title: Samantha Cameron

text: Cameron is active for several charitable causes, and in June 2013 she became a patron for Revitalise. Cameron has volunteered for Dress for Success, a nonprofit organisation that gives free clothes and advice about job interviews to unemployed women. In October 2012, she held a benefit for them at Number 10.


title: Samantha Cameron

text: On 11 December 2015, it was announced Cameron, one of sixteen celebrities, to participate in the "Great Sport Relief Bake Off", which aired in 2016 as part of that year's Sport Relief fundraiser.


title: Samantha Cameron

text: Cameron is an ambassador for the charity Save the Children. In March 2013, after visiting Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Cameron said: "As a mother, it is horrifying to hear the harrowing stories from the children I met today, no child should ever experience what they have. With every day that passes, more children and parents are being killed, more innocent childhoods are being smashed to pieces."


title: Samantha Cameron

text: Cameron is credited with coining the phrase "There is such a thing as society; it's just not the same thing as the state" (seen as a rejoinder to Margaret Thatcher's famous comment there is "no such thing" as society), which has been said several times by David Cameron, including in his victory speech following his victory in the Conservative Party leadership election in 2005.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Kyle Forman Anderson (born September 20, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. After earning All-American honors as a sophomore in 2013–14, he declared for the 2014 NBA draft and was selected in the first round with the 30th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Nicknamed "Slow Mo", Anderson developed the ball-handling skills of a point guard at an early age, but his height provided him the versatility to play as a forward. As a high school player in New Jersey, Anderson led his teams to two consecutive state titles, and was named state player of the year during his senior year. One of the top recruits out of high school, Anderson was named second-team all-conference in the Pac-12 as a freshman at UCLA while playing mostly at forward. The following season, he moved to point guard, and was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the Pac-12 tournament as the Bruins won their first conference tournament title in six years. He played four seasons with San Antonio before signing with Memphis.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson was born in New York City, and grew up in New Jersey in North Bergen before moving to Fairview while in high school. He started playing basketball the day he started walking, which was three days before his first birthday. He attended his first basketball camp at the age of three. Anderson's father, who played basketball at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) and became a longtime high school coach in New Jersey, groomed him to be a point guard. Although Anderson was tall, his father did not want him to be "pigeonholed" as a post player. He had his son play with older players on Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) teams; usually the smallest player on the court, Anderson developed point guard skills early while passing to his larger teammates.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: He began his high school career at Paterson Catholic High School. Although he possessed the skills of a point guard, his height led coaches to play him on the wing or in the post. After two years at Paterson Catholic, the school closed, and Anderson moved to St. Anthony High School. Overall, he compiled 119–6 record as a four-year starter, including 65–0 in his two years at St. Anthony. When St. Anthony captured its second straight New Jersey Tournament of champions title and concluded its second straight undefeated season with a 66–62 victory over Plainfield, Anderson was the team's third-leading scorer with 14 points. Still, St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said Anderson was the team's "heart and soul and he was the reason we won the game.’’ For the season, Anderson led the team in scoring (14.7 points per game), rebounding (6.5 per game), assists (3.9 per game), blocked shots (2.0 per game) and deflections. "The Star-Ledger" named him their state boys basketball Player of the Year. He received national recognition as a "Parade" All-American, McDonald's All-American, and he was invited to play in the Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit. In spite of all the praise he had received in his career, Anderson was described by Hurley as "unassuming", which the coach credited to Anderson's family doing a "great job keeping him balanced."


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: The Anderson was often listed as a small forward, but still considered himself a point guard. Among 2012 recruits, he was ranked the No. 1 small forward by Rivals.com, and No. 2 by ESPN.com and Scout.com behind Shabazz Muhammad. Hurley called Anderson's passing "his best asset."


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson committed on September 19, 2011, to attending University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to play Division I basketball for the Bruins. He had also considered Seton Hall, Georgetown, Florida and St. John's. A major factor in his decision was UCLA coach Ben Howland's record of grooming successful point guards in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Anderson and Muhammad were the top players in the Bruins' recruiting class, which was considered the best in the nation. Howland had Anderson mostly playing off the ball, while Larry Drew II was the Bruins' primary ball handler. Playing primarily as a power forward, Anderson finished the season with averages of 9.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Though he struggled at times under Howland's strict offense, he led the team in rebounding and was the only player ranked in the top 10 in the Pac-12 in both rebounds and assists. He was the first Pac-12 player since UCLA's Bill Walton as a senior in 1973–74 to have at least 300 rebounds and 100 assists in the same season. Anderson was named to the All-Pac-12 second team and the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. Projected by NBA executives to be chosen in the first half of the second round of the 2013 NBA draft if he declared himself eligible, Anderson gave major consideration to leaving college.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson decided to return to UCLA in 2013–14, which he and his family figured would be his final season in college. With a field goal percentage of just 41.6% during the previous season, he worked on improving his shooting from midrange and beyond during the offseason. New Bruins coach Steve Alford, who replaced the fired Howland, moved Anderson back to his natural position at point guard. Under Alford's new wide-open offense, he played more confidently and displayed an improved jump shot. On November 22, 2013, he had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists in an 81–70 win over Morehead State; it was the school's first triple-double since Toby Bailey in 1995. On November 29, UCLA was co-champion of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational with Missouri, and Anderson was named the tournament's MVP, as the Bruins started the season with a 7–0 record. On February 27, Anderson and Jordan Adams missed one game after being suspended for a violation of team rules. Anderson was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the 2014 Pac-12 tournament, which UCLA won for their first conference tournament title in six years. In the championship game, Anderson contributed 21 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a 75–71 upset of No. 4 nationally ranked Arizona. "I don’t know that I’ve ever seen [those numbers] and just one turnover for a point guard,” said Arizona coach Sean Miller of Anderson's performance.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Averaging 14.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game, Anderson was called "the nation's top triple-double threat" by the "Orange County Register". He led the team in both rebounds and assists and was voted the team's most valuable player (MVP). Nationally, he ranked sixth in assists and first among power conference players. Anderson was also third in the Pac-12 in rebounds and steals (1.8) per game. He was the first player in Pac-12 history to register 200 rebounds and 200 assists in a season, as well as the first Division I player with at least 500 points, 300 rebounds and 200 assists in a season. Anderson's field goal percentage improved by seven percentage points from his freshman year, while his three-point field goal percentage jump from 21 to 48 percent. The Associated Press and "Sporting News" named Anderson a third-team All-American, and he was voted to the All-Pac-12 first team as well as first team all-district by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). He was a finalist for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, given by USBWA to the most outstanding college player; along with Shabazz Napier, they were the only players to also be on the midseason watchlists for the Naismith College Player of the Year, John R. Wooden Award, and Bob Cousy Award.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: On April 16, 2014, Anderson announced that he would forgo his remaining collegiate eligibility and enter the 2014 NBA draft. While he disproved detractors who thought his style would not translate to success at the major college level, critics also said his lack of quickness would be an impediment in the NBA. Many teams projected him as a power forward, with some comparing him to Boris Diaw, a longtime NBA player with point forward skills who also plays at a leisurely pace.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Generally projected as a late first-round pick, Anderson was selected in the first round with the 30th overall pick of the draft by the San Antonio Spurs, who had recently won the 2014 NBA Finals. On July 12, 2014, he signed with the Spurs and joined them for the Las Vegas Summer League. In six summer league games, he spent most of the time on the wing with some minutes at power forward, but rarely as a point guard. Anderson began the 2014–15 season as the team's lone new player, with the rest of its championship roster intact. The Spurs often rested its starters, resulting in playing time for Anderson. He made his NBA debut four games into the season, playing a team-high 31 minutes in a 98–81 loss to the Houston Rockets, while coach Gregg Popovich rested veteran stars Tim Duncan and Manu Ginóbili in the second game of a back-to-back set for the Spurs. Anderson shot just 1-of-8, but displayed his skill set with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals; he also acted as San Antonio's primary ball handler during the fourth quarter. On December 10 with five Spurs out due to a combination of injuries or rest, Anderson made his first NBA start and scored nine points in a 109–95 win over the New York Knicks. He continued to receive playing time while starting small forward Kawhi Leonard remained out for an extended period with a hand injury.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: During his rookie season, he has also had multiple assignments with the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League. On February 9, he was named the D-League Performer of the Week. Austin went 2–0 that week, while Anderson logged back-to-back double-doubles and averaged 19.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 blocks. He was named the NBA Development League Player of the Month for February, when he averaged 22.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4.7 assists, leading Austin to an 8–1 record.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: During the offseason, Anderson played with the Spurs in the 2015 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. In seven games, he averaged 21.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in 27.3 minutes, and was named the league's MVP. He became a regular part of San Antonio's rotation in 2015–16, appearing in 78 games while averaging 16 minutes. On March 28, 2016, he played 36 minutes and recorded 13 points, seven assists, and four steals in a 101–87 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. He established career highs in minutes and assists. Anderson had a career-high 11 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench in an April 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors. In the regular season finale, he had his first double-double in the NBA with 15 points and 10 rebounds, leading the short-handed Spurs to a 96–91 win over the Dallas Mavericks. He matched his career-high in points, while adding a career-best five steals.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson participated in the Summer League again in 2016, and Spurs summer league coach Becky Hammon declared him the top player in the league. He averaged a league-high 23.7 points in three games in the Utah league, and followed up with averages of 18.5 points and six rebounds in two games in Las Vegas, when the Spurs sent him home after they were content he had nothing left to prove in the league. He played 72 games including 14 starts in 2016–17, but his overall performance regressed. The Spurs were eliminated from the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals, when Anderson scored a season-high 20 points and added seven rebounds and four steals in the season-ending Game 4 loss to the Golden State. Without any Summer League commitments for the first time as a pro, Anderson wanted to build off of his Game 4 performance. Over the summer, he worked on finishing shots around the rim and getting in shape to be light enough to play at guard or small forward while also being strong enough to also play at power forward.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: With Leonard out an extended period with a quadriceps injury, Anderson began 2017–18 as a starter. On November 20, 2017, he had 13 points and a career-high 10 assists in a 96–85 win over the Atlanta Hawks. At Oklahoma City on December 3, Anderson started at power forward in place of a resting LaMarcus Aldridge when he suffered a grade 1 strain to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of his left knee in the third quarter. He was subsequently ruled out for an estimated two weeks. Through 23 games, Anderson had been averaging career highs of 8.9 points, six rebounds and three assists. Popovich expected him to remain in the regular rotation even after Leonard returned. Anderson returned to action after missing eight games. In March 2018, he was moved to power forward as the Spurs went to a smaller lineup with Aldridge at center and Pau Gasol moving to the bench. On March 19, he was the first NBA player in the season to be scoreless and yet still post a +30 plus-minus rating in an 89–75 win over the Warriors. With Leonard missing most of the season, Anderson made 67 starts and ended the season averaging career highs in minutes (26.7 per game), points (7.9), rebounds (5.4), assists (2.7), steals (1.6), blocks (0.8) and field goal percentage (52.7).


