History.

A church was already present at the location in the late 4th century, and eventually a cathedral was established in Rouen as in Poitiers. It was enlarged by St. Ouen in 650, and visited by Charlemagne in 769.  All the buildings perished during a Viking raid in the 9th century. The Viking leader, Rollo, founder of the Duchy of Normandy, was baptised here in 915 and buried in 932. His grandson, Richard I, further enlarged it in 950. St. Romain's tower was built in 1035. The buildings of Archbishop Robert II were consecrated in 1065. The cathedral was struck by lightning in 1110.  Construction on the current building began in the 12th century in Early Gothic style for Saint Romain's tower, front side porches and part of the nave. The cathedral was burnt in 1200. Others were built in High Gothic style for the mainworks: nave, transept, choir and first floor of the lantern tower in the 13th century; side chapels, lady chapel and side doorways in the 14th century. Some windows are still decorated with stained glass of the 13th century, famous because of a special cobalt blue colour, known as "the blue from Chartres". The north transept end commenced in 1280.  The cathedral was again struck by lightning in 1284. In 1302, the old Lady chapel was taken down and the new Lady chapel was built in 1360. The spire was blown down in 1353, choir windows were enlarged in 1430, the upper storey of the north-west tower was added in 1477, gable of the north transept built in 1478.  Some more parts were built in Late (Flamboyant) Gothic style, these include the last storey of Saint Romain's Tower (15th century), the Butter Tower, main porch of the front and the two storeys of the lantern tower (16th century). Construction of the south-west tower began in 1485 and was finished in 1507. The "Butter Tower" was erected in the early 16th century. Butter was banned during Lent and those who did not wish to forgo this indulgence would donate monies of "six deniers Tournois" from each diocesan for this permission.  The realization of the "Butter Tower" caused disturbances in the façade, which caused the reconstruction of the central portal and the west front, which began in 1509 and was finished in 1530. The original Gothic spire suffered a fire in 1514, nevertheless the project of a stone spire was denied and a wooden construction covered with gold-plated lead was begun in 1515, a parapet was added in 1580.  In the late 16th century the cathedral was badly damaged during the French Wars of Religion: the Calvinists damaged much of the furniture, tombs, stained-glass windows and statuary. The cathedral was again struck by lightning in 1625 and 1642, then damaged by a hurricane in 1683, the wood-work of the choir burnt in 1727 and the bell broke in 1786. In the late 18th century after the French Revolution, the state (government) nationalised the building and sold some of its furniture and statues to make money and the chapel fences were melted down to make guns to support the wars of the French Republic.  The Renaissance spire was destroyed by lightning in 1822. A new one was rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style, but of cast iron instead of wood. The cathedral was named the tallest building (the lantern tower with the cast iron spire of the 19th century) in the world (151 m) from 1876 to 1880. In the 20th century, during World War II, the cathedral was bombed in April 1944 by the British Royal Air Force. Seven bombs fell on the building, narrowly missing a key pillar of the lantern tower, but damaging much of the south aisle and destroying two rose windows. One of the bombs did not explode. A second bombing by the U.S. Army Air Force (before the Normandy Landings in June 1944) burned the oldest tower, called the North Tower or Saint-Romain Tower. During the fire the bells melted, leaving molten remains on the floor. In 1999, during Cyclone Lothar, a copper-clad wooden turret, which weighed 26 tons, broke and fell partly into the church and damaged the choir.

Musical tradition.

The cathedral has had a musical tradition since the Middle Ages. Its choir was known up to the French Revolution for singing from memory. The first major organist to work there was Jean Titelouze, the so-called father of the French organ school. He occupied the post of the titular organist in 1588–1633. Around 1600 in collaboration with Franco-Flemish organ builder Crespin Carlier, Titelouze transformed the organ of the cathedral to one of the best instruments in France. Some 80 years later organ builder Robert Clicquot restored and enhanced the instrument; organists who played the new organ included composers such as Jacques Boyvin (in 1674–1706) and François d'Agincourt (1706–1758). New organs were built by Merklin & Schütze (1858–60) and, after World War II, by Jacquot-Lavergne.

In art.

The most famous paintings of the cathedral were done by the Impressionist artist Claude Monet, who produced a series of paintings of the building showing the same scene at different times of the day and in different weather conditions. Two paintings are in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; one is in the Getty Center in Los Angeles; one is in the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade; one is at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts; one is in a museum of Cologne; one is in the Rouen fine art museum; and five are in the musée d'Orsay in Paris. The estimated value of one painting is over $40 million. Other painters inspired by the building included John Ruskin, who selected it as an example of good architecture in "The Seven Lamps of Architecture", and Roy Lichtenstein, who produced a series of pictures representing the cathedral's front. Mae Babitz, known for illustrations of the Watts Towers and Victorian era buildings in Los Angeles, illustrated the Cathedral in the 1960s. Those works are held in the UCLA library Special Collections.  In literature, Gustave Flaubert was inspired by the stained glass windows of St. Julian and the bas-relief of Salome, and based two of his "Three Tales" on them. Joris-Karl Huysmans wrote "La Cathédrale", a novel based on an intensive examination of the building. Willa Cather sets a key scene in the development of the protagonist Claude Wheeler of "One of Ours" in the cathedral.

Burials.

The Cathedral houses a tomb containing the heart of Richard the Lionheart. His bowels were probably buried within the church of the Château of Châlus-Chabrol in the Limousin. It was from the walls of the Château of Châlus-Chabrol that the crossbow bolt was fired, which led to his death once the wound became septic. His corporeal remains were buried next to his father at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France. Richard's effigy is on top of the tomb, and his name is inscribed in Latin on the side.  The Cathedral also contains the tomb of Rollo ("Hrólfr, Rou(f)" or "Robert"), one of Richard's ancestors, the founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy.  The cathedral contained the black marble tomb of John Plantagenet or John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, one of the English commanders who oversaw Joan of Arc's trial. His original tomb was destroyed by the Calvinists in the 16th century but there remains a commemorative plaque.  Other burials include:

Rouen Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic church in Rouen, Normandy, France. It is the see of the Archbishop of Rouen, Primate of Normandy. The cathedral is in the Gothic architectural tradition.

Die Kathedrale von Rouen, (), Krönungsort und Grablege der normannischen Herzöge sowie Metropolitankirche der Normandie, zählt zu den bedeutenden Kirchenbauten Frankreichs im gotischen Stil. "Notre-Dame de l’Assomption" ist bis heute Kathedrale des Erzbischofs von Rouen, Primas der Normandie.


As a process for designing.

Social design thinking.

Social design thinking, is a five-phase systematic approach to problem solving of social issues. Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d school) and IDEO collaboratively created interdisciplinary research in 1991 in order to better the design process, and from that, design thinking as a process emerged. Social design thinking is the application of design thinking to human need(s), and it joins developing both human and social capital with new products and processes that can be profitable.

Margolin and social model.

Victor Margolin and Sylvia Margolin wrote in 2002 about the "social model" as a design practice and research methodology, primarily focused on social services but the ideas could be expanded in to educational systems, healthcare systems and for civic technology design. The social model involves a focus on human needs by taking inspiration from core social work literature and has an ecological perspective (that is less commonly seen in modes of design). Margolin suggests a multifaceted approach to solving problems, first accessing the situation by answering a few core questions, followed by survey research and interviews, content analysis of archival data, and/or participant observation.

IDEO.

The design firm, IDEO defines social design as a process that encourages community facilitation including the sharing of conversation and ideas, beliefs and rituals. The process should be supportive and empowering for those involved and offer an innovative and feasible process. The designer(s) should not try to change people's behavior and they draws on the differences in cultural traditions and cultural beliefs in order to frame the problems within society. Additionally there is importance of the wider influence including the environmental awareness of the design, since the environment effects everyone and is interconnected.

History.

Within the design world, social design is defined as a design process that contributes to improving human well-being and livelihood.  The ideas behind social design has been inspired by Victor Papanek’s writings, he was one of the first to address issues of social design in the 1960s. He was focused on creating change within the design field and no longer tolerating "misdesign," any design that does not account for the needs of all people and disregards its own environmental consequences. To be a positive force in society, design and designers need to be socially and morally responsible, designers carry a serious responsibility for the consequences their designs have on society. These consequences include environmental impact and designers can contribute to designing more considerate and ecological products by carefully selecting the materials they use. Papanek also remarks on designing for people's needs (rather than their wants) and designers have responsibility over the choices they make in design processes. Often design is detached from the real world and is focused on the commercial market by designing for luxury items or for just a few people based on aesthetics, or disposable items. Papanek emphasizes designers should have a keen eye for where the need is and often that is found by looking at marginalized populations.  Another author who contributes to the development of social design is Victor Margolin. He writes in the 2002 book, "The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies" the "designer's ability to envision and give form on material and immaterial products that can address human problems on broad scale and contribute to social well-being." This ideology is something that social design is built on. In this view social design is an activity that should not be framed with connotations of charity, aid donations, help, etc. It is not voluntary work, but it should be seen as professional contribution that plays a part in local economic development or livelihood. At the same time Social Design also challenges the conventional market model of designing. While traditionally, Design has been approached as a profession that remains strictly answerable to market forces, social design envisages the possibility of a more distributive conception of surpluses, by ensuring that the benefits of services and systems reach a wider range of user groups who may often fall outside the market system. Margolin writes, "The primary purpose of design for the market is creating products for sale. Conversely, the foremost intent of social design is the satisfaction of human needs."  Designer George Aye writes about the importance of acknowledging the role of power when designing for complex social sector issues, as one may do for social design projects. Depending on the project, designing for user engagement in a project can be more important than designing for solutions, and it encourages the use of human-centered design methodologies.  Engineer Chris Cox of Facebook used the term "social design" in 2010 and 2011 as, "[social design] defines the concept as improving how people build human-to-human, versus human-to-interface, connections online".  Outside the design world social design appears in a number of professional environments, there are many artists that use the term social design or social practice to describe their work, though the work is exhibited within the contexts of the art world and have a different dialog when compared to design.

