Background.

Jackson's previous album "Off the Wall" (1979) received critical acclaim and was a commercial success, having sold 10 million copies at the time. The years between "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" were a transitional period for Jackson, a time of increased independence. The period saw him become deeply unhappy; Jackson said, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk

Production and composition.

Recording.

Jackson reunited with "Off the Wall" producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album, his second under the Epic label. They worked together on 30 songs, nine of which were included on the album. "Thriller" was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a production budget of $750,000 (US$1,926,319.15 in 2017 dollars). The recording commenced on April 14, 1982 at noon with Jackson and Paul McCartney recording "The Girl Is Mine"; it was completed on the final day of mixing, November 8, 1982. Several members of the band Toto were involved in the album's recording and production. Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean". Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write these songs on paper. Instead, he dictated into a sound recorder; when recording he would sing from memory.  The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone. When the album was completed, both Jones and

Music and lyrics.

"Thriller" explores genres including pop, post-disco, rock, funk, dance and R&B. According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, it refined the strengths of "Off the Wall"; the dance and rock tracks are more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads are softer and more soulful. The album includes the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature" and "The Girl Is Mine". The funk tracks "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something'", and the disco songs "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" have a similar sound to "Off the Wall".  "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"

Cover.

The cover for "Thriller" features Jackson in a white suit that belonged to photographer Dick Zimmerman. The gatefold sleeve reveals a tiger cub at

Release.

"Thriller" was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records and internationally by CBS Records. It peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Top LPs & Tapes chart on February 26, 1983. "Thriller" sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak. "Thriller" was the best-selling album in the United States in 1983 and 1984, making it the first album to be the best-selling for two years. It also spent a record 37 weeks at number one on the "Billboard" 200, from February 26, 1983 to April 14, 1984, and has remained on the chart for 392 weeks and counting.  "Thriller" was Jackson's global breakthrough, topping the charts in nine other countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It has gained Diamond certifications in Argentina, Canada, Denmark, France, Mexico and the UK. "Thriller" sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in the US Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007. It is the sixth-best-selling album in the UK.  On December 16, 2015, "Thriller" was certified 30× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of at least 30 million units in the US. After the inclusion of streaming and tracks sales into the RIAA album awards in 2017, "Thriller" was certified 33× platinum for a total of 33 million album-equivalent units. By the end of 1983, "Thriller" became the world's best-selling album, having sold 32 million copies. It remains the best-selling album of all time, having sold over 66 million copies worldwide.

Singles.

Seven singles were released, with the first being "The Girl Is Mine". It was criticized as a poor choice of lead single, and its release led to predictions by critics that listeners would find the album disappointing and to suggestions that Jackson was bowing to a white audience. Despite some of the public's concerns, "The Girl Is Mine" topped the "Billboard" Hot Black Singles chart, peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and reached number one on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.  "Billie Jean" was released next and reached number one on "Billboard"s Hot 100 chart, where it remained for seven weeks. "Billie Jean" also topped the "Billboard" Hot Black Singles chart within three weeks where remained at number one for nine weeks. "Billboard" ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1983. It was also a number one hit in the UK, Switzerland and Belgium and reached the top ten in many other countries. "Billie Jean" was one of the best-selling singles of

Music videos.

The "Billie Jean" music video debuted on March 10, 1983, on MTV. It brought MTV—until then a fairly new and unknown music channel—to mainstream attention. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be aired regularly by the channel, as the network's executives felt black music was not "rock" enough. Directed by Steve Barron, the video shows a photographer who follows Jackson. The paparazzo never catches him, and when photographed Jackson fails to materialize on the developed picture. He dances to Billie Jean's hotel room and as he walks along a sidewalk, each tile lights up at his touch.  The "Beat It" music video had its world premiere on MTV during prime time on March 31, 1983.

Critical reception.

In a contemporaneous review for "Rolling Stone", Christopher Connelly called "Thriller" "a zesty LP" with a "harrowing, dark message". He compared the songs on the album with the life challenges that the 24-year-old Jackson had faced since "Off the Wall", while observing that he "dropped the boyish falsetto" and was facing his "challenges head-on" with "a feisty determination" and "a full, adult voice". Connelly emphasized Jackson's musical progression from "Off the Wall", writing, "Jackson's new attitude gives "Thriller" a deeper, if less visceral, emotional urgency than any of his previous work, and marks another watershed in the creative development of this prodigiously talented performer."  John Rockwell wrote in "The New York Times" that perhaps Jackson was a "sometimes too practiced... performer", that at times Quincy Jones may "depersonalize his individuality" with his "slightly anonymous production", and that Jackson may be hiding his true emotions behind "layers of impenetrable, gauzy veils". Rockwell nonetheless deemed "Thriller" "a wonderful pop record, the latest statement by one of the great singers in popular music today" and that there are "hits here, too, lots of them". Rockwell believed it helped breach "the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music", especially as "white publications and radio stations that normally avoid

Legacy and influence.

Music industry.

"Blender" described Jackson as the "late 20th century's preeminent pop icon", while "The New York Times" gave the opinion that he was a "musical phenomenon" and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else". Richard Corliss of "Time" hailed "Thriller" as "the greatest pop album of all time". Jackson changed the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona and as a financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: approximately $2 (US$ in dollars) for each album sold.  As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales and from the sale of copies of the documentary, "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller", produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first

Music videos and racial equality.

Before the success of "Thriller", many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black. In an effort to attain air time for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy."  His position persuaded MTV to begin airing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", (along with Prince's "Little Red Corvette") which led to a long partnership and later helped other black music artists to gain mainstream recognition. MTV denies claims of racism in their broadcasting. The popularity of his videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", helped to place the young channel "on the map" and MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B. Jackson transformed the medium of music video into an art form and promotional tool through the use of complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and cameo appearances by well known personalities.  When the

Reappraisal.

"Thriller" has continued to receive positive reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that it had something to interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun", and wrote that "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", was "the freshest funk on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine felt it was an improvement on Jackson's previous album, although he was critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and "sucked out the momentum"

Rankings.

In 1992, "Thriller" was awarded the Special "Billboard" Award to commemorate its 10th anniversary. At the 2002 "Billboard" Music Awards, as a sign of the album's longevity, "Thriller" was awarded a second Special "Billboard" Award as a recognition for spending more weeks at number one on the "Billboard" 200 than any other album in history. In 2000, it was voted number 64 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums". It was also ranked number 2 in the Soul/R&B – All Time Top 50 albums. The book states; it is the finest example of perfect disco pop, and a record that should be prescribed to musical snobs and manic depressives. In 2003, it was ranked at number 20 on the "Rolling Stone" 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revised list — it's the highest ranked pop

Reissues and catalog sales.

"Thriller" was reissued on October 16, 2001, in an expanded set, "Thriller: Special Edition". The album is remastered and includes a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs "Someone in the Dark", "Carousel" and Jackson's original "Billie Jean" demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton. Sony also hired sound engineer and mixer Mick Guzauski to create 5.1-channel surround sound mixes of "Thriller" and Jackson's other albums for the Super Audio CD format, but Jackson did not approve the mixes. Consequently, "Thriller" was issued on SACD only in a stereo version.  In February 2008, Epic Records released "Thriller 25"; Jackson served as executive producer. "Thriller 25" appeared on CD, USB and vinyl with seven bonus tracks, the new song "For All Time", a snippet of Price's voiceover and five remixes featuring American artists Fergie, will.i.am, Kanye West and Akon. It also included a DVD featuring three music videos, the "" "Billie Jean" performance and a booklet with a message from Jackson. The ballad "For All Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often credited as being from the "Dangerous" sessions.  "Thriller 25" was a commercial success and did particularly

Track listing.

Personnel.

Personnel as listed in

References.

Bibliography

Thriller is the sixth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records. Reunited with "Off the Wall" producer Quincy Jones, Jackson was inspired to create an album where "every song was a killer". With the ongoing backlash against disco, Jackson moved in a new musical direction, incorporating pop, post-disco, rock, funk, dance and R&B. The album features a single guest appearance, with Paul McCartney becoming the first artist to be featured on Jackson's albums. Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, with a production budget of $750,000.

Thriller je album zpěváka Michaela Jacksona, vydané 30. listopadu 1982 pod Epic Records, které se rychle stalo nejprodávanějším albem na světě (110 mil. kopií). Zároveň je prvním albem, které se stalo současně "číslem 1" v USA i Velké Británii.


Cinematic career.

Hossein started directing films in 1955 with "Les Salauds vont en enfer", from a story by Frédéric Dard whose novels and plays went on to furnish Hossein with much of his later film material. Right from the start Hossein established his characteristic trademarks: using a seemingly straightforward suspense plot and subverting its conventions (sometimes to the extent of a complete disregard of the traditional demand for a final twist or revelation) in order to concentrate on ritualistic relationships. This is the director's running preoccupation which is always stressed in his films by an extraordinary command of film space and often striking frame compositions where the geometry of human figures and set design is used to accentuate the psychological set-up of the scene. The mechanisms of guilt and the way it destroys relationships is another recurring theme, presumably influenced by Hossein's lifelong interest in the works of Dostoyevski.  In 1967, he was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1982 film "Les Misérables" was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Special Prize.  Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like "Toi, le venin" and "The Vampire of Düsseldorf", he was much singled out for scorching criticism by the critics and followers of the New Wave for the unashamedly melodramatic frameworks of his films. The fact that he was essentially an auteur director with a consistent set of themes and an extraordinary mastery of original and unusual approaches to staging his stories, was never appreciated. He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different spaghetti western "Cemetery Without Crosses" and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama "I Killed Rasputin". However, because of the lack of wider success and continuing adverse criticism, Hossein virtually ended his film directing career in 1970, having concentrated on theatre where his achievements were never questioned, and subsequently returning to film directing only twice. With two or three exceptions, his films remain commercially unavailable and very difficult to see.

Personal life.