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: After the 2017–18 season, Anderson became a restricted free agent. He signed a four-year deal with the Grizzlies worth $37.2 million after the Spurs declined to match the offer sheet. Popovich said the figure was "beyond the pale for us", but he was happy for Anderson. The Grizzlies' interest was strengthened by Memphis assistant coach Chad Forcier, a former Spurs assistant who Popovich credited along with Chip Engelland for developing Anderson. Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace called Anderson their "main target" in free agency, and vice president of basketball operations John Hollinger cited the value in his ballhandling and playmaking ability. Anderson's role as a point forward increased in his last year with San Antonio, who were 14–2 during his four years when he had five or more assists. On November 10, 2018, Anderson had eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds in a 112–106 overtime win over the Philadelphia 76ers. He followed up with a second straight game with 13 rebounds in a loss to the Utah Jazz. In his first return to San Antonio on November 21, Anderson had nine points and nine rebounds in a team-high 38 minutes in a 104–103 win over the Spurs. In January 2019, he missed two weeks with an ankle injury. He returned for two games before being sidelined beginning in February with a nagging shoulder injury. In April, he underwent thoracic outlet decompression surgery to address his right shoulder soreness and other affiliated symptoms. Anderson said doctors removed his top rib to free the nerve flow from his neck to his right hand. The operation required him to retrain himself to shoot again.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson was still experiencing discomfort from the shoulder surgery as preseason began in 2019–20, and there were doubts on his health for the upcoming season. However, his recovery went well during the regular season. Under new Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins's fast-paced system, Anderson played as both a starter and reserve while being used as a small forward, power forward and center.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: In 2020–21, Anderson opened the season with double figures in rebounds in each of the first two games, including a career-high 14 rebounds while tying his personal best with 20 points against Atlanta on December 26, 2020. He logged consecutive 10+ rebound games for the second time in his career, and it was his first game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. In the following game against the Brooklyn Nets, Anderson had career highs of 28 points and four 3-pointers in a 116–111 overtime win after teammate Ja Morant was lost for the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter. It was the first time Anderson scored at least 20 points in consecutive games. On May 10, 2021, he logged a career-high four blocks as the team tied a franchise record with 19 blocks in 115–110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, which clinched a spot for Memphis in the play-in tournament. During the season, Anderson made a team-high 69 starts, playing mostly at power forward for the first time in his career. He increased his 3-point shooting after having never made more than 24 in a season and only once shooting above 33.3% in any of his six previous years in the league. In the Grizzlies' first play-in game, he tied his career high of four blocks in a 100–96 win that eliminated the Spurs. In their playoff opener at Utah, he set a Memphis franchise single-game playoff record with six steals and added 14 points in 112–109 win over the top-seeded Jazz.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson moved to the bench the following season after Memphis decided to emphasize Jaren Jackson Jr., coupled with their acquisition of Steven Adams. On March 3, 2022, Anderson had a career-high six steals against the Boston Celtics. In the first round of the 2022 playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he started the second half of Game 2, and entered the starting lineup in Game 3 in place of Adams. Anderson was the primary defender against Karl-Anthony Towns. Xavier Tillman became the starter in Game 4.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson participated in U16 and U17 training camps for USA Basketball prior to being named to the 2009–10 USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team. In 2012, he started at power forward for the USA Basketball Junior National Select Team that competed at the Nike Hoop Summit, which featured the top American high school seniors against a team of international players aged 19 or younger.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Out of high school, Anderson was considered capable of playing any of four positions on the court, from point guard to power forward, drawing comparisons to basketball legends Magic Johnson. Anderson's high school coach Bob Hurley said, "I think he's a modern-day Magic Johnson. I think that let him play the point. He gets everybody shots. You don’t have him back defensively balancing the floor, you’re wasting him. But you let him do a lot of what the point guard stuff entails. But then also defensively you don’t bother guarding him on the little guy. Put him on maybe the three man or even sometimes the four man if he’s a step-out player." During his sophomore year in UCLA, CBSSports.com wrote that Anderson was "starting to look more and more like the Magic Johnson of the 2013–14 season in college basketball." ESPN analyst Dick Vitale warned against calling him the next Magic Johnson, but stated that "he has the mini-version of that kind of skill.” "USA Today" commented that he was "kind of a poor man's Magic Johnson".


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: "The Seattle Times" called Anderson the "[m]ost versatile player in years in the Pac-12." In 2014, SI.com said he "[m]ight be the most versatile player in the country." Rarely has a player of Anderson's stature—standing with a wingspan of —been entrusted to run the offense of a college team. He was a unique talent with a size advantage to post up smaller defenders down low, and the ball-handling skills to run the offense from the top of the key. He was comfortable playing both in the post and on the perimeter, and could direct the offense as either a point guard or point forward. One of the top rebounding guards in college, Anderson was the rare point guard that could rebound the ball and single-handedly initiate a fast break. He was often described as a "nightmare" matchup for opponents.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson plays at a deliberate pace, and he is not as fast as more athletically gifted players. Popovich stated that he is "not what you’d call a typical NBA athlete". However, Anderson is praised for his basketball IQ. He is able to change speeds and fake out his opponents to keep them off balance. His methodical style earned him the nickname "Slow Mo" in eighth grade in AAU, and the name has stuck with him. "[He] really understands how to use his speed—he's not super fast, but he's super bright and really knows how to use angles," said Kevin Boyle, who coached Anderson on the national team in 2012. "USA Today" described him as "languid but quick enough to lead the fast break". Anderson's defense was considered a weakness. In college, his teams usually played zone as he struggled containing smaller, quicker guards while playing man-to-man. His defense improved with the Spurs in 2017–18, when he guarded both forward positions while leveraging his wingspan and instincts. Against quicker small forwards, he uses his physicality to keep players off balance.


title: Kyle Anderson (basketball)

text: Anderson is the son of Kyle Sr. and Suzanne Anderson. His grandfather, Clifton Anderson, played college football at Indiana and had a two-year professional career in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Cardinals in 1952 and the New York Giants in 1953. Anderson's maternal grandmother grew up in Jamaica; her father was Chinese and married a Jamaican woman, and they lived in Jamaica among the Chinese Jamaicans.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: Aurora () is a Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in Saint Petersburg. "Aurora" was one of three cruisers, built in Saint Petersburg for service in the Pacific. All three ships of this class served during the Russo-Japanese War. "Aurora" survived the Battle of Tsushima and was interned under US protection in the Philippines, and eventually returned to the Baltic Fleet.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: One of the first incidents of the October Revolution in Russia took place on the cruiser "Aurora", which reportedly fired the first shot, signalling the beginning of the attack on the Winter Palace.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: Soon after completion, on October 10, 1903, "Aurora" departed Kronstadt as part of Admiral Virenius's "reinforcing squadron" for Port Arthur.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: While in the Red Sea, still enroute to Port Arthur, the squadron was recalled back to the Baltic Sea, under protest by Admiral Makarov, who specifically requested Admiral Virenius to continue his mission to Port Arthur. Only the seven destroyers of the reinforcing squadron were allowed to continue to the Far East.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: After her detachment from the reinforcing squadron and her arrival back to home port she underwent new refitting. After refitting, "Aurora" was ordered back to Port Arthur as part of the Russian Baltic Fleet "Aurora" sailed as part of Admiral Oskar Enkvist's Cruiser Squadron whose flagship would be the protected cruiser "Oleg", an element of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky's "Baltic Fleet."


