title: Nadya Suleman

text: In 2012 Suleman starred in the film "666 the Devil's Child", a low-budget horror film that centers upon a couple that visits a woman they met on the Internet, only for strange things to occur. Suleman portrays the character Vanessa, a film student.


title: Nadya Suleman

text: In March 2019, the Australian current affairs program "Sunday Night" interviewed Suleman for the octuplets' tenth birthday. She conceded that although at the time she was "absolutely [...] young, dumb, irresponsible, selfish, reckless", she does not regret any of her children. The feature noted that the household is run with "military precision", and the children are "happy, healthy, and well-mannered".


title: Nadya Suleman

text: In June 2012, Suleman recorded a single with recording artist Adam Barta after she appeared in an alternate cut of his "Q&A" music video, where she was heard saying, "Let's do a duet, on my new album!" In 2012, Suleman appeared in the adult film "Octomom Home Alone" produced by Wicked Pictures. The film was released on June 20, 2012. In December 2012, "Octomom Home Alone" received four AVN Award nominations and won for Best Celebrity Video.


title: Nadya Suleman

text: Suleman worked as an adult entertainer dancing in men's clubs. She released a single called "Sexy Party" with Adam Barta in September, and he held her breasts while surrounded by crucifixes on a bed on the compact disc artwork, a cover she said was inspired by the work of Madonna. In October 2012, Suleman was paid to participate in the launch of an internet debate site, Deeyoon.com, including doing an online debate on parenting with Michael Lohan.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The economy of Bangladesh is a major economy of South Asia and a developing market economy. As the second-largest economy in South Asia, Bangladesh's economy is the 35th largest in the world in nominal terms, and 25th largest by purchasing power parity. Bangladesh is seen by various financial institutions as one of the Next Eleven, an emerging market, a middle income economy, and a frontier market. Bangladesh is a member of the South Asian Free Trade Area and the World Trade Organization. In fiscal year 2021–2022, Bangladesh registered a GDP growth rate of 7.2% after the global pandemic. Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Industrialisation in Bangladesh received a strong impetus after the partition of India due to labour reforms and new industries. Between 1947 and 1971, East Pakistan generated between 70% and 50% of Pakistan's exports. After independence in 1971, Bangladesh embarked on economic reforms in the late 1970s which promoted free markets and foreign direct investment. By the 1990s, the country had a booming ready-made garments industry. Remittances from the large Bangladeshi diaspora became a vital source of foreign exchange reserves. Agriculture in Bangladesh is supported by government subsidies and ensures self-sufficiency in food production. Bangladesh has pursued export-oriented industrialisation.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh experienced robust growth after the pandemic with macroeconomic stability, improvements in infrastructure, a growing digital economy, and growing trade flows. Tax collection remains very low, with tax revenues accounting for only 7.7% of GDP. Bangladesh's banking sector has a large amount of non-performing loans or loan defaults, which have caused a lot of concern. The private sector makes up 80% of GDP. The Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange are the two stock markets of the country. Most Bangladeshi businesses are privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) which make up 90% of all businesses.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Punch-marked coins are the earliest form of currency found in Bangladesh, dating back to the Iron Age and the first millennium BCE. 1st century Roman coins with images of Hercules have been excavated in Bangladesh and point to trade links with the Roman world. The Wari-Bateshwar ruins are believed to be the emporium (trading center) of Sounagoura mentioned by Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemy. The eastern segment of Bengal was a historically prosperous region. The Ganges Delta provided advantages of a mild, almost tropical climate, fertile soil, ample water, and an abundance of fish, wildlife, and fruit. Living standards for the elite were comparatively better than other parts of the Indian subcontinent. Trade routes like the Grand Trunk Road, Tea Horse Road and Silk Road connected the region to the wider neighborhood. Between 400 and 1200, the region had a well-developed economy in terms of land ownership, agriculture, livestock, shipping, trade, commerce, taxation, and banking. Muslim trade with Bengal increased after the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Arab takeover of Persian trade routes. Much of this trade occurred east of the Meghna River in southeastern Bengal. After 1204, Muslim conquerors inherited the gold and silver reserves of pre-Islamic kingdoms.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The Bengal Sultanate presided over a mercantile empire of its own. Bengali ships were the largest ships in the Bay of Bengal and other parts of the Indian Ocean trade network. Ship-owning merchants often acted as royal envoys of the Sultan. A large number of wealthy Bengali merchants and shipowners lived in Malacca. A vessel from Bengal transported embassies from Brunei and Sumatra to China. Bengal and the Maldives operated the largest shell currency network in history. A Masai giraffe from Malindi in Africa was shipped to Bengal and later gifted to the Emperor of China as a gift from the Sultan of Bengal. The rulers of Arakan looked to Bengal for economic, political and cultural capital. The Sultan of Bengal financed projects in the Hejaz region of Arabia.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Under Mughal rule, Bengal operated as a centre of the worldwide muslin, silk and pearl trades. Domestically, much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks and opium; Bengal accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, for example. Bengal shipped saltpeter to Europe, sold opium in Indonesia, exported raw silk to Japan and the Netherlands, and produced cotton and silk textiles for export to Europe, Indonesia and Japan. Real wages and living standards in 18th-century Bengal were comparable to Britain, which in turn had the highest living standards in Europe.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: During the Mughal era, the most important centre of cotton production was Bengal, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka, leading to muslin being called "daka" in distant markets such as Central Asia. Bengali agriculturalists rapidly learned techniques of mulberry cultivation and sericulture, establishing Bengal as a major silk-producing region of the world. Bengal accounted for more than 50% of textiles and around 80% of silks imported by the Dutch from Asia, for example.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bengal also had a large shipbuilding industry. Indrajit Ray estimates shipbuilding output of Bengal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at 223,250tons annually, compared with 23,061tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771. He also assesses ship repairing as very advanced in Bengal. Bengali shipbuilding was advanced compared to European shipbuilding at the time. An important innovation in shipbuilding was the introduction of a flushed deck design in Bengal rice ships, resulting in hulls that were stronger and less prone to leak than the structurally weak hulls of traditional European ships built with a stepped deck design. The English East India Company later duplicated the flushed-deck and hull designs of Bengal rice ships in the 1760s, leading to significant improvements in seaworthiness and navigation for European ships during the Industrial Revolution. Among the oldest businesses from the pre-colonial and Mughal periods, the biryani restaurant Fakhruddin's traces its history to the era of the Nawabs of Bengal.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The British East India Company, that took complete control of Bengal in 1793 by abolishing Nizamat (local rule), chose to develop Calcutta, now the capital city of West Bengal, as their commercial and administrative center for the Company-held territories in South Asia. The development of East Bengal was thereafter limited to agriculture. The administrative infrastructure of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries focused on East Bengal's function as a primarily agricultural producer—chiefly of rice, tea, teak, cotton, sugar cane and jute — for processors and traders in the British Empire. British rule saw the introduction of railways. The Hardinge Bridge was built to carry trains across the Padma River. In the early 20th century, Eastern Bengal and Assam was established in the British Raj to promote jobs, education and investment in East Bengal. In 1928, the Port of Chittagong was declared to be a "Major Port" of British India. East Bengal extended its rice economy into Arakan Division in British Burma. The river and sea ports of East Bengal, including Goalundo Ghat, the Port of Dhaka, the Port of Narayanganj, and the Port of Chittagong became entrepots for trade between Bengal, Assam and Burma. Some of Bangladesh's venerable and oldest companies were born in British Bengal, including A K Khan & Company, M. M. Ispahani Limited, James Finlay Bangladesh, and Anwar Group of Industries.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The partition of India changed the economic geography of the region. The Pakistani government in East Bengal prioritized industries based on local raw materials like jute, cotton, and leather. The Korean War drove up demand for jute products. Adamjee Jute Mills, the world's largest jute processing plant, was built in the Port of Narayanganj. The plant was a symbol of East Pakistan's industrialization. Living standards began to gradually improve. Labor reforms in 1958 eventually benefitted a future independent Bangladesh to develop industry. Free market principles were generally accepted. The government promoted an industrial policy which aimed to produce consumer goods as quickly as possible in order to avoid dependence on imports. Certain sectors, like public utilities, fell under state ownership. Natural gas in Sylhet was discovered by the Burmah Oil Company in 1955. By the late 1960s, East Pakistan's share of Pakistan's exports went down from 70% to 50%. Pakistan's rulers launched a so-called "Decade of Development" that "resulted in numerous economic and social contradictions, which played themselves out, not just in the 1960s, but beyond, where Ayub Khan’s rule created the social and economic conditions leading to the separation of East Pakistan". According to the World Bank, economic discrimination against East Pakistan included diverting foreign aid and other funds to West Pakistan, the use of East Pakistan's foreign-exchange surpluses to finance West Pakistani imports, and refusal by the central government to release funds allocated to East Pakistan. Rehman Sobhan paraphrased the Two-Nation Theory into the Two Economies Theory by arguing that East and West Pakistan diverged and became two different economies within one country.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: After its independence from Pakistan, Bangladesh initially followed a socialist economy for five years, which proved to be a blunder by the Awami League government. The state nationalized all banks, insurance companies, and 580 industrial plants. Private companies had to operate under heavy regulation and restrictions. For example, profit limits were imposed on companies. Any company with revenues or profits above the limit were susceptible to nationalization. Many of the nationalized industries were abandoned by West Pakistanis during the war; while many pro-Awami League and other Bengali businesses also suffered nationalization of properties and industries. Land ownership was restricted to less than 25 "bighas". Land owners with more than 25 "bighas" were subjected to taxes. Farmers had to sell their products at prices set by the government instead of the market. There was hardly any foreign investment. Since Bangladesh followed a socialist economy, it underwent a slow growth of producing experienced entrepreneurs, managers, administrators, engineers, and technicians. There were critical shortages of essential food grains and other staples because of wartime disruptions. External markets for jute had been lost because of the instability of supply and the increasing popularity of synthetic substitutes. Foreign exchange resources were minuscule, and the banking and monetary systems were unreliable. Although Bangladesh had a large work force, the vast reserves of under trained and underpaid workers were largely illiterate, unskilled, and underemployed. Commercially exploitable industrial resources, except for natural gas, were lacking. Inflation, especially for essential consumer goods, ran between 300 and 400 percent. The war of independence had crippled the transportation system. Hundreds of road and railroad bridges had been destroyed or damaged, and rolling stock was inadequate and in poor repair. The new country was still recovering from a severe cyclone that hit the area in 1970 and caused 250,000 deaths. India came forward immediately with critically measured economic assistance in the first months after Bangladesh achieved independence from Pakistan. Between December 1971 and January 1972, India committed US$232 million in aid to Bangladesh from the politico-economic aid India received from the US and USSR. The Awami League initiated work for the Ghorashal Fertilizer Factory and the Ashuganj Power Station. In spite of restrictions, several of Bangladesh's leading companies in the future were founded during this period, including BEXIMCO and Advanced Chemical Industries.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: After 1975, Bangladeshi leaders began to promote private industry and turned their attention to developing new industrial capacity and rehabilitating the economy. The socialist economic model adopted by early leaders had resulted in inefficiency and economic stagnation. Beginning in late 1975, the government gradually gave greater scope to private sector participation in the economy, a pattern that has continued. The Dhaka Stock Exchange was re-opened in 1976. The government established special economic zones called Export Processing Zones (EPZs) to attract investors and promote export industries. These zones have played a key role in Bangladesh's export economy. The government also de-nationalized and privatized state-owned industries by either returning them to their original owners or selling them to private buyers. Inefficiency in the public sector gradually increased; and left-wing opposition grew against the export of natural gas.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The 1980s saw the emergence of dynamic local brands like PRAN. Muhammad Yunus began experimenting with microcredit in the late 1970s. In 1983, the Grameen Bank was established. Bangladesh became the pioneer of the modern microcredit industry, with leading players like Grameen Bank, BRAC and Proshika. In the industrial sector, two policy innovations in the mid-1980s helped exporters. The reforms introduced the back-to-back letter of credit and duty-drawback facilities through bonded warehouses. These reforms removed major constraints for the country's fledgling garment industry. The reforms allowed a garment manufacturer to obtain letters of credit from domestic banks to finance its import of inputs, by showing letters of credit from foreign buyers of garments. The reforms also reimbursed manufacturers the duty paid on imported inputs on proof that the inputs, stored in bonded warehouses, had been used to manufacture the exports. These reforms spurred the growth of industry into the world's second largest textile exporting sector. In the mid-1980s, there were encouraging signs of progress. Economic policies aimed at encouraging private enterprise and investment, privatising public industries, reinstating budgetary discipline, and liberalising the import regime were accelerated. The International Finance Investment and Commerce Bank was set up as a multinational bank for Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: From 1991 to 1993, the government engaged in an enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A series of economic liberalization measures was introduced by finance minister Saifur Rahman, including opening up sectors like telecom to foreign investment. The Chittagong Stock Exchange was also set up. The 1990s was a boon for the private sector. Banking, telecommunications, aviation and tertiary education saw new private players and increased competition. The pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh grew to meet 98% of domestic demand. The ceramics industry in Bangladesh developed to meet local demand for 96% of tableware ceramics, 77% of tiles and 89% of sanitary ceramics. The Chittagong-based steel industry in Bangladesh exploited scrap steel from ship-breaking yards and started contributing to shipbuilding in Bangladesh.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: But the government failed to sustain reforms in large part because of preoccupation with the government's domestic political troubles, including tensions between the Awami League, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jatiya Party. Frequent hartals and strikes disrupted the economy. In the late 1990s the government's economic policies became more entrenched, and some gains were lost, which was highlighted by a precipitous drop in foreign direct investment in 2000 and 2001. Many new private commercial banks were given licenses to operate. Between 2001 and 2006, annual GDP growth touched an average of 5-6%. In June 2003 the IMF approved 3-year, $490-million plan as part of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Bangladesh that aimed to support the government's economic reform programme up to 2006. Seventy million dollars was made available immediately. In the same vein the World Bank approved $536 million in interest-free loans. The economy saw continuous real GDP growth of at least 6% since 2009. Bangladesh emerged as one of the fastest growing economies.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: According to economist Syed Akhtar Mahmood, the Bangladeshi government is often seen as the villain in the country's economic story. But government has played an important role in stimulating the economy through building infrastructure, liberalizing regulations, and promoting high yielding crops in agriculture. According to Mahmood, "[m]ost roads linking the villages with one another, and with the cities, were not paved and not accessible throughout the year. This situation was remarkably transformed within a span of 10 years, from 1988 to 1997, with the construction of the so-called feeder roads. In 1988, Bangladesh had about 3,000 kilometers of feeder roads. By 1997, this network expanded to 15,500 kilometers. These “last-mile” all-weather roads helped connect the villages of Bangladesh to the rest of the country".