Social design is the application of design methodologies in order to tackle complex human issues, placing the social issues as the priority. Historically social design has been mindful of the designer's role and responsibility in society, and of the use of the design process to bring about social change. Social design is a critical discipline that challenges the pure market-orientedness of conventional design practice, and attempts to see past this into a more inclusive conception of design. Often this means social design will prioritize for user groups and people who are marginalized.

Als Social Design wird eine Form der Architektur genannt, in der der Mensch im Mittelpunkt steht und zugleich in den Entstehensprozess des Gebäudes mit einbezogen wird. Gleichzeitig ist Social Design eine Richtung der Umweltpsychologie/Architekturpsychologie. Social Design sollte nicht verwechselt werden mit Social Media Design, welches sich der Gestaltung von sozialen Medien und sozialen Netzwerken zuordnet.


Overview.

The Bangalore torpedo was first devised by Captain R. L. McClintock, of the Royal Engineers while attached to the Madras Sappers and Miners unit of the Indian Army at Bangalore, India, in 1912. He invented it as a means of blowing up booby traps and barricades left over from the Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. The Bangalore torpedo could be exploded over a mine without a sapper having to approach closer than about.  Bangalore torpedoes were manufactured until 2017 by Mondial Defence Systems of Poole, UK, for the UK and US armed forces. An improved version called the Advanced Performance Bangalore Torpedo (APBT) was developed by Chemring Energetics UK, part of the Chemring Group, in response to a British Ministry of Defence requirement issued in 2008; the APBT was chosen by the MOD following competitive performance trials and is also in use with the militaries of Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. They have been used during the Afghanistan War for actions such as clearing mines or razor wire.

In World War I.

By the time of World War I the Bangalore torpedo was primarily used for clearing barbed wire before an attack. It could be used while under fire, from a protected position in a trench. The torpedo was standardized to consist of a number of externally identical lengths of threaded pipe, one of which contained the explosive charge. The pipes would be screwed together using connecting sleeves to make a longer pipe of the required length, somewhat like a chimney brush or drain clearing rod.  A smooth nose cone would be screwed on the end to prevent snagging on the ground. It would then be pushed forward from a protected position and detonated, to clear a wide hole through barbed wire. During the 1917 Battle of Cambrai, British Royal Engineers used them as diversions to distract the enemy from where the real battle was to be fought.

In World War II.

The Bangalore torpedo was reportedly used in the British offensive on Bardia during the Western Desert Campaign, on 3 January 1941.  The Bangalore torpedo was later adopted by the U.S. Army during World War II, as the "M1A1 Bangalore torpedo". Bangalore torpedoes were packed in wooden crates that contained 10 torpedo sections, 10 connecting sleeves, and 1 nose sleeve; the total weight of a crate was 176 pounds (80 kg). Each torpedo section was 5 feet (1.5 m) long, 2.125 inches (54 mm) in diameter, and weighed 13 pounds (5.9 kg). Each end of the torpedo was filled with 4 inches (102 mm) of TNT booster, while the middle section contained an 80-20 amatol mixture; the explosive charge weighed about 9 pounds (4.1 kg). Each end of the torpedo had a recess to accommodate a standard Corps of Engineers blasting cap. Torpedo sections could be attached together via spring clip-equipped connecting sleeves, and a blunt nose sleeve was provided so that the assembled torpedoes could be pushed through obstacles or across terrain without getting stuck.  It was widely used by the U.S. Army, notably during the D-Day landings. The Bangalore torpedo was obsolete in British use at the time of D-Day, having been replaced by rocket-launched Congers and Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) vehicles equipped with a explosive charge for bunker clearing.

Post-World War II development.

The U.S. Army and the North Vietnamese Army used the Bangalore torpedo during the Vietnam War.  During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Bangalore torpedoes were used by the Israelis to clear paths through Syrian minefields.  Bangalore torpedoes continue to be used today in the little-changed M1A2 and M1A3 versions (United States Armed Forces) and the modified Advanced Performance Bangalore Torpedo version (British Armed Forces and Australian Defence Force, under the L26A1 designation which is also used by Chemring), primarily to breach wire obstacles. Combat engineers have also been known to construct similar field versions of the Bangalore by assembling segments of metal picket posts and filling the concave portion with plastic explosive. The PE is then primed with detonating cord and a detonator, and pickets are taped or wired together to make a long torpedo, producing fragments (aka "shrapnel") that cut the wire when detonated. This method produces results similar to the standard-issue Bangalore, and can be assembled to the desired length by adding picket segments.  Newer Bangalore variants include the Alford Technologies Bangalore Blade and the Chemring Advanced Performance Bangalore Torpedo (APBT), with both of these having been developed in the United Kingdom. The Bangalore Blade is made from lightweight aluminium and is configured as a linear explosively formed projectile (EFP) array capable of cutting wire obstacles which earlier Bangalore variants were incapable of breaching effectively; the improvements introduced with the Bangalore Blade give the charge a cutting action as well as a blasting effect. In a test detonation conducted on the television show "Future Weapons", the Bangalore Blade blasted a gap roughly five meters wide in concertina wire, and created a trench deep enough to detonate most nearby anti-personnel mines. Alford Technologies' web page for the Bangalore Blade cites additional trial detonations involving two identical triple-razor wire entanglements erected between steel pickets; a Bangalore torpedo conforming to the original design cleared a three metre path, while the Bangalore Blade cleared a ten metre path. The Advanced Performance Bangalore Torpedo also uses an aluminium body and is filled with two kilograms of DPX1 high density pressed explosive; a unique and patented design feature is incorporated which, in combination with the DPX1 explosive, provides enhanced blast and fragmentation effects which in turn provide an enhanced cutting capability against both simple and complex wire entanglements. The APBT is also capable of cutting through up to six millimetres of steel plating. Up to eight APBTs can be combined with one another, with the resulting assembly capable of defeating obstacles that are up to eight metres in length; the quick-turn thread used for this purpose has been designed for ease of assembly when contaminated with sand, soil, or mud whilst being strong enough to ensure reliable deployment of connected charges without inadvertent decoupling.

Other recent path-clearing devices.

The U.S. anti-personnel obstacle breaching system (APOBS) and the British RAMBS II rifle grenade breaching system are starting to replace the Bangalore for path-clearing due to their ease of use, effectiveness, and flexibility—they can clear a path several times longer than the Bangalore torpedo.

A Bangalore torpedo is an explosive charge placed within one or several connected tubes. It is used by combat engineers to clear obstacles that would otherwise require them to approach directly, possibly under fire. It is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "Bangalore mine", "banger" or simply "Bangalore". Per United States Army Field Manual 5-250 section 1-14, page 1-12 "b. Use. The primary use of the torpedo is clearing paths through wire obstacles and heavy undergrowth. It will clear a 3- to 4-metre wide path through wire obstacles."

Bangalores sind als lange, zusammensteckbare Röhren ausgeführte Sprengsätze. Sie werden von Pionieren und Infanteristen zum Zerstören von Stacheldraht-Verhauen und zum Räumen von Minenfeldern eingesetzt.


Summary.

In the introduction to the complete works, which is the beginning of the first volume, Deschner explains his intention by starting with what is not to be found in his work: an answer to the question "What is Christianity good for?". According to the sentence "Audiatur et altera pars" ("one should listen to the other side, too") he wants to counterbalance the gigantic ascendence of the existing glorification of Christianity. Also, he does not want to write about the alleged or - exceptionally - really positive effects of Christianity. Instead, he wants to demonstrate that the advocates of a primary moral instance not only partially but permanently failed their own ideals.  Deschner anticipates the main criticism at his work, namely the one-sidedness of selection of facts, and responds with a clear counter. His aim was not a history of churches, but an illustration of all (including non-churchy) phenomena of Christianity. These would be measured up to not only generic terms, like crime or humanity, but also to the central ethical ideas of the synoptics, as well as to the Christian self-conception as the religion of glad tidings, love, peace, etc., and also the ignored demands of the later church, like prohibition of military service (first for all Christians, then for the clergy, only), ban on simony, interest-taking, usury and many more.

List of volumes with abstracts.

In the following, all volumes are listed with an abstract for each of them. The English titles were taken from the author's English web-site where available. Where not available, they are marked as "(translation)".

Vol. 1: Die Frühzeit (The Early Period).

This first volume was published after 16 years of preparatory work. It illustrates the genesis of Christianity and its ascension to the Roman state religion.  It starts with a look into the Old Testament. Deschner describes the land seizure of the Israelites after the crumbling Egyptian power in Palestine in the 14th and 13th century B.C.E. and the destruction of the Canaan city-state system. This beginning, which does not directly concern Christianity, but ancient Judaism, demonstrates the relation between religious rhetoric and violent political reality: This is where Deschner sees the origin of a tradition of holy wars, following which Christians later commit numerous mass murders in the name of Israel's God, too. He describes the many death penalties the Torah stipulates for religious offences, King David's policy of conquest, the ruling and corruption of the priests, and finally the decline of the state of Israel in Roman times.  Only this decline made the ascension of Christianity in the Roman empire possible, because Christians could see themselves as the true "Israel of God". Christian Anti-Judaism begins with the New Testament (see Antisemitism and the New Testament) and continues with the Church being interpreted as new Israel. Based on selected quotations, Deschner demonstrates the antisemitism of the Doctors of the Church Ephrem, John Chrysostom, Jerome and Hilary of Poitiers.  Likewise, the Church Fathers - according to Deschner - agitated against "heretics" and "misbelievers". Deschner defends only Origen, whom he numbers among "the most noble Christians at all". One whole chapter is dedicated to the "attacks against paganism". He then analyses the persecution of Christians in the mirror of partially exaggerating martyr legends from Christian historiography as well as the retrospective Christian view of pagan emperors. Furthermore, Deschner looks at the "first significant adversaries of Christianity", Celsus and Porphyrios.  According to Deschner, emperor Constantine I turned ""the church of pacifists into a church of battlefield-shavelings"". In Deschner's eyes, giving up the central pacifist values of pre-Constantine Christianity means ""a bankruptcy of Jesus' teachings"". Furthermore, Deschner describes Constantine's actions in the "battle against Jews, "heretics" and Pagans". He also does not spare the kingdom of Armenia, the first state in the world to make Christianity a state religion (in 301), by asserting that ""this immediately began with massive persecution of Pagans"".  About emperor Julian Deschner writes that he ""towers over his Christian antecessors in all aspects: in character, ethical and intellectual."". Julian's attempt to re-legitimate Pagan religions is commented as follows:  The volume closes with an evaluation of the Church Fathers Athanasius, Ambrose and Augustine. Deschner accuses Athanasius of ""unscrupulousness"" as well as ""striving for prestige and power"". Ambrose is in Deschner's words a ""fanatic antisemite"". Thanks to his church policies, ""adamant and intolerant, but not so direct; versed, smoother"", he set an ""example for the Church until today"" (page 400 and passim). And finally, Augustine, who positioned ""patriotism above the love of a father for his son"" (page 520) and sanctioned ""just war"" as well as ""holy war"".

