title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The Federal Reserve Act originally granted a twenty-year charter to the Federal Reserve Banks: "To have succession for a period of twenty years from its organization unless it is sooner dissolved by an Act of Congress, or unless its franchise becomes forfeited by some violation of law.". This clause was amended on February 25, 1927: "To have succession after the approval of this Act until dissolved by Act of Congress or until forfeiture of franchise for violation of law." The success of this amendment is notable, as in 1933, the US was in the throes of the Great Depression and public sentiment with regards to the Federal Reserve System and the banking community in general had significantly deteriorated. Given the political climate, including of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration and New Deal legislation, it is uncertain whether the Federal Reserve System would have survived.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: In 1933, by way of the Banking Act of 1933, the Federal Reserve Act was amended to create the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which consists of the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and five representatives from the Federal Reserve Banks. The FOMC is required to meet at least four times a year (in practice, the FOMC usually meets eight times) and has the power to direct all open-market operations of the Federal Reserve banks.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: On November 16, 1977, the Federal Reserve Act was amended to require the Board and the FOMC "to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates." The Chairman was also required to appear before Congress at semi-annual hearings to report on the conduct of monetary policy, on economic development, and on the prospects for the future. The Federal Reserve Act has been amended by some 200 subsequent laws of Congress. It continues to be one of the principal banking laws of the United States.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: The passing of the Federal Reserve act of 1913 carried implications both domestically and internationally for the United States economic system. The absence of a central banking structure in the U.S. previous to this act left a financial essence that was characterized by immobile reserves and inelastic currency. Creating the Federal Reserve gave the Federal Reserve control to regulate inflation, even though the government control over such powers would eventually lead to decisions that were controversial. Some of the most prominent implications include the internationalization of the U.S. Dollar as a global currency, the impact from the perception of the Central Bank structure as a public good by creating a system of financial stability (Parthemos 19-28), and the Impact of the Federal Reserve in response to economic panics. The Federal Reserve Act also permitted national banks to make mortgage loans for farm land, which had not been permitted previously.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Throughout the history of the United States, there has been an enduring economic and political debate regarding the costs and benefits of central banking. Since the inception of a central bank in the United States, there were multiple opposing views to this type of economic system. Opposition was based on protectionist sentiment; a central bank would serve a handful of financiers at the expense of small producers, businesses, farmers and consumers, and could destabilize the economy through speculation and inflation. This created even further controversy over who would select the decision-makers in charge of the Federal Reserve. Proponents argued that a strong banking system could provide enough credit for a growing economy and avoid economic depressions. Other critical views included the belief that the bill gave too much power to the federal government after the senate revised the bill to create 12 board members who were each appointed by the president.


title: Federal Reserve Act

text: Preceding the creation of the Federal Reserve, no U.S. central banking systems lasted for more than 25 years. Some of the questions raised include: whether Congress has the Constitutional power to delegate its power to coin money or issue paper money (an obvious reference to Article 1, Sec. 8, Clause 5, which states: "The Congress shall have power To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures"), whether the structure of the federal reserve is transparent enough, whether the Federal Reserve is a public Cartel of private banks (also called a private banking cartel) established to protect powerful financial interests, fears of inflation, high government deficits, and whether the Federal Reserve's actions increased the severity of the Great Depression in the 1930s (and/or the severity or frequency of other boom-bust economic cycles, such as the late 2000s recession).


title: Ebonée Noel

text: Ebonée Noel (born May 25, 1990) is a Guyanese-American actress. She is known for her role as Special Agent Kristen Chazal in the CBS series, "FBI".


title: Ebonée Noel

text: Ebonée Reigne Noel was born May 25, 1990 to Cheryl E. Noel and Patrick Wharton. Her parents are both Guyanese. Noel travelled with her mother who worked in numerous countries for the United Nations. Noel's grandfather was Frank Noel once permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade. Noel went to school in various countries but graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.


title: Ebonée Noel

text: Her television debut was in 2014 on "". In 2017, she starred in the Shonda Rhimes period drama series, "Still Star-Crossed", the show was cancelled after single season. She later appeared in Louis C.K.' comedy-drama film "I Love You, Daddy", and had a recurring role in the TBS sitcom "Wrecked".


title: Ebonée Noel

text: In 2018, Noel was cast in a series regular role of Special Agent Kristen Chazal in the CBS series, "FBI". She left the series after two seasons. In 2022, she went to star in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera, "The Kings of Napa" playing ambitious August King.


