NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 17

This morning, the 39-year old ferry Hebridean Isles departed Stornoway for the final time, to be scrapped. Three hours later, the Tesco superstore opened its doors for the first time on a Sunday. I walked past half an hour later. The carpark was full, surrounding streets even busier than during a weekday at that time; a camera crew were skulking about, waiting to trap the unwary - and a group of poor souls, forlornly holding up a banner saying "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy". There is an attitude around, beyond this island, that we should come into the 21st century, join the rest of the country which has been enjoying Sunday trading for three decades. That is condescending, and ignorant of a special way of life that we can afford to have, 50 miles off the mainland. But, the die has been cast, Tesco has claimed that there is widespread support for its Stornoway store to open on Sunday. There is, I know that. And as it's there, it will be used.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 11

 Armistice Day. The day, now 106 years ago, when the guns fell silent on the Western Front, after more than four years of slaughter. The blame was laid squarely at the Germans' door, although it had been more an pan-European royal spat. Years ago, I visited the village of Tolsta Chaolais in Lewis, where the first war memorial was built in the 1920s. A local resident commented to me: "Why did eighteen men from our village have to die, because an Archduke got shot in Sarajevo?" And that summed it up nicely for me. The fact that more wars have followed in Europe says enough.

Tolsta Chaolais War Memorial

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 10

Today is Remembrance Sunday, when we commemorate the Fallen from two World Wars, and conflicts before and after. Here in Lewis, the focus is quite strongly on the First World War. Out of 6,300 who joined up, more than 1,100 did not survive. Of that number, more than 200 drowned on 1st January 1919, when their ship, HMY Iolaire, sank just outside Stornoway harbour. Although the vessel ran aground on reefs, only 50 yards from shore, the atrocious weather and sea conditions made it impossible for a rescue to be mounted. Seventy-five managed to scramble ashore; the remains of 65 were never recovered from the sea.

This is a picture from an installation which has stood off South Beach in Stornoway since late 2018. Although the lighting has long since failed, and the posts are now decaying, this image of it depicts the outline of the Iolaire. Each of the posts denotes someone on board; the red lights indicate a life lost

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 09

 It is 86 years ago since the Night of Broken Glass [Kristallnacht]. That night, an organised mob of Nazi forces and sympathisers went on the rampage in towns and cities across Germany, smashing and destroying Jewish-owned property and businesses. It was a foretaste of what was to come during World War II. The extermination of anyone deemed sub-human by the warped mind of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen. Jews topped their league of the unfit, closely followed by gypsies, the mentally ill and many many others. The Reichskristallnacht was a night of infamy, and not just to Germany. Hitler had already been allowed to get away with murder for several years beforehand. In 1936, he occupied the Rhineland which had been ceded to France at the end of the First World War. The League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations, cried wolf but had no bite. On 12 March 1938, Nazi forces marched into Austria to join that country to Germany, an event referred to as the Anschluss. Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich to meet with Adolf Hitler on 30 September 1938, returning with the infamous phrase: "Peace for our time". Six weeks later, the Reichskristallnacht took place. Only a few months later, Germany invaded the Sudetenland area of Czecho-Slovakia, and again, nobody moved a finger to stop. In September 1939, Hitler thought he could get away with the invasion of Poland. But this time, it prompted a declaration of war, signalling the outbreak of the Second World War. The lights have gone out in Europe, it was said at the time. The lights in Europe had already been extinguished in 1914, and had not been relit, not even at the end of the First World War. The Versailles Peace Treaty of June 1919 contained all the ingredients for another war, which duly materialised. After the unspeakable atrocities of the Second World War, Germany was divided into four by the victorious allies. The British, French and American sectors became West Germany, whilst the Soviet sector was turned into East Germany, a communist state. Berlin was similarly divided. Until 1961, people from the East fled to the West in droves. A barrier was erected across Berlin in August 1961, later replaced by a high, concrete wall. Similar barriers were put up along the borders between East and West Germany. Anyone trying to flee from East to West was shot on sight, no questions asked. The advent of Mikhail Gorbatchov as leader of the USSR in the 1980s heralded a start of change. And when this wind of change blew across eastern Europe, it blew away all the communist regimes within the space of a few months in 1989.

The Berlin Wall was torn down on 9 November 1989, and you can see the dilemma. Do we remember the Kristallnacht, and not celebrate the reunification of Germany? Do we celebrate the reunification, and ignore the Night of Broken Glass? Maybe the two can be reconciled. The Berliners remember the Kristallnacht in a very low-key but poignant manner. Every year, in the evening of November 9th, candles are left on the doorsteps of houses that were ransacked that night.

The flame, burning at the top of this post, is my candle of remembrance for Kristallnacht.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 08

 A football riot raged across the streets of the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, last night. An Israeli side had come to play Ajax Amsterdam, but the politics of the current war in Gaza spoiled the occasion. Without the full facts, I would rather not comment further. But it is unacceptable for people to be targeted for being Israeli or indeed Jewish, or for people to be targeted because they are Palestinian or support the people of Gaza. I think the Israeli government overreacted by chartering a plane to take its citizens out of the Netherlands.

Holland saw 110,000 of its Jewish population deported to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other deathcamps during the Second World War. To have Jewish people targeted again on the streets of Amsterdam, albeit in a vastly different context, would have opened old wounds.

Tomorrow, I am publishing a NaBloPoMo post to commemorate the 86th anniversary of the Reichs Kristallnacht.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 07

A lens-shaped cloud looming over the ferry terminal, on a fairly bright but blustery afternoon. The days have been very cloudy, dark and overcast this week, but a bit of sunshine was very much welcome today.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 06

MV Hebridean Isles departing Stornoway at dusk this afternoon. She is in the twilight days of her service, which will end on November 13th. 

The vessel is currently covering for MV Loch Seaforth, until she returns from refit. Hebridean Isles will then be sent for scrapping, after 39 years in the Calmac fleet.