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: As a result of export-led growth, Bangladesh has enjoyed a trade surplus in recent years. Bangladesh historically has run a large trade deficit, financed largely through aid receipts and remittances from workers overseas. Foreign reserves dropped markedly in 2001 but stabilised in the US$3 to US$4 billion range (or about 3 months' import cover). In January 2007, reserves stood at $3.74 billion, and then increased to $5.8 billion by January 2008, in November 2009 it surpassed $10.0 billion, and as of April 2011 it surpassed the US$12 billion according to the Bank of Bangladesh, the central bank. The dependence on foreign aid and imports has also decreased gradually since the early 1990s. Foreign aid now accounts for only 2% of GDP.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: In the last decade, poverty dropped by around one third with significant improvements in the human development index, literacy, life expectancy and per capita food consumption. With the economy growing annually at an average rate of 6% over a prolonged period, more than 15 million people have moved out of poverty since 1992. The poverty rate went down from 80% in 1971 to 44.2% in 1991 to 12.9% in 2021. In recent years, Bangladesh has focused on promoting regional trade and transport links. The Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement seeks to create hassle free road transport across international borders. Bangladesh also signed a coastal shipping agreement with India. While prioritizing food security in the domestic market, Bangladesh exports more than US$1 billion worth of processed food products. As the result of a robust agricultural supply chain, supermarkets have sprung up in cities and towns across the country.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh became the second largest textile exporter in the world. An estimated 4.4 million workers are employed in the garments industry, with the majority being women. The sector contributes 11% of Bangladesh's GDP. The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse caused global concern on industrial safety in Bangladesh, leading to the formation of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. The local clothing industry has seen fiercely competitive brands vying for the market, including Aarong, Westecs, Ecstasy, and Yellow among many others.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The World Bank notes the economic progress of the country by stating that "[w]hen the newly independent country of Bangladesh was born on December 16, 1971, it was the second poorest country in the world—making the country's transformation over the next 50 years one of the great development stories. Since then, poverty has been cut in half at record speed. Enrolment in primary school is now nearly universal. Hundreds of thousands of women have entered the workforce. Steady progress has been made on maternal and child health. And the country is better buttressed against the destructive forces posed by climate change and natural disasters. Bangladesh's success comprises many moving parts—from investing in human capital to establishing macroeconomic stability. Building on this success, the country is now setting the stage for further economic growth and job creation by ramping up investments in energy, inland connectivity, urban projects, and transport infrastructure, as well as prioritizing climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness on its path toward sustainable growth".