Vol. 2: Die Spätantike (Late Antiquity).

Deschner writes, the ""conditions as in ancient Rome"" (German ""Zustände wie im alten Rom"" is a proverb meaning decadent, chaotic, irresponsible, violent etc. - a civilisation in decline) were characteristic for the conditions of the Roman Church. The atrocities committed by Christian leaders in late antiquity are mostly euphemised and concealed by Church-historians until today.

Vol. 3: Die Alte Kirche (The Ancient Church).

Unlike the other volumes, which used a chronological approach, Deschner organised this volume according to so-called crime key aspects, which he identifies in the following areas:

Vol. 4: Frühmittelalter (Early Middle Ages).

In the early Middle Ages, the split-off from Byzantium happened, the war against the Islam began and the popes in Rome became powerful rulers. Deschner considers pope Gregor I as a man of double morale, who consistently called to repentance and preached the close apocalypse, but himself pursued the extension of his power at any cost, recommending dungeon, torture, hostage-taking and pillaging, and also knew using bribery well. Deschner calls the Donation of Constantine ""the biggest forgery of documents in world history"". In the end of the volume, Charlemagne is accused of opportunistic relations to the popes, as well as blamed for his excessively bloody "sword mission" with the Saxons and his annihilation of the kingdoms of the Lombards and of the Avars.

Vol. 5: 9. und 10. Jahrhundert (9th and 10th Centuries).

Before the volume's actual beginning, a reply to the anthology "Criminalisation of Christianity?" and an editorial written by Hermann Gieselbusch (lector with Rowohlt publishing house) has been put.  In the then following description of the 9th and 10th century, Deschner illustrates the deep entanglement of secular and church power. Clerical principalities came into existence and the military service of the high clergy prospered. Under the Ottonian dynasty, the Church in the Holy Roman Empire was completely militarised; dioceses and abbeys controlled a major military potential. Even popes entered wars: Leo IV in the naval Battle of Ostia (849) and John X in the Battle of Garigliano (915). Popes excommunicated each other, some were thrown in prison, strangled, mutilated, poisoned. Sergius III had even two other popes murdered. Chapter 3 discusses the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, which are the most important forgery in Carolingian times (Dawson).

Vol. 6: Das 11. und 12. Jahrhundert (11th and 12th Centuries).

This volume covers emperor Henry II the Holy, who, in alliance with Pagans, fought three wars against Catholic Poland, the momentous pontificate of Gregory VII, an "aggressive Satan", who lead the Holy See to victory over the emperor's throne in the Investiture Controversy (Canossa), the East-West Schism, the First Crusade with the massacre of Jerusalem's inhabitants as well as the Second and Third Crusade.

Vol. 7: Das 13. und 14. Jahrhundert (13th and 14th Centuries).

Deschner writes about the Staufer-emperor Henry VI, who aimed for global dominance even without papal blessing, and about the most powerful pope of history, Innocent III. During the time covered by this volume, crusades to all directions happened, including the Fourth Crusade, the crusade of Frederick II, the crusades of Louis IX to Egypt and Tunis, the grotesque Children's Crusade, the crusades of Christians against Christians, the Sicilian Vespers, the extermination of the Templars, the annihilation of the Pagans in the northeast, the Christian murders of Jews and last but not least the totalitarian Inquisition, which aimed for the repression of any liberal mind.

Vol. 8: Das 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (The 15th and 16th century).

Deschner describes the beginning witch-hunt, the Western Schism, the Renaissance popes, the fight against intra-Christian opposition (Wycliffe, Hus and the Council of Constance, Luther and the German Peasants' War).

Vol. 9: Mitte des 16. bis Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts (Middle of 16th century till beginning of 18th century).

Volume 9 covers the following topics:

Vol. 10: 18. Jahrhundert und Ausblick auf die Folgezeit (18th century and outlook onto the aftermath).

More than a quarter century after the first volume's publication, Deschner completed this work: The 10th and last volume of the Criminal History is going to be published in March 2013. This volume covers:

Reception.

The reactions to this book series have been mixed. While some praised Deschner's writings as a contribution to the Enlightenment as important as the works of Pierre Bayle, Claude Helvetius, Voltaire and Heinrich Heine, others condemned his "Christianity's Criminal History" as "criminalisation of Christianity". , from 1970 til 1975 professor of church law at the Catholic theological faculty of Münster University, who left the Catholic church in 1981, praised Deschner in 1989 in an article in Der Spiegel as a moralist asking the question:  A three-day-symposium organized by Hans Reinhard Seeliger in the Catholic Academy in Schwerte was dedicated to the first three volumes in the beginning of October 1992. Besides Seeliger, 22 other specialists in Christian history, patrology, old history, archaeology, jurisprudence, and other fields participated. The symposium's papers were published in 1993 as an anthology. Deschner refused the invitation arguing that he already answered all basic questions sufficiently in the preface of his first volume. He decided to exemplarily confront the paper "Emperor Konstantin, one of the Greats in history?" in a reply which was put in front of the fifth volume. The other papers were skipped. Hermann Gieselbusch, lector with the Rowohlt publishing house, noted at the same place (preface of vol. 5), that only few symposium participants "abstained at least from personal revilement", mentioning four speakers by name - Ulrich Faust, Theofried Baumeister, Erich Feldmann und Gert Haendler - and thanking them for their fairness in Deschner's name.  When Deschner's "Criminal History" (volumes 1 to 8) was published digitally as CD ROM in 2005, Giesbert Damaschke wrote in his recension:  In 2008, after the publication of volume 9, Arno Widmann wrote in the Frankfurter Rundschau, ""Kette der Grausamkeiten"" (""Chain of atrocities""):

Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums (In English "Criminal History of Christianity") is the main work of the author and church critic Karlheinz Deschner. It describes the misconduct attributed to various Christian churches, denominations, sects, and leagues, as well as its representatives and Christian sovereigns during Christian history. The work covers the entire history of Christianity from its biblical beginnings until the present. It was published in ten volumes beginning in 1986, with the final volume appearing in March 2013.

Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums ist das zehnbändige Hauptwerk des Schriftstellers und Kirchenkritikers Karlheinz Deschner. Es beschreibt detailliert Verfehlungen, die den verschiedenen christlichen Kirchen, Konfessionen, Sekten, Sonderbünden und ihren Repräsentanten sowie christlichen Herrschern im Verlauf der Geschichte des Christentums angelastet werden. Das Werk umfasst die Kirchengeschichte von ihren biblischen Ursprüngen bis ins 18. Jahrhundert. Der erste Band ist 1986 erschienen, der abschließende zehnte im Jahr 2013.


The names Gog and Magog.

The names are mentioned together in Ezekiel chapter 38, where Gog is an individual and Magog is his land. The meaning of the name Gog remains uncertain, and in any case, the author of the Ezekiel prophecy seems to attach no particular importance to it. Efforts have been made to identify him with various individuals, notably Gyges, a king of Lydia in the early 7th century BC, but many scholars do not believe he is related to any historical person.  In Genesis 10 Magog is a person, son of Japheth son of Noah, but no Gog is mentioned. The name Magog is equally obscure, but may come from the Assyrian "mat-Gugu", "Land of Gyges", i.e., Lydia. Alternatively, Gog may be derived from Magog rather than the other way round, and "Magog" may be code for Babylon.  The form "Gog and Magog" may have emerged as shorthand for "Gog and/of the land of Magog", based on their usage in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. An example of this combined form in Hebrew ("Gog u-Magog") has been found, but its context is unclear, being preserved only in a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Revelation, Gog and Magog together are the hostile nations of the world. Gog or Goug the Reubenite occurs in 1 Chronicles, but he appears to have no connection with the Gog of Ezekiel or Magog of Genesis.  The Biblical "Gog and Magog" possibly gave derivation of the name Gogmagog, a legendary British giant. A later corrupted folk rendition in print altered the tradition around Gogmagog and Corineus with two giants Gog and Magog, with whom the Guildhall statues came to be identified.

Judeo-Christian texts.

In Ezekiel and the Old Testament.

The Book of Ezekiel records a series of visions received by the prophet Ezekiel, a priest of Solomon's Temple, who was among the captive during the Babylonian exile. The exile, he tells his fellow captives, is God's punishment on Israel for turning away, but God will restore his people to Jerusalem when they return to him. After this message of reassurance, chapters, the Gog oracle, tell how Gog of Magog and his hordes will threaten the restored Israel but will be destroyed, after which God will establish a new Temple and dwell with his people for a period of lasting peace (chapters 40–48).  "Son of man, direct your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him. Say: Thus said the Lord: Behold, I am against you, Gog, the prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal... Persia, Cush and Put will be with you... also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you."  Internal evidence indicates that the Gog oracle was composed substantially later than the chapters around it.Of Gog's allies, Meshech and Tubal were 7th-century BC kingdoms in central Anatolia north of Israel, Persia towards east, Cush (Ethiopia) and Put (Libya) to the south; Gomer is the Cimmerians, a nomadic people north of the Black Sea, and Beth Togarmah was on the border of Tubal. The confederation thus represents a multinational alliance surrounding Israel. "Why the prophet's gaze should have focused on these particular nations is unclear," comments Biblical scholar Daniel I. Block, but their remoteness and reputation for violence and mystery possibly "made Gog and his confederates perfect symbols of the archetypal enemy, rising against God and his people". One explanation is that the Gog alliance, a blend of the "Table of Nations" in Genesis 10 and Tyre's trading partners in Ezekiel 27, with Persia added, was cast in the role of end-time enemies of Israel by means of Isaiah 66:19, which is another text of eschatological foretelling.  Although the prophecy refers to Gog as an enemy in some future, it is not clear if the confrontation is meant to occur in a final "end of days" since the Hebrew term "aḥarit ha-yamim" () may merely mean "latter days", and is open to interpretation. Twentieth-century scholars have used the term to denote the eschaton in a malleable sense, not necessarily meaning final days, or tied to the Apocalypse. Still, the Utopia of chapters 40–48 can be spoken of in the parlance of "true eschatological character, given that it is a product of "cosmic conflict" described in the immediately preceding Gog chapters.  The Septuagint reads "Agag" instead of "Gog" in Numbers 24:7.

