Give My Regards to Brede Weg

By Kathy Kovach

Streets named Broadway are plentiful in America. From Los Angeles, California to Paduka, Kentucky—even my hometown of Denver, Colorado. Yet, any mention of Broadway elicits high-stepping dance routines, belting tunes, and bright footlights.

Broadway is synonymous with live theater.

Jennie Bobb, with her daughter, Nellie Longhat, both Delaware (Lenape)

Long before the theaters were built, Broadway’s location was a native American Lenape trading trail cutting through the heart of Manhattan Island. Known as the Wickquasgeck Trail, named for the Wecquaesgeck people, it followed a ridge of dry ground that passed by swamps, boulders, and fields.

In the 17th century, the Dutch moved in. They named their settlement, located in the southern tip of the island, New Amsterdam. By February 2, 1653, New Amsterdam officially became a city after receiving municipal rights.

Utilizing the existing trail to link trade with the rest of Manhattan, they broadened it in 1658 in order to get wagons through. This became de Heere Straet, or Gentleman’s Way. Most people simply referred to it as brede weg, or the broad road. From there, it morphed into Broad Street which eventually rolled off the tongue as Broadway.

As a side note, New Amsterdam became New York in 1664 when the British began to rule.

To think this infamous street went from a dusty native American trail to essentially the very pulse of bustling Manhattan boggles the mind. It has, in fact, escorted an assortment of New York’s population for hundreds of years.

Now that commerce could flow freely, businesses and houses for the elite popped up faster than a standing ovation. Broadway became a social hub, which naturally ushered in various forms of entertainment. Theaters were built. Everything from pantomime to Shakespeare were offered.

The Park Theatre

In 1798, the first world-class theater showed up at the southern end of Broadway, known as the Park Theatre. It hosted highly regarded performers from all over the globe. The Astor Place Theatre was built further uptown in 1847. It was around this area that many other venues clustered, and it is now known as the Broadway theater district.

Then came electricity.

Times Square today

At the dawn of the 20th century, all up and down Broadway, signage announced the next big thing. But no one could see them at night. Colorful lights made them shine . . . temporarily . . . until they burned out at an alarming rate. White lights seemed to last longer. Thus, all bulbs were changed to clear, and Broadway went from being known as a tiny trading trail to The Great White Way in 1901.

Ziegfeld Girls

Over the next two decades, a shining star arose shaping the Broadway musicals that we know of today. Utilizing glitzy music and dance, untamed humor, elaborate sets, and extravagant costumes, Impresario Florenz Ziegfeld managed and produced revues hosting such talents as W.C. Fields, Fanny Bryce, Will Rogers and countless others. Irving Berlin created music for the Ziegfeld Follies, including “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”, that became the theme song for the popular Ziegfeld Girls. These were a host of up to forty women dressed in glamorous costumes who moved about the stage, often as a backdrop to the performers. Enjoy Dennis Morgan singing the Hollywood version in 1936:

By 1920, the area around Broadway and 42nd Street had firmly established itself. Over eighty theaters sprang up and created what we now know as Manhattan’s Theater District.

Who knew Broadway was simply that? A broad street. Yet it has elicited so much more emotion. Broadway is the rhythm and harmony winding through each heart that loves the kicking high step and a serenading tenor. It’s the storyteller that makes us laugh and cry . . . and forget. An escape into another world, if only for three hours.

You know what they say. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. And if you do make it there, give my regards.

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

Website
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A Family's Legacy at the Alamo by Cheryl Rae Johnson

My mother loved history. She especially loved family history. Because my father was a mission pastor, I was not raised in my parents' home state of Texas, but I grew up knowing that I had a third great grandfather who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, that this same grandfather has a Texas county named after him, and that he had a son, my great, great uncle, who had at the tender age of eighteen, died at the Alamo.

The author's third great grandfather, Jesse Grimes

Jesse Grimes married my third great grandmother, Martha Smith in 1813. They would have nine children together, but Martha would die in 1824 giving birth to their final children, twins. Two years later, Grimes married widow Rosanna Britton, with whom he had six more children. Jesse and Rosanna moved to Texas shortly after their marriage, where he eventually settled in what is now Navasota on land they named Grimes Prairie. That area is now Grimes County, Texas, named in his honor in 1846 while he was still living. 

