title: Venus of Urbino

text: On 20 December 1534 Titian wrote to Ippolito's chamberlain in Rome saying that he had been working on a painting of a woman for the cardinal. Ippolito died in August 1535, and apparently never saw the painting, which was still in Titian's studio when Guidobaldo II della Rovere, the 24-year-old son of the Duke of Urbino came in January 1538 to sit for a portrait. As letters from him and his mother show, he was extremely keen to buy it, and did so some months later; he refers to it simply as "the nude woman", and was worried Titian would sell it to someone else. Later that year he inherited the Duchy of Urbino on the death of his father, hence the painting acquired the name by which it is usually known, although it seems it was mostly kept in Pesaro from early on.


title: Venus of Urbino

text: Alternatively, the painting may have been commissioned by Guidobaldo, possibly to celebrate his marriage in 1534 to the 10-year-old Giulia Varano, which made him Duke of Camerino, or its consummation, which was probably a few years later. Some critics have seen references to marriage in details such as the maids at the "cassone", where the "corredo" or trousseau of clothes generally given to the bride by her husband's family were stored. Rona Goffen sees Venus's hand "caressing" her genitals as such a reference, as it was believed at the time that a female "emission" or orgasm was necessary for conception to take place, and female masturbation was therefore allowed only in cases where the male had ejaculated and withdrawn. The production of heirs was of great concern in elite marriages. Even the little dog on the bed has been brought into the argument; an identical dog is shown in Titian's portrait of the duke's mother Eleonora Gonzaga, the reasoning being that the dog identifies the house as a della Rovere home, and that it remains quiet indicates that the viewer is the husband of the woman.


title: Venus of Urbino

text: A recent theory by Józef Grabski suggests that the painting represents an allegory of marital love between the famous Italian poet Vittoria Colonna and her deceased husband, Fernando d'Ávalos. Grabski supports his theory through analyzing various visual clues and symbols, the most prominent being the classic column in front of the trees in the window in the right half, a small detail on the painting that imitates the Colonna Family coat of arms.


title: Venus of Urbino

text: In 1624, as the Papacy moved to fully annex the duchy to the Papal States, the della Rovere court moved to Pesaro, where the painting hung in the Villa Imperiale. It joined the Medici family collections in 1633 when the last della Rovere, Vittoria della Rovere, married Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was moved to the Uffizi in 1736, and has remained there ever since, apart from visits to exhibitions which in the 21st century have included Madrid, Brussels, Tokyo, Venice and Urbino. It has long been famous, as is shown by its prominent placing at the front of the gallery group portrait by Johan Zoffany of the "Tribuna of the Uffizi" of the 1770s.


title: Venus of Urbino

text: In his 1880 travelogue "A Tramp Abroad", Mark Twain called the "Venus of Urbino" "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses". He proposed that "it was painted for a bagnio [brothel], and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong", adding humorously that "in truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery". Twain does this to juxtapose the artistic license (for nudity, for example) allowed in painting, as opposed to the restrictions and Victorian morality imposed on literature in the "last eighty or ninety years". In the same passage, Twain also mocks the fig leaves placed in the 19th century on nude statues in Rome, which had "stood in innocent nakedness for ages."


title: Venus of Urbino

text: The "Venus of Urbino" was one of the inspirations for Édouard Manet's 1863 "Olympia", in which the figure of Venus is replaced with the model Victorine Meurent.


title: Venus of Urbino

text: Lorenzo Bartolini developed the same theme in sculpture with his Venus (about 1830), based on the painting that his friend J.A.D. Ingres copied for him from the Titian version. The original sculpture is located at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier; a copy is at the Lady Lever Art Gallery near Liverpool.


title: Adrian Bower

text: Adrian Bower (born 20 August 1970) is an English actor, best known for his role as physical education and geography teacher Brian Steadman in the first three series of the British comedy series "Teachers". In 2015, he played Leofric in "The Last Kingdom", a British television drama adapted from Bernard Cornwell's historical novels series "The Saxon Stories".


title: Adrian Bower

text: He was the winner of the third series of Celebrity Poker Club, using the nickname "The Tower" in relation to his 6'4" height.


title: Adrian Bower

text: Other television work includes the first series of "Gimme Gimme Gimme", the ITV drama series "Talk to Me" and the 2005 remake of "The Quatermass Experiment", which was transmitted live on BBC Four. He also guest-starred in "Dirty Filthy Love", "Monroe" and "Rev." and played John Lennon's best friend Pete Shotton in the BBC4 drama "Lennon Naked".


title: Adrian Bower

text: Bower's theatre credits include: Andy in "Brassed Off" (Royal National Theatre), Heracles in Simon Armitage's adaptation of Euripides classic "Mr Heracles" (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Steve in "Celebration" (Chichester) and Dan in "Hotel in Amsterdam" (Donmar Warehouse). He also played opposite John Simm in "Elling" at the Trafalgar Studios, Lovbourg in Hedda Gate Theatre.


title: Adrian Bower

text: Bower also played Greg in the Sky Living comedy-drama "Mount Pleasant" and DC Harihan in Charlie Brooker's "A Touch of Cloth".


title: Rik Smits

text: Rik Smits (born 23 August 1966), nicknamed "the Dunking Dutchman" is a Dutch former professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The center was drafted by the Pacers out of Marist College with the second overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft. An NBA All-Star in 1998, Smits reached the NBA Finals in 2000.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits was born in Eindhoven. He started playing basketball at age 14 at PSV–Almonte in Eindhoven. Smits left for the United States in 1984, where he played for Marist College for four years.


title: Rik Smits

text: In 1986, Smits led Marist to the ECAC Metro Conference tournament Championship and advanced to play in their first NCAA tournament in school history. In 1987, he led the Red Foxes to 20 wins for the first time in its Division I history and another appearance in the NCAA tournament.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits briefly appeared in the 1988 film "Coming to America" during a scene filmed in 1987 while Marist played against St. John's at Madison Square Garden.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits was drafted second overall in the 1988 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers, becoming the first Marist player to play in the NBA. His #45 jersey was later retired by Marist.


title: Rik Smits

text: He spent his entire professional career playing for the Indiana Pacers. With the Pacers, Smits originally backed up Steve Stipanovich, but when Stipanovich suffered a career-ending injury, Smits ended up starting 71 games in his rookie year, averaging 11.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and earning All-Rookie First Team honors. Smits continued to average double-digit point totals in every year of his career, but it wasn't until the 1993–94 NBA season that Smits really came into his own as a team leader.


title: Rik Smits

text: Throughout the Pacers' playoff runs in the mid and late 1990s, Smits was considered the number two player, behind Reggie Miller, on the deeply talented Pacers. Smits' highest point-per-game average was in 1995–96 when he averaged 18.5 points per game, relatively modest by NBA "superstar" standards, but the Dutchman endeared himself to Pacers fans with outstanding playoff performances, most notably in Game 4 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals, where he made a buzzer-beating shot to tie the series.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team in 1998, delivering 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists, including a spectacular behind-the-back pass to New Jersey Nets forward Jayson Williams who followed immediately with a slam dunk.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits developed nerve damage in his feet from wearing tight shoes as a teenager. To help recover during the off-season, he spent time relaxing at his summer retreat in Walton, New York, where he was a regular attendee of The Afton Fair. Foot problems hobbled Smits for the majority of his career, and he retired at the conclusion of the Pacers' 1999–2000 season, after Indiana was defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals 4 games to 2.


title: Rik Smits

text: After four surgeries to repair nerve damage to his feet, Smits underwent intensive back surgery in November 2009 to correct cracks in one joint that link his vertebrae. Smits has also undergone arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and had bone chips removed from his left ankle.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits was selected to the Pacers' 40th Anniversary Team, which was chosen by the fans. He ended up with the fourth most votes, trailing only Reggie Miller, Mel Daniels and Jermaine O'Neal.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits has also played for the senior Netherlands national team. he played at 1986 FIBA World Championship, and at EuroBasket 1987.


title: Rik Smits

text: After his retirement, Smits has devoted his time to collecting and racing vintage motocross motorcycles. On 30 November 2011, Smits was featured in Yahoo! Sports, about his formal participation in competitive motocross racing. In 2008 Smits won the AHRMA Vintage National Premier 500 Intermediate Class riding a BSA 500.


title: Rik Smits

text: In 1998, near the end of his playing career, Smits bought a home in the Indianapolis suburb of Zionsville, Indiana, and continued to live in the home for nearly 20 years, expanding it in 2014 to include a regulation-size basketball half-court. Smits used two barns on the property to house his motorcycles and cars, and built a dedicated motorcycle track in the rear of the property. He and his girlfriend put the property up for sale in the summer of 2017, shortly after they moved to Arizona.


title: Rik Smits

text: Smits has a son named Derrik Smits, listed at and , who played for the Valparaiso University men's basketball team from 2016 to 2019 and played his final season of college eligibility in 2019–20 at Butler University. Derrik was forced to redshirt the 2015–16 season due to an injury, and began play the following season at Valparaiso. He graduated from Valparaiso in December 2018, taking graduate-level courses in the 2019 spring term to maintain his basketball eligibility; his graduation made him immediately eligible to play at Butler.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Gervase Duan Spradlin (August 31, 1920 – July 24, 2011) was an American actor, attorney, and businessman. Known for his distinctive accent and voice, he often played devious authority figures. He is credited in over 70 television and film productions, and performed with actors such as Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Garner, Charlton Heston, George C. Scott, and Johnny Depp.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Spradlin was born on August 31, 1920 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. His parents both worked as schoolteachers. Spradlin obtained his bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma. He was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. He then served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II, where he was stationed in China.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: After his military service, Spradlin returned to the University of Oklahoma, where he completed a law degree in 1948.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Spradlin's career as an attorney began in Venezuela. He transitioned to become an independent oil producer, forming Rouge Oil Company.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Before he turned to acting, he was active in local politics, and he campaigned for John F. Kennedy in 1959.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: A notable break for Spradlin resulted from his work in television in the 1960s. Casting director Fred Roos had cast Spradlin in television shows such as "I Spy" (as the immediate superior of Pentagon spies Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott in the episode "Tonia"), "Mannix" (in an uncredited role as Senator Sid Abernathy in the episode "Turn Every Stone"), and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." (as visiting Colonel Driscoll in the episode "Gomer Pyle Super Chef").