Robert Hossein is the son of André Hossein, a composer of Persian or Azerbaijani origin, and of a Jewish comedy actress from Soroca (Bessarabia) Anna Mincovschi. He was married three times: first to Marina Vlady (then Marina Poliakoff; on 23 December 1955, they had two sons, Pierre and Igor), later on 7 June 1962, to Caroline Eliacheff, daughter of Françoise Giroud (they had a son, Nicholas, who became rabbi Aaron Eliacheff). She was fifteen at the time and he was 34. In 1973, he dated for a short while Michèle Watrin, before she died the following year in a car accident. In 1976, he married actress Candice Patou, with whom he has a son.

Conversion to Roman Catholicism.

At the age of forty, Hossein was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. According to an article written by Emannuel Peze, Hossein experienced a conversion to Catholicism in 1971 during a visit to the Marian apparition at San Damiano in Lombardo Italy.  In 2007, he presented a play entitled "Do Not be Afraid" ("N'ayez pas peur") of the life of Pope John Paul II. He has a special devotion to Saint Therese of Lisieux.  Member of Eurasian Academy (2016).

Robert Hossein (born 30 December 1927) is a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of "Les Misérables", and appeared in "Vice and Virtue", "Le Casse", "Les Uns et les Autres" and "Venus Beauty Institute". His other roles include Michèle Mercier's husband in the "Angélique" series, a gunfighter in the Spaghetti Western "Cemetery Without Crosses" (which he also directed and co-wrote), and a Catholic priest who falls in love with Claude Jade and becomes a communist in "Forbidden Priests".

Robert Hossein, vlastním jménem Robert Hosseinoff, (* 30. prosince 1927 v Paříži, Francie) je francouzský filmový a divadelní režisér, herec a scenárista židovského původu.


Background.

In 1628, when the Habsburgs allowed only the Catholic religion in their monarchy, many Czech Brethren found exile in Leszno, in Catholic Poland, where Protestants were tolerated. Comenius formed the idea that language cannot be taught without relation to things. He also saw a narrow connection between language and knowledge, both of which he considered limited. His friends persuaded him to express these ideas in books, of which "Janua linguarum reserata" was the first. Comenius was inspired by a Latin-Spanish textbook called "Janua linguarum", published in Salamanca in 1611 by a Hibernian monk William Bathe (or Bateus). The book was published in 1617 in London in four languages (the other two being English and French). This edition was probably shown to Comenius by John Jonston.

Composition and variations.

It was published under the full name "Janua linguarum reserata sive seminarium linguarum et scientiarum omnium" (English: "The Door of Languages Unlocked, or the Seedbed of All the Languages and Sciences"). Approximately 8000 words are set in 1000 sentences which are divided into about 100 chapters. A simplified version (about 1000 words in seven chapters) for beginners was published under the name "Vestibulus" in 1932. Janua was also adapted for the stage in 1953–54 and published in Sárospatak under the name "Schola ludus seu encyclopaedia viva". It is divided into eight plays and it takes place in Alexandria under Ptolemaeus Philadelphus. The main characters of the advisors from different ages are Plato, Eratosthenes, Apollonius of Rhodes, Plinius and Socrates. The numbers of actors in the eight plays vary from 33 (VI) up to 88 (III).

Reception and translations.

The new encyclopaedic and linguistic system brought fame to the book and its author so that he became name familiar to European scholars. Right after being published, the book was widely praised, re-published and translated so that it became the most widespread book in Europe of its time, except for the Bible. A Czech version was published by Comenius in Leszno in 1633 under the name "Dveře jazyků otevřené". It was translated to 11 or 12 European languages: English (first anonymous "pirate" edition London 1631 by Johannes Anchoranus), Polish (Gdańsk 1633), German (Leipzig 1633), French (London 1633), Italian (Leiden 1640), Swedish (Stockholm 1641), Dutch (Amsterdam 1642), Greek (Amsterdam 1643), Hungarian (Bardejov 1643), Spanish (Valencia 1819–21), and Arabic (translated by Peter Golius, brother of Jacobus Golius, before 1642), and translations to other Asian languages (Turkish, Persian, Mongolian and Armenian) were prepared but no copy of them exists.  Comenius was surprised at the enthusiastic reception the book received. He wrote: I could not have imagined... that this childish book [would be] received with universal approbation by the learned world. This was shown me by the number of men who wished me hearty success with my new discovery and by the number of translations into foreign languages. For, not only was the book translated into twelve European languages, since I myself have seen these translations (Latin, Greek, Bohemian, Polish, German, Swedish, Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hungarian), but also into the Asiatic languages — Arabic, Turkish, and Persian — and even into the Mongolian, which is understood by all the East Indies.  There are 101 editions in Czech libraries published during Comenius' lifetime; 18 more editions were issued before the end of the 17th century. In the 18th century, interest weakened and it was published only ten times. In some editions it was called "Janua linguarum... aurea"; some others have "Porta" instead of "Janua". A simplified "Janua linguarum reseratae vestibulum" was published more than 40 times during Comenius' life and translated to eight languages.

Janua linguarum reserata (English: "The Door of Languages Unlocked", often mistranslated as "The Gate of Languages" and the like) is a textbook written by John Amos Comenius in 1629. It was published in 1631 in Leszno and was soon translated into most European languages.

Dvéře jazyků otevřené (latinsky či, v jiném českém překladu Brána jazyků otevřená; také ) je učebnice latiny, napsaná Janem Amosem Komenským.


Biography.

Early activities.

Kavtaradze was born into a noble family in Zovreti, in the Georgian area of Imereti, at the time part of the Russian Empire. He joined the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in 1903 and engaged in agitation during the period leading up to the October Revolution. Active throughout the Caucasus and in Saint Petersburg, he was a member of the Social Democratic Committee for Imereti and Mingrelia (1904–1906). Kavtaradze first met his fellow Georgian Joseph Stalin early in his youth, and became his collaborator. During this time, he reputedly helped the young Stalin hide from detectives.  Kavtaradze's political activities contrasted with his romantic life: he eventually married Sofia Vachnadze, a Georgian princess whose godmother was Empress Consort Maria Feodorovna (mother of Emperor Nicolas II). In 1912, he split with the mainstream Social Democrats as one of the Old Bolsheviks, and subsequently stood on the group's far left. He then worked for the Bolshevik paper "Pravda" (1912–1914), and, in 1915, graduated from the Saint Petersburg University Faculty of Law. After the February Revolution of 1917, he was present on the Social Democratic (Bolshevik) Regional Committee in the Caucasus, while editing the group's local journal, "Kavkazsky Rabochy". Later in the year, he was a delegate to the 6th Party Congress, and, in 1918, was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soviet in Vladikavkaz. As the Civil War took hold of the Caucasus, Kavtaradze remained a representative of the Bolsheviks, active against the Menshevik government in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and was arrested several times.  Although he frequently disagreed with Stalin, the two remained close. Following the Red Army invasion of Georgia, Kavtaradze was head of the revolutionary committees in Batumi and Adjaria (March–September and July–September 1921, or up until May 1921). He later filled the same post in the Georgian SSR (at the time part of the Transcaucasian SFSR), where he was also People's Commissar for Justice. Between February 1922 and 1923, he was head of government (Chairman of the Sovnarkom) of the Georgian SSR. He was counselor of the Soviet Embassy in Turkey (1923–1924), and later served as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union (1924–1928).

Left Opposition and first arrest.

Around that time, Kavtaradze joined Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition in their conflict with Stalin and other Party leaders, and ceased his involvement with the group only as it collapsed. This caused him to be expelled from the Party as early as 1927. Eventually, in late 1927, he was sent on internal exile to Orenburg Oblast (or, according to others, to Kazan). He attempted to visit Moscow on vacation in December 1928, but was arrested on charges of spreading "Anti-Soviet propaganda".  In 1929, Stalin ordered the State Political Directorate and Lavrentiy Beria to round up the leadership of the Georgian Communist Party, including Polikarp Budu Mdivani and others who had voiced strong criticism of the centralism imposed with the creation of the Soviet Union ("see Georgian Affair"). Other Georgian comrades of Stalin were also arrested, including Kote Tsintsadze. However, in a speech condemning Mdivani's associates as a "terrorist group", Beria left out Kavtaradze's name, which was seen as a sign that Stalin was going to be more lenient with him. He was nonetheless sentenced to three years in prison, which he served in Tobolsk.  Kavtaradze was eventually released on Stalin's orders, and was allowed to return to and settle in Moscow, where he worked as a journalist without reentering the Party. According to historian Roy Medvedev, Sergey Kavtaradze's liberation came after he sent a letter to the uncontested leader, which included a pledge that "he was not working against the Party." Medvedev places Kavtaradze's release after the 1934 murder of Party boss Sergey Kirov, while other sources indicate that he emerged from prison in 1931.  Central Committee member Lazar Kaganovich was tasked with looking after him. One of Sergey Kavtaradze's journalistic pieces, published soon after his return to Moscow, was a recollection of his early activities, which was reportedly well liked by Stalin.

Second arrest and death sentence.

Kavtaradze consequently worked for a publishing house, reviewing works of fiction. In late 1936, as the Great Purge was reaching its peak, he and his wife Sofia were suddenly arrested on orders from NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov, accused of "counter-revolutionary activities" and of having conspired with Mdivani to have Stalin assassinated, and sentenced to death. They were both subject to torture in the Lubyanka Prison. Although Mdivani was shot immediately, the couple remained waiting on Death Row for a significant period. Upon being presented with a list of planned executions, Stalin marked a dash in crayon next to Kavtaradze's name—according to various sources, this discreet sign saved Kavtaradze's life.  Sergey Kavtaradze was later moved to a prison in Tbilisi, but brought back to Moscow in February 1939. The couple were suddenly released in late 1939, and were first allowed to see each other in Beria's Moscow apartment. British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore argues that this was a delayed consequence of a letter Stalin received in 1936: in it, the couple's eleven-year-old daughter, Maya, begged for her parents to be allowed to live. The Kavtaradzes (including Maya, who was allowed to leave Tbilisi and transported to Moscow) moved into a hotel, and then allowed to settle in a communal apartment. In what was an unprecedented gesture, Stalin and Beria paid them a visit in their new home.

World War II.

