title: Tripura Sundari

text: "Lalitha sahasranama" is said to have been composed by eight vak devis (vaag devathas) upon the command of Lalitha. These vaag devis are Vasini, Kameshwari, Modhinee, Vimala, Aruna, Jayinee, Sarveshwari, Koulini. The sahasranama says that "One can worship Lalitha only if she wishes us to do so". The text is a dialogue between Hayagriva, an (avatar) of Mahavishnu and the sage Agastya. The temple at Thirumeyachur, near Kumbakonam is said to be where Agastya was initiated into this sahasranama. Another alternative version is the Upanishad Bramham Mutt at kanchipuram is where this initiation happened.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: This sahasranama is held as a sacred text for the worship of the "Divine Mother", Lalita, and is used in the worship of Durga, Parvati, Kali, and other forms of Parvati. A principal text of Shakti worshipers, it names her various attributes, and these names are organized in the form of a hymn. This sahasranama is used in various modes for the worship of the Divine Mother.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: This stotra (hymn of praise) occurs in the Brahmanda Purana (history of the universe) in the chapter on a discussion between Hayagreeva and Agasthya. Hayagreeva is an incarnation of Vishnu with the head of a horse who is held to be the storehouse of knowledge. Agasthya is one of the sages of yore and one of the stars of the constellation Saptarshi (Ursa major). At the request of Agasthya, Hayagreeva is said to have taught him the thousand holiest names of Lalita. This has been conveyed to us by the sage Maharishi Vyasa. "Lalitha Sahasranama" is the only sahasranama composed by vag devatas under Lalitha's direction. All the other sahasranamas except Shiva Sahasranama are said to have been composed by Maharishi Vyasa ,Shiva Sahasranama being composed by Mahavishnu and also by Krishna.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The slokas are organized in such a way that Devi is described from head to feet (kesadhi padham). There are basically five works ("pancha krtyam"). They are creation ("srishti"), protection ("sthiti"), destruction ("samharam"), hiding ("thirudhanam") and blessing ("anugraham"). Devi herself has been described as "pancha krtya parayana" in the "sloka" and the five tasks are described as follows:


title: Tripura Sundari

text: This means Devi is the aspect of Brahma, while creating "sristhi", aspect of Vishnu while sustaining "sristhi", aspect of Rudra during dissolution "sanghara". These five entities (Brahmma, Vishnu, Rudra, Isvara and Sadasiva) are known as "pancha-brahma". Lalitha has designated the five functions to these brahmam. Sometimes, Devi will take away the life from these five brahmmam and make them inactive, performing all the five tasks herself. At that time, they will be called "pancha pretam" that is lifeless bodies. The first three slokas are: Srimata (great mother) – srshti; Sri Maharajni (great ruler) – sthithi; Srimat Simhasaneswari (one who sits on the lion throne) – samharam. The rest of the slokas cover thirodhanam and anugraham.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The next names – "chidhagnikunda sambhutha devakarya samudhyatha" tells us that devi arose from the fire of knowledge to help devas in their task (war against asuras – bhandasura). From the nama- Udhyath bhanu sahasraba till sinjanamani manjeera manditha sree padambuja, all her parts like her face, forehead, eyes, mouth, tongue, voice, hands and legs have been described.Thereafter, Devi's place (Chintamani gruham), her war against bandasura, kundalini shakti, and her properties have been described. A common image of the goddess depicts a parrot and a sugarcane with her. Sugarcane represents the sweetness of her mind.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The "Soundarya Lahari" of Adi Shankaracharya deals exhaustively about the nature of the Goddess and her worship.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The "Lalitopakhyana" (the fourth book of the Brahmanda Purana) tells of the epic battle between her forces and the forces of the arch-demon Bhandasura.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The "Tripura Sundari Ashtakam" by Adi Shankaracharya describes her as a Mother wearing a blue and red-spotted dress and holding a pot of honey.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The battle between Goddess Lalita Tripura Sundari and Bhandasura is described in the Lalitopakhyana of Brahmanda Purana and Jnana Khanda of Tripura Rahasya. Lord Shiva married Sati, the daughter of the king Daksha. Sati's father did not invite Shiva to a great sacrifice as Daksha and Shiva were dissatisfied with each other. Sati, however, went to attend the ceremony despite Shiva's opposition. Daksha insulted Lord Shiva in front of Sati and she jumped into the fire to end his humiliation and committed suicide. As a result, Shiva beheaded Daksha, but when Shiva's anger subsided, he revived him with a goat's head. Adi Parasakti was also reborn as Parvati as a result of a favor bestowed on King Himavan, and Tarakasura, an enemy of the gods, was privileged to make his death possible only for the son of Shiva and Shakti. Due to this, the gods sought the help of Kama, the Hindu deity of love to unite Shiva and Parvati. Manmata aimed his flower arrows at Shiva and Parvati to make them feel loved. Angered by this, Shiva turned Kama into ashes with his third eye. Sometime later, at the request of his son Ganesha, Shiva gave birth to an asura named Bhandasura from the ashes of Kama. When the gods could not bear the persecution of Bhandasura that befell them, they sought the help of the Nirguna Brahman on the instructions of the Trinity. They prepared a great yajna for the sake of welfare of the creation and sacrificed the whole universe as libation. Then from fire, Brahman emerged in the form of Maha Tripura Sundari Devi. She split up her form as Kameshwara and Kameshwari and recreated the universe. Later, Goddess Tripura Sundari formed her army, killed Bhandasura and returned to Manidvipa.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: In the Shri Vidya school of Hindu tantra, the Sri Yantra ("sacred instrument"), also Sri Chakra is a diagram formed by nine interlocking triangles that surround and radiate out from the central (bindu) point.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: It represents the goddess in her form of Shri Lalita Or Tripura Sundari, "the beauty of the three worlds (earth, atmosphere and sky(heaven)"(Bhoo, Bhuva and Swa).


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The worship of the Sri Chakra is central to the Shri Vidya system of Hindu worship. Four isosceles triangles with the apices upwards, representing Shiva or the Masculine. Five isosceles triangles with the apices downward, symbolizing female embodiment Shakti. Thus, the Sri Yantra also represents the union of Masculine and Feminine Divine. Because it is composed of nine triangles, it is known as the "Navayoni Chakra".


title: Tripura Sundari

text: "These nine triangles are of various sizes and intersect with one another. In the middle is the power point (bindu), visualizing the highest, the invisible, elusive centre from which the entire figure and the cosmos expand. The triangles are enclosed by two rows of (8 and 16) petals, representing the lotus of creation and reproductive vital force. The broken lines of the outer frame denote the figure to be a sanctuary with four openings to the regions of the universe".


title: Tripura Sundari

text: In a recent issue of Brahmavidya, the journal of the Adyar Library, Subhash Kak argues that the description of Sri Yantra is identical to the yantra described in the Śvetāśvatara Upanisad.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Together the nine triangles are interlaced in such a way as to form 43 smaller triangles in a web symbolic of the entire cosmos or a womb symbolic of creation. Together they express Advaita or non-duality. This is surrounded by a lotus of eight petals, a lotus of sixteen petals, and an earth square resembling a temple with four doors. The various deities residing in the nine layers of the Sri Yantra are described in the Devi Khadgamala Mantra.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The Shri Chakra is also known as the "nava chakra" because it can also be seen as having nine levels. "Nine" comes from" Nava" of Sanskrit. Each level corresponds to a mudra, a yogini, and a specific form of the Deity Tripura Sundari along with her mantra. These levels starting from the outside or bottom layer are:


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The Sri Chakra (called the Shri Yantra) is the symbol of Hindu tantra, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism. The Sri Yantra is the object of devotion in Sri Vidya.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The two-dimensional Sri Chakra, when it is projected into three dimensions is called a Maha Meru (Mount Meru).


