Friday, June 12, 2009

Spotlight
"I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are still truly good at heart..." So wrote one of the Holocaust's most famous victims, Anne Frank, in the diary she kept during her two years of hiding in the place she called the Secret Annex. Of the eight residents who lived in the hidden rooms at 263 Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, only Anne's father, Otto Frank, was to survive the war. Upon his return, Otto was given the pages of the diary that Anne had left behind when she and the others were sent to concentration camps in 1944. He published the book first in Dutch and German, under the title Het Achterhuis (The Annex), in 1947. Later translated into English as Diary of a Young Girl, the book personalized an event whose enormity was nearly impossible to absorb. Had she lived, Anne Frank would have turned 80 today.

Quote
"Whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!" — Anne Frank

Question of the Day
When were Anne Frank and her family captured?
On August 4, 1944, the residents of the secret annex were betrayed and taken by the SS to a police station. On August 8, 1944, they were sent to the transit camp in Westerbork.

On September 3, 1944, the prisoners were taken by train to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, but on October 30, 1944, Anne and Margot were moved to Bergen-Belsen, where they both died of typhus in March 1945 (exact date unknown). Edith was left at Auschwitz and died on January 6, 1945.

Word of the day
jejunum
The part of the small intestine next beyond the duodenum, and leading to the ileum. Its lining has an enormous surface area, by virtue of folds, projections (villi), and microvilli on the villi. Enzyme secretion and digestion, started in the stomach, continue here, and absorption of the products begins — of glucose and amino acids into blood capillaries and of fats into lymph capillaries (lacteals).
(© Oxford University Press)

Today's History

The 'Gossamer Albatross'

• Virginia: became the first state to adopt a bill of rights — the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
• Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: shrine to the US national pastime was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York (1939)
• Loving v. Virginia: US Supreme Court struck down all bans on interracial marriages (1967)
• Gossamer Albatross: human-powered aircraft was flown by Bryan Allen across the English Channel (1979)
• "Tear down this wall": challenge was issued by US President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; the Berlin Wall did indeed come down two years later (1987)
• $50 bill: new and improved design was unveiled by the US Treasury to help the elderly and hinder counterfeiters (1997)

Today's Birthdays

Chick Corea

• John A. Roebling (1806-1869): civil engineer who designed the Brooklyn Bridge
• Johanna Spyri (1827-1901): author of Heidi; other writers born on this date include Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) and Djuna Barnes (1892-1982)
• George H.W. Bush (85): US president who promised a "kinder, gentler nation"; another world leader who shared this birthday was Anthony Eden (1897-1977)
• Chick Corea (68): Grammy-winning musician who helped develop jazz fusion; also, musicians Vic Damone and Richard Sherman (both 80), Jim Nabors (79), Junior Brown (57), Meredith Brooks (51), John Linnell (50) and Kenny Wayne Shepherd (32)
• Timothy Busfield (52): actor/director, thirtysomething, The West Wing; actor Frances O'Connor (42) shares this birth date