Kavtaradze was assigned to the State Publishing House in 1940, and reinstated in the Party later that year. He became an assistant to Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov in 1941, being placed in charge of the Near East Department. In 1943, after the Nazi German invasion of the Soviet Union, he was Deputy Foreign Commissar. He took part in the inter-Allied summits—the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference. The family were often guests at the Kremlin, where they attended dinners in the company of Stalin and other prominent politicians.  During September 1944, Sergey Kavtaradze was in Iran, where, three years after the Anglo-Soviet invasion, he was to push for a Soviet share in the local oil industry. He approached Prime Minister Mohammad Sa'ed, asking him to allow Soviet prospectors in northern Iran. Sa'ed, who was by then involved in a conflict with the far left Tudeh and nationalist forces over having allowed British and American businesses the possibility of opening oil field in the country, did not reply favorably to the envoy's request. Kavtaradze then resorted to threats, which he notably voiced during a meeting with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In parallel, the Soviet Red Army troops in Iran made the transit of Iranian forces difficult, and were present during a large-scale Tudeh demonstration in front of the Majlis building.  It was largely as a result of these maneuvers that Sa'ed ultimately resigned on 9 November 1944, being replaced by Morteza Gholi Bayat. In December, despite Tudeh opposition, Mohammed Mosaddeq successfully advanced legislation preventing any government official from granting Iranian fields to any foreign investor without explicit approval from the Majlis. Kavtaradze protested the change, claiming that it was aimed against the Soviet Union, but the Bayet cabinet refused to renegotiate and he returned to Moscow without having registered any gain. In June 1945, Molotov, Kavtaradze and Azerbaijan SSR leader Mir Jafar Baghirov were instructed by the Soviet Central Committee to secretly prepare a separatist insurrection in the Iranian Azerbaijan. This resulted in Ja'far Pishevari's Azerbaijan People's Government, while agitation among the Kurdish people gave way to Qazi Muhammad's Republic of Mahabad (both regimes were crushed within months by Iranian interventions).  During early autumn, together with the Armenian SSR's Foreign Commissariat, Kavtradze analyzed the border issues between Turkey and the Caucasian Soviet Republics ("see Tao-Klarjeti, Wilsonian Armenia"). In a report to Molotov, he estimated that the Turkish state owed 20,500 km2 in territory to the Armenian SSR and 5,500 km2 to the Georgian SSR. With his backing, the Armenian leadership unsuccessfully proposed that the Ardahan Province and the area around Oltu be demanded from Turkey and granted to the Armenian SSR. The two regions had been part of the Democratic Republic of Armenia following the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, but were also claimed by Georgia. In contrast, the Georgian leaders proposed that Ardahan and Oltu become part of their republic.

Activities in Romania and final years.

During the war's final stage, Kavtaradze was sent to the Romanian Kingdom, whose alliance with the Axis Powers was ended by the King Michael Coup of August 1944 ("see Romania during World War II"). His office as Ambassador, like the Soviet military presence, was instrumental in providing guidance and assistance for the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). He took over his post in 1945, and kept it until 1952.  At the time, he was especially close to the PCR's so-called "Muscovite faction", and to its leader, Ana Pauker. This came at a time when Pauker won the trust of Soviet leaders such as Molotov, Kaganovich and Kliment Voroshilov—in contrast, her main rival, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, sought support from Georgy Malenkov and Beria. At a lower level, Pauker's relations with Kavtaradze were replicated by the close relationship between Gheorghiu-Dej and Mark Borisovich Mitin, the Cominform activist and Stalinist theorist.  During September 1945, as Soviet specialists on Romanian issues, Kavtaradze and his fellow diplomat, former prosecutor Andrey Vyshinsky, were present in Moscow at a meeting between a Romanian delegation and Stalin. The Romanian side, overseen by Ploughmen's Front leader and Premier Petru Groza, also comprised Foreign Minister and Vice-Premier Gheorghe Tătărescu, Romanian Social Democrat leader Ştefan Voitec, and Mihail Ghelmegeanu. The discussions were centered on Romania's agreement to seal a final armistice with the Soviet Union. The Minister of Justice and prominent PCR member, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, was conspicuously absent from the talks, in what was seen as an early sign of his downfall.  In autumn 1946, Kavtaradze, who regularly instructed Pauker, played a part in the electoral fraud that brought the PCR-created Bloc of Democratic Parties to power under Groza's leadership ("see 1946 Romanian general election").  In January 1947, as Romania prepared to sign the Paris Peace Treaty, he played a part in negotiating, with Premier Groza, Foreign Minister Tătărescu, and PCR activist Emil Bodnăraş, the Soviet takeover of islands on the Danube's Chilia branch. While Groza asked for Romania to receive the Hertza region and a small area north of Siret in exchange, Tătărescu opposed any change in the "status quo", and Bodnăraş asked for promises of compensation to be made. Kavtaradze relayed his government's position that no guarantees were to be made, and the islands were ceded to the Soviet Union as part of the Paris Treaty system.  Since the Soviet-dominated Allied Commission ended its mandate (October 1947) and until his recall, Kavtaradze replaced Red Army general Ivan Susaykov as the most important representative of his country in relations with the Groza government, and, later, with Communist Romania. He retired in 1954, one year after Stalin's death, and in 1961, was a delegate to the 22nd Party Congress. He died ten years later in Tbilisi, where his descendants were still residing in 2003.

Legacy.

Stalin's forgiveness for Kavtaradze has drawn interest from historians, as did the fact Stalin's attitudes toward his friend remained ambiguous after he was released from prison. In his "Let History Judge", Roy Medvedev cites an episode occurring circa 1939, reported to him by Kavtaradze himself: during dinner at the Kremlin, Kavtaradze was addressed by Stalin the words "And yet you wanted to kill me". Medvedev notes: "Some historians may see this comment as proof of Stalin's paranoia. But Stalin knew well that Kavtaradze never tried to kill him. However, he could not admit this openly, for then he would have had to reconsider the execution of Budu Mdivani and many other Communists involved in the case. It was much simpler to 'forgive' Kavtaradze alone." In his view, the case was similar to that of Alyosha Svanidze (the brother of Stalin's first wife Ekaterina Svanidze), who was shot after refusing to confess similar crimes. He concluded: "All these actions reveal a misanthropic tyrant, not a mentally ill person who did not know what he was doing." Reportedly, Sergey Kavtaradze himself believed that the conversation showed Stalin to be "sick". Simon Sebag Montefiore, who places this event right after the Kavtaradzes' liberation, cites the line as: "Nevertheless, you all wanted to kill me?", and gives Kavtaradze's reply to it as "Do you really think so?" He also records an exchange between Stalin and Sofia Kavtaradze: Stalin, looking at her hair (which had turned white in prison), commented "We have tortured you too much."  In this context, Stalin charged Sergey Kavtaradze with editing a Russian-language translation of Shota Rustaveli's "The Knight in the Panther's Skin", which he was to complete together with the academic Shalva Nutsibidze. Nutsibidze was himself a former inmate, and he had begun work on the translation in his cell—Stalin had personally reviewed his work and found it impressive, ordering Nutsibidze to be released. Reportedly, the Soviet dictator even corrected part of the manuscript and his personal translation of a section probably made it into the final edition.  Following his release, Stalin kept Kavtaradze in his circle of intimates, and nicknamed him "Tozho"—in reference to his slant eyes, which, Stalin believed, made him look like the Japanese prime minister Hideki Tōjō. He also confided in him: at some point after the Great Purge, Stalin allegedly told his friend that "we had to shoot" Nikolai Yezhov. On one occasion in 1945, speaking in Georgian, Stalin told the Mingrelian Lavrentiy Beria he considered him a "traitor" in front of Kavtaradze.  According to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's political ally, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Kavtaradze was also on good terms with his faction, and, while in Romania, furnished them details on his youth and relations with Stalin and his earlier fall from grace. Bârlădeanu remembered Kavtaradze telling him that he was present at the 17th Party Congress of 1934, where he claimed to have cast his vote in favor of Sergey Kirov and against Stalin's choices for the Central Committee. The ballot was secret, but Stalin later ordered the voting majority to be purged, which would have left Kavtaradze among the very few survivors of that vote.

Sergey or Sergo Kavtaradze (Georgian: სერგო ქავთარაძე, "Sergo Kavtaradze"; Russian: Сергей Иванович Кавтарадзе, "Sergey Ivanovich Kavtaradze"; 15 August 1885 – 17 October 1971) was a Soviet politician and diplomat who briefly served as head of government in the Georgian SSR and as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union. A Georgian Bolshevik activist, he was persecuted for his Trotskyist activities, but was pardoned and reinstated by his personal friend Joseph Stalin.

Sergej Kavtaradze (gruzínsky: სერგო ქავთარაძე, "Sergo Kavtaradze"; rusky: "Сергей Иванович Кавтарадзе", Sergej Ivanovič Kavtaradze) (15. srpna 1885 – 17. října 1971) byl sovětský politik, novinář a diplomat, který ve dvacátých letech krátce působil v čele gruzínské vlády jako předseda rady lidových komisařů. Kavtaradzeho politické přesvědčení velmi ostře kontrastovalo s jeho původem a osobním životem. Oženil se totiž se Sofií Vačnadzeovou, gruzínskou kněžnou, která byla vnučkou Marie Fjodorovny, matkou ruského cara Mikuláše II.


History.

Bzenec was first mentioned in 1015 (unofficial). In 1330 it became a town.

Jewish history.

