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Saving Israel
''Saving Israel: The Unknown Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation's Independence'' is a book by Boaz Dvir, published January 31, 2020 by Rowman & Littlefield. It tells the story of a secret and illegal operation by American aviators to save the Jewish state following World War II. The book is available in hardcover, digital, and audiobook formats. Synopsis In 1948, newborn Israel lacked the weapons to defend itself against an invasion by five well-equipped neighboring armies that was impending. Al Schwimmer, an American World War II veteran who feared a repeat of the Holocaust created factitious airlines, bought decommissioned airplanes from the US War Assets Administration, fixed them in California and New Jersey, and sent his pilots (Jewish and non-Jewish WWII aviators) to pick up rifles, bullets, and fighter planes from the only country willing to break the international arms embargo: communist Czechoslovakia. Schwimmer and key members of his team paid a heavy price ...
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Boaz Dvir
Boaz Dvir (born June 23, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor, journalist, and filmmaker. His main work includes documentaries, most recently ''Jessie's Dad'', ''Discovering Gloria'', and '' A Wing and a Prayer''. Background Filmmaker and Penn State assistant professor Boaz Dvir tells the stories of ordinary people who, under extraordinary circumstances, transform into trailblazers and game changers. For instance, his PBS film, A Wing and a Prayer, recounts a World War II flight engineer's transformation into the leader of a secret operation to save newborn Israel. Dvir grew up in Kfar Galim, a village in Israel, and moved to New Jersey when his father worked for the U.N. The family later moved to Florida and Dvir attended the University of Florida, where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MFA in creative photography. He also earned a master's from the UF Documentary Institute. He would serve as an officer and military journalist for the Israel Defense Force ...
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Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing company National Book Network based in Lanham, Maryland. History The current company took shape when University Press of America acquired Rowman & Littlefield in 1988 and took the Rowman & Littlefield name for the parent company. Since 2013, there has also been an affiliated company based in London called Rowman & Littlefield International. It is editorially independent and publishes only academic books in Philosophy, Politics & International Relations and Cultural Studies. The company sponsors the Rowman & Littlefield Award in Innovative Teaching, the only national teaching award in political science given in the United States. It is awarded annually by the American Political Science Association for people whose innovations have advanced p ...
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Al Schwimmer
Adolph William "Al" Schwimmer ( he, אל שווימר;‎ 10 June 1917 – 10 June 2011) was an American and later Israeli engineer and businessman. He was the founder and first CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries. Early life In 1917, Schwimmer was born in New York City, New York, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Schwimmer never used his given birth name of Adolph, preferring the nickname "Al". Career In 1939, Schwimmer began his aerospace career at Lockheed Corporation as an engineer and also received his civilian pilot license. During World War II, he worked for TWA and assisted the U.S. Air Transport Command as a flight engineer.. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Schwimmer used his World War II experience and his contacts to smuggle surplus war planes to Israel.. Schwimmer reflected on what motivated these actions in an interview with Boaz Dvir. The alternative was described as a "Second Holocaust ..they believed that those 600,000 Jews were going to die." ...
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The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland. Germany implemented the persecution in stages. Following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933, the regime built a network of concentration camps in Germany for political opponents and those deemed "undesirable", starting with Dachau on 22 March 1933. After the passing of the Enabling Act on 24 March, which gave Hitler dictatorial plenary powers, the government began iso ...
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War Assets Administration
The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Order 9689, January 31, 1946. It was headed by Robert McGowan Littlejohn. Predecessor agencies * Petroleum Reserves Corporation (PRC), Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC, June–July 1943) * PRC, Office of Economic Warfare (OEW, July–September 1943) * PRC, Foreign Economic Administration (FEA, September 1943-September 1945) * PRC, RFC (September–November 1945) * War Assets Corporation (WAC), RFC (November 1945-March 1946) * Surplus War Property Administration (SWPA), Office of War Mobilization (OWM, February–October 1944) * Surplus Property Board (SPB), Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (OWMR, October 1944-September 1945) * Surplus Property Administration (SPA), OWMR (September 1945-March 1946) Functions The WA ...