By formulanone - FM1774 North - Grimes County Line, CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119993786

It did not take long for Jesse Grimes, a lawyer and judge, to become involved in the politics of Texas, especially as the territory fought for its freedom from Mexican rule. Tensions with the Mexican government had been brewing for well over a decade. Political and social differences, lack of religious freedom, and unkept promises from the Mexican government kept tensions brewing. But when General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna declared he was now the dictator, negotiations with Mexico ended. Delegates were elected for the Convention of 1836 to meet and draft the Texas Declaration of Independence. Jesse Grimes was one of the fifty-nine delegates sent as a representative of Washington on the Brazos, and on March 2, 1836, he became the fifty-ninth person to the sign the document declaring Texas its own Republic. 

Copy of Texas Declaration of Independence
Cheryl Rae Johnson's personal collection

Jesse Grime's Witness as Representative from Washington on the Brazos
Cheryl Rae Johnson's personal collection

  While Grimes was attending the convention and signing the declaration, one of his sons with his first wife, Martha, was doing his part to help Texas win its independence. Eighteen-year-old Albert Calvin Grimes fought at the Battle of the Alamo alongside men like Davy Crockett and James Bowie. 

Around the first of December 1835, Calvin Grimes traveled to San Antonio with other young men who would also fight at the Alamo. Upon arriving, he served as an orderly sergeant in the Corps of the Artillery in the Army of Texas, helping to maintain the eighteen cannons there. Santa Anna attacked the fort on February 23. After a thirteen day fight and three battles, the Mexican dictator prevailed. The more than two thousand men of the Mexican army was no match for the two-hundred and sixty Texans fighting for their freedom. 

On March 6, 1836, four days after Jesse Grimes signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, his son, Albert Calvin Grimes died fighting for that independence, unaware that his father had signed the declaration. The battle cry went forth, Remember the Alamo, and Calvin Grimes' death, along with all 189 soldiers who died that day, was avenged when, a little over a month later, Santa Anna was captured and Texas gained its independence. 

Veteran's

Memorial in Grimes County
Albert Calvin Grime's name is incorrectly
listed as Alfred.
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/grimes-albert-calvin.

It is not surprising that Calvin Grimes would take up the fight, as he came from a long line of patriots. His father fought in the War of 1812, and both his great-grandfather and grandfather fought in the American Revolution. 

Jesse Grimes would stay active in Texas politics, running alongside Sam Houston as Independent candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in the 1857 state election. They lost that year, but Houston would win with another running mate two years later in 1859. 

Grimes died March 15, 1866, and is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in the state's capital of Austin. 

Grave marker for Jesse Grimes in Texas 
State Cemetary, Austin
Author's Personal Collection

.

Albert Calvin Grimes Memorial at the Alamo
Two of the grands pointing to his name.

Every so often our family makes the trek to San Antonio, where we Remember the Alamo and those, like my great, great uncle who gave their lives fighting for independence. And like my mother, we teach the family legacy to future generations.

Two of the grands learning family history
at the Alamo in San Antonio.

About Cheryl Rae Johnson:  

Cheryl Rae Johnson writes historical romance set in the American South. She has made her home in all corners of the US, but is now settled on the eastern edge of Texas, where she teaches writing and literature at her local university as well as ministers alongside her husband of over forty years in her local church. She can often be found drinking coffee and hanging out with her ever-growing brood of grandchildren. She loves to connect with readers. You can join her at:                                       Cheryl Rae Johnson Website 

                     Goodreads

                     Amazon

Start Book 1 of the Chattanooga Hearts Series for free this month, Oct. 14-16.

 

Whose Time Is It Anyway?

By Suzanne Norquist

As we near the annual time change in the United States, I find myself considering international time zones and the Prime Meridian. How did this worldwide system come about?

Before modern transportation and communication, everyone did their own thing. Clock towers in large cities synced up local times. Think of Big Ben in London, Zytglogge in Bern, Switzerland, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The rest of the world didn’t matter.

