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FEBUWHUMP day 1:
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Den 12. mann | The 12th Man (2017)
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utenfilter · 1 year
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Jeg skjønner ikke poenget med å lage en film om flukten til Jan Baalsrud, når det meste man viser er tull og fanteri. Hva er poenget? Det burde være å fortelle historien slik man har grunn til å tro at det skjedde. Ikke gjøre den til en tullete actionfilm. Respektløst.
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alanmalcherhistorian · 4 months
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Jan Baalsrud MBE (1917-1988) SOE Norwegian Section
(Image source Unknown) In early 1943 Baalsrud was part of Operation Martin consisting of three other Norwegian agents who were taken to Norway by a clandestine fishing boat with a Norwegian crew of eight. Their mission was to destroy a control tower at a German airfield at Bardufoss and then recruit and establish a resistance movement. They had been given the name of a resistance contact who…
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c-carwood-lipton · 4 years
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enfarktuss · 5 years
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“Tüm bunların boşuna olmadığını göster.”
12th Man (dir. Harald Zwart)
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jetwashphotos · 3 years
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Norwegian LN-ENR, OSL ENGM Gardermoen
Norwegian LN-ENR, OSL ENGM Gardermoen
Boeing 737-800, cn 42093, Jan Baalsrud See it here: https://flic.kr/p/2mahKRj
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Artifact Series J
J. Allen Hynek's Telescope
J. Edgar Hoover's Tie
J. McCullough's Golf Ball
J. Templer's Wind-Up Tin Rooster *
J. C. Agajanian’s Stetson
J.T. Saylors's Overalls
J.M. Barrie’s Swiss Trychels
J.M.W. Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed-The Great Western Railway *
J.R.R. Tolken's Ring
Jack-in-the-Box
Jack's Magic Beanstalk
Jack Daniel's Original Whisky Bottle
Jack Dawson's Art Kit
Jack Duncan's Spur *
Jack Frost's Staff
Jack Kerouac's Typewriter
Jack Ketch's Axe
Jack LaLanne's Stationary Bike *
Jack London's Dog Collar
Jack Parson's Rocket Engine
Jack Sheppard's Hammer
Jack Sparrow's Compass
Jack Torrance's Croquet Mallet
Jack the Ripper's Lantern *
Jackie Robinson's Baseball
Jackson Pollock's "No. 5, 1948"
Jackson Pollock's Pack of Cigarettes
Jackson Pollock's Paint Cans
Jack's Regisword
Jack Vettriano's "The Singing Butler"
Jack's Wrench
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmarchen
Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian's Otoscope
Jacob Kurtzberg's Belt *
Jacqueline Cochran's Brooch
Jacques Aymar-Vernay’s Dowsing Rod
Jacques Cousteau's Goggles
Jacques Cousteau's Diving Suit
Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps *
Jade Butterfly
Jadeite Cabbage
Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar's Smoke Pipe
Jamaica Ginger Bottle
Jaleel White's Hosting Chair
James Abbot McNeill Whistler's Whistler's Mother *
James Allen's Memoir
James Bartley's Britches
James Ben Ali Haggin's Leaky Fountain Pen
James Bert Garner’s Gas Mask
James Bett's Cupboard Handle
James Braid's Chair *
James Brown's Shoes
James Bulger's Sweater
James Buzzanell's Painting "Grief and Pain"
James Buzzanell’s Survey Books
James C. McReynolds’ Judicial Robe
James Chadwick's Nobel Prize
James Clerk Maxwell's Camera Lens
James Colnett's Otter Pelt
James Condliff's Skeleton Clock
James Cook's Mahiole and Feather Cloak
James Craik's Spring Lancet
James Dean's 1955 Prosche 550 Spyder, aka "Little Bastard"
James Dean's UCLA Varsity Jacket
James Dinsmoor's Dinner Bell
James Eads How’s Bindle
James Earl Ray's Rifle
James Fenimore Cooper's Arrow Heads
James Gandolfini's Jukebox
James Hadfield’s Glass Bottle of Water
James Hall III’s Shopping Bags
James Henry Atkinson's Mouse Trap
James Henry Pullen’s Mannequin
James Hoban's Drawing Utensils
James Holman’s Cane
James Hutton's Overcoat
James Joyce’s Eyepatch
James M. Barrie's Grandfather Clock
James M. Barrie's Suitcase
James Murrell's Witch Bottle
James Philip’s Riata
James Prescott Joule's Thermodynamic Generator
James Smithson's Money
James Tilly Matthews’ Air Loom
James Warren and Willoughby Monzani's Piece of Wood