Gog and Magog from Ezekiel to Revelation.

Over the next few centuries Jewish tradition changed Ezekiel's Gog "from" Magog into Gog "and" Magog. The process, and the shifting geography of Gog and Magog, can be traced through the literature of the period. The 3rd book of the Sibylline Oracles, for example, which originated in Egyptian Judaism in the middle of the 2nd century BC, changes Ezekiel's "Gog from Magog" to "Gog and Magog", links their fate with up to eleven other nations, and places them "in the midst of Aethiopian rivers"; this seems a strange location, but ancient geography did sometimes place Ethiopia next to Persia or even India. The passage has a highly uncertain text, with manuscripts varying in their groupings of the letters of the Greek text into words, leading to different readings; one group of manuscripts ("group Y") links them with the "Marsians and Dacians", in eastern Europe, amongst others.  The Book of Jubilees, from about the same time, makes three references to either Gog or Magog: in the first, Magog is a descendant of Noah, as in Genesis 10; in the second, Gog is a region next to Japheth's borders; and in the third, a portion of Japheth's land is assigned to Magog. The 1st-century "Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum", which retells Biblical history from Adam to Saul, is notable for listing and naming seven of Magog's sons, and mentions his "thousands" of descendants. The Samaritan Torah and the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made during the last few centuries of the pre-Christian era) occasionally introduce the name of Gog where the Hebrew original has something else, or use Magog where the Hebrew has Gog, indicating that the names were interchangeable.  Chapters 19:11–21:8 of the Book of Revelation, dating from the end of the 1st century AD, tells how Satan is to be imprisoned for a thousand years, and how, on his release, he will rally "the nations in the four corners of the Earth, Gog and Magog", to a final battle with Christ and his saints:  When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

Midrashic writings.

The anti-Roman Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century AD looked to a human leader as the promised messiah, but after its failure Jews began to conceive of the messianic age in supernatural terms: first would come a forerunner, the Messiah ben Joseph, who would defeat Israel's enemies, identified as Gog and Magog, to prepare the way for the Messiah ben David; then the dead would rise, divine judgement would be handed out, and the righteous would be rewarded.  The aggadah, homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, treat Gog and Magog as two names for the same nation who will come against Israel in the final war. The rabbis associated no specific nation or territory with them beyond a location to the north of Israel, but the great Jewish scholar Rashi identified the Christians as their allies and said God would thwart their plan to kill all Israel.

Alexander the Great.

The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus identified the Gog and Magog people as Scythians, horse-riding barbarians from around the Don and the Sea of Azov. Josephus recounts the tradition that Gog and Magog were locked up by Alexander the Great behind iron gates in the "Caspian Mountains", generally identified with the Caucasus Mountains. This legend must have been current in contemporary Jewish circles by this period, coinciding with the beginning of the Christian Era. Several centuries later, this material was vastly elaborated in the "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius" and Alexander romance.

Precursor texts in Syriac.

The "Pseudo-Methodius", written originally in Syriac, is considered the source of Gog and Magog tale incorporated into Western versions of the Alexander Romance. An earlier-dated Syriac "Alexander Legend" contains a somewhat different treatment of the Gog and Magog material, which passed into the lost Arabic version, or the Ethiopic and later Oriental versions of the Alexander romance.  In the Syriac "Alexander Legend" dating to 629–630, Gog (, gwg) and Magog (ܵ, mgwg) appear as kings of Hunnish nations. Written by a Christian based in Mesopotamia, the "Legend" is considered the first work to connect the Gates with the idea that Gog and Magog are destined to play a role in the apocalypse. The legend claims that Alexander carved prophecies on the face of the Gate, marking a date for when these Huns, consisting of 24 nations, will breach the Gate and subjugate the greater part of the world.  "Pseudo-Methodius" (7th century) is the first source in the Christian tradition for a new element: two mountains moving together to narrow the corridor, which was then sealed with a gate against Gog and Magog. This idea is also in the Quran and found its way in the Western Alexander Romance.

Alexander romances.

This Gog and Magog legend is not found in earlier versions of the Alexander romance of Pseudo-Callisthenes, whose oldest manuscript dates to the 3rd century, but an interpolation into recensions around the 8th century. In the latest and longest Greek version are described the Unclean Nations, which include the Goth and Magoth as their kings, and whose people engage in the habit of eating worms, dogs, human cadavers and fetuses. They were allied to Belsyrians (Bebrykes, of Bithynia in modern-day North Turkey), and sealed beyond the "Breasts of the North", a pair of mountains fifty days' march away towards the north.  Gog and Magog appear in somewhat later Old French versions of the romance. In the verse "Roman d'Alexandre", Branch III, of (c. 1170), Gog and Magog ("Gos et Margos", "Got et Margot") were vassals to Porus, king of India, providing an auxiliary force of 400,000 men. Routed by Alexander, they escaped through a defile in the mountains of Tus (or Turs), and were sealed by the wall erected there, to last until the advent of the Antichrist. Branch IV of the poetic cycle tells that the task of guarding Gog and Magog, as well as the rule of Syria and Persia was assigned to Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors. Gog and Magog also appear in Thomas de Kent's "Roman de toute chevalerie" (c. 1180), where they are portrayed as cave-dwellers who consume human flesh. A condensed account occurs in a derivative work, the Middle English "King Alisaunder" (vv. 5938–6287). In the 13th-century French "Roman d'Alexandre en prose", Alexander has an encounter with cannibals who have taken over the role of Gog and Magog. This is a case of imperfect transmission, since the "prose Alexander"'s source, the Latin work by Archpriest Leo of Naples known as "Historia de Preliis", does mention "Gogh et Macgogh", at least in some manuscripts.  The Gog and Magog are not only human flesh-eaters, but illustrated as men "a notably beaked nose" in examples such as the "Henry of Mainz map", an important example of "mappa mundi". Gog and Magog caricaturised as figures with hooked noses on a miniature depicting their attack of the Holy City, found in a manuscript of the "Apocalypse" in Anglo-Norman.

Identification with civilisations.

Early Christian writers (e.g. Eusebius) frequently identified Gog and Magog with the Romans and their emperor. After the Empire became Christian, Ambrose (d. 397) identified Gog with the Goths, Jerome (d. 420) with the Scythians, and Jordanes (died c. 555) said that Goths, Scythians and Amazons were all the same; he also cited Alexander's gates in the Caucasus. The Byzantine writer Procopius said it was the Huns Alexander had locked out, and a Western monk named Fredegar seems to have Gog and Magog in mind in his description of savage hordes from beyond Alexander's gates who had assisted the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610–641) against the Muslim Saracens.

Nomadic identification.

As one nomadic people followed another on the Eurasian steppes, so the identification of Gog and Magog shifted. In the 9th and 10th centuries these kingdoms were identified by some with the lands of the Khazars, a Turkic people who had converted to Judaism and whose empire dominated Central Asia–the 9th-century monk Christian of Stavelot referred to Gazari, said of the Khazars that they were "living in the lands of Gog and Magog" and noted that they were "circumcised and observing all [the laws of] Judaism". Arab traveler ibn Fadlan also reported of this belief, writing around 921 he recorded that "Some hold the opinion that Gog and Magog are the Khazars".  After the Khazars came the Mongols, seen as a mysterious and invincible horde from the east who destroyed Muslim empires and kingdoms in the early 13th century; kings and popes took them for the legendary Prester John, marching to save Christians from the Muslim Saracens, but when they entered Poland and Hungary and annihilated Christian armies a terrified Europe concluded that they were "Magogoli", the offspring of Gog and Magog, released from the prison Alexander had constructed for them and heralding Armageddon.  Europeans in Medieval China reported findings from their travels to the Mongol Empire. Some accounts and maps began to place the "Caspian Mountains", and Gog and Magog, just outside the Great Wall of China. The "Tartar Relation", an obscure account of Friar Carpini's 1240s journey to Mongolia, is unique in alleging that these Caspian Mountains in Mongolia, "where the Jews called Gog and Magog by their fellow countrymen are said to have been shut in by Alexander", were moreover purported by the Tartars to be magnetic, causing all iron equipment and weapons to fly off toward the mountains on approach. In 1251, the French friar André de Longjumeau informed his king that the Mongols originated from a desert further east, and an apocalyptic Gog and Magog ("Got and Margoth") people dwelled further beyond, confined by the mountains.  In fact, Gog and Magog were held by the Mongol to be their ancestors, at least by some segment of the population. As traveler and Friar Riccoldo da Monte di Croce put it in c. 1291, "They say themselves that they are descended from Gog and Magog: and on this account they are called "Mogoli", as if from a corruption of "Magogoli"". Marco Polo, traveling when the initial terror had subsided, places Gog and Magog among the Tartars in Tenduc, but then claims that the names Gog and Magog are translations of the place-names Ung and Mungul, inhabited by the Ung and Mongols respectively.  An explanation offered by Orientalist Henry Yule was that Marco Polo was only referring to the "Rampart of Gog and Magog", a name for the Great Wall of China. Friar André's placement of Gog and Magog far east of Mongolia has been similarly explained.

The confined Jews.