When trains started whisking people across large countries, time differences became a problem. The same was true of instantaneous communication over telegraph lines and, later, wireless devices. People in different parts of the world could converse instantly.

The variations in recorded time posed problems for scientists as well. Astronomer Cleveland Abbe struggled to reconcile observations of the northern lights because scholars used their local times when recording data.

Engineers pushed for standardization related to longitude. But what longitude should be the base? Sailors’ maps used different prime meridians (aka zero degrees longitude) depending on their country of origin. This presented a problem with increased globalization.

In 1878, Canadian railroad engineer Sanford Flemming suggested dividing the globe into twenty-four zones, one for each hour. The next year, he published a paper estimating ship tonnage using various meridians. More than half of the ships used the Greenwich meridian as the base. He recommended adopting this as the standard. Although others liked the idea, it wasn’t accepted for years.

By 1883, railroads in the United States established the time zones we still use today. The convention was necessary for keeping timetables.

The real game changer came in 1884 when U.S. President Chester Arthur hosted the International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. Forty-one delegates from twenty-five nations attended. They represented countries in Europe, South America, Japan, and others. The fact that they made this long journey before modern transportation highlights the importance of the issue.

This event established the Greenwich meridian, which passed through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, as the reference for longitude and time. All countries agreed to adopt a universal day with midnight as the start of the twenty-four-hour clock.

At the same time, the International Date Line, which separates the two calendar days, was established on the opposite side of the globe at 180 degrees longitude. That line has been shifted in populated areas to prevent confusion caused by different dates in one location.

Even though the delegates agreed, the resolutions were only suggestions, and countries were slow to adopt them. Some, who tried to make the changes quickly, created so much confusion that they returned to their original system.

Over time, technology, particularly wireless communication, pushed most countries to conform.

There are still a few holdouts. China has only one official time zone even though the international system suggests that it should have five. They had five time zones until 1949, when the communist party chairman put them all on Beijing time.

As fall approaches, and I turn all my clocks back an hour, I’ll remember that this action is only a small piece of the much larger picture. In the same way, the next time I study a globe, I’ll note that the lines for longitude and latitude are man-made conventions.

***

 

Love In Bloom 4-in-one collection

“A Song for Rose” by Suzanne Norquist

Can a disillusioned tenor convince an aspiring soprano that there is more to music than fame?

“Holly & Ivy” by Mary Davis

At Christmastime, a young woman accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a mail-order bride and loses her heart to a gallant stranger.

“Periwinkle in the Park” by Kathleen E. Kovach

A female hiking guide, who is helping to commission a national park, runs into conflict with a mountain man determined to keep the government off his land.

“A Beauty in a Tansy”

Two adjacent store owners are drawn to each other, but their older relatives provide obstacles to their ever becoming close.

Republished from Bouquet of Brides

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bOOx8K

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Mary-Davis/dp/B0FPLFYCXR/

 

 Multi-published author Suzanne Norquist has worked as a chemist, professor, and financial analyst, and has even earned a doctorate in economics. Everything fascinates her. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining-engineer husband and takes road trips to visit her children and grandchildren. When not writing, she hangs out with her two active Siberian Huskies, takes piano lessons, and studies the Bible with the church ladies.

Graveyards by the Sea

  —By Tiffany Amber Stockton

If you haven't snagged your FREE e-book copy of Magic of the Swan, my novella retelling of Swan Lake, join the FanTAStic Reader community and receive the book today.

October often invites us to think about the people who came before. The leaves let go, the days shorten, and the autumn air can make the past feel closer than usual. For me, that pull toward remembrance gets especially strong when I'm deep in research, and I found a great little tidbit for this month's feature.

It involves a cemetery. A small one, mostly unmarked. On an island most people have only ever visited for the ponies.

The Village That Disappeared

photo courtesy of Fishing & Wildlife

Most visitors to Assateague Island today see wildlife, wild ponies, and beach. What they don't see is the ghost of a village that once stood near the base of the Assateague Lighthouse bluff.

Assateague Village was established around 1794. At its height it was home to roughly 250 people. A real community, with a Baptist church, a schoolhouse, a dry goods store, and families who had lived there for generations. The residents harvested the sea, hunted waterfowl, grazed livestock, and built their lives on predictable rhythms.