James Watt's Steam Condenser
James Watt's Weather Vane
James W. Marshall’s Jar
Jan Baalsrud’s Stretcher
Jan Baptist van Helmont's Willow Tree
Jane Austen's Carriage
Jane Austen's Gloves
Jane Austen's Quill
Jane Bartholomew's "Lady Columbia" Torch
Jane Pierce's Veil
Janet Leigh's Shower Curtain
Janine Charrat's Ballet Slippers
Jan Janzoon's Boomerang *
Janis Joplin's Backstage Pass from Woodstock *
Jan Karski's Passport
Janus Coin *
Jan van Eyck’s Chaperon
Jan van Speyk's Flag of the Netherlands
Jan Wnęk's Angel Figurine
Jan Žižka's Wagenburg Wagons
The Japanese Nightingale
Jar of Dust from the Mount Asama Eruption
Jar of Greek Funeral Beans
Jar of Marbles
Jar of Molasses from The Boston Molasses Disaster
Jar of Sand
Jar of Semper Augustus Bulbs
Jar of Shiva
Jar of Sugar Plums
Jascha Heifetz's Violin Bow
Jason Voorhese's Machete
Javed Iqbal's Barrel of Acid
Jay Maynard's Tron Suit
Jean II Le Maingre's Gauntlets
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau’s Cradleboard
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin's Bubble Pipe
Jean Chastel's Silver Gun
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin's Pocket Watch
Jean Fleury's Aztec Gold Coins
Jean-François Champollion’s Ideographic Dictionary
Jean Froissart's Mirror *
Jean-Frédéric Peugeot's Pepper Mill
Jean Hilliard’s Earmuffs
Jean Parisot de Valette’s Sword Sheath
Jean-Paul Marat's Bathtub
Jean Paul-Satre’s Paper Cutter
Jean-Pierre Christin's Thermometer
Jean Senebier's Bundle of Swiss Alpine Flowers
Jean Valnet's Aromatherapy Statue
Jean Vrolicq’s Scrimshaw
Jeanne Baret's Hat
Jeanne de Clisson's Black Fleet
Jeanne Villepreux-Power's Aquarium
Jeannette Piccard's Sandbag
Jeff Dunham's First Ventriloquist Box
Jefferson Davis' Boots
Jefferson Randolph Smith's Soap Bar
Jeffrey Dahmer's Handkerchief
Jeffrey Dahmer's Pick-Up Sticks
Jemmy Hirst's Carriage Wheel
Jenny Lind's Stage Makeup
Jeopardy! Contestant Podiums
Jerome Monroe Smucker's Canning Jars
Jerry Andrus’ Organ
Jerry Garcia's Blackbulb *
Jerry Siegel's Sketchbook
Jesse James' Saddle
Jesse James' Pistol
Jesse Owens' Hitler Oak
Jesse Owens' Running Shoes
Jesse Pomeroy's Ribbon and Spool
Jester's Mask
Jesus of Nazareth's Whip
Jesús García's Brake Wheel
Jet Engine from the Gimli Glider
Jet Glass Cicada Button
Jethro Tull's Hoe
Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza
Jiang Shunfu’s Mandarin Square
Jim Davis' Pet Carrier
Jim Fixx's Shorts
Jim Henson's Talking Food Muppets
Jim Jones' Sunglasses
Jim Londos' Overalls
Jim Robinson's Army Bag
Jim Thorpe's Shoulder Pads
Jim Ward's Piercing Samples
Jimi Hendrix's Bandana
Jimi Hendrix's Bong
Jimi Hendrix's Guitars *
Jimmie Rodgers Rail Brake
Jimmy Durante's Cigar
Jimmy Gibb Jr's Stock Car
Jimmy Hoffa's Comb
Jin Dynasty Chainwhip
Jingle Harness
Joan II, Duchess of Berry's Dress
Joan of Arc's Chain Mail
Joan of Arc's Helmet (canon)
Joan Feynman's Ski Pole
Joanna of Castile's Vase
Joan Rivers' Carpet Steamer
Joan Rivers' Red Carpet
Joe Ades's Potato Peeler
Joe Girard’s Keys
Joe Rosenthal's Camera Lens
Joel Brand's Playing Cards
Joséphine de Beauharnais' Engagement Ring
Johan Alfred Ander’s Piece of Porcelain
Johann Baptist Isenring’s Acacia Tree
Johann Bartholomaeus Adam Beringer's Lying Stones
Johann Blumhardt's Rosary
Johann Dzierzon’s Beehive Frame
Johann Georg Elser's Postcard
Johann Maelzel's Metronome *
Johann Rall's Poker Cards
Johann Tetzel's Indulgence
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Prism
Johannes Brahms' Coffee Creamer
Johannes Diderik van der Waals' Gloves
Johannes Fabricius' Camera Obscura
Johannes Gutenburg's Memory Paper *
Johannes Gutenburg's Printing Press *
Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press Keys
Johannes Kepler's Planetary Model
Johannes Kepler's Telescope Lense
Johannes Kjarval’s Landscape Painting
John A. Macready's Ray-Bans *
John A. Roebling's Steel Cable
John A.F. Maitland's Musical Brainnumber *
John André’s Stocking
John Anthony Walker's Minox
John Axon's Footplate
John Babbacombe Lee’s Trapdoor
John Bardeen's Radio
John Bodkin Adams’ Stethoscope
John Brown's Body *
John Brown's Machete
John C. Koss SP3 Stereophones
John C. Lilly's Isolation Tank Valve
John Cabot's Map
John Carl Wilcke's Rug *
John Crawley's Painting
John Croghan's Limestone Brick
John Dalton's Weather Vane
John Dee's Golden Talisman
John Dee's Obsidian Crystal Ball
John Dee’s Seal of God