title: Aquilegia

text: Aquilegia (common names: granny's bonnet, columbine) is a genus of about 60–70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.


title: Aquilegia

text: The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin “Aquila”, or “eagle”; this is in obvious reference to the spurred, “hook” shapes within the blooms, that many gardeners say resemble an eagle's talons.


title: Aquilegia

text: Perennial herbs, with woody, erect stock, roots forming thick rhizomes. The basal leaves are compound, 1–3 ternate, blades 3-lobed -partite, and lobes lobulate and obtuse. The cauline leaves are similar to the basal ones, while the upper ones are bract like.


title: Aquilegia

text: The hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers are terminal to stem and branches. They are usually pentamerous (with five spreading perianth petaloid sepal segments). Five tubular honey-leaves are semi erect with a flat limb and spurred or saccate at the base. The spur is directed backwards and secretes nectar. Stamens are numerous (often more than 50) in whorls of 5, the innermost being scarious staminodes. There are ten membranaceous intrastaminal scales. There are five pistils and the Carpels are free.


title: Aquilegia

text: The fruit has several (five to 15) follicles which are semi erect and slightly connate downwards. These hold many seeds and are formed at the end of the pistils. The nectar is mainly consumed by long-beaked birds such as hummingbirds. Almost all "Aquilegia" species have a ring of staminodia around the base of the stigma, which may help protect against insects. Chromosome number is x=7.


title: Aquilegia

text: Columbines are closely related to plants in the genera "Actaea" (baneberries) and "Aconitum" (wolfsbanes/monkshoods), which like "Aquilegia" produce cardiogenic toxins.


title: Aquilegia

text: They are used as food plants by some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) caterpillars. These are mainly of noctuid moths – noted for feeding on many poisonous plants without harm – such as cabbage moth ("Mamestra brassicae"), dot moth ("Melanchra persicariae") and mouse moth ("Amphipyra tragopoginis"). The engrailed ("Ectropis crepuscularia"), a geometer moth, also uses columbine as a larval food plant. The larvae of the "Papaipema leucostigma" also feed on columbine.


title: Aquilegia

text: Plants in the genus "Aquilegia" are a major food source for "Bombus hortorum", a species of bumblebee. Specifically, they have been found to forage on species of "Aquilegia vulgaris" in Belgium and "Aquilegia chrysantha" in North America and Belgium. The bees do not show any preference in color of the flowers.


title: Aquilegia

text: Columbine is a hardy perennial, which propagates by seed. It will grow to a height of . It will grow in full sun; however, it prefers growing in partial shade and well drained soil, and is able to tolerate average soils and dry soil conditions. Columbine is rated at hardiness zone 3 in the United States so does not require mulching or protection in the winter.


title: Aquilegia

text: Large numbers of hybrids are available for the garden, since the European "A. vulgaris" was hybridized with other European and North American varieties.


title: Aquilegia

text: The British National Collection of "Aquilegia"s was held by Mrs Carrie Thomas at Killay near Swansea. Some time during or before 2014 the collection started to succumb to Aquilegia Downy Mildew "Peronospora aquilegiicola" which was at the time an emerging disease to which the plants had no resistance. By 2018 the entire collection had been lost. Aquilegia can be grown from seeds or rhizomes.


title: Aquilegia

text: The flowers of various species of columbine were consumed in moderation by Native Americans as a condiment with other fresh greens, and are reported to be very sweet, and safe if consumed in small quantities. The plant's seeds and roots, however, are highly poisonous and contain cardiogenic toxins which cause both severe gastroenteritis and heart palpitations if consumed as food. Native Americans used very small amounts of "Aquilegia" root as a treatment for ulcers. However, the medical use of this plant is better avoided due to its high toxicity; columbine poisonings may be fatal.


title: Aquilegia

text: An acute toxicity test in mice has demonstrated that ethanol extract mixed with isocytisoside, the main flavonoid compound from the leaves and stems of "Aquilegia vulgaris", can be classified as non-toxic, since a dose of 3000 mg/kg did not cause mortality.


title: Aquilegia

text: The Colorado blue columbine ("A. coerulea") is the official state flower of Colorado (see also Columbine, Colorado). It is also used as a symbol of the former city of Scarborough in the Canadian province of Ontario.