Then, in the early 1900s, a Baltimore businessman named Samuel Fields purchased most of the Virginia portion of Assateague Island and fenced off the land. Suddenly the villagers couldn't reach Tom's Cove or the fish factories that sustained them. Cut off from their livelihood, they did what Eastern Shore people have always done when the water or circumstance forces their hand. They adapted. Gradually, they floated their houses on barges and moved them across the channel to Chincoteague. The church went too. The schoolhouse went. By 1932, the last residents had left.

Today, all that remains of Assateague Village is a handful of building foundations, a historical marker, and a small cemetery.

What the Cemetery Holds

The Assateague Village Cemetery sits on a rise near where the church once stood. It's not much to look at now. The grave markers are mostly gone. Small stone corner markers outline where the churchyard was, and a simple metal plaque marks the location of unidentified human remains located in 2010.

A few names have been pieced together from historical records: Henry Birch's wife and three of their children. Jesse McGhee. George Elliott. Roxilla Birch Scott.

There's also a remote graveyard about half a mile north of the village site. Separate and set apart. Those who remembered the village said it might be connected to a smallpox outbreak around 1900. No one is entirely sure. The records either didn't survive or were never made.

These were people with names and stories and families and faith. They built a church. They gathered on Sundays. They buried their dead with care and marked the graves. And then the community moved on, and the markers weathered away. Now, a metal plaque testifies that someone is here.

The Ones the Sea Is Still Claiming

The sea level along Virginia's Eastern Shore is rising at roughly three times the global average. Old family cemeteries scattered across the barrier islands (some dating back to the 1700s) are now sitting at the edge of tidal wetlands that didn't used to be there. Some have already been partly lost. Holland Island in the Chesapeake, whose last residents left in the 1920s, has a cemetery that has largely fallen into the bay.

The Eastern Shore's coastal cemeteries are, as one conservation writer put it, "long-forgotten cultural markers now threatened by erosion." The people buried there likely never imagined it. They chose high ground, built to last. And now the ground itself is moving.

Why Remembrance Matters

Every one of those names that's been lost belonged to someone whose life mattered. Someone who loved their children, weathered storms, sang hymns, worked their hands raw, and hoped for something beyond what they could see.

That belief is what has sustained coastal communities through loss after loss. They built cemeteries because they believed the dead deserved to be remembered. They marked graves because names mattered. And when the markers wore away or the water rose, the faith that had shaped those communities said this is not the end of the story.

Eula Dukes, the last person born on Assateague Island, returned to the village site in the early 1990s after more than sixty years away. She had lived just two miles from her birthplace her whole life and had never gone back. When she finally did, she went with her sister, her brother, and a cousin. All of them, the last people alive who remembered what had been there.

I don't have family names on the markers on Assateague, but there are family members buried on Chincoteague, and I've paid my respects many times during visits to that little island. The stories of those from the past make the lives of the present possible.

After Dunkirk: The Evacuations that Time Forgot

by Martha Hutchens

I discovered a history author who falls into rabbit holes the same way I do. His name is David Worsfold, and he came out of his latest rabbit hole with a whole book. I haven’t read the book yet, but I have seen an interview where he discusses the material in it. You can see this interview here.

David Worsfold knew a lot about the evacuation at Dunkirk. His father was one of the men saved there. However, there was a strange story in his wife’s family about his wife’s grandfather. He was 70 years old in 1940, and still serving as a military ships surgeon. And as the story goes, he left France in late June of 1940.

And David thought, “the evacuation of Dunkirk was finished in early June 1940. How could this story be true?” Finally he got curious enough to try to find an answer. That research led to a book about two further evacuation campaigns after Dunkirk.

After Dunkirk, there were still over 200,000 military personnel in France. Most of them were British, but there were two large Polish divisions as well as a large Czechoslovakian division. There were also a lot of British civilians. Almost no civilians were evacuated at Dunkirk. Instead, they were told to go south.

The German advance proceeded largely down the middle of France, cutting the country into two. The troops trapped in the northern half of France we know about. They were evacuated at Dunkirk. And then Dunkirk fell.