Some time around the 12th century, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel came to be identified with Gog and Magog; possibly the first to do so was Petrus Comestor in "Historica Scholastica" (c. 1169–1173), and he was indeed a far greater influence than others before him, although the idea had been anticipated by the aforementioned Christian of Stavelot, who noted that the Khazhars, to be identified with Gog and Magog, was one of seven tribes of the Hungarians and had converted to Judaism.  While the confounding Gog and Magog as confined Jews was becoming commonplace, some, like Riccoldo or Vincent de Beauvais remained skeptics, and distinguished the Lost Tribes from Gog and Magog. As noted, Riccoldo had reported a Mongol folk-tradition that they were descended from Gog and Magog. He also addressed many minds (Westerners or otherwise) being credulous of the notion that Mongols might be Captive Jews, but after weighing the pros and cons, he concluded this was an open question.  The Flemish Franciscan friar William of Rubruck, who was first-hand witness to Alexander's supposed wall in Derbent on the shores of the Caspian Sea in 1254, identified the people the walls were meant to fend off only vaguely as "wild tribes" or "desert nomads", but one researcher made the inference Rubruck must have meant Jews, and that he was speaking in the context of "Gog and Magog". Confined Jews were later to be referred to as "Red Jews" ("die roten Juden") in German-speaking areas; a term first used in a Holy Grail epic dating to the 1270s, in which Gog and Magog were two mountains enclosing these people.  The author of the "Travels of Sir John Mandeville", a 14th-century best-seller, said he had found these Jews in Central Asia where as Gog and Magog they had been imprisoned by Alexander, plotting to escape and join with the Jews of Europe to destroy Christians.

In Islamic tradition.

Two chapters "Al Kahf" and "Al-Anbiya" of the Quran discuss Gog and Magog. In the Quran Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) are suppressed by Dhul-Qarnayn "the two-horned one"; this figure is often thought to be derived from either Alexander the Great or Cyrus the Great, though there has been no consensus on this. Dhul-Qarnayn, having journeyed to the ends of the world, meets "a people who scarcely understood a word" who seek his help in building a barrier that will separate them from the people of Yajuj and Majuj who "do great mischief on earth". He agrees to build it for them, but warns that when the time comes (Last Age), Allah will remove the barrier and Yajuj and Majuj will swarm through.The early Muslim traditions were summarised by Zakariya al-Qazwini (d. 1283) in two popular works called the Cosmography and the Geography. Gog and Magog, he says, live near to the sea that encircles the Earth and can be counted only by God; they are only half the height of a normal man, with claws instead of nails and a hairy tail and huge hairy ears which they use as mattress and cover for sleeping. They scratch at their wall each day until they almost break through. They break for the night saying tomorrow we will finish, and each night God restores it. Then one day, as they stop scratching for the night, one will say tomorrow we will finish God Willing, and in the morning, it is not restored as with everything night. When they do break through they will be so numerous that "their vanguard is in Syria and their rear in Khorasan".  Various nations and peoples in history were identified as Ya'juj and Ma'juj. At one point, it was the Turks, who threatened Baghdad and northern Iran; later, when the Mongols destroyed Baghdad in 1258, it was they who were Gog and Magog. The wall dividing them from civilised peoples was normally placed towards Armenia and Azerbaijan, but in the year 842 the Caliph Al-Wathiq had a dream in which he saw that it had been breached, and sent an official named Sallam to investigate may be related Ergenekon. Sallam returned a little over two years later and reported that he had seen the wall and also the tower where Dhul Qarnayn had left his building equipment, and all was still intact. It is not entirely clear what Sallam saw, but he may have reached the Jade Gate and the westernmost customs point on the border of China. Somewhat later the 14th-century traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the wall was sixty days' travel from the city of Zeitun, which is on the coast of China; the translator notes that Ibn Battuta has confused the Great Wall of China with that built by Dhul-Qarnayn.  According to Shia sources, Yajooj and Majooj are not from the Children of Adam (the human race). Al-Kafi, one of their primary collections of ahadith, states that it has been narrated from Ibn Abbas that when he asked Ali about the "creatures", he responded by saying God has created "1,200 species on the land, 1,200 species in the sea, 70 species from the Children of Adam and the people are the Children of Adam except for the Yajooj and Majooj". This is in contradiction with many reports in Sunni sources, including those in Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, which indicate they will indeed, be from the Children of Adam, and this is the belief of the overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars.  Various modern scholars of history and geography regarded the Vikings and their descendants as Gog and Magog, since the unknown group from Scandinavia had made their sudden and considerable entry into the history of Europe. Viking travellers and colonists were seen at many points in history as violent raiders. Many historical documents suggest that their conquests of other territories was retaliation in response to the encroachment upon tribal lands by Christian missionaries, and perhaps by the Saxon Wars prosecuted by Charlemagne and his kin to the south. Researches of professors and philosophers such as Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Syeed Abul Ala Mawdudi, who played important roles in British and South Asian politics, and American academic Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi and Caribbean eschatologist Imran N. Hosein, compare the languages, behaviours and sexual activities of the tribes of Gog and Magog with those of Vikings.  According to Sahih Muslim, the Prophet said:  "Then a people whom Allah had protected from him (dajjal) would come to Isa, son of Maryam (alaihimas salam), and he would wipe their faces and would inform them of their ranks in Paradise and it would be under such conditions that Allah would reveal to Isa (alaihis salam) these words: I have brought forth from amongst My servants such people against whom none would be able to fight; you take these people safely to Tur, and then Allah would send Gog and Magog and they would swarm down from every slope. The first of them would pass the lake of Tiberias and drink out of it. And when the last of them would pass, he would say: There was once water there."  Some scholars further attempt to relate the last portion of the interpretation of Yajuj and Majuj to the lake of Tiberias, currently known as the Sea of Galilee, the Earth's lowest freshwater lake, and the Dead Sea.  Historian and exegete Ibn Kathir mentioned similar theories in his book "Al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya".

In Ahmadiyya.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d.1908), the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, identified Gog and Magog with the European powers that had emerged from the Slavic and Germanic peoples respectively, with particular reference to their political duplicity and shattering of world peace. Ahmadiyya exegeses draw upon the etymological connection of the Arabic cognate "Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj" with the underlying themes of blazing fire, hastiness and boiling water to what is viewed as the superlative industrial use of fire and steam by these peoples and to their restless political character. According to these teachings, the conflict between Russia and the United States as two superpowers, or the militant rivalry between the communist and capitalist systems and their impact over the nations of the world, is thus seen as having occurred in accordance with prophecies concerning Gog and Magog. These powers cannot be defeated through military force and are to be overcome through prayer and divine intervention. Islam is then seen as that which alone would succeed in bringing people of different nations together as per the Quran ().

Modern apocalypticism.

In the early 19th century, some Chasidic rabbis identified the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon as "The War of Gog and Magog". But as the century progressed, apocalyptic expectations receded as the populace in Europe began to adopt an increasingly secular worldview. This has not been the case in the United States, where a 2002 poll indicated that 59% of Americans believed the events predicted in the Book of Revelation would come to pass. During the Cold War the idea that Soviet Russia had the role of Gog gained popularity, since Ezekiel's words describing him as "prince of Meshek"—"rosh meshek" in Hebrew—sounded suspiciously like Russia and Moscow. Even some Russians took up the idea, apparently unconcerned by the implications ("Ancestors were found in the Bible, and that was enough"), as did Ronald Reagan.  Some post-Cold War millenarians still identify Gog with Russia, but they now tend to stress its allies among Islamic nations, especially Iran. For the most fervent, the countdown to Armageddon began with the return of the Jews to Israel, followed quickly by further signs pointing to the nearness of the final battle—nuclear weapons, European integration, Israel's reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War in 1967, and America's wars in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. A disputed story about US President George W. Bush claims that, in the prelude to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, Bush told French President Jacques Chirac, "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East." Bush is said to have continued, "This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase His people's enemies before a new age begins." Officials from the Bush Administration claim there is no record of this conversation and that making such references, "doesn't sound at all like Bush."  In the Islamic apocalyptic tradition, the end of the world would be preceded by the release of Gog and Magog, whose destruction by God in a single night would usher in the Day of Resurrection. Reinterpretation did not generally continue after Classical times, but the needs of the modern world have produced a new body of apocalyptic literature in which Gog and Magog are identified as Communist Russia and China. One problem these writers have had to confront is the barrier holding Gog and Magog back, which is not to be found in the modern world: the answer varies, some writers saying that Gog and Magog were the Mongols and that the wall is now gone, others that both the wall and Gog and Magog are invisible.

Gog and Magog (; ; "Gog u-Magog"; Arabic: ; "Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj") appear in the Hebrew Bible, often known as the Old Testament, and Quran 21:96 as individuals, tribes, or lands. In Ezekiel 38, Gog is an individual and Magog is his land; in Genesis 10 Magog is a man, but no Gog is mentioned; and centuries later Jewish tradition changed Ezekiel's "Gog "from" Magog" into "Gog "and" Magog", which is the form in which they appear in the Christian New Testament's Book of Revelation, although there they are peoples rather than individuals.

Gog (hebräisch, Etymologie ungeklärt) ist beim Propheten Ezechiel (Kapitel 38 und 39) der Fürst von Mesech und Thubal und wohnt im Lande Magog. In der Offenbarung des Johannes, im Neuen Testament der Bibel, werden mit Gog und Magog zwei Völker bezeichnet, die am jüngsten Tage vom Satan befreit werden. Gemeinsam mit ihm ziehen sie in den Kampf, werden jedoch am Ende von Christus besiegt. Weiter wird Magog in der Völkertafel als Sohn Jafets und Enkel Noachs genannt. Seine Brüder sind Gomer, Madai, Jawan, Tubal, Meschech und Tiras. Nach Flavius Josephus könnte es sich um die Skythen gehandelt haben.


Motivation.