About the earliest history of its Jews nothing is known. Pesina, whose ""Mars Moravicus"" was published in 1677, calls it "nidus Judæorum".  In the time of the margraves (up to the 15th century) the Bisenz Jews must have enjoyed great privileges; for, according to the oldest "mountain-laws", they were permitted to own vineyards, it being a matter of great importance to the margraves to market their wine through the agency of Jewish traders. In the wars between George Podiebrad of Bohemia and Matthias of Hungary (c. 1458), Bisenz, and with it the Jewish quarter, was entirely devastated and came under constantly changing feudal proprietors.  According to the feudal ""Urbarium"" of 1604, the Jews even then possessed 32 houses, a hospital, and 17 smaller buildings, called ""Hoferi Židovští."" But only a year later (May 2, 1605) the Jewish community was totally destroyed by Stephen Bocskai; so that in 1655, when the new edition of the land-register was made out, 25 Jewish holdings still lay in ruins.  In the first Silesian war (Feb., 1742) the Jewish community suffered severely from the Prussian invasion, especially as its inhabitants had to bear their share of the general levies. At the close of this war the empress Maria Theresa in 1753 issued the so-called ""Familien-Verordnung"" (Family Ordinance), according to which only 5,442 Jewish families were allowed to live in Moravia; and of these 137 were allotted to Bisenz. On May 17, 1777, almost the entire Jewish ghetto, in which there were 93 houses, was burned. Up to 1782 the Jewish community was subject to the feudal lord; but in criminal matters they were under the jurisdiction of the city authorities.  Of recent events may be mentioned the organization of the Jewish congregation into a political community in 1852, and the building of a new synagogue in 1863.

Twin towns — sister cities.

Bzenec is twinned with:

Bzenec (; ) is a town in the southeast of Moravia, in the Czech Republic. It lies in the South Moravian Region. It has a population of about 4,400 inhabitants.

Bzenec () je město v okrese Hodonín v Jihomoravském kraji, 9 km severozápadně od Veselí nad Moravou a 12 km jihovýchodně od Kyjova. Žije zde obyvatel.


Etymology.

The verb "Filar" in Portuguese literally means "hold, arrest, grab". So "Cão de Fila" (Fila dog) or "Cão de filar" suggests that it is a "catch dog", a dog that "bites and does not loosen its grip". A similar name is also found in two Portuguese dog breeds: the Cão de Fila de São Miguel and the extinct Cão de Fila da Terceira.

History.

One theory is that the breed is a combination between the English Mastiff, Bloodhound and old Bulldog of the 15th century. Another theory is that the Fila is the result of the crossbreeding between Portuguese and Spanish dogs brought to Brazil during the Iberian Union period. In this case, the Fila would have as possible ascendents the Spanish Mastiff, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, Cão de Gado Transmontano, Rafeiro do Alentejo, Cão Fila de São Miguel, etc., or the predecessor of these breeds (the Iberian Alaunt), possibly combined with scent hounds.  The Fila Brasileiro were bred and raised primarily on large plantations and cattle farms where they originated. In addition to cattle, jaguars, and other animals, these dogs were taught to chase down runaway slaves. The dogs would grab the slave or animals by the neck and hold them until the farmer arrived. This instinct can be observed among puppies when they are playing.  The first written standard of the breed was edited in 1946. The Paulistas were responsible for organizing a planned breeding program and opening a stud book to register dogs. Dr. Paulo Santos Cruz began to systematically breed the Fila Brasileiro and also contributed largely in setting the CAFIB standard, and who now, therefore, has the right to be called the "father" of the Fila Brasileiro.  About the registries, CBKC (Brazilian Confederation Kennel Club) follows the FCI (Federation Cynologique Internationale) policy and accepts for registration only dogs with FCI pedigrees, orienting the breeders to have hip dysplasia control, besides other health problems. The Fila Brasileiro is described as a Brazilian Mastiff or a Brazilian Molosser. In the U.S., the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) does a statistical registry of all Filas that were X-rayed to diagnose hip dysplasia.  The Brazilian army compared this breed to Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds in a five-year study using these dogs in the jungle under extremely hostile conditions. The following traits were observed: intelligence, aggressiveness, sensibility, temperament, energy, resistance, rusticity and strength. German Shepherds were found to have the highest intelligence and Doberman Pinschers the highest level of aggression. The Fila Brasileiro was found to be superior in every other category.

Appearance.

In Brazil the breed has two main standards imposed by two distinct clubs, the CBKC (Brazilian Confederation of Cynophilia) affiliated to FCI, and the CAFIB (Fila Brasileiro's Enhancement Club). Consequently, the stock of each club has visible morphological differences. The CAFIB standard was constructed based on the ancient phenotype of the breed. But the current CBKC/FCI standard is the best known internationally.  The Fila Brasileiro is a molosser breed with large bones and loose skin. The FCI breed standard requires males to be between 65 and 75 cm (25.5 inches to 29.5 inches) high at the withers and weigh. Females are slightly smaller and are expected to be 60 to 70 cm (23.5 inches to 27.5 inches) high at the withers and weigh at least 41 kg (90 lbs). They have a rectangular build and though they are massive, their natural agility is apparent. The head is big and heavy with a deep muzzle. The ears are large, thick, tapered and either droop or fold back exposing the interior, depending on the dog's mood. The neck and back are well muscled and the chest is broad and deep. Unlike the vast majority of canines, the croup is higher than the withers. The legs are heavily boned. The skin is very distinctive of the breed, as it is thick and loose all over the body, mainly in the region around the neck. The thick skin forms pronounced dewlaps. In many individuals, the dewlaps proceed to the chest and abdomen. Some dogs show a fold at the side of the head and also at the withers descending to the shoulders. The coat is short and dense and the texture is normally smooth and soft. Their colours vary from solid, brindle, mouse-grey, patched, dappled, or black and tan. They are almost never white. Typical colours are fawn, black and brindle. Brindles of a basic color may have the stripes of either less or with very strong intensity. Sometimes a black mask is present.  Though large in size, the Fila does not appear static. Rather it is harmonious, cat-like and, above all, powerful. The Fila appears self-assured and calm but is never absent in expression. When at attention, the gaze of the Fila Brasileiro is firm, alert and unwavering. Another typical characteristic of the breed is its gait, which is similar to that of a camel, moving two legs of one side at a time. The gait gives it a typical rolling lateral movement on the throat and the hindquarters which is accentuated when the dog's tail is raised. The head is typically lower than the backline. The characteristic carriage and gait has earned it great success in dog shows.  The coat of the Fila Brasileiro is smooth and short. Black, fawns (red, apricot, or dark), and brindled (fawn, black, or brown brindle) colors are permitted, except mouse-grey, black and tan, blue, dappled and solid white. White markings, not exceeding 1/4 of the coat surface area, are permitted on the feet, the chest and the tip of the tail in the FCI standard.  The CAFIB standard does not accept black, mouse-grey, black and tan, blue, or dappled coats, as it considers them as a sign of crossbreeding; on the other hand, it accepts dogs with large white markings on any part of the body.

Standards.

In Brazil the Fila Brasileiro can be bred within three different standards proposed by three separate clubs. The standard imposed by the CBKC (a club affiliated to the FCI) is the most popular in the world, but it is by far the most distant from the appearance of the old dogs of four decades ago.  The other two standards are from CAFIB (Fila Brasileiro's Enhancement Club) and AMFIBRA (World Association of Dog Breeders of Fila Brasileiro), respectively. Both are based on the first breed standard elaborated by Paulo Santos Cruz, the man who is considered the "father of the breed". However, the CAFIB standard is the most popular of the two. But both clubs (CAFIB and AMFIBRA) present themselves with the aim to preserve the pure Fila with the closest appearance of the old dogs.  This big difference between the three standards is mainly due to an accusation of a scandal of crossbreeding at the dogs registered by the CBKC in the 70's, 80's and 90's and, consequently, the many changes made in the CBKC standard probable to include dogs with characteristics of foreign breeds, such as the English Mastiff, Great Dane and Neapolitan Mastiff.  Paulo Santos Cruz himself, who even participated in the formation of the CAFIB for these same reasons and even presided over the club, published an article in 1979 explaining how to differentiate a pure Fila from a mixed one.

Temperament.

Fila Brasileiros are known to be naturally protective. They are bred to be aggressive. It is also known for its extreme wariness of strangers and agility when protecting or defending its master. The dedication and obedience of the Fila Brasileiro has found its way into the Brazilian saying "as faithful as a Fila".  The Fila Brasileiro temperament is what characterizes the dog. The Portuguese word for their temperament is "ojeriza", which directly translated into English means "dislike" or "distrust". The socialization period (about the first year with the first six to eight months being the most important) of the dog's life is crucial to the temperament of the individual dog. If the pup is exposed to a lot of people in a positive manner (known as'socializing'), the pup (keeping in mind the dog's natural protective instincts) can be encouraged to behave in a calm manner in public, but emphasis should be placed on the fact that socialization is done differently from other breeds. Despite extensive socialization, the Fila is instinctively protective and will naturally guard and protect its owner, their family members and the family pets; this is not something that needs to be trained, it is an innate trait. Strangers should not be left unattended with a Fila and, like all other guardian breeds, it may not be the best choice for those who have frequent visitors to their homes. Lack of all socialization with strangers at a young age will result in a dog which is very anti-social.

Common ailments.

Fila Brasileiros are prone to large breed ailments, including hip dysplasia, gastric torsion and elbow dysplasia. These dogs require plenty of exercise and hence are not very well suited to city life. Open country with fenced yards are very good for the dogs, as it gives them plenty of room to run and exercise.

Life expectancy.

Filas are known to live up to about nine to 11 years.

Legal status.

In Fiji, the United Kingdom, Norway, Malta and Cyprus it is illegal to own any of these dogs without specific exemption from a court. In Australia, in the states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia the Fila is a restricted or proscribed breed. Imports are also prohibited. They are automatically classified as a dangerous dog in New Zealand and Trinidad & Tobago, meaning they cannot be imported and males must be neutered.

The Fila Brasileiro (), or Brazilian Mastiff, is a large working breed of dog developed in Brazil. It is known for its superb tracking ability, aggressiveness and an unforgiving, impetuous temperament. Rather than attacking its prey, the Fila traps it and waits for the hunter to arrive. Owing to these qualities, the Fila Brasileiro is used as a guard dog, as a cattle dog for livestock and as a hunting dog for tracking and controlling large game. When slavery was legal in Brazil in the 18th century, the Fila Brasileiro was used to return fugitive slaves unharmed to their masters.

Brazilská fila (, ) je velké molossoidní plemeno původem z Brazílie vyšlechtěné pro ostrahu usedlostí a hospodářství. V některých zemích je zařazeno mezi "bojové psy" a jeho chov je zakázán.