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: As of 2022, Bangladesh had the second largest foreign-exchange reserves in South Asia. In 2021, Bangladesh surpassed both India and Pakistan in terms of per capita income. The country achieved 100% electricity coverage for households in 2022. Megaprojects like the Padma Bridge, Dhaka Metro, Matarbari Port, and Karnaphuli Tunnel have been planned to stimulate economic activity. The completion of Padma Bridge was expected to boost Bangladeshi GDP by 1.23%. During the Russia-Ukraine War, Bangladesh experienced pressure on its foreign exchange reserves due to rising import costs; this affected the country's electricity sector which relies on imported fuel; rising import prices also contributed to inflation.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Bangladesh at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of Bangladeshi Taka. However, this reflects only the formal sector of the economy.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2022–2027). Inflation below 5% is in green. The annual unemployment rate is extracted from the World Bank, although the International Monetary Fund find them unreliable.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Many new jobs – mostly for women – have been created by the country's dynamic private ready-made garment industry, which grew at double-digit rates through most of the 1990s. By the late 1990s, about 1.5 million people, mostly women, were employed in the garments sector as well as Leather products specially Footwear (Shoe manufacturing unit). During 2001–2002, export earnings from ready-made garments reached $3,125 million, representing 52% of Bangladesh's total exports. Bangladesh has overtaken India in apparel exports in 2009, its exports stood at 2.66 billion US dollar, ahead of India's 2.27 billion US dollar and in 2014 the export rose to $3.12 billion every month. At the fiscal year 2018, Bangladesh has been able to garner US$36.67 billion export earnings by exporting manufactured goods, of which, 83.49 percent has come from the apparel manufacturing sector.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Eastern Bengal was known for its fine muslin and silk fabric before the British period. The dyes, yarn, and cloth were the envy of much of the premodern world. Bengali muslin, silk, and brocade were worn by the aristocracy of Asia and Europe. The introduction of machine-made textiles from England in the late eighteenth century spelled doom for the costly and time-consuming hand loom process. Cotton growing died out in East Bengal, and the textile industry became dependent on imported yarn. Those who had earned their living in the textile industry were forced to rely more completely on farming. Only the smallest vestiges of a once-thriving cottage industry survived.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Other industries which have shown very strong growth include the pharmaceutical industry, shipbuilding industry, information technology, leather industry, steel industry, and light engineering industry.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh's textile industry, which includes knitwear and ready-made garments (RMG) along with specialised textile products, is the nation's number one export earner, accounting for $21.5 billion in 2013 – 80% of Bangladesh's total exports of $27 billion.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh is 2nd in world textile exports, behind China, which exported $120.1 billion worth of textiles in 2009. The industry employs nearly 3.5 million workers. Current exports have doubled since 2004. Wages in Bangladesh's textile industry were the lowest in the world as of 2010. The country was considered the most formidable rival to China where wages were rapidly rising and currency was appreciating. As of 2012 wages remained low for the 3 million people employed in the industry, but labour unrest was increasing despite vigorous government action to enforce labour peace. Owners of textile firms and their political allies were a powerful political influence in Bangladesh.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The urban garment industry has created more than one million formal sector jobs for women, contributing to the high female labour participation in Bangladesh. While it can be argued that women working in the garment industry are subjected to unsafe labour conditions and low wages, Dina M. Siddiqi argues that even though conditions in Bangladesh garment factories "are by no means ideal," they still give women in Bangladesh the opportunity to earn their own wages. As evidence she points to the fear created by the passage of the 1993 Harkins Bill (Child Labor Deterrence Bill), which caused factory owners to dismiss "an estimated 50,000 children, many of whom helped support their families, forcing them into a completely unregulated informal sector, in lower-paying and much less secure occupations such as brick-breaking, domestic service and rickshaw pulling."


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Even though the working conditions in garment factories are not ideal, they tend to financially be more reliable than other occupations and, "enhance women's economic capabilities to spend, save and invest their incomes." Both married and unmarried women send money back to their families as remittances, but these earned wages have more than just economic benefits. Many women in the garment industry are marrying later, have lower fertility rates, and attain higher levels of education, then women employed elsewhere.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: After massive labour unrest in 2006 the government formed a Minimum Wage Board including business and worker representatives which in 2006 set a minimum wage equivalent to 1,662.50 taka, $24 a month, up from Tk950. In 2010, following widespread labour protests involving 60,000 workers in June 2010, a controversial proposal was being considered by the Board which would raise the monthly minimum to the equivalent of $50 a month, still far below worker demands of 5,000 taka, $72, for entry level wages, but unacceptably high according to textile manufacturers who are asking for a wage below $30. On 28 July 2010 it was announced that the minimum entry level wage would be increased to 3,000 taka, about $43.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The government also seems to believe some change is necessary. On 21 September 2006 then ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia called on textile firms to ensure the safety of workers by complying with international labour law at a speech inaugurating the Bangladesh Apparel & Textile Exposition (BATEXPO).


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Many Western multinationals use labour in Bangladesh, which is one of the cheapest in the world: 30 euros per month compared to 150 or 200 in China. Four days is enough for the CEO of one of the top five global textile brands to earn what a Bangladeshi garment worker will earn in her lifetime. In April 2013, at least 1,135 textile workers died in the collapse of their factory. Other fatal accidents due to unsanitary factories have affected Bangladesh: in 2005 a factory collapsed and caused the death of 64 people. In 2006, a series of fires killed 85 people and injured 207 others. In 2010, some 30 people died of asphyxiation and burns in two serious fires.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: In 2006, tens of thousands of workers mobilized in one of the country's largest strike movements, affecting almost all of the 4,000 factories. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) uses police forces to crack down. Three workers were killed, hundreds more were wounded by bullets, or imprisoned. In 2010, after a new strike movement, nearly 1,000 people were injured among workers as a result of the repression.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Shipbuilding is a growing industry in Bangladesh with great potential. Due to the potential of shipbuilding in Bangladesh, the country has been compared to countries like China, Japan and South Korea. Referring to the growing amount of export deals secured by the shipbuilding companies as well as the low cost labour available in the country, experts suggest that Bangladesh could emerge as a major competitor in the global market of small to medium ocean-going vessels.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh also has the world's largest ship breaking industry which employs over 200,000 Bangladeshis and accounts for half of all the steel in Bangladesh. Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard is the world's second-largest ship breaking area.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Khulna Shipyard Limited (KSY) with over five decades of reputation has been leading the Bangladesh Shipbuilding industry and had built a wide spectrum of ships for domestic and international clients. KSY built ships for Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Coast Guard under the contract of ministry of defence.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Most banks in Bangladesh are privately owned. Until the 1980s, the financial sector of Bangladesh was dominated by state-owned banks. With the grand-scale reform made in finance, private commercial banks were established through privatisation. The next finance sector reform programme was launched from 2000 to 2006 with focus on the development of financial institutions and adoption of risk-based regulations and supervision by Bangladesh Bank. As of date, the banking sector consisted of 4 SCBs, 4 government-owned specialized banks dealing in development financing, 39 private commercial banks, and 9 foreign commercial banks.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in 2013 that the travel and tourism industry in Bangladesh directly generated 1,281,500 jobs in 2012 or 1.8 percent of the country's total employment, which ranked Bangladesh 157 out of 178 countries worldwide. Direct and indirect employment in the industry totalled 2,714,500 jobs, or 3.7 percent of the country's total employment. The WTTC predicted that by 2023, travel and tourism will directly generate 1,785,000 jobs and support an overall total of 3,891,000 jobs, or 4.2 percent of the country's total employment. This would represent an annual growth rate in direct jobs of 2.9 percent. Domestic spending generated 97.7 percent of direct travel and tourism gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012. Bangladesh's world ranking in 2012 for travel and tourism's direct contribution to GDP, as a percentage of GDP, was 142 out of 176.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: in 2014 125,000 tourists visited Bangladesh. This number is extremely low relative to total population. As of 22 May 2019 the total local population numbering 166,594,000 inhabitants. This gives a ratio of 1 tourist for every 1,333 locals.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh's information technology sector is growing example of what can be achieved after the current government's relentless effort to create a skilled workforce in ICT sector. The ICT workforce consisted of private sector and freelance skilled ICT workforce. The ICT sector also contributed to Bangladesh's economic growth. The ICT adviser to the prime minister, Sajeeb Wazed Joy is hopeful that Bangladesh will become a major player in the ICT sector in the future.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: In the last 3 years, Bangladesh has seen a tremendous growth in the ICT sector. Bangladesh is a market of 160 million people with vast consumer spending around mobile phones, telco and internet. Bangladesh has 80 million internet users, an estimated 9% growth in internet use by June 2017 powered by mobile internet. Bangladesh currently has an active 23 million


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh has exported $800 million worth of software, games, outsourcing and services to European countries, the United States, Canada, Russia and India by 30 June 2017. The Junior Minister for ICT division of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology said that Bangladesh aims to raise its export earnings from the information and communications technology (ICT) sector to $5 billion by 2021.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The stock market capitalisation of the Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh crossed $10 billion in November 2007 and the $30 billion mark in 2009, and US$50 billion in August 2010. Bangladesh had the best performing stock market in Asia during the recent global recession between 2007 and 2010, due to relatively low correlations with developed country stock markets.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Major investment in real estate by domestic and foreign-resident Bangladeshis has led to a massive building boom in Dhaka and Chittagong.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Recent (2011) trends for investing in Bangladesh as Saudi Arabia trying to secure public and private investment in oil and gas, power and transportation projects, United Arab Emirates (UAE) is keen to invest in growing shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh encouraged by comparative cost advantage, Tata, an India-based leading industrial multinational to invest Taka 1500 crore to set up an automobile industry in Bangladesh, World Bank to invest in rural roads improving quality of live, the Rwandan entrepreneurs are keen to invest in Bangladesh's pharmaceuticals sector considering its potentiality in international market, Samsung sought to lease 500 industrial plots from the export zones authority to set up an electronics hub in Bangladesh with an investment of US$1.25 billion, National Board of Revenue (NBR) is set to withdraw tax rebate facilities on investment in the capital market by individual taxpayers from the fiscal 2011–12. In 2011, Japan Bank for International Cooperation ranked Bangladesh as the 15th best investment destination for foreign investors.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The bullish capital market turned bearish during 2010, with the exchange losing 1,800 points between December 2010 and January 2011. Millions of investors have been rendered bankrupt as a result of the market crash. The crash is believed to be caused artificially to benefit a handful of players at the expense of the big players.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has predicted textile exports will rise from US$7.90 billion earned in 2005–06 to US$15


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: billion by 2011. In part this optimism stems from how well the sector has fared since the end of textile and clothing quotas, under the Multifibre Agreement, in early 2005.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: According to a United Nations Development Programme report "Sewing Thoughts: How to Realize Human Development Gains in the Post-Quota World" Bangladesh has been able to offset a decline in European sales by cultivating new markets in the United States.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: "[In 2005] we had tremendous growth. The quota-free textile regime has proved to be a big boost for our factories," said BGMEA president S.M. Fazlul Hoque told reporters, after the


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) president Md Fazlul Hoque has also struck an optimistic tone. In an interview with United News Bangladesh he lauded the blistering growth rate, saying "The quality of our products and its competitiveness in terms of prices helped the sector achieve such... tremendous success."