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: He worked with Jack Webb on the series "Dragnet", playing multiple roles from a safecracker to a low-level con man. In 1968, he appeared as a false police sergeant, Preston C. Densmore, in S10:E13, “The Phony Police Racket”. Spradlin portrayed Commander Maurice E. "Germany" Curts, Communications Officer, U.S. Pacific Fleet, in an uncredited role in "Tora! Tora! Tora!" in 1970. He was also in the counter-culture film "Zabriskie Point" (1970).


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: When Roos co-produced "The Godfather Part II", he recommended Spradlin for the role of Pat Geary, a corrupt U.S. senator from Nevada, and Spradlin played a senator in the 1976 TV miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man Book II". In 1977, he guest-starred along with Ruth Gordon and Mariette Hartley in the "Columbo" episode, "Try and Catch Me". His film credits included "One on One" (1977) (as an authoritarian basketball coach) and "Apocalypse Now" (as General Corman, the somber officer who assigns Martin Sheen's character to the search mission). He played the head football coach B.A. Strother in "North Dallas Forty" (1979), and "Carolina Military Institute" commandant General Durrell in "The Lords of Discipline" (1983).


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: In 1984, Spradlin played a villainous Southern sheriff in "Tank". In 1985, Spradlin portrayed President Lyndon B. Johnson in the mini-series "Robert Kennedy and His Times", based on the book of the same name by presidential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. In 1986, he again portrayed an American president when he played Andrew Jackson in the television movie "Houston: The Legend of Texas". Also in 1986, he starred in the miniseries "Dream West". In 1988, he played Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in the miniseries "War and Remembrance". In 1989, Spradlin played a small role in the film "The War of the Roses" as a divorce lawyer, with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Spradlin played a minister in "Ed Wood" (1994), a conspirator in the attempted assassination of a state governor in "Nick of Time" (1995), Bishop Dyer in the TV movie "Riders of the Purple Sage" (1996), which was adapted from Zane Grey's 1912 novel of the same name, and the President of the United States in "The Long Kiss Goodnight" (1996).


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Spradlin retired from acting after "Dick" (1999), in which he played Ben Bradlee. Although lending his likeness, he did not reprise his role as Pat Geary (whom in-game was voiced by Chris Edgerly) in Electronic Arts' video game adaptation of "The Godfather Part II" in 2009.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Spradlin's first wife, Nell, with whom he had two daughters, died in 2000. In 2002, he married Frances Hendrickson.


title: G. D. Spradlin

text: Spradlin died of natural causes at his cattle ranch in San Luis Obispo, California, on July 24, 2011. He was 90 years old.


title: The End, So Far

text: The End, So Far is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot, released on September 30, 2022, by Roadrunner Records. This is the band's final album to be released through Roadrunner, whom the band signed with in 1998.


title: The End, So Far

text: On May 19, 2021, percussionist Shawn Crahan stated that the band had been currently making "god music". In an article published by "Loudwire" on June 9, 2021, Crahan revealed that a new Slipknot album would 'hopefully' be released in 2021. He also added that the band would be parting ways with Roadrunner Records following the release of the album.


title: The End, So Far

text: In November 2021, the band started teasing new material on a new domain "thechapeltownrag.com". Several snippets of a song were shown on the website leading to speculation of a new single that the band would later confirm on November 4, with the single titled "The Chapeltown Rag" slated for release the following day alongside its live debut at the Knotfest Roadshow in Los Angeles, California on November 5, 2021. In December 2021, Taylor revealed that the band were planning on mixing their seventh studio album in January, and hoped to release it by April 2022. He also stated that he preferred the material on their forthcoming seventh studio album to that on "We Are Not Your Kind".


title: The End, So Far

text: In February 2022, lead singer Corey Taylor announced in an interview with Eddie Trunk that the recording of the album had finished, and that it was in the process of being mixed. He described the record as a "heavier version" of their 2004 album "".


title: The End, So Far

text: On July 19, 2022, the band announced the album along with the album's second single "The Dying Song (Time to Sing)". On August 5, 2022, the band released the third single, "Yen". The full album was released on September 30, 2022.


title: The End, So Far

text: On August 22, 2022, the band announced that there would be nine special editions of the album to be released, each featuring a picture of one of the band members on the cover.


title: The End, So Far

text: The album is dedicated to co-founder and former drummer Joey Jordison, who died in his sleep in July 2021. The original vinyl and cassette releases of "The End, So Far" were misprinted as The End For Now... In a Reddit AMA, Corey Taylor said that "The End, So Far" was always the album's intended title, and that the misprint had been caused by "somebody [who] fucked up and didn't double check" with the band.


title: The End, So Far

text: "The End, So Far" received generally favorable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 80, based on 10 reviews.


title: The End, So Far

text: Luke Morton of "Kerrang!" commented that "The End, So Far" was more of an album "rather than a selection of songs". He welcomed the new direction the band had taken with tracks such as the opening track "Adderall", a "six-minute, synth-driven track - with all clean singing", while still noting that the album retained Slipknot's trademarked heaviness, with "primal screams, blastbeats, and more scratching wizardry from Sid Wilson than we’ve heard in a long time".


title: The End, So Far

text: Andrew Trendell of "NME" gave the album four stars out of five, comparing the band's new direction to David Bowie, Tool and Stone Temple Pilots, while also noting that heavier tracks like "Hivemind" and "Heirloom" would provide comfort for "Slipknot fans of old".


title: The End, So Far

text: "Blabbermouth.net", too, noted the band's new musical style, highlighting that, while singles such as "The Dying Song" and "The Chapeltown Rag" provided "skull-rattling heaviness and ululating waves of deathly riffing," tracks such as "Adderall" and "Medicine for the Dead" showed the band's, and in particular vocalist Taylor's, versatility and evolution.


title: The End, So Far

text: Cervante Popé of Consequence Of Sound gave the album 9.1 out 10. "As a new release, it’s got more than enough exploratory factors to keep the band from sounding stale, but it also stays true to the sounds that have turned us all into maggots in the first place."


title: The End, So Far

text: Reviewing the album for AllMusic, James Christopher Monger was also divided about it; "The End, So Far may not be a home run, but it proves that the band are still in it to win it, even if they're playing the long game."


title: The End, So Far

text: "The End, So Far" debuted within the top ten in over ten countries worldwide, including peaks at the summit in several countries including Australia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the album debuted at number 2 on the "Billboard 200", the first album of theirs not to debut at the summit since 2004's "" while selling 59,000 copies in the first week with 50,500 coming from pure sales. In the UK, the album outsold the reissue of George Michael's "Older" by 340 units after trailing to it in the midweek chart update, claiming the band its third number-one on the UK Albums Chart following 2001's "Iowa" and 2019's predecessor "We Are Not Your Kind". It sold a total of 14,068 copies, 12,083 of which came from pure sales while also collecting an additional 2,005 album-equivalent units from streaming.


title: Rare disease

text: A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, an orphan disease is a rare disease whose rarity means there is a lack of a market large enough to gain support and resources for discovering treatments for it, except by the government granting economically advantageous conditions to creating and selling such treatments. Orphan drugs are ones so created or sold.


title: Rare disease

text: Most rare diseases are genetic and thus are present throughout the person's entire life, even if symptoms do not immediately appear. Many rare diseases appear early in life, and about 30% of children with rare diseases will die before reaching their fifth birthdays. With only four diagnosed patients in 27 years, ribose-5-phosphate isomerase deficiency is considered the rarest known genetic disease.


title: Rare disease

text: No single cut-off number has been agreed upon for which a disease is considered rare. A disease may be considered rare in one part of the world, or in a particular group of people, but be common in another.


title: Rare disease

text: The US organisation Global Genes has estimated that more than 300 million people worldwide are living with one of the approximately 7,000 diseases they define as "rare" in the United States.


title: Rare disease

text: There is no single, widely accepted definition for rare diseases. Some definitions rely solely on the number of people living with a disease, and other definitions include other factors, such as the existence of adequate treatments or the severity of the disease.


title: Rare disease

text: In the United States, the Rare Diseases Act of 2002 defines "rare disease" strictly according to prevalence, specifically "any disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States", or about 1 in 1,500 people. This definition is essentially the same as that of the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, a federal law that was written to encourage research into rare diseases and possible cures.


title: Rare disease

text: In Japan, the legal definition of a rare disease is one that affects fewer than 50,000 patients in Japan, or about 1 in 2,500 people.


