.
Prophet Muhammad removed the idols.
Also, the Kaaba was cleaned with sacred water (Zamzam) under his guidance.
The general architecture of the Kaaba remained the same until 1630 because people wanted to keep the original architecture.
Only simple repairs and small decorations were made during this long period of time.
In 1630, three walls of the Kaaba were heavily damaged by a storm.
Then, it was restored by Murad IV, 17th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The Kaaba has remained the same after this renovation.
Religious Significance
The Kaaba is the holiest place in Islam.
Muslims believe that the Kaaba is the House of God (Baitullah).
Prophet Mohammed said the Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) is one of the three most important mosques on the Earth.
Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage (hajj) once in a lifetime to the Kaaba.
As it is the most holy place in Islam, all Muslims pray towards this when they perform the five fardh (necessary acts mentioned in the Qur'an) Salat or prayer.
At the end of Hajj season, there is a holiday called Eid al-Adha (English: Festival of Sacrifice).
The Kaaba is a rectangular shaped building.
It is 12 m long, 10 m wide, and 15 m high (33 feet x 50 feet x 45 feet).The Kaaba is made of blue-gray granite.
Inside the Kaaba, there are three pillars to support the roof.
The floor is made of marble and the ceiling is covered with cloth.
Gold and glass decorations are hanging between the pillars.
The Black Stone is an egg-shaped black stone with red and yellow marks.
The door is 2.13 m above the ground and made of pure gold.
The Key has been held by the Shaiba family for 1400 years
A rainwater pipe was added to protect the roof from the damage of accumulated rainwater.
It is called al-Shadrawan, and it was added to protect the foundation of the Kaaba from the water.
Hatim is a low wall.
It is included as a part of the Kaaba’s sacred area.
Muslims believe the place between the Kaaba and Hatim is the burial, area of Ishmael and Hajar.
Al-Multezem, the part of the wall between the door and the Black Stone
Station of Abraham, a glass and metal covering for Prophet Abraham’s footprint.
Corner of Black Stone (East)
Corner of Yemen (South-West)
Corner of Syria (North-West)
Corner of Iraq (North-East)
Cover (Kiswah)
The marble line helps pilgrims to count their walks around the Kaaba (Tawaf).
The Station of Gabriel
The Kaaba was first covered by Abu Karab As’ad, in 60 BC approximately.
The cover was made of valuable materials, as a symbol of his respect for the Kaaba.
After that, the Kaaba has been covered with the most valuable materials, following the tradition of showing respect.
The covers are produced by a factory every year, the factory was established only to produce the cover in 1927.
The cover is replaced every year on the eve of Eid Al-Adha by 160 technicians.
The Kaaba’s cover contains Qur'anic verses.
It is made of 450kgs of pure silk, and it includes hundreds of pounds of precious metals, 670 kgs of silver dyed black, about 120 kgs of pure gold and 50 kgs of silver.
The cost of the cover is USD 4,534,325.
The size of the cover is 658 square metres.
Buildings and structures in Saudi Arabia
Shahadah.
The shahadah means there is no other god except Allah(one God) and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger/prophet of Allah.
The shahadah can be recited when a person chooses to revert to Islam as the words in the shahadah are the key fundamental beliefs in Islam.
Prayer (Salat) - Praying five times a day, kneeling towards Mecca.
There are specific ritualistic movements and prayers that are said.
Fasting during the month of Ramadan (Sawm) - Islamic Fasting is not eating or drinking beverages when the sun is out, only when the moon is out.
Charity or alms-giving (zakat) - Each year a Muslim must give money to charity (Usually 2.5% of their savings).
If a person does not have much money, they can give services to others instead.
Hajj - Pilgrimage(journey) to Mecca.
Mecca is a desert city in Asia.
Awadhi is an Indo-Aryan language.
This language was spoken in a wide area including Lucknow and Ayoudhya (Awadh) earlier.
Goswami Tulasidas wrote Ramcharitmanas, Geetavali, Kavitavali, and all his Shri Ram poems in this language.
WDR is a constituent member of  the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD.
German broadcasting companies
ARD is a public broadcaster in Germany.
The name is an abbreviation.
It stands for Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
This can be translated as "Consortium of public-law broadcasting institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany".
The company is made of different regional broadcasters.
It provides one of the two (publicly-funded) television programmes in Germany, amongst other programmes.
The other publicly funded TV program is called Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF, in short).
It was founded in West Germany in 1950.
It was made for common interests of the new, de-centralized post-war broadcasting services - in particular, the introduction of a joint television network.
They make a total of 54 regional and local radio stations and networks, two nationwide radio channels, and seven regional TV networks.
During certain parts of the day some of these split even further.
1950 establishments in Europe
The DW (Deutsche Welle) (until 5 February 2012: Deutsche Welle) is Germany's international broadcaster.
It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio in 29 languages (DW (RADIO)).
It has a satellite television service (DW (TV)) that is available in four languages, and there is also DW.DE, a 30-language online news site.
DW, which in English means "German Wave", is similar to international broadcasters such as the BBC World Service, Radio Canada International, Voice of America, and Radio France Internationale.