The equations in the Cartesian plane R: define, respectively, an ellipse and a hyperbola. In each case, the "x" and "y" axes are the principal axes. This is easily seen, given that there are no "cross-terms" involving products "xy" in either expression. However, the situation is more complicated for equations like Here some method is required to determine whether this is an ellipse or a hyperbola. The basic observation is that if, by completing the square, the quadratic expression can be reduced to a sum of two squares then the equation defines an ellipse, whereas if it reduces to a difference of two squares then the equation represents a hyperbola: Thus, in our example expression, the problem is how to absorb the coefficient of the cross-term 8"xy" into the functions "u" and "v". Formally, this problem is similar to the problem of matrix diagonalization, where one tries to find a suitable coordinate system in which the matrix of a linear transformation is diagonal. The first step is to find a matrix in which the technique of diagonalization can be applied.  The trick is to write the quadratic form as where the cross-term has been split into two equal parts. The matrix "A" in the above decomposition is a symmetric matrix. In particular, by the spectral theorem, it has real eigenvalues and is diagonalizable by an orthogonal matrix ("orthogonally diagonalizable").  To orthogonally diagonalize "A", one must first find its eigenvalues, and then find an orthonormal eigenbasis. Calculation reveals that the eigenvalues of "A" are with corresponding eigenvectors Dividing these by their respective lengths yields an orthonormal eigenbasis:  Now the matrix "S" = [u u] is an orthogonal matrix, since it has orthonormal columns, and "A" is diagonalized by:  This applies to the present problem of "diagonalizing" the quadratic form through the observation that Thus, the equation formula_12 is that of an ellipse, since the left side can be written as the sum of two squares.  It is tempting to simplify this expression by pulling out factors of 2. However, it is important "not" to do this. The quantities have a geometrical meaning. They determine an "orthonormal coordinate system" on R. In other words, they are obtained from the original coordinates by the application of a rotation (and possibly a reflection). Consequently, one may use the "c" and "c" coordinates to make statements about "length and angles" (particularly length), which would otherwise be more difficult in a different choice of coordinates (by rescaling them, for instance). For example, the maximum distance from the origin on the ellipse "c" + 9"c" = 1 occurs when "c"=0, so at the points "c"=±1. Similarly, the minimum distance is where "c"=±1/3.  It is possible now to read off the major and minor axes of this ellipse. These are precisely the individual eigenspaces of the matrix "A", since these are where "c" = 0 or "c"=0. Symbolically, the principal axes are To summarize: Using this information, it is possible to attain a clear geometrical picture of the ellipse: to graph it, for instance.

Formal statement.

The principal axis theorem concerns quadratic forms in R, which are homogeneous polynomials of degree 2. Any quadratic form may be represented as where "A" is a symmetric matrix.  The first part of the theorem is contained in the following statements guaranteed by the spectral theorem: In particular, "A" is "orthogonally diagonalizable", since one may take a basis of each eigenspace and apply the Gram-Schmidt process separately within the eigenspace to obtain an orthonormal eigenbasis.  For the second part, suppose that the eigenvalues of "A" are λ,..., λ (possibly repeated according to their algebraic multiplicities) and the corresponding orthonormal eigenbasis is u...,u. Then where the "c" are the coordinates with respect to the given eigenbasis. Furthermore,

In the mathematical fields of geometry and linear algebra, a principal axis is a certain line in a Euclidean space associated with an ellipsoid or hyperboloid, generalizing the major and minor axes of an ellipse or hyperbola. The principal axis theorem states that the principal axes are perpendicular, and gives a constructive procedure for finding them.

Die Hauptachsentransformation "(HAT)" ist in der euklidischen Geometrie ein Verfahren, mit dem man die Gleichungen von Quadriken (Ellipse, Hyperbel,...; Ellipsoid, Hyperboloid,...) durch eine geeignete Koordinatentransformation auf die jeweilige Normalform bringt und damit ihren Typ und ihre geometrischen Eigenschaften (Mittelpunkt, Scheitel, Halbachsen) bestimmen kann. Damit Längen und Winkel bei der Transformation nicht verändert werden, muss man "orthogonale" Koordinatentransformationen (Drehungen, Spiegelungen, Verschiebungen) verwenden (s. u.). Das wesentliche Hilfsmittel dieses Verfahrens ist die Diagonalisierung einer symmetrischen Matrix mit Hilfe einer orthogonalen Matrix. Neben der rein mathematisch-geometrischen Bedeutung der Hauptachsentransformation zur Bestimmung des Typs von Quadriken wird sie in zahlreichen Disziplinen der theoretischen Physik sowie in der Informatik und den Geowissenschaften eingesetzt (s. Abschnitt "Anwendung").


Life and career.

Early life.

Simmons was born as Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949 at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel to Jewish emigrants from Hungary. His mother, Florence Klein (née Flóra Kovács), was born in Jánd, Hungary, and survived internment in Nazi concentration camps. She and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. His father, Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz, was a carpenter. Simmons spent his early childhood in Tirat Carmel, and was raised in a Jewish household. He practiced playing his guitar for hours on end. He has said that his family was "dirt poor," scraping by on rationed bread and milk. At age seven, he began to pick wild fruit and sell it on roadsides together with a friend.  At age eight, he emigrated to the United States with his mother and settled in New York City. His father remained in Israel, where he had one other son and three daughters. In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein, adopting his mother's maiden name. At age nine, he briefly attended a Jewish religious school, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, before transferring to a public school. He later attended Richmond College and Sullivan County Community College, both in New York, and chose a stage name in tribute to the rockabilly singer Jumpin' Gene Simmons. Before his musical career began, Klein worked a variety of jobs in the city. An "excellent typist", he served as an assistant to an editor of the fashion magazine "Vogue", and also spent several months as a sixth grade instructor on the Upper West Side.  The Beatles had a significant influence on Simmons. "There is no way I'd be doing what I do now if it wasn't for the Beatles. I was watching "The Ed Sullivan Show" and I saw them. Those skinny little boys, kind of androgynous, with long hair like girls. It blew me away that these four boys [from] the middle of nowhere could make that music."

Kiss.

Simmons became involved with his first band, Lynx, then renamed the Missing Links, when he was a teenager. Eventually, he disbanded the band to form the Long Island Sounds, the name being a pun on Long Island Sound. While he played in these bands, he worked at odd jobs on the side to make more money, including trading used comic books. Simmons attended Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake, New York. He joined a new band, Bullfrog Bheer, and the band recorded a demo, "Leeta"; this was later included on the Kiss box set.  Simmons formed the rock band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s with Stanley Eisen (now known as Paul Stanley) and recorded one album, which was never released. Dissatisfied with Wicked Lester's sound and look, Simmons and Stanley attempted to fire their band members; they were met with resistance, and they quit Wicked Lester, walking away from their record deal with Epic Records. They decided to form the "ultimate rock band", and started looking for a drummer. Simmons and Stanley found an ad placed by George Peter John Criscuola (known as Peter Criss) who was playing clubs in Brooklyn at the time; they joined and started out as a trio.  During this time, Criss and Simmons also appeared on an unreleased album by Captain Sanity together with members from Criss' previous band Chelsea. Paul Frehley (better known as Ace Frehley) responded to an ad they put in "The Village Voice" for a lead guitar player, and soon joined them. Kiss released their self-titled debut album in February 1974. Stanley took on the role of lead performer on stage, while Simmons became the driving force behind what became an extensive Kiss merchandising franchise. The eye section of his "Demon" makeup with Kiss came from the wing design of comic book character Black Bolt. In 1983, when Kiss' fame was waning, the members took off their trademark make-up and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity that continued into the 1990s. At this time, Peter Criss, the original drummer, was voted out of the band, and a replacement was sought to fill his vacancy. The new drummer was Paul Charles Caravello, who went by the stage name of Eric Carr, and played for Kiss from 1980 until his death in 1991. The band hosted its own fan conventions in 1995, and fan feedback about the original Kiss members reunion influenced the highly successful 1996–1997 Alive Worldwide reunion tour. In 1998, the band released "Psycho Circus". Since then, the original line-up has once again dissolved, with Tommy Thayer replacing Ace Frehley on lead guitar and Eric Singer (who performed with Kiss from 1991 through 1996) replacing Peter Criss on drums.

Playing style.

As well as being the bass player, lead vocal duties are split between Simmons and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley among most Kiss songs. Some notable songs featuring Simmons singing lead include "Rock and Roll All Nite", "Deuce", "A World Without Heroes", "I Love It Loud", "Calling Dr. Love", "Unholy", "Spit" (second lead vocals), "Boomerang", "You Wanted the Best" (first lead vocals), and "Christine Sixteen", among others. Simmons possesses a baritone vocal range.

Stage makeup and persona.

In addition to playing bass, Simmons is known for his long tongue, which he frequently sticks out while performing, and on stage is known for his demonic figure by spitting fire and vomiting stage blood.  During a 1999 interview with "Rolling Stone", Simmons was asked about the source and significance of Kiss' stage makeup and personas:  I've always been a fan of Americana, and Americana has always been about imagery, often above content. I think there's nothing wrong with that. The world worships this culture. Most people only think about America in terms of rock & roll, movies and television. Kiss is very all-American, in the sense that our constituency has never had anything in common with critics... because our power, our lifeblood, our very reason for existence is our fans. Without them, we'd be nothing.

Personal life.

Simmons is a science fiction and comic book fan and published several science fiction fanzines, among them "Id", "Cosmos" (which eventually merged with "Stilletto" to become "Cosmos-Stilletto" and then "Faun"), "Tinderbox", "Sci-Fi Showcase", "Mantis" and "Adventure". He also contributed to other fanzines, among them "BeABohema" and "Sirruish". By 1977, however, he would write in a letter of comment to "Janus", "I haven't been active [in fandom] for about five years".  Simmons lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Canadian former Playboy Playmate and actress Shannon Lee Tweed. Although they began dating in 1983, they did not marry until 28 years later. Simmons often joked that he and Tweed were "happily unmarried" for over 20 years. He also often stated, "Marriage is an institution, and I don't want to live in an institution". Simmons and Tweed wed on October 1, 2011 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They have two children: a son named Nick (born January 22, 1989) and a daughter named Sophie (born July 7, 1992). He formerly had live-in relationships with Cher and Diana Ross, revealing that he fell in love with Ross while dating Cher. Simmons can speak Hungarian, German, English, Hebrew and some Japanese. Simmons does not drink alcohol.