title: Rare disease

text: However, the European Commission on Public Health defines rare diseases as "life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases which are of such low prevalence that special combined efforts are needed to address them". The term "low prevalence" is later defined as generally meaning fewer than 1 in 2,000 people. Diseases that are statistically rare, but not also life-threatening, chronically debilitating, or inadequately treated, are excluded from their definition.


title: Rare disease

text: The definitions used in the medical literature and by national health plans are similarly divided, with definitions ranging from 1/1,000 to 1/200,000.


title: Rare disease

text: Because of definitions that include reference to treatment availability, a lack of resources, and severity of the disease, the term "orphan disease" is used as a synonym for "rare disease". But in the United States and the European Union, "orphan diseases" have a distinct legal meaning.


title: Rare disease

text: The United States' Orphan Drug Act includes both rare diseases and any non-rare diseases "for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the United States a drug for such disease or condition will [be] recovered from sales in the United States of such drug" as "orphan diseases".


title: Rare disease

text: The European Organization for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS) also includes both rare diseases and neglected diseases into a larger category of "orphan diseases".


title: Rare disease

text: Prevalence (number of people living with a disease at a given moment), rather than incidence (number of new diagnoses in a given year), is used to describe the impact of rare diseases. The Global Genes Project estimates some 300 million people worldwide are affected by a rare disease.


title: Rare disease

text: The European Organization for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS) estimates that between 3.5 and 5.9% of the world's population is affected by one of approx. 6,000 distinct rare diseases identified to-date. European Union has suggested that between 6 and 8% of the European population could be affected by a rare disease sometime in their lives.


title: Rare disease

text: About 80% of rare diseases have a genetic component and only about 400 have therapies, according to Rare Genomics Institute.


title: Rare disease

text: Rare diseases can vary in prevalence between populations, so a disease that is rare in some populations may be common in others. This is especially true of genetic diseases and infectious diseases. An example is cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease: it is rare in most parts of Asia but relatively common in Europe and in populations of European descent. In smaller communities, the founder effect can result in a disease that is very rare worldwide being prevalent within the smaller community. Many infectious diseases are prevalent in a given geographic area but rare everywhere else. Other diseases, such as many rare forms of cancer, have no apparent pattern of distribution but are simply rare. The classification of other conditions depends in part on the population being studied: All forms of cancer in children are generally considered rare, because so few children develop cancer, but the same cancer in adults may be more common.


title: Rare disease

text: About 40 rare diseases have a far higher prevalence in Finland; these are known collectively as Finnish heritage disease. Similarly, there are rare genetic diseases among the Amish religious communities in the US and among ethnically Jewish people.


title: Rare disease

text: A rare disease is defined as one that affects fewer than 200,000 people across a broad range of possible disorders. Chronic genetic diseases are commonly classified as rare. Among numerous possibilities, rare diseases may result from bacterial or viral infections, allergies, chromosome disorders, degenerative and proliferative causes, affecting any body organ. Rare diseases may be chronic or incurable, although many short-term medical conditions are also rare diseases.


title: Rare disease

text: The NIH's Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR) was established by H.R. 4013/Public Law 107–280 in 2002. H.R. 4014, signed the same day, refers to the "Rare Diseases Orphan Product Development Act". Similar initiatives have been proposed in Europe. The ORDR also runs the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN). The RDCRN provides support for clinical studies and facilitating collaboration, study enrollment and data sharing.


title: Rare disease

text: ensure no one gets left behind just because they have a rare disease", with 51 recommendations for care and treatment across the UK to be implemented by 2020. Health services in the four constituent countries agreed to adopt implementation plans by 2014, but by October 2016, the Health Service in England had not produced a plan and the all-party parliamentary group on Rare, Genetic and Undiagnosed Conditions produced a report "Leaving No One Behind: Why England needs an implementation plan for the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases" in February 2017. In March 2017 it was announced that NHS England would develop an implementation plan. In January 2018 NHS England published its "Implementation Plan for the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases". In January 2021 the Department of Health and Social Care published the "UK Rare Diseases Framework", a policy paper which included a commitment that the four nations would develop action plans, working with the rare disease community, and that "where possible, each nation will aim to publish the action plans in 2021". NHS England published "England Rare Diseases Action Plan 2022" in February 2022.


title: Rare disease

text: Organisations around the world are exploring ways of involving people affected by rare diseases in helping shape future research, including using online methods to explore the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.


title: Rare disease

text: Rare Disease Day is held in Europe, Canada, the United States and India on the last day of February to raise awareness for rare diseases.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Vaginal yeast infection, also known as candidal vulvovaginitis and vaginal thrush, is excessive growth of yeast in the vagina that results in irritation. The most common symptom is vaginal itching, which may be severe. Other symptoms include burning with urination, a thick, white vaginal discharge that typically does not smell bad, pain during sex, and redness around the vagina. Symptoms often worsen just before a woman's period.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Vaginal yeast infections are due to excessive growth of "Candida". These yeast are normally present in the vagina in small numbers. Vaginal yeast infections are typically caused by the yeast species "Candida albicans". "Candida albicans" is a common fungus often harbored in the mouth, digestive tract, or vagina without causing adverse symptoms. The causes of excessive "Candida" growth are not well understood, but some predisposing factors have been identified.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: It is not classified as a sexually transmitted infection; however, it may occur more often in those who are frequently sexually active. Risk factors include taking antibiotics, pregnancy, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. Tight clothing, type of underwear, and personal hygiene do not appear to be factors. Diagnosis is by testing a sample of vaginal discharge. As symptoms are similar to that of the sexually transmitted infections, chlamydia and gonorrhea, testing may be recommended.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Treatment is with an antifungal medication. This may be either as a cream such as clotrimazole or with oral medications such as fluconazole. Despite the lack of evidence, wearing cotton underwear and loose fitting clothing is often recommended as a preventive measure. Avoiding douching and scented hygiene products is also recommended. Probiotics have not been found to be useful for active infections.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Around 75% of women have at least one vaginal yeast infection at some point in their lives, while nearly half have at least two. Around 5% have more than three infections in a single year. It is the second most common cause of vaginal inflammation after bacterial vaginosis.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: The symptoms of vaginal thrush include vulval itching, vulval soreness and irritation, pain or discomfort during sexual intercourse (superficial dyspareunia), pain or discomfort during urination (dysuria) and vaginal discharge, which is usually odourless. Although the vaginal discharge associated with yeast infection is often described as thick and lumpy, like paper paste or cottage cheese, it can also be thin and watery, or thick and of uniform texture. In one study, women with vaginal yeast infection were no more likely to describe their discharge as cottage-cheese like than women without.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: As well as the above symptoms of thrush, vulvovaginal inflammation can also be present. The signs of vulvovaginal inflammation include erythema (redness) of the vagina and vulva, vaginal fissuring (cracked skin), edema (swelling from a build-up of fluid), also in severe cases, satellite lesions (sores in the surrounding area). This is rare, but may indicate the presence of another fungal condition, or the herpes simplex virus (the virus that causes genital herpes).


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Infection occurs in about 30% of women who are taking a course of antibiotics by mouth. Broad-spectrum antibiotics kill healthy bacteria in the vagina, such as "Lactobacillus". These bacteria normally help to limit yeast colonization.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: In pregnancy, higher levels of estrogen make a woman more likely to develop a yeast infection. During pregnancy, the "Candida" fungus is more common, and recurrent infection is also more likely. There is tentative evidence that treatment of asymptomatic candidal vulvovaginitis in pregnancy reduces the risk of preterm birth.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: While infections may occur without sex, a high frequency of intercourse increases the risk. Personal hygiene methods or tight-fitting clothing, such as tights and thong underwear, do not appear to increase the risk.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Those with poorly controlled diabetes have increased rates of infection while those with well controlled diabetes do not. The risk of developing thrush is also increased when there is poor immune function, as with HIV/AIDS, or in those receiving chemotherapy.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: A diet high in sugar may increase the risk of vaginal thrush; in some women, reducing sugar intake seems to reduce the risk of reoccurring vaginal thrush.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: While "Candida albicans" is the most common yeast species associated with vaginal thrush, infection by other types of yeast can produce similar symptoms. A Hungarian study of 370 patients with confirmed vaginal yeast infections identified the following types of infection:


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Non-albicans "Candida" are often found in complicated cases of vaginal thrush in which the first line of treatment is ineffective. These cases are more likely in those who are immunocompromised.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Vulvovaginal candidosis is the presence of "Candida" in addition to vaginal inflammation. The presence of yeast is typically diagnosed in one of three ways: vaginal wet mount microscopy, microbial culture, and antigen tests. The results may be described as being either uncomplicated or complicated.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Uncomplicated thrush is when there are less than four episodes in a year, the symptoms are mild or moderate, it is likely caused by "Candida albicans", and there are no significant host factors such as poor immune function.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Complicated thrush is four or more episodes of thrush in a year or when severe symptoms of vulvovaginal inflammation are experienced. It is also complicated if coupled with pregnancy, poorly controlled diabetes, poor immune function, or the thrush is not caused by "Candida albicans".