Service history.

"Flint" reported to the 3rd Fleet for duty at Ulithi on 27 December 1944, and six days later, sailed with Task Force 38 (TF 38) for a month-long cruise in support of the invasion of Luzon. She screened aircraft carriers as they launched strikes on Luzon, Taiwan, and the China coast, and fired protective anti-aircraft cover during a Japanese "kamikaze" attack on 21 January 1945. Replenishing at Ulithi from 26 January to 10 February, "Flint" then sailed with newly designated TF 38 for air strikes on Tokyo preceding the attack on Iwo Jima. Her force arrived off Iwo Jima on 21 February to provide anti-aircraft cover for the Marines who had landed two days previously, and "Flint" returned to Ulithi 12 March for a brief 2 days of replenishment.  Putting to sea with TF 58 for strikes against Kyūshū in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa, "Flint" aided in bringing down several airplanes in heavy attacks on the task force from 18 to 22 March. The task force then closed Okinawa, and "Flint" with other cruisers bombarded beach installations in preparation for the landings on 1 April. Aside from the period of 14–24 May, when she was at Ulithi for upkeep, "Flint" operated off Okinawa until 13 June, when she anchored in Leyte Gulf.  "Flint" sortied from Leyte on 1 July to screen the final air attacks on the Japanese home islands and to join the bombardment of the east coast of Honshū until the cessation of hostilities. On 24 August, she took station off Nii Shima to serve as rescue ship and homing station for transport planes carrying occupation troops to Japan. From 10 to 15 September, she lay in Tokyo Bay, then sailed with a carrier task force to provide air and sea surveillance of Central Honshū until 21 September.  The cruiser made a voyage from Japan to Eniwetok, then loaded homeward bound servicemen at Yokosuka on 13 October, bringing them into San Francisco Bay on 28 November. After sailing to Kwajalein to bring home more servicemen eligible for discharge, "Flint" reported at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington on 11 January 1946, and there was placed out of commission in reserve at Bremerton on 6 May 1947. Her dedication plaque currently rests in the Sloan Museum, in the city she is named after.

Awards.

"Flint" received four battle stars for World War II service.

USS "Flint" (CL-97) was a modified light cruiser, sometimes referred to as an ""Oakland"-class". She was named after the city of Flint, Michigan. She was launched on 25 January 1944 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of San Francisco, California, sponsored by Mrs. R. A. Pitcher. She was and commissioned on 31 August 1944, with Captain C. R. Will in command. She was reclassified CLAA-97 on 18 March 1949.

USS Flint (CL-97) byl americký lehký křižník třídy Atlanta, který během posledního roku druhé světové války bojoval v řadách United States Navy na pacifickém bojišti. "Flint" patřil do druhé podskupiny plavidel "třídy Atlanta", u kterých byla výzbroj snížena o čtyři kanóny ráže 127 mm. Po jednom roce bojů a dvou letech mírové služby byl křižník vyřazen ze služby a v roce 1966 sešrotován.


Background.

Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and Joseph Stalin formed a ruling triumvirate in early 1923 after Vladimir Lenin had become incapacitated from a stroke. In the context of the series of defeats of communist revolutions abroad (crucially the German revolutions of 1919 but also later the Chinese Revolution of 1927) which left the Russian Revolution increasingly isolated in a backward country, the triumvirate was able to effect the marginalization of Leon Trotsky in an internal party political conflict over the issue of Stalin's theory of Socialism in One Country. It was Trotsky who most clearly represented the wing of the CPSU leadership which claimed that the survival of the revolution depended on the spread of communism to the advanced European economies especially Germany. This was expressed in his theory of permanent revolution.  A few years later, Zinoviev and Kamenev joined the United Front in an alliance with Trotsky which favored Trotskyism and opposed Stalin specifically. Consequently, Stalin allied with Nikolai Bukharin and defeated Trotsky in a power struggle. Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1929 and Kamenev and Zinoviev temporarily lost their membership in the Communist Party. Zinoviev and Kamenev, in 1932, were found to be complicit in the Ryutin Affair and again were temporarily expelled from the Communist Party. In December 1934, Sergei Kirov was assassinated and, subsequently 15 defendants were found guilty of direct, or indirect, involvement in the crime and were executed. Zinoviev and Kamenev were found to be morally complicit in Kirov's murder and were sentenced to prison terms of ten and five years, respectively.  Both Kamenev and Zinoviev had been secretly tried in 1935 but it appears that Stalin decided that, with suitable confessions, their fate could be used for propaganda purposes. Genrikh Yagoda oversaw the interrogation proceedings.

Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center.

Conspiracy and investigation.

In December 1935, the original case surrounding Zinoviev began to widen into what was called the "Trotsky-Zinoviev Center". Stalin allegedly received reports that correspondences from Trotsky were found among the possessions of one of those arrested in the widened probe. Consequently, Stalin stressed the importance of the investigation and ordered Nikolai Yezhov to take over the case and ascertain if Trotsky was involved. The central office of NKVD that was headed by Genrikh Yagoda was shocked when it was known that Yezhov (at that time a mere party functionary) has discovered the conspiracy, due to the fact that they (NKVD) had no relations to the case. This would have led to inevitable conclusion about unprofessionalism of the NKVD leaders who completely missed the existence of the conspiratorial Trotskyist center. In June 1936, Yagoda reiterated his belief to Stalin that there was no link between Trotsky and Zinoviev, but Stalin promptly rebuked him. Bewilderment was strengthened by the fact that both Zinoviev and Kamenev for a long time were under constant operational surveillance and after the murder of Kirov were held in custody. A key role in investigating played a chief of the Secret-political department of the NKVD Main Directory of State Security (a predecessor of KGB), State Security Commissar of the 2nd Class Georgiy Molchanov.  The basis of the scenario was laid in confession testimonies of three arrested: NKVD agent Valentin Olberg () who was teaching at the Gorky Pedagogic Institute and two former participants of the internal party opposition and Soviet statesmen Isaak Rejngold and Richard Pikel. Wherein Rejngold firmly believed that participating in the case fabrication about mythical conspiracy he executes the party's task. In relation to their composition, the testimonies looked standard conspiratorial activity, murder of Kirov, preparation to assassination attempts against the leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, seizure of power in the Soviet Union with the aim of "restoration of capitalism".  In July 1936, Zinoviev and Kamenev were brought to Moscow from an unspecified prison. They were interrogated and denied being part of any Trotsky-led conspiracy. Yezhov appealed to Zinoviev's and Kamenev's devotion to the Soviet Union as old Bolsheviks and advised them that Trotsky was fomenting anti-Soviet sentiment amongst the proletariat in the world. Throughout spring and summer of 1936 the investigators were requesting from the arrested "to lay down arms in front the party" exerting a continuous pressure on them. Furthermore, this loss of support, in the event of a war with Germany or Japan, could have disastrous ramifications for the Soviet Union. To Kamenev specifically, Yezhov showed him evidence that his son was subject to an investigation that could result in his son's execution. According to one witness, at the beginning of the summer the central heating was turned on in Zinoviev's and Kamenev's cells. This was very unpleasant for both prisoners but particularly Zinoviev who was asthmatic and couldn't tolerate the artificially increased temperatures. Finally the exhausted prisoners agreed to a deal with Stalin who promised them, on the behalf of Politburo, their lives in exchange for participation in the anti-Trotskyist spectacle. Kamenev and Zinoviev agreed to confess on condition that they receive a direct guarantee from the entire Politburo that their lives and those of their families and followers would be spared. When they were taken to the supposed Politburo meeting, they were met by only Stalin and Kliment Voroshilov. Stalin explained that they were the "commission" authorized by the Politburo, and Stalin agreed to their conditions in order to gain their desired confessions. After that the future defendants were given some medical treatment and food.

The Trial (aka Trial of the Sixteen).

The trial was held from August 19 to August 24, 1936 in the small October Hall of the House of the Unions (chosen instead of the larger Hall of Columns, used for earlier trials) and there were 16 defendants.  The main charge was forming a terror organization with the purpose of killing Joseph Stalin and other members of the Soviet government. They were tried by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, with Vasili Ulrikh presiding. The Prosecutor General was Andrei Vyshinsky, a former member of the Mensheviks who in 1917 had signed an order to arrest Lenin.  Defendant Ivan Nikitich Smirnov was blamed by his co-defendants for being the leader of the Center which planned Kirov's assassination. He, however, had been in prison since January 1933 and refused to confess.  Another defendant, the Old Bolshevik Eduard Holtzman, was accused at the Trial of the 16 of conspiring with Trotsky in Copenhagen at the Hotel Bristol in 1932, where Trotsky was giving a public lecture. A week after the trial it was revealed by a Danish Social Democratic newspaper that the hotel had been demolished in 1917.  All the defendants were sentenced to death and were subsequently shot in the cellars of Lubyanka Prison in Moscow by NKVD chief executioner Vasily Blokhin.  The full list of defendants is as follows:

Parallel anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center.

The second trial occurred between January 23 and January 30, 1937.  This second trial involved 17 lesser figures including Karl Radek, Yuri Pyatakov and Grigory Sokolnikov. Alexander Beloborodov was also arrested and intended to be tried along with Radek, but did not make the confession required of him, and so he was not produced in court. Thirteen of the defendants were eventually executed by shooting. The rest received sentences in labour camps. Radek was spared as he implicated others, including Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, and Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, setting the stage for the Trial of Military and Trial of the Twenty One.  Radek provided the pretext for the purge on a massive scale with his testimony that there was a "third organization separate from the cadres which had passed through [Trotsky's] school" as well as "semi-Trotskyites, quarter-Trotskyites, one-eighth-Trotskyites, people who helped us, not knowing of the terrorist organization but sympathizing with us, people who from liberalism, from a Fronde against the Party, gave us this help."  By the third organization, he meant the last remaining former opposition group called Rightists led by Bukharin, whom he implicated by saying: "I feel guilty of one thing more: even after admitting my guilt and exposing the organisation, I stubbornly refused to give evidence about Bukharin. I knew that Bukharin's situation was just as hopeless as my own, because our guilt, if not juridically, then in essence, was the same. But we are close friends, and intellectual friendship is stronger than other friendships. I knew that Bukharin was in the same state of upheaval as myself. That is why I did not want to deliver him bound hand and foot to the People's Commissariat of Home Affairs. Just as in relation to our other cadres, I wanted Bukharin himself to lay down his arms."  At the time, many Western observers who attended the trials said that they were fair and that the guilt of the accused had been established. They based this assessment on the confessions of the accused, which were freely given in open court, without any apparent evidence that they had been extracted by torture or drugging. Joseph E. Davies, the U.S. ambassador, wrote in "Mission to Moscow": In view of the character of the accused, their long terms of service, their recognized distinction in their profession, their long-continued loyalty to the Communist cause, it is scarcely credible that their brother officers... should have acquiesced in their execution, unless they were convinced that these men had been guilty of some offense. It is generally accepted by members of the Diplomatic Corps that the accused must have been guilty of an offense which in the Soviet Union would merit the death penalty.