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Knitwear posted the strongest growth of all textile products in 2005–06, surging 35.38 per cent to US$2.82 billion. On the downside however, the sector's strong growth came amid sharp falls in prices for textile products on the world market, with growth subsequently dependent upon large increases in volume.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh's quest to boost the quantity of textile trade was also helped by US and EU caps on Chinese textiles. The US cap restricts growth in imports of Chinese textiles to 12.5 per cent next year and between 15 and 16 per cent in 2008. The EU deal similarly manages import growth until 2008.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh may continue to benefit from these restrictions over the next two years, however a climate of falling global textile prices forces wage rates the centre of the nation's efforts to increase market share.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: They offer a range of incentives to potential investors including 10-year tax holidays, duty-free import of capital goods, raw materials and building materials, exemptions on income tax on salaries paid to foreign nationals for three years and dividend tax exemptions for the period of the tax holiday.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: All goods produced in the zones are able to be exported duty-free, in addition to which Bangladesh benefits from the Generalised System of Preferences in US, European and Japanese markets and is also endowed with Most Favoured Nation status from the United States.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Furthermore, Bangladesh imposes no ceiling on investment in the EPZs and allows full repatriation of profits.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh has been a world leader in its efforts to end the use of child labour in garment factories. On 4 July 1995, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, International Labour Organization, and UNICEF signed a memorandum of understanding on the elimination of child labour in the garment sector. Implementation of this pioneering agreement began in fall 1995, and by the end of 1999, child labour in the garment trade virtually had been eliminated. The labour-intensive process of ship breaking for scrap has developed to the point where it now meets most of Bangladesh's domestic steel needs. Other industries include sugar, tea, leather goods, newsprint, pharmaceutical, and fertilizer production.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The Bangladesh government continues to court foreign investment, something it has done fairly successfully in private power generation and gas exploration and production, as well as in other sectors such as cellular telephony, textiles, and pharmaceuticals. In 1989, the same year it signed a bilateral investment treaty with the United States, it established a Board of Investment to simplify approval and start-up procedures for foreign investors, although in practice the board has done little to increase investment. The government created the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority to manage the various export processing zones. The agency currently manages EPZs in Adamjee, Chittagong, Comilla, Dhaka, Ishwardi, Karnaphuli, Mongla, and Uttara. An EPZ has also been proposed for Sylhet. The government has given the private sector permission to build and operate competing EPZs-initial construction on a Korean EPZ started in 1999. In June 1999, the AFL–CIO petitioned the U.S. Government to deny Bangladesh access to U.S. markets under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), citing the country's failure to meet promises made in 1992 to allow freedom of association in EPZs.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on almost all sectors of the economy, inter alia, most notably, it has caused a reduction of exports by 16.93 percent, and imports by 17 percent in the FY2019-20.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: In 2015, the top exports of Bangladesh are Non-Knit Men's Suits ($5.6B), Knit T-shirts ($5.28B), Knit Sweaters ($4.12B), Non-Knit Women's Suits ($3.66B) and Non-Knit Men's Shirts ($2.52B). In 2015, the top imports of Bangladesh are Heavy Pure Woven Cotton ($1.33B), Refined Petroleum ($1.25B), Light Pure Woven Cotton ($1.12B), Raw Cotton ($1.01B) and Wheat ($900M).


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: In 2015, the top export destinations of Bangladesh are the United States ($6.19B), Germany ($5.17B), the United Kingdom ($3.53B), France ($2.37B) and Spain ($2.29B). In 2015, the top import origins are China ($13.9B), India ($5.51B), Singapore ($2.22B), Hong Kong ($1.47B) and Japan ($1.36B).


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: As of 2014, female participation in the labour force is 58% as per World Bank data, and male participation at 82%.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: A 2007 World Bank report stated that the areas in which women's work force participation have increased the most are in the fields of agriculture, education and health and social work. Over three-quarters of women in the labour force work in the agricultural sector. On the other hand, the International Labour Organization reports that women's workforce participation has only increased in the professional and administrative areas between 2000 and 2005, demonstrating women's increased participation in sectors that require higher education. Employment and labour force participation data from the World Bank, the UN, and the ILO vary and often under report on women's work due to unpaid labour and informal sector jobs. Though these fields are mostly paid, women experience very different work conditions than men, including wage differences and work benefits. Women's wages are significantly lower than men's wages for the same job with women being paid as much as 60–75 percent less than what men make.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: One example of action that is being taken to improve female conditions in the work force is Non-Governmental Organisations. These NGOs encourage women to rely on their own self-savings, rather than external funds provide women with increased decision-making and participation within the family and society. However, some NGOs that address microeconomic issues among individual families fail to deal with broader macroeconomic issues that prevent women's complete autonomy and advancement.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh has made significant strides in its economic sector performance since independence in 1971. Although the economy has improved vastly in the 1990s, Bangladesh still suffers in the area of foreign trade in South Asian. Despite major impediments to growth like the inefficiency of state-owned enterprises, a rapidly growing labour force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, inadequate power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms, Bangladesh has made some headway improving the climate for foreign investors and liberalising the capital markets; for example, it has negotiated with foreign firms for oil and gas exploration, bettered the countrywide distribution of cooking gas, and initiated the construction of natural gas pipelines and power stations. Progress on other economic reforms has been halting because of opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: The especially severe floods of 1998 increased the flow of international aid. So far the global financial crisis has not had a major impact on the economy. Foreign aid has seen a gradual decline over the last few decades but economists see this as a good sign for self-reliance. There has been a dramatic growth in exports and remittance inflow which has helped the economy to expand at a steady rate.


title: Economy of Bangladesh

text: Bangladesh has been on the list of UN Least Developed Countries (LDC) since 1975. Bangladesh met the requirements to be recognised as a developing country in March, 2018 with Bangladesh's Gross National Income (GNI) US$1,724 per capita, the Human Assets Index (HAI) 72 and the Economic Vulnerability (EVI) Index 25.2 then. Bangladesh's GNI is now forecasted to reach at US$4,753.39 in 2030.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Oskar Paul Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – ) was a German military officer ("SS-Oberführer") who served as the founder and commander of the Nazi SS penal unit "Dirlewanger" during World War II. Serving in Poland and in Belarus, his name is closely linked to some of the most notorious crimes of the war. He also fought in World War I, the post-World War I conflicts, and the Spanish Civil War. He reportedly died after World War II while in Allied custody. According to Timothy Snyder, "in all the theaters of the Second World War, few could compete in cruelty with Dirlewanger".


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger was born in Würzburg on 26 September 1895. He was the son of a merchant, and spent much of his childhood in Esslingen Am Neckar after his family moved there in 1906. He attended the Esslinger Gymnasium (known today as the Georgii-Gymnasium) and the Schelztor-Oberrealschule. He completed his Abitur in 1913.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger enlisted in the Württemberg Army on the 1 October 1913, and served as a machine gunner in the "König Karl" Grenadier Regiment 123, a part of the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps and as a one-year volunteer. He would fight as a part of this unit on the Western Front of World War I, where he took part in the German invasion of Belgium and later fought in France. He received the Iron Cross 2nd Class and 1st Class, having been wounded six times, and finished the war with the rank of lieutenant, in charge of a company on the Eastern Front in southern Russia and Romania. At the cessation of hostilities, the German units in Dirlewanger's area were ordered to be interned in Romania, but Dirlewanger disobeyed orders and led 600 men from his and other units back to Germany. According to German biographer Knut Stang, the war was a contributing factor that determined Dirlewanger's later life and his "terror warfare" methods, as "his amoral personality, with his alcoholism and his sadistic sexual orientation, was additionally shattered by the front experiences of the First World War and its frenzied violence and barbarism."


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: After the end of World War I, Dirlewanger, described in a police report as "a mentally unstable, violent fanatic and alcoholic, who had the habit of erupting into violence under the influence of drugs", joined various "Freikorps" right-wing paramilitary militias and fought against German communists in Ruhr and Saxony, and against Poles in Upper Silesia. He participated in the suppression of the German Revolution of 1918–19 with the "Freikorps" in multiple German cities in 1920 and 1921. Later, he commanded an armed formation of students which was set up by him under the Württemberg "Highway Watch".