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: About 5-8% of the reproductive age female population will have four or more episodes of symptomatic "Candida" infection per year; this condition is called recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). Because vaginal and gut colonization with "Candida" is commonly seen in people with no recurrent symptoms, recurrent symptomatic infections are not simply due to the presence of "Candida" organisms. There is some support for the theory that RVVC results from an especially intense inflammatory reaction to colonization. "Candida" antigens can be presented to antigen-presenting cells, which may trigger cytokine production and activate lymphocytes and neutrophils that then cause inflammation and edema.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Short-course topical formulations (i.e., single dose and regimens of 1–3 days) effectively treat uncomplicated candidal vulvovaginitis. The topically applied azole drugs are more effective than nystatin. Treatment with azoles results in relief of symptoms and negative cultures in 80–90% of patients who complete therapy.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: The creams and suppositories in this regimen are oil-based and might weaken latex condoms and diaphragms. Treatment for vagina thrush using antifungal medication is ineffective in up to 20% of cases. Treatment for thrush is considered to have failed if the symptoms do not clear within 7–14 days. There are a number of reasons for treatment failure. For example, if the infection is a different kind, such as bacterial vaginosis (the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge), rather than thrush.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: For infrequent recurrences, the simplest and most cost-effective management is self-diagnosis and early initiation of topical therapy. However, women whose condition has previously been diagnosed with candidal vulvovaginitis are not necessarily more likely to be able to diagnose themselves; therefore, any woman whose symptoms persist after using an over the counter preparation, or who has a recurrence of symptoms within two months, should be evaluated with office-based testing. Unnecessary or inappropriate use of topical preparations is common and can lead to a delay in the treatment of other causes of vulvovaginitis, which can result in worse outcomes.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: When there are more than four recurrent episodes of candidal vulvovaginitis per year, a longer initial treatment course is recommended, such as orally administered fluconazole followed by a second and third dose 3 and 6 days later, respectively.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Other treatments after more than four episodes per year, may include ten days of either oral or topical treatment followed by fluconazole orally once per week for six months. About 10-15% of recurrent candidal vulvovaginitis cases are due to non-"Candida albicans" species. Non-"albicans" species tend to have higher levels of resistance to fluconazole. Therefore, recurrence or persistence of symptoms while on treatment indicates speciation and antifungal resistance tests to tailor antifungal treatment.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Up to 40% of women seek alternatives to treat vaginal yeast infection. Example products are herbal preparations, probiotics and vaginal acidifying agents. Other alternative treatment approaches include switching contraceptive, treatment of the sexual partner and gentian violet. However, the effectiveness of such treatments has not received much study.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Probiotics (either as pills or as yogurt) do not appear to decrease the rate of occurrence of vaginal yeast infections. No benefit has been found for active infections. Example probiotics purported to treat and prevent candida infections are "Lactobacillus fermentum" RC-14, "Lactobacillus fermentum" B-54, "Lactobacillus rhamnosus" GR-1, "Lactobacillus rhamnosus" GG and "Lactobacillus acidophilus".


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: There is no evidence to support the use of special cleansing diets and colonic hydrotherapy for prevention.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: The number of cases of vaginal yeast infection is not entirely clear because it is not a reportable disease and it is commonly diagnosed clinically without laboratory confirmation.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Candidiasis is one of the three most common vaginal infections along with bacterial vaginosis and trichomonas. About 75% of women have at least one infection in their lifetime, 40%–45% will have two or more episodes, and approximately 20% of women get an infection yearly.


title: Vaginal yeast infection

text: Vaccines that target "C. albicans" are under active development. Phase 2 results published in June 2018 showed a safe and high immunogenicity of the NDV-3A vaccine candidate.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: "Baby, Please Don't Go" is a traditional blues song that was popularized by Delta blues musician Big Joe Williams in 1935. Many cover versions followed, leading to its description as "one of the most played, arranged, and rearranged pieces in blues history" by French music historian Gérard Herzhaft.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: After World War II, Chicago blues and rhythm and blues artists adapted the song to newer music styles. In 1952, a doo-wop version by the Orioles reached the top ten on the R&B chart. In 1953, Muddy Waters recorded the song as an electric Chicago-ensemble blues piece, which influenced many subsequent renditions. By the early 1950s, the song became a blues standard.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: In the 1960s, "Baby, Please Don't Go" became a popular rock song after the Northern Irish group Them recorded it in 1964. Jimmy Page, a studio guitarist at the time, participated in the recording session, possibly on rhythm guitar. Subsequently, Them's uptempo rock arrangement also made it a rock standard. AC/DC and Aerosmith are among the rock groups who have recorded the song. "Baby, Please Don't Go" has been inducted into both the Blues and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: "Baby, Please Don't Go" is likely an adaptation of "Long John", an old folk theme which dates back to the time of slavery in the United States. Blues researcher Paul Garon notes that the melody is based on "Alabamy Bound", composed by Tin Pan Alley writer Ray Henderson, with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Bud Green in 1925. The song, a vaudeville show tune, inspired several other songs between 1925 and 1935, such as "Elder Greene Blues", "Alabama Bound", and "Don't You Leave Me Here". These variants were recorded by Charlie Patton, Lead Belly, Monette Moore, Henry Thomas, and Tampa Red.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Author Linda Dahl suggests a connection to a song with the same title by Mary Williams Johnson in the late 1920s and early 1930s. However, Johnson, who was married to jazz-influenced blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson, never recorded it and her song is not discussed as influencing later performers. Blues researcher Jim O'Neal notes that Williams "sometimes said that the song was written by his wife, singer Bessie Mae Smith ( Blue Belle and St. Louis Bessie)."


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Big Joe Williams used the imprisonment theme for his October 31, 1935, recording of "Baby, Please Don't Go". He recorded it during his first session for Lester Melrose and Bluebird Records in Chicago. It is an ensemble piece with Williams on vocal and guitar accompanied by Dad Tracy on one-string fiddle and Chasey "Kokomo" Collins on washboard, who are listed as "Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers" on the single. Musical notation for the song indicates a moderate-tempo fifteen-bar blues in 4/4 or common time in the key of B flat. As with many Delta blues songs of the era, it remains on the tonic chord (I) throughout without the progression to the subdominant (IV) or dominant (V) chords. The lyrics express a prisoner's anxiety about his lover leaving before he returns home:


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: The song became a hit and established Williams' recording career. On December 12, 1941, he recorded a second version titled "Please Don't Go" in Chicago for Bluebird, with a more modern arrangement and lyrics. Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft calls it "the most exciting version", which Williams recorded using his trademark nine-string guitar. Accompanying him are Sonny Boy Williamson I on harmonica and Alfred Elkins on imitation bass (possibly a washtub bass). Since both songs appeared before recording industry publications began tracking such releases, it is unknown which version was more popular. In 1947, he recorded it for Columbia Records with Williamson and Ransom Knowling on bass and Judge Riley on drums. This version did not reach the "Billboard" Race Records chart, but represents a move toward a more urban blues treatment of the song.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Big Joe Williams' various recordings inspired other blues musicians to record their interpretations of the song and it became a blues standard. Early examples include Papa Charlie McCoy as "Tampa Kid" (1936), Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (1939), Lightnin' Hopkins (1947), John Lee Hooker (1949), and Big Bill Broonzy (1952). By the early 1950s, the song was reworked in contemporary musical styles, with an early rhythm and blues/jump blues version by Billy Wright (1951), a harmonized doo-wop version by the Orioles (a number eight R&B hit in 1952), and an Afro-Cuban-influenced rendition by Rose Mitchell (1954). Mose Allison recorded the tune in his jazz-blues piano style for the album "Transfiguration of Hiram Brown" (1960).


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: In 1953, Muddy Waters recast the song as a Chicago-blues ensemble piece with Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers. Chess Records originally issued the single with the title "Turn the Lamp Down Low", although the song is also referred to as "Turn Your Lamp Down Low", "Turn Your Light Down Low", or "Baby Please Don't Go". He regularly played the song, several performances were recorded. Live versions appear on "Muddy Waters at Newport 1960" and on "Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981" with members of the Rolling Stones. AllMusic critic Bill Janovitz cites the influence of Waters' adaptation:


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: "Baby Please Don't Go" was one of the earliest songs recorded by Them, fronted by a 19-year-old Van Morrison. Their rendition of the song was derived from a version recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1949 as "Don't Go Baby". Hooker's song later appeared on a 1959 album, "Highway of Blues", which Van Morrison heard and felt was "something really unique and different" with "more soul" than he had previously heard.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Them recorded "Baby, Please Don't Go" for Decca Records in October 1964. Besides Morrison, there is conflicting information about who participated in the session. In addition to the group's original members (guitarist Billy Harrison, bassist Alan Henderson, drummer Ronnie Millings and keyboard player Eric Wrixon), others have been suggested: Pat McAuley on keyboards, Bobby Graham on a second drum kit, Jimmy Page on guitar, and Peter Bardens on keyboards. As Page biographer George Case notes, "There is a dispute over whether it is Page's piercing blues line that defines the song, if he only played a run Harrison had already devised, or if Page only backed up Harrison himself". Morrison has acknowledged Page's participation in the early sessions: "He played rhythm guitar on one thing and doubled a bass riff on the other" and Morrison biographer Johnny Rogan notes that Page "doubled the distinctive riff already worked out by Billy Harrison".


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Janovitz identifies the riff as "the backbone of the arrangement" and describes Henderson's contribution as an "amphetamine-rush, pulsing two-note bass line." Music critic Greil Marcus comments that during the song's quieter middle passage "the guitarist, session player Jimmy Page or not, seems to be feeling his way into another song, flipping half-riffs, high, random, distracted metal shavings". Them's blues rock arrangement is "now regarded justly as definitive", according to music writer Alan Clayson.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Decca released "Baby, Please Don't Go" as Them's second single on November 6, 1964. With the B-side, "Gloria", it became their first hit, reaching number ten on the UK Singles Chart in February 1965. In the US, the single was released by Parrot Records. On March 20, "Billboard" magazine first listed the song on its extended "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" chart, where it eventually peaked at number 102 on April 24. The single fared better on the West Coast, where both songs appeared on weekly Top 40 playlists for Los Angeles radio station KRLA between March and June 1965, reaching number one for three weeks in April. "Cash Box" described it as "a funky, hard-driving pleader that the fellas rock out with telling effect".


