"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011; the song has been recorded by many singers across many music genres. The version sung by Bing Crosby in 1935 is the fourth best-selling single of all-time; the song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before, he had written the lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as a co-adjutor. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the Christmas Eve mass, after river flooding had damaged the church organ.

The church was destroyed by repeated flooding and replaced with the Silent-Night-Chapel. It is unknown what prompted him to create a new carol. According to Gruber, Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who serviced the instrument at the Obendorf church, was enamoured with the song, took the composition home with him to the Zillertal. From there, two travelling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers, included the tune in their shows; the Rainers were singing it around Christmas 1819, once performed it for an audience that included Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia, as well as making the first performance of the song in the U. S. in New York City in 1839. By the 1840s the song was well known in Lower Saxony and was reported to be a favourite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. During this period, the melody changed to become the version, played today. Over the years, because the original manuscript had been lost, Mohr's name was forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer, many people assumed the melody was composed by a famous composer, it was variously attributed to Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven.

However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's handwriting and dated by researchers as c. 1820. It states that Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr and shows that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818; this is the only one in Mohr's handwriting. The first edition was published by Friese in 1833 in a collection of Four Genuine Tyrolean Songs, with the following musical text: The contemporary version, as in the choral example below, is: In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young serving at Trinity Church, New York City and published the English translation, most sung today, translated from three of Mohr's original six verses; the version of the melody, used today is a slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale, differing from Gruber's original, a "moderato" tune in 68 time and siciliana rhythm. Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain, although newer translations are not. In 1998 the Silent Night Museum in Salzburg commissioned a new English translation by Bettina Klein of Mohr's German lyrics.

Whenever possible, Klein leaves the Young translation unchanged, but Klein varies markedly. For example, Nur das traute hochheilige Paar, Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar is translated by Young: "Round yon Virgin mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild" whereas Klein rewords it: "Round yon godly tender pair, Holy infant with curly hair", a translation closer to the original; the carol has been translated into about 140 languages. Max Reger quotes the tune in the Christmas section of his organ pieces Sieben Stücke, Op. 145. Alfred Schnittke composed an arrangement of "Stille Nacht" for violin and piano in 1978, as a holiday greeting for violinist Gidon Kremer. Due to its dissonant and nightmarish character, the miniature caused a scandal in Austria. Several theatrical and television films depict. Most of them however are based on a spurious legend about the organ breaking down at the church in Oberndorf, which appeared in a fictional story published in the U. S. in the 1930s. The Legend of Silent Night TV film directed by Daniel Mann Silent Night, Holy Night animated short film by Hanna-Barbera.

Silent Mouse television special directed and produced by Robin Crichton and narrated by Lynn Redgrave. Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night direct-to-video animated featurette Silent Night directed by Christian Vuissa The First Silent Night, documentary narrated by Simon Callow Media related to Silent Night at Wikimedia Commons Song of peace “Silent Night” as a message of peace Translation of all six verses of the German original Free arrangements for piano and voice from Cantorion.org Silent Night Chapel, origin of song Schnittke's version on YouTube

Grigory Kheifets known as Grigori Kheifetz, was the San Francisco KGB station chief, or Rezident, from December 1941 until July 1944. In 1943 a world-famous actor of the Moscow Yiddish State Art Theater, Solomon Mikhoels, together with well-known poet Itzik Feffer, toured the United States on behalf of the Jewish Antifascist Committee. Before their departure, KGB Chief Lavrenti Beria instructed Mikhoels and Feffer to emphasize the great contribution of Jews to science and culture in the Soviet Union, their assignment was to raise money and convince American public opinion that Soviet anti-Semitism had been crushed as a result of Joseph Stalin's policies. In 1944 and the first half of 1945, Stalin's strategic motivation was to use the Jewish issue as a bargaining chip to bring in international investment to rebuild the war-torn Soviet Union and to influence the postwar realignment of power in the Middle East. Stalin planned to use Jewish aspirations for a homeland to attract Western credits.

Intentions to form a Jewish republic existed, based on a letter addressed to Stalin from the Jewish Antifascist Committee. Part of the letter, published for the first time in 1993, stated: The creation of a Jewish Soviet republic will once and forever, in a Bolshevik manner, within the spirit of Leninist-Stalinist national policy, settle the problem of the state legal position of the Jewish people and further development of their multicentury culture; this is a problem. It can be solved only in our great socialist country; the letter, the existence of, admitted in the journals of the Communist party, is still not declassified. Kheifetz said the letter was a proposal with details for a plan to make the Crimean Socialist Republic a homeland for Jewish people from all over the world; the co-ordination and execution of Stalin's plans to lure foreign investors was entrusted to Kheifetz. The Soviet plan was for him to lay the groundwork for American investment in the metal and coal mining industries in the Soviet Union.