title: Aquilegia

text: Columbines have been important in the study of evolution. It was found that the Sierra columbine ("A. pubescens") and crimson columbine ("A. formosa") each has adapted specifically to a pollinator. Bees and hummingbirds are the visitors to "A. formosa", while hawkmoths would only visit "A. pubescens" when given a choice. Such a "pollination syndrome", being due to flower color and orientation controlled by their genetics, ensures reproductive isolation and can be a cause of speciation.


title: Aquilegia

text: "Aquilegia" petals show an enormous range of petal spur length diversity ranging from a centimeter to the 15 cm spurs of "Aquilegia longissima". Selection from pollinator shifts is suggested to have driven these changes in nectar spur length.


title: Aquilegia

text: It was shown that this spur length diversity is achieved solely through changing cell shape, not cell number or cell size. This suggests that a simple microscopic change can result in a dramatic evolutionarily relevant morphological change.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Nicholas David Dinsmore (born December 17, 1975), better known by his ring name Eugene, is an American professional wrestler.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Dinsmore's career began in 1996 in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he would become the OVW Heavyweight Champion a record eight times as well as the OVW Southern Tag Team Champion eleven times.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: He debuted in the WWE in 2004 under the name Eugene Dinsmore, Eric Bischoff's nephew, and an intellectually disabled wrestling savant. During his time in the company, he was involved in various storylines and competed against such wrestlers like Triple H and Kurt Angle. He also won the World Tag Team Championship with William Regal.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Dinsmore was eventually released in 2007, before returning to OVW, where he won the Heavyweight Championships two more times. He made a brief return to WWE in 2013, but he was released the next year. In 2015, he opened his own promotion, Midwest All Pro Wrestling.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Dinsmore debuted in 1996, and soon began wrestling in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA).


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: In Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), he formed a successful tag team with Rob Conway, called The Lords of The Ring. The team had a record ten reigns as Southern Tag Team Champions. Dinsmore also held the OVW Heavyweight Championship a record ten times. While still in OVW, Dinsmore also made some appearances as a jobber in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), first on an episode of Shotgun Saturday Night in 1999. He wrestled in the WWF as Doink the Clown on two later occasions, and as one half of Los Conquistadores (with Rob Conway).


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Dinsmore also appeared in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from August 1998 to January 1999, mainly used as a jobber on WCW Saturday Night he also worked on two episodes of "Thunder" (losing to Ernest Miller and Kanyon), and on two episodes of "Nitro" (first teaming with Lenny Lane to lose a handicap match to Scott Steiner, then losing a singles match to Wrath).


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On the April 5, 2004 episode of "Raw", Dinsmore made his World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) debut as Eugene. WWE wrote Eugene as the "special" and overly excited nephew of Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff, who had savant-like wrestling ability from watching his favorites on television, Dinsmore has described his portrayal of Eugene as being inspired by a trainer's autistic child and Dustin Hoffman's performance in the film "Rain Man". Bischoff soon placed him under the care of the newly returned William Regal. Although Regal was originally dispirited at having to manage Eugene, he would grow fond of him and the two would quickly become firm friends. In May 2004, Eugene began a feud with Jonathan Coachman, who attempted to banish him from WWE (only to be stopped by The Rock). The feud culminated in Eugene's pay-per-view debut, when he defeated Coachman at Bad Blood. Eugene then feuded with Triple H, which led to match at SummerSlam, which Eugene lost. Two weeks later on "Raw", they fought a no disqualification match, which Eugene won after interference from Randy Orton. The next week, they had a steel cage match, which Eugene lost and suffered a kayfabe dislocated shoulder, ending the feud.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: After taking a few weeks off to sell his injuries, he feuded with his uncle, Eric Bischoff. This led to a match at the first-ever Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view on October 19. The fan-chosen (via voting at WWE's website) stipulation for the match was that the loser would have his head shaved. Eugene won this match (with help from Mr. McMahon) and subsequently shaved Bischoff's head.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: With Regal, Eugene won his first and only championship in WWE, taking the World Tag Team Championship from La Résistance on the November 15 episode of "Raw". Eugene suffered an injury at New Year's Revolution on January 9, 2005, in a match with Christian and Tyson Tomko, after botching a dropkick. Although they won the match, he suffered a ruptured left patellar ligament, which required surgery and sidelined him for six months. This also cost him the World Tag Team Championship, which Regal lost to La Résistance when forced to defend at a house show on January 16, teamed with Jonathan Coachman as a substitute. During recovery, Eugene made a surprise appearance at WrestleMania 21, delivering a promo until being interrupted and attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. He would be saved by returning Hulk Hogan, after he attacked the villainous duo.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Eugene returned to wrestling on the July 25, 2005 episode of "Raw", taking part in Kurt Angle's regular "Kurt Angle Invitational" challenge. Eugene defeated Angle, winning his cherished Olympic gold medal (per match stipulation), and starting a feud between the two. The feud culminated at SummerSlam, where Angle defeated Eugene to regain his medal. Eugene then briefly teamed with Tajiri (who, incidentally, had also previously teamed with William Regal). The team lasted until Tajiri's release in December 2005.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: At Taboo Tuesday, Rob Conway teamed with Tyson Tomko to face Eugene and a "WWE Legend", to be chosen by the fans. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka was chosen over Kamala and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and pinned Conway with his Superfly Splash to win the match.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On November 18, 2005, WWE.com reported Dinsmore was rushed to the hospital the previous night, after passing out in a hotel lobby in Manchester, and was suspended indefinitely. Days later, WWE.com stated Dinsmore admitted to taking prescription drugs, including somas. This coincided with the announcement of WWE's new drug policy (established as a result of Eddie Guerrero's death from heart failure, aggravated by his history of drug abuse).