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: The song was not included on Them's original British or American albums ("The Angry Young Them" and "Them Again"), however, it has appeared on several compilation albums, such as "The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison" and "The Best of Van Morrison". When it was reissued in 1991 as a single in the UK, it reached number 65 in the chart. Van Morrison also accompanied John Lee Hooker during a 1992 performance, where Hooker sings and plays "Baby, Please Don't Go" on guitar while sitting on a dock, with harmonica backing by Morrison; it was released on the 2004 "Come See About Me" Hooker DVD.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: "Baby, Please Don't Go" was a feature of AC/DC's live shows since their beginning. Although they have expressed their interest and inspiration in early blues songs, music writer Mick Wall identifies Them's adaptation of the song as the likely source. In November 1974, Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott recorded it for their 1975 Australian debut album, "High Voltage". Tony Currenti is sometimes identified as the drummer for the song, although he suggests that it had been already recorded by Peter Clack. Wall notes that producer George Young played bass for most of the album, although Rob Bailey claims that many of the album's tracks were recorded with him.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: "High Voltage" and a single with "Baby, Please Don't Go" were released simultaneously in Australia in February 1975. AllMusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia called the song "positively explosive". Albert Productions issued it as the single's B-side. However, the A-side "Love Song (Oh Jene)" was largely ignored and "Baby, Please Don't Go" began receiving airplay. The single entered the chart at the end of March 1975 and peaked at number 10 in April. Also on March 23, 1975, one month after drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Mark Evans joined AC/DC, the group performed the song for the first time (this performance would also be repeated on April 6 and 27, which is why there is often conflicting dates for this performance) on the Australian music program "Countdown". For their appearance, "Angus wore his trade mark schoolboy uniform while Scott took the stage wearing a wig of blonde braids, a dress, make-up, and earrings", according to author Heather Miller. Joe Bonomo describes Scott as "a demented Pippi Longstocking", and Perkins notes his "tattoos and a disturbingly short skirt." Evans describes the reaction:


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Scott mugs for the camera and, during the guitar solo/vocal improvization section, he lights a cigarette as he duels with Angus with a green mallet. Rudd laughs throughout the performance. Although "Baby, Please Don't Go" was a popular part of AC/DC's performances (often as the closing number), the song was not released internationally until their 1984 compilation EP "'74 Jailbreak". The video from the "Countdown" show is included on 2005's "Family Jewels" DVD compilation.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: Aerosmith recorded "Baby, Please Don't Go" for their blues cover album, "Honkin' on Bobo", which was released on March 30, 2004. The album was produced by Jack Douglas, who had worked on the group's earlier albums, and reflects a return to their hard rock roots. "Billboard" magazine describes the song as "the kind of straight-ahead, hard-driving track that always typified the band's [1970s] records". Edna Gundersen of "USA Today" called their version a "terrific revival." It was the first single to be released from the album and reached number seven on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A music video, directed by Mark Haefeli, was produced to promote the single. Subsequently, the song has become a staple of the band's concert repertoire.


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: "Baby, Please Don't Go" is recognized as a blues standard, including by French blues historian , who described it as "one of the most played, arranged, and rearranged pieces in blues history". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included Big Joe Williams' rendition in list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". In 1992, Williams' song was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings" category. Writing for the Foundation, Jim O'Neal noted that, in addition to various blues recordings, "the song was revived in revved-up fashion by rock bands in the '60s such as Them, the Amboy Dukes, and Ten Years After".


title: Baby, Please Don't Go

text: In 1967, the Amboy Dukes recorded the song for their self-titled debut album. An album review mentions Them's version, but adds that the Amboy Dukes' "Ted Nugent and the boys totally twist it to their point-of-view, even tossing a complete Jimi Hendrix [guitar line from "Third Stone from the Sun"] nick into the mix." Released as a single, it reached number 106 on "Billboard"s extended "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" chart. In 1969, Ten Years After included some lyrics from "Baby, Please Don't Go" during their performance of "I'm Going Home" at the Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York. Alvin Lee's 10-minute guitar workout was a highlight of the event's 1970 documentary film, which "would cement their reputation for decades to come".


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Since the 1980s, historians have interpreted the as a part of a civil and social development, termed the "High Middle Age Land Consolidation" (). In a pan-European intensification process from the Carolingian-Anglo-Saxon core countries to the periphery of the continent, societies progressed in culture, religion, law and administration, trade and agriculture.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The majority of settlers moved individually, in independent efforts, in multiple stages and on different routes - there existed no imperial colonization policy, central planning or movement organization. Many settlers were encouraged and invited by the Slavic princes and regional lords.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Smaller groups of migrants first moved to the east during the early Middle Ages. Larger treks of settlers, which included scholars, monks, missionaries, craftsmen and artisans, often invited, in numbers unverifiable, first moved eastwards during the mid-12th century. The military territorial conquests and punitive expeditions of the Ottonian and Salian emperors during the 11th and 12th centuries do not form part of the , as these actions didn't result in any noteworthy settlement establishment east of the Elbe and Saale rivers. The is considered to have been a purely Medieval event as it ended in the beginning of the 14th century. The legal, cultural, linguistic, religious and economic changes caused by the movement had a profound influence on the history of Eastern Central Europe between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathians until the 20th century.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In the 20th century, accounts of the were heavily exploited by German nationalists (including the Nazi movement) to press the territorial claims of Germany and to demonstrate supposed German superiority over non-Germanic peoples, whose cultural, urban and scientific achievements in that era were undermined, rejected, or presented as German. After World War I (1914-1918), the fact that Germany and Austria lost part of their territories in the East appeared as a counterpoint to because some of the Germans in the East became foreign citizens when their homes were no longer part of Germany and Austria. The Germans in the East outside Germany and Austria were not expelled and the regions that Germany and Austria lost in the East were dominated by non-German peoples, so the German loss here was not as severe as after World War II.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In and after World War II, Germans were driven out and deported to rump Germany from the East and their language and culture were lost in most areas (including the German-dominated lands which Germany lost after this war) in which German people had settled during the Ostsiedlung; except part of Eastern Austria and especially Eastern Germany.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: During the 4th and 5th centuries, in what is known as the Migration Period, Germanic peoples (ancient Germans) seized control of the decaying Western Roman Empire in the South and established new kingdoms within it. Meanwhile, formerly Germanic areas in Eastern Europe and present-day Eastern Germany, were settled by Slavs.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Charlemagne, ruler of the Carolingian Empire of Francia, which was founded by Franks (a Germanic people), under whom most of Western and Central continental Europe had been united during the 8th and 9th centuries, created numerous border territories, so called marches (), where a substantial portion of the would later take place. The territories (from north to south):


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The tribes that populated these marches were generally unreliable allies of the Empire, and successor kings led numerous, yet not always successful, military campaigns to maintain their authority.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In 843 the Carolingian Empire, was partitioned into three independent kingdoms as a result of dissent among Charlemagne's three grandsons over the continuation of the custom of partible inheritance or the introduction of primogeniture.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Louis the German inherited the eastern territories, East Francia (first state of Germany), that included all lands east of the Rhine river and to the north of Italy, which roughly corresponded with the territories of the German stem duchies, that formed a federation under the first king Henry the Fowler (919 to 936). The Slavs living within the reach of East Francia (since 962 C.E. the Holy Roman Empire), collectively called Wends or "Elbe Slavs", seldom formed larger political entities. They rather constituted various small tribes, settling as far west as to a line from the Eastern Alps and Bohemia to the Saale and Elbe rivers. As the East Frankish kingdom expanded, various Wendish tribes, that were conquered or allied with the Eastern Franks, such as the Obotrites, aided the Franks in defeating the West Germanic Saxons. The Carolingian tradition of setting up marches at the periphery of the empire would be continued by the East Frankish and Holy Roman Empire's kings during the 11th and 12th centuries.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Under the rule of King Louis the German and Arnulf of Carinthia, the first groups of civilian Catholic settlers were led by Franks and Bavarii to the lands of Pannonia (present-day Burgenland, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia).