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: On Easter Sunday 1921, Dirlewanger commanded an armoured train that moved towards Sangerhausen, which had been occupied by the Communist Party of Germany militia group of Max Hoelz in one of their raids intended to inspire worker uprisings. An attack by Dirlewanger failed, and the enemy militiamen succeeded in cutting off his force. After the latter was reinforced by pro-government troops during the night, the Communists withdrew from the town. During this operation, Dirlewanger was grazed on the head by a gunshot. After the Nazi Party gained power, Dirlewanger was celebrated as the town's "liberator from the Red terrorists" and received its honorary citizenship in 1935.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Between his militant forays, he studied at the Goethe University Frankfurt and in 1922 obtained a doctorate in political science. He wrote his doctoral thesis as an analysis and critique of the planned economy, titled: “Critique of the idea of a planned management of the economy." The following year, he joined the Nazi Party and its SA militia, and later also the SS. From 1928 to 1931 he was an executive director of a textile factory owned by a Jewish family in Erfurt where he renounced active service in the SA but financially donated to the SA, possibly obtaining the money by embezzling from his company. Dirlewanger held various jobs, which included working at a bank and a knitwear factory. In 1933 after the Nazi seizure of power, Dirlewanger was rewarded to become director of the Heilbronn employment agency, a strategic post for local-level Nazi leaders.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger was repeatedly convicted for illegal arms possession and embezzlement. In 1934, he was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment for the rape of a 14-year-old girl from the League of German Girls (BDM), as well as the illegal use of a government vehicle and damaging said vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Dirlewanger also lost his job, his doctor title and all military honours, and was expelled from the party. Soon after his release from the prison in Ludwigsburg, he was arrested again on similar charges for criminal recidivism. He was sent to the Welzheim concentration camp, either as what Stein feels was standard practice for deviant sexual offenders in Germany at the time or for creating a disturbance demanding the reversal of his criminal charges appearing before the Reich Chancellery. Dirlewanger was released and reinstated in the general reserve of the SS following personal intervention of his wartime companion and local NSDAP cadre comrade Gottlob Berger, who was also a long-time personal friend of the SS chief Heinrich Himmler and had become the head of the SS Head Office ("SS-Hauptamt", SS-HA).


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger next went to Spain, where he enlisted into the Spanish Foreign Legion during the Spanish Civil War. Through Berger he transferred to the German Condor Legion where he served from 1936 to 1939 and was wounded three times. Following further intervention on his behalf by his patron Berger, he successfully petitioned to have his case reconsidered in light of his service in Spain. Dirlewanger was reinstated into the NSDAP, albeit with a higher party number (No. 1,098,716). His doctorate was also restored by the University of Frankfurt.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: At the beginning of World War II, Dirlewanger volunteered for the "Waffen-SS" and received the rank of "Obersturmführer". He eventually became the commander of the so-called Dirlewanger Brigade (at first designated as a battalion, later expanded to a regiment and a brigade, and eventually a division), composed originally of a small group of former poachers along with soldiers of a more conventional background. It was believed that the excellent tracking and shooting skills of the poachers could be put to constructive use in the fight against partisans. Later, Dirlewanger's soldiers were mostly recruited from among the ever-increasing groups of German convicted criminals (civilian and military) and concentration camp inmates, eventually including mental asylum patients, homosexuals, interned Romani people, and (at the end of the war) even political prisoners sentenced for their anti-Nazi beliefs and activities.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: The unit was assigned to security duties first in General Government (occupied Poland), where Dirlewanger served as an SS-TV commandant of a labour camp at Stary Dzików. The camp was the subject of an abuse investigation by the SS judge Georg Konrad Morgen, who accused Dirlewanger of wanton acts of murder, corruption and Rassenschande or race defilement (Morgen consequently himself was reduced in rank and sent to the Eastern Front). According to Morgen, "Dirlewanger was a nuisance and a terror to the entire population. He repeatedly pillaged the ghetto in Lublin, extorting ransoms." Atrocities committed by Dirlewanger included injecting strychnine into young Jewish female prisoners, previously undressed and whipped, to watch them convulse to death in front of him and his friends for entertainment. According to Raul Hilberg, this camp was where "one of the first instances that reference was made to the 'soap-making rumor". According to the rumor, Dirlewanger "cut up Jewish women and boiled them with horse meat to make soap."


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: According to Peter Longerich, Dirlewanger's leadership "was characterized by continued alcohol abuse, looting, sadistic atrocities, rape, and murder—and his mentor Berger tolerated this behaviour, as did Himmler, who so urgently needed men such as the "Sonderkommando" Dirlewanger in his fight against 'subhumanity'." In his letter to Himmler, SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik recommended Dirlewanger, who "in charge of the Jewish camp of Dzikow ... was an excellent leader." During the Nuremberg Trials after the war, Berger said: "Now Dr. Dirlewanger was hardly a good boy. You can't say that. But he was a good soldier, and he had one big mistake that he didn't know when to stop drinking."


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: In February 1942, the unit was assigned to "anti-gang" operations ("Bandenbekämpfung") in Belarus. In "", Timothy Snyder wrote that "Dirlewanger's preferred method was to herd the local population inside a barn, set the barn on fire, and then shoot with machine guns anyone who tried to escape." Rounded-up civilians would be also routinely used as human shields and marched over minefields. In "Masters of Death", Richard Rhodes wrote that Dirlewanger and his force "raped and tortured young women and slaughtered Jews "Einsatzgruppen"-style in Byelorussia beginning in 1942." Snyder cautiously estimated that the "Sonderkommando", by then regiment-sized, killed at least 30,000 Belarusian civilians. Himmler was well aware of Dirlewanger's reputation and record, but nonetheless gave him the German Cross in Gold on 5 December 1943, for his unit's actions such as during Operation Cottbus (May–June 1943), during which Dirlewanger reportedly killed more than 14,000 alleged partisans.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: In mid-1944, during the Operation Bagration, Dirlewanger's unit suffered heavy losses during fighting against Red Army regulars. It was then hastily rebuilt and reformed into a "storm brigade" and used in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. Historian Martin Windrow wrote that in the summer of 1944 Dirlewanger led his "butchers, rapists and looters into action against the Warsaw Uprising, and quickly committed ... unspeakable crimes." In Warsaw, Dirlewanger participated in the Wola massacre, together with police units rounding up and shooting some 40,000 civilians, most of them in just two days. In the same Wola district, Dirlewanger burned three hospitals with patients inside, while the nurses were "whipped, gang-raped and finally hanged naked, together with the doctors" to the accompaniment of the popular song "In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus". Later, "they drank, raped and murdered their way through the Old Town, slaughtering civilians and fighters alike without distinction of age or sex." In the Old Town – where about 30,000 civilians were killed – several thousand wounded in field hospitals overrun by the Germans were shot and set on fire with flamethrowers. SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, overall commander of the forces pacifying Warsaw – and Dirlewanger's former superior officer in Belarus – described Dirlewanger as having "a typical mercenary nature."


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: In recognition of his work to crush the uprising and intimidate the population of the city, Dirlewanger received his final promotion, to the rank of SS-Oberführer, on 15 August 1944. In October, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, recommended for it by his superior officer in Warsaw, SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Reinefarth (after the war, Reinefarth lied about his role in Warsaw, even denying Dirlewanger had been under his command).


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger then led his men in joining the efforts to put down the Slovak National Uprising in October 1944, eventually being posted on the front lines of Hungary and eastern Germany to fight against the advancing Red Army. In February 1945, the unit was expanded again and re-designated as an SS Grenadier division. That same month, Dirlewanger was shot in the chest while fighting against the Soviet forces near Guben in Brandenburg and sent to the rear. It was his twelfth and final injury in the war. On 22 April, he went into hiding.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger is invariably described as an extremely cruel person by historians and researchers, including as "a psychopathic killer and child molester" by Steven Zaloga, "violently sadistic" by Richard Rhodes, and "an expert in extermination and a devotee of sadism and necrophilia" by J. Bowyer Bell.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Dirlewanger was arrested on 1 June 1945 near the town of Altshausen in Upper Swabia by the French occupation zone authorities while he was wearing civilian clothes, using a false name and hiding in a remote hunting lodge. He was recognised by a Jewish former concentration camp inmate and brought to a detention centre. He reportedly died around 5–7 June 1945 in a prison camp at Altshausen, probably as a result of ill treatment. There are numerous conflicting reports of the nature of his death: the French said that he died of a heart attack and was buried in an unmarked grave; or he was taken by armed Poles, presumably former forced laborers; or French military prisoners (of Polish descent); or Polish soldiers (29xième Groupement d'Infanterie Polonaise), who were mistreated in French custody; or former inmates and prison guards; or that he escaped and there were some rumours that he joined the foreign legion. Ultimately his fate is unknown, but it is generally considered most likely that he died at Altshausen.


title: Oskar Dirlewanger

text: Wolfsbrigade 44, a German Neo-Nazi group which was banned by the federal government of Germany in December 2020, who according to "The Times", used the "44" as code for "DD", short for "Division Dirlewanger".


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Cleopatra is a 1963 American epic historical drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with a screenplay adapted by Mankiewicz, Ranald MacDougall and Sidney Buchman from the 1957 book "The Life and Times of Cleopatra" by Carlo Maria Franzero, and from histories by Plutarch, Suetonius, and Appian. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor in the eponymous role. Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, and Martin Landau are featured in supporting roles. It chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra, the young queen of Egypt, to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Walter Wanger had long contemplated producing a biographical film about Cleopatra. In 1958, his production company partnered with Twentieth Century Fox to produce the film. Following an extensive casting search, Elizabeth Taylor signed on to portray the title role for a record-setting salary of $1 million. Rouben Mamoulian was hired as director, and the script underwent numerous revisions from Nigel Balchin, Dale Wasserman, Lawrence Durrell, and Nunnally Johnson. Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios on September 28, 1960, but Taylor's health problems delayed further filming. Production was suspended in November after it had gone overbudget with only ten minutes of usable footage.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Mamoulian resigned as director, and was subsequently replaced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had previously directed Taylor in "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959). Production was re-located to Cinecittà, where filming resumed on September 25, 1961, without a finished shooting script. During filming, a personal scandal made worldwide headlines when it was reported that co-stars Taylor and Richard Burton had an adulterous affair. Filming wrapped on July 28, 1962, and further reshoots were made from February to March 1963. With the estimated production costs totaling $31 million, the film became the most expensive film ever made up to that point and nearly bankrupted the studio.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: "Cleopatra" premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on June 12, 1963. It received a generally favorable response from film critics, and became the highest-grossing film of 1963, earning box-office receipts of $57.7 million in the United States and Canada, and one of the highest-grossing films of the decade at a worldwide level. However, the film initially lost money because of its production and marketing costs of $44 million. It received nine nominations at the 36th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, and won four: Best Art Direction (Color), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design (Color).