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Eugene made his return to WWE in the Royal Rumble match at the namesake event on January 29, 2006, as the eighteenth entrant. He was eliminated by Chris Benoit. At WrestleMania 22, Eugene competed in a preshow battle royal which was won by Viscera. Eugene briefly feuded with Matt Striker, after appearing in the "Matt Striker's Classroom" segment of Backlash on April 30, 2006. Striker ultimately defeated Eugene to end the feud. After appearing at ECW One Night Stand, Eugene formed a tag team with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. He challenged Umaga to a match at Vengeance and lost, despite having Duggan, Doink the Clown, and Kamala in his corner. He defeated Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon in a handicap match on the July 10 "Raw", after interference from D-Generation X. On the September 4 "Raw", Eugene and Duggan challenged World Tag Team Champions the Spirit Squad for the title, but were unsuccessful. The team split up on the November 6 "Raw". After losing a rematch to The Spirit Squad, Eugene attacked Duggan, turning heel. However, the angle was soon dropped and, before the end of the year, Eugene became a face again. After this, he wrestled mainly on the "Raw" B-show, "Heat".


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On the March 19, 2007 episode of "Raw", Eugene was forced into a match with Umaga, as a punishment for accidentally spilling a drink on Vince McMahon. After losing, McMahon shaved Eugene's head. Eugene wrestled on the June 2, 2007 "Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV", where he debuted a new "Superman-esque" wrestling attire. He teamed with Kane and Doink The Clown to defeat Kevin Thorn, Viscera, and Umaga.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On June 17, Eugene was drafted to the SmackDown! brand as their final pick of the 2007 Supplemental Draft. On the June 29 episode of "SmackDown!", Eugene debuted for the brand, losing to The Great Khali. The following week, he was tricked into thinking Deuce 'n Domino were helping him win his match against Mark Henry, which led to a quick defeat.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On the July 20 episode of "SmackDown!", Eugene participated in a battle royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, and was eliminated by Batista and Kane. Eugene made his final WWE appearance on the August 31 edition of "SmackDown!". While shooting T-shirts into the crowd via T-shirt gun, he accidentally shot Mark Henry. Henry retaliated by squeezing him with a bearhug until he passed out. On September 1, 2007, Nick Dinsmore was released from his WWE contract.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Dinsmore debuted in Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) in October 2007, as U-Gene. He returned in 2010, at the "Flashlight Wrestling: Legends & Loonies" event, and lost to Breyer Wellington. He became a full-time member of the roster the following year. He had a brief storyline in which he was infatuated with the wrestler Jailbird Man, inadvertently costing Jailbird his matches. U-Gene participated in JCW's first internet pay-per-view, Hatchet Attacks, where he defeated Raven. He formed a tag team with Zach Gowen at Up in Smoke, believing that he could be Gowen's second leg, but ended up costing his team the match by distracting the referee. On July 28, Gowen and U-Gene defeated the Ring Rydas to win the JCW Tag Team Championship. However, Gowen forfeited the championship after realizing that U-Gene cheated to win, causing U-Gene to attack him and disband the team. U-Gene defeated Gowen at Bloodymania 5, but the referee reversed the decision after realizing U-Gene cheated to win.