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In a series of punitive actions, large territories in the northeast between the Elbe, Saale, Naab rivers in the west and the Oder, Bober, Kwisa and Vltava rivers in the east were conquered (see also: Battle on the Raxa), and border marches were established in these areas. Fortifications were occupied and new castles built, reinforced by military units to exert military control and collect tributes. No civilian settlers occupied these lands. Christianization was limited to the establishment of mission dioceses such as Lübeck, Brandenburg or Havelberg. The development of a Parish church system only took place after the settlement of German colonists, beginning in the 2nd half of the 12th century. Control over areas that had already been conquered was repeatedly lost. The Slavic revolt of 983 and an uprising of the Obotrites in 1066 had particularly serious consequences.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In 983, the Polabian Slavs in the Billung and Northern Marches, stretching from the Elbe river to the Baltic Sea succeeded in a rebellion against the political rule and Christian mission of the recently established Holy Roman Empire. In spite of their new-won independence, the Obotrites, Rani, Liutizian and Hevelli tribes were soon faced with internal struggles and warfare as well as raids from the newly constituted and expanding Piast dynasty (the early Polish) state from the east, Denmark from the north and the Empire from the west, eager to reestablish her marches. The area remained under rule of the Polabian tribes and uncolonized and unchristianized into the 12th century.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: A call for a crusade against the Wends in 1108, probably coming from a "Flemish clerk in the circles of the archbishop of Magdeburg", which included the prospect of profitable land gains for new settlers, had no noticeable effect and resulted in neither a military campaign nor a movement of settlers into the area.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Since 1124 the first Flemish and Dutch colonists settled south of the Eider river, followed by the conquest of the land of the Wagri in 1139, the founding of Lübeck in 1143 and the call by Count Adolf II of Schauenburg to settle in "Eastern Holstein" in the same year.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Weakened by ongoing internal conflicts and constant warfare, the independent Wendish territories finally lost the capacity to provide effective military resistance. From 1119 to 1123, Pomerania invaded and subdued the northeastern parts of the Lutici lands. In 1124 and 1128, Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania, at that time a vassal of Poland, invited bishop Otto of Bamberg to Christianize the Pomeranians and Liutizians of his duchy. In 1147, as a campaign of the Northern Crusades, the Wendish Crusade was mounted in the Duchy of Saxony to retake the marches lost in 983. The crusaders also headed for Pomeranian Demmin and Szczecin (Stettin), despite these areas having already been successfully Christianized.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: After the Wendish crusade, Albert the Bear was able to establish and expand the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157 on approximately the territory of the former Northern March, which since 983 had been controlled by the Hevelli and Lutici tribes. The Bishopric of Havelberg, that had been occupied by revolting Lutici tribes was reestablished to Christianize the Wends.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In 1164, after Saxon duke Henry the Lion finally defeated rebellious Obotrites and Pomeranian dukes in the Battle of Verchen. The Pomeranian duchies of Demmin and Stettin became Saxon fiefs, as well as the Obodrite territories, which became Mecklenburg, named after the Obotrites residential capital, Mecklenburg Castle. After Henry the Lion lost his internal struggle with Emperor Frederick I, Mecklenburg and Pomerania became fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire in 1181.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Sorbian March east of the Saale river was established in the 9th century. King Otto I designated a larger area – the Saxon Eastern March – in 937, that encompassed the territory between the Elbe, the Oder and the Peene rivers. Governed by Margrave Gero, it is also referred to as Marca Geronis. After Gero's death in 965, the march was divided in smaller sectors: Northern March, Lusatian March, Margraviate of Meissen, and March of Zeitz. The march was populated by various West Slavic tribes, the largest being Polabian Slavs tribes in the north and Sorbian tribes in the south.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Margravate of Meissen and Transylvania were populated by German settlers, beginning in the 12th century. From the end of the 12th century onwards, monasteries and cities were established in Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia and eastern Austria. In the Baltics, the Teutonic Order founded a crusader state in the beginning of the 13th century.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: (Land of Mary) was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia () which was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade in the territories comprising present day Estonia and Latvia. It was established on February 2, 1207 as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1215 as a subject to the Holy See.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Medieval Livonia was intermittently ruled first by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, since 1237 by a semi-autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order called the Livonian Order and the Catholic Church. The nominal head of Terra Mariana as well as the city of Riga was the Archbishop of Riga as the apex of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In 1561, during the Livonian War, " ceased to exist. Its northern parts were ceded to the Swedish Empire and formed into the Duchy of Estonia, its southern territories became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania — and thus eventually of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as the Duchy of Livonia and Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. The island of Saaremaa became part of Denmark.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Political and military events were greatly influenced by a massive population increase throughout Europe in the High Middle Ages. From the 11th to the 13th centuries, the population in the kingdom of Germany increased from about four to twelve million inhabitants. During this time, the High Medieval Landesausbau (inland colonization) took place, when arable land was largely expanded at the expense of forested areas. Although new land was won and numerous settlements created, demands could not be absorbed. Another factor was a surplus of offspring of the nobility who were not entitled to inheritance, but after the success of the first crusade, took their chances of acquiring new lands in the peripheral regions of the Empire.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: There is no doubt that there were "rather numerous German settlers" in Eastern Central who were responsible for bringing German law in the earliest stages of the colonization. Other settlers included Walloons, Jews, Dutch, Flemish, and later Poles, especially in the territory of modern Ukraine.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The migration of the Walser in the territory of present-day Switzerland to areas that had formerly been inhabited by Romans. The Walser settlers left their homes in Valais and founded villages in the uplands of the Alp valleys (in the north of Italy and in the Grisons).


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Medieval Warm Period, which began in the 11th century resulted in higher average temperatures in Central Europe.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Additional technical progress in agriculture, for example through the construction of mills, Three-field farming and increased cultivation of grain (graining) led to general population increase.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The new settlers not only brought their customs and language with them, but also new technical skills and equipment that were adapted within a few decades, especially in agriculture and crafts. These included:


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The amount of cultivated land increased as large forested areas were cleared. The extent of land increase differed by region. In Silesia it had doubled (16% of the total area) by the beginning of the 11th century, 30% in the 16th century and the highest increase rates in the 14th century, the total area of arable land increased seven - to twentyfold in many Silesian regions during the "Ostsiedlung".


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Parallel to agricultural innovations new forms of farm layout and settlement structuring (division and classification of land) were introduced. Farmland was divided into "", (English hides) and larger villages replaced the previously dominant type of small villages consisting of four to eight farms as "a complete transformation of the previous settlement structure" occurred. The cultural landscape of East Central Europe formed by the medieval settlement processes essentially prevails until today.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Flemish and Dutch settlers were among the first to immigrate to Mecklenburg at the beginning of the 12th century. In the following years, they moved further east to Pomerania and Silesia and in the south to Hungary, motivated by the lack of settlement areas in their already largely developed home areas and several flood disasters and famines.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Experienced and skilled hydraulic engineers, they were in high demand at the settlements of the as yet undeveloped areas east of the Elbe. The land was drained by creating a network-like structure of smaller drainage ditches that drained the water in main ditches. Roads connecting the settlers' individual farms ran along these main trenches.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Dutch settlers were recruited by the local rulers in large numbers, especially during the second half of the 12th century. In 1159/60, for example, Albert the Bear granted Dutch settlers the right to take possession of former Slavic settlements. The preacher Helmold of Bosau reported on this in his Slavic chronicle: "“Finally, when the Slavs were gradually dispersing, he (Albrecht) sent to Utrecht and the Rhine region, and also to those who live by the ocean, who under the power of the sea had suffered, the Dutch, Zealanders and Flemings, where he attracted a lot of people and let them live in the castles and villages of the Slavs.""


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Slavs used plows and agricultural implements before the arrival of western immigrants. The oldest meaningful reference to this can be found in a Slavic chronicle, in which the use of a plow as an areal measurement is mentioned.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In the 12th and 13th century documents the Ard without a moldboard is mentioned. It tear opens the soil and spreads the soil to both sides without turning it. It is therefore particularly suitable for light and sandy subsoil. In the mid 13th century, the Three-field system was introduced east of the Elbe. This new cultivation method required the use of the heavy moldboard plow that digs up the earth deeply and turns it around in a single operation.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The different modes of operation of the two devices also had an impact on the shape and size of the cultivation areas. The fields worked with the ard had about the same field length and width and a square base. Long fields with a rectangular base were much more suitable for the moldboard plow, as the heavy implements had to be turned less often. Planting and cultivation of oats and rye was promoted and soon these cereals became the most important type of grain. Farmers who used moldboard plows were required to pay double tax fees.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Potters were among the first group of artisans who also settled in the rural areas. Typical Slavic ceramics were the Flat-bottom vessels. With the influx of western settlers, new vessel shapes such as the rounded jar were introduced, inclusive hard-fired processes, that improved ceramics quality. This type of ceramics, known as "Hard Grayware", became widespread east of the Elbe by the end of the 12th century. It was manufactured extensively in Pomerania by the 13th century, when more advanced manufacturing methods, such as the tunnel kiln, enabled the mass production of ceramic household goods. The demand for household goods such as pots, jugs, jugs and bowls, which had previously been made of wood, increased steadily and promoted the development of new sales markets.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: During the 13th century, glazed ceramics were introduced and the import of stoneware increased. The transfer of technology and knowledge affected the way of life of old and new settlers in a variety of ways and, in addition to innovations in agriculture and handicrafts, also included other areas, such as weapons technology, documents and coins.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Slavic population (Sorbs), who lived east of the Elbe, primarily built log houses, which had proven suitable for the regional climates and wood was plentiful in the continental regions. The German settlers, mainly from Franconia and Thuringia, who advanced into the area in the 13th century, brought with them the half-timbering style, which was already known to the Germanic peoples, as a wood-saving, solid and stable construction method, that allowed multi-storey buildings. A combination of the two construction methods was difficult because the horizontally stacked wood of the log room expands differently in height than the vertical posts of the framework. The result was the new type of half-timbered house with a timber frame around the ground floor block, capable to support a second floor, which was made of half-timber.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The "Ostsiedlung" followed an immediate rapid population growth throughout East Central Europe. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the population density increased considerably. The increase was due to the influx of settlers on the one hand and an increase in indigenous populations after the colonization on the other hand. Settlement was the primary reason for the increase e.g. in the areas east of the Oder, the Duchy of Pomerania, western Greater Poland, Silesia, Austria, Moravia, Prussia and Transylvania, while in the larger part of Central and Eastern Europe indigenous populations were responsible for the growth. Author Piskorski wrote that ""insofar as it is possible to draw conclusions from the less than rich medieval source material, it appears that at least in some East Central European territories the population increased significantly. It is however possible to contest to what extent this was a direct result of migration and how far it was due to increased agricultural productivity and the gathering pace of urbanization."" In contrast to Western Europe, this increased population was largely spared by the 14th-century Black Death pandemic.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: With the German settlers new systems of taxation arrived. While the existing Wendish tithe was a fixed tax depending on village size, the German tithe depended on the actual crop yield. Thus higher taxes were collected from the settlers than from the Wends, although settlers were partly exempted from tax payments during the first years after settlement establishment.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The development of was also associated with the establishment of towns. There already existed Slavic castle towns, in which merchant quarters formed suburbs at fortified strongholds (grads). Wendish-Scandinavian merchants founded manufacturing and trading settlements (emporia) at the Baltic coast. Large cities included Szczecin which reached 9,000 inhabitants, Kraków which was the capital of the state of Piast Poland and Wrocław, already under civil and religious administration and centers of power. However, they experienced substantial growth since the end of the 12th century through new settlers and expansion (). The foundation of a bishopric, for example in Havelberg, would lead to the development of a town, although cities were also founded out of nowhere, such as Neubrandenburg. Characteristic of the founding cities are geometrical or rasterized floor plans with main streets, intersecting axes and a central market place. Different settlement phases are reflected in twin cities names such as "New town" or "Old town".