John DeLorean's Drawing Table
John Dickson Carr's Driving Gloves
John Dillinger's Pistol *
John D. Grady’s Satchel
John D. Rockefeller's Bible
John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and Jr.'s Top Hats
John Dwight's Hammer
John F. Kennedy's Coconut
John F. Kennedy's Presidental Limousine
John F. Kennedy's Tie Clip *
John Flaxman's Casting Molds
Sir John Franklin's Scarf
John Gay's Shilling
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s Pen
John H. Kellogg's Bowl
John H. Kellogg's Corn Flakes
John H. Lawrence's Pacifier
John Hancock's Quill
John Harrison’s Longcase Clock
John Hawkwood’s Lance
John Hendrix's Bible
John Henry Moore's White Banner
John Henry's Sledge Hammer
John Hetherington's Top Hat
John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter's Torture Rack
John Holmes Pump *
John Hopoate's Cleats
John Howard Griffin's Bus Fare
John Hunter's Stitching Wire
John Hunter's Surgical Sutures
John J. Pershing's Boots
John Jacob Astor's Beaver Pelt
John Jervis’ Ship
John Joshua Webb’s Rock Chippings
John Kay's Needle
John Keat's Grecian Urn *
John, King of England's Throne
John L. Sullivan's Boots
John Langdon Down's Stencils
John Lawson's Mannequin Legs
John Lennon's Glasses
John "Liver-Eating" Johnson's Axe
John Logie Baird's Scanning Disk *
John M. Allegro's Fly Amanita
John Macpherson's Ladle
John Malcolm's Chunk of Skin
John Malcolm's Skin Wallet
John McEnroe's Tennis Racket *
John Milner's Yellow '32 Ford Deuce Coupe
John Moore-Brabazon’s Waste Basket
John Morales' McGruff Suit
John Mytton’s Carriage
John Pasche's Rolling Stones Poster Design
John Paul Jones's Sword
John Pemberton's Tasting Spoon
John Philip Sousa's Sousaphone
John Rambo's Composite Bow
John Rykener's Ring
John Shore's Tuning Fork
John Simon's Mouthwash
John Simon Ritchie's Padlock Necklace
John Smith of Jamestown's Sword
John Snow's Dot Map
John Snow’s Pump Handle
John Stapp’s Rocket Sled
John Steinbeck's Luger
John Sutcliffe's Camera
John Sutter's Pickaxe
John Tunstall's Horse Saddle
John Trumbull's "Painting of George Washington"
John von Neumann's Abacus
John Walker's Walking Stick
John Wayne Gacy's Clown Painting *
John Wayne Gacy's Facepaint
John Wesley Hardin's Rosewood Grip Pistol
John Wesley Powell's Canoe
John Wesley Powell’s Canteen
John Wilkes Booth's Boot *
John Wilkes Booth Wanted Poster
John William Polidori's Bookcase
Johnny Ace's Gun
Johnny Appleseed's Tin Pot *
Johnny Campbell's University of Minnesota Sweater
Johnny Depp's Scissor Gloves
Johnny Smith's Steering Wheel
Johnny Weismuller's Loincloth *
Joker's BANG! Revolver
Jon Stewart's Tie
Jonathan Coulton's Guitar
Jonathan R. Davis' Bowie Knife
Jonathan Shay's Copy of Iliad/Odyssey
Jonestown Water Cooler
Jorge Luis Borges' Scrapbook
José Abad Santos' Pebble
José Delgado’s Transmitter
Jose Enrique de la Pena's Chest Piece
Jōsei Toda’s Gohonzon Butsudan
Josef Frings’ Ferraiolo
Josef Mengele's Scalpel
Josef Stefan's Light Bulbs
Joseph of Arimathea's Tomb Rock
Joseph of Cupertino's Medallion *
Joseph Day's Sickle
Joseph Ducreux's Cane
Joseph Dunninger's Pocket Watch
Joseph Dunningers’ Props
Joseph E. Johnston Confederate Flag
Joseph Force Crater's Briefcases
Joseph Fourier's Pocket Knife
Joseph Glidden’s Barbed Wire
Joseph Goebbels' Radio *
Joseph Jacquard's Analytical Loom
Joseph Bolitho Johns’ Axe
Joseph Kittinger's Parachute
Joseph Lister's Padding
Joseph McCarthy's List of Communists
Joseph Merrick's Hood
Joseph-Michel Montgolfier's Wicker Basket
Joseph Moir’s Token
Joseph Pilate's Resistance Bands *
Joseph Polchinski’s Billiard Ball
Joseph Stalin's Gold Star Medal *
Joseph Stalin's Sleep Mask *
Joseph Swan's Electric Light
Joseph Vacher's Accordion
Joseph Vacher's Dog Skull
Joseph Valachi's '58 Chevrolet Impala
Josephus' Papyrus
Joseph Wolpe's Glasses
Josephine Cochrane's Dishwasher
Joshua's Trumpet *
Josiah S. Carberry's Cracked Pot
Joshua Vicks' Original Batch of Vicks Vapor Rub
Josiah Wedgewood's Medallion
Jost Burgi's Armillary Sphere *
Jovan Vladimir's Cross
Juana the Mad of Castiles' Crown
Juan Luis Vives' Quill Set
Juan Moreira’s Facón
Juan Pounce de Leon's Chalice
Juan Ponce de León's Helmet
Juan Seguin's Bandolier
Jubilee Grand Poker Chip *
Judah Loew ben Belazel's Amulet *
Judas Iscariot’s Thirty Silver Coins
Judson Laipply's Shoes
Jules Baillarger's Decanter
Jules Leotard's Trapeze Net
Jules Verne's Original Manuscripts
Julia Agrippa's Chalice
