Howard Zinn was an American historian and socialist thinker. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote over 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States. Zinn described himself as "something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist." He wrote extensively about the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement and labor history of the United States. His memoir, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, was the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, at age 87. Zinn was born to a Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn on August 24, 1922, his father, Eddie Zinn, born in Austria-Hungary, immigrated to the U. S. with his brother Samuel before the outbreak of World War I. His mother, Jenny Zinn, emigrated from the Eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk.

His parents first became acquainted as workers at the same factory. His father worked as a ditch window cleaner during the Great Depression, his father and mother ran a neighborhood candy store for a brief time getting by. For many years, his father was in the waiters' union and worked as a waiter for weddings and B'nai Mitzvah. Both parents were factory workers with limited education when they met and married, there were no books or magazines in the series of apartments where they raised their children. Zinn's parents introduced him to literature by sending 10 cents plus a coupon to the New York Post for each of the 20 volumes of Charles Dickens' collected works; as a young man, Zinn made the acquaintance of several young Communists from his Brooklyn neighborhood. They invited him to a political rally being held in Times Square. Despite it being a peaceful rally, mounted police charged the marchers. Zinn was knocked unconscious; this would have a profound effect on his social outlook. He studied creative writing at Thomas Jefferson High School in a special program established by principal and poet Elias Lieberman.

After graduating from high school in 1940, Zinn became an apprentice shipfitter in the New York Navy Yard at the age of 18. Concerns about low wages and hazardous working conditions compelled Zinn and several other apprentices to form the Apprentice Association. At the time, apprentices were excluded from trade unions and thus had little bargaining power, to which the Apprentice Association was their answer; the head organizers of the association, which included Zinn himself, would meet once a week outside of work to discuss strategy and read books that at the time were considered radical. Zinn was the Activities Director for the group, his time in this group would tremendously influence his political views and created for him an appreciation for unions. Eager to fight fascism, Zinn joined the U. S. Army Air Force during World War II and was assigned as a bombardier in the 490th Bombardment Group, bombing targets in Berlin and Hungary; as bombardier, Zinn dropped napalm bombs in April 1945 on Royan, a seaside resort in southwestern France.

The anti-war stance Zinn developed was informed, in part, by his experiences. On a post-doctoral research mission nine years Zinn visited the resort near Bordeaux where he interviewed residents, reviewed municipal documents, read wartime newspaper clippings at the local library. In 1966, Zinn returned to Royan after which he gave his fullest account of that research in his book, The Politics of History. On the ground, Zinn learned that the aerial bombing attacks in which he participated had killed more than a thousand French civilians as well as some German soldiers hiding near Royan to await the war's end, events that are described "in all accounts" he found as "une tragique erreur" that leveled a small but ancient city and "its population that was, at least friend, not foe." In The Politics of History, Zinn described how the bombing was ordered—three weeks before the war in Europe ended—by military officials who were, in part, motivated more by the desire for their own career advancement than in legitimate military objectives.

He quotes the official history of the U. S. Army Air Forces' brief reference to the Eighth Air Force attack on Royan and in the same chapter, to the bombing of Plzeň in what was Czechoslovakia; the official history stated that the Skoda works in Pilsen "received 500 well-placed tons," and that "because of a warning sent out ahead of time the workers were able to escape, except for five persons."The Americans received a rapturous welcome when they liberated the city. Zinn wrote:I recalled flying on that mission, too, as deputy lead bombardier, that we did not aim at the'Skoda works' but dropped our bombs, without much precision, on the city of Pilsen. Two Czech citizens who lived in Pilsen at the time told me that several hundred people were killed in that raid —not five. Zinn said his experience as a wartime bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for, effects of the bombing of Royan and Pilsen, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by G. I.s during wartime. Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the Allied bombing of cities such as Dresden, Royan and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Hanoi during the War in Vietnam, Baghdad during the war in Iraq and the civilian casualties during bombings in Afghanistan during the