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: In October 2007, Dinsmore became the head official in charge of Derby City Wrestling, the intermediate-level group affiliated with Ohio Valley Wrestling, after Joey Matthews left the position. He made some appearances in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC), as Eugene. Dinsmore wrestled for WFX Wrestling in Canada, in a role similar to the one he played in WWE, under the names "U-Gene" and "U-gene Dinsmore". He formed a tag team with Luke Williams, better known as one half of The Bushwhackers. He wrestled for Ring of Honor (as Nick Dinsmore) in a "Ring of Honor Wrestling" taping, against "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett. In 2009, he was part of Hulk Hogan's Australian tour, , where he wrestled as U-Gene.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: Dinsmore made his Ring of Honor debut on December 9, 2010, at ROH Wrestling tapings, losing to Mike Bennett. In December 2011, Dinsmore took part in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) India project, Ring Ka King as Dr. Nicholas Dinsmore. On July 27, Dinsmore, as "U-Gene", unsuccessfully challenged Freight Train for the 5 Dollar Wrestling championship in the main event of that promotion's internet PPV debut.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On February 20, 2008, Dinsmore returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) under his real name and defeated Jay Bradley to win his ninth Heavyweight Championship. He lost the title to Anthony Barvado on July 25, 2008. On October 26, 2011, Dinsmore defeated Jason Wayne to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship for the tenth time, turning heel in the process. Dinsmore lost the title to Rudy Switchblade seven days later in an Eight Man Melee, including Wayne, Adam Revolver, Ted McNaler, James Thomas, Rocco Bellagio and Mike Mondo.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: In July 2009, Dinsmore signed a contract to return to WWE. On August 1, Dinsmore (as Eugene) defeated Ricky Ortiz at a SmackDown/ECW house show in Manchester, New Hampshire. On the August 10 "Raw", Eugene returned to television, losing a Contract on a Pole match to The Calgary Kid, who afterwards removed his mask to reveal himself as The Miz. Four days later, Dinsmore was once again released from WWE, as a wrestler and a trainer. Dinsmore was re-hired by WWE on September 20, 2013, as trainer on NXT, and he lasted a year before he was released on October 2, 2014.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: On January 10, 2015, Dinsmore returned to wrestling, this time with the British promotion . He defeated Grado in his first match for the promotion. Dinsmore began running his own shows in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, under the banner of Midwest All Pro Wrestling. The first live event was held November 7, 2015. In December 2021, Dinsmore announced his retirement tour. He also sold Midwest All Pro Wrestling at the end of 2021.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: During his run with WWE, Dinsmore's character was "Eugene", an overly-excited and "special" person who could outwrestle anyone in the ring, based upon some people with intellectual disability. The idea of the gimmick came from then OVW trainer Rip Rogers, who inspired it from his autistic son.


title: Eugene (wrestler)