On 6 February 2012 Deutsche Welle was completely relaunched and now operates only as DW.
Since October 28, 2021, the site of Deutsche Welle can't be opened in Belarus.
DW Livestream
The Bobs DW International Weblog Award
DW on Satellite TV in the United States
1953 establishments in Europe
Censorship in Belarus
Guildford Dudley (1536 - 12 February 1554) was the husband of Lady Jane Grey.
He was executed along with Jane on February 12 1554.
Pre-Marriage
Guildford (also spelled as Guilford) was the son of John Dudley, the Earl of Warwick and later Duke of Northumberland and Jane Guildford (that was how he got his unusual name).
He was very handsome, but arrogant and selfish because his mother spoiled him ever since he was a child.
In 1553, Guildford was told by his father that he was to marry Lady Jane Grey.
Like many other people in the sixteenth century, Guildford complied.
However, Jane did not want to marry Guildford because she thought he was rude.
Jane only agreed after her parents had beaten and whipped her.
When Jane became queen, in July 1553, they got into an argument about Guildford becoming king.
Guildford claimed than he should be king, but Jane did not believe that Guildford had the qualities to become king.
She said she would make him duke, but Guildford was unhappy.
Guildford and his mother attempted to leave the Tower of London, but Jane had him brought back.
Jane lost the throne on July 19 1553.
Inprisonment and Death
At first, Guildford and Jane were allowed to visit each other, but only in the garden.
However, for the last few months of their lives, they were not allowed to visit each other anymore.
On February 12 1554, Guildford was executed and, unlike his wife, he was not very calm when he went to his death.
Days before his death, he cried endlessly.
However, on the day he was executed, he was calm.
At the sight of the block, however, he lost his courage and cried again.
He is said to have cried "Pray for me!"
many times.
More on Guildford Dudley  Guildford's biography
The medical papyri (or medical papyruses) are a set of ancient Egyptian texts that give background info on medical practices from ancient Egyptian times.
The papyri give details on disease, diagnostics, and remedies of disease, which also have traditional methods and with magical spells.
It is thought there were more medical papyri, but many have been lost due to grave robbing.
The largest study of the medical papyri to date has was undertaken by Berlin University and was titled "Medizin der alten Agypter" (Medicine of ancient Egypt).
Early Egyptian medicine was based on a mixture of magic and religious spells.
Most commonly "cured" by use of amulets or magical spells, the illnesses were thought to be caused by spiteful acts or actions.
Afterwards, doctors did various medical treatments if needed.
The instructions for these medical rituals were later inscribed on papyrus scrolls by the priests performing the actions.
The History and Treatment of the Papyrus Collection at The Brooklyn Museum
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a religious text from Tibet, written as a guide for persons attending someone who is dying or recently dead, to bring comfort and " ".
It includes prayers, instructions for both dying persons and their attendants, and descriptions of the afterlife. (
Roman Catholicism has comparable rituals, called  or Last Rites.)
The book has been translated into many languages, including English.
In the 1960s, professors Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert (later known as Baba Ram Dass) collaborated on a book titled The Psychedelic Experience, which adapted portions of the Book of the Dead as a guide for use in LSD experiences.
They hoped to give users of LSD a simulation of death and , to "liberate" them from past problems or mistakes in their lives.
Many persons did have positive results from their book.
Others pursued it like a , and were not helped or changed for the better.
John Lennon of The Beatles adapted the adaptation in turn, using many of the book's ideas for his song "Tomorrow Never Knows".
He later  The Psychedelic Experience, calling it "that stupid book of Leary's," but his song spread its influence.
This book has real life experiences between life and death situations.
ChalkZone is an American animated television series.
It is about a boy named Rudy.
Rudy has magic chalk.
When Rudy draws on the board with the magic chalk, it lets him go to a chalk world called Chalk Zone.
Whatever he draws on the chalk board, or in Chalk Zone, comes to life.
Rudy (8-11 years old)- the main character of the series
Penny (10-11 years old) - a friend of Rudy that is a female
Snap (7-10 years old) - another friend of Rudy from Chalk Zone,
Skrawl - an evil villain that wants to take over Chalk Zone and destroy Rudy
ChalkZone area on nick.com (leads to TV Show list)
ChalkZone at the Big Cartoon DataBase
The F-22 Raptor is a fighter plane made by Lockheed Martin.
It first flew in 1990, and entered service in the United States Air Force in 2005.
Because it is expensive, there will not be as many of them as earlier fighter planes.
It uses stealth, which means it cannot be seen on radar.
It can hold 6 radar-guided medium-range AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and 2 heat-seeking, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
Its top speed is 2.4 times the speed of sound and it features thrust vectoring, where the plane's thrust nozzles turn to help turn it faster.
The plane is a 5th generation fighter and is a very expensive plane to produce, and the USAF say they will provide the plane to other countries but in a "watered down state"
Simulacrum of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor
Su-57 - Simulacrum of the F-22.
- on UAC Official YouTube Channnel
F-22
Edom is a name given to Esau, the brother of Jacob, in the Hebrew Bible.
It also means the nation that came from him.
The nation's name in Assyrian was Udumi.