Les martyrs is a four-act grand opera by Gaetano Donizetti set to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe. The libretto was based on one written by Salvadore Cammarano for an original Italian version known as Poliuto, not performed until after the composer's death. Pierre Corneille's play Polyeucte written in 1641–42, the story of which reflected the life of the early Christian martyr Saint Polyeuctus, is the original source for both versions; when Poliuto was banned by the King of Naples just before it was due to be performed in 1838, Donizetti became angry at this decision and, with a commission from the Paris Opéra due, he paid the penalty to the San Carlo for not producing an original work as a substitute, left Naples for Paris arriving on 21 October. As his first of two commissions for the Opéra, he proposed to revise Poliuto and, between 1839 and 1840, a French text was prepared by the noted French librettist and dramatist, Eugène Scribe, which conformed to the conventions of French grand opera but which incorporated 80% of the music from Poliuto.

Revised to suit the taste of the Paris opera-going public and with the title changed to Les martyrs, the opera was presented on 10 April 1840. When given in Italy, Les martyrs was presented in a translation from the French version under several titles including I martiri, it took until 30 November 1848, months after the composer's death, in order for Poliuto to appear at the San Carlo in its original Italian three-act version, the one, most performed today. It is regarded by one writer as Donizetti's "most personal opera" with the music being "some of the finest Donizetti was to compose". Donizetti had been considering further involvement with the Parisian stage after the tremendous success of his Lucia di Lammermoor at the Théâtre-Italien in December 1837; as Roger Parker and William Ashbrook note, "negotiations with Henri Duponchel, the director of the Opéra, took on a positive note for the first time" and "the road to Paris lay open for him", the first Italian to obtain a commission to write a real grand opera.

In addition, while Donizetti was in Venice for the premiere of Maria de Rudenz the following January, he had met and had been impressed with Adolphe Nourrit, the principal tenor in Paris, having sung roles written for him by the major French composers such as Meyerbeer, Halévy, as well as Rossini after that composer had moved to Paris in 1829. However, by the late 1830s, Nourrit's popularity in Paris was in decline, he was in danger of being supplanted in the public's affections by rising star Gilbert Duprez who the composer had tried to interest in a Paris production of L'assedio di Calais in 1836, but which failed to gain attention outside Italy. Donizetti returned to Naples on 24 February, where he began planning for the production of Poliuto but, at the same time, he had hoped for a permanent supervisory appointment at the Collegio di San Pietro a Maiella there. However, the post went Saverio Mercadante. Therefore, on 25 May 1838, Donizetti responded to an invitation from the Paris Opéra to compose two new works, specifying that the contract would require a libretto from Scribe with specific performance dates and a rehearsal periods included.

Now committed to produce his next opera for Naples, the composer wrote Poliuto "with more than half an eye to its potential for it being recast as a French grand opera". Upon arriving in Naples, Donizetti found that Nourrit was staying there; the tenor was determined to "take on a technique, so different from that which he had been taught" and he was grateful to the composer for lessons in that technique. Writing to his wife, he expressed his joy "at being born to a new artistic life" in singing Italian opera under the composer's direction, he added: "pulling strings to get me engaged here". Nourrit influenced the composer in his choice of subject and in the progress of the new opera, such that Donizetti tailored the title role for the tenor who had, by been engaged for the autumn season in Naples. Moreover, Nourrit is regarded as important in influencing the preparation of Cammarano's libretto as he adapted Corneille's play from what William Ashbrook describes as "a spiritual drama, with its observed unities" into a Romantic melodrama, achieved by adding plot features such as Poliuto's jealousy of his wife's previous relationship with the Roman pro-consul, which did not exist in the original play.

In doing so, the play's narrative perspective of the action was altered by the use of directly shown dramatic action. This is evidenced at the end of act 2 of Poliuto when Polyeucte overthrows the altar. Work began by 10 May on the music for Poliuto, performances of which appear to have been planned for the autumn season. However, by the middle of June, the first of several difficulties emerged; the San Carlo intendant, Domenico Barbaja, needed the libretto to be first approved by the court censor, who gave his support. But when the completed libretto moved up the chain of command to the king, a response was forthcoming on 11 August to the effect that "His majesty deigned with his own sacred hand to declare that the histories of the martyrs are venerated in the Church and are not presented on the stage"; the opera's last-minute cancellation angered Donizetti so much that he resolved to move to Paris to further his career there. He left Naples in October 1838, vowing never to have any further dealings with the San Carlo administration.