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: After the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Julius Caesar goes to Egypt, under the pretext of being named the executor of the will of the father of the young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are in the midst of a civil war of their own and she has been driven out of the city of Alexandria. Ptolemy rules alone under the care of his three "guardians", the chief eunuch Pothinus, his tutor Theodotus and General Achillas.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Cleopatra convinces Caesar to restore her throne from her younger brother. Caesar, in effective control of the kingdom, sentences Pothinus to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra, and banishes Ptolemy to the eastern desert, where he and his outnumbered army would face certain death against Mithridates. Cleopatra is crowned queen of Egypt and begins to develop megalomaniacal dreams of ruling the world with Caesar, who in turn desires to become king of Rome. They marry, and when their son Caesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk of Rome and the Senate.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: After he is made dictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome in a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumors that Caesar wishes to be made king, which is anathema to the Romans. On the Ides of March in 44 BC, a group of conspirators assassinate Caesar and flee the city, starting a rebellion. An alliance among Octavian (Caesar's adopted son), Mark Antony (Caesar's right-hand man and general) and Marcus Ameilius Lepidus puts down the rebellion and splits the republic. Cleopatra is angered after Caesar's will recognizes Octavian, rather than Caesarion, as his official heir, and she returns to Egypt.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: While planning a campaign against Parthia in the east, Antony realizes that he needs money and supplies that only Egypt can sufficiently provide. After refusing several times to leave Egypt, Cleopatra acquiesces and meets him on her royal barge in Tarsus. The two begin a love affair, and Cleopatra assures Antony that he is much more than a pale reflection of Caesar. Octavian's removal of Lepidus forces Antony to return to Rome, where he marries Octavian's sister Octavia to prevent political conflict. This upsets and enrages Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra reconcile and marry, with Antony divorcing Octavia. Octavian, incensed, reads Antony's will to the Roman senate, revealing that Antony wishes to be buried in Egypt. Rome turns against Antony, and Octavian's call for war against Egypt receives a rapturous response. The war is decided at the naval Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 BC, where Octavian's fleet, under the command of Agrippa, defeats the lead ships of the Antony-Egyptian fleet. Cleopatra assumes that Antony is dead and orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows her, leaving the rest of his fleet leaderless and soon defeated.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Several months later, Cleopatra sends Cesarion under disguise out of Alexandria. She manages to convince Antony to resume command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing army. However, Antony's soldiers abandon him during the night. Rufio, the last man loyal to Antony, kills himself. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat, but is finally forced to flee into the city. When Antony returns to the palace, Apollodorus, in love with Cleopatra himself, tells him she is in her tomb as she had instructed, and lets Antony believe she is dead. Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then confesses that he misled Antony and assists him to the tomb where Cleopatra and two servants have taken refuge. Antony dies in Cleopatra's arms.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Octavian and his army march into Alexandria with Caesarion's dead body in a wagon. He discovers the dead body of Apollodorus, who had poisoned himself. Octavian receives word that Antony is dead and that Cleopatra is holed up in a tomb. There he offers to allow her to rule Egypt as a Roman province if she will accompany him to Rome. Cleopatra, knowing that her son is dead, agrees to Octavian's terms, including an empty pledge on the life of her son not to harm herself. After Octavian departs, she orders her servants in coded language to assist with her suicide. Octavian discovers that she is going to kill herself and he and his guards burst into Cleopatra's chamber to find her dead, dressed in gold, along with her servants and the asp that killed her.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Walter Wanger had long desired to produce a biographical film about Cleopatra. As an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, he first read Théophile Gautier's fantasy novel "One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances" and then Thomas North's 1579 English translation of Plutarch's "Lives" and William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra". Wanger had envisioned Cleopatra as "the quintessence of youthful femininity, of womanliness and strength," but it was not until he watched Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun" (1951) that he found his ideal candidate for the role. Around this time, Wanger had discovered through a private detective that his wife Joan Bennett was having an extramarital affair with her talent agent Jennings Lang. On the afternoon of December 13, 1951, Wanger shot Lang twice after having spotted him with Bennett in a parking lot near MCA. Lang survived, and Wanger, pleading insanity, served four months in prison at the Castaic Honor Farm, north of Los Angeles.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Following his release, Wanger had achieved a career comeback, having produced "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) and "I Want to Live!" (1958), in which Susan Hayward won the Academy Award for Best Actress. He would soon return to his dream project of a Cleopatra biographical film.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Wanger pitched the idea to various film studios, including Monogram and RKO Pictures. He also approached Taylor and her husband Michael Todd about producing the project with United Artists. Taylor expressed interest in the project but delegated the decision to Todd. Meanwhile, Twentieth Century Fox was in financial trouble following its severe box office losses of "The Barbarian and the Geisha", "A Certain Smile" and "The Roots of Heaven", all released in 1958. To reverse the studio's fortunes, studio president Spyros Skouras requested that studio executive David Brown find a viable project that would be a "big picture." Brown subsequently suggested a remake of "Cleopatra" (1917), which had starred Theda Bara.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: In the fall of 1958, Wanger's production company entered into a coproduction agreement with Twentieth Century Fox. Wanger pitched four properties—"Cleopatra", "Justine", "The Dud Avocado", and "The Fall"—for the executives to consider. They selected the first three, and "Cleopatra" would be the first to enter into production. On September 15, Wanger purchased the screen rights to Carlo Mario Franzero's biography "The Life and Times of Cleopatra". On September 30, Skouras held his first meeting with Wanger, and asked his secretary to retrieve the screenplay for the 1917 version of "Cleopatra". Skouras insisted, "All this needs is a little rewriting. Just give me this over again and we'll make a lot of money." Because the original screenplay had been written for a silent film, the script mostly contained instructions for camera setups.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: In December 1958, Ludi Claire, a writer and former actress, was hired to write a rough draft of the script. That same month, art director John DeCuir was hired to produce conceptual artwork to illustrate the visual scale of the project. In March 1959, English author Nigel Balchin was hired to write another script draft. Meanwhile, Wanger had approached Alfred Hitchcock to direct the film, having worked with him on "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), but Hitchcock declined. Skouras then selected Rouben Mamoulian, who had worked with Wanger on "Applause" (1929), to direct. With Mamoulian as director, Balchin's script pleased neither him nor Taylor, who felt that the first act was forced and that Cleopatra lacked sufficient characterization. Based on his recently aired "I, Don Quixote" episode in the CBS anthology series "DuPont Show of the Month", Dale Wasserman was selected to complete the final draft. Wanger instructed him to focus all attention on Cleopatra as the central role. Wasserman recounted that he had never met Taylor, so he watched her earlier films to better acquaint himself with her acting style. In the spring of 1960, English novelist Lawrence Durrell was hired to rewrite the script.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: At a meeting, in October 1958, production head Buddy Adler favored a relatively cheap production of $2 million, with one of Fox's contract actresses, such as Joan Collins (who tested extensively for the part), Joanne Woodward or Suzy Parker, in the title role. Wanger protested, envisioning a much more opulent epic with a voluptuous actress as Cleopatra. Wanger suggested Susan Hayward while Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, and Gina Lollobrigida were also under consideration. When Mamoulian was hired to direct, he had offered the title role to Dorothy Dandridge during a lunch meeting at the Romanoff's restaurant in Beverly Hills. Dandridge replied, "You won't have the guts to go through with this... They are going to talk you out of it."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: In September 1959, Wanger contacted Taylor again on the set of "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959), and Taylor asked for a record-setting contract of $1 million plus ten percent of the box-office gross. On October 15, a contract-signing event was staged inside Adler's office where Taylor signed blank papers because the real contract would not be ready for months. Wanger had considered Laurence Olivier and Rex Harrison for the role of Julius Caesar, and Richard Burton for Mark Antony. However, the studios refused to approve Harrison and Burton. On July 28, 1960, Taylor signed a real contract. It was also stipulated that the film would be shot in Europe and in the Todd-AO format, developed by Taylor's late husband Michael Todd, which ensured that Taylor would receive additional royalties.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: In January 1960, Stephen Boyd was approached by Wanger about being cast as Mark Antony, but felt he was too young for the role. In August 1960, Boyd was cast as Mark Antony, Peter Finch as Julius Caesar and Keith Baxter as Octavian. Mamoulian had also cast Elisabeth Welch to portray one of Cleopatra's handmaidens.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: With Mamoulian as director, construction on the Alexandria exteriors was already under way on the studio's backlot. London was also seen as a viable choice for hosting the production. The Eady Levy had offered financial incentives to American film studios as long as a certain percentage of the primary cast and production crew were English. There, the production would be supervised by Robert Goldstein, the studio's foreign head of production. A number of other countries, including Turkey and Egypt, were considered for exterior locations.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: In 1960, Adler entered into a coproduction deal with Italian producer Lionello Santi, who had recently completed a foreign-language version of "Cleopatra" that the studio purchased to keep away from the American market. Mamoulian traveled to Italy for location scouting and reported back the difficulties upon shooting there. Furthermore, the impending Rome Summer Olympics threatened to complicate filming accommodations. On April 20, 1960, Santi issued a full-page ad in "Variety" announcing his forthcoming production of "Cleopatra" without mentioning Twentieth Century Fox's involvement. Angered, Adler shifted the entire production to Pinewood Studios. On July 11, Adler died from cancer, and was replaced by Goldstein. Skouras asked Wanger to assume Goldstein's former position, but months later, he was replaced by Sid Rogell. Meanwhile, Wanger cautioned about shooting in England in a July 15 memo, stating that the weather conditions could jeopardize Taylor's health and that the labor force was insufficient. However, Fox management overruled his decision.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios on September 28, 1960. On the same day, the British hairdressers' union threatened to leave production, as Taylor had brought Sydney Guilaroff, an American hairstylist. A settlement was reached that Guilaroff would be allowed to style Taylor's hair, but only at her Dorchester suite. Taylor shot a scene in 40-degree weather and fell sick with a sore throat, rendering her unable to work for two weeks. Mamoulian was then forced to proceed filming without Taylor, instead shooting scenes with Finch and Boyd. Taylor's cold soon progressed into a lingering fever, and for the next few weeks, she was treated by several doctors, including Lord Evans, Queen Elizabeth II's physician. On November 13, Taylor's fever reached 103 degrees and she was diagnosed with meningitis. By November 19, Wanger indefinitely postponed shooting, giving studio employees two weeks' notice until Taylor's health recovered. Taylor remained hospitalized for a week and then flew to Palm Springs, Florida with Eddie Fisher to recuperate. The Lloyd's of London insurance agency paid $2 million to cover Taylor's medical expenses.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: During the pause in filming, Nunnally Johnson was hired to write a new script. Johnson wrote a 75-page draft for the first half of the film, mostly involving Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, that was similar in its tone to that of Cecil B. DeMille's "Cleopatra" (1934) and "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945). Filming resumed on January 3, 1961, but Mamoulian was dissatisfied with Johnson's script. Taylor, who expressed similar displeasure, then appealed for Paddy Chayefsky to write a new script. Chayefsky demurred, saying that a rewrite would take six months. After sixteen weeks of filming and costs of $7 million, the crew had produced just ten minutes of film. Skouras blamed Mamoulian for the production having exceeded its budget. On January 18, 1961, Mamoulian resigned as director.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: To replace Mamoulian, Taylor announced that she would approve either George Stevens, who had directed her in "A Place in the Sun", or Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had directed her in "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959). At the time, Mankiewicz was developing a film adaptation of the novel "Justine", which was also a Wanger production. He initially declined the offer, but after meeting with Skouras and his agent Charles K. Feldman at the Colony Restaurant, he agreed to write and direct the project.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: As an additional incentive, Skouras acquired Figaro, Inc., Mankiewicz's independent production company, for $3 million. In addition to his salary as writer and director, Mankiewicz received $1.5 million from the purchase, while his partner, NBC, received the other half. Having directed "Julius Caesar" (1953), Mankiewicz expressed his displeasure with the shooting script, stating it was "unreadable and unshootable." Mankiewicz also described Cleopatra's depiction as a "strange, frustrating mixture of an American soap-opera virgin and an hysterical Slavic vamp of the type Nazimova used to play." Because of this, he asked to rewrite the script from scratch, and the studio allowed him two months.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: By February 1961, Mankiewicz had conceived a "modern, psychiatrically rooted concept of the film," envisioning Marc Antony's self-destruction because of his "inability to match [Julius] Caesar." Within one month, Lawrence Durrell and Sidney Buchman were recruited to collaborate with Mankiewicz on the new script. Story conferences were held with the three writers, and Durrell and Buchman then separately wrote "story-step" outlines. Mankiewicz would expand their outlines into a new script. Mankiewicz consulted the relevant sources, adapting historical literature written by Plutarch and Petronius. In late April, Mankiewicz had grown displeased with Durrell's work, while Buchman was instructed to complete an outline for the film. By then, Buchman's outline only covered the first quarter of the film. Mankiewicz had petitioned for playwrights Lillian Hellman or Paul Osborn to help finish the script, but Wanger hired screenwriter Ranald MacDougall.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Filming was set to resume on April 4, 1961. However, on March 4, Taylor was hospitalized again for pneumonia, and one news agency erroneously reported that she had died. She recovered after a tracheotomy was performed on her throat. On March 14, Twentieth Century Fox suspended production at Pinewood Studios. The sets were dismantled at the cost of $600,000. Skouras then decided to relocate the production to the studio's backlot in California. Meanwhile, Mankiewicz temporarily left his writing duties and scouted for suitable filming locations in Rome and Egypt. In June, Mankiewicz returned to the studio to report some Italian locations he had found, but was not eager to shoot in Egypt. On June 30, Skouras reversed his decision and agreed to allow Mankiewicz shoot the film at Cinecittà in Rome, where the sound stages had been occupied for the studio's television series and George Stevens's "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965).