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The towns established during the were "Free Towns" () or called "New Towns" by its contemporaries. The rapid increase in the number of towns led to an "urbanization of East Central Europe". The new towns differed from their predecessors in:


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The granting of city rights played an important role in attracting German settlers. The town charter privileged the new residents and existing suburban settlements with a market were given formal town charter and then rebuilt or expanded. Even small settlements inhabited by native people would eventually be granted these new rights. Regardless of existing suburban settlements, locators were commissioned to establish completely new cities, as the goal was to attract as many people as possible in order to create new, flourishing population centers.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Among the many different German city laws, the Magdeburg law and the Lübeck law played the greatest role in the new settlements as they served, often in more or less modified form, as models for most cities. Other city rights that were of regional importance include the. Nuremberg law, the Mecklenburg law and the Iglau law. The Lübeck law of 1188 served in the 13th and 14th centuries as the model for around 100 cities in the entire Baltic Sea trading area. Around 350,000 people lived under Lübeck law in the early 15th century. The Magdeburg law, which has its origins in the privileges granted by Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg, first spread into Brandenburg, Saxony and Lusatia. Laws based on the Magdeburg model (for example the Kulmer law and Neumarkt law) were introduced in Silesia, Poland, the State of the Teutonic Order, Bohemia and Moravia and beyond.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The pagan Wends had been the target of Christianization attempts before the beginning of the Ostsiedlung, since the government of emperor Otto I and the establishment of dioceses east of the Elbe. The Slav uprising of 983 put an end to these efforts for almost 200 years. In contrast to the Czechs and Poles who had been Christianized before the turn of the millennium, the conversion attempts of the Elbe Slavs initially accompanied by violence. The arrival of new settlers from around 1150 on led to a civil Christianization of the areas between the Elbe and Oder. The new settlers first built wooden and later field stone parish churches in their villages. Some places of worship, such as the St. Mary in Brandenburg, and the Lehnin Abbey, were built on pagan shrines. The Cistercians, who had been assigned a prominent role by church authorities, combined the spread of faith and settlement development. Their monasteries with extensive international connections played a vital role in the development of the communities.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The majority of the settlers were Germans of the Holy Roman Empire. Significant numbers of Dutch settlers participated, particularly in the early 12th century in the area surrounding the Middle Elbe River. To a lesser extent Danes, Scots or local Wends and (French-speaking) Walloons participated as well. Among the settlers were landless children of noble families who could not inherit property.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Besides the marches, adjacent to the Empire, Germans settled in areas farther east, such as the Carpathians, Transylvania, and along the Gulf of Riga. Settlers were invited by local secular rulers, such as dukes, counts, margraves, princes and (only in a few cases due to the weakening central power) the king. The sovereigns in East Central Europe owned large territories, of which only small portions were arable, which generated very little income. The lords offered considerable privileges to new settlers from the Empire. Starting in the border marks, the princes invited people from the Empire by granting them land ownership and improved legal status, binding duties and the inheritance of the farm. The landowners eventually benefited from these rather generous conditions for the farmers, and generated income from the land that had previously been fallow.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Most sovereigns transferred the specific recruitment of settlers, the distribution of the land and the establishment of the settlements to so-called (allocator of land). These men, who usually came from the lower nobility or the urban bourgeoisie, organized the settlement trains, that included advertising, equipment and transport, land clearing and preparation of the settlements. "Locator contracts" settled rights and obligations of the locators and the new settlers.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Towns were founded and granted German town law. The agricultural, legal, administrative, and technical methods of the immigrants, as well as their successful Christianization of the native inhabitants, led to a gradual transformation of the settlement areas, as Slavic communities adopted German culture. German cultural and linguistic influence lasted in some of these areas right up to the present day.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In the mid 14th century, the migration process slowed considerably as a result of the Black Death. The population probably decreased by that time and economically marginal settlements were left, in particular at the coast of Pomerania and Western Prussia. Only a century later, local Slavic leaders of Pomerania, Western Prussia and Silesia invited German settlers again.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Colonization was the pretext for assimilation processes that lasted centuries. Assimilation occurred in both directions – depending on the region and the majority population, Slavic and German settlers mutually assimilated each other.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Polonization process of German settlers in Kraków and Poznań lasted about two centuries. The community could only continue its isolated position with a continuation of newcomers from German lands. The Sorbs also assimilated German settlers, yet at the same time, small Sorbic communities were themselves assimilated by the surrounding German-speaking population. Many Central and Eastern European towns developed into multi-ethnic melting pots.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Although Slavic population density was generally not very high compared to the Empire and had, as a result of the extensive warfare during the 10th to 12th centuries, even further declined, some settlement centers maintained their Wendish populations to varying degrees, resisting assimilation for a long time.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In the territories of Pomerania and Silesia, German migrants did not settle in the old Wendish villages and set up new ones on grounds allotted to them by the Slavic nobility and the monastic clergy. In the marches west of the Oder, the Wends were occasionally driven out and the villages rebuilt by settlers. The new villages would nevertheless keep their former Slavic names. In the case of the village in Mecklenburg, the evicted Wendish inhabitants repeatedly invaded their former village, hindering a resettlement.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In the Sorbian March the situation was again different as the area and in particular Upper Lusatia is situated close to Bohemia, ruled by a Slavic dynasty, a loyal and powerful duchy of the Empire. In this environment, German feudal lords often cooperated with the Slavic inhabitants. Wiprecht of Groitzsch, a prominent figure during the early German migration period only acquired local power through the marriage to a Slavic noblewoman and the support of the Bohemian king. German-Slavic relations were generally good, while relations between Slavic-governed Bohemia and Slavic-governed Poland were marred by constant struggle.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Discrimination against the Wends was not a part of the general concept of the . Rather, the Wends were subject to a low taxation mode and thus not as profitable as new settlers. Even though the majority of the settlers were Germans (Franks and Bavarians in the South, and Saxons and Flemings in the North), Wends and other tribes also participated in the settlement. New settlers were not chosen just because of their ethnicity, a concept unknown in the Middle Ages, but because of their manpower and agricultural and technical know-how.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Most of the Wends were gradually assimilated. However, in isolated rural areas where Wends constituted a substantial part of the population, they continued their culture. These were the Drevani Polabians of the Wendland east of the Lüneburg Heath, the "Jabelheide Drevani" of southern Mecklenburg, the Slovincians and Kashubs of Eastern Pomerania, and the Sorbs of Lusatia. Lusatia was inhabited by a large population of Sorbs until the end of the 19th century as linguistic assimilation occurred in a relatively short time.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Ostsiedlung caused the adoption of loan words, foreign words and loan translations among the German and the Slavic languages. Direct contact between Germans and Slavs caused direct language exchange of language elements due to the bilingualism of people or the spatial proximity of the speakers of the respective language. Remote contact took place during trade travels or political embassies.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The oldest adoption of naming units dates back to Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic. The original Slavic word can be found in almost all Slavic languages. German was mainly used to convey words in Slavic languages that related to handicraft, politics, agriculture and nutrition. This includes Old High German , Middle High German , (brick), that resulted from the sound shift of the Latin tegula. An example of borrowing from Slavic into Germanic usage is the word for "border". In Middle High German called , which is a borrowing of the old Czech word or the Polish word . City names are also affected by language exchange, sound shifting and the Slavic second palatalization. The city of is called in Czech and in Proto-Slavic. Due to the intensive language contact, idioms were also transmitted. Two examples from Czech and Polish are / ('on your own') or / ('armed to the teeth'), in Hungarian ('one's own beard') and ('armed to the chin'), with different wording, but with the same meaning.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: As Slavic and Wendish locality names were widely adopted, they represent, in adapted and further developed form, a very high proportion of East German toponyms and place names. These are recognizable at word endings, such as "-ow" (Germanized , as in Spandau), "-vitz" or "-witz" and sometimes "-in". Newly created villages were given German names that ended, for example, with or in the North, and or in the South. The name of the settler's place of origin (example: Lichtervelde in Flanders) could also become part of the place name. If a German settlement was founded alongside a Wendish settlement, the name of the could also be adopted for the German village, the distinction was then made through additions (for example: or / for Wendendorf, or for German).