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: On the way to the Far East, "Aurora" received five hits, sustaining light damage from confused friendly fire, which killed the ship's chaplain and a sailor, in the Dogger Bank incident.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: On 27 and 28 May 1905 "Aurora" took part in the Battle of Tsushima, along with the rest of the Russian squadron. During the battle her captain, Captain 1st rank Evgeny Egoriev, and 14 crewmen were killed.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: During World War I "Aurora" operated in the Baltic Sea performing patrols and shore bombardment tasks. In 1915, her armament was changed to fourteen 152 mm (6 in) guns. At the end of 1916, she was moved to Petrograd (the renamed Saint Petersburg) for a major repair. The city was brimming with revolutionary ferment and part of her crew joined the 1917 February Revolution.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: The ship's commanding officer, Captain Mikhail Nikolsky, was killed when he tried to suppress the revolt. A revolutionary committee was created on the ship, with Aleksandr Belyshev elected as captain.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: In 1922 "Aurora" returned to service as a training ship. Assigned to the Baltic Fleet, from 1923, she repeatedly visited the Baltic Sea countries, including Norway in 1924, 1925, 1928 and 1930, Germany in 1929 and Sweden in 1925 and 1928. On 2 November 1927, "Aurora" was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for her revolutionary merits.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: During the Second World War, the guns were taken from the ship and used in the land defence of Leningrad. The ship herself was docked in Oranienbaum port, and was repeatedly shelled and bombed. On 30 September 1941 she was damaged and sunk in the harbour.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: Having long served as a museum ship, from 1984 to 1987 the cruiser was once again placed in her construction yard, the Admiralty Shipyard, for capital restoration. During the overhaul, due to deterioration, the ship's hull below the waterline was replaced with a new welded hull according to the original drawings. The cut off lower hull section was towed into the Gulf of Finland, to the unfinished base at Ruchi, and sunk near the shore. The restoration revealed that some of the ship parts, including the armour plates, were originally made in Britain.


title: Russian cruiser Aurora

text: In January 2013 Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu announced plans to recommission "Aurora" and make her the flagship of the Russian Navy due to her historical and cultural importance. On 21 September 2014 the ship was towed to the Admiralty Shipyard in Kronstadt to be overhauled, to return in 2016. On 16 July 2016 she returned to her home harbour in Saint Petersburg.


title: Nazi gold

text: Nazi gold (, "stolen gold") is gold possessed by Nazi Germany. Much of the focus of the discussion is about how much of this was transferred by Germany to overseas banks during World War II; the ruling Nazi party executed a policy of looting the assets of its victims (nationally and internationally, including from those in concentration camps) to accumulate wealth, at least partly to finance the war efforts. Because gold stores are often private, exact details of transactions and storage are difficult to precisely identify. Gold that was collected was stored at least in part in central depositories. The transfer of gold in return for currency took place in collusion with many individual collaborative institutions. Although Swiss banks have been commonly identified as holding ill-gotten Nazi gold (although a nominally neutral party to the conflict, this in essence helped fund the Nazi war effort), the exact identities of the foreign banking institutions as well as the exact extent of the transactions remains unclear.


title: Nazi gold

text: The present whereabouts of Nazi gold that disappeared into European banking institutions in 1945 has been the subject of several books, conspiracy theories, and a failed civil suit brought in January 2000 against the Vatican Bank, the Franciscan Order, and other defendants.


title: Nazi gold

text: The draining of Germany's gold and foreign exchange reserves inhibited the acquisition of materiel, and the Nazi economy, focused on militarisation, could not afford to deplete the means to procure foreign machinery and parts. Nonetheless, towards the end of the 1930s, Germany's foreign reserves were unsustainably low. By 1939, Germany had defaulted upon its foreign loans and most of its trade relied upon command economy barter.


title: Nazi gold

text: However, this tendency towards autarkic conservation of foreign reserves concealed a trend of expanding official reserves, which occurred through looting assets from annexed Austria, occupied Czechoslovakia, and Nazi-governed Danzig.<ref name="T 236/931">UK Treasury correspondence, T 236/931.</ref> It is believed that these three sources boosted German official gold reserves by US$71m ($1.3b 2020) between 1937 and 1939. To mask the acquisition, the Reichsbank understated its official reserves in 1939 by $40m relative to the Bank of England's estimates.


title: Nazi gold

text: During the war, Nazi Germany continued the practice on a much larger scale. Germany expropriated some $550m in gold from foreign governments, including $223m from Belgium and $193m from the Netherlands. These figures do not include gold and other instruments stolen from private citizens or companies. The total value of all assets allegedly stolen by Nazi Germany remains uncertain.


title: Nazi gold

text: Advancing north from Frankfurt, the US 3rd Army cut into the future Soviet zone when it occupied the western tip of Thuringia. On 4 April 1945 the 90th Infantry Division took Merkers, a few kilometres inside the border in Thuringia. On the morning of the 6th, two military policemen, Pfc. Clyde Harmon and Pfc. Anthony Kline, enforcing the customary orders against civilian circulation during an evening curfew, stopped two women on a road outside Merkers. Since both were French displaced persons, with one of them pregnant attempting to find a doctor, the military policemen decided to bring them back to Pfc. Richard C. Mootz. Luckily for Mootz, he and the women had something in common: they could all speak German. While getting to know them better and escorting them back into the town, they passed the entrance to the Kaiseroda salt mine in Merkers.


title: Nazi gold

text: The two women told Mootz that the mine contained gold stored by the Germans, along with other treasures. Once back in his unit, he attempted to tell three other officers, but they weren't interested in listening. He called other military personnel; by noon, the story had passed on up to the chief of staff and the division's G-5 officer, Lt. Col. William A. Russell, who, in a few hours, had the news confirmed by other DPs and by a British sergeant who had been employed in the mine as a prisoner of war and had helped unload the gold. Russell also turned up an assistant director of the National Gallery in Berlin who admitted he was in Merkers to care for paintings stored in the mine.


title: Nazi gold

text: The next day was Sunday. In the morning, while Colonel Bernard D. Bernstein, Deputy Chief, Financial Branch, G-5, SHAEF, read about the find in the "Stars and Stripes"s Paris edition, 90th Infantry Division engineers blasted a hole in the vault wall to reveal on the other side a room wide and deep. They found 3,682 bags and cartons of German currency, 80 bags of foreign currency, 8,307 gold bars, 55 boxes of gold bullion, 3,326 bags of gold coins, 63 bags of silver, one bag of platinum bars, eight bags of gold rings and 207 bags and containers of Nazi loot that included valuable artwork.


title: Nazi gold

text: On Sunday afternoon, Bernstein, after verifying to the fullest the newspaper story with Lt Col R. Tupper Barrett, Chief, Financial Branch, G-5, 12th Army Group, flew to SHAEF Forward at Rheims where he spent the night, it being too late by then to fly into Germany. At noon on Monday, he arrived at General George S. Patton's Third Army Headquarters with instructions from Eisenhower to check the contents of the mine and arrange to have the treasure taken away. While he was there, orders arrived for him to locate a depository farther back in the SHAEF zone and supervise the moving. (Under the Big Three arrangements, the part of Germany containing Merkers would be taken over by the Soviets for military government control after the fighting ended.) Bernstein and Barrett spent Tuesday looking for a site and finally settled on the Reichsbank building in Frankfurt.


title: Nazi gold

text: The present whereabouts of the Nazi gold that disappeared into European banking institutions in 1945 has been the subject of several books, conspiracy theories, and a civil suit brought in January 2000 in California against the Vatican Bank, the Franciscan Order and other defendants. The suit against the Vatican Bank did not claim that the gold was then in its possession and has since been dismissed.


title: Nazi gold

text: The Swiss National Bank, the largest gold distribution centre in continental Europe before the war, was the logical venue through which Nazi Germany could dispose of its gold. During the war, the SNB received $440m ($8b 2020) in gold from Nazi sources, of which $316m ($5.8b 2020) is estimated to have been looted.


title: Nazi gold

text: On October 21, 1946, the U.S. State Department received a Top Secret report from US Treasury Agent Emerson Bigelow. The report established that Bigelow received reliable information on the matter from the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) or CIC intelligence officials of the US Army. The document, referred to as the "Bigelow Report" (oftentimes as the "Bigelow dispatch", or "Bigelow memo") was declassified on December 31, 1996, and released in 1997.


title: Nazi gold

text: The report asserted that in 1945, the Vatican had confiscated 350 million Swiss francs ($1.5b 2020) in Nazi gold for "safekeeping," of which 150 million Swiss francs had been impounded by British authorities at the Austro-Swiss border. The report also stated that the balance of the gold was held in one of the Vatican's numbered Swiss bank accounts. Intelligence reports, which corroborated the Bigelow Report, also suggested that more than 200 million Swiss francs, a sum largely in gold coins, were eventually transferred to Vatican City or to the Institute for Works of Religion (aka the Vatican Bank), with the assistance of Roman Catholic clergy and the Franciscan Order.


title: Nazi gold

text: Such claims, however, are denied by the Vatican Bank. "There is no basis in reality to the [Bigelow] report", said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, as reported in "Time" magazine.


title: Nazi gold

text: During the war, Portugal, with neutral status, was one of the centres of tungsten production and sold to both Allied and Axis powers. Tungsten is a critical metal for armaments, especially for armour-piercing bullets and shells. The German armaments industry was nearly entirely dependent on the supplies from Portugal.


title: Nazi gold

text: During the war, Portugal was the second largest recipient of Nazi gold, after Switzerland. Initially the Nazi trade with Portugal was in hard currency, but in 1941 the Central Bank of Portugal established that much of this was counterfeit and Portuguese leader António de Oliveira Salazar demanded all further payments in gold.


title: Nazi gold

text: In 2000, Jonathan Diaz, a French bus driver, found documents at the Canfranc International railway station that revealed of 'Nazi Gold' had passed through the station.


title: Nazi gold

text: It is estimated that nearly of Nazi gold were laundered through Swiss banks, with only being returned at the end of the war.


title: Ingénue

text: The ingénue (, , ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent. "Ingénue" may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such roles. The term comes from the feminine form of the French adjective meaning "ingenuous" or innocent, virtuous and candid. The term may also imply a lack of sophistication and cunning.


title: Ingénue

text: Typically, the "ingénue" is beautiful, kind, gentle, sweet, virginal and often naïve; additionally, she is often in mental, emotional, or even physical danger—usually a target of the cad—whom she may have mistaken for the hero. The "ingénue" usually lives with her father, husband, or a father figure. The vamp (femme fatale) is often a foil for the "ingénue" (or the damsel in distress).


title: Ingénue

text: The "ingénue" is often accompanied by a romantic side plot. This romance is usually considered pure and harmless to both participants. In many cases, the male participant is as innocent as the "ingénue". The "ingénue" is also similar to the girl-next-door stereotype.


title: Ingénue

text: In opera and musical theater, the "ingénue" is usually sung by a lyric soprano. The "ingénue" usually has the fawn-eyed innocence of a child but subtle sexual appeal as well.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar (Gaveedra-Seven) is a fictional mutant superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in "The New Mutants" #99 (March 1991), after which he became a member of the superhero team X-Force. He later became an employee of X-Factor Investigations, a private detective firm starring in the series "X-Factor". In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Shatterstar as #29 on their list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics".