In Syriac it was .
In Greek, it was  (Idoumaía).
In Latin, it was  or .
The Edomite people were a Semitic-speaking tribal people.
They lived in the Negev Desert and the Arabah valley.
The Arabah valley is now the south of Dead Sea and next to the Jordan.
The area has much red sandstone.
This may have made the name "Edom".
The nation of Edom is known to have existed back to the 8th or 9th century BC.
The Bible dates it back several centuries further.
Recent archaeological proof may show an Edomite nation as long ago as the 11th century BC.
However, people are not completely sure.
Others argue that the 8th or 9th century dates are right.
The nation stopped being a settled state after the Jewish-Roman Wars.
Hollywood is the fourth single from Jay-Z's latest solo album Kingdom Come.
The song features Jay-Z's longtime girlfriend, R&B singer Beyoncé.
The song is also featured on Beyoncé's B'Day Deluxe Edition with more of Beyoncé's vocals and less of Jay-Z's under the title "Welcome To Hollywood".
A video for Jay-Z's album version does not exist but an official video was created for "Welcome to Hollywood" using clips of different Beyoncé videos (much like the "Lose My Breath" megamix on the Destiny's Child Fan Pack II).
The video is played as an interlude on Beyoncé's B'Day Tour, The Beyoncé Experience.
Summertime is a single released by R&B singer Beyoncé featuring rapper P. Diddy in 2003.
The song was the second and final single released to promote the movie The Fighting Temptations, in which Knowles plays the leading lady.
The song is not featured in the movie but is part of the official soundtrack.
It first appeared as a B-side to Knowles' 2003 smash hit "Crazy in love".
As it was released just seven days after the third single from Knowles' Dangerously in Love, "Me, Myself and I", the song did not become a big hit and an official music video was never shot for it.
The song however was part of the set list on Knowles' Dangerously in Love World Tour.
Summertime (A Cappella featuring Diddy)
Summertime (featuring Diddy)
Summertime (movie Version)
Summertime (Instrumental)
Summertime (Remix - A Cappella featuring  Ghostface Killah)
Summertime (Remix featuring Ghostface Killah)
Summertime (Without Rap)
Fabaceae is the systematic name of the plant family that is commonly known as the Pea family.
It consists of three subgroups: Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae (or better Faboideae).
In modern systems like APG II this family Fabaceae is closely related to Quillajaceae, Polygalaceae or milkworts (including the families Diclidantheraceae, Moutabeaceae, and Xanthophyllaceae), and Surianaceae.
The leaves are usually alternate and compound, in the Mimosoideae and the Caesalpinioideae commonly bipinnate (e.g. Acacia, Mimosa).
In many species the leaves have structures evolved to attract ants, that, being predatory, protect the plant from herbivore insects.
Extrafloral nectaries -a gland secreting nectar -are common among the Mimosoideae and the Caesalpinioideae and are also found in some Faboideae (e.g. vetches Vicia sativa).
Fabaceae are typically entomophilous plants (i.e. they are pollinated by insects) and the flower are usually showy to attract the pollinators.
In the Mimosoideae the flowers are radial symmetric or actinomorphic.
In the Caesalpinioideae and Faboideae (see diagram) are most often zygomorphic or bilateral in simmetry.
List of genera
Germany has a multi-party system.
There are two large parties, three smaller parties, and a number of minor parties.
Major parties
These parties currently have seats in the German parliament, the Bundestag, sorted by the number of seats:
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christian Democratic Union)  (CDU) + Christian Social Union of Bavaria (Christian Social Union) (CSU) – Christian democrat, centre-right: 200+46=246
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – social democrat, centre-left: 153
Alternative for Germany (AfD) - nationalist, populist, Eurosceptic, right-wing: 94
Free Democratic Party (FDP) - liberal, classical liberal, economically liberal, centre to centre-right: 80
The Left / Left Party – democratic socialist, left-wing: 69
Alliance '90/The Greens (Greens) – green, centre-left: 67
Minor parties
At least 1% of the vote at the last federal elections
Pirate Party Germany (Pirates)
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) - ultranationalist, Neo-Nazi
Free Voters (Freie Wähler)
Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany (Anarchistische Pogo-Partei Deutschlands - APPD)
Basic Income Alliance (Bündnis Grundeinkommen - BGE)
Bavaria Party (Bayernpartei)
Communist Party of Germany (1990)
Family Party of Germany (Deutsche Familienpartei)
German Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei - ZENTRUM)
German Communist Party (Deutsche Kommunistische Partei - DKP)
Christian Centre Party (Christliche Mitte - CM)
Citizens Make Politics (Bürger machen Politik)
Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität - BüSo)
Die Freien The Free Ones
Die PARTEI (Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative - Die PARTEI), party created by editors of the satirical magazine titanic
Die Violetten - für spirituelle Politik
Ecological Democratic Party (Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei - ÖDP)
Feminist Party of Germany (Feministische Partei - DIE FRAUEN)
Human Environment Animal Welfare (Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz)
Marxist Leninist Party of Germany (Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands - MLPD)
Party of Bible-abiding Christians (Partei Bibeltreuer Christen - PBC)
Party of Reason (Partei der Vernunft - pdv)
Pirate Party Germany (Piratenpartei Deutschland) (PIRATEN)