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Lalita Jayanthi is celebrated on Magha Purnima, the full moon day of the month of Magha (January-February). It is a very important day in some parts of North India when special offerings and ceremonies are held. It is believed that devotees on this day will be blessed if they worship Goddess Lalita with full devotion and dedication.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Lalita Panchami is a very auspicious tithi, celebrated on the fifth day of the Sharad Navaratri festival. Legend has it that on this auspicious day Goddess Lalita emerged from fire to defeat Bhandasura, a demon created from the ashes of Kamadeva. This day is very important in Gujarat and Maharashtra. On this day, some devotees also hold a fast called Lalita Panchami vrata. It is believed to bring wealth, happiness and wisdom. Chanting of Vedic mantras dedicated to Goddess Lalita on this day is very useful. It is a popular belief that doing so will immediately solve all the personal as well as business related problems in life.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The most important temple of Tripura Sundari is the Kanchi Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. Kanchipuram is one of the moksha puris. Sage Durvasa did intense penance in Kanchipuram and the pleased Lalita Tripura Sundari appeared and agrees to reside in Kanchi for the benefit of her devotees. Adi Sankaracharya installed the Sri Chakra in this temple. It is also the place of Kanchi Kamakoti mandali.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Her temple, the Tripura Sundari temple is located on top of the hills near Radhakishorepur village, which is a very important temple, 1 of the 51 shaktipeethas, a little distance away from Udaipur town railway station, Udaipur town, Tripura, Northeast India. Another temple dedicated to goddess maha Tripura sundari, or goddess kamakhya, 1 one of the 4 main adi shaktipeethas, is in Nilachal hill, Guwahati, Assam near kamakhya junction railway station, in Assam, Northeast India. In West Bengal, there is a temple of Ma Tripura Sundari Devi located in Boral, near Garia. In Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur, there is Tripura Sundari temple about 12 km from city on Bhedaghat road in village Tewar. Another temple dedicated to goddess tripura sundari is in Banaswara, Rajasthan. In Tirusulam, a neighbourhood of Chennai, is the Shri Tirusoolanathar Tripurasundari temple, an ancient temple built by Kulothunga Chola I in the 11th century. The Trisula Nathar Temple is dedicated to Sri Shiva as Trisula Nathar and Divine Mother Shakti as Tripura Sundari Amman.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: A temple of Tripura Sundari temple is in Chhatrabhog (Saturbhog). It is situated in south 24 Pgs under Diamond Harbour Subdivision West Bengal. The nearest railway station is Mathurapur Road in Sealdah South section. From the source of Rajratnakar descendants of Drajhu king, Kalinda made a wooden Tripura Sundari icon at this place.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Many temples of Goddess Raja Rajeshwari are also found in Uttarakhand, where she is considered as the Kul-devi. A temple of Tripura Sundari is located at tripuradevi village in Berinag and Ancient 850 years old Tripura Sundri amma (Thibbadevi) temple in Muguru is located in the Tirumakudal Narsipur taluk of Mysore district in Karnataka. A temple of Sri Jwalamukhi Tripura Sundari is located at S.Uttanahalli, Near Vidyaranyapura-Nanjangud Road, Mysore district in Karnataka.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Goddess RajaRajeshwari Temple is in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Mysuru Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, which is a prime location in Bengaluru. Many people throng to this place because of presence of the Goddess.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Tirumeeyachur Mehanadhar Temple is a temple located at Thirumeeyachur in Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu, India. The presiding deity is Shiva. He is called as Meganathaswami. His consort is known as Lalithambika.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Tripura sundari in her form Raja Rajeshwari is worshiped in Kandamangalam Sree Rajarajeshwari temple located in the village Kadakkarapalli, Cherthala taluk, Alappuzha district, Kerala. The temple is named as Kanadamangalam by Sree Narayana Guru (social reformer and spiritual leader) which comprises two words "Kandal" which means if you see and "mangalam" which means good fortune.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, also called the Sri Kanchi Matham or the Sri Kanchi Monastery, is a Hindu institution, located in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. It is located near a temple dedicated to Goddess Sri Kamakshi, along with a shrine for the Advaita Vedanta teacher Adi Shankara. The matha-tradition attributes its founding to Adi Shankara. Shankara Vijayendra Saraswati (born 13 March 1969) is the 70th Jagadguru of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Kanchipuram.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: V-J Day in Times Square is a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt that portrays a U.S. Navy sailor embracing and kissing a total stranger—a dental assistant—on Victory over Japan Day ("V-J Day") in New York City's Times Square on August 14, 1945. The photograph was published a week later in "Life" magazine, among many photographs of celebrations around the United States that were presented in a 12-page section entitled "Victory Celebrations". A two-page spread faces a montage of three similar photographs of celebrators in Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Miami, opposite the Eisenstaedt photograph that was given a full-page display on the right hand side.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Eisenstaedt was photographing a spontaneous event that occurred in Times Square during keen public anticipation of the announcement of the end of the war with Japan (that would be made by U.S. President Harry S. Truman at seven o'clock). Eisenstaedt said that he did not have an opportunity to get the names and details, because he was photographing rapidly changing events during the celebrations. The photograph does not clearly show the face of either person involved, and numerous people have claimed to be the subjects. The photograph was shot just south of 45th Street looking north from a location where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge. Donald W. Olson and his investigative team estimate that the photograph was taken at 5:51 p.m. ET. In their history pages, "Life" has noted that the Eisenstaedt photograph was taken with a Leica IIIa camera.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In two books he wrote decades apart, Alfred Eisenstaedt gave two slightly different accounts of taking the photograph and of its nature.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: From "Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt":In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Only one is right, on account of the balance. In the others the emphasis is wrong — the sailor on the left side is either too small or too tall. People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: His photograph became a cultural icon overnight and, by establishing his copyright, Eisenstaedt carefully controlled the rights to it, only allowing a limited number of reproductions that determined how it could be used.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: U.S. Navy photojournalist Victor Jorgensen captured another view of the same scene that was published in "The New York Times" the following day. Jorgensen entitled his photograph "Kissing the War Goodbye". It shows less of Times Square in the background, lacking the characteristic view of the complex intersection so that the location needs to be identified using other details. The photograph is dark and shows few details of the main subjects, not showing the lower legs and feet of the subjects, but showing clearly the powerful headlock.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Unlike the Eisenstaedt photograph, which is protected by copyright, this Navy photograph is in the public domain because it was produced by a federal government employee on official duty. While the angle of the Jorgensen photograph may be less interesting artistically than that of the Eisenstaedt photograph, it clearly shows the exact location of the iconic kiss, as occurring in the front of the Chemical Bank and Trust building, with the Walgreens pharmacy sign on the building façade visible in the background.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: The astonished woman on the left in Jorgensen's photograph has been positively identified as Kay Hughes Dorius of Utah.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: "Life" initially asked for the subjects of the photograph to reveal themselves, without receiving any replies. Decades later, in 1980, Eisenstaedt received a request for a copy of the photograph from a woman claiming to be the woman in it. This prompted the magazine to publish a request for the man to identify himself. They received several claims from men and unexpectedly, additional claims from women.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi, authors of "The Kissing Sailor", a 2012 book about the identity of the subjects of the photograph that had become so famous, used interviews of claimants, expert photograph analysis, and identification of people in the background, as well as, consultations with forensic anthropologists and facial recognition specialists. They concluded that the woman was Greta Zimmer Friedman and that she was wearing her dental hygienist uniform in the photograph.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Friedman died at age 92 on September 8, 2016, in Richmond, Virginia, of age-related health complications.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Edith Shain wrote to Eisenstaedt in 1980 claiming to be the woman in the photograph. Shain's letter motivated the magazine to publish a request for the other subject to come forward. A number of replies were received, both from men and women claiming to be one of the subjects. Nonetheless, Shain cultivated the notoriety associated with her claim and accepted invitations to attend events related to the photograph and to meet with men claiming to be the sailor.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Verria and Galdorisi's 2012 book about the identity of the subjects of the photograph stated that Shain could not have been the woman because her height of just was insufficient in comparison with the height of any of the men claiming to be the sailor.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Numerous men have claimed to be the sailor, including Donald Bonsack, John Edmonson, Wallace C. Fowler, Clarence "Bud" Harding, Walker Irving, James Kearney, Marvin Kingsburg, Arthur Leask, George Mendonsa (Mendonça), Jack Russell, and Bill Swicegood.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: George Mendonsa (or alternatively Mendonça, in the Portuguese spelling, with the C-cedilla) of Newport, Rhode Island, on leave from the , was watching a movie with his future wife, Rita Petry, at Radio City Music Hall when the doors opened and people started screaming the war was over. George and Rita joined the celebration in the street, but when they could not get into the packed bars decided to walk down the street. It was then that George saw a woman in a white dress walk by and took her into his arms and kissed her, "I had quite a few drinks that day and I considered her one of the troops—she was a nurse." In one of the four photographs that Eisenstaedt took, Mendonsa claims that Rita is visible in the background behind the kissing couple.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In 1987, George Mendonsa filed a lawsuit against Time Inc. in Rhode Island state court, alleging that he was the sailor in the photograph and that both "Time" and "Life" had violated his right of publicity by using the photograph without his permission. Citing legal costs, Mendonsa dropped his lawsuit in 1988.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Mendonsa was identified by a team of volunteers from the Naval War College in August 2005 as "the kisser". His claim was based on matching his scars and tattoos to scars and tattoos in the photograph. They made their determination after much study including photographic analysis by the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who were able to match scars and tattoo spotted by photograph experts, and the testimony of Richard M. Benson, a photograph analysis expert, professor of photographic studies, plus the former dean of the School of Arts at Yale University. Benson stated that "it is therefore my opinion, based upon a reasonable degree of certainty, that George Mendonsa is the sailor in Mr. Eisenstaedt's famous photograph."


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: The identity of the sailor as George Mendonsa has been challenged by physicists Donald W. Olson and Russell Doescher of Texas State University and Steve Kawaler of Iowa State University based on astronomical conditions recorded by the photographs of the incident. According to Mendonsa's account of the events of the day, the kiss would have occurred at approximately 2 p.m. However, Olson and Doescher argue that the positions of shadows in the photographs suggest that it was taken after 5 p.m. They further point to a clock seen in the photograph, its minute hand near the 10 and its hour hand pointing virtually vertically downward, indicating a time of approximately 5:50, and to Victor Jorgensen's account of the circumstances of his own photograph. They concluded that Mendonsa's version of events is untenable. Mendonsa died on February 17, 2019, aged 95, two days shy of his 96th birthday.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Mendonsa and Friedman (both individually and together), as well as Shain, Muscarello, and McDuffie, were widely interviewed in the succeeding years by "Life", PBS, NBC, CBS, and others.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: To the exclusion of any other woman claiming to be the subject, Mendonsa identified Friedman as the "nurse" he kissed in the photographs (or, to be precise, the woman in the white uniform, as Friedman was a dental assistant—a white uniform was customary in a dentist's office to be worn by female assistants and hygienists in that era).