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar is an unusual character among Marvel's mutant superheroes in "X-Men" books in that, although a human mutant, he was raised in an alternate dimension known as Mojoworld with no knowledge of his origins. When he arrives on Earth he has little understanding of Earth relationships, customs, and culture. At the time of his introduction, he largely conformed to 1990s comics trends: an emotionally closed off, brutal, macho warrior. Subsequent writers, such as Jeff Loeb, later attempted to show the character's adjustment to human norms and his development of close friendships on Earth, and in particular with his teammate Rictor. An early mystery about the character concerned his strange similarities to the mutant hero Longshot, which was later resolved in a 2010s storyline that explained he was the son of Longshot and Dazzler, sent a century back in time by a future Shatterstar. Paradoxically, his DNA was then used to genetically engineer the creation of Longshot.


title: Shatterstar

text: Since 2007, the character has been portrayed as an outgoing pansexual superhero in an on-off relationship with his superhero colleague Rictor. His creators Nicieza and Liefeld criticized the development, having previously depicted the character as asexual since their initial creation in 1991. "X-Factor" writer Peter A. David introduced the romantic pairing with Rictor, building off of fan desire to see the characters together in a gay relationship. The character has since been prominently featured by Marvel as an example of LGBTQIA representation, portrayed by writers as a "swashbuckling, enthusiastic" figure, in contrast to his earlier stern and taciturn appearances.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar made his live-action debut in the 2018 film "Deadpool 2", with the real name of Rusty, and portrayed by actor Lewis Tan, who will reprise the role in the 2024 film "Deadpool 3", set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar first appeared in "The New Mutants" #99 (March 1991), and was created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld. He also appeared on a pin-up bonus cover in "The New Mutants Annual" #6 (July 1990) as part of a 'Vision to Come', predating his appearance in "The New Mutants" #99.


title: Shatterstar

text: Since his debut Shatterstar has mainly appeared in the original "X-Force" title, with some issues devoted solely to him. In 2005, the character was featured in his own limited series, "X-Force: Shatterstar". Shatterstar became a member of X-Factor in "X-Factor" #45 (August 2009).


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar comes from the planet Mojoworld (about a century in the future, as opposed to the Mojoverse, which co-exists with the contemporary Earth dimension, making him a time traveler as well as a dimension-hopper), which is ruled by the alien tyrant Mojo. There, Shatterstar was created to be a slave; he claims to have had no parents, only a "gestation chamber". He was genetically engineered to have enhanced physical capabilities so he could serve as an arena gladiator.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar learned the arts of battle as a warrior in arenas on Mojoworld, where he participated in combats staged for Mojo's television programs. He developed a strong sense of honor and pride as a warrior, to combat the constant violence and death in his life. Eventually he escaped and joined the Cadre Alliance, the rebel group that sought to overthrow Mojo's dictatorship. From there, he learned the Cadre's language and began taking part in missions.


title: Shatterstar

text: On one of these missions, Arize sent him back in time to Earth to find the X-Men and get their assistance in defeating and overthrowing Mojo. He did not find the X-Men though. Shatterstar was either teleported or traveled back in time to Earth at the point just before Cable reorganized the New Mutants into X-Force. At first, he battled Cable, Domino, and the New Mutants, but after they talked with him the mutants aided him against the Imperial Protectorate. With Cable's assurance that they would help him defeat Mojo (though with the use of time travel it was not urgent that they leave anytime soon) Shatterstar became a founding member of the new team, X-Force.


title: Shatterstar

text: With X-Force on their first mission, Shatterstar battled the Alliance of Evil, and first encountered the New Warriors. He battled Night Thrasher and Silhouette. With X-Force, the New Warriors, Moira MacTaggert's "Muir Island X-Men" team, and X-Factor, he battled Proteus.


title: Shatterstar

text: X-Force's next mission involved attacking the Mutant Liberation Front base, where Shatterstar battled Reaper. With X-Force and Spider-Man, he next battled Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut. With X-Force, he battled the Toad's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.


title: Shatterstar

text: Later Shatterstar discovered, to his bewilderment, that he also had the memories of an Earthling named Benjamin Russell. Soon afterwards, Mojo made Cable and Shatterstar his prisoners and transformed them into digital images for one of his television programs. In the course of the show, Shatterstar was mortally wounded in combat. Mojo's sometime ally Spiral teleported Cable and Shatterstar back into reality, where they regained their true forms. Spiral brought Cable, Shatterstar, Longshot (who was Shatterstar's ally on Mojoworld), and the X-Force member Siryn to the Weisman Institute for the Criminally Insane in Rutland, Vermont. There Spiral directed them to the bedside of one of its patients, a mutant named Benjamin Russell who had no living relatives, had been in a coma since his powers had emerged, and, curiously, looked identical to Shatterstar. Longshot transferred Shatterstar's "uemeur," or soul, into Benjamin Russell's body, and the two became one. This caused Benjamin Russell's body to resemble Shatterstar's original body even closer as it gained the starburst pattern that Shatterstar had around his left eye in his original body and the hair grew to the length of Shatterstar's ponytail in his original body. Restored to peak health and full consciousness, and feeling "whole" for the first time in his life, Shatterstar resumed his work as a member of X-Force.


title: Shatterstar

text: However, this does not explain why Shatterstar had some of Benjamin Russell's memories before they merged, or why they looked so much alike. There are still too many mysteries yet to be explained about Shatterstar's true origin. It was hinted that Shatterstar may have been the child of Longshot and the mutant X-Man Dazzler in the early run of X-Men in 1992, and in 2009, Rob Liefeld confirmed that Shatterstar "was pitched as Longshot's son". A later medical exam conducted by Beast upon Shatterstar revealed that he indeed possessed DNA identical to that of Longshot, his rumored father, along with such genetic features as hollow bones and a lack of white blood cells.


title: Shatterstar

text: Dazzler revealed that she was pregnant with Longshot's child and Longshot suggested the name "Shatterstar" for the unborn child. Longshot and Dazzler returned to Mojoworld to free Longshot's people and Dazzler later appeared without Longshot and without a child. It was speculated that Dazzler miscarried, though it was not established until a 2013 comic by Peter A. David what became of the infant; the child's future self, Shatterstar, wiped his parents' memories of his birth and arranged for his transport to the future.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar accompanied Rictor to the Richter home in Mexico to try to end Rictor's family's arms-dealing business.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar is later seen in Madripoor, earning his money by fighting in arenas. He was sought out by Spiral, who had one of her agents make Shatterstar believe she wanted to kill him. However, Spiral had previously admitted in an emotional confession to Cable, when he demanded that she reveal all that she knew about the answers behind the mysteries of Shatterstar's origin immediately after Shatterstar and Benjamin Russell had been merged, that both young men "meant more than life itself to her" before teleporting away. With a fake quest, Spiral lured Shatterstar to an alternate universe she had conquered and ruled. On that Earth, Spiral had also killed most of that world's heroes and mutants. That Earth's Shatterstar had been killed as well. He was found by that Earth's rebel forces, including Cable and some other members he knew from X-Force. Together, they eventually defeated Spiral. Upon returning to the mainstream Earth, Shatterstar was contacted by Cable and requested to temporarily join him on a mission to defeat the Skornn. Shatterstar agreed, but first Cable wanted him to train with the monks on Mount Xixabangma. After those monks were killed by Skornn's worshipers, Shatterstar was reunited with his old team and they eventually killed the Skornn.


title: Shatterstar

text: Following M-Day and the passing of the Superhuman Registration Act, Shatterstar teamed up with Domino and Caliban (all X-Force members) to break The 198 out of the encampment set up for mutants on the grounds of the Xavier Institute. They took the escapees to a secret base provided to them by Captain America via Nick Fury. While fighting O*N*E, he nearly killed Micromax, claiming that while there is no such thing as murder during war, he had only meant to disable him.


title: Shatterstar

text: In a 2009 "X-Factor" story, Shatterstar, whose mind is being controlled by the villain Cortex, attacks Strong Guy and Rictor. Shatterstar is broken out of his trance-like state when Cortex's control over him is interrupted. Upon recognizing Rictor, he kisses him passionately. Journeying to Detroit, Cortex confronts Longshot and the two fight. As Cortex attempts to gain control over Longshot, he is startled that Longshot, like Shatterstar, is extradimensional (limiting his degree of control) and that the two men are somehow related.