Social Equality Party (Partei für Soziale Gleichheit - PSG)
South Schleswig Voter Federation (Südschleswigscher Wählerverband - SSW) - this is the party of the Danish and frisian minorities in Germany
The Republicans (Die Republikaner - REP)
Historical parties
Parties existing before World War II
Bavarian People's Party (BVP) - Bavarian Regionalist (1920-1933)
Centre Party - Christian Democrat/Conservative (1871-1947)
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) - Communist (1919-1956)
Communist Party Opposition (KPO)- Communist
Conservative People's Party (KVP)
Free Conservative Party (FKP)
General German Workers' Association (ADAV)
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) - Socialist (1917-1922)
German Conservative Party (DKP) - Conservative (before 1918)
German Democratic Party (DDP) - Left-Liberal (1918-1930, became the German State Party, which lasted until 1933)
German National People's Party (DNVP) - Nationalist-Conservative (1918-1933)
German People's Party (DVP) - National-Liberal (1918-1933)
German Progress Party (DFP) - Left-Liberal (before 1918)
German Racialist Freedom Party (DVFP) - anti-semitic (early Weimar period)
German Workers' Party (DAP) - precursor to the Nazi Party (1919)
National Liberal Party - Right Liberal (before 1918)
National Socialist German Workers' Party - aka the Nazi Party (NSDAP) (1919-1945)
Progressive People's Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, still in existence)
Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) (since 1875 Social Democratic Party of Germany)
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) (since 1875 Social Democratic Party of Germany)
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) (between 1931 and 1941/45 an Social Democratic Party left of the SPD)
Defunct parties in (former) West Germany
German Party (DP) - Conservative
German Empire Party (DRP) - Far right (1949-64)
German Right Party (DReP) - Far right (1946-51)
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) - Communist (1919-1956) banned
Sozialistische Reichspartei - Socialist Reich Party (SRP) - National Socialis (1949-52) banned
The Grays – Gray Panther (Die grauen Panther - GRAUE)
Communist Party of Germany (Red Dawn)
Projekt Partei Project Party
Law and Order Offensive Party (Partei rechtsstaatlicher Offensive - Offensive D)
Parties in (former) East Germany
As a socialist state
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD)
Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (DBD)
National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPD)
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
During transition
Alliance 90
Alliance for Germany
Association of Free Democrats
Democratic Awakening
East German Green Party
Free Democratic Party
German Forum Party
German Social Union
Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
Political Parties (Germany) - List of German political parties since 1949
Election Posters from German political parties since 1918 (German)
The Bundesversammlung, or Federal Convention, is a special federal body in Germany.
It is made up of all of the members of the Bundestag, plus an equal number of delegates elected by the parliaments of the Länder.
Those delegates don't have to be memebers of the Länder parliaments; sometimes celebrities are chosen.
The convention usually has for about 1200 members.
The only task of the Bundesversammlung is to elect the Federal President.
The Bundesversammlung meets at least thirty days before the end of the Federal President's term of office ends, in order to elect the next president.
If the Federal President dies or is impeached, the Bundesversammlung meets within 30 days.
It chooses the next Federal President by an absolute majority vote.
If no-one has an absolute majority on the first and second ballot, then they hold a third ballot, and the winner is the person who has the highest number of votes.
This article is about Friedrich Ebert Senior.
For his son, who helped to found the GDR see Friedrich Ebert Jr.
Friedrich Ebert (4 February 1871 in Heidelberg – 28 February 1925 in Berlin) was a German politician (SPD).
Ebert was a social democrat.
He became leader of the SPD in 1913, when the last leader August Bebel died.
He was a big part of the German Revolution of 1918–19, and when Germany became a republic he became the first Chancellor.
His goal was to make Germany more peaceful.
He did this by putting down the left, working with the right-wing Freikorps.
He was Chancellor until he died on 28 February 1925 from Septic Shock.
Chancellors of the Weimar Republic
People from Heidelberg
Presidents of the Weimar Republic
Walter Simons (24 September 1861 in Elberfeld - 14 July 1937 in Nowawes) was a German politician.
He was president of the German Supreme Court from 1922 to 1929.
After the death of Friedrich Ebert in February 1925 he was the second acting president of the Weimar Republic from 12 March 1925 to 12 May 1925 (the first acting president was Hans Luther) when the next president, Paul von Hindenburg, was elected and assumed office.
Government ministers of the Weimar Republic
Full Moon is the third studio album by R&B singer Brandy Norwood.
It contains the hit songs like "What About Us", "Another Day In Paradise" and "Full Moon".
2002 albums
U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To) – The Remix EP is the first EP by American R&B singer Brandy Norwood, released in 1999 (see 1999 in music).
It was released for promotional use only.
During 1999, her record company, Atlantic Records, released a 9-track remix EP entitled U Don't Know Me... Like U Used To – The Remix EP.
The album contains remix versions with Da Brat, Ma$e, Fat Joe, Big Pun, Darkchild, DJ Premier and many other artists and producers.