History Dept of United States Military Academy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At first, Churchill planned to keep a foothold in France. He hoped to establish a line between St Malo and St-Nazaire, cutting off the peninsula that stretches farthest to the west. They did not have the manpower or supplies to hold this, but the men there managed to buy time for the first evacuation, Operation Cycle, which occurred from June 10 to June 13, 1940.

This is where we first meet Admiral William James. Much like Admiral Ramsay would for Dunkirk, Admiral James started gathering practically anything that would float. By the 10th of June, his flotilla numbered 207 boats, including destroyers, Dutch barges, transport vessels, private yachts, and even some boats that just returned from Dunkirk. They arrived off the coast of France late on the 10th.

Dunkirk, 1940, public domain

The evacuation point was supposed to be Le Havre, and in fact a good many troops did make it there. But the 51st Highland division was cut off from this port, and went to St Valery instead. While managing the evacuation of 11,000 men at Le Havre, James also sent ships to St Valery. Early on, these ships managed to rescue some men, but then the German artillery set up on the cliffs over St Valery.

HMS Ambuscade was damaged by this artillery. HMS Boadicea was hit by the Luftwaffe and also damaged. At this point, James realized that he would only be able to evacuate St Valery after dark. So while the Le Havre evacuation continued, James sent ships to St Valery to be ready once darkness fell. Unfortunately, fog came with darkness, and this hastily assembled flotilla was largely dependent on signal lamps for communication. They were unable to make it into St Valery, though they did rescue over 3000 from nearby Veules-les-Roses.

James sent a message to the commander of the 51st, saying they would try again the night of the 12th, but there simply wasn’t enough ammunition for them to hold out that long. James’ message that night read, “A sad and broken-hearted man writes to you tonight. The 51st division, one of our very best, are prisoners of war.”

But the job wasn’t done. There were still troops and civilians in France to rescue, which leads us to Operation Aerial.

It was launched on June 15, 1940 with the simple order “Bring them home.”

And that is what the Royal Navy did. By this point, Le Havre and St Valery had fallen, so the Navy sailed to ports farther south such as St-Nazaire and La Rochelle. The ports were falling fast, and the people just kept moving south. The Royal Navy moved south, too. Eventually, some people escaped by crossing into Spain.

According to Worsfold, when you combine Operations Aerial and Cycle, over 207,000 were rescued, not including civilians. Over 230 large ships and 290 smaller vessels were involved.

You may be wondering why this is not as well-known as the Dunkirk evacuation. I think it was overshadowed by France's surrender, the loss of the 51st Highland Division, and the loss of one of the larger ships, the Lancastria, an evacuation ship that was sunk by dive bombers. Approximately 3000 people lost their lives when this ship sank. I tell more about this ship and her captain here.

It was not only people that were rescued in Operation Aerial. As you would expect, military supplies were evacuated as well. A supply of industrial diamonds was evacuated. As was most of the Polish national treasures and their gold reserves. And strangely enough, what may have been the world’s supply of heavy water, a difficult-to-obtain substance that was crucial to atomic research.

When you combine Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk), with the later two operations, over 600,000 were rescued from France in May and June of 1940.

Remains of pier used for Normandy, @fatmanphoto, Deposit Photos

And if you’re wondering, the 51st Highland Division was reconstituted. After the invasion of Normandy, they were assigned to the liberation of St Valery. Their massed pipes and drums played in the streets—which was only as it should be.

Best-selling author Martha Hutchens is a history nerd who loves nothing more than finding a new place and time to explore. She won the 2019 Golden Heart for Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements. A former analytical chemist and retired homeschool mom, Martha occasionally finds time for knitting when writing projects allow.

Martha’s debut novel, A Steadfast Heart, is now available. You can learn more about her books and historical research at marthahutchens.com.

When his family legacy is on the line, rancher Drew McGraw becomes desperate for someone to tame and tutor his three children. Desperate enough to seek a mail-order bride. But when the wrong woman arrives on his doorstep, Drew balks.

Heiress Kaitlyn Montgomery runs straight from the scandal chasing her toward a fresh start on a secluded ranch. She strikes a bargain with Drew—a marriage convenient for both of them.