It was rumoured that Mikhoels might be offered the post of chairman of the Supreme Soviet in the proposed new republic. Apart from Molotov and other high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mikhoels was the only one aware of Stalin's plans to establish another Soviet republic. Stalin hoped to receive $10 billion in credits from the U. S. for the restoration of the Soviet economy after the war. The plan to lure American capital was associated with the idea of a Jewish state in the Crimea was called California in the Crimea. Kheifetz discussed the plan in America. Isaac Folkoff

Scandal is an American television political drama series created by Shonda Rhimes, broadcast by ABC. The show features an ensemble cast of regular characters, with eight main characters in its first season. Since the first season, two characters have left the show or have been written out, several new main characters have been written in or upgraded in the series. Following is a list of characters who have appeared over the various seasons since the drama's premiere. Cast Notes Olivia Carolyn Pope, portrayed by Kerry Washington, is a former White House Communications Director, regarded as the best "fixer" in Washington. Olivia worked on the presidential campaign of then-Governor Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III, with whom she began an affair. After Fitz became President, named Olivia Director of Communications, they continue the affair. Although she still had feelings for him, Olivia knew that it would be best to resign from her position and as a result she started "Pope & Associates", a crisis management company.

Throughout Season one, Olivia demonstrates that she is dedicated to her work and to the people she helps and that she's surrounded by staff who are loyal to her due to her saving each of them a problem in their past. At the beginning of Season two, it is revealed that Olivia had something to do with Quinn Perkins's past and that she made a call that got Quinn's case thrown out of court, saving her from the death penalty. Olivia is shown to have a contentious relationship with the First Lady. Olivia's father, Eli Pope, was the leader of a secret government organization titled B613. At the beginning of season five, it is leaked to the public that Mellie was thrown out of the White House and Olivia is in fact Fitz' mistress, she makes a deal with her father and Mellie to keep the Senate from impeaching Fitz. However, she moves on. She's running Mellie's bid for president. At the end of season 7, she and Fitz come back together Stephen Finch, portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick, is a litigator who worked with Olivia and is one of her good friends.

He is Scottish-born and became a U. S. citizen in 1995 shortly after graduating first in his class from Yale Law School. He was a top litigator for a firm called Chase and Howard, but suffered a nervous breakdown in the middle of defending a client in a class action lawsuit against Bromquest, a chemical manufacturer that poisoned children in West Virginia, he spent two months recovering in a facility in Florida before quitting the firm and began working with Olivia. He is shown to be a womanizer though he gets engaged to his girlfriend, Georgia, in the first season. By the second season he left the firm and moved to Boston, "married Georgia and is living a normal life". In the fourth season, he is revealed to be living in St. Petersburg and working for the Russian oligarchy. Harrison Wright, portrayed by Columbus Short, was a litigator, he was loyal to her. He worked in Takoma Park before he started making himself wealthy; when Salif went down for insider trading, Harrison received only a sentence of six months in jail because Olivia defended him pro bono.

Harrison had a brotherly relationship with Quinn and he looked out for her. He calls Olivia's team "gladiators in suits". In the season two premiere, he is working on Quinn's case and although he knows it will be hard to win, he believes in her innocence, he is shocked when the judge rules in the case is dismissed. He becomes closer to Quinn and the two become good friends, having drinks together in the office, he was murdered by B613 in the season three finale after working out that it was responsible for the murder of President Grant's son, Jerry, to ensure his re-election and the reactivation of B613. Abby Whelan, portrayed by Darby Stanchfield, is an ambitious woman who worked as an investigator in Olivia's firm and serves as the White House Press Secretary. Abby was married to the youngest son of former Virginia governor James Putney, she left him. Olivia broke Charles's kneecap, she helped Abby get the best divorce attorney in the state to help her get out of her marriage. Abby is loyal to Olivia because she helped her get her life back together, but she gets angry with her when she doesn't act like the Olivia who helps people.

In the season two premiere, she helps Olivia with Quinn's case though she believes that she is guilty. Abby was sleeping with AUSA David Rosen after she found his wall with pictures of Quinn and Olivia all over it when she broke into his house. However, after Olivia found out about their relationship, she asked Harrison to end it. Harrison bribed. Quinn Perkins, portrayed by Katie Lowes, works with Olivia, she is revealed in the season two premiere to be Lindsay, on trial for murdering her ex-boyfriend and six other people. She had called her boyfriend. A mysterious package, which turns out to be a bomb, shows up at his workplace, killing him and six other people, it is revealed that Quinn ran away to a hotel room, frightened by what happened and that someone broke in and injected her with a sedative. C. with a new identity. She is acquitted of all charges. Olivia and Huck have something to do with her past, because Huck is shown in front of Quinn's hotel getting into Olivia's car and driving away.

Quinn is caring and has a brotherly relatio