The album is seen as a maxi-single so the peak positions are the same as the peak positions of the single.
The songs on U Don't Know Me did not have much success with a peak position of #79 on the U.S. Hot 100, 50 in Canada and 25 in the UK.
The album's lead single was "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To) [Remix]".
1999 albums
The Boy Is Mine is an R&B song by singers Brandy and Monica.
It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Brandy Norwood for Norwood's second studio album Never Say Never (1998) but eventually released as the lead single off of both singers' second albums during the second quarter of 1998 (see 1998 in music).
Co-produced by Darkchild, Brandy and Dallas Austin, "The Boy Is Mine" has become one of the most successful R&B singles of all time.
The song's lyrics tell a story about two women disputing the love of a man and were inspired by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson's 1982 duet "The Girl Is Mine."
The song was number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks in a row.
It finished as the second-best performing song of 1998 on that chart.
1998 songs
Brandy songs
or ETA (Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom"; IPA pronunciation: [) was a nationalist separatist militant army.
It wanted to establish a separate nation-state for the Basque people.
The Basque people are an ethnic group living in areas of northern Spain and southwestern France.
There are between 2 and 2.5 million Basques in the region.
Some of them speak an indigenous, non-Indo-European language called Euskara.
ETA was one of Europe’s most notorious and long-running terror groups.
It was founded in 1959 from what was left of EKIN, another radical Basque separatist group.
Both EKIN and ETA were created because of discontent with the moderate nationalism of the main Basque party, the Basque National Party.
ETA committed hundreds of attacks in Spain.
It had ties with other terrorist groups both inside and outside the Basque region.
These included the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Colombia’s FARC.
Most of ETA’s terror attacks targeted businesses and Spanish government officials, especially members of the security services and the judiciary, but it also targeted civilians.
Its most common tactics were bombing and assassination.
Its attacks took place mostly in the Basque Country, Madrid and Catalonia.
Similar to the IRA, ETA sometimes issued warnings before the attacks.
The group assassinated Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in December 1973.
At the time, Blanco was seen by many as the most likely successor to Spain’s dictator, Francisco Franco.
He was killed when an underground bomb exploded underneath his car.
More than twenty years later, ETA nearly assassinated Jose Maria Aznar, an opposition politician who later became prime minister.
In 1987, ETA killed 21 people in Barcelona using a car bomb.
The status of the Basque homeland changed significantly with the end of Francisco Franco's regime and the return of democracy in 1979.
Franco tried to suppress Basque nationalism and separatism.
The new democratic government, on the other hand, offered significant autonomy to the Basque provinces.
In a deal struck in 1980, the Basque region acquired its own parliament similarly to the other regions in Spain.
It was also allowed to have its own independent tax legislation.
In addition, the language Euskara became more prominent in public culture and education.
However, the new autonomous region did not deter the radical separatists that comprised ETA.
ETA has committed approximately 900 murders and dozens of kidnappings.
Change of activity
ETA’s level of activity has changed over the years.
The group has attempted several ceasefires, including a 14-month one that lasted until December 1999.
While there have been a number of ETA attacks since 2000, the group has claimed fewer victims.
It is believed to be shrinking.
Spanish officials believe that recent crackdowns have led to a serious weakening of the group and sense that its future as a terrorist organization may be limited.
There are more than one hundred suspected ETA members in Spanish prisons today.
In the past several years, ETA has done sporadic attacks, including bombings in September 2004, December 2005, and early 2006.
However, these bombings were generally preceded by warnings and did not result in any deaths.
In March 2006, ETA declared a permanent ceasefire and expressed to join the political process.
The decision may have been linked to the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed nearly 200 people.
The attack was originally blamed on ETA, though it was soon discovered to be the work of militant Islamists linked to al-Qaeda.
Like the IRA, ETA leaders may have felt that the mass casualty terrorism practiced by some radical Islamist groups discredited its violent tactics—though this is not known for certain.
ETA had a secretive leadership structure.
In June 2007, ETA declared its March 2006 ceasefire null-and-void.
Although many had seen ETA’s December 2006 bombing of an airport parking garage as an indication that the truce would not hold.
An ETA spokesperson accused the Spanish government of interfering in Basque local elections as well as continuing with the prosecution and conviction of ETA members during the ceasefire.
It must be noted that ETA did not officially renounce violence or initiate steps to decommission its weapons (as the IRA did in July 2005) as part of its ceasefire declaration.
ETA ceasefires have deteriorated into violence before.
On 20 October 2011, ETA announced publicly the definite cessation of its armed activities.
Although it vowed to continue to seek an independent Basque state.
It was announced in 2 prominent nationalist newspapers, Gara and Berria.
In May 2018 ETA announced that it was formally disbanding.
The move marked the end of a half-century of violence that had claimed the lives of more than 800 people.
1959 establishments in Europe
Crime in France
Crime in Spain
Politics of Spain
Petr Eben (Žamberk, 22 January 1929; died Prague 24 October 2007) was a Czech composer and organist.
Many musicians think of him as the most important Czech composer of the late 20th century.
He was known world wide for his organ playing.
He was especially good at improvisation.