But the cancellation dealt a crushing blow to Nou

Helge Igor Lindberg was a Finnish opera singer, a popular concert singer in the 1920s throughout Europe. He was a sculptor. Helge Lindberg first studied violin at the conservatory in Helsinki. In 1907, he finished his studies in Florence, he was known for singing works by George Frideric Handel and Yrjö Kilpinen. From Musica Fennica: "Helge Igor Lindberg, spent a significant part of his life in Vienna, he was a great individualist both as a private person and as an artist, his legendary career was to be both strange and extraordinary. On leaving school he left the country to study singing abroad, he first travelled from there to Florence and Stuttgart. In 1919 he settled in Vienna and died there in 1928 after a serious illness, his best years were the last years of his life. Helge Lindberg was an athlete both in his looks and in his artistic demands, he was famous for his breathing technique. He liked to sing the arias of Bach and Handel and had mastered their long phrases, developing his own technique to an superhuman degree.

He was interested in his contemporary modernists, such as Schoenberg. Of Finnish composers his repertoire included Kilpinen's songs, his fame as a singer was based on a technique, developed to perfection and on his minutely-studied performing style." He received a medal from the King of Sweden for his singing. His known sculptures include a 12-inch wooden statue of himself as a satyr, he died of pneumonia in 1928 and his ashes are interred on a small island off the southern coast of Finland, which he had bought as a summer retreat. He was survived by his first wife Ernestine. A biography was written on his life by Kosti Vehanen: Kosti: Mestarilaulaja Helge Lindberg. Kustannusyhtiö Kirja, Helsinki 1929. Known recordings include: "Frohsinn und Schwermut", "Wie glänzt der helle Mond" and "Der Wanderer" and "Froh lacht die Brust". Six recordings have been digitized and placed online by the Music Library of the National Library of Finland and can be found in Raita, a collection of digitized early Finnish sound recordings, by searching this site with "Helge Lindberg".

Links to pictures are given below. A painting was made of him by the Bauhaus artist Johannes Itten in 1916: http://laurentberges.tumblr.com/post/6970643135/johannes-itten-helge-lindberg-1915A Waldemar Eide photo can be found here: http://www.fotohistorie.no/media.php?id=7956 picture in 1917. Later pictureMP3 link of "Der Wanderer" https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/66486Exhibition by the Finnland-Institute in Germany https://web.archive.org/web/20151002171627/http://finnland-institut.de/musikbeziehungen/helge_lindberg.html

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college with coed graduate and certificate programs, located in Northampton, United States. The Smith College Archives document the life of the College by collecting materials created by students, faculty and departmental staff during the course of their time here; the records in the College Archives can provide researchers with answers to specific questions or help them to understand broad social and cultural issues. The collections contain materials derived from: administrative records biographical records academic life student life buildings and grounds audiovisual materialsThe collection spans nearly 20,000 linear feet and is one of the contributing collections to "The History of Women’s Education Open Access Portal Project" funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities. Of the class of 1882, Nina Browne's career as an archivist began in 1921, when she was hired by Smith College as its first archivist of the Smith College Archives.

Browne had been active in the Alumna Association, material from her time as a student formed the basis of the early collection. Though she was hired with an eye to the college's 50th anniversary in 1925, she remained in her position long after the event, she became blind, which set her retirement in motion in 1937. Browne remained a strong advocate for the archive, asserting its importance and the need for a physical space for the collection. Margaret Storrs Grierson stepped into the role of college archivist in 1940. Supporting the work Browne had begun, Elizabeth Cutter Morrow established the Archives of Smith College in March, 1940; as acting-president of Smith College, Mrs. Morrow advocated that "several institutions of higher learning and Harvard had set aside space and provided personnel not only for the preservation of documents related to the early history of the institution but to preserve material which had reference to its development through successive periods, including the present, included material connected with administrators, faculty members, students."