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: During the interim, Finch and Boyd had left the production for other commitments, and each was paid his remaining salary. Laurence Olivier and Trevor Howard had turned down the role of Julius Caesar. Rex Harrison, who was the studio's fourth choice, was then cast. Mankiewicz then suggested Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, but Richard Burton landed the role after Taylor had seen him as King Arthur in the Broadway musical "Camelot". Twentieth Century Fox paid Burton $250,000 plus $50,000 to buy out his contract. Roddy McDowall, who was also appearing in "Camelot", was cast as Octavian. Mankiewicz had also insisted on casting John Valva, McDowall's close friend, creating an original character named Valvus. By mid-September 1961, Canadian actor Hume Cronyn, several American actors, including Martin Landau and Carroll O'Connor, and several English actors, such as Kenneth Haigh, Robert Stephens and Michael Hordern, were cast in supporting roles.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Jack Hildyard had resigned as cinematographer when Mamoulian agreed to step down as director. He was replaced by Leon Shamroy. In January 1962, Andrew Marton was brought in as second-unit director, replacing Ray Kellogg. Marton had previously worked on the first initial shoot. John DeCuir was still kept as production designer.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: On September 25, 1961, principal photography began on the revamped production of "Cleopatra". Mankiewicz had expressed his intention of directing a two-part epic: "I had in mind two separate but closely linked Elizabeth Taylor films—"Caesar and Cleopatra" and "Antony and Cleopatra"—each to run three hours, both segments to receive simultaneous release. Moreover, I felt compelled to undertake the writing of both halves myself, a measure of my total dissatisfaction with the material that had been produced to date."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: At that time, he had completed 132 pages of the shooting script, with another 195 pages that remained to be written, so Mankiewicz shot the film in sequence, leaving several actors waiting indefinitely until their scenes were ready to be shot. For the first few months of filming, he filmed scenes during the daytime and wrote the script at night, resorting to amphetamine injections and wearing protective gloves because he contracted dermatitis in both hands. Overwhelmed, in February 1962, Mankiewicz rehired MacDougall to script several battle scenes (particularly those of Moongate and Actium) and the final 50 remaining pages of the second half.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: On January 22, 1962, Taylor and Burton filmed their first scene together. Wanger observed in his journal: "There comes a time during the making of a movie when the actors become the characters they play... It was quiet, and you could almost feel the electricity between Liz and Burton." By February, news of the love affair made headlines worldwide; as both were married to others, the news brought bad publicity to the already troubled production.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: By late May, most of the palace scenes were finished, but the remaining sequences, including those of the Battle of Pharsalus and Actium, the arrival of Cleopatra in Tarsus, and Antony's confrontation with Octavian's legions, were not yet filmed. Some of these sequences were to be shot in Egypt. Back in California, Fox had posted an annual loss for fiscal year 1961, with blame directed at the looming production costs of "Cleopatra". As a result, Skouras assured shareholders that he was preparing to take "drastic measures" to reduce expenditures, which was followed by the cancellation of the Marilyn Monroe film "Something's Got to Give".