title: Shatterstar

text: Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship experiences conflict because Shatterstar—who now feels romantic and sexual potential within him for the first time—wishes to explore this whole new aspect of his life, desiring an open relationship. Rictor, more fully committed to maintaining theirs as a monogamous relationship, feels hurt by Shatterstar's need for sexual exploration. Things are complicated further when Rahne Sinclair walks in on them during an intimate moment, which leads to a brief fight between Shatterstar and Rahne. Rictor stays to take care of a pregnant Rahne, who attempts to mislead him into thinking the baby is his, while Shatterstar goes off on a mission for X-Factor. On mission, he encounters the child's real father, Hrimhari, which he is able to report back to Rictor.


title: Shatterstar

text: During the "Hell on Earth War" storyline, Shatterstar and Rictor are blasted by the God of Hell, Mephisto, and appear to die, but are in fact sent into Mojoworld's relative past—to the era of Shatterstar's arrival in Mojoworld, as shown in the final X-Factor story arc, "The End of X-Factor". Rictor and the audience learn that Shatterstar is the only Mojoworld rebel who was not created by Arize the Creator, as he mysteriously appeared from the sky one day. Arize then used Shatterstar's genetic material to create Longshot, making Shatterstar Longshot's father genetically. Mojo later attacks Arize's sanctuary, leading Shatterstar to time-teleport him and Rictor. They arrive later in Mojoworld's history, at a time when Dazzler and Longshot are married and fighting a war against Mojo. Dazzler goes into labor, and gives birth to a young Shatterstar, who Shatterstar explains to Rictor he will deliver to the future of Mojoworld to be raised by the people that raised him, but not before he erases Dazzler and Longshot's memories of their having a child.


title: Shatterstar

text: During Secret Empire it is revealed that Shatterstar and Rictor were able to return to the present. He is part of the New Tian residents, along with Rictor and many other mutants. After New Tian was dismantled, Rictor told Iceman that he and Shatterstar were now on a break.


title: Shatterstar

text: Feeling unsure about himself and his relationship with Rictor, Shatterstar ended things between them. Newly single, Shatterstar bought a property using the earnings he had made and named it Manor Crossing. He offered the rooms to multi-dimensional refugees like himself and served as both landlord and protector to his tenants. When Shatterstar's tenants were kidnapped by the Mojoworld mercenary group the Death Sponsors and their leader, former ally Gringrave, Shatterstar vowed to bring them home.


title: Shatterstar

text: With help from Rictor, Shatterstar followed the group to the world of Horus IV, which was ruled by the Grandmaster. Grandmaster tasked Gringrave with the kidnapping, hoping to use a gladiatorial battle between the enemies to satisfy the Horuvians lust for bloody conflict.


title: Shatterstar

text: After Shatterstar killed Gringrave in revenge for her actions, Grandmaster himself entered the arena, seeking to gain control of Shatterstar for all eternity. But Shatterstar refused to concede and defeated Grandmaster by teleporting them to Earth-1218, a world where super-powered beings do not exist and Grandmaster's god powers could not work. Shatterstar was then rescued by Rictor, who reached out across the universe to find him and bring him home.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar was shocked when his former mentor Cable was slain while attempting to protect the time-displaced Iceman. When it was revealed that a younger version of Cable was responsible, Shatterstar partnered with his former X-Force teammates to hunt down Kid Cable and have him answer for his crime. During the search, Shatterstar was turned into one of Ahab's mutant-hunting hounds and attempted to kill the time-displaced Jean Grey. Shatterstar was subdued by Cannonball and freed of Ahab's influence.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar was of the many mutants that joined the mutant nation of Krakoa upon its creation. He was seen alongside many other Krakoans grieving Charles Xavier's death at the hands of anti-mutant super-human criminals that had infiltrated Krakoa and killed many of its residents, including Xavier.


title: Shatterstar

text: At some point, Shatterstar returned to Mojoworld, becoming the dimension's most subscribed and top-ranked live-streamer. However, Shatterstar began to feel trapped by the celebrity status he had created for himself. When fellow live-streamer Wind Dancer arranged for her own death to satisfy her fans, Shatterstar secretly informed the Krakoan X-Factor team of her death so they could claim Wind Dancer's body before Arize could produce a clone and force her to resume her stream. X-Factor was successful in their mission, but were forced to leave Shatterstar behind. They promised to return and rescue him. The team eventually made good on this promise coming back alongside the New Mutants and arranging the freedom of all mutants there. After this they recruited Shatterstar to defeat The Morrigan, freeing Siryn from her control.


title: Shatterstar

text: He was then rewarded with memories of his past, which lead to him seeking Rictor out during the Hellfire Gala, after which they sat on the coastline of the newly created Braddock Isle and caught up with one another. The two seemingly got back together after this and he accompanied him on a mission to Otherworld with Excalibur investigating a brewing war, between Merlyn and King Arthur against mutantkind.


title: Shatterstar

text: After Merlyn overthrew Saturnyne, took control of Otherworld and chased out most of its mutant population, Excalibur decided to have Mordred resurrected on Krakoa using a vial of Otherworldly water in place of the standard genetic material, after finding out he was a mutant because he was prophesied to defeat King Arthur. The Otherworldly magic involved made for an atypical resurrection, as Mordred immediately disappeared from the egg and found himself in Otherworld. Rictor and Shatterstar were among the eight mutants Roma was able to bring back to Otherworld, while there they found former Excalibur member Kylun and shortly afterward Mordred, returned to a young age facing Arthur's forces. He presented himself to the team and asked for asylum. At that moment, Roma Regina gave all those present a magical vision, declaring them the Knights of X, and giving them a quest to find the lost Siege Perilous.


title: Shatterstar

text: His first mission with this new team was to Blightspoke, a poisoned land where the remnants of collapsed realities are buried, and while there he and Rictor fought the Vescora and the team found its only resident Sheriff Gia Whitechapel and her crew imprisoned in a factory the makes solid Brightswill, a mutant depowering substance. The couple destroyed the factory with Gia's help, then the team headed toward Savalith, an ancient civilization founded by vampire-like beings. After regrouping to save Mad Jim Jaspers in The Crooked Marked, Gambit sacrificed himself against King Arthur's forces gaining the team access to Mercator, an Otherworld domain created by Mister M out of the Siege Perilous. There they sank into the quicksand and were psychologically tested by the land, until Rachel Summers was able to break them out of the illusion. Afterwards Arthur's forces, Merlyn's forces and Roma and Saturnyne riding Shogo all converged to their location.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar possesses an overall superhuman level of physical and mental attributes (senses, strength, speed, reflexes, agility, flexibility, stamina, and intelligence), as a result of the extra-dimensional genetic engineering that created him. Shatterstar's strength allows him to wield a heavy barbell as easy as a bō (staff) and slam the Thing of the Fantastic Four through a window of the Baxter Building. Shatterstar's speed and agility are enhanced to the point that members of the Mutant Response Division expect him to be capable of dodging point-blank automatic weapons firing from at least three trained agents.


title: Shatterstar

text: He is an excellent military strategist and has had extensive training in many forms of the martial arts and interpersonal combat of Mojoworld; in particular, he is a master swordsman. His bones are hollow, making him far lighter than he looks and further increasing his athletic and acrobatic skills. He also has enhanced learning capabilities, being able to quickly learn and master languages and technology. He customarily wields two single-edged swords with spiked hand-guards and on occasion carries other weaponry as well. Shatterstar is able to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue much faster than an ordinary human. Injuries such as slashes and stabbings heal completely within a matter of hours. Additionally, he possesses the ability to shift his internal organs within his body, lessening the chances of serious wounds that get through his body armor. He has also been mentioned as having a lack of white blood cells, and DNA identical to his former teammate and father, Longshot.


title: Shatterstar

text: He also has the mutant ability to control frequencies of electricity, which he can use to generate powerful bioelectric vibratory shockwaves, and can even channel bioelectric charges through his metallic blade weaponry; he rarely uses this power as it tends to exhaust him, but once used it as a surprise attack/secret technique to apparently kill Reaper of the MLF.


title: Shatterstar

text: After Shatterstar returned from the Mojoverse, he demonstrated the ability to open an "X" shaped portal capable of teleporting individuals to their desired locations. This ability requires another individual to serve as the "focus," picturing the destination. Creating such portals generates enough energy that it must be done outside, otherwise risking significant damage to any structure within which they are built. Shatterstar also requires a minimum of three to four hours to recharge between portal creation and since it requires his own energies. This ability is not actually artificial but merely another aspect of his ability to channel his energies through his swords. Should his concentration be interrupted while an individual or object is partway through, those parts will be severed, ending up in the separate locations, the destination and the starting point of the portal. During the "Shatterstar" miniseries of 2018 this was partially clarified in that his bioelectric powers are only the means to his teleportation capabilities and teleportation is actually his primary mutation. It was shown that he is able to use his hands to open portals, and does not need either his swords nor an actual other person as anchor if he wants to open a portal to where he already has been (using instead the memory of smell and sight) and he is able to traverse dimensions as well as interstellar distances, but not travel through time by himself.


title: Shatterstar

text: Although Shatterstar was revealed to have a designated "genetic bond mate", Windsong (whom he never met and is now deceased), in the Mojoverse, he later claimed that even though he was fully capable physically, he had never felt any sexual stirrings or romantic love—indicating a form of asexuality—and has long felt "lacking", even in his native dimension.


title: Shatterstar

text: This has since been retconned to be a lie on Shatterstar's part, as it is revealed in his Revised origin in his 2018 mini-series that he already had a sexual/romantic relationship with his gladiatorial mentor/partner Gringrave, which ended when she betrayed him by tricking him into becoming a murderer, causing him to rebel against Mojo V.