Homecoming visit to Israel.

In March 2011, Simmons visited his birth country, Israel. He described the trip as a "life changing experience". He talked about how he still feels that he is an Israeli: "I'm Israeli. I'm a stranger in America. I'm an outsider". While there, Simmons met his half-brother Kobi, and triplet half-sisters Drora, Sharon and Ogenia. Simmons has plans to take Kiss to Israel. He has said that he is an ardent supporter of Israel. At a press conference in Israel, he spoke in both Hebrew and English.

Political views.

Simmons was a supporter of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration. He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing on his website: "I'm ashamed to be surrounded by people calling themselves liberal who are, in my opinion, spitting on the graves of brave American soldiers who gave their life to fight a war that wasn't theirs... in a country they've never been to... simply to liberate the people therein". In a follow-up, Simmons explained his position and wrote about his love and support for the United States: "I wasn't born here. But I have a love for this country and its people that knows no bounds. I will forever be grateful to America for going into World War II, when it had nothing to gain, in a country that was far away... and rescued my mother from the Nazi German concentration camps. She is alive and I am alive because of America. And, if you have a problem with America, you have a problem with me".  During the 2006 Lebanon War between Israel and Lebanon, Simmons sent a televised message of support (in both English and Hebrew) to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his "hero".  In 2010, Simmons said he regretted voting for Barack Obama and criticized the 2009 health care reforms. Following Obama's 2011 speech on the Middle East in which the President called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a settlement "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps", Simmons told CNBC that Obama was gravely misguided. "If you have never been to the moon, you can't issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, 'Go back to your '67 borders in Israel' – how about you live there and try to defend an indefensible border – nine miles (14 km) wide?" Simmons also accused the United Nations of being "the most pathetic body on the face of the earth".  During his visit to Israel in 2011, he stated that the artists refusing to perform in Israel for political reasons are "stupid".  In an April 2012 interview, Simmons endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for President: "America should be in business and it should be run by a businessman."  On November 6, 2015, he attended a Friends of the Israel Defense Forces gala in Beverly Hills, which raised more than $31 million.

Philanthropy.

Simmons is a known advocate for ChildFund International's work. He traveled to Zambia during his "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" show to visit several of his sponsored children, of whom he has more than 1400. Simmons said that the trip "[was] a stark reminder that life doesn't treat everyone the same".  Simmons' family received the MEND Humanitarian Award for their philanthropic efforts and support for Mending Kids International at the organization's annual gala on November 9, 2013. The award was presented by Mel Gibson. In his acceptance speech, Simmons spoke of his own difficult childhood in Israel in a bullet-riddled house. He recalled his mother's excitement when they received a CARE box one day.  Simmons helped found "The Children Matter", which is a collaborative initiative with the charity MATTER that fights to get kids around the world access to health care.

Controversy.

On November 16, 2017, Simmons made an appearance on "Fox & Friends" to promote a new book, but shortly afterward, he burst into a staff meeting uninvited, unbuttoning his shirt and telling jokes. The next day, on November 17, Fox News announced that Simmons had been banned for life from their program.

Other projects.

On August 15, 2013, Simmons, Paul Stanley and manager Doc McGhee became a part of the ownership group that created the LA Kiss Arena Football League team, which played their home games at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The team has since folded.  He has his own magazine, "Gene Simmons Tongue Magazine", his own label, Simmons Records, and animated series, "My Dad the Rock Star". Simmons Records has released albums by such bands as Kobra and the Lotus, Silent Rage, Gypsy Rose and House of Lords as well as Gene's own solo releases.

Controversial public statements and image.

Promiscuity.

Simmons has boasted many times about having bedded thousands of women. In 2010, he claimed the tally stood at 5,000 and that he has a Polaroid picture of each liaison, including the hotel key where it took place. A number of years prior, as a guest on TSN's Off The Record with Michael Landsberg, Simmons told fellow guest Thea Andrews he had slept with 4,500 women, to which Andrews replied she was not interested in being 4,501. The show's other guest, Mark Tewksbury, offered himself to Simmons instead, to which Simmons declined. Tewksbury would state in a 2012 interview with the National Post that Simmons shook his head at Tewksbury off-camera.  He told Terry Gross: "If you want to welcome me with open arms, I'm afraid you're also going to have to welcome me with open legs", paraphrasing a lyric from the Who's 1981 song "You Better You Bet". Gross replied: "That's a really obnoxious thing to say". At the time, Simmons refused to grant permission to NPR to make the interview available online. However, it appears in print in Gross' book "All I Did Was Ask" and unauthorized transcripts are available. NPR re-broadcast part of the interview in August 2007. In a 2014 interview with "The Huffington Post", Simmons noted he was upset over what he perceived as Gross's "holier-than-thou" attitude, which included mislabeling his band Kiss as "the Kiss".

Islam comments in Australia.

In 2004, during an interview in Melbourne, Australia, while talking about Islamic extremists, Simmons described Islam as a "vile culture", saying that Muslim women had to walk behind their husbands and were not allowed to be educated or to own houses. He said: "They want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil." Australia's Muslim of the Year Susan Carland argued that Simmons' stereotyping of Muslims was inaccurate. Simmons later clarified his comments on his website, saying he had been talking specifically about Muslim extremists.

Defamation lawsuit by former girlfriend.

In 2005, Simmons was sued by a former girlfriend, Georgeann Walsh Ward, who said she had been "defamed" in the VH1 documentary "When Kiss Ruled the World" and portrayed as an "unchaste woman". A settlement was reached in June 2006.

Views on musical piracy.

In 2007, Simmons openly spoke out against music piracy, and called for file-sharers to be sued. A year later, he threatened further lawsuits, and to withhold new recordings, if file-sharing continued. In 2010, Anonymous staged a DDoS on his website, prompting Simmons to hit back with provocative comments once he was back online, at which point Anonymous staged a second DDoS, taking Simmons' site down again.  In September 2014, Simmons said "The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered". Simmons blames file sharing and that no one values music "enough to pay you for it" for the decline of the rock music scene.

Comments on suicide and depression.

In August 2014, Simmons made comments in an interview with Songfacts.com that seemed to openly encourage people with depression to kill themselves. The comments drew criticism from Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe who had suffered from depression in the past. Following his comments, both Triple M and Winnipeg radio station Power 97 stated that they were pulling all Kiss songs from their lineup in protest. Simmons later clarified his comments and apologized for the incident.

Film and television career.

Simmons has been involved with such television projects as:  In 1985, Simmons appeared on the TV series "Miami Vice" in an episode titled "The Prodigal Son". The episode served as the season premiere of the show's second season. Simmons appeared as a psychic working at the Mystic Journey Bookstore in Venice, California on the American hidden camera prank TV series "I Get That a Lot". He also guest-starred as himself in the 2014 "" episode "Long Road Home".  Simmons performed in the 1984 Michael Crichton thriller "Runaway" starring Tom Selleck, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley as well as the 1987 Gary Sherman action film "" starring Rutger Hauer.  In March 2015, Simmons founded the film production company Erebus Pictures and announced as the first project the Horror-thriller film "Armed Response".

Awards and recognition.

On January 28, 2011, Simmons was in Dallas, Texas, to host the Aces & Angels Salute to the Troops charity event. Simmons was presented the key to the city, and a street (Gene Simmons Boulevard) was named for him. Simmons and Tweed also visited the U.S. Army base at Fort Hood to support the troops as a part of the Aces & Angels event.  On June 15 of the same year he was given the key to the city in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2012, Simmons was awarded the "Golden God" award by the "Revolver" magazine.  In 2013, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History accepted an autographed Gene Simmons Axe bass into their collection. The Smithsonian wrote, in part: "The bass will now be cared for in our permanent collections... We are happy to include the Axe bass as it relates to the impact Mr. Simmons and his band Kiss have had on American culture, especially in the creation of a unique and iconic brand that has been embraced by fans worldwide... The story of Mr. Simmons' American experience deserves to be preserved. An immigrant and son of a holocaust survivor, he used creative vision and entrepreneurial acumen to make a significant impact for our nation's popular culture, becoming an iconic figure in American music and entertainment."  Simmons is an honorary board member of Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit that works to restore and revitalize music education in disadvantaged U.S. public schools. A&E's Gene Simmons Family Jewels visited a Little Kids Rock classroom and featured the segment on the show. He also decorated a guitar for auction with his son Nick.  On December 15, 2014, Simmons was awarded the Golden Medal by the Reial Circle Artístic de Barcelona (Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona).

Video games.

Music video appearances.

In 1994, Simmons appears as auditioning for the band with actor Al Lewis & comedian Gilbert Gottfried in a music video for "I'll Talk My Way Out Of It" by Howard Stern comedian Stuttering John. In 2007, he appeared alongside other celebrities, as well as regular people, in the music video for "Rockstar" by Nickelback.

Video game appearances.

Gene Simmons is a playable character in "Tony Hawk's Underground", unlocked when completing the story mode on Normal difficulty, and also appears with his Kiss bandmates in the Hotter Than Hell level to play one of three songs upon collecting the four K-I-S-S letters.  Gene Simmons' Kiss character, The Demon, is a playable character in "". Simmons also has a large role in the 2010 music video game "". In addition to narrating the main storyline, voicing the character Demigod of Rock in cutscenes, and doing advertising for the game, the Kiss song "Love Gun" is playable.  A Pokémon who is introduced in "Pokémon Sword and Shield" known as Obstagoon resembles Gene Simmons’ Kiss character.

Publishing career.

In 2002, Simmons launched "Gene Simmons' Tongue", a men's lifestyle magazine. The magazine lasted five issues before being discontinued.

Other ventures.

In 1976-77, Simmons signed a management/production contract with the band Van Halen. He produced a Van Halen demo tape and attempted to find a record deal for the band with a variety of major record labels. When no deal materialised, he released them from their contract.  From 2006–2008, Simmons served in a marketing and publicity role with the Indy Racing League.  In 2012, Simmons partnered with Paul Stanley and three other investors to form the restaurant franchise Rock & Brews.  In 2017, Simmons launched "The Vault" which is a compilation of all of his major works selling for $2,000.  In 2018, Simmons was named as "Chief Evangelist Officer" of the Canadian cannabis company Invictus MD Strategies. Simmons also holds a large investment stake in the company.