But the more Kaitlyn adapts to ranch life and forms a bond with Drew’s children and their enigmatic father, she realizes that this ranch is where she is meant to be. And then her past catches up with her…

The Birth of Amateur Photography

by Lynn U. Watson

It's so easy to take for granted the phone in your pocket or purse that takes amazing high-resoultion photos you see and share instantly. In my lifetime (and probably many of yours) you recall loading the film in a Brownie, an Instamtic, an SLR or another camera. 

You took the pictures, advancing the film for reach new image. You rerrolled the film (be sure you didn't open the camera before you did), removed the roll and took it to be developed. 

Most places sent the roll off for processing and printing. You prayed they turned out well after waiting a week or two to get them back. 

While researching late nineteenth century photography for my forthcoming book, Planted Promises, I discovered little round prints like these. They measure 2 5/8" in diameter. Considering this was the first of its kind, the details visible in such a small format surprised me. 

Until the late 19th century the only photography available was from professionals and out of reach for most people. In 1888 George Eastman, a bank clerk in Rochester, New York introduced the Kodak No. 1 Camera. He advertised the simple hand held device with the slogan "You press the button. We do the rest." 

Eastman created the name Kodak, because the letter "K" was strong and memorable. It was the first model in the brand new roll-film camera line, thus adding the #1 to its name.

The Kodak #1 arrived with a roll of film for 100 images. You took the pictures and sent the whole package, camera with the film still inside, back to the Eastman Company. The camera was reloaded and returned to the owner while the first roll was being processed. The cost of the #1 was $25 and included the processing, making images from the first roll 25 cents each. The next rolls were $2 per roll including the processing.  

A family's initial investment paid off well for the future of capturing their special moments. A photography craze was born. Within ten years of its introduction 1.5 million cameras were in the hands of consumers. Made-up words like kodaking, kodakers, and kodakery entered the American vocabulary.

The camera arrived with instructions for use, along with tips like how far away to be from the subject for getting a good image.Amateur photography was born. As this leisure hobby grew, photography clubs formed.

Those clubs advocated for photography to be recognized as fine art. Members exchanged ideas and techniques. Educational resources and workshops helped members grow in their photography skills. 

While my Kodak #1 research provided a great idea for some of the clues in my upcoming Christian Multigenerational Historical Fiction, Planted Promises, I'm very happy to have my iPhone handy at all times.

 

Motor-cycle-riding ballet dancer, Lyydi Matthieson, desires to trust God. Her belief that she’s a total reject threatens that trust. Then she stumbles upon a key that leads to a mystery quest 140 years, three families, and six generations in the making. Following the clues, her grandmother challenges Lyydi and her husband Benj to dream a new dream, reinvent themselves, and watch where God leads.

A host of lively characters and a nod to Nancy Drew will keep you turning pages in an attempt to tie all the threads together. 

Lynn's journey is a testament to creativity and compassion. Nurtured by her grandmother's love of needlework, Lynn built a custom clothing business and created, The Lynn'n Butterfly Collection (x-stitch designs) with her husband Steve. Her creative spirit extended beyond fabric. Lynn became a certified reflexologist opening Footsteps in Eden, a haven where she uses touch therapy and prayer to relax her clients. Today, Lynn, Steve, and their feline overlord, Jasmine, call Bartlett, Tennessee home. You’ll find Lynn there, Stepping through Time Stitching Stories of Faith.

Pre-Order of Planted Promises available late October/early November. To be alerted when pre-order is live, join Lynn's Facebook Group: Coffee, Kuchen, and Good Books.

NOTE: All black and white & sepia images are from Internet and are Free to Share and Use. Image of girl with camera is from Pixabay.com

 

Women of Resistance: Anastasiya Biseniek

 

When the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, formed in 1922, it included Russian and fourteen other republics and covered an area of more than eight-and-a-half million square miles (with Russia making up more than seventy-five percent). The formation followed a three-year, brutal civil war, World War I, and the Bolshevik Revolution, so most citizens were guardedly optimistic about the future. To get the economy back on its feet, Lenin allowed small private businesses, retail shops and farms to operate and sell goods.