Trial of the Generals and the Tukhachevsky Affair.

The Tukhachevsky Affair was a secret trial before a military tribunal of a group of Red Army generals, including Mikhail Tukhachevsky, in June 1937.  It featured the same type of frame-up of the defendants and it is traditionally considered one of the key trials of the Great Purge. Mikhail Tukhachevsky and the senior military officers Iona Yakir, Ieronim Uborevich, Robert Eideman, August Kork, Vitovt Putna, Boris Feldman, and Vitaly Primakov were accused of anti-Communist conspiracy and sentenced to death; they were executed on the night of June 11/12, immediately after the verdict delivered by a Special Session of the Supreme Court of the USSR. This trial triggered a massive purge of the Red Army.

Trial of the Twenty-One.

The third show trial, in March 1938, known as The Trial of the Twenty-One, tied together all the loose threads from earlier trials. It included 21 defendants alleged to belong to the so-called "Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites":  The fact that Yagoda was one of the accused showed the speed at which the purges were consuming its own. Meant to be the culmination of previous trials, it now alleged that Bukharin and others had conspired to assassinate Lenin and Stalin numerous times after 1918 and had murdered Soviet writer Maxim Gorky by poison in 1936. The group also stood accused of espionage. Bukharin and others were claimed to have plotted the overthrow and territorial partition of the Soviet Union in collusion with agents of the German and Japanese governments, among other preposterous charges.  Even sympathetic observers who had stomached the earlier trials found it hard to swallow the new charges as they became ever more absurd, and the purge had now expanded to include virtually every living Old Bolshevik leader except Stalin.  The preparation for this trial was delayed in its early stages due to the reluctance of some party members to denounce their comrades. It was at this time that Stalin personally intervened to speed up the process and replaced Yagoda with Yezhov. Stalin also observed some of the trial in person from a hidden chamber in the courtroom. On the first day of the trial, Krestinsky caused a sensation when he repudiated his written confession and pleaded not guilty to all the charges. However, he changed his plea the next day after "special measures", which dislocated his left shoulder among other things.  Anastas Mikoyan and Vyacheslav Molotov later claimed that Bukharin was never tortured, but it is now known that his interrogators were given the order, "beating permitted," and were under great pressure to extract confessions out of the "star" defendant. Bukharin held out for three months, but threats to his young wife and infant son, combined with "methods of physical influence" wore him down. But when he read his confession, amended and corrected personally by Stalin, he withdrew his whole confession. The examination started all over again, with a double team of interrogators.  Bukharin's confession in particular became the subject of much debate among Western observers, inspiring Koestler's novel "Darkness at Noon" and a philosophical essay by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in "Humanism and Terror" among others. His confessions were somewhat different from others in that, while he pleaded guilty to general charges, he denied knowledge of any specific crimes. Some astute observers noted that he would allow only what was in his written confession and refused to go any further. The fact that he was allowed to write in prison (he wrote four book-length manuscripts including an autobiographical novel, "How It All Began", a philosophical treatise, and a collection of poems – all of which were found in Stalin's archive and published in the 1990s) suggests that some kind of deal was reached as a condition for his confession. He also wrote a series of emotional letters to Stalin, protesting his innocence and professing his love for Stalin, which contrasts with his critical opinion of Stalin and his policies as expressed to others and with his conduct in the trial.  There are several possible interpretations of Bukharin's motivation (besides coercion) in the trial. Koestler and others viewed it as a true believer's last service to the Party (while preserving a modicum of personal honor), whereas Bukharin's biographers Stephen Cohen and Robert Tucker saw traces of Aesopian language, with which Bukharin sought to turn the tables and conduct a trial of Stalinism (while still keeping his part of the bargain to save his family). Bukharin himself speaks of his "peculiar duality of mind" in his last plea, which led to "semi-paralysis of the will" and Hegelian "unhappy consciousness".  The result was a curious mix of fulsome confessions and subtle criticisms of the trial. After disproving several charges against him (one observer noted that he proceeded to demolish, or rather showed he could very easily demolish, the whole case), Bukharin said that "the confession of the accused is not essential. The confession of the accused is a medieval principle of jurisprudence", his point being that the trial was solely based on coerced confessions. He finished his last plea with "the monstrousness of my crime is immeasurable, especially in the new stage of the struggle of the U.S.S.R. May this trial be the last severe lesson, and may the great might of the U.S.S.R. become clear to all."  Romain Rolland and others wrote to Stalin seeking clemency for Bukharin, but all the leading defendants were executed except Rakovsky and two others (they were killed in prison in 1941). Despite the promise to spare his family, Bukharin's wife, Anna Larina, was sent to a labor camp, but she survived.

Aftermath.

Communist Party leaders in most Western countries denounced criticism of the trials as capitalist attempts to subvert Communism.  A number of American communists and progressive "fellow travellers" outside of the Soviet Union signed a "Statement of American Progressives on the Moscow Trials". These included Langston Hughes and Stuart Davis, who would later express regrets.  Some contemporary observers who thought the trials were inherently fair cite the statements of Molotov, who while conceding that some of the confessions contain unlikely statements, said there may have been several reasons or motives for this – one being that the handful who made doubtful confessions were trying to undermine the Soviet Union and its government by making dubious statements in their confessions to cast doubts on their trial. Molotov postulated that a defendant might invent a story that he collaborated with foreign agents and party members to undermine the government so that those members would falsely come under suspicion, while the false foreign collaboration charge would be believed as well. Thus, the Soviet government was in his view the victim of false confessions. Nonetheless, he said the evidence of mostly out-of-power Communist officials conspiring to make a power grab during a moment of weakness in the upcoming war truly existed. This defense collapsed after the release of Khrushchev's Secret Speech to the Twentieth Congress.  In Britain, the lawyer and Labour MP Denis Nowell Pritt, for example, wrote: "Once again the more faint-hearted socialists are beset with doubts and anxieties," but "once again we can feel confident that when the smoke has rolled away from the battlefield of controversy it will be realized that the charge was true, the confessions correct and the prosecution fairly conducted", while socialist thinker Beatrice Webb "was pleased that Stalin had 'cut out the dead wood'". Communist Party leader Harry Pollitt, in the "Daily Worker" of March 12, 1936, told the world that "the trials in Moscow represent a new triumph in the history of progress". The article was ironically illustrated by a photograph of Stalin with Yezhov, himself shortly to vanish and his photographs airbrushed from history by NKVD archivists.  In the United States, left-wing advocates such as Corliss Lamont and Lillian Hellman also denounced criticism of the Moscow trials, signing "An Open Letter To American Liberals" in support of the trials for the March 1937 issue of "Soviet Russia Today". In the political atmosphere of the 1930s, the accusation that there was a conspiracy to destroy the Soviet Union was not incredible, and few outside observers were aware of the events inside the Communist Party that had led to the purge and the trials.  However, the Moscow trials were generally viewed negatively by most Western observers including many liberals. The "New York Times" noted the absurdity in an editorial on March 1, 1938: "It is as if twenty years after Yorktown somebody in power at Washington found it necessary for the safety of the State to send to the scaffold Thomas Jefferson, Madison, John Adams, Hamilton, Jay and most of their associates. The charge against them would be that they conspired to hand over the United States to George III." For Bertram Wolfe, the outcome of the Bukharin trial marked his break with Stalinism.  In May 1937, the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials, commonly known as the Dewey Commission, was set up in the United States by supporters of Trotsky, to establish the truth about the trials. The commission was headed by the noted American philosopher and educator John Dewey, who led a delegation to Mexico, where Trotsky lived, to interview him and hold hearings from April 10 to April 17, 1937. The hearings were conducted to investigate the allegations against Trotsky who publicly stated in advance of them that if the commission found him guilty as charged he would hand himself over to the Soviet authorities. They brought to light evidence which established that some of the specific charges made at the trials could not be true.  The Dewey Commission published its findings in the form of a 422-page book titled "Not Guilty". Its conclusions asserted the innocence of all those condemned in the Moscow Trials. In its summary the commission wrote: "Independent of extrinsic evidence, the Commission finds:  The commission concluded: "We therefore find the Moscow Trials to be frame-ups."  For example, in Moscow, Pyatakov had testified that he had flown to Oslo in December 1935 to "receive terrorist instructions" from Trotsky. The Dewey Commission established that no such flight had taken place.  In Britain, the trials were also subject to criticism. A group called the British Provisional Committee for the Defence of Leon Trotsky was set up. In 1936, the Committee published an open letter in the "Manchester Guardian" calling for an international inquiry into the Trials. The letter was signed by several notable figures, including H. N. Brailsford, Harry Wicks, Conrad Noel, Frank Horrabin and Eleanor Rathbone. The Committee also supported the Dewey Commission. Emrys Hughes, the British MP, also attacked the Moscow Trials as unjust in his newspaper "Forward".

Legacy.