Eben grew up in Český Krumlov in south Bohemia.
He learned to play the piano, and later the cello and organ.
Because his father was a Jew he had to leave school in 1943 and spent the rest of the war years in concentration camp in Buchenwald.
In the camp he saw many terrible things, including graves into which the Nazis were throwing lots of murdered Jews.
These terrible things influenced his music in later years.
He had a strong faith and this helped him to survive during 40 years of living in Czechoslovakia under communist rule.
After the war he went to Prague Academy for Music where he studied the piano with František Rauch and composition with Pavel Bořkovec.
In 1955 he got a job as lecturer at Charles University in Prague.
He stayed there until 1990.
He was the country’s best composer, and he should have had promotion, but the communist politicians did not allow this.
He went to church every Sunday with his family.
This did not help his career in a communist state.
After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when his country became free from the Soviet Union, he started to become a national hero.
He was made Professor of Composition and president of the Prague Spring Music Festival.
Many music festivals performed his compositions, and he traveled to hear the concerts in spite of the fact that he was starting to become ill.
His music was often played in England, where he had spent two years as professor of composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester from 1978 to 1979.
In March 2007 the BBC Symphony Orchestra under their Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek performed his Vox Clamantis, a work he had written in 1968 which shows the Czech people’s longing to be free.
His compositions
Eben continued during his lifetime to develop the style of music in which he wrote.
He was interested in Czech folk music and he wrote down many folk songs that he heard in Moravia.
He listened to plainchant in church music.
All this helped him to develop his own style of composition.
He is best-known abroad for his organ music, especially works such as Musica Dominicalis (Sunday Music) which includes a popular piece called Moto Ostinato.
Other organ works include Faust (1980), Job (1987) and A Festive Voluntary which is a set of variations on the tune of Good King Wenceslas, written for the reopening in 1986 of the organ at Chichester Cathedral which had just been restored.
He also wrote a lot of music for orchestra as well as chamber music.
He composed some beautiful music for children’s choir, including church music called Liturgical Songs.
Anything related to the Czech Republic
The Czech language
Czechs, a Slavic people
Totalitarianism is when regimes (political systems) control all public behaviour and as much of private behaviour as they can.
No elections are held, or if they are, candidates must be approved by the ruling group.
Physical force and/or arrests and detentions are used on people who protest against the regime.
There are events such as parades or rallies.
These suggest to the people that the ruling group is in complete control.
For some, totalitarianism is as old as history.
However, their main examples in modern times are Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, North Korea, the Soviet Union, Eritrea and China.
There are other countries which had dictatorships, but never reached full totalitarianism.
Italian fascism under Benito Mussolini, Spain under General Franco, Portugal under Dr. Salazar, China under Mao Zedong, and many Latin American countries for periods were dictatorships with some aspects of totalitarianism.
Some African countries have been dictatorships for long periods (e.g. Zimbabwe).
The Empire of Japan (predecessor state of the modern nation-state of Japan) was a well-known example of a totalitarian military dictatorship during World War II.
The satire Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was about such a society taken to extremes.
According to some, authoritarianism "does not attempt to change the world and human nature".
In contrast, a totalitarian regime attempts to control virtually all aspects of the social life, including the economy, education, art, science, private life and morals of citizens.
Gothic metal is a heavy metal genre.
It is fusion of gothic rock, doom metal and death metal.
Notable bands
Lüneburg is a city in Lower Saxony in north Germany.
It is about 50 km southeast of Hamburg.
It is the capital of the District of Lüneburg.
About 102,660 people live there.
In medieval times the town was very rich due to the salt trade.
Salt used to be transported along the Old Salt Route to the Baltic Sea from where it was sent by ship to other countries.
There were salt mines near the town for a thousand years.
Salt mining stopped in 1980.
The salt mining caused a lot of deforestation.
The countryside changed into heathland which is called the Lüneburger Heide (Lüneburg Heath).
On May 23, 1945 the Nazi war criminal Heinrich Himmler committed suicide in Lüneburg after he had been captured by the British Army.
He swallowed a potassium cyanide capsule before his interrogation could begin.
Hindenburg retired from the army in 1911.
He rejoined the German army at the start of the First World War.
He became famous when he won the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914.
He was 84 years old and in poor health, but deciced to run for re-election in 1932 as the only candidate who could defeat Adolf Hitler, because he saw him as a dangerous extremist.
He tried to stop Hitler's and the Nazi Party's rise to power, but Franz von Papen persuaded Hindenburg, that the Conservative elite and the military could control Hitler when he becomes Chancellor of Germany and that the other more dangerous alternative was Communist rule.
As a result, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933.
But von Papen's belief in controlling Hitler and his assurances to Hindenburg did not happen, because Hitler started to control them and gain more power.
In March he signed the Enabling Act of 1933 which gave special powers to Hitler and his government.
With this act, Hitler became a dictator in the next months, and crushed all opposition and banned all political parties, except the Nazi Party by the summer of 1933.
Hindenburg died the next year, after which Hitler declared the office of President vacant and made himself Führer (Head of State and Head of Government) of Germany.