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: As part of a World War II memorial at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, a new painting entitled "Victory Kiss" by Jim Laurier of New Hampshire


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: was unveiled on August 24, 2013, to honor the event captured in the photograph. George Mendonsa was in attendance for the unveiling.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Carl Muscarello was a retired police officer with the New York City Police Department, who relocated to living in Plantation, Florida. In 1995, he claimed to be the kissing sailor. He claimed that he was in Times Square on August 14, 1945, and that he kissed numerous women. A distinctive birthmark on his hand enabled his mother to identify him as the subject. Edith Shain initially said she believed Muscarello's claim to be the sailor and they even dated after their brief reunion. But in 2005, Shain was much less certain, telling the "New York Times," "I can't say he isn't. I just can't say he is. There is no way to tell." Muscarello has described his condition on August 14, 1945 as being quite drunk, and having no clear memory of his actions in the square. He stated that his mother claimed he was the man after seeing the photograph, and he came to believe it.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Glenn McDuffie laid claim in 2007 and was supported by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson. Gibson's forensic analysis compared the Eisenstaedt photographs with current-day photographs of McDuffie, analyzing key facial features identical on both sets. She measured his ears, facial bones, hairline, wrist, knuckles, and hand, and she compared those to enlargements of Eisenstaedt's photograph.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In the August 14, 2007, issue of "AM New York" McDuffie said he passed five polygraph tests confirming his claim to be the man. McDuffie, a native of Kannapolis, North Carolina, who had lied about his age so he could enlist at the age of 15, went on after the war to play semi-pro baseball and to work for the United States Postal Service. He stated that on that day he was using the subway to go to Brooklyn to visit his girlfriend, Ardith Bloomfield. He came out of the subway at Times Square, where people were celebrating in the streets. Excited that his brother, who was being held by the Japanese as a prisoner of war, would be released, McDuffie began hollering and jumping up and down. A nurse saw him, and opened her arms to him. In apparent conflict with Eisenstaedt's recollections of the event, McDuffie said he ran over to her and kissed her for a long time so that Eisenstaedt could take the photograph:


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Gibson had also analyzed photographs of other men who have claimed to be the sailor, including Muscarello and Mendonsa (Mendonça), reporting that neither man's facial bones or other features match those of the sailor in the photograph. On August 3, 2008, Glenn McDuffie was recognized for his 81st birthday as the "Kissing Sailor" during the seventh-inning stretch of the Houston Astros and New York Mets game at Minute Maid Park. McDuffie died on March 14, 2014.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Publishing information about those claiming to be the subjects of the Eisensteadt photograph, an October 1980 issue of "Life" did not include Muscarello or Glenn McDuffie, because their claims were made much later.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: The original interpretations of the photograph centered on the jubilation of the 1945 V-J Day celebrations. In 1997, art critic Michael Kimmelman summarized the composition of the Eisenstaedt photograph as reflective of that mood: the sailor representing returning troops, the nurse representing those who would welcome them home, and Times Square standing for home.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In the 2010s, bloggers began calling the photograph a documentation of a type of normalized sexual assault. The people pictured in the photograph did not previously know one another. Drunk at the time of the photograph, the sailor is shown kissing an unwilling partner (according to historic preservationist Kafi Benz, among the four frames taken by Eisenstaedt, available through Getty Images, the woman is shown defensively socking the man in the face with the closed fist of her one, free arm). The widely agreed-upon identity of the woman who is a subject in the photograph, dental assistant Greta Zimmer Friedman, had also explicitly stated that the kiss she was subjected to, was not a consensual act, that he just "grabbed" her. Combined with bemused expressions on some of the bystanders and the sailor's firm grasp of the nurse, the situation has been described as emblematic of a time when women were "subordinated to men", or, that of a rape culture.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: At a June 2020 public meeting in Sarasota, Florida about the placement of a copy of "Unconditional Surrender", a sculpture based on the historic photographs (cf. above), Kafi Benz of the local organization Friends of Seagate, noting that it was conveying a message about subjugation, referred to the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials related to subjugation (that was ongoing following the murder of George Floyd), identified that as one of several reasons the public art committee of Sarasota should recommend removal of the sculpture from public land in the city.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: At the close of 2021, the question of whether to place a sign addressing the controversy surrounding the statue was presented to the city commission at a public meeting in Sarasota on December 6. The proposed sign would be donated by Friends of Seagate and would be designed and drafted through a joint effort by the organization, city staff overseeing public art, and the public arts committee, as well as, having to meet the approval of the city commission. The sign would accompany an existing interpretive sign that had been designed and placed by the donor who gave the statue to the city. After taking public comment and extensive discussion among the commissioners, a closely divided vote resulted in dismissal of the proposal.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Shortly thereafter, Kelly Franklin, a city resident who has advocated removal of the statue for some time, created "Project Delta Dawn". This website provides a comprehensive history of the original photograph, the copyright controversy, documentation of the subjects, creation of the statue, public sentiments about the statue, and the proposal for an interpretive sign to address contemporary cultural attitudes regarding the non-consensual nature now known about the event captured in the famous photograph.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In 2005, John Seward Johnson II displayed a bronze life-size sculpture, "Unconditional Surrender", at an August 14, 2005, 60th-anniversary reenactment at Times Square, of the kiss. His statue was featured in a ceremony that included Carl Muscarello and Edith Shain as participants, holding a copy of the famous photograph.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: Johnson also sculpted a version in plastic and aluminum, which had been displayed in several cities, including San Diego and Sarasota. The version was moved to New York City again on August 12, 2015, for a temporary display. Controversy over it being kitsch and having been revealed to depict subjugation during an assault continued unabated as copies of the statue were slated for more permanent displays in some of the cities visited.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In "The Simpsons" episode "Bart the General" (first airdate February 4, 1990), victory celebrations following a "war" between two groups of children include a boy in a sailor outfit kissing Lisa Simpson as a photograph is taken. She then slaps the boy, exclaiming, "Knock it off!"


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In the film "" (2009), two characters jump into a life-size enlargement of the photograph, finding themselves in a monochrome Times Square. One of them cuts in on the sailor for a kiss with the nurse. This kiss is performed without the headlock, making it consensual.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: During the opening credits of the film "Watchmen" (2009), the Times Square V-J celebration is shown with a costumed heroine, Silhouette, kissing a female nurse as a photographer captures the moment.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In the film "Letters to Juliet" (2010), the photograph is featured in a scene where a magazine editor questions a writer about her fact-checking regarding the image.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In 2012, while performing a show for the Marines during the New York City Fleet Week, singer Katy Perry kissed a man on stage, replicating the pose.


title: V-J Day in Times Square

text: In the video game "" (2014), an alternative history version of the V-J Day kiss (V-A Day in the timeline) appears as a Nazi soldier forcing himself on the nurse, in Paris instead of New York.


title: Lootera

text: Lootera (; ) is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language period romantic drama film directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and partially based on author O. Henry's 1907 short story "The Last Leaf". It is the second film directed by Motwane after the critically acclaimed "Udaan" (2010). Set in the era of the 1950s, against the backdrop of the Zamindari Abolition Act by the newly independent India, it tells the story of a young conman posing as an archaeologist and the daughter of a Bengali zamindar. The film stars Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh in lead roles. Produced by Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl, the film features music and background score by Amit Trivedi with lyrics penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya and cinematography by Mahendra J. Shetty.


title: Lootera

text: "Lootera" received high critical acclaim upon release, with particular praise directed towards Singh and Sinha's performance, thus proving to be a breakthrough for latter but was a commercial failure.


title: Lootera

text: At the 59th Filmfare Awards, "Lootera" received 4 nominations, including Best Actress (Sinha), and won Best Female Playback Singer (Monali Thakur for "Sawaar Loon").


title: Lootera

text: In the picturesque town of Manikpur, West Bengal in 1953, a landlord Soumitra Roy Chaudhary (Barun Chanda) goes to watch a jatra with his daughter, Pakhi Roy Chaudhary (Sonakshi Sinha), an aspiring writer. After Pakhi has an asthma attack from the ensuing excitement, she is rushed to her room and given medication. As she recuperates, her father comforts her and narrates the story of the invincible king of the Bhil tribe whose soul resided inside a parrot, telling her that she is the parrot within whom his life resides.


title: Lootera

text: One day, after threatening the family driver into letting her drive the family car, Pakhi accidentally bumps into a motorcycle on the road, mildly injuring the handsome young man on the motorcycle. A few days later, the same man shows up at the door, introducing himself to the landlord as Varun Shrivastav (Ranveer Singh), an archaeologist who wants to study the land surrounding the temple that the landlord owns. Over the next few weeks, Varun charms the landlord and his daughter with his knowledge and persona and is invited, along with his assistant and friend Devdas "Dev" Mukherjee (Vikrant Massey), to live at their expansive mansion.


title: Lootera

text: Soon, love brews between Varun and Pakhi as they bond over art and literature. Pakhi confesses her aspirations of becoming an author, while Varun reveals his desire to paint a masterpiece. Their love soon culminates into a passionate affair. Meanwhile, an act passed by the Indian government debars the power of landlords, causing tension in the Ray Chaudhary household. The ancient artefacts the family owns must be sold, and Varun helps arrange the purchases.


title: Lootera

text: As Varun's stay comes to an end, he asks Ray Chaudhury for his daughter Pakhi’s hand in marriage, and preparations of their wedding begin. Before the wedding, Varun's uncle A.K. Bajpai (Arif Zakaria), who raised him, arrives and discourages Varun from marriage, stating that Varun will only give Pakhi grief because of the danger of what he actually does for a living—people like them are not meant to fall in love and have normal lives. Varun is conflicted but agrees and makes his choice: he and Dev escape that very night, along with all the valuables they stole from the landlord. On the wedding day, Varun is nowhere to be found, and it is discovered that the idols from the temple have been stolen and the currency notes from the purchase that Varun arranged of the family's artifacts are all counterfeit.


title: Lootera

text: In the second half of the film, the story shifts to one year after the incident at the wedding. A sick Pakhi now lives all alone in Dalhousie. with her maid Shyama (Divya Dutta), as her only company. Her father has died, unable to bear the shock of betrayal by Varun, and she still hasn't recovered from her heartbreak. When police Inspector K. N. Singh (Adil Hussain) asks her to help him catch Varun, she refuses to do so, wanting only to forget him. Soon after, Varun and Dev turn up at Dalhousie for their next heist and stay at a lodge on Pakhi's property. Things turn ugly when the police get wind of their whereabouts and a chase ensues. Varun inadvertently kills Dev and a police constable and is wounded in the encounter. He removes the bullet and then goes to seek refuge in Pakhi's house.