title: Shatterstar

text: Since then his emotional state has been fluctuating. While in X-Force, he displayed emotion, having developed a close—and somewhat ambiguous—friendship with Rictor. "X-Force" writer Jeph Loeb hinted that Shatterstar had romantic feelings for Rictor and was planning on making the two a couple, but he left the title before he could make this happen.


title: Shatterstar

text: Writer Peter David reflects that being the subject of "prolonged exposure to Earth" and around Rictor changed things for the warrior, and he began to develop a real romantic capacity. In "X-Factor" (vol. 3) #45 (August 2009), Shatterstar and Rictor kiss. Shortly after the issue was published, Peter David confirmed Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship on his blog and expressed his desire to explore it further.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar's co-creator, Rob Liefeld expressed disapproval with Shatterstar not being asexual, saying that Shatterstar was meant to be "asexual, and struggling to understand human behavior." Fabian Nicieza stated, "In my final issue, I pretty clearly stated that Shatterstar had "no" real understanding of sexuality – homo or hetero – and needed to learn about general human nature before he could define his own sexual identity." He added that "I had planned to make Shatterstar think he was in love with Rictor, but only because he simply didn't know any better about what love "was". He would have figured, this is my best friend, I care about him, he cares about me, we spend time together, fight together, laugh together – I guess I must be in love with him." Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada defended the development, and stated that if Rob Liefeld wanted it changed, he would have to "take it up with the next editor-in-chief". Similarly, Peter David also defended the storyline, citing the work of other writers after Rob Liefield's tenure on the character, who hinted at the attraction between the two characters. David explained in an interview that he took inspiration from "Torchwood" character Captain Jack Harkness, whom David describes as "swashbuckling, enthusiastic and sexually curious about anything with a pulse." As such, David's "X-Factor" sees Shatterstar want to have a sexually open relationship on account of having been (as in Liefeld's stories) sexually and romantically closed off to the world all his life. In the letter column to issue 232, a fan criticized David for conflating bisexuality with polyamory, to which David responded that Shatterstar is in fact both bisexual and polyamorous.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar's double-bladed sword is seen among the relics in the trophy room of the elderly Rick Jones in the dystopian alternate future of "".


title: Shatterstar

text: In an alternate future seen in "X-Force Annual" #1, the X-Force team led by Cannonball were approached by Mojoworld Spineless Ones, Mojo. Spineless Ones were searching for X-Force in hopes of helping them to liberate their planet, this time from Shatterstar, who had since taken over as ruler and oppressed the Spineless Ones. Arriving on Mojoworld, the mutants and their allies found their way to a stadium, where Spineless Ones were being forced to partake in gladiator-style combat. X-Force joined the fray, and when Shatterstar realized the error of his ways, his second-in-command, the Scheduler, betrayed him. Shatterstar, along with X-Force and Arize defeated the Scheduler and his followers.


title: Shatterstar

text: In the Amalgam Comics line, Shatterstar was combined with Starfire of DC Comics to create the new character Shatterstarfire.


title: Shatterstar

text: Shatterstar appears in the live-action film "Deadpool 2" (2018), portrayed by Lewis Tan. This version's real name is Rusty, a human-appearing alien from the Planet Mojoworld, who is recruited into X-Force by Deadpool and Weasel in response to an ad. While on the team's first mission however, crosswinds blow a parachuting Shatterstar into an active helicopter's blades, killing him, and splattering the helicopter's occupants with his (green) blood and severed scalp. In September 2022, Tan revealed he would be reprising his role as Shatterstar in the forthcoming "Deadpool 3" (2024), set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: It made its first flight on May 17, 2020, and was type certified on March 11, 2022. FedEx took delivery of the first production model on May 9, 2022.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: The SkyCourier is a twin-turboprop, high-wing aircraft, available with a 19-passenger accommodation, or in a cargo variant sized for three LD3s.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: The non-pressurized design is built from aluminum and is equipped with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engines and fixed landing gear.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: The Model 408 was launched on November 28, 2017 by Textron Aviation, with an introduction planned for 2020. The 408's design was developed to match FedEx Express requirements, like the earlier Cessna 208 Caravan. FedEx Express will be the launch customer, with an order of "50 cargo aircraft and options for 50 more".


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: Initial wind tunnel tests were completed in March 2018. The first flight was originally planned for 2019 and first deliveries anticipated in 2020. The design will be certified to FAR Part 23 standards.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: FedEx initially planned to take monthly deliveries over four years starting in 2020, and a similar pace for a second batch, if it agrees to that option.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: A full-scale mockup of the 19-passenger cabin was displayed at the October 2018 National Business Aviation Association convention.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: By March 2020, initial ground testing was completed, checking the fuel system, engines, avionics interfaces and electrical systems. The first flight was completed on May 17, 2020, operating from Beech Factory Airport for a 2-hour and 15-minute flight. The prototype aircraft, along with five additional flight and ground test articles, will be used for testing leading to certification. The second prototype first flew in August 2020. It is the first production-conforming aircraft and will be used for testing the engines, propellers, environmental controls and the avionics. A third test aircraft first flew in September 2020.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: In 2021, its equipped price was $6.85M for the freighter and $7.375M for the passenger version. In April 2021 the company anticipated that certification would be completed by year's end and initial deliveries would occur in spring/summer 2022.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: By early 2022, the three test aircraft had accumulated over 2,100 flight hours as the first production aircraft for FedEx was rolled out on February 3, 2022. Cessna was aiming for certification in the first half of the year before first delivery later in 2022. Federal Aviation Administration type certification was granted on March 11, 2022, after 2,100 hours of flight tests.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: It will be available in a 19-passenger variant with large cabin windows and separate crew and passenger doors, or in a cargo variant sized for three LD3s and of payload, featuring a "large cargo door and a flat floor cabin". It will cruise up to , with a maximum range of . Single-point refueling will speed turnarounds.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: The clean-sheet design should offer better cabin flexibility and payload capability, superior performance and lower operating costs than its competitors.


title: Cessna 408 SkyCourier

text: The airframe will be built from traditional aluminum materials and will be equipped with proven Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65 engines, fixed landing gear and Garmin G1000 avionics. The non-pressurized cabin will be tall and wide, with a flat floor and a cargo door.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films "Run Lola Run" (1998), "Heaven" (2002), "" (2006), and "The International" (2009). He collaborated with The Wachowskis as co-director for the science fiction film "Cloud Atlas" (2012) and the Netflix series "Sense8" (2015–2018), and worked on the score for Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix Resurrections" (2021). Tykwer is also well known as the co-creator of the internationally acclaimed German television series "Babylon Berlin" (2017–).


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer was born in Wuppertal, West Germany. Fascinated by film from an early age, he started making amateur Super 8 films at the age of eleven. He later helped out at a local arthouse cinema in order to see more films, including those for which he was too young to buy tickets. After graduating from high school, he applied to numerous film schools around Europe, unsuccessfully.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer moved to Berlin where he worked as a projectionist. In 1987, at the age of 22, he became the programmer of the Moviemento cinema and became known to German directors as a film buff. In Berlin, Tykwer met and befriended the filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, who urged him to create stories from his own experience. He suggested, for example, that Tykwer record arguments with his girlfriend, and turn them into a short film. "Because" (1990) was screened at the Hof International Film Festival and well received by the audience, which inspired Tykwer to continue pursuing filmmaking.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: He made a second short film, "Epilog" (1992), for which he took on personal financial debt, but he also gained valuable technical film making experience. Tykwer wrote the screenplay for, and directed, his first feature film, the psychological thriller "Deadly Maria" (1993). It aired on German television and had a limited theatrical release in Germany and the international film festival circuit.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: In 1994, Tykwer founded the production company X Filme Creative Pool with Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker, and Dani Levy.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer and Becker wrote the screenplay for the comedy "Life Is All You Get" (1997), while working on "Winter Sleepers" (1997), Tykwer's second feature and a much bigger and more complex production than "Deadly Maria". "Winter Sleepers" brought Tykwer to the attention of German cineastes and film festivals, but he was struggling financially.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: His next feature film, "Run Lola Run" (1998), became the most successful German film of 1998, earned $7 million at the US box office, and elevated Tykwer to international fame. As "Lola" was becoming a success worldwide, Tykwer was already at work on his next film, "The Princess and the Warrior" (2000), a love story about a nurse and a former soldier, which was shot in his home town of Wuppertal.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Miramax produced his next film, "Heaven" (2002), based on a screenplay by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, which was shot in English, starred Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi, and was filmed in Turin and Tuscany.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer was approached by French producers to film a short contribution to "Paris, je t'aime" (2006), a film composed of 20 short films by many famous directors depicting love in Paris. Tykwer shot the 10-minute short film, "True", with Natalie Portman and Melchior Beslon. He shot the film quickly with almost no pre-production. The result, Tykwer later said, "symbolises an entire life for me, in just ten minutes."