The famous zeppelin Hindenburg that was destroyed by fire in 1937 had been named in his honour, as is the causeway joining the island of Sylt to mainland Schleswig-Holstein, the Hindenburgdamm, built during his time in office.
1925 election
In 1925, Hindenburg had no interest in running for public office.
After the first round Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, one of the leaders of the DNVP, visited Hindenburg and asked him to run.
Hindenburg eventually agreed to run in the second round of the elections as a non-party independent, although he was a conservative.
Because he was Germany's greatest war hero, Hindenburg won the election in the second round of voting held on 26 April 1925.
He was helped when the Bavarian People's Party (BVP), switched its support from Marx, the SPD candidate and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) to did not withdraw its candidate, Ernst Thälmann.
If they had their supporters would most likely have voted for the SPD and Hindenburg may not have won.
Hindenburg tried to stay out of day-to-politics, and be a ceremonial president.
He liked the monarchy, but took his oath to the Weimar Constitution seriously.
His advisers included his son, Oskar, his old army aide General Wilhelm Groener, and General Kurt von Schleicher.
The younger Hindenburg served as his father's aide-de-camp and controlled politicians' access to the President.
Schleicher came up with the idea of Presidential government, and the "25/48/53 formula".
Under a "Presidential" government the chancellor is responsible to the president), and not the Reichstag.
The "25/48/53 formula" was the three articles of the Constitution that could make a "Presidential government" possible:
Article 25 allowed the President to dissolve the Reichstag.
Article 48 allowed the President to sign into law emergency bills without the consent of the Reichstag. (
The Reichstag could cancel any law passed by Article 48 by a simple majority within sixty days of its signing).
Article 53 allowed the President to appoint the Chancellor.
Schleicher's wanted to have Hindenburg appoint a chancellor that Schleicher chose.
If that chancellor needed any laws he could use article 48.
If the Reichstag should threaten to cancel any of those laws, Hindenburg could threaten a dissolution, and call new elections.
Hindenburg did not like the idea, but was pressured into going along with them by his son and his other advisors.
Presidential government
The first try at "presidential government" in 1926–1927 failed for lack of political support.
During the winter of 1929–1930, Schleicher had a series of secret meetings with Heinrich Brüning, the leader of the Catholic Center Party (Zentrum).
Schleicher then set about splitting the "Grand Coalition" government of the Social Democrats and the German People’s Party.
As a result, the government fell in March 1930 and Brüning was named Chancellor by Hindenburg.
Brüning's first act was to introduce a budget calling for steep spending cuts and sharp tax increases.
When the budget was defeated in July, Brüning had Hindenburg sign the budget as an emergency law under Article 48.
When the Reichstag voted to cancel the budget, Brüning had Hindenburg dissolve Reichstag only two years into its mandate, and had the budget passed again by Article 48.
The Nazis got 17% of the vote in the September 1930 elections.
The Communist Party of Germany also made gains.
1932 Election
In the first round of the election held in March 1932, Hindenburg was the frontrunner, but did not have an absolute majority.
In the runoff election of April 1932, Hindenburg beat Hitler for the Presidency.
In May 1932 Schleicher had Hindenburg sack Groener as Defence Minister to humiliate both Groener and Brüning.
On 31 May 1932, Hindenburg sacked Brüning as Chancellor and replaced him with Schleicher's suggestion, Franz von Papen.
von Papen's government openly wanted to destroy German democracy.
Like Brüning's government, von Papen's government was a "presidential government" that governed through the use of Article 48.
As Schleicher wanted, Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag and set new elections for July 1932.
Schleicher and von Papen both believed that the Nazis would win the majority of the seats and would support von Papen's government.
The Nazi party did become the largest party in the Reichstag, and expected Hitler would be Chancellor.
When Hindenburg met Hitler on 13 August 1932, in Berlin, Hindenburg rejected Hitler's demands for the Chancellorship.
The minutes of the meeting were kept by Otto Meißner, the Chief of the Presidential Chancellery.
According to the minutes:
Hindenburg issued a press release about his meeting with Hitler that seemed to say that Hitler had demanded absolute power and that the President had refused.
Hitler was enraged by this press release.
When the Reichstag met in September 1932, its first and only act was to pass a massive vote of no-confidence in von Papen’s government.
In response, von Papen had Hindenburg dissolve the Reichstag for elections in November 1932.
In the 1949 constitution, a vote of no confidence must be accompanied by the election of a new chancellor, so this could not happen.
In the second Reichstag elections of 1932 the Nazis lost some support, but stayed the largest party in the Reichstag.
There ensued another round of talks between Hindenburg, von Papen, von Schleicher on the one hand and Hitler and the other Nazi leaders on the other.
Hitler still demanded that Hindenburg give him the Chancellorship.
Hindenburg could not accept this, so von Papen suggested Hindenburg declare martial law and do away with democracy.
Von Papen got Oscar Hindenburg to support the plan, and they persuaded the president to ignore his oath to the Constitution and go along with this plan.
Schleicher saw von Papen as a threat so he blocked the martial law plan by saying it would make the Nazi SA and the Communist Red Front Fighters rebel, and that the Poles would invade and the Reichswehr would be unable to cope.