title: Lootera

text: Pakhi and her maid try to turn him over to the police, but he threatens them. Pakhi gives in, but she is nevertheless enraged and repels Varun's comforting advances and explanation. In a letter, she explains to him that she is dying of tuberculosis and will die the day the last leaf falls from the wilting tree outside the window. Her maid leaves the house promising Varun that he wouldn't be reported to the police.


title: Lootera

text: Varun plans his escape but when his accomplice comes, he refuses to go, and instead stays behind to take care of the sick Pakhi. He tells her his real name, Atmanand Tripathi, and confesses that he has regretted letting her go since the day he fled. Soon, Pakhi warms up to him and her faith remains intact when each day she finds one last leaf remaining on the tree.


title: Lootera

text: In the end, seeing Pakhi's condition improving, Varun decides it's time for him to leave, and he takes off, only to come face to face with a police blockade on the road, who proceed to shoot and kill him. Pakhi wakes up to find Varun gone, but the tree still has a leaf on it. She becomes suspicious and discovers that the leaf has been affixed to the tree by Varun. Every night, he would tie it on a branch of the tree so that she wouldn't give up hope. It was his masterpiece. Pakhi realizes the truth after she looks at the leaf closely and sees that it's been painted upon, and she smiles with tears in her eyes.


title: Lootera

text: Vikramaditya Motwane wrote the script of "Lootera" in 2005. Bhavani Iyer had co-written the script with Motwane. Ranveer Singh's character was created by the director whereas Sonakshi plays the role of female character from the book. Actor Ranveer Singh claimed that he was not initially convinced with his character in "Lootera" and had declined to star in the movie. With script readings he grew confident that he could play the role of a con man in the movie, and rehearsed extensively. In an interview with "The Hindu", Sonakshi Sinha stated, "I play a Bengali girl. It's an authentic Bengali look of the fifties that I am sporting and they (the director and designer Subarna) have taken a lot of trouble to go through the kind of clothes, jewellery, hair and make-up done in that era. We have tried to replicate it. Vikramaditya has kept the make-up simple with only the kajal, kumkum, and some laali on the lips which is what the women used to do then. It was the most difficult shooting experience for me so far. In terms of my character, my look, my performance and the locations, everything had to be from an era I knew nothing about." The director insisted Ranveer's look be an amalgamation of James Dean and Dev Anand.


title: Lootera

text: In November 2011, the filmmakers confirmed Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh for the lead roles. By December 2011, both the actors attended workshops for the look of the character, body language, speech as the film was set in Bengal in the era of the 1950s. Subarna Ray Chaudhari undertook extensive research to design the costumes for the characters to fit the required look. A romantic song was shot in December 2011. The first schedule was completed in Mumbai by end of December 2011. In January 2012, the set of the film erected in Dalhousie, where the actors were to shoot over for few days was destroyed due to bad weather that caused heavy losses amounting to 5 million. The weather forced the crew to trek through knee-high snow. However, certain scenes were canned at Kalatop, close to Dalhousie. The schedule was postponed to March 2012. The next schedule began in Kolkata from 23 January 2012 and continued in rural parts of West Bengal. Scenes involving Ranveer, Sonakshi and Barun Chanda were shot at the 11th century Jain temple in Deulghata and Belkuri. The area being Maoist affected, with great risk the entire cast and crew shot scenes under heavy police control. In March 2012, the team made its second attempt to shoot in Dalhousie, but actor Ranveer Singh injured his back and hence the schedule was postponed to May 2012. During May 2012, the team made its third attempt to shoot at Dalhousie wherein scenes that were left out to be filmed in the snow were shot by creating a set under artificial snowy conditions in summer season. Certain scenes featuring Shirin Guha and Arif Zakaria separately were wrapped up by March 2012. Along with potential 50 crew members the leading duo shot at The Itachuna Rajbari, Hooghly District. Old house scenes were later filmed in Purulia. The final schedule of the film took place in Mumbai, and was wrapped up in July 2012. The filming was complete by the end of August 2012 and the release date was scheduled to 29 March 2013. The first trailer released in March 2013 later revealed that the film would release on 5 July 2013.


title: Lootera

text: The music and background score for the film is composed by Amit Trivedi, with all song lyrics penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The music of the film is set in the styles of old Bollywood era. The composer opted to keep 2 "antara" followed by a "mukhra" in the songs, matching to the 1950s styles of composition. The composer recorded the Chennai String Orchestra for the score. The fourth song of the album "Monta Re" has its musical influence from the Baul musical tradition of Bengal. The complete film soundtrack album was released online on 29 May 2013.


title: Lootera

text: The main background score theme for the film bears similarity to Rachel Portman's score piece "One Day (suite)" from the 2011 film "One Day". It was also used in the trailer of the film. There were several reports of plagiarism. There is a song called "Shikayatein". The notes in the teaser (trailer) are a small piece from that song. This theme has one note more than the song Amit (Amit Trivedi) has created, which gives it the similarity. Music critic for "Mumbai Mirror" stated, "Amit has never in his life plagiarized, copied or stolen music from anyone and he's never going to start doing that. Call it a case of creative coincidence or creative convenience. But the similarity in the bunch of evocative notes that uplift an evocative, melodic piece titled One Day Main Titles from the original soundtrack of One Day, and the trailer of "Lootera" is unmistakable." She added, ""Lootera"'s background piece, as heard on the trailer, lets soft piano keys play out the tune followed by violins building up the tempo. Portman's piece is so dense with emotion that Amit Trivedi's fans should be happy that he came up with something as similar in the Lootera track."


title: Lootera

text: The audio was launched at PVR Cinemas, Juhu in Mumbai on 7 June 2013. The music composer claimed, "The music of this film is a tribute to R. D. Burman in terms of melody and orchestration." He performed the song "Zinda" and songs "Sawaar Loon", "Manmarziyan", "Monta Re" were performed by singer Shilpa Rao and lyricist-singers Amitabh Bhattacharya and Swanand Kirkire, live at the event.


title: Lootera

text: The first look and the trailer of the film was released on 15 March 2013. To match with the old world theme of the film, the film launch was held at the Liberty Cinema in Mumbai, which was constructed in 1947. The trailer was well-received and appreciated by critics, especially the featured background score. The second theatrical trailer was released on 10 June 2013. Unlike other films, the lead actress allotted forty days for the pre-marketing of the film.


title: Lootera

text: The film was screened at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai two days prior to its release date. The release in India was on estimated 1,600 screens, emphasizing more multiplex releases rather than single screens.


title: Lootera

text: Critic Taran Adarsh of "Bollywood Hungama" gave the film 4 on a scale of 5 and wrote, "On the whole, "Lootera" is an intrinsically earnest and profoundly heartwarming story that stays in your heart. An absolute must for those who love romantic films or are romantic at heart. This one's a cinematic gem!". Raja Sen of "Rediff" rated 5/5 stars and noted, ""Lootera" is a gorgeous, gorgeous film, one that uses its period setting affectionately, with loving detail, and not exploitatively, as our cinema is wont to do." Meena Iyer of "The Times of India" assigned the film 4 out of 5 and noted, ""Lootera" is a love saga of yore." She added, "You may find this film boring if state-of-the-art, slow romance is not your idea of a movie outing." "Deccan Herald" gave four stars and stated, ""Lootera" is a flawed gem filled with moments of glorious emotions. The storytelling shows the hands of a masterly visionary who tends to dither in moments of deep drama. But then there is Sonakshi Sinha, who makes you forget all the blemishes in this unforgettable tragedy." Manohar Basu of "Koimoi" gave it 4/5 stars, commenting that ""Lootera" is one film that will overwhelm you. Vikramaditya Motwane has given a seraphic piece that glorifies cinema itself. The narrative is framed on a devastative tapestry and the film's climax knots up calamitously that will keep one absorbed." Saibal Chatterjee of "NDTV" gave it 4/5 and wrote, "An epic canvas, a quiet love story, a cops-and-robbers drama and an impressively sophisticated storytelling style: "Lootera" has all this and much more. In short, "Lootera" is a Bollywood miracle – a rare Mumbai film that is mounted on a lavish scale and yet dares not to play by the established norms of the marketplace." Critic Mayank Shekhar wrote, "God is in the detail, so is a good film–this is director Vikramaditya Motwane's second." Deepanjana Pal for "Firstpost" noted, ""Lootera" fumbles as a love story and without this pivot, Pakhi and Varun's story wobbles awkwardly. For instance, you have to wonder how loving a relationship is when a woman learns the man she loves has been shot, but doesn't ask him anything about his injury."


title: Lootera

text: "Lootera" had a bumper opening at multiplexes and collected around on its opening day. The film amassed a total of almost over its opening weekend. The film's collections were excellent on weekdays and it collected around in its opening week. Prior to its Japanese release, its final total finished around nett.


title: Throat lozenge

text: A throat lozenge (also known as a cough drop, sore throat sweet, troche, cachou, pastille or cough sweet) is a small, typically medicated tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to temporarily stop coughs, lubricate, and soothe irritated tissues of the throat (usually due to a sore throat or strep throat), possibly from the common cold or influenza. Cough tablets have taken the name lozenge, based on their original shape, a diamond.


title: Throat lozenge

text: Lozenges may contain benzocaine, an anaesthetic, or eucalyptus oil. Non-menthol throat lozenges generally use either zinc gluconate glycine or pectin as an oral demulcent. Several brands of throat lozenges contain dextromethorphan.


title: Throat lozenge

text: Other varieties such as Halls contain menthol, peppermint oil and/or spearmint as their active ingredient(s). Honey lozenges are also available.


title: Throat lozenge

text: The purpose of the throat lozenge is to calm the irritation that may be felt in the throat while swallowing, breathing, or even drinking certain fluids. However, one study found that excessive use of menthol cough drops can prolong coughs rather than relieve them.


title: Throat lozenge

text: Candies to soothe the throat date back to 1000 BC in Egypt's Twentieth Dynasty, when they were made from honey flavored with citrus, herbs, and spices. In the 19th century, physicians discovered morphine and heroin, which suppress coughing at its source—the brain. Popular formulations of that era included Smith Brothers Cough Drops, first advertised in 1852, and Luden's, created in 1879. Concern over the risk of opioid dependence led to the development of alternative medications.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Poonam Dhillon (born 18 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. A former Femina Miss India (1977), she is best known for her 1979 film "Noorie." Some of her well-known films include "Red Rose" (1980), "Dard" (1981), "Romance" (1983), "Sohni Mahiwal" (1984), " Teri Meherbaniyan" (1985) "Samundar" (1986), "Saveraywali Gaadi" (1986), "Karma" (1986), "Naam" (1986) and "Maalamaal" (1988).