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer shot the film "Pink Children" (2012) together with 4 German directors about their mentor Rosa von Praunheim.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer's next film was (2006), an adaptation of the novel "Perfume" by the German novelist Patrick Süskind. It was filmed in the Spanish cities of Figueras, Girona and Barcelona. Tykwer later made his Hollywood debut with the big-budgeted 2009 conspiracy thriller "The International," starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, which was shot in several locations ranging from Berlin, Milan, New York City, and Istanbul. The film received a lukewarm reception from the public and critics alike.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Tykwer directed 2016's "A Hologram for the King," starring Tom Hanks and Sarita Choudhury, based on a novel by American novelist Dave Eggers. In 2017, Tykwer co-created the television series "Babylon Berlin", directing and writing the screenplay; set in 1920s Berlin, the series comprises 16 episodes in its first two seasons. A third season premiered in 2020.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: Since "Winter Sleepers", the music for all of Tykwer's films (with the exception of "Heaven") has been composed by Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, and Tykwer, unusual for a film director. The trio gave themselves the name "Pale 3", and it originally worked as a film scoring group, then expanding to produce music unrelated to film.


title: Tom Tykwer

text: In 2009, Tykwer signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse case.


title: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

text: The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determine the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Romania and Georgia in the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.


text: Apart from Romania and Georgia, all remaining 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition. Players born on or after 1 January 2000 are eligible to participate.


text: In the qualifying group stage, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 14.01):


text: To determine the best runner-up from the qualifying group stage, the results against the teams in sixth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 15.02):


text: Each group contained one team from each of Pots A–F (Pots A–E for five-team group). Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following teams would not be drawn in the same group.


text: On 28 February 2022, FIFA and UEFA announced that Russia was suspended from all competitions. On 2 May 2022, UEFA announced that Russia would no longer be allowed to take part in the competition, that their previous results were nullified, and that Group C would continue with five teams.


text: Only the results of the second-placed teams against the first, third, fourth and fifth-placed teams in their group are taken into account, while results against the sixth-placed team in six-team groups are not included. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team are counted for the purposes of determining the ranking. The top-ranked team qualifies directly for the final tournament, while the other teams enter the play-offs.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Joshua Daniel Flagg (born August 20, 1985) is an American real estate agent, television personality, author and contributor to several real estate publications and news outlets.


title: Josh Flagg

text: He is an original cast member on the show "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" on the Bravo television network. The show follows young real estate agents in Los Angeles as they sell high-end homes. Flagg has been recognized by "The Wall Street Journal" as one of the top-ranked agents in California and nationally by sales volume and as a top 25 real estate agent by "The Hollywood Reporter".


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg has authored two books, "A Simple Girl: Stories My Grandmother Told Me", published in 2009, and "Million Dollar Agent: Brokering the Dream", which was published in 2011. Flagg was featured on Forbes' 30 Under 30 in 2012 as a top record-breaking real estate agent. He has also been featured on NBC's "Today Show," ABC's "Good Morning America" E!, "CBS The Insider", "Fox", and Bravo's "" as well as in the pages of "The Wall Street Journal", "Los Angeles Times", "Forbes Magazine", and "Variety", among others.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Josh Flagg was born on August 20, 1985 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Michael and Cindy (Platt) Flagg of Los Angeles. He is the grandson of philanthropist, electronics industry executive and Jewish leader Herman Platt and great-grandson of Benjamin Platt, founder and owner of the nationwide Platt Music Corporation chain of stores. On his father's side, Flagg is the grandson of American (Austrian-born) fashion industry executive and designer Edith Flagg, best known as one of the first designers to import polyester as a fashion textile to the United States. Edith was later known for her reoccurring role on "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" alongside her grandson.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg grew up in Los Angeles where he attended Brentwood School, a private school in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. In 2003, Flagg left Brentwood and attended Beverly Hills High School where he graduated the following year.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg began working as a real estate agent at the age of 18 when he started making residential sales in high end neighborhoods such as Beverly Hills and the Sunset Strip. Flagg began his career while still in high school under real estate broker Bruce Nelson with the John Bruce Nelson firm in Bel Air, followed by a brief stint at the Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills East office in 2007.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Throughout his career as a real estate agent, Flagg has had many record sales, including the highest sale in the history of Brentwood Park and a $25 million residential sale in Beverly Hills. He has also been the listing agent for reputable estates including Merv Griffin's Bel Air estate and the Dorothy Chandler Estate in Hancock Park. He has also sold homes to various celebrities including Adam Levine, Steve Aoki, Shonda Rhymes and Tom Ford.


title: Josh Flagg

text: In 2009, Flagg started working at Keller Williams Westside in Los Angeles, California, where he started "Josh Flagg Estates." According to "Forbes", Flagg has sold over $1 billion worth of property during his career. He later began working with Rodeo Realty.


title: Josh Flagg

text: In 2006, Flagg, along with two other agents, Madison Hildebrand and Chad Rogers, were picked to star in a reality TV series following their careers in the real estate industry. They started filming for the show, "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles", and it aired on Bravo in August 2006. The show continued with the original cast until Season 4 when Josh Altman co-starred along with Flagg and Hildebrand.


title: Josh Flagg

text: After Season 6 concluded in 2013, Hildebrand left the show, making Flagg the only remaining original cast member. Flagg and Altman were joined by James Harris and David Parnes for Season 7. The series aired its 10th Season in 2017, with Flagg, Harris, Hildebrand and Parnes returning and realtor Tracy Tutor joining its cast.


title: Josh Flagg

text: At 14 years old, Flagg began writing a book about his grandmother, Edith Flagg. As her only grandchild, Flagg was close to his grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor and, later, a fashion industry executive. The book, "A Simple Girl: Stories My Grandmother Told Me", was published in 2009. Proceeds from the book's sales go towards the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg published his second book, "Million Dollar Agent: Brokering the Dream", in 2011. The book is an autobiography that details his personal life from growing up in Los Angeles to becoming one of the city's top real estate agents.


title: Josh Flagg

text: In 2012, Flagg started a mobile app called 'Star Maps,' which is a directory of hundreds of properties associated with celebrities in the Los Angeles area. The app uses GPS to direct users and tourists to places of well-known estates or celebrity properties with details about the home and its celebrity-ownership that are cross-referenced with research from the city's public records.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Melissa Rivers presented Flagg with the Next Generation award from the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in 2013.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg lives in Beverly Hills, California, and in January 2013, he purchased a micro-estate above the Sunset Strip from Jeffrey Katzenberg's son writer/producer David Katzenberg. He sold the property in 2015 to Nicolas Pakzad, the son of designer Bijan Pakzad. In June 2015, Flagg bought the estate of Tony award-winning producer Michael Filerman. The estate is located a few doors away from Paul McCartney's home that he bought from Courtney Love, and is located on a street filled with past and present celebrity owners such as Don Johnson, Prince and Ozzy Osbourne. Flagg also owns his late grandmother's penthouse in the Century Towers complex in Century City.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg is openly gay, having come out in March 2011. In July 2016, Flagg proposed to his fiancé, Bobby Boyd, during a flash mob at the Four Seasons Hotel George V. The couple got married on September 10, 2017 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, LA. The couple announced their divorce in March 2022.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg is a collector of fine art, rare automobiles, and one of the largest collectors of Billy Haines furniture in the country. He has traveled to more than sixty countries and has an affinity for architecture and home design.


title: Josh Flagg

text: Flagg serves on the Board of Governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Jewish home. In 2016, he co-chaired the "Rock for Research" event for Cedars-Sinai.


title: Scotty Doesn't Know

text: "Scotty Doesn't Know" is a song written and performed by the American rock band Lustra. Originally written for the 2004 film "EuroTrip", the song contains numerous lewd and humorous references to how Scotty's girlfriend, Fiona, has been cheating on him with other partners for an extended period of time. Ironically, despite Fiona's seemingly obvious affairs, Scotty remains oblivious. Lyrically the song is inspired by the real-life story of the band's high school friend Sheridon, whose middle name was Scotty and is written from the perspective of the person with whom she is having the affair. The song was eventually released on Lustra's 2006 album "Left for Dead". The song peaked at #53 on the U.S. "Billboard" Pop chart, #39 on the Digital Songs chart and at #75 on the Hot 100, mainly due to the high amount of digital downloads.


title: Scotty Doesn't Know

text: In 2018, the song received widespread attention in Australia after featuring in the hijacking of the official website of Scott Morrison, the country's Prime Minister at the time.


title: Scotty Doesn't Know

text: In the film "EuroTrip", Scotty (Scott Mechlowicz) is dumped by his girlfriend Fiona (Kristin Kreuk) for a band's lead singer (Matt Damon). The band performs the song at a party Scotty is attending and the song is praised by many characters in the film (including Scotty's parents and eventually Scotty himself) as being "catchy". The song becomes something of a popular phenomenon, appearing on the radio and across the world; in Bratislava, the song has been remixed and is playing in a popular nightclub. By the end of the film, it has become so widespread and popular that Scotty's best friend Cooper is able to use it as his cell phone ring tone.


title: Scotty Doesn't Know

text: "EuroTrip" film director Jeff Schaffer described "Scotty Doesn't Know" as "what’s the most embarrassing thing you could do that could happen to you after graduation?". Film writer David Mandel, members of Lustra, and Damon attended Harvard College together. The producers chose Lustra's version over another song written by Matt Mahaffey of Self, in which "Scotty Doesn't Know" also repeats in the chorus.


title: Scotty Doesn't Know

text: While "EuroTrip" was not successful in theaters, it did well on home video and became a cult classic. In 2006 "Scotty Doesn't Know" hit the Billboard Hot 100, making Lustra among the first unsigned bands, other than Lisa Loeb, to appear on a record chart.


title: Scotty Doesn't Know

text: On October 18, 2018, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, had his personal website taken over as a prank after his ownership of it was apparently allowed to lapse. Instead of displaying information about the Prime Minister and his policies, the page displayed an image of Morrison with the song "Scotty Doesn't Know" playing on repeat.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied by Nazi Germany "from the economy and trade associations to the media, culture and education". Although the Weimar Constitution remained nominally in effect until Germany's surrender following World War II, near total Nazification had been secured by the 1935 resolutions approved during the Nuremberg Rally, when the symbols of the Nazi Party and the State were fused (see Flag of Germany) and German Jews were deprived of their citizenship (see Nuremberg Laws).