Julia Child's Apron *
Julia Child's Whisk
Julian Assange’s Flash Drive
Julie d’Aubigny's Sabre
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's Wedding Rings
Julius Asclepiodotus’ Shield Boss
Julius Caesar's Wreath
Julius Wilbrand's Lab Coat Buttons *
Jumanji
Jumper Cables
Junji Koyama’s Vegetables
Jure Sterk's Ballpoint Pen
Jürgen Wattenberg's Leather Provision Bag
Justa Grata Honoria’s Engagement Ring
Justin Bieber's Guitar
Justinian I's Chariot Wheel
Justin O. Schmidt's Wasp Mask
Justus von Liebig's Fertilizer Sack
Justus von Liebig's Mirror
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overlookedwwiimedia · 5 years
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The 12th Man (2018)
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Basic Story: A group of saboteurs is sent to Norway to destroy Nazi installations but they are discovered.  All are captured except for one man, Jan Baalsrud, who escapes despite being wounded.  A Nazi who specializes in finding people, Kurt Stage, is sent to find him.  This incredible true story of how Jan evaded capture for two months is truly thrilling!
Fan Thoughts: This is a truly incredible story and I am looking for a biography of Jan Baalsrud to see how much of what is on film is true - the man should have been dead 10 times over with everything that happened to him! However, this movie is extremely graphic; I was recording times when there were disturbing/triggering scenes and I actually stopped there are so many.  It does get better by the second half of the movie but the first half is littered with graphic depictions of torture, violence, and gore.  If those are things you can cope with (or are willing to fast forward through) I absolutely recommend it for the story which keeps you on the edge of your seat.  If you do not have the stomach for this kind of imagery, it is best to avoid it.
Warnings: Most of the graphic stuff is between 20-60 min in, there's torture, executions, self-mutilation
Available on: Hulu
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slablog · 3 years
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Episode 21 - Christmas Trees & More
Our illustrious hosts provide a 30 minute discourse on Christmas Trees and a character in Lloyd's book; an old man named Manse Mobley. He doesn't have anything to do with Christmas Trees but it is really hard to keep everyone on topic. Just listen!
History.com web page quoted in the discussion of Christmas Trees.
Baby Blue - a novel by Lloyd Albritton can be purchased at Amazon
Movie discussed in this episode was "The 12th Man", a story of a Norwegian saboteur Jan Baalsrud in WW2 who struggled to find his way to neutral Sweden after a failed mission.
Intro and outro music by Jason Shaw provided under Creative Commons License at Audionautix.com
Slablog's latest episode! Listen!
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warhistoryonline · 6 years
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Norwegian Jan Baalsrud: A Incredible Survivor In WWII http://dlvr.it/Q3TSpf
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michaelok · 4 years
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17. Reindeer
��I’ll go see the Lapps. They’re our best chance.”
After having it on my list for years, I finally read a David Howarth’s We Die Alone, about a Norwegian commando, Jan Baalsrud, who escaped from the Nazis and by walking, rowing, skiing, and finally by sleigh, made it across the far north Norway, in the Arctic, to finally make it to safety in Sweden. Wikipedia puts it succinctly;
This mission, Operation Martin, was compromised when Baalsrud and his fellow soldiers, seeking a trusted Resistance contact, accidentally made contact with an unaligned civilian shopkeeper, with the same name as their contact, who betrayed them to the Germans.
To set the scene, take a look at this map, from a recent expedition retracing Jan’s exact route:
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https://gjeldnes.com/in-the-footstep-of-jan-baalsrud/
Early in his journey, he makes a mistake by trying to charge through a town and outrunning the Germans on skis instead of taking his time and waiting for the all-clear. In doing so, he gets lost in a snowstorm, and nearly dies in an avalanche. He survives, but suffers from frostbite and is unable to walk, making his escape considerably more difficult.