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Dhillon participated in "Bigg Boss" in 2009. She played the lead role of Sharda Modi in the Sony TV series "Ekk Nayi Pehchaan" in 2013. She has done theatre, starting with the award-winning "The Perfect Husband" and many other plays, the latest being "The Perfect Wife" with several shows in United States and Dubai.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Director Yash Chopra noticed her and offered her a role in the film "Trishul" (1978) where her song "Gapoochi Gapoochi Gum Gum" with Sachin Pilgaonkar became popular. Chopra then gave her the title role in "Noorie" (1979) opposite Farooq Shaikh, which he produced. The low budget film Noorie shot in Bhaderwah, Kashmir, became a superhit and was a phenomenal success at the box office, partly also for Khayyam's music. For this film, Poonam was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Subsequently, she went on to act in around 90 films in Hindi, including "Sohni Mahiwal", "Red Rose", "Teri Kasam", "Dard", "Nishana", "Yeh Vaada Raha", "Samunder", "Romance", "Kasam", and "Sitamgar". She was paired with Rajesh Khanna in six films: "Dard", "Nishaan", "Zamana", "Awam", "Red Rose (1980 film)" and "Jai Shiv Shankar". She made a special appearance in "Judaai" as a favour to producer Boney Kapoor when Juhi Chawla had to drop out.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: She also appeared in regional films such as "Nyay Danda" (Bengali), "Yuddha Kaanda" (Kannada), "Ishtam" (Telugu) and "Yavarum Nalam" (Tamil), "" (Hindi).


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Dhillon was a contestant on Season 3 of "Bigg Boss" aired on Colors TV in 2009. She ended up as the second runner-up on the show. Her big comeback on Indian television in a lead role was with the serial "Ekk Nayi Pehchaan" on Sony TV in 2013 where she played the uneducated yet ideal wife of a rich businessman.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: She has been in the Hindi theater production "The Perfect Husband", which won the best comedy play award in 2005 and which completed a Golden jubilee run. She then did another play "The Perfect Wife" co-starring Sooraj Thapar and "Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi" with Asif Sheikh. She was also seen in a play called "U Turn" which is the Hindi version of a Marathi play.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Dhillon ventured into the make-up van business, pioneering the concept in the Indian film industry. She runs a make-up van company called "Vanity."


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Dhillon was born on 18 April 1962, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Her father Amreek Singh was an aeronautical engineer in the Indian Air Force and would often get transferred. Her mother was a school principal and both her siblings are doctors. Poonam was quite studious growing up and aspired to become a doctor. Poonam attended Carmel Convent in [Chandigarh] for schooling and did her graduation after joining films at age 16.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: In 2013, she was pursuing an MBA in International Business. Dhillon was married to producer Ashok Thakeria and has two children, a daughter Paloma and a son Anmol.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: She has been very active with social causes like drug awareness, AIDS awareness, family planning and organ donation.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: She has been a prominent speaker at the SAARC business summits in Kathmandu and Delhi and was appointed cultural ambassador. She was also a speaker at the MINDMINE event. In 2012, she along with other celebrities participated in a show supporting the "Save and Empower the Girl Child" cause in collaboration with Lilavati Hospital.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: In 2014, she launched an event management and film production company called "Poetic Justice Films and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd." with industrialist Aneel Murarka and choreographer Samir Tanna.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: In 2017, Dhillon was appointed as one of four members to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, which is the official body for appeals against decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification in the Indian film industry.


title: Poonam Dhillon

text: Dhillon joined the Bhartiya Janta Party in 2004 and was appointed Vice President of the Mumbai unit of the party in 2019.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago by road and is one of the Pacific Ocean's most important seaports. Valparaíso is the capital of Chile's second most populated administrative region and has been the headquarters for the Chilean Navy since 1817 and the seat of the Chilean National Congress since 1990.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso played an important geopolitical role in the second half of the 19th century when it served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan. Valparaíso experienced rapid growth during its golden age, as a magnet for European immigrants, when the city was known by international sailors as "Little San Francisco" and "The Jewel of the Pacific". Notable inheritances from its golden age include Latin America's oldest stock exchange, the continent's first volunteer fire department, Chile's first public library, and the oldest Spanish language newspaper in continuous publication in the world, "El Mercurio de Valparaíso". In 2003, the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Valparaíso

text: The twentieth century was unfavorable to Valparaíso, as many wealthy families abandoned the city. The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and the associated reduction in ship traffic dealt a serious blow to Valparaíso's port-based economy. In the 21st century the port of San Antonio has surpassed Valparaíso in trade volume (TEU) handled, leading to the questioning of its traditional moniker "Puerto Principal" ("Main Port" of Chile).


title: Valparaíso

text: Over the first 15 years of the twenty-first century, the city reached a recovery, attracting artists and cultural entrepreneurs who have set up in the city's hillside historic districts. Today, many thousands of tourists visit Valparaíso from around the world to enjoy the city's labyrinth of cobbled alleys and colorful buildings. The port of Valparaíso continues to be a major distribution center for container traffic, copper, and fruit exports. Valparaíso also receives growing attention from cruise ships that visit during the South American summer. Most significantly, Valparaíso has transformed itself into a major educational center with four large traditional universities and several large vocational colleges. The city is known for its bohemian culture, with festivals every year, and street artists and musicians.


title: Valparaíso

text: The Bay of Valparaíso was probably first populated by the Picunche natives, known for their agriculture, or the Chango people, who were nomads dedicated to fishing, and traveling between modern-day Caldera and Concepcion. Spanish explorers, considered the first European discoverers of Chile, arrived in 1536, aboard the "Santiaguillo", a supply ship sent by Diego de Almagro. The "Santiaguillo" carried men and supplies for Almagro's expedition, under the command of Juan de Saavedra, who named the town after his native village of Valparaíso de Arriba in Cuenca Province, Spain.


title: Valparaíso

text: During Spanish colonial times, Valparaíso remained a small village, with only a few houses and a church. On some occasions she was attacked by English pirates and privateers, such as Francis Drake with his ship "Golden Hind" in 1578 and later his cousin Richard Hawkins with his ship "Dainty" in 1594.


title: Valparaíso

text: In 1810, a wealthy merchant built the first pier in the history of Chile and the first during the colonial era. In its place today, stands the building of El Mercurio de Valparaíso. The ocean then rose to this point. Reclamation of land from the sea moved the coastline five blocks away. Between 1810 and 1830, he built much of the existing port of the city, including much of the land reclamation work that now provides the city's commercial centre.


title: Valparaíso

text: In 1814, the naval Battle of Valparaíso was fought offshore of the town, between American and British ships involved in the War of 1812.


title: Valparaíso

text: After Chile's independence from Spain (1818), beginning the Republican Era, Valparaíso became the main harbour for the nascent Chilean navy, and opened international trade opportunities that had been formerly limited to Spain and its other colonies.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso soon became a desired stopover for ships rounding South America via the Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn. It gained particular importance supporting and supplying the California Gold Rush (1848–1858). As a major seaport, Valparaíso received immigrants from many European countries, mainly from Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy. German, French, Italian and English were commonly spoken among its citizens, who founded and published newspapers in these languages.


title: Valparaíso

text: The British community, "La Colonia Britanica", prospered in Valparaíso between the 1820s and 1920s. Firms such as Antony Gibbs & Sons, Duncan Fox, and Williamson-Balfour Company were doing business in the town, which had become a significant trading center by 1840, with 166 British ships, out of a total of 287, anchored in its port. The British settled on Cerro Alegre (Mount Pleasant) and Cerro Concepción. The Association of Voluntary Firemen was created in 1851, a telegraph service to Santiago was operating by 1852, and Chile's first telephone service was set up in 1880. The British Hospital was founded in 1897, and the British Arch, "Arco Británico", was erected in 1911. However, by 1895, Italian immigrants exceeded the British, and both the Italians and Germans were in larger numbers by 1907. By 1920, both the Italians and Spanish outnumbered the British, and the primary British community within Chile resided in Santiago.


title: Valparaíso

text: International immigration transformed the local culture from Spanish origins and Amerindian origins, in ways that included the construction of the first non-Catholic cemetery of Chile, the Dissidents' Cemetery. Football (soccer) was introduced to Chile by English immigrants; and the first private Catholic school in Chile ("Le Collège des Sacrés Cœurs," "The College of the Sacred Hearts"), French immigrants in Valparaíso; which has been operating for about 170 years. Immigrants from Scotland and Germany founded the first private secular schools, (The Mackay School, and "Die Deutsche Schule," respectively). Immigrants formed the first volunteer fire-fighting units (still a volunteer activity in Chile). Their buildings reflected a variety of European styles, making Valparaíso more varied than some other Chilean cities.


title: Valparaíso

text: On August 18, 1906, a major earthquake struck Valparaíso; there was extensive property damage and thousands of deaths. The Chilean doctor, Carlos Van Buren, of U.S. descent, was involved in the medical care of earthquake victims. He later established a modern hospital Carlos Van Buren Hospital in 1912.