Hindenburg hated the idea of Hitler as Chancellor, but under pressure from Meißner, von Papen and Oskar Hindenburg the President decided to appoint Hitler Chancellor.
On the morning of 30 January 1933, Hindenburg swore Hitler in as Chancellor at the Presidential Palace.
The Machtergreifung
Hindenburg played key role in the Nazi Machtergreifung (Seizure of Power) in 1933.
He was not involved in the planning, but did not stop Hitler.
In the "Government of National Concentration" headed by Hitler, the Nazis were in the minority.
Most of the ministers were from the von Papen and von Schleicher governments.
Besides Hitler, the only other Nazi ministers were Hermann Göring and Wilhelm Frick.
In early February 1933, von Papen had an Article 48 bill signed into law that limited the freedom of press.
After the Reichstag fire, Hindenburg signed into law the Reichstag Fire Decree.
At the opening of the new Reichstag on 21 March 1933, at the Kroll Opera House, the Nazis staged an elaborate ceremony, in which Hindenburg played the leading part, that was meant to mark the continuity between the Prussian-German tradition and the new Nazi state.
The ceremony at the Kroll Opera House had the effect of reassuring many Germans, especially conservative Germans, that life would be fine under the new regime.
On 23 March 1933, Hindenburg signed the Enabling Act into law.
Hindenburg was still very popular, but his health was getting worse.
The Nazis made sure that whenever Hindenburg did appear in public Hitler was with him, and that Hitler was always very respectful to the President.
The Nazi propagandists hoped people would think Hindenburg liked Hitler, and Hitler would become more popular.
The only time Hindenburg ever tried to stop a Nazi bill was in early April 1933.
The Reichstag had passed a Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.
This said that all Jewish civil servants working for the Reich, the Länder, or the local districts should be sacked immediately.
Hindenburg refused to sign this bill into law unless all Jewish veterans of World War I, Jewish civil servants who served in the civil service during the war and those Jewish civil servants whose fathers were veterans were allowed to stay in office.
Hitler agreed, in order to get the law signed, even though he believed that the Jews had tried to undermine Germany during the Great War.
It was Hindenburg who said that Germany lost the First World War because of politicians and others "stabbing the Army in the back".
Hindenburg did not believe the story.
He said it so that his wartime deputy Erich von Ludendorff would not write bad things in his memoirs.
But Hitler did believe the story, and used it to gain power.
Hindenburg stayed president until he died from lung cancer at his home in Neudeck, East Prussia on 2 August 1934.
One day before Hindenburg's death, Hitler flew to Neudeck and visited him.
Hindenburg, old and senile, thought he was meeting Kaiser Wilhelm II, and called Hitler "Your Majesty".
He would be Germany's last president until 1945, when Karl Dönitz was appointed president in Hitler's last will.
Following Hindenburg's death, Hitler declared the office of President to be permanently vacant, effectively merging it with the office of Chancellor under the title of Leader and Chancellor (Führer und Reichskanzler), making himself Germany's Head of State and Head of government.
Hindenburg was buried in the Tannenberg memorial near Tannenberg, East Prussia (today: Stębark, Poland).
But Hindenburg always said he wanted to be buried next to his wife.
In 1945, German troops removed his and his wife's coffins, to save them from the approaching Soviet troops, and blew up the memorial with explosives.
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Bracher, Karl Dietrich Die Aufloesung der Weimarer Republik; eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie Villingen: Schwarzwald, Ring-Verlag, 1971.
Dorpalen, Andreas Hindenburg and the Weimar Republic, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1964.
Eschenburg, Theodor "The Role of the Personality in the Crisis of the Weimar Republic: Hindenburg, Brüning, Groener, Schleicher" pages 3–50 from Republic to Reich The Making Of The Nazi Revolution edited by Hajo Holborn, New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.
Feldman, G.D. Army, Industry and Labor in Germany, 1914-1918, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1966.
Görlitz, Walter Hindenburg: Ein Lebensbild, Bonn: Athenäeum, 1953.
Görlitz, Walter Hindenburg, eine Auswalh aus Selbstzeugnissen des Generalfeldmarschalls und Reichpräsidenten, Bielefeld: Velhagen & Klasing, 1935.
Hiss, O.C. Hindenburg: Eine Kleine Streitschrift, Potsdam: Sans Souci Press, 1931.
Jäckel, Eberhard Hitler in History, Hanover N.H.: Brandeis University Press, 1984.
Kershaw, Sir Ian, Hitler.
1889-1936: Hubris New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998; German edition, Munich, 1998, p. 659.
Kitchen, Martin The Silent Dictatorship: The Politics of the High Command under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 1916-1918, London: Croom Helm, 1976.
Maser, Werner Hindenburg: Eine politische Biographie, Rastatt: Moewig, 1990.
Noakes, Jeremy & Pridham, Geoffrey (editors) Nazism 1919-1945 Volume 1 The Rise to Power 1919-1934, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 1983.
Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John Hindenburg: the Wooden Titan, London : Macmillan, 1967; New York, Morrow, 1936.
Turner, Henry Ashby Hitler's thirty days to power : January 1933, Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley, 1996.