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In German-speaking areas most inherited surnames were formed only after the period, and many German surnames are in fact Germanized Wendish placenames.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The former ethnic variety of German () and Slavic (, , ) toponyms was discontinued by the Eastern European republics after World War II. Villages and towns were renamed in Slavic only. Memory of the history of German colonization was no longer appreciated.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The colonization sometimes brought ethnic conflict. Local populations, particularly in the towns, sometimes had negative attitudes toward newcomers, particularly those who did not speak the local language, while natives were sometimes expelled at the regional level.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: There is no clear cause nor a definite end point in time of the Ostsiedlung. However, a slowdown in the settlement movement can be observed after the year 1300 and in the 14th century only a few new settlements with the participation of German-speaking colonists were founded. An explanation for the end of the Ostsiedlung must include various factors without being able to clearly weigh or differentiate between them. The deterioration of the climate from around 1300 as the beginning of the "Little Ice Age", the agricultural crisis that began in the mid 14th century. In the wake of the demographic slump caused by the 1347 Plague, profound devastation processes have taken place. If a clear connection could be established here, the end of the "Ostsiedlung" would be understood as part of the crisis of the 14th century.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: In the 19th century, recognition of this complex phenomenon coupled with the rise of nationalism. This led to a largely unhistoric ethnically inspired nationalist reinterpretation of the medieval process. In Germany and some Slavic countries, most notably Poland, the was perceived in nationalist circles as a prelude to contemporary expansionism and Germanization efforts, the slogan used for this perception was (Drive or Push to the East).


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The German settlement processes in Pomerania did not follow any kind of ideology, nor did the other migratory movements. Rather, the German settlement in Pomerania was shaped exclusively by practical requirements...The national historiography that established itself around the middle of the 19th century retrospectively constructed a Slavic-Germanic contrast in the process of the High Middle Ages. However, that was the ideology of the 19th century, not the Middle Ages...Settlement was to be "" ('people of whatever origin and whatever craft') which was recorded in numerous documents issued by Pomeranian dukes and Rügish princes.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The 20th century wars and nationalist policies severely altered the ethnic and cultural composition of Central and Eastern Europe. After World War I, Germans in reconstituted Poland were set under pressure to leave the Polish Corridor, the eastern part of Upper Silesia and Poznań. During World War II, the Nazis initiated the Nazi-Soviet population transfers, wiping out the old settlement areas of the Baltic Germans, the Germans in Bessarabia and others, to resettle them in the future territories in occupied Poland.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: Room for them was made during World War II, in line with the by expulsion of Poles and enslaving these and other Slavs according to the Nazi's concept. In order to press the territorial claims of Germany and to demonstrate supposed German superiority over non-Germanic peoples, whose cultural, urban and scientific achievements in that era were undermined, rejected, or presented as German. While further realization of this mega plan, aiming at a total reconstitution of Central and Eastern Europe as a German colony, was prevented by the war's turn, the beginning of the expulsion of 2 million Poles and settlement of in the annexed territories yet was implied by 1944.


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Potsdam Conference – the meeting between the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union – sanctioned the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary. With the Red Army's advance and Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945, the ethnic make-up of Central and Eastern and East Central Europe was radically changed, as nearly all Germans were expelled not only from all Soviet conquered German settlement areas across Central and Eastern Europe, but also from former territories of the Reich east of the Oder-Neisse line, mainly, the provinces of Silesia, East Prussia, East Brandenburg, and Pomerania. The Soviet-established People's Republic of Poland annexed the majority of the lands while the northern half of East Prussia was taken by the Soviets, becoming the Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of the Russian SFSR. The former German settlement areas were resettled by ethnic citizens of the respective succeeding state, (Czechs in the former Sudetenland and Poles in Silesia and Pomerania). However, some areas settled and Germanized in the course of the still form the northeastern part of modern Germany, such as the of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony and east of the in Holstein (part of Schleswig-Holstein).


title: Ostsiedlung

text: The Medieval colonization areas, that constituted the Eastern provinces of the modern German Empire and Austria, were inhabited estimated 30 million Germans at beginning of 20th century. The Westward withdrawal of political boundaries of Germany, first in 1919, but substantially in 1945, was followed by removal of some 15 million people, to resettle within borders of present-day Germany. Only the oldest 12th-century and partially 13th-century colonization areas remained German in language and culture, that are situated within area of the post-1945 Eastern Germany and part of Eastern Austria; in which Eastern Germany is a part of Germany, especially from German reunification on 3 October 1990.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Erma Louise Bombeck ("née" Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. She also published 15 books, most of which became bestsellers.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Between 1965 and April 17, 1996 – five days before her death – Bombeck wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes eloquent humor, chronicling the ordinary life of a Midwestern suburban housewife. By the 1970s, her columns were read semi-weekly by 30 million readers of the 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Her work stands as a humorous chronicle of middle-class life in America after World War II, among the generation of parents who produced the Baby Boomers.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Erma Fiste was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, to a working-class family, and was raised in Dayton. Her parents were Erma ("née" Haines) and Cassius Edwin Fiste, who was the city crane operator. Young Erma lived with her elder paternal half-sister, Thelma. She began elementary school one year earlier than usual for her age, in 1932, and became an excellent student and an avid reader. She particularly enjoyed the popular humor writers of the time. After Erma's father died in 1936, she moved, with her mother, into her grandmother's home. Her mother remarried in 1938, to Albert Harris (a moving van owner). Erma practiced tap dance and singing, and worked for a local radio station for a children's revue for eight years.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Erma entered Emerson Junior High School in 1940, and began writing a humorous column for its newspaper, "The Owl". In 1942, she entered Parker (now Patterson) Vocational High School, where she wrote a serious column, mixing in bits of humor. That same year she began work at the "Dayton Herald" as a copygirl, sharing her full-time assignment with a girlfriend. In 1944, for her first journalistic work, she interviewed Shirley Temple, who visited Dayton, and the interview became a newspaper feature.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Having completed high school in 1944, Erma sought to earn a college scholarship fund; for a year she worked as a typist and stenographer, for the "Dayton Herald" and several other companies, and also did minor journalistic assignments (obituaries, etc.) for the "Dayton Herald". Using the money she earned, Erma enrolled in Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, in 1946. However, she failed most of her literary assignments and was rejected for the university newspaper. She left after one semester when her funds ran out.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Erma later enrolled in the University of Dayton, a Catholic college. She lived in her family home and worked at Rike's, a department store, where she wrote humorous material for the company newsletter. In addition, she worked two part-time jobs – as a termite control accountant at an advertising agency and as a public-relations person at the local YMCA. While she was in college, her English professor, Bro. Tom Price, commented to Erma about her great prospects as a writer, and she began to write for the university student publication, "The Exponent". She graduated in 1949 with a degree in English, and became a lifelong active contact for the university — helping financially and participating personally — and became a lifetime trustee of the institution in 1987. In 1949, she converted to Catholicism, from the United Brethren church, and married Bill Bombeck, a former fellow student of the University of Dayton, who was a veteran of the World War II Korean front. His subsequent profession was that of educator and school supervisor. Bombeck remained active in the church for the rest of her life.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: The Bombecks were told by doctors that having a child was improbable, so they adopted a girl, Betsy, in 1953. Bombeck decided to become a full-time housewife and relinquished her career as a journalist. During 1954, Bombeck nevertheless wrote a series of humorous columns in the "Dayton Shopping News".


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Despite the former difficult diagnoses, Bombeck gave birth to her first son, Andrew, in 1956 and had her second son, Matthew, in 1958. The Bombeck family moved in 1959 to Centerville, Ohio, into a tract housing development, and were neighbors of Phil Donahue. The Bombeck home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Bombeck resumed her writing career for the local "Kettering-Oakwood Times" in 1964, with weekly columns that yielded $3 each. She wrote in her small bedroom. The following year the "Dayton Journal Herald" requested new humorous columns as well, and Bombeck agreed to write two weekly 450-word columns for $50. After three weeks, the articles went into national syndication through the Newsday Newspaper Syndicate, into 36 major U.S. newspapers, with three weekly columns under the title "At Wit's End".


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Bombeck quickly became a popular humorist nationwide. Beginning in 1966, she began doing lectures in the various cities where her columns appeared. In 1967, her newspaper columns were compiled and published by Doubleday, under the title "At Wit's End". And after a humorous appearance on Arthur Godfrey's radio show, she became a regular radio guest on the show.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: Aaron Priest, a Doubleday representative, became Bombeck's agent. By 1969, five hundred U.S. newspapers featured her "At Wit's End" columns, and she was also writing for "Good Housekeeping", "Reader's Digest", "Family Circle", "Redbook", "McCall's", and "Teen" magazines. Bombeck and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to a lavish hacienda on a hilltop in Paradise Valley.


title: Erma Bombeck

text: In 1976 McGraw-Hill published Bombeck's "The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank", which became a best-seller. In 1978, Bombeck arranged both a million-dollar contract for her fifth book, "If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" and a 700,000-copy advance for her subsequent book, "Aunt Erma's Cope Book" (1979).


title: Erma Bombeck

text: At the invitation of television producer Bob Shanks, Bombeck participated in ABC's "Good Morning America" from 1975 until 1986. She began doing brief commentaries, which were recorded in Phoenix, and eventually did both gag segments and serious interviews.