title: Valparaíso

text: The golden age of Valparaíso's commerce ended after the opening of the Panama Canal (1914). Shipping shifted to the canal as captains sought to avoid the risks of the Strait of Magellan. The port's use and traffic declined significantly, causing a decline in the city's economy. Since the turn of the 21st century, shipping has increased in the last few decades with fruit exports, increasing opening of the Chilean economy to world commerce, and larger-scale, Post-Panamax ships that do not fit the Panama Canal.


title: Valparaíso

text: On March 28, 1814, the USS "Essex" was defeated by British frigates "Phoebe" and "Cherub" during the War of 1812, leading to the deaths of 58 US Marines. (Captain David Porter, a survivor of this attack, would retire to Portersville, Indiana, and request changing the name to Valparaiso, commemorating the only naval battle he ever lost.)


title: Valparaíso

text: At 10:30 pm on the evening of November 19, 1822, Valparaíso experienced a violent earthquake that left the city in ruins; of the 16,000 residents, casualties included at least 66 adults and 12 children, as well as 110 people wounded. The next day, a meteor trail was visible from Quillota to Valparaíso, seen as a religious experience for much of the population.


title: Valparaíso

text: In 1826, the Royal Navy Great Britain established a South America Station in Valparaíso to maintain British naval interest in the region. It would remain until 1837, when it was relocated to Esquimalt, British Columbia.


title: Valparaíso

text: September 12, 1827 saw the establishment of "El Mercurio de Valparaíso", the oldest circulating newspaper in the Spanish language worldwide.


title: Valparaíso

text: In May 1828, a constitutional convention began regular meetings in the church of San Francisco. By August 9, the Constitution of the Republic of Chile was fully drafted and disseminated.


title: Valparaíso

text: On June 6, 1837, Minister Diego Portales was shot at the port outside of Baron Hill on suspicion of promoting conspirators who opposed the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, considered a turning point of Chilean public opinion and the purpose of the war.


title: Valparaíso

text: By 1851, the first fire brigade in the country was formed. The next year potable running water became available, as well as the first telegraph service in Latin America, between the city and Santiago. It would be another four years before streetlights, with 700 gas lanterns, were installed. In 1861 the first tram company was formed, mostly using horses or mules to draw them, and fully established over the next few years.


title: Valparaíso

text: Taking advantage of the total lack of defenses, a Spanish fleet commanded by Casto Méndez Núñez bombarded the city during the Chincha Islands War in 1866. Chilean merchant ships were sunk, except for those vessels whose captains hoisted foreign flags.


title: Valparaíso

text: A merger of the National Steamship Company and Chilean Steamship Company, the South American Steamship Company was created as a national response to the increasing dominance of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company in 1872. In 1880 the Chilean Telephone Company was formed by Americans Joseph Husbands, Peter MacKellar, James Martin, and the US consul Lucius Foot, the first official telephone company in the country. Three years later on the first of December, Concepción funicular opened, the first of many hydraulic systems.


title: Valparaíso

text: After the country's independence and its consequent openness to international trade, Valparaíso became an important port of call on trade routes through the Eastern Pacific. Many immigrants settled there, mostly from Europe and North America, who helped include Valparaíso and Chile in the industrial revolution sweeping other parts of the world. This created a different city with civil, financial, commercial and industrial institutions, many of which still exist today.


title: Valparaíso

text: All this resulted in a population increases. The city reached more than 160,000 inhabitants in the late nineteenth century, making it necessary to use the steep hills for more houses, mansions and even cemeteries. The lack of available land caused the city authorities and developers to reclaim low lying tidal marshland (polders) upon which to build administrative, commercial and industrial infrastructure.


title: Valparaíso

text: The twentieth century began with the first big protest of dockworkers, Chile on April 15, 1903, due to complaints by dockers about their excessive working hours and demands for higher wages, requests that were ignored by employers, creating a tense situation that led to serious violence on May 12. There were protests and the burning of the CSAV offices and several people were shot and killed. All this prompted intervention by the state. This protest was important for the future of Trade Unionism in the country.


title: Valparaíso

text: The 1906 Valparaíso earthquake caused severe damage throughout the city on August 16, which was at that time the heart of the Chilean economy.


title: Valparaíso

text: The damage was valued at hundreds of millions of pesos of the time, and human victims were counted at 3,000 dead and over 20,000 injured. After the removal of the debris, reconstruction work began. This included the widening of streets, culverting and covering streams, (Jaime and Delicias – creating the avenues Francia and Argentina respectively). The main street of the city (Pedro Montt) was laid and Plaza O'Higgins was created; a hill was removed to allow the passage of Colon Street. The damaged Edwards mansion was demolished and in its place, the present Cathedral of Valparaíso was built and, among many other works, this gave shape to the Almendral Valparaíso area.


title: Valparaíso

text: In 1910, the port expansion work of the city, which ended in 1930, began. A long breakwater was built, along with piers and docking terminals.


title: Valparaíso

text: The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 caused a severe reduction of port activity as Valparaíso lost its vital role as the major stopping point for shipping going from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific via the Magellan channel.


title: Valparaíso

text: The Imperial German East Asia Squadron engaged the British West Indies Squadron on 1 November 1914 at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Valparaiso, sinking two British cruisers. After the battle the East Asia Squadron stayed in Valparaiso Harbor before continuing to the Falklands.


title: Valparaíso

text: Chile's legislature along with other institutions of national importance like the National Customs Service, the National Fish and Aquaculture Ministry, the Ministry of Culture and the Barracks General of the Chilean Navy are sited in the city. In addition to the capital of the Valparaíso Region hosts the Regional Administration and government.


title: Valparaíso

text: On April 13, 2014, a huge brush fire burned out of control, destroying 2,800 homes and killing 16 people, forcing President Michelle Bachelet to declare it a disaster zone.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso is located in central Chile, to the north west of the capital Santiago. Valparaíso, like most of Chile, is vulnerable to earthquakes. Before the earthquake of February 27, 2010, which measured 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, the last catastrophic earthquake to strike Valparaíso devastated the city in August 1906, killing nearly 3,000 people. Other significant earthquakes to affect the city were the 1730 Valparaíso earthquake and the 1985 Algarrobo earthquake.


title: Valparaíso

text: Because of Valparaíso's proximity to the Peru–Chile Trench, the city is vulnerable to earthquakes. The Peru–Chile Trench stores large amounts of energy for a very long time and sometimes ruptures after short intervals in a violent earthquake.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso has a very mild Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csb"). The summer is essentially dry, but the city is affected by fogs from the Humboldt Current during most of the year. In the winter, rainfall can occasionally be extremely heavy when a powerful frontal system crosses central Chile, but frequency of such rains varies greatly from year to year. Monthly average temperatures vary just around 6°C between the coolest and the warmest month, from in January to in July. Snowfall occurs rarely in the highest parts of the city. In winter, strong winds can lead to wind chill temperatures below freezing.


title: Valparaíso

text: Nicknamed "The Jewel of the Pacific", Valparaíso was declared a world heritage site based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture. In 1996, the World Monuments Fund declared Valparaíso's unusual system of funicular lifts (steeply inclined carriages) one of the world's 100 most endangered historical treasures. In 1998, grassroots activists convinced the Chilean government and local authorities to apply for UNESCO world heritage status for Valparaíso. Valparaíso was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. Built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Valparaíso has a labyrinth of streets and cobblestone alleyways, embodying a rich architectural and cultural legacy. Valparaíso is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Valparaíso

text: Although technically only Chile's sixth largest city, with an urban area population of 263,499 (275,982 in municipality), the Greater Valparaíso metropolitan area, including the neighbouring cities of Viña del Mar, Concón, Quilpué and Villa Alemana, is the second largest in the country (803,683 inhabitants).


title: Valparaíso

text: According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, the commune of Valparaíso spans an area of and has 275,982 inhabitants (135,217 men and 140,765 women). Of these, 275,141 (99.7%) lived in urban areas and 841 (0.3%) in rural areas. The population declined by 2.4% (6858 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.


title: Valparaíso

text: As a commune, Valparaíso is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The 2021–2024 alcalde is Jorge Sharp Fajardo.


title: Valparaíso

text: The Chilean Congress meets in a modern building in the Almendral section of Valparaíso, after relocation from Santiago during the last years of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Although congressional activities were to be legally moved by a ruling in 1987, the newly built site only began to function as the seat of Congress during the government of Patricio Aylwin in 1990.


title: Valparaíso

text: Approximately 50 international cruise ships call on Valparaíso during the 4-month Chilean summer. The port of Valparaíso is also an important hub for container freight and exports many products, including wine, copper, and fresh fruit.


title: Valparaíso

text: A commuter rail service, the Valparaíso Metro, opened to the public on 24 November 2005. The creation of this system involved updating parts of the Valparaíso-Santiago Railway, originally built in 1863. The Valparaíso Metro constitutes the so-called "fourth stage" ("Cuarta Etapa") of Metropolitan improvements. The Metro now connects the city core of Valparaíso with Viña del Mar and other cities. It extends along most of Gran Valparaíso, and is the second underground urban rail system in operation in Chile (after Santiago's), as it includes a tunnel section that crosses Viña del Mar's commercial district. The proposed Santiago–Valparaíso railway line would link Valparaíso and Santiago in around 45 minutes.


title: Valparaíso

text: Public transport within Valparaíso itself is provided primarily by buses, trolleybuses and funiculars. The buses provide an efficient and regular service to and from the city centre and the numerous hills where most people live, as well as to neighbouring towns while more distant towns are served by long-distance coaches. Buses are operated by several private companies and regulated by the Regional Ministry of Transport, which controls fares and routes. The Valparaíso trolleybus system has been in operation since 1952, and in 2019 it continues to use some of its original vehicles, built in 1952 by the Pullman-Standard Company, along with an assortment of other vehicles acquired later. Some of Valparaíso's Pullman trolleybuses are even older, built in 1946–48, having been acquired secondhand from Santiago in the 1970s. The surviving Pullman trolleybuses are the oldest trolleybuses still in normal service anywhere in the world, and they were collectively declared National Historic Monuments by the Chilean government in 2003.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso's road infrastructure has been undergoing improvement, particularly with the completion of the "Curauma — Placilla — La Pólvora" freeway bypass, which will allow trucks to go directly to the port facility over a modern highway and through tunnels, without driving through the historic and already congested downtown streets. In addition, roads to link Valparaíso to San Antonio, Chile's second-largest port, and the coastal towns in between (Laguna Verde, Quintay, Algarrobo, and Isla Negra, for example), are also under construction. Travel between Valparaíso and Santiago takes about 80 minutes via a modern toll highway.