There are many interesting aspects to the story, but I’ll focus on one part I found fascinating: while he was certainly assisted greatly by Norwegian partisans, he never would have made it out without the help of the Sámi people, who, with their sleigh pulled by reindeer, brought Jan to safety.
The Sámi people (also spelled Sami or Saami) are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk Oblast of Russia.
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The Sámi people of Arctic Europe have lived and worked in an area that stretches over the northern parts of the regions currently known as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Russian Kola Peninsula. They have inhabited the northern arctic and sub-arctic regions of Fennoscandia for 3,500 years. Before that they were probably living in the Finno-Ugric homeland.
Source: Wikipedia
In fact, much of the book is about the time he spends waiting for help out in the snow on the side of a mountain, for the Sámi. The Norwegians, afraid of being caught assisting Jan, essentially leave him buried alive in the snow, while arranging for the Sámi to arrive with their herd of reindeer. The plan is for them to take Jan on their way to their summer pastures in Sweden. While the forbidding Arctic winter poses many problems for Jan, including a snowstorm which nearly ends his quest, the snow, providing a winter road for the reindeer, is also his only chance to avoid the Germans and get to Sweden. Sweden, being neutral, would be a safe haven for Jan.
What of the mysterious Sámi, who despite their significance, are relegated to a but a single chapter (17) in the book?
József K.
Perhaps I am interested not only as they are the key helpers in the story but also because my wife’s grandfather, József, a paratrooper in WWII, supposedly made it out of a Siberian prison camp on a sled pulled by reindeer. This is a story passed down by family members and seems almost mythical, especially to someone who grew up in more temperate lands and only knew that reindeer pulled Santa’s sled. And they could fly.
Now, there are other escape stories. Two I am familiar with are Lajos M., a Hungarian who is imprisoned near the Don river. A more popularized story is the “The Long Walk”, about a Polish officer, Slavomir Rawicz, who escapes from a Siberian prison camp in a snowstorm and treks 4000 miles to freedom. Now, this story is controversial, but that is because Rawicz seems to have borrowed the story, so it still likely has some elements of truth, while the names and places might be invented.
And there is more evidence that even if Rawicz didn’t do the walk, someone else did.
We learned of a British intelligence officer who said he had interviewed a group of haggard men in Calcutta in 1942 - a group of men who had escaped from Siberia and then walked all the way to India.
And then from New Zealand came news of a Polish engineer who had apparently acted as an interpreter for this very same interview in Calcutta with the wretched survivors.
These stories are second-hand, and far from conclusive proof, but for Mr Weir, they convinced him that there was an essential truth in the story that he wanted to retain.
“There was enough for me to say that three men had come out of the Himalayas, and that’s how I dedicate my film, to these unknown survivors. And then I proceed with essentially a fictional film.”
_https://www.bbc.com/news/world-11900920 _
Lajos M., 42 éves / Louis M, age 42
This is a book I picked up at my wife’s house, and is a powerful story of a Hungarian, also a paratrooper I think, that is caught behind enemy lines and send to a prison camp. This book solemnly relates Lajos M.’s incredible suffering as he somehow manages to stay alive in a prison camp. Somehow it was published during the communist times, perhaps that’s why it reads a bit darkly, fatalistically (Stoically?) like The Good Soldier Schweik, Catch-22, Chickenhawks, and Slaughterhouse Five, and other war stories of this nature.
He spends 13 years there until they are finally pardoned. I think at one point, like Dostoevsky, he is sentenced to death, but pardoned at the last minute. The story starts out with Lajos, now working at a factory in Hungary, stealing a blanket, so a co-worker wants to find out why one would steal a blanket, and so unravels the long story. You get the gist of the powerful, dreamlike quality of the story in this summary:
M. Lajos magyar közkatona elment a Donig. 1943-ban esett hadifogságba. Fogolyként elment az ember-lakta világ legeslegszéléig. És onnan is továbbment. Tizenhárom év múltán visszafelé is megtette ezt az utat. Hazafelé. Mindig azt tette amit mondtak neki. Csak közben M. Lajos eltévedt a történelemben.
Hungarian Lajos M. went to Don. He was captured in 1943. As a prisoner, he went to the very edge of the human-inhabited world. And from there he went on. Thirteen years later, he made this journey backwards. He always did what he was told. Meanwhile, M. Lajos was lost in history.
Unfortunately Lajos M. is an obscure Hungarian book, and I haven’t been able to figure out if this a true account, or some kind of merging of a bunch of stories, but no question, like Lajos M., József went to the eastern front, and he made it back, somehow.
Now with these precedents, especially with Jan’s story, could this amazing story of a Hungarian rescued by a reindeer be true? Now, it starts to make sense. Why, of course, the only way to escape would be by sled, it is as normal as a car is to us suburbanites, or skis are to Norwegians in the far north.
