Today In History

Between 122,766 and 320,000 people were killed in the Mauthausen-Gusen hell, among them 7,000 Spanish Republicans. Today the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The duty of memory.

February 13, 1960



With the success of Blue Jerboa , first French nuclear test, in the desert of Reggane, Algeria, France reaches the club of the nuclear powers.

54 years later, and according to the French Wikipedia, on 700 (seven hundreds) cases of compensation put down further to the abnormal increase of the human pathologies in the zones of French nuclear tests (cancer of the thyroid, lung cancer, breast cancer, leukaemia, certain congenital defects,...), only 4 (four) of these cases were considered acceptable by the French authorities...

Move along, people, there's nothing to see here...


"In ten years, we shall have enough to kill 80 million of Russians. Well, I believe that one do not attack gladly people who have enough to kill 80 million of Russians, even if one have oneself enough to kill 800 million of French people, supposing that there was 800 million of French people."

Edited my previous post about French Blue Jerboa nuclear test. Of course it was on February 13, 1960 and not on May 13, 1960. Ooops...

Oh yes, I know I know, being forgetful is most of all a privilege of us older people...
Know it too well

1939 : February 22. Death of poet Antonio Machado Ruiz at Collioure (France ) .
We remember the last years of life , death and exile writer Antonio Machado Seville (1875 - 1939) , since 1937 when participating in the International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture in Valencia and published his last book in life "War " . In March 1938 the poet with his mother , Ana Ruiz , his brother Joseph and his nieces, up to Barcelona, ​​where he remained until his exile in France. In late January 1939, Machado and his family crossed the French border. The sick poet and lightweight luggage , only with a briefcase of unpublished manuscripts , died Feb. 22 in Collioure Bougnol Quintana hotel. Two days later her mother would die . In the cemetery of Collioure is the tomb of the iconic republican poet of the Generation of '98.

Machado Antonio Cipriano José María Ruiz. (Sevilla , July 26, 1875 - Coillure , France, February 22, 1939 ) .

In the poetic evolution of Antonio Machado highlights three aspects : the intellectual environment of his early years , marked first by the figure of his father, Andalusian folklore scholar , and then the spirit of the Free Institution of Education , the influence of his readings philosophical, notable among which are those of Bergson and Unamuno , and , thirdly , to reflect on the Spain of his time. The poetry of Ruben Dario, although more pronounced in the early years, is a constant influence.
He studied at the Free Institution of Education and later completed his studies in high schools and San Isidro Cardinal Cisneros. Make several trips to Paris , where he met Rubén Darío and works for a few months Garnier publisher.
In Madrid participates in the literary and theatrical world, forming part of the troupe María Guerrero and Fernando Díaz de Mendoza. In 1907 obtained the chair in French in Soria. After a trip to Paris with a grant from the Board of Advanced Studies to study philosophy and Bédier Bergson , his wife dies - has been married to three years - and this is deeply affecting . Order the transfer to Baeza, where he continued teaching French between 1912 and 1919 , and later moved to Segovia Madrid seeking closeness , destination arriving in 1932. During the years spent in Segovia assists in the popular university founded in the city.

In 1927 he entered the Royal Academy and a year later he meets Pilar Valderrama , the " Guiomar " poet of his poems , with which it has relationships secret for years.

During the twenties and thirties writes plays in collaboration with his brother Manuel . The Civil War remains in Madrid to participate in the Republican campaign literary publications and doing . In 1939 evacuated to Valencia, where he worked in Spain and part time at the International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture , and from there to Barcelona , from where it crosses the Pyrenees to Coillure . There died shortly after arrival.

The theater written by Machado brothers is marked by his poetic and not remain within the limits of the time commercial theater . His plays are written and premiered between 1926 ( Misfortunes of fortune or Julianillo Valcárcel ) and 1932 ( The Duchess of Benamejí ) and consists of five other works, besides the two mentioned . Son Juan de Manara (1927 ) , The oleanders (1928 ) , La Lola is going to ports (1929 ) , La Fernanda (1931 ) premium - all written in verse - and the man who died in the war , written in prose and not released until 1941. In addition , the Machado brothers adapted for the stage plays of Lope de Vega as the dog in the manger or Silver Little girl and Hernani by Victor Hugo .

Born 21 March 1960

Thank you Beco