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Communist Czechoslovakia
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, ČSSR, formerly known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic or Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 to 29 March 1990, when it was renamed the Czechoslovak Federative Republic, sk, Česko-slovenská federatívna republika, ČSFR. On 23 April 1990, it became the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, sk, Česká a Slovenská Federatívna Republika, ČSFR. From 1948 until the end of November 1989, the country was under Communist rule and was regarded as a satellite state in the Soviet sphere of interest. Following the coup d'état of February 1948, when the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power with the support of the Soviet Union, the country was declared a socialist republic when the Ninth-of-May Constitution became effective. The traditional name (''Czechoslovak Republic''), along with several other state symbols, were changed on 11 July 1960 following the implementation of the ...
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Ralph Lowenstein
Ralph L. Lowenstein (March 8, 1930 – August 10, 2020) was an American professor of journalism. He served as dean of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Biography Lowenstein was born in Danville, Virginia, on March 8, 1930, and was raised in a Zionist household. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Columbia University before earning his PhD from the University of Missouri. While an undergraduate student at Columbia, he used his summer break to join the volunteer organization Mahal and fought alongside Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. To join the Israeli army, he lived in a Displaced Persons camp in Marseilles under an assumed name, then saw combat with the 79th Armored Battalion. He was one of the youngest American volunteers that time and later served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After obtaining his advanced degrees, Lowenstein reported for United Press International, ''El Paso Times'', and CBS Morni ...
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National Museum Of American Jewish Military History
The National Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH) was founded September 2, 1958, in Washington, D.C., to document and preserve "the contributions of Jewish Americans to the peace and freedom of the United States... nd to educatethe public concerning the courage, heroism and sacrifices made by Jewish Americans who served in the armed forces." It operates under the auspices of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America (JWV), National Memorial, Inc. (NMI), and is located at 1811 R Street NW, Washington, D.C., in the Dupont Circle area, in the same building that houses the JWV National Headquarters. It is a member institution of the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium, established in 1983 to promote the "off the Mall" museums and their neighborhoods in the greater Dupont- Kalorama area of Washington, DC. Description The Museum includes two floors of permanent and special exhibitions, in addition to sponsoring a number of traveling displays that are te ...
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Military Aviation Museum
The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is home to one of the world's largest collections of warbirds in flying condition. It includes examples from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, from both World War I and World War II, and its complete collection ranges from the 1910s to the early 1950s. Its mission is to "preserve, restore and fly these historic aircraft and to allow a new generation to experience and learn from what heir forebearsmight have endured in the skies so very far from home." Almost all of the historic aircraft at the Museum have been restored to flying condition and they fly in twice-yearly major airshows (one in the spring for World War II aircraft, and one in the fall for World War I aircraft) The collection also includes a large reference library, along with artifacts and materials to illustrate the historic context of the aircraft in the collection. History The Museum was founded by Gerald "Jerry" Y ...
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21st-century History Books
The 1st century was the century spanning AD 1 ( I) through AD 100 ( C) according to the Julian calendar. It is often written as the or to distinguish it from the 1st century BC (or BCE) which preceded it. The 1st century is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. The 1st century also saw the appearance of Christianity. During this period, Europe, North Africa and the Near East fell under increasing domination by the Roman Empire, which continued expanding, most notably conquering Britain under the emperor Claudius (AD 43). The reforms introduced by Augustus during his long reign stabilized the empire after the turmoil of the previous century's civil wars. Later in the century the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which had been founded by Augustus, came to an end with the suicide of Nero in AD 68. There followed the famous Year of Four Emperors, a brief period of civil war and instability, which was finally brought to an end by Vespasian, ninth Roman emperor ...
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History Books About Israel
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers. History is not complete and still has debatable mysteries. History is also an academic discipline which uses narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect. Historians often debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians also debate the nature of history as an end in itself, as well as its usefulness to give perspective on the problems of the p ...
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