I have few details of this story other than this grandfather József K. was (as is often the case with paratroopers) captured behind enemy lines. Theorizing here, but the prison camp, being in Siberia, was so remote (perhaps an island as in Lajos M.’s case, or across 7 time zones like Magadan) that it was not as tightly secured as other, more urban camps might be, since it would be suicide to attempt to escape. Alcatraz was not protected by the prison walls, but by the San Francisco bay, with cold waters, strong currents and sharks.
In a recent New York Times article on Magadan, the caption to one of the photos echoed this idea
Clearing snow by a lighthouse. Residents refer to the rest of Russia as “the mainland,” a sign of how isolated the city feels.
The story goes that somehow József was assisted by some locals, and placed on a reindeer sled. No one “drove” the sled, according to my wife, “the reindeer knew the way to the next town.” And this is how Grandfather returned home. Now, why would these locals help a prisoner, a foreign invader? Given that they were herdsman, perhaps they realized József was a long-lost cousin, from their nomadic past? This is me entirely theorizing here, but there are tribes in Siberia that live a semi-nomadic existence, almost like American Indians in the States used to, and their language is (distantly) related to Hungarian.
The core Khanty vocabulary still contains numerous examples of vocabulary inherited from the Finno-Ugric proto-language (Collinder, 1962). Khanty is predominantly an agglutinative language with no prepositions and numerous affixes, each of which expresses a particular function.
Jan
Now, getting back to Jan’s epic tale.
With Jan’s tale, exhaustively corroborated in We Die Alone, as Howarth retraced Jan’s steps to validate the story, and even talked with the villagers who helped him, surely there is truth to József’s story too.
This certainly leads to the question of how much help the Norwegians were in the first place. For starters, the ethereal patriotism of the Norwegians is the main reason why the commandos were exposed. The commandos had a list of helpful partisans, so when they landed in Norway they made the unfortunate mistake of talking to the owner of a grocery store whose name matched one of the partisans on their list. However, in a twist of fate, it turned out he was not the person they were thinking of, he just happened to have the same name and now owned the same grocery store after the owner died. Surely some of the fault goes to the commandos, who aren’t careful enough to vet the supposed partisan, and they further compound the error the mistake by being nice and letting this chap go, and depend on his honor not to turn them in.
The grocer wrestles with the matter a bit before making a compromise and calling the town mayor or some other official to inform him, instead of calling the Nazi party directly.
Here’s a movie based on Howarth’s book:
Howarth notes the theory that the locals take their time in alerting the authorities, on the notion that this will give the commandos a chance to escape. Sadly, this nice gesture was not communicated to the commandos, but even if it had, they had no chance of escape in their sluggish fishing boat.
The Pathfinder?
This gets to an interesting side question on the subject of whistle blowers, much in the news these days, and I propose two simple types:
(1) the whistle blower who squawks because they fear for their safety if they don’t squawk and get caught
(2) The whistle blower who, at the risk of his own safety, blow the whistle because of a greater calling.
The Norwegian grocer and others who compromise the mission are “whistle blowers” in the former sense, allying themselves with the foreign Nazi menace due to fear of persecution. Here’s the reasoning of the Norwegian official who turns the commandos in:
“The story was bound to spread, and the Germans were bound to hear it; and then the official himself would be the first to suffer.”
Howarth does not discuss what happens to the few commandos who survive, but we can infer their suffering was great.
Now, as is the case with many pondering this story from the comfort of their armchair like myself, it is easy to blame the weak-willed grocer and local officials for talking, but we were not there, and likely, when push comes to shove, I would do the same I suppose.
Who knows what makes people like Oskar Schindler, a onetime wealthy businessman and Nazi sympathizer, to later put their life on the line? Christopher McDougall explored this idea in “Natural Born Heroes”, when he described a diminutive woman who disrupted the attack of a school shooter, despite, until then, having done nothing out of the ordinary. For another excellent study of this idea, see The Pathfinder, a film by Nils Gaup, in which a young man has to decide whether to save himself, or help a tribe chased by Russian invaders.
Most of the Norwegians Jan meets as he attempts to escape, while they are trustworthy and helpful, are very careful in extending any assistance. For example, rather than hiding Jan in their homes, the partisans keep Jan lodged first in an abandoned, unheated hut, and then nestled in a snowbank at the top of a valley.
To me, this alone is one of the most astounding challenges Jan faced. Clearly, the Norwegians were assuming the Sámi would arrive “any day now”, but as they are to find out, the Sámi have a different timetable. Howarth, like the frustrated Norwegians, seems to take issue with the Sámi and their concept of “the vague imponderable future”
Heroes
Howarth’s book focuses on the many Norwegian’s who assist Jan, so don’t need to mention them here as their story can be found in better detail in the book. There is the midwife who helps him recuperate after his initial escape, and the old Norwegian, Lockertsen, who puts himself greatly at risk, because he rows Jan across the fjord, going at night to evade any Germans potentially on watch, and drops Jan off at Ullsfjord.
The Sámi
No question the locals put their lives at risk, in fact over 100 Norwegians assisted Jan, but my thesis is that the Sámi are the great heroes of this story, next to Jan Baalsrud. Yet the Sámi are not even mentioned in the summary on the book’s back cover, and only are fully covered in the last chapter.