In 1940, Mrs. Morrow appointed Margaret Storrs Grierson to the professional position of Archivist. Today the College Archives are used by researchers and incorporated into dozens of curricula; the College Archivist serves as the institutional records manager and serves in an advisory role to administrative departments across campus. "Archives Are College History", Daily Hampshire Gazette "Smith Archives Are A Treasure", Daily Hampshire Gazette "Archives Mix Past And Present", The Sophian (October 23, 1975 RG10.09 History: College Archives and SSC "WMass Archivists Provide Peepholes To Past", The Sunday Republican Smith College Archives Concentration Women's Collections Roundtable, Society of American Archivists Grierson, Margaret Storrs. "Woman's Collection", report written for Friends of the Smith College Library member Frances Carpenter Huntington. History of the Sophia Smith Collection, College Archives. Murdock, M. E. "Exploring Women's Lives:Historical and contemporary resources in the college archives and the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College Special Collections".

Lavender Legacies Guide, Society of American Archivists Lavender Legacies Guide, Society of American Archivists, Society of American Archivists Seventy-Five Years of International Women’s Collecting: Legacies, Successes and New Directions, American Archivist

El Pacífico- Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros S. A. or Pacifico Seguros is a leading insurance and reinsurance company in Peru and one of the largest in Latin America. Pacifico Seguros is a subsidiary of the largest financial holding group in Peru, its corporate headquarters is located at 830 Juan de Arona Avenue in Lima. The company was established in 1992 through the merger of El Pacifico Compañia de Seguros y Reaseguros and Peruano Suiza Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros. Pacifico Seguros offers various corporate insurance products; the policies cover health, life, travel and annuities, personal accident insurance, many other types of risk. In addition, it offers corporate insurance products covering company’s assets, which include heritage, transport and maritime insurance. Official website Johns Hopkins and Peru’s Pacifico Salud Sign Memorandum of Understanding

The Merkur Bank KGaA is a German private bank headquartered in Munich. In 1959 the company Merkur Bank Horowicz KG was founded by Zanwel Horowicz and Hela Horowicz. Back its business was limited to the sales of medals and currencies. In 1986 a group of investors under the leadership of the Swabian company Siegfried Lingel acquired the Merkur Bank Horowicz KG and founded the Merkur Bank GmbH & Co. KG. From here on the Merkur Bank entered into the universal bank business with a focus on financing building contractors. In 1989 the bank acquired sections of the Bankhaus Sinzinger KG and extended its business to Ingolstadt; the expansion into the new states of Germany started in 1991 with the opening of a branch in Auerbach. In the following years the ban opened more banches in Treuen, Jena and Plauen, as well as a representative office for building contractors in Stuttgart. In November 1998 the bank was transformed into a KGaA. Since 1999 the stock of the Merkur Bank is listed at the Bavarian stock market with the Wertpapierkennnummer 814820, since 2005 in the stock segment M:access.

In the same year the Merkur Bank offered leasing refinancing. Since 2009 Merkur Bank offers not only accounts for private customers in their branches but online. After only instant access savings accounts and term accounts were offered online, in 2012, the online range was extended by an online portfolio for private customers; the Merkur Bank, as an owner managed private bank, is active in the business areas of financing and investments. While the bank only offers financing in its branches, private customers can open an instant access savings account, term account or savings account online. In the financing business area the Merkur Bank focusses on residential building projects by middle-sized building contractors which are situated in Munich and Stuttgart. In addition it focusses on middle class financing for companies in Bavaria and Thuringia and as nationwide partner of middle-sized product leasing companies it focusses on refinancing leasing. For the Merkur Bank, the legal deposit guarantee of up to 100,000 euros per person is covered by the Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken GmbH, EdB.

In addition to this the bank is a member of the deposit guarantee fund of the Association of German Banks. The fund secures deposits of natural persons and private charities which exceed 100,000 euros, per person an amount of up to 20 percent of the liable equity of the respective bank. In the case of the Merkur Bank KGaA the backup line amounts to 17 million euros per customer; the bank belongs to the corporate data center of the Fiducia IT AG in Karlsruhe and uses its software agree as core banking system. Official Website Merkur Bank