All of the surviving members of the Lenin-era party leadership except Stalin and Trotsky, were tried. By the end of the final trial Stalin had arrested and executed almost every important living Bolshevik from the Revolution. Of 1,966 delegates to the party congress in 1934, 1,108 were arrested. Of 139 members of the Central Committee, 98 were arrested. Three out of five Soviet marshals (Alexander Ilyich Yegorov, Vasily Blyukher, Tukhachevsky) and several thousands of the Red Army officers were arrested or shot. The key defendant, Leon Trotsky, was living in exile abroad, but he still did not survive Stalin's desire to have him dead and was assassinated by a Soviet agent in Mexico in 1940.  While Khrushchev's Secret Speech denounced Stalin's personality cult and purges as early as 1956, rehabilitation of Old Bolsheviks proceeded at a slow pace. Nikolai Bukharin and 19 other co-defendants were officially completely rehabilitated in February 1988. Yagoda, who was deeply involved in the great purge as the head of NKVD, was not included. In May 1988, rehabilitation of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Radek, and co-defendants was announced.  After the death of Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev repudiated the trials in a speech to the Twentieth Congress of the Russian Communist Party:  It is now known that the confessions were given only after great psychological pressure and torture had been applied to the defendants. From the accounts of former GPU officer Alexander Orlov and others the methods used to extract the confessions are known: repeated beatings, torture, making prisoners stand or go without sleep for days on end, and threats to arrest and execute the prisoners' families. For example, Kamenev's teenage son was arrested and charged with terrorism. After months of such interrogation, the defendants were driven to despair and exhaustion.  In January 1989, the official newspaper "Pravda" reported that 25,000 persons had been posthumously rehabilitated.

The Moscow Trials were a series of show trials held in the Soviet Union at the instigation of Joseph Stalin between 1936 and 1938 against Trotskyists and members of Right Opposition of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. There were three Moscow Trials: the Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Center (Zinoviev-Kamenev Trial, aka "Trial of the Sixteen," 1936), the Case of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center (Pyatakov-Radek Trial, 1937), and the Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" (Bukharin-Rykov Trial, aka "Trial of the Twenty-One," 1938). The defendants of these were Old Bolshevik party leaders and top officials of the Soviet secret police. Most defendants were charged under Article 58 of the RSFSR Penal Code with conspiring with the Western powers to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders, dismember the Soviet Union, and restore capitalism.

Moskevské procesy (neboli Stalinské procesy) byly vykonstruované politické procesy v Sovětském svazu, konané v dobách Stalinovy takzvané Velké čistky koncem 30. let 20. století, v nichž byli odsouzeni lidé za trestné činy, které nikdy nespáchali.


Physical attributes.

The pyramid was built about 18–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a magistrate and member of one of the four great religious corporations in Rome, the "Septemviri Epulonum". It is of brick-faced concrete covered with slabs of white marble standing on a travertine foundation. The pyramid measures 100 Roman feet (29.6 m) square at the base and stands 125 Roman feet (37 m) high. In the interior is the burial chamber, a simple barrel-vaulted rectangular cavity measuring 5.95 metres long, 4.10 m wide and 4.80 m high. When opened in 1660, the chamber was found to be decorated with frescoes, which were recorded by Pietro Santo Bartoli. Only scant traces of these frescoes survive, and no trace of any other contents. The tomb had been sealed when it was built, with no exterior entrance, but had been plundered at some time thereafter, probably during antiquity. Until the end of restoration works in 2015, it was not possible for visitors to access the interior, except by special permission typically only granted to scholars. Since the beginning of May 2015, the pyramid is open to the public every third and fourth Saturday each month. Visitors must arrange their visit in advance.

Inscriptions.

A dedicatory inscription is carved into the east and west flanks of the pyramid, so as to be visible from both sides. It reads:  Below the inscription on the east-facing side is a second inscription recording the circumstances of the tomb's construction. This reads:  Another inscription on the east face is of modern origins, having been carved on the orders of Pope Alexander VII in 1663. Reading "", it commemorates excavation and restoration work carried out in and around the tomb between 1660–62.  At the time of its construction, the Pyramid of Cestius would have stood in open countryside (tombs being forbidden within the city walls). Rome grew enormously during the imperial period, and, by the 3rd century AD, the pyramid would have been surrounded by buildings. It originally stood in a low-walled enclosure, flanked by statues, columns and other tombs. Two marble bases were found next to the pyramid during excavations in the 1660s, complete with fragments of the bronze statues that originally had stood on their tops. The bases carried an inscription recorded by Bartoli in an engraving of 1697:  This identifies Cestius' heirs as Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus, a famous general; Publius Rutilius Lupus, an orator whose father of the same name had been consul in 90 BC; and Lucius Junius Silanus, a member of the distinguished "gens" Junia. The heirs had set up the statues and bases using money raised from the sale of valuable cloths ("attalici"). Cestius had stated in his will that the cloths were to be deposited in the tomb, but this practice had been forbidden by a recent edict passed by the aediles.

History.

The pyramid was built for Gaius Cestius Epulo, the son of Lucius, of the tribe of Pobilia. The inscription on it mentions that Cestius was a "praetor", a tribune of the plebs, and a "septemvir" of the Epulones. The tomb was completed in 330 days and was one of two pyramid shaped tombs in the city of Rome.  The sharply pointed shape of the pyramid is strongly reminiscent of the pyramids of Nubia, in particular of the kingdom of Meroë, which had been attacked by Rome in 23 BC. The similarity suggests that Cestius had possibly served in that campaign and perhaps intended the pyramid to serve as a commemoration. His pyramid was not the only one in Rome; a larger one—the "pyramid of Romulus" — of similar form but unknown origins stood between the Vatican and the Mausoleum of Hadrian but was dismantled in the 16th century by Pope Alexander VI and the marble was used for the steps of St. Peter's Basilica.  Some writers have questioned whether the Roman pyramids were modelled on the much less steeply pointed Egyptian pyramids exemplified by the famous pyramids of Giza. However, the relatively shallow Giza-type pyramids were not exclusively used by the Egyptians; steeper pyramids of the Nubian type were favoured by the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt that had been brought to an end in the Roman conquest of 30 BC. The pyramid was, in any case, built during a period when Rome was going through a fad for all things Egyptian. The Circus Maximus was adorned by Augustus with an Egyptian obelisk, and pyramids were built elsewhere in the Roman Empire around this time; the Falicon pyramid near Nice in France was suspected by some to have been constructed by Roman legionaries who followed an Egyptian cult, but more recent research has indicated that it was actually built between 1803 and 1812.  During the construction of the Aurelian Walls between 271 and 275, the pyramid was incorporated into the walls to form a triangular bastion. It was one of many structures in the city to be reused to form part of the new walls, probably to reduce the cost and enable the structure to be built more quickly. It still forms part of a well-preserved stretch of the walls, a short distance from the Porta San Paolo.  The origins of the pyramid were forgotten during the Middle Ages. The inhabitants of Rome came to believe that it was the tomb of Remus ("Meta Remi") and that its counterpart near the Vatican was the tomb of Romulus, a belief recorded by Petrarch. Its true provenance was clarified by Pope Alexander VII's excavations in the 1660s, which cleared the vegetation that had overgrown the pyramid, uncovered the inscriptions on its faces, tunnelled into the tomb's burial chamber and found the bases of two bronze statues that had stood alongside the pyramid.  The pyramid was an essential sight for many who undertook the Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was much admired by architects, becoming the primary model for pyramids built in the West during this period. Percy Bysshe Shelley described it as "one keen pyramid with wedge sublime" in "Adonaïs", his 1821 elegy for John Keats. In turn the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy saw the pyramid during a visit to the nearby Protestant Cemetery in 1887 and was inspired to write a poem, "Rome: At the Pyramid of Cestius near the Graves of Shelley and Keats", in which he wondered: "Who, then was Cestius, / and what is he to me?"  In 2001, the pyramid's entrance and interior underwent restoration. In 2011, further work was announced to clean and restore the pyramid's badly damaged marble cladding, through which water seepage has endangered the frescoes within. The restoration is sponsored by Japanese businessman Yuzo Yagi, whose €1-million donation resulted in a call for tenders to carry out the work issued by the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma whose officials drew up the project and are supervising such an intervention along with Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Restoration work started in March 2013.  The pyramid is the namesake of the Piramide station of the Rome Metro.

The Pyramid of Cestius (in Italian, "Piramide di Caio Cestio" or "Piramide Cestia") is an ancient pyramid in Rome, Italy, near the Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery. It was built as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a member of the Epulones religious corporation. It stands at a fork between two ancient roads, the Via Ostiensis and another road that ran west to the Tiber along the approximate line of the modern Via Marmorata. Due to its incorporation into the city's fortifications, it is today one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Rome.

Cestiova pyramida je pyramida, která se nachází v Římě, v rione Testaccio. Nechal si ji v roce 12 př. n. l. jako náhrobek postavit Gaius Cestius Epulo. Základnu tvoří čtverec se stranou 22 m, vysoká je 27 m. Postavena byla z betonu a obložena mramorovými deskami.


History.

Olive oil has long been a common ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine, including ancient Greek and Roman cuisine. Wild olives, which originated in Asia Minor, were collected by Neolithic people as early as the 8th millennium BC. Besides food, olive oil has been used for religious rituals, medicines, as a fuel in oil lamps, soap-making, and skin care application. The Spartans and other Greeks used oil to rub themselves while exercising in the gymnasia. From its beginnings early in the 7th century BC, the cosmetic use of olive oil quickly spread to all of the Hellenic city states, together with athletes training in the nude, and lasted close to a thousand years despite its great expense. Olive oil was also popular as a form of birth control; Aristotle in his History of Animals recommends applying a mixture of olive oil combined with either oil of cedar, ointment of lead, or ointment of frankincense to the cervix to prevent pregnancy.

Early cultivation.

It is not clear when and where olive trees were first domesticated. According to an article published by "Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology" the modern olive tree most likely originated in ancient Persia and Mesopotamia spreading towards Syria and Israel in the Mediterranean Basin where it was cultivated and later introduced to North Africa. Some scholars have argued that olive cultivation originated with the Ancient Egyptians.  The olive tree reached Greece, Carthage and Libya sometime in the 28th century BC, having been spread westward by the Phoenicians. Until around 1500 BC, eastern coastal areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Evidence also suggests that olives were being grown in Crete

Trade and production.