title: Valparaíso

text: Internal passenger air services to Valparaíso are provided through the airport at Quintero which is some distance from the city but now served by good roads. The great majority of foreign visitors arrive through Santiago or on cruise liners.


title: Valparaíso

text: Because of the slopes of the hills, many of the surrounding areas of Valparaíso are inaccessible by public transport. That is why "elevators" serve the function of communicating the high part of the city with the plan, besides being a strong holiday highlight. The only elevator that can truly be called as such, is the "Ascensor Polanco", because it is vertical. Meanwhile, the rest are cable cars but traditionally called elevators. Several of those funiculars – locally called "ascensores" – provide public transport service between the central area and the lower slopes of the surrounding hills, the first of which (Ascensor Concepción, also known as Ascensor Turri) opened in 1883, operated by steam, is still in service. The Cerro Cordillera elevator was built in 1887. As many as 28 different funicular railways have served Valparaíso at one time or another, of which 14 were still in operation in 1992 and still around 12 in 2010.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso has fifteen lifts declared Historical Monuments by the National Monuments Council. Five are municipal property and the remaining belong to four private companies. The elevators are elevators municipal Baron, El Peral, Polanco, Queen Victoria and St. Augustine. As for the rest, lifts Florida, Butterflies and Nuns are owned by the National Elevator Company SA; Artillery, Concepción and Mountains belong to the Society of Mechanical Lifts Valparaíso Holy Spirit, Larraín and Villaseca (stopped for repairs) are the property of Valparaíso Elevators Company SA, and Dairy (stopped by fire) belongs to the Society of Dairy Cerro Lifts Ltd.


title: Valparaíso

text: The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 68 min. 15% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 13 min, while 15% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 7 km, while 12% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.


title: Valparaíso

text: The port of Valparaíso is divided into ten sites which sites 1,2,3,4 and 5 are administered by "South Pacific Terminal SA and sites 6,7,8,9 and 10 for Valparaíso Port Company". The last two sites include a dock and are used as public walks and cruise passenger terminal.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso is the main container and passenger port in Chile, transferring 10 million tons annually, and serves about 50 cruises and 150,000 passengers.


title: Valparaíso

text: During Valparaíso's golden age (1848–1914), the city received large numbers of immigrants, primarily from Europe. The immigrant communities left a unique imprint on the city's noteworthy architecture. Each community built its own churches and schools, while many also founded other noteworthy cultural and economic institutions. The largest immigrant communities came from Britain, Germany, and Italy, each developing their own hillside neighbourhood, preserved today as National Historic Districts or "Zonas Típicas."


title: Valparaíso

text: During the second half of the 20th century, Valparaíso experienced a great decline, as wealthy families de-gentrified the historic quarter, moving to bustling Santiago or nearby Viña del Mar. By the early 1990s, much of the city's unique heritage had been lost and many Chileans had given up on the city. But in the mid-1990s, a grassroots preservation movement blossomed in Valparaíso where nowadays also a vast number of murals created by graffiti artists can be viewed on the streets, alleyways and stairways.


title: Valparaíso

text: "The Fundación Valparaíso" (Valparaíso Foundation), founded by the North American poet Todd Temkin, has executed major neighborhood redevelopment projects; has improved the city's tourist infrastructure; and administers the city's jazz, ethnic music, and opera festivals; among other projects. Some noteworthy foundation projects include the World Heritage Trail, Opera by the Sea, and Chile's "Cultural Capital". During recent years, Mr. Temkin has used his influential Sunday column in El Mercurio de Valparaíso to advocate for many major policy issues, such as the creation of a "Ley Valparaíso" (Valparaíso Law) in the Chilean Congress, and the possibility that the Chilean government must guarantee funding for the preservation of Valparaíso's beloved funicular elevators.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso's newspaper, "El Mercurio de Valparaíso" is the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in circulation in the world.


title: Valparaíso

text: The "Fundacion LUKAS" maintains the drawings and paintings of the cartoonist Renzo Antonio Giovanni Pecchenino Raggi (stage name LUKAS), who came to symbolize Valparaíso in popular culture, in a new restored building overlooking the bay.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso is also home to the so-called "School of Valparaíso," which is in fact the Faculty of Architecture & Urbanism of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. The "School of Valparaíso" was in the 1960s and 1970s one of the most experimental, avant-garde and controversial Architectural schools in the country.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso stages a major festival attended by hundreds of thousands of participants on the last three days of every year. The festival culminates with a "New Year's by the Sea" fireworks show, the biggest in all of Latin America, attended by a million tourists who fill the coastline and hillsides with a view of the bay. Even though everyone calls it the Valparaíso Fireworks, it is, in fact, a fireworks display running along a great part of the coast from Valparaíso, past Viña del Mar and all the way to Concón.


title: Valparaíso

text: In 2003, the Chilean Congress declared Valparaíso to be "Chile's Cultural Capital" and home for the nation's new cultural ministry.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso offers various urban nightlife activities. Traditional bars and nightclubs can be found near Plaza Sotomayor. A vivid guide to Valparaíso can be found in the novels of Cayetano Brule, the private detective who lives in a Victorian house in the picturesque Paseo Gervasoni in Cerro Concepción.


title: Valparaíso

text: The public healthcare system mainly relies on the Hospital Carlos Van Buren located at the plan and Hospital Valparaíso (officially Hospital Eduardo Pereira) located at St. Roque Hill. There are also several clinics like Universidad de Chile's Clinica Barón, Hospital Aleman (due to close), and the former Naval Hospital on Playa Ancha Hill.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso has several public sports venues and facilities, including a growing network of cycle routes.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso was one of the host cities of the official 1959 Basketball World Cup, where Chile won the bronze medal.


title: Valparaíso

text: The "Valparaíso Downhill" is a mountain bike race that takes place in February. Riders race through the city streets tackling the steps and alleys, finding their own way through the ramps and jumps down to the "plan" (Valparaíso's "lowlands").


title: Valparaíso

text: Since 2005, a series of running events has taken place in the city with 5 km, 10 km, 21 km and marathon distances. The race starts at Muelle Barón and the course runs along the seafront, crossing diverse architectural and geographical landmarks.


title: Valparaíso

text: The final stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally ended up at Valparaíso's Plaza Sotomayor in the heart of the old town, surrounded by historic buildings. Ignacio Casale, the Chilean winner of the 2014 Quad category, was cheered here in the streets by the Valparaíso crowd.


title: Valparaíso

text: At primary school level, Valparaíso boasts some of the most emblematic schools in the region, such as the Liceo Eduardo de la Barra and Salesian College Valparaíso. Other landmarks of the city schools are the Mary Help of Christians School, San Rafael Seminary, the Lycée Jean d'Alembert, Colegio San Pedro Nolasco, Scuola Italiana Arturo Dell' Oro and Deutsche Schule Valparaíso, among others. Many of the schools named in the plan are located directly in the city, especially in the Almendral neighborhood.


title: Valparaíso

text: In addition, Valparaíso was the birthplace of many private schools founded by the European colonies, as the German School, the Alliance Francaise, Mackay College (now located in the neighboring resort of Viña del Mar) and the College of the Sacred Hearts of Valparaíso, that operating since 1837 is the oldest private school in South America.


title: Valparaíso

text: Valparaíso has many institutions of higher education, including some of the most important universities of Chile, called "traditional universities", like the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, the University of Valparaíso, the Playa Ancha University and the Federico Santa María Technical University. The main building of this last is visible from much of the city, as it is located on the front of the hill 'Cerro Placeres', and has characteristic Tudor Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The city has many nontraditional colleges of varying size, quality and focus.


title: Valparaíso

text: It has also been the residence of many writers such as the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío and the American poet Marion Manville Pope.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author of "The Urban Guerilla Concept" (1971). The manifesto acknowledges the RAF's "roots in the history of the student movement"; condemns "reformism" as "a brake on the anti-capitalist struggle"; and invokes Mao Zedong to define "armed struggle" as "the highest form of Marxism-Leninism".


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Meinhof, who took part in the RAF's May Offensive in 1972, was arrested in June of that year and spent the rest of her life in custody, largely isolated from outside contact. In November 1974, she was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempted murder in the May 1970 liberation from prison of Andreas Baader.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: From 1975, she stood trial on multiple charges of murder and attempted murder, with the three other RAF leaders: Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe. Before the end of the trial, she was found hanged in her cell in the Stammheim Prison. The official finding of suicide sparked controversy. One year later, on 7 April 1977, two members of the RAF assassinated the Federal Attorney-General Siegfried Buback as revenge for her alleged murder.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Meinhof was born in 1934 in Oldenburg. Her father Werner Meinhof, a curator of Jena Museum, died of cancer in 1940, causing her mother to take in a boarder, Renate Riemeck, to make money. In 1946, the family moved back to Oldenburg after Jena fell under Soviet occupation as a result of the Yalta agreement. Meinhof's mother, Dr. Ingeborg Meinhof, an art historian, began to work as a teacher and died from cancer in 1949. Riemeck took on the role of guardian of Meinhof and her elder sister, Wienke.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In 1952, Meinhof took her "Abitur" at a school in Weilburg. She then studied philosophy, sociology, education and German at Marburg, where she became involved with reform movements. In 1957, she transferred to the University of Münster, where she met the Spanish Marxist intellectual Manuel Sacristán (who later translated and edited some of her writings), joined the "Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund" (SDS), the German Socialist Student Union, and participated in protests against the rearmament of the Bundeswehr and its involvement with nuclear weapons that were proposed by Konrad Adenauer's government. Meinhof eventually became the spokeswoman of the local "Anti-Atomtod-Ausschuss" (Anti Atomic-Death Committee). In 1958, she spent a short time on the AStA (German: "Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss", or General Committee of Students) of the university and wrote articles for various student newspapers.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In 1959, Meinhof joined the banned Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later began working at the magazine "konkret", a monthly which, until 1964, had clandestine financing from the East German government. "Konkret" was widely read by student activists and progressive intellectuals, and as its chief editor from 1962 to 1964, Meinhof was able to elicit contributions from established journalists and authors.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: On 2 June 1967, Meinhof's exposure in "konkret" of German complicity in supporting the Pahlavi dynasty helped rally students to a demonstration in West Berlin against the visit of the Shah of Iran. When Iranian counter-demonstrators, including agents of the Shah's intelligence service, attacked the students, the police joined the affray beating the demonstrator into a side street where an officer shot and killed the student protester Benno Ohnesorg The leading "Stern" columnist, Sebastian Haffner whom Meinhof had befriended, took to "konkret" to suggest "with the [anti-] Student pogrom of 2 June 1967 fascism in West Berlin had thrown off its mask".