Howarth seems to take a dim view of the Sámi, considering them opportunists simply out for the trinkets that the Norwegians give them as payment. Further, he notes their strange concept of time “the imponderable future”, and other puzzling differences. Now, anyone who knows a strange culture, say the Hungarians, well, aren’t these admirable characteristics instead? As shown below, the Sámi herdsman who ultimately takes Jan to safety ponders the task, as he stands still for 3-4 hours, watching Jan.
Had Jan taken a similar amount of time to plan his route, rather than barreling through the middle of the town, depending on the prowress of the Norwegians in skiing, and the Germans lack of ability in the same, he might not have gotten himself in such a predicament.
I can’t imagine how he finally made up his mind to take him, but certainly the difficult state that Jan was in, and that he would surely die if he stayed in Norway, perhaps swayed him. 
[Scene: Jan is in his snowbank refuge. After waiting there, above the village for almost a month, he has given up all hope. It took every ounce of strength of a few villagers to get him to a plateau where they hoped the Sámi would be. For the villagers, the Sámi with their reindeer would be like a helicopter to one of us, stuck on a mountain. But the snow is melting…]
When he opened his eyes there was a man standing looking at him. Jan had never seen a Lapp before.. the man stood there on skis, silent and perfectly motionless, leaning on his ski-sticks [ski poles, my British friend]. He had a lean swarthy face and narrow eyes with a slant. He was wearing long tunic of dark blue embroidered with red and yellow, and leather leggins, and embroidered boots with hairy reindeer skin and turned-up pointed toes.
In fact, this was one of the Lapps whom the ski-runner from Kaafjord had gone to see on his journey a month before. He had just arrived with his herds and his tents and family in the mountains at the head of Kaafjord, and must have been thinking over the message all the time. When he had first been asked, the whole matter was in a vague imponderable future….He did stand looking at Jan for three or four hours.
Howarth goes on to mention the blankets coffee brandy and tobacco procured at “enormous prices” to give to as payment for the escape. Other Sámi had turned down the offer, so we can gather they understood the risk, and knew the trinkets would not pay for a loss of life, but luckily for Jan, this Sámi (we never learn his name) agrees.
The next thing that brought Jan to his sense was a sound of snorting and shuffling, unlike anything he had ever heard before, hoarse shouts, the clanging of bells and a peculiar acrid animal smell, and when he opened his eyes the barren snow-field around him which hadd been empty for weeks was teeming with hundreds upon hundreds of reindeer milling around him with an unending horde, and he was lying flat on the ground among all their trampling feet. Then two Lapps were standing over him talking their strange incomprehensible tongue….They muffled him up to his eyes in blankets and skins, and lashed him and everything down … There was a jerk, and the sledge began to move.
A lapp on skis was leading it. It was one of the bell deer of the heard, and as it snorted and pawed the snow and the sledge got under way and the bell on its neck began a rhythmic clang, the herd fell behind it, five hundred strong.. the mass of deer flowed on behind, it streamed out in the hurrying narrow column when the sledge flew fast on the level snow.
All day the enormous beasts swept on across the snow.. the most strange and majestic escort ever offered to a fujitive of war.
Hurrah! How exhilarating! I picture the start of the American Birkebeiner ski race, with thousands of skiers churning up the snow, or the giant Vasaloppet in Sweden with 20,000 skiers.
I imagine that was a swell ride too, for József K, to finally leave the prison camp for home.
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The Man Who Never Gave Up
https://nordnorge.com/en/artikkel/jan-balsrud-is-the-man-that-never-gave-up/
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me
Here a German escapes from a Soviet prison camp in Kamchatka and eventually finds his way to Iran. As with “The Long Walk”, there are doubts as to the authenticity of the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zaq88ixc-FY
The Pathfinder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinder_(1987_film)
How The Long Walk became The Way Back
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-11900920
** **
Lajos M., 42 éves
https://www.antikvarium.hu/konyv/csalog-zsolt-m-lajos-42-eves-lajos-m-aged-42-37420
**The Good Soldier Švejk **
_The unfinished novel breaks off abruptly before Švejk has a chance to be involved in any combat or enter the trenches, though it appears Hašek may have conceived that the characters would have continued the war in a POW camp, much as he himself had done. _
The book includes numerous anecdotes told by Švejk (often either to deflect the attentions of an authority figure, or to insult them in a concealed manner) which are not directly related to the plot. [Source: wikipedia]
The 585 people appearing in The Good Soldier Schweik: http://honsi.org/svejk/?page=4&lang=en
Magadan, Russia
Nine Lives / Ni liv (1957)
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theoscarsproject · 7 years
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Nine Lives (1957). The movie takes place during World War II and depicts the true story of Jan Baalsruds amazing escape from the German army from the coast of Northern Norway and across the border to the neutral country Sweden.