Gene Klein (born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949), known professionally as Gene Simmons, is an Israeli-born American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, actor, author and television personality. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the rock band he co-founded with lead singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley in the early 1970s. Simmons has a baritone singing voice which contrasts with Paul Stanley and Peter Criss' tenor voices.

Gene Simmons (* 25. August 1949 in Haifa, Israel als Chaim Witz, nach Emigration in die USA Eugene Klein) ist ein US-amerikanischer Musiker, Musikproduzent, Schauspieler, Autor und Unternehmer. Er ist Bassist der Hard-Rock-Band Kiss und Miteigentümer des Arena-Football-Teams LA Kiss.


History.

In 1933 the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding company in Hamburg was suffering a financial crisis from lack of work. Its owners, brothers Rudolf and Walther Blohm, decided to diversify into aircraft manufacture, believing that there would soon be a market for all-metal, long-range flying boats, especially with the German state airline Deutsche Luft Hansa. They also felt that their experience with all-metal marine construction would prove an advantage. It was at that time commonly believed that transatlantic air transport would soon take over the role filled by the luxury liners of that time. It was also thought that those planes would be seaplanes and flying boats as they could use the infrastructure and capacity of the seaports already in place, while land facilities at that time were unsuited to such large aeroplanes.

Early years.

In June 1933 the Blohm brothers appointed their brother-in-law and fellow B&V director Dipl-Ing Max Andreae and experienced aviator Robert Schröck to the board. Schröck recruited designer Reinhold Mewes away from Heinkel, and with four other designers, on 1 July they began work. The Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmBH officially came into being on 4 July.  The company offices at first occupied the top floor of the B&V administrative headquarters in the Steinwerder quarter of Hamburg, with manufacturing carried out in the under-utilised shipbuilding works. Meanwhile an inland airfield and final assembly building for landplanes were begun a few miles away at Wenzendorf Aircraft Factory, opened in 1935.  During this period the ruling Nazi party was massively increasing the interwar German re-armament program which included the complete overhaul of the aircraft industry. In particular, the Nazis wanted the technical capacities to quickly build large numbers of warplanes for the new Luftwaffe. As a result, the company took on subcontract manufacture of Junkers Ju 52 subassemblies, thus gaining valuable experience in the manufacture of all-metal aircraft. The bulk of the company's output would eventually turn out to be contract manufacturing of this kind, including many thousands of aircraft each for Dornier, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers, and Messerschmitt. The company's own designs were designated with the official RLM company code "Ha". The first to be built was the Ha 135. Mewes was unfamiliar with advanced techniques such as all-metal construction and designed a conventional biplane with fabric covering. The Blohm Brothers had wanted a more radically advanced approach and, unhappy with Mewes, sought the advice of the RLM. On their recommendation the company offered the job of Chief Designer to Richard Vogt, who was then occupying that same position at Kawasaki in Japan and was experienced in all-metal construction. Vogt accepted and arrived during late autumn, while the Ha 135 was still under construction. For a while the company maintained two design teams in separate offices.  The Ha 135 took off on its first fight on 28 April 1934. However it failed to attract any orders and Mewes and his team soon left the company.  Vogt proved highly innovative and many of his designs would have unusual features, from the very first incorporating a tubular steel wing main spar which also doubled as the fuel tank. He oversaw all the remaining types, until the company's closure in 1945.  In May 1934 Vogt's team was joined by Hans Amtmann, coming like Mewes from Heinkel and bringing to the team his experience of large flying boats. Amtmann made a good impression and was soon appointed Head of Preliminary Design. Other members included Richard Schubert as Head of Aerodynamics and George Haag as head of wing design.  The only type to enter service during this period was the Ha 139 long-range seaplane mail carrier. Despite its size, with four engines, it was designed to be launched from a shipborne catapult to help extend its range, and was successfully operated in small numbers by Deutsche Luft Hansa. A landplane variant, the Ha 142, was also built for the airline.

Blohm & Voss adoption.

The aircraft produced by Hamburger Flugzeugbau were still commonly associated with Blohm & Voss and this was causing confusion, so in September 1937 Hamburger Flugzeugbau was renamed "Abteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss" ("Aircraft Manufacturing Division of Blohm & Voss Shipbuilder"). The RLM changed the official aircraft type designation code to "BV". Some designs already under development as Ha types were reassigned a BV designation, for example the Ha 138 became the BV 138.  In 1939, with the shipbuilding work revived and production capacity fully utilised again, B&V moved its aircraft subsidiary, including both offices and seaplane manufacturing, to a purpose-built site on the shores of the river Elbe, at Finkenwerder.  The most significant types to be produced were flying boats, mainly used by the Luftwaffe for maritime patrol and reconnaissance. Most numerous was the BV 138 "Seedrache" (initiated as the Ha 138), a twin-boom trimotor, while the BV 222 "Wiking" was much larger. Largest of all was the BV 238 prototype, the largest aircraft built by any of the Axis forces. Other notable types include the asymmetric BV 141; 20 were built, but the type did not enter full production.  The intention at Finkenwerder was to manufacture B&V's own products there, but subcontract manufacture quickly ate up most of the space and much of the company's own production, such as the BV 138, was in turn subcontracted out to Weser Flugzeugbau. Remarkably, the Finkenwerder site would survive the Allied bombing of Hamburg during the war and would remain with the company.  During the war, Vogt's workload increased so much that Hermann Pohlmann, designer of the Junkers Ju 87, was recruited to be his deputy. Other notable projects of the later part of the war included a variety of highly original bomber and fighter designs, including a series of tailless swept-wing fighters which culminated in an order for three prototypes of the jet-powered P 215 night fighter, just weeks before the war ended.

Postwar revival.

At the end of the war, all aircraft production in Germany was shut down. Vogt and Amtmann were swept up by the American Operation Paperclip and made new careers over there. Pohlmann remained in Germany.  In 1955 Germany was allowed to build civil aircraft once again. The main works at Finkenwerder was still there and Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmBH (HFB) re-emerged in 1956, still under the ownership of Walther Blohm but no longer connected to B+V. Blohm tried to tempt Vogt back from the US, but without success and Pohlmann returned to the company to become the new chief designer. Another significant recruit was Hans Wocke, who headed up the engineering team.  As ever, the company's main work would turn out to be as subcontractor for various German – and increasingly European – aircraft projects, and to this end it would participate in a number of consortia. Its first contract was for fuselage manufacture and final assembly of the Nord Noratlas. Other significant work would be undertaken for the Luftwaffe's Lockheed F-104G Starfighter and as a partner in the Transall C-160 military transport.  In 1958 HFB proposed two civil transport projects. The HFB 209 was a twin-turpoprop capable of carrying 48 passengers, while the HFB 314 was a short-haul twin-jet. But the anticipated funding from the German government was not made available and the projects were cancelled in the early 1960s.  In 1961, HFB and Focke-Wulf/Weserflug (VFW) jointly formed the Entwicklungsring Nord (ERNO) to develop air and space products. Work would be carried out for the Dornier Do 31 V/STOL transport and, later, in direct collaboration on the Fokker F28 Fellowship.  The only aircraft type to be both designed and built by the new HFB was the HFB 320 Hansa Jet, a business jet with forward-swept wings, which first flew in 1964 and was made in moderate numbers.  In May 1969, HFB merged with Messerschmitt-Bölkow to form Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), which in turn was taken over by Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) in September 1989. DASA has since been absorbed into the pan-European Airbus corporation. Airbus has since built a significant presence around the original HFB team and operates the airfield privately as Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport.

Aircraft and related products.

Hamburger Flugzeugbau (prewar).

Some of these types were still under construction when the company name was changed to B&V and flew only under the new name. But only those whose design and development continued under B&V were redesignated.

Blohm & Voss.

Aircraft designed and flown.

Of these aircraft, few entered operational service and only one, the BV 138 ""Fliegende Holzschuh"" (flying clog), attained serial production. All other aircraft either remained prototypes or were limited to a small number of pre-series/purpose build machines. Nevertheless, work was sufficient to require a second manufacturing plant at Finkenwerder.  The largest aircraft ever designed and built by any of the Axis powers of World War II, the BV 238, resembled an enlarged BV 222, with only one prototype aircraft built and flown.

Munitions developed.

Besides aircraft, during World War II B&V also developed a number of air-launched munitions such as glide bombs and torpedoes. Although the company built thousands of examples during development, none entered operational service. These were:

Design projects.

Vogt proved a highly innovative designer and many of his projects gained interest within the German aero community. B&V explored several main themes of interest, each through a series of design projects and proposals. These included; large maritime aircraft ""stuka"" dive bomber / ground attack replacements for the Junkers Ju 87, fast bombers and advanced fighters. Many studies had unusual configurations such as asymmetry, novel multi-engine layouts and crew locations, wings swept forwards or back (or both) and sometimes tailless. All these lines of study followed through into the jet age, some with piston+jet mixed-power engine combinations.  Significant internal projects of the World War II era included:  Transports:  Bombers:  Fighters:

Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB) was an aircraft manufacturer, located primarily in the Finkenwerder quarter of Hamburg, Germany. Established in 1933 as an offshoot of Blohm & Voss shipbuilders, it later became an operating division within its parent company and was known as Abteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss from 1937 until it ceased operation at the end of World War II. In the postwar period it was revived as an independent company under its original name and subsequently joined several consortia before being merged to form MBB. It participates in the present day Airbus and European aerospace programs.

Die Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmbH (HFB) wurde im Juni 1933 als Tochterunternehmen der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss in das Handelsregister eingetragen. Walther Blohm, der Werftinhaber, wählte diesen Weg, um die unwägbaren Risiken des neuen Gebiets von der Werft fernzuhalten. Da sich die Sorge bald als unnötig erwies, wurde das Unternehmen Ende 1937 dem Konzern wieder eingegliedert, als "Blohm & Voss, Abt. Flugzeugbau".