Archaeological evidence shows that by 6000 BC olives were being turned into olive oil. and 4500 BC at a now-submerged prehistoric settlement south of Haifa.  Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla (2600–2240 BC), which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo. Here some dozen documents dated 2400 BC describe lands of the king and the queen. These belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in the Tanakh.  Dynastic Egyptians before 2000 BC imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and oil was an important item of commerce and wealth. Remains of olive oil have been found in jugs over 4,000 years old in a tomb on the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. Sinuhe, the

Symbolism and mythology.

The olive tree has historically been a symbol of peace between nations. It has played a religious and social role in Greek mythology, especially concerning

Varieties.

There are many olive cultivars, each with a particular flavor, texture, and shelf life that make them more or less suitable for different applications, such as direct human consumption on bread or

Uses.

Culinary use.

Olive oil is an important cooking oil in countries surrounding the Mediterranean, and it forms one of the three staple food plants of Mediterranean cuisine, the other two being wheat (as in pasta, bread, and couscous) and the grape, used as a dessert fruit and for wine.  Extra virgin olive oil is mostly used as a salad dressing and as an ingredient in salad dressings. It is also used with foods to be eaten cold. If uncompromised by heat, the flavor is stronger. It also can be used for sautéing.  When extra virgin olive oil is heated above, depending on its free fatty acid content, the unrefined particles within the oil are burned. This leads to deteriorated taste. Also, most consumers do not like the pronounced taste of extra virgin olive oil for deep fried foods. Refined olive oils are suited for deep frying because of the higher smoke point and milder flavour. Extra virgin oils have

Religious use.

Christianity.

The Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches use olive oil for the Oil of Catechumens (used to bless and strengthen those preparing for Baptism) and Oil of the Sick (used to confer the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick or Unction). Olive oil mixed with a perfuming agent such as balsam is consecrated by bishops as Sacred Chrism, which is used to confer the sacrament of Confirmation (as a symbol of the strengthening of the Holy Spirit), in the rites of Baptism and the ordination of priests and bishops, in the consecration of altars and churches, and, traditionally, in the anointing of monarchs at their coronation.  Eastern Orthodox Christians still use oil lamps in their churches, home prayer corners and in

Judaism.

In Jewish observance, olive oil was the only fuel allowed to be used in the seven-branched menorah in the Mishkan service during the Exodus of the tribes of Israel from Egypt, and later in the permanent Temple in Jerusalem. It was obtained by using only the first drop from a squeezed olive and was consecrated for use only in the Temple by the priests and stored in special containers. Although candles can be used to light the menorah at Hanukkah, oil containers are preferred, to imitate the original menorah. Another use of oil in Jewish religion was for anointing the kings of the Kingdom of Israel, originating from King David. Tzidkiyahu was the last anointed King of Israel.

Skin care.

Olive oil has a long history of being used as a home skincare remedy. Egyptians used it alongside beeswax as a cleanser, moisturizer, and antibacterial agent since pharaonic times. In ancient Greece, olive oil was used during massage, to prevent sports injuries and relieve muscle fatigue. In 2000, Japan was the top importer of olive oil in Asia (13,000 tons annually) because consumers there believe both the ingestion and topical application of olive oil to be good for skin and health.  Olive oil is popular for use in massaging infants and toddlers, but scientific evidence of its efficacy is mixed. One analysis of olive

Other.

Olive oil is also a natural and safe lubricant, and can be used to lubricate kitchen machinery (grinders, blenders, cookware, etc.). It can also be used for illumination (oil lamps) or as the base for soaps and detergents. Some cosmetics also use olive

Extraction.

Olive oil is produced by grinding olives and extracting the oil by mechanical or chemical means. Green olives usually produce more bitter oil, and overripe olives can produce oil that is rancid, so for good extra virgin olive oil care is taken to make sure the olives are perfectly ripened. The process is generally as follows:

Pomace handling.

The remaining semi-solid waste, called pomace, retains a small quantity (about 5–10%) of oil that cannot be extracted by further pressing, but only with chemical solvents. This is done in specialized chemical plants, not in the oil mills. The resulting oil is not "virgin" but "pomace oil".  Handling of olive waste is an environmental challenge because the wastewater, which amounts to

Global market.

Production.

In 2016/17, world production of virgin olive oil was 2,586,500 tonnes, an 18.6% decrease under 2015/16 global production. Spain produced 1,290,600 tonnes or 50% of world production. The next six largest producers – Greece, Italy, Turkey, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia – collectively produced 70% of Spain's annual total.  In the EU, Eurostat reported in 2007 that there were 1.9 million farms with olive groves. The olive sector is characterised by a large number of small operations. The largest holdings are in Andalucía (8 ha/holding on average)

Global consumption.

Greece has by far the largest per capita consumption of olive oil worldwide, over per person per year; Spain and Italy, around 14

Regulation.

The International Olive Council (IOC) is an intergovernmental organisation of states that produce olives or products derived from olives, such as olive oil. The IOC officially governs 95% of international production and holds great influence over the rest. The EU regulates the use of different protected designation of origin labels for olive oils.  The United States is not a member of the IOC and is not subject to its authority, but on October 25, 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted new voluntary olive oil grading standards that closely parallel those of the IOC, with some adjustments for the characteristics of olives grown in the U.S. Additionally, U.S. Customs regulations on "country of origin" state that if a non-origin nation is shown on the label, then the real origin must be shown on the same side of the label and in comparable size letters so as not to mislead the consumer. Yet most major U.S. brands continue to put "imported from Italy" on the front label in large letters and other origins on the back in very small print. "In fact, olive oil labeled 'Italian' often comes from Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, and Greece." This makes it unclear what percentage of the olive oil is really of Italian origin.

Commercial grades.

All production begins by transforming the olive fruit into olive paste by crushing or pressing. This paste is then malaxed (slowly churned or mixed) to allow the microscopic oil droplets to agglomerate. The oil is then separated from the watery matter and fruit pulp with the use of a press (traditional method) or centrifugation (modern method). After extraction the remnant solid substance, called pomace, still contains a small quantity of oil.  To classify its organoleptic qualities, olive oil is judged by a panel of trained tasters in

International Olive Council.

In countries that adhere to the standards of the International Olive Council, as well as in Australia, and under the voluntary United States Department of Agriculture labeling standards in the United States:  Extra virgin olive oil is the highest grade of virgin oil derived by cold mechanical extraction without use of solvents or refining methods. It contains no more than 0.8% free acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste, having some fruitiness and no defined sensory defects. Extra virgin olive oil accounts for less than 10% of oil in many producing countries; the percentage is far higher in the Mediterranean countries (Greece: 80%, Italy: 65%, Spain 50%).  Virgin olive oil is a lesser grade of virgin oil, with free acidity of up to 2.0%, and

United States.

As the United States is not a member, the IOC retail grades have no legal meaning there, but on October 25, 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) established Standards for Grades of Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil, which closely parallel the IOC standards:  These grades are voluntary. Certification is available, for a fee, from the USDA.  Several olive producer associations, such as the North American Olive Oil Association and the California Olive Oil Council, also offer grading and certification within the United States. Oleologist Nicholas Coleman suggests that the California Olive Oil Council certification is the most stringent of the voluntary grading schemes in the United States.

Adulteration.

There have been allegations, particularly in Italy and Spain, that regulation can be sometimes lax and corrupt. Major shippers are claimed to routinely adulterate olive oil so that only about 40% of olive oil sold as "extra virgin" in Italy actually meets the specification. In some cases, colza oil (extracted from rapeseed) with added color and flavor has been labeled and sold as olive oil. This extensive fraud prompted the Italian government to mandate a new labeling law in 2007 for companies selling olive oil, under which every bottle of Italian olive oil would have to declare the farm and press on which it was produced, as well as display a precise breakdown of the oils used, for blended oils. In February 2008, however, EU officials took issue with the

Constituents.

Olive oil is composed mainly of the mixed triglyceride esters of oleic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid and of other fatty acids, along with traces of squalene (up to 0.7%) and sterols (about 0.2% phytosterol and tocosterols). The composition varies by cultivar, region, altitude, time of harvest, and extraction process.

Phenolic composition.

Olive oil contains traces of phenolics (about 0.5%), such as esters of tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, oleocanthal and oleuropein, which give extra virgin olive oil its bitter, pungent taste, and are also implicated in its aroma. Olive oil is a

Nutrition.

One tablespoon of olive oil (13.5

Potential health effects.

In the United States, the FDA allows producers of olive oil to place the following qualified health claim on product labels:  In a review by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2011, health claims on olive oil were approved for protection by its polyphenols against oxidation of blood lipids, and for maintenance of normal blood LDL-cholesterol levels by replacing saturated fats in the diet with oleic acid. (Commission Regulation (EU) 432/2012 of 16 May 2012). Despite its approval, the EFSA has noted that a definitive cause-and-effect relationship has not been adequately established for consumption of olive oil and maintaining normal (fasting) blood concentrations of triglycerides, normal blood HDL-cholesterol concentrations, and normal blood glucose concentrations.  A 2014 meta-analysis concluded that increased consumption of olive oil was associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events and stroke, while monounsaturated fatty acids of mixed animal and plant origin showed no significant effects. Another meta-analysis in 2018 found high-polyphenol olive oil intake was associated with improved measures of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, malondialdehyde, and oxidized LDL when compared to low-polyphenol olive oils.

Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of "Olea europaea"; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by pressing whole olives. It is commonly used in cooking, for frying foods or as a salad dressing. It is also used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps, and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps, and has additional uses in some religions. There is limited evidence of its possible health benefits. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine; the other two are wheat and grapes. Olive trees have been grown around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC.

Olivový olej je rostlinný olej získaný z oliv ("Olea europaea") lisováním či jinými mechanickými postupy. Je používán především při výrobě pokrmů, v kosmetickém a farmaceutickém průmyslu. Olivový olej je typickou součástí středomořské kuchyně. Konzumace olivového oleje je považována za zdraví prospěšnou, protože obsahuje mononenasycené mastné kyseliny a vitamin E.