This is a solid war film, and one we don’t necessarily expect. It revolves around an escape, and in that sense, you really get a wonderful build of tension and bleakness, escalated by the pretty dire surroundings. The cast and crew all do a wonderful job of helping you to feel Jan Baalsruds’ desperation, and it builds to a satisfying climax. That said, you never really get to know any of the characters quite well enough, and it means you don’t feel perhaps as much as you could. 7.5/10.
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jjc1972 · 5 years
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Outstanding film about Norwegian resistance fighter Jan Baalsrud's flight from the Gestapo. Thomas Gullestad and Jonathan Rhys Myers are spellbindingly good in their respective roles. Brilliantly directed by Harald Zwart, this gripping survival thriller set in the Scandinavian wilderness is exciting, human, harrowing, and downright unbelievable. So many good shots it's untrue, beautifully rendered by DOP Geir Hartly Andreassen. #norway #norwegian #survival #scandinavian #12thman #jonathanrhysmeyers #thomasgullestad #ww2 #haraldzwart #nordiskfilmproduction https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs9SlC3hZiY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=knxjzdfjv33r
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tomorrowedblog · 6 years
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The 12th Man premieres today
The 12th Man, the new movie from Harald Zwart, is out today.
This breathtaking action adventure tells an incredible true-life story of heroism and a man’s unbreakable will to live. Norway, 1943: after a failed anti-Nazi sabotage mission leaves his eleven comrades dead, Norwegian resistance fighter Jan Baalsrud (Thomas Gullestad) finds himself on the run from the Gestapo through the snowbound Arctic reaches of Scandinavia. It’s a harrowing journey across unforgiving, frozen wilderness that will stretch on for months—and force Jan to take extreme action in order to survive. With gut-punching realism and vivid psychological immediacy, director Harold Zwart pays tribute to one man’s extraordinary courage—and to the everyday heroes who helped him along the way. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers costars.
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jetwashphotos · 4 years
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Norwegian EI-FVZ, OSL ENGM Gardermoen Boeing 737-800, cn 42093, Jan Baalsrud See it here:
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mrmichaelchadler · 6 years
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The 12th Man
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One does not necessarily expect Harald Zwart to direct a near-epic World War II drama based on the heroic exploits of a real-life Norwegian who, deployed from Scotland to his own country on an abortive mission, finds himself struggling against the harshest elements as he tries to escape encroaching Nazis.
“Harald WHO?” you may be asking. You know—Harald Zwart, the director of 2001’s “One Night At McCools,” one of the almost innumerable Tarantino burlesques produced in the early days of the 21st century. You have to have seen that on cable, or parts thereof, at least a half dozen times. Okay, maybe you didn’t. But I did. And in all that time I did not, I have to admit, take notice of whoever directed it.
But it was Harald Zwart, who went on to make, in Hollywood, pictures such as “Agent Cody Banks,” “The Pink Panther 2” (the Steve Martin Pink Panther, I hasten to point out) and "The Karate Kid." But Harald Zwart, Hollywood CV notwithstanding, is a child of the Netherlands, and has long cherished a desire to tell the story of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian resistance soldier. Trained in the U.K., Baalsrud was part of a dozen fighters sent to Norway on a mission to wreck a German airbase there. The mission was practically over before it even had a chance to begin, and Baalsrud’s escape from pursuing Nazis is one of the most harrowing and arguably inspiring.
In the movie’s first hour, the stoic Baalsrud, resigned to head for Sweden, which is at least a neutral country, tries to stay ahead of an avalanche on skis. It doesn’t work out, which makes for a suspenseful scene full of spectacular visuals. When Baalsrud, played with resilience by Thomas Gullestad, isn’t dodging Germans, his fights against the elements bring to mind films such as “The Revenant” and even “Man in the Wilderness” or “Jeremiah Johnson.” Zwart handles these scenes with conscientious competence that makes the character’s suffering credible if not palpable. And suffer Baalsrud does, the cold affecting his body to the extent that he’s forced to go to grisly extremes to stay alive.
The director doesn’t do as well with the characterizations. (Some measure of blame here goes to screenwriter Petter Skavlan, here credited as Alex Boe.) With his mission scotched pretty much from the start, there’s no insight into Baalsrud’s sense of purpose beyond the will to survive. What conversations he has with the people who protect him at various points in his journey are pretty commonplace. The nightmare sequences, in which Baalsrud dreams of capture and more, do not help much. And the movie is one-dimensional in its portrayal of the Nazis intent on capturing their “12th man” (one of the most dogged of whom is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers). This seems an odd complaint but when you’ve hired human actors to do nothing but sneer, shout, and shoot guns, their onscreen function can get ever so slightly monotonous. This is not the movie’s only reliance on commonplaces but it’s the most prominent.
On the more-plus side, the movie is beautifully shot; Geir Hartly Andreassen (who also shot the 2012 remake of “Kon-Tiki,” which was also written by Skavlan) conveys both the stately beauty and the dreadful cold of the landscapes over which Baalsrud must traverse. 
from All Content https://ift.tt/2rkcZQN
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