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In February 1968, Meinhof was a participant in the International Vietnam Conference in West Berlin, which the authorities had permitted only in the face of large-scale protests. She was co-signatory, along with intellectuals including Ernst Bloch, Noam Chomsky, Eric Hobsbawn, Ernest Mandel, and Jean Paul Sartre, of the final declaration. This defined the U.S. intervention in Vietnam as "the Spain of our generation" and called for mobilisation against the "extermination" ("Vernichtung") of the Vietnamese people.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In 1961, Meinhof married the co-founder and publisher of "konkret", Klaus Rainer Röhl. Their marriage produced twins, Regine and Bettina, on 21 September 1962. Meinhof and Röhl separated in 1967 and divorced a year later.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In 1962, Meinhof had a benign brain tumor surgically removed; the 1976 autopsy showed that remnants of the tumor and surgical scar tissue impinged on her amygdala.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: The attempted assassination of SDS leader Rudi Dutschke on 11 April 1968 provoked Meinhof to write an article in "konkret" demonstrating her increasingly militant attitude and containing perhaps her best-known quote:


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Later that year, her writings on arson attacks in Frankfurt as protests against the Vietnam War resulted in her developing an acquaintance with the perpetrators, most significantly Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin. She stopped writing for "konkret" which had in her opinion evolved into a completely commercial magazine in the early part of 1969, and many other authors followed her. She stated that neither she nor her collaborators wanted to give a left-wing alibi to the magazine that sooner or later "would become part of the counter-revolution, a thing that I cannot gloss over with my co-operation, especially now that it is impossible to change its course". Later, they organised an occupation at "konkret"s office (along with several members of the ), to distribute proclamations to the employees, something that failed since Röhl learned about it, and moved the employees to their homes to continue their work from there. Finally, Röhl's house was vandalized by some of the protesters. Meinhof arrived in Röhl's villa at 11:30, after police and journalists had already arrived. She was accused by Röhl (and subsequently described by the media) as the organizer of the vandalism. It was difficult to prove, as she was not there when it happened.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Perhaps her last work as an individual was the writing and production of the film in 1970, where she put focus on a group of borstal girls in West Berlin; by the time it was scheduled to be aired, she had become wanted for the breakout of Andreas Baader, and its broadcast was delayed until 1994.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Meinhof was approached by Ensslin, girlfriend of jailed arsonist Baader, for her help in securing the release of Baader from police custody. Thus the plot was developed, and Meinhof approached leftist publisher Klaus Wagenbach, seeking cooperation in the release of the imprisoned Baader, and Wagenbach agreed as he believed in the release of political prisoners. After securing a contract from Wagenbach, Meinhof petitioned authorities to allow Baader to travel from Moabit Prison to an institute for social research in the Dahlem district of Berlin. The plan was for armed guerrillas to enter the institute and secure the release of Baader; it was intended that no shooting was to take place. Meinhof was to stay behind and have a plausibly deniable explanation that she was not involved in the planning of Baader's escape. Baader arrived with two guards and set to work with Meinhof in the institute's library. Two women compatriots of Ensslin's, along with a man with a criminal record (hired because of his supposed experience with armed encounters) broke into the institute. The man shot the elderly librarian Georg Linke, severely wounding him in his liver. It was later claimed that the man was holding two weapons, a pistol and a gas canister gun, and accidentally fired the wrong weapon in the confusion.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Because of the shooting of the librarian, it is speculated that Meinhof made a snap decision to join Baader in his escape. Within days wanted posters appeared throughout Berlin offered a 10,000 DM reward for her capture for attempted murder.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In the beginning, Meinhof meant to stay behind to use her power as an influential reporter to help the rest outside, but in the panic, after the shooting, she joined the others in jumping out of the institute's window. Immediately after their escape Meinhof called a friend to pick up her children from school. This call helped illustrate her overall lack of planning.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In the next two years, Meinhof participated in the various bank robberies and bombings perpetrated by the group. She and other RAF members attempted to kidnap her children so that they could be sent to a camp for Palestinian orphans and educated there according to her desires; however, the twins were intercepted in Sicily and returned to their father, in part due to the intervention of Stefan Aust.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: During this period, Meinhof wrote or recorded many of the manifestos and tracts for the RAF. The most significant of these is probably "The Concept of the Urban Guerrilla", a response to an essay by Horst Mahler, that attempts to set out more correctly their prevailing ideology. It also included the first use of the name "Rote Armee Fraktion" and, in the publications of it, the first use of the RAF insignia. Her practical importance in the group, however, was often overstated by the media, the most obvious example being the common name "Baader-Meinhof gang" for the RAF. (Gudrun Ensslin is often considered to have been the effective female co-leader of the group rather than Meinhof.)


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Meinhof wrote an essay defending the Munich massacre, which historian Jeffrey Herf describes as "one of the most important documents in the history of antisemitism in Europe after the Holocaust".


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: On 14 June 1972, in Langenhagen, Fritz Rodewald, a teacher who had been providing accommodation to deserters from the U.S. Armed Forces, was approached by a stranger asking for an overnighting house the next day for herself and a friend. He agreed but later became suspicious that the woman might be involved with the RAF and eventually decided to call the police. The next day the pair arrived at Rodewald's dwelling while the police watched. The man was followed to a nearby telephone box and was found to be Gerhard Müller who was armed. After arresting Müller, the police then proceeded to arrest the woman – Meinhof.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: During her solitary confinement at Köln-Ossendorf Prison from June 1972 to February 1973, Meinhof wrote what was later published as "A Letter from a Prisoner in Death Row" ("Brief einer Gefangenen aus dem Toten Trakt"). It conveys a sense of disorientation and despair:<poem>The feeling that one's head is exploding…


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: …The raging aggressiveness for which there is no outlet. That's the worst. The clear understanding that one has no chance of survival…</poem>


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In December 1972, Meinhof, who was awaiting trial, was called to testify at Horst Mahler's trial where Mahler questioned her about the statement of support the two had issued for the massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. His questioning led her to say:


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: How was Auschwitz possible, what was anti-Semitism? It used the hatred of the people for their dependence on money as a medium of exchange, and their longing for communism. Auschwitz means that six million Jews were murdered and carted on to the rubbish dumps of Europe for being that which was maintained of them – Money-Jews. What had happened was that finance capital and


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: banks, the hard core of the system of imperialism and capitalism, had diverted the people's hatred of money and exploitation away from themselves and onto the Jews.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: After two years of preliminary hearings, Meinhof was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on 29 November 1974. Eventually, Meinhof, Baader, Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe were jointly charged on 19 August 1975, with four counts of murder, fifty-four of attempted murder, and a single count of forming a criminal association. Before the trial was concluded, Meinhof was found hanged by a rope, fashioned from a towel, in her cell in the Stammheim Prison, Stuttgart, on 9 May 1976. It is highly probable that, if not for her death, she would have been sentenced to life imprisonment plus 15 years. (The remaining three defendants received such a sentence, designed to minimize the possibility of early parole.)


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: On 9 May 1976, Meinhof was found dead in her prison cell in Stuttgart-Stammheim. The official verdict was Meinhof had committed suicide. It was later discovered she had become increasingly isolated from other RAF prisoners. Notes exchanged between them in prison included one by Ensslin, describing her as "too weak". The official findings were not accepted by many in the RAF and other militant organisations, and there are still some who doubt their accuracy and believe that she was murdered by the authorities. A second investigation was carried out by an international group. The findings of the inquiry were published under the title "Der Tod Ulrike Meinhof. Bericht der Internationalen Untersuchungskommission" ("The Death of Ulrike Meinhof. Report of the International Investigation Committee") in 1979.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: Meinhof was buried in Berlin-Mariendorf, six days after her death. Her funeral turned out to be a demonstration of about 7,000 people. Demonstrations took place across the country, and social and political prisoners in Berlin and Hessen held a three-day hunger strike. Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in an open letter compared her death to the worst crimes of the Nazi era.


title: Ulrike Meinhof

text: In late 2002, following investigations by her daughter Bettina, it was discovered that Meinhof's brain had been retained (apparently without permission) following the autopsy performed as part of the investigation into her death. The original autopsy had found brain injury near the amygdala, resulting from successful surgery in 1962 to remove a (benign) cyst. The unpublished autopsy results at the time stated that the brain injuries "justified questions as to the culpability" of Meinhof. Bernhard Bogerts, a psychiatrist at Magdeburg University, later re-examined the brain and also doubted that Meinhof was fully criminally responsible. On Bettina's request, the brain was interred in Meinhof's burial place on 19 December 2002.