title: Gleichschaltung

text: The Nazis used the word for the process of successively establishing a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied by Nazi Germany. It has been variously translated as "coordination", "Nazification of state and society", "synchronization'", and "bringing into line", but English texts often use the untranslated German word to convey its unique historical meaning. In their seminal work on National Socialist vernacular, "Nazi-Deutsch/Nazi-German: An English Lexicon of the Language of the Third Reich", historians Robert Michael and Karin Doerr define as: "Consolidation. All of the German Volk’s social, political, and cultural organizations to be controlled and run according to Nazi ideology and policy. All opposition to be eliminated."


title: Gleichschaltung

text: The Nazis were able to put into effect due to the legal measures taken by the government during the 20 months following 30 January 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: One day after the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933, President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg, acting at Hitler's request and on the basis of the emergency powers in article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, issued the Reichstag Fire Decree. This decree suspended most citizen rights provided for by the constitution and thus allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for terrorizing of other electors by the (SA) (Nazi paramilitary branch) before the upcoming election.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: In this atmosphere the general election of the took place on 5 March 1933. The Nazis had hoped to win an outright majority and push aside their coalition partners, the German National People's Party. However, the Nazis won only 43.9 percent of the vote, well short of a majority. Nevertheless, though the Party did not receive enough votes to amend the federal constitution, the disaffection with the Weimar government's attempt at democracy was palpable and violence followed. SA units stormed the Social Democrats' headquarters in Königsberg, destroying the premises, even beating Communist Reichstag deputy Walter Schütz to death. Other non-Nazi party officials were attacked by the SA in Wuppertal, Cologne, Braunschweig, Chemnitz, and elsewhere throughout Germany, in a series of violent acts that continued to escalate through the summer of 1933; meanwhile the SA's membership grew to some two-million members.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: When the newly elected first convened on 23 March 1933—not including the Communist delegates because their party had been banned on 6 March—it passed the Enabling Act (). This law gave the government—and in practice, Hitler—the right to make laws without the involvement of the Reichstag. Throughout Germany, the Nazis were able to tighten their grip upon the state thanks to the Enabling Act. For all intents and purposes, the entire Weimar Constitution was rendered void. Soon afterwards the government banned the Social Democratic Party, as an "avalanche" soon buried the other parties. By midsummer, the other parties had been intimidated into dissolving themselves rather than face arrests and concentration camp imprisonment and all non-Nazi ministers of the coalition government had been compelled to resign their posts.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: The "First Law" (, 31 March 1933), passed using the Enabling Act; this law dissolved the diets of all states of Germany except the recently elected Prussian parliament, which the Nazis already controlled. The same law ordered the state diets reconstituted on the basis of the votes in the last Reichstag election (with the exception of Communist seats), and also gave the state governments the same powers the Reich government possessed under the Enabling Act.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: The "Second Law" (, 7 April 1933) deployed one (Reich Governor) in each state, apart from Prussia. These officers, responsible to Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick, were supposed to act as local proconsuls in each state, with near-complete control over the state governments.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: Another measure of Nazi was the passing of the "Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service", decreed on 7 April 1933, which enabled the "co-ordination" of the civil service—which in Germany included not only bureaucrats, but also schoolteachers and professors, judges, prosecutors and other professionals—at both the Federal and state level, and authorized the removal of Jews and Communists from all corresponding positions.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: On 14 July 1933, the Nazis passed the "Law Against the Founding of New Parties", which declared the NSDAP as the country's only legal political party. The "Law Concerning the Reconstruction of the Reich" () (30 January 1934) formally did away with the concept of a federal republic, converting Germany into a highly centralized state. The states were reduced to mere provinces, as their institutions were practically abolished altogether. All of their powers passed to the central government. A law passed on 14 February formally abolished the Reichsrat.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: One of the most important steps towards of German society was the introduction of the "Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda" under Joseph Goebbels in March 1933 and the subsequent steps taken by the Propaganda Ministry to assume full control of the press and all means of social communication. This included oversight of newspapers, magazines, films, books, public meetings and ceremonies, foreign press relations, theater, art and music, radio, and television. To this end, Goebbels said:


title: Gleichschaltung

text: [T]he secret of propaganda [is to] permeate the person it aims to grasp, without his even noticing that he is being permeated. "Of course" propaganda has a purpose, but the purpose must be concealed with such cleverness and virtuosity that the person on whom this purpose is to be carried out doesn't notice it at all.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: This was also the purpose of "co-ordination": to ensure that every aspect of the lives of German citizens was permeated with the ideas and prejudices of the Nazis. From March to July 1933 and continuing afterwards, the Nazi Party systematically eliminated or co-opted non-Nazi organizations that could potentially influence people. Those critical of Hitler and the Nazis were suppressed, intimidated or murdered.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: Every national voluntary association, and every local club, was brought under Nazi control, from industrial and agricultural pressure groups to sports associations, football clubs, male voice choirs, women's organizations—in short, the whole fabric of associational life was Nazified. Rival, politically oriented clubs or societies were merged into a single Nazi body. Existing leaders of voluntary associations were either unceremoniously ousted, or knuckled under of their own accord. Many organizations expelled leftish or liberal members and declared their allegiance to the new state and its institutions. The whole process ... went on all over Germany. ... By the end, virtually the only non-Nazi associations left were the army and the Churches with their lay organizations.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: For example, in 1934, the government founded the Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, later the Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, as the official sports governing body. All other German sport associations gradually lost their freedom and were coopted into it. Besides sports, another more important part of the "co-ordination" effort was the purging of the civil service, both at the Federal and state level. Top Federal civil servants—the State Secretaries—were largely replaced if they weren't sympathetic to the Nazi program, as were the equivalent bureaucrats in the states, but Nazification took place at every level. Civil servants rushed to join the Nazi Party, fearing that if they did not they would lose their jobs. At the local level, mayors and councils were terrorized by Nazi stormtroopers of the SA and SS into resigning or following orders to replace officials and workers at local public institutions who were Jewish or belonged to other political parties.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: The ' also included the formation of various organizations with compulsory membership for segments of the population, in particular the youth of Germany. Boys first served as apprentices in the (cubs), beginning at the age of six, and at age ten, entered the (Young German Boys) and served there until entering the Hitler Youth proper at age fourteen. Boys remained there until age eighteen, at which time they entered into the (Labor Service) and the armed forces. Girls became part of the (Young Maidens) at age ten and at age fourteen were enrolled in the ' (League of German Maidens). At eighteen, BDM members went generally to the eastern territory for their , or , a year of labor on a farm. By 1940, membership in the Hitler Youth numbered some eight million.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: An all-embracing recreational organization for workers, called ("Strength Through Joy") was set up under the auspices of the German Labor Front ( or DAF), which had been created when the Nazis forcibly dissolved the trade unions on 2 May 1933, thus nullifying the labor movement. Hobbies were regimented, and all private clubs, whether they be for chess, football, or woodworking, were brought under the control of Strength Through Joy, which also provided vacation trips, skiing, swimming, concerts, and ocean cruises. Some 43 million Germans enjoyed trips via the Strength Through Joy initiative and it was this effort which helped inspire the idea of Germans enjoying the acquisition of automobiles and the construction of the "Autobahn". It was the largest of the many organizations established by the Nazis and a propaganda success. Workers were also brought in line with the party, through activities such as the , a national vocational competition.


title: Gleichschaltung

text: Historian Claudia Koonz explains that the word stems from the arena of electricity, where it refers to converting power from alternating current to direct current, which is called "rectification" in English; the word translates literally as "phasing". Used in its socio-political sense, has no equivalent in any other language. Other similar terms were also used by the Nazis, such as , which constituted the removal or "switching off" of anyone who stained or soiled the German nation. This seemingly clinical terminology captured both the mechanical and biological meaning for members of German society, as one German citizen visiting London explained, "It means the same stream will flow through the ethnic body politic []."


title: Gleichschaltung

text: Former University of Dresden professor of romance languages, Viktor Klemperer—dismissed from his post for being Jewish in 1935 and who only survived his time in Germany due to being married to a prominent German woman—collected a list of terms employed in everyday speech by the Nazis, which he discussed in his book, "LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii", published in English as "The Language of the Third Reich". In this work, Klemperer contends that the Nazis made the German language itself, a servant to their ideology through its repetitive use, eventually permeating the very "flesh and blood" of its people. If it was sunny and pleasant, it was described as "Hitler weather" for instance, or if you failed to comply with Nazi ideals of racial and social conformity, you were "switched off."


title: Gleichschaltung

text: When the blatant emphasis of racial hatred of others seemed to reach an impasse in the school system, through radio broadcasts, or on film reels, the overseers of Nazi propaganda switched to strategies that focused more on togetherness and the "we-consciousness" of the collective Volk, but the mandates of Nazi "coordination" remained: pay homage to the Führer, expel all foreigners, sacrifice for the German people, and welcome future challenges. While greater German social and economic unity was produced through the "Gleichschaltung" initiatives of the regime, it was at the expense of individuality and to the social detriment of any nonconformist; and worse—it contributed to and reinforced the social and racial exclusion of anyone deemed an enemy by National Socialist doctrine. The Nazi or "synchronization" of German society—along with a series of Nazi legislation—was part and parcel to Jewish economic disenfranchisement, the violence against political opposition, the creation of concentration camps, the Nuremberg Laws, the establishment of a racial , the seeking of , and the violent mass destruction of human life deemed somehow less valuable by the National Socialist government of Germany.