Lenin died two years later which brought on a six-year struggle for power from which Joseph Stalin finally emerged. The good mixed with the bad as he initiated rapid industrialization but expanded the forced labor system. His government also conducted what is known as the Great Purge, a mixture of deportations, executions, and “kangaroo court” trials to get rid of the opposition.

With an eye to Hitler’s rise to power and unable to create an anti-Nazi coalition, Stalin signed a non-

aggression pact with Germany in 1939. However, not one to let treaties get in the way, Hitler ordered his forces to invade the Soviet Union in 1941, the largest land invasion in history.

This is the world in which Anastasiya Biseniek lived. She was an ordinary woman who led an ordinary life, working on the railroad and raising two children with her husband Fyodor. Or so it seemed.

Instead, she joined a partisan detachment called Friendly. Using her position at the railroad she was able to distribute leaflets and copies of the underground newspaper at the depot. When the order came to evacuate the city, she refused and became leader of the partisans who remained behind. Her activities included performing sabotage on transports, organizing traffic jams and derailments, and damaging track and rolling stock. Her son, Yuri, was also a partisan, and he sent her intelligence information she was able to forward to her superiors.

Anastasiya eventually recruited and trained two assistants, one of whom worked in the canteen at the German airfield and was able to obtain intelligence that was passed onto officers with the Red Army. The other woman worked as a cleaner in a military unit and was able to establish contact with Soviet POWs, who she later helped to escape.

Meanwhile, Anastasiya continued to conduct sabotage, and in the summer of 1943, after one event in which she laid mines that destroyed several locomotives, she was arrested. However, there was no evidence to convict her, so after a month in captivity, she was let go. As it turned out, the arrest was a ruse to organize surveillance against her.

After her release, she was informed about mass arrests that had occurred as the result of betrayal by several members of the organization. Realizing she would probably be arrested again at some point, possibly soon, Anastasiya decided to provide the names of her remaining connections and supplies to the surviving group members so they could continue her work of sabotage and intelligence gathering. Upon her return home, Anastasiya was arrested and taken to Porkhov where she was tortured. However, she refused to cooperate or identify any of her compatriots, so the Germans transferred her to the Zapolyansky death camp. According to reports from surviving inmates, she was greatly respected because of the help and care she gave others.

Tragically, Anastasiya was executed on October 13, 1943. The camp was dismantled three short weeks later in preparation for the advancing Soviet army who would take the are in January 1944.

Anastasiya and none other partisans of the Pskov region were declared Heroes of the Soviet Union, and a large granite memorial plaque was placed at the Dno train station where she worked. A central street in the town was also named in her honor.

__________________

Danish Days (Coming 10*15*26)

Can hearts filled with hate find love?

Near the end of the “second war to end all wars,” Norwegian American OSS agent Frida Westgard finds herself assigned to Denmark, of all places. Initially sent as a radio operator, she is then transferred to Copenhagen to collect intelligence. A job made more dangerous when she becomes entangled in local resistance activities led by the handsome man known only as Rejsende–traveler.

Stig Arenfeldt has hated the Germans for as long as he can remember, so when they invade and occupy his beloved Denmark, he jumps at the chance to join the resistance. Now, five years later, the war may finally be at an end, but he won’t quit until the last soldier is gone…or dead. Then he’s paired with the attractive American agent who preaches forgiveness. A concept that has no place in his life. Unfortunately, the more they’re together, the more her words infiltrate his soul, and he begins to dread the day she’ll walk out of his life.

Pre-Order Link: https://books2read.com/u/3LoGlw

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.


Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5TYQPOkFcM
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/soviet-partisans-the-rag-tag-scourge-along-wwiis-eastern-front/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/second-world-war/eastern-front/operation-barbarossa-and-germanys-failure-in-the-soviet-union
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Soviet-Partisans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasiya_Biseniek

Photo Credits:

Map of USSR 1922: By Soviet Russia Today - https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/64496/the-union-of-soviet-socialist-republics-soviet-union-soviet-russia-today, Public Domain

Joseph Stalin: By Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain 

Anastasiya Biseniek: By Unknown - Creation date: 1930's or early 1940's Original Publication: Abramova, M.; Levashov, A. (1969) Fair use.

Commemorative Plaque: By Olexandr7 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0