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: From June 1–5, Fox executives Peter Levathes, Otto Koegel and Joseph Moskowitz, whom Wanger jokingly named as the "Three Wise Men," arrived on set to cancel the scheduled shoot of the Battle of Pharsalus. The committee informally fired Wanger by discontinuing his salary and expense account, demanded that Taylor's salary be terminated on June 9, and that all filming be halted by June 30. Mankiewicz refused to commit to the new terms, and sent a memo to then-studio chairman Samuel Rosenman requesting for Taylor's availability to be extended. In response, Rosenman permitted Taylor to work until June 23. On June 12, Wanger's "firing" was first reported by columnist Earl Wilson. Mankiewicz had read Wilson's column, and asked Lewis "Doc" Merman, the studio's production manager, to assume Wanger's position and thereby reinstate the filming of several sequences that were cut. Taylor and Burton, angered over Wanger's dismissal, had planned to protest unless Wanger was reinstated. Back in Los Angeles, Merman consulted with Levathes, in which they both agreed that Wanger would remain as producer.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: In haste, the filming unit re-located to Ischia, off the coast of Italy where the battle of Actium was shot. The scene of Cleopatra's arrival aboard her barge in Tarsus was completed on June 23, which was Taylor's last day on set. On June 26, 1962, Skouras announced his resignation as studio president, effective on September 30. On July 25, Darryl F. Zanuck was elected as the new president of Fox, while Skouras became the new chairman of the board. Zanuck then fired Levathes, replacing him with his son Richard D. Zanuck. Principal photography ended on July 28, with the final location scenes in Egypt.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Post-production work on "Cleopatra" had left the film's editorial team with of exposed footage. In Los Angeles, Mankiewicz and his editor Dorothy Spencer prepared a rough cut that ran five hours and 20 minutes. In October 1962, Mankiewicz arranged a private screening of the film's rough cut for Zanuck in Paris. Zanuck rejected Mankiewicz's plea to distribute "Cleopatra" in two separate installments, believing audiences interested in the Taylor–Burton affair would not attend the first installment. On October 20, Mankiewicz sent a letter to Zanuck requesting an "honest and unequivocal statement of where I stand in relation to "Cleopatra"." A day later, Zanuck issued a statement: "On completion of the dubbing, your official services will be terminated...If you are available and willing, I will call upon you to screen the re-edited version of the film." Conceding to the inevitable, Mankiewicz told "Newsweek": "I made the first cut, but after that, it's the studio's property. They could cut it up into banjo picks if they want."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Zanuck then hired director Elmo Williams to supervise the completion and final editing of the film. Williams worked three consecutive sixteen-hour days at Fox's New York film laboratory and cut a total of thirty-three minutes from the original four-hour cut. Williams explained: "When he [Mankiewicz] first saw my version, he began ranting and raving and carrying on. He had finally given up the idea of releasing the picture as two separate films, but he hadn't counted on the released version being reduced in length." On December 7, "The New York Times" reported that Mankiewicz would rejoin the production after having an "extremely constructive" conference with Zanuck at his suite at the St. Regis New York. Zanuck explained that he would "bend over backwards, artistically so that I wouldn't have to exercise [my rights as president] unless it became absolutely essential. Joe accepted that, took the scenes that I had blocked out crudely and roughly, went to work with them and wrote them."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: With Mankiewicz reinstated as director, he partially restored several deleted sequences, including scenes of Sosigenes tutoring Cleopatra. In February 1963, several members of the cast, along with 1,500 extras, were called back to reshoot the Battle of Pharsalus in Almería, Spain. Mankiewicz then returned to London for eight consecutive days to reshoot new scenes with Burton. On March 5, 1963, filming was finally completed.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: The music of "Cleopatra" was scored by Alex North. It was released several times, first as an original album, and later versions were extended. The most popular of these was the Deluxe Edition or 2001 Varèse Sarabande album.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: "Cleopatra" premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on June 12, 1963, with an estimated audience of 10,000 spectators congregated outside. Among those present at the premiere were Rex Harrison, Walter Wagner, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Darryl F. Zanuck, Jacob Javits, Richard Rodgers, Joan Fontaine, Louis Nizer and Beatrice Miller. Burton and Taylor were not in attendance; Taylor was in London and Burton was filming "Becket" (1964). Top ticket prices at the Rivoli were a record $5.50. Soon after the film's premiere, its running time was truncated from 244 to 221 minutes. Two weeks after opening in New York, the film's release was expanded into 37 cities. For its general release in the United States, the film's running time was 184 minutes.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: "Cleopatra" has been released on home video on several occasions. The film was released on videocassette by 20th Century-Fox Video in 1982. A three-disc DVD edition was released in 2001. The release included numerous supplemental features, including the two-hour documentary "Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood".


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Schawn Belston, senior vice president of library and technical services at Fox, led a two-year process that restored a four-hour, eight-minute version in 2013. The original 65-mm camera negative was located and used as a source. Fading and damage to the negative were corrected digitally but with care to preserve detail and authenticity. Belston's team also possessed the original magnetic print masters, from which they removed clicks and hisses and created a 5.1 surround sound track.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: On May 21, 2013, the restored film was shown at a special screening at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival to commemorate the film's 50th anniversary. It was later released as a 50th-anniversary version available on DVD and Blu-ray. Since Fox had long ago destroyed all of the trims and outs from negatives to save costs, traditional outtakes could not be included. The home-media packages did include commentary tracks and two short films: "The Cleopatra Papers" and a 1963 film about the elaborate sets, "The Fourth Star of Cleopatra".


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" called "Cleopatra" "one of the great epic films of our day," crediting Mankiewicz for "his fabrication of characters of colorfulness and depth, who stand forth as thinking, throbbing people against a background of splendid spectacle, that gives vitality to this picture and is the key to its success." Vincent Canby, reviewing for "Variety", wrote that "Cleopatra" is "not only a supercolossal eye-filler (the unprecedented budget shows in the physical opulence throughout), but it is also a remarkably literate cinematic recreation of an historic epoch." For the "Los Angeles Times", Philip K. Scheuer felt "Cleopatra" was "a surpassingly beautiful film and a drama that need not hide its literate, intelligent face because it happens to have been written, not by Shakespeare or Shaw, but by three fellows named Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also directed it, Ranald MacDougall and Sidney Buchman. These are, at any rate, the names on the screen credits, and they have done their job with integrity."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: "Time" magazine harshly wrote: "As drama and as cinema, "Cleopatra" is riddled with flaws. It lacks style both in image and in action. Never for an instant does it whirl along on wings of epic elan; generally it just bumps from scene to ponderous scene on the square wheels of exposition." James Powers of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote ""Cleopatra" is not a great movie. But it is primarily a vast, popular entertainment that sidesteps total greatness for broader appeal. This is not an adverse criticism, but a notation of achievement." Claudia Cassidy of the "Chicago Tribune" summarized "Cleopatra" as a "huge and disappointing film." Of the cast, she lauded "Rex Harrison's brilliantly quizzical Caesar, the best written role in Joseph Mankiewicz's erratic script, and haunted by Richard Burton's tragic Marc Antony, an actor's triumph over a writer's mediocrity. And with a prodigal gesture of futility, all of it is focused on Elizabeth Taylor, hopelessly out of her depth as a fishwife Cleopatra."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Penelope Houston, reviewing for "Sight & Sound", acknowledged that Mankiewicz tried "to make this a film about people and their emotions rather than a series of sideshows. But for this ambition to hold up, over the film's great footage, he needed a visual style which would be more than merely illustrative, dialogue really worth speaking, and actors altogether more persuasive. As the sets seem to grow bigger and bigger, so progressively the actors dwindle." Judith Crist, in her review for the "New York Herald Tribune", concurred: "So grand and grandiose are the sets that the characters are dwarfed, and so wide is his screen that this concentration on character results in a strangely static epic in which the overblown close-ups are interrupted at best by a pageant or dance, more often by unexciting bits and pieces of exits, entrances, marches or battles." Even Elizabeth Taylor found it wanting, saying, "They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: "The New York Times" estimated that 80% of reviews in the United States were favorable but only 20% of reviews in Europe were positive. American film critic Emanuel Levy wrote retrospectively: "Much maligned for various reasons, [...] "Cleopatra" may be the most expensive movie ever made, but certainly not the worst, just a verbose, muddled affair that is not even entertaining as a star vehicle for Taylor and Burton." Billy Mowbray of British television channel Film4 remarked that the film is "[a] giant of a movie that is sometimes lumbering, but ever watchable thanks to its uninhibited ambition, size and glamour." Rotten Tomatoes aggregated 41 reviews and determined 56% of them to be positive. The website's consensus reads: ""Cleopatra" is a lush, ostentatious, endlessly eye-popping epic that sags [and] collapses from a (and how could it not?) four-hour runtime."


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: Three weeks into its theatrical release, "Cleopatra" became the number-one box office film in the United States, grossing $725,000 in 17 key cities. It held the top position for the next twelve weeks before being dethroned by "The V.I.P.s", which also starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It recaptured the number-one spot three weeks later, and proved to be the highest-grossing film of 1963. By January 1964, the film had earned $15.7 million in distributor rentals from 55 theaters in the United States and Canada. It finished its box-office run with $26 million in rentals in the United States and Canada. The film was also a major hit in Italy, where it sold 10.9 million tickets. It sold a further 5.4 million tickets in France and Germany, and 32.9million tickets in the Soviet Union when it was released there in 1978.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: By March 1966, "Cleopatra" had earned worldwide rentals of $38.04 million, leaving it $3 million short of breaking even. Fox eventually recouped its investment that same year when it sold the television broadcast rights to ABC for $5 million, a then-record amount paid for a single film. The film ultimately earned $40.3 million in worldwide rentals from its theatrical run.


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: The film won four Academy Awards and was nominated for five more. It also earned Elizabeth Taylor a "Guinness World Record" for the most costume changes in a film (65). This record was eclipsed in 1968 by Julie Andrews with 125 costume changes in the film "Star!".


title: Cleopatra (1963 film)

text: 20th Century Fox mistakenly submitted Roddy McDowall to the Motion Picture Academy for consideration as Best Actor, rather than as Best Supporting Actor, for the Academy Awards. The Academy deemed his role ineligible for a leading actor category and told the studio it was too late to submit him in the correct category because the nomination ballots had already been sent to the printers. 20th Century Fox then published an open apology to McDowall in trade papers, stating, "We feel it is important that the industry realize that your electric performance as Octavian in "Cleopatra", which was unanimously singled out by the critics as one of the best supporting performances by an actor this year, is not eligible for a nomination in that category... due to a regrettable error on the part of 20th Century Fox."


title: Little Rock, Arkansas

text: Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 in 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau. As the county seat of Pulaski County, the city was incorporated on November 7, 1831, on the south bank of the Arkansas River close to the state's geographic center. The city derived its name from a rock formation along the river, named the "Little Rock" (French: "Le Petit Rocher") by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe in 1722. The capital of the Arkansas Territory was moved to Little Rock from Arkansas Post in 1821. The six-county Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is ranked 81st in terms of population in the United States with 748,031 residents according to the 2020 estimate by the United States Census Bureau.