text: The "Eugene" gimmick received mixed reviews. Although WWE believed the gimmick would be a positive role model for mentally disabled people. However, the legacy of the gimmick has been criticised as being offensive towards people with intellectual disability.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi (also romanised as Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi) is an Emirati military general officer. He currently serves as the 30th president of Interpol and the inspector general of the United Arab Emirates' interior ministry.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: According to his website, Al-Raisi joined the Abu Dhabi police force in 1980 as a member of the "burglar alarm branch". He rose through the ranks to become General Director of Central Operations in 2005. He received a BSc in computer science from Otterbein University in 1986, a diploma in police management from the University of Cambridge in 2004, an MBA from Coventry University in 2010 and a doctorate from London Metropolitan University in 2013.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: He co-authored "Social & security impact of the internet", which was published by the Emirates Center For Strategic Studies and Research in 2009.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: Al-Raisi was appointed General Inspector of the interior ministry in 2015 and played a key role in the arrest of Matthew Hedges, a British academic accused of espionage by the UAE regime, in 2018. Human rights organisations say that Raisi oversees a "notoriously abusive" state security apparatus, which has misused the red notice system of Interpol.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: Al-Raisi was the official candidate of the United Arab Emirates to succeed Kim Jong Yang as President of Interpol in 2022. Accused of presiding over torture, his candidacy was strongly condemned by human rights groups. A coalition of 19 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Center for Human Rights, wrote an open letter to Interpol advising against his appointment. A report by David Calvert-Smith, a former chief prosecutor of the United Kingdom, said that Al-Raisi is unsuited to the post. Matthew Hedges asked members of Interpol not to consider Al-Raisi for the position.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: In June 2021, a criminal complaint was filed in Paris by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights against Al-Raisi. The complaint accuses him of being responsible for the torture of Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent UAE dissident arrested in 2017.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: Unusual for a normally opaque process, the UAE was promoting Al-Raisi by arranging his trips to the Interpol member countries to gain support, while he was viewed as an “international pariah”.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: Al-Raisi was sued in multiple countries. Rodney Dixon, the lawyer of Matthew Hedges and Ali Ahmad, raised a complaint with the Swedish police to arrest al-Raisi upon his arrival to the country, as part of his campaign tour before the vote. Hedges and Ahmad raised a similar request with the Norwegian police authorities asking them for help and to use the opportunity of al-Raisi’s visit to arrest him, if an investigation is opened.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: In November 2021, three members of the German parliament released a joint statement which said that electing Al-Raisi would endanger the reputation of Interpol and that the nomination violates the second article of Interpol's basic law. Thirty-five French legislators asked Emmanuel Macron to oppose Al-Raisi's candidacy in a letter. The United Arab Emirates rejected the German MP's concerns and said that they were proud of being "one of the safest countries in the world".


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: The election took place in Istanbul on 25 November with al-Raisi running against Šárka Havránková, a vice president of Interpol. Al-Raisi won after three rounds of voting and was elected for a four-year term with about 69% of votes. He is the first candidate from the Middle East to be elected president.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: The United Arab Emirates are the second-largest contributor to Interpol's budget, which has led to allegations that the UAE bought the outcome of the election. Al-Raisi's part-time role will be mostly ceremonial, a fact Interpol emphasised repeatedly. However, al-Raisi seems keen to change Interpol's policies. His campaign promise to increase the use of modern technology at Interpol was seen by some as a reference to the electronic surveillance tools used by authoritarian regimes. Writing for the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", called his election a reason for authoritarian countries to celebrate, as it would further erode the standing of human rights in international organisations. "The Guardian's" Ruth Michaelson characterised the election as a "big soft-power win" for the UAE.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: A lawyer representing Emirati human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, William Bourdon filed a torture complaint against Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi in a Paris court, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Held in solitary confinement, Mansoor had been described as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. The lawyers for Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad, who had accused al-Raisi of torture, also filed a criminal complaint with investigative judges of the specialised judicial unit for crimes against humanity and war crimes of the Paris Tribunal.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: On 25 January 2022, Serbian authorities extradited a Bahraini dissident, Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali, in cooperation with Interpol, under the presidency of Ahmed Naser al-Raisi. The decision came despite an injunction to postpone the extradition until 25 February by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei said violating the decision of ECHR indicates how "red lines will be crossed" under al-Raisi's leadership. He said the Interpol will be "complicit in any abuse faced by Ali".


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: In March 2022, a preliminary inquiry was opened by the French anti-terror prosecutors into al-Raisi’s acts of barbarism and torture. He was under torture allegations, which William Bourdon said were adequate to lift his “diplomatic immunity”, adding that the French prosecutors should have ordered his immediate arrest.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: In May 2022, Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad testified before the investigative judges of the specialised judicial unit for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Paris Tribunal. The two former detainees told the judge that Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi was responsible for the torture, to which they were subjected while in detention in the UAE. Ahmad said “al-Raisi is to blame, as he was the chief of police and the prison service” and that he was aware of what was happening to him in the prison.


title: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi

text: Al-Raisi is the chairman of the American University in the Emirates' board of trustees. He also chairs the board of directors of the Baniyas Club.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: The Great Gazoo or simply Gazoo is a fictional character from the animated series "The Flintstones". He first appeared on the show on October 29, 1965. The Great Gazoo was voiced by actor Harvey Korman.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: The Great Gazoo is a tiny, green, floating scientist who was exiled to earth from his home planet for inventing a Doomsday Device. Gazoo was discovered by Fred and Barney when his flying saucer crashed. Gazoo recognizes Fred and Barney's world as prehistoric Earth. Gazoo refers to Fred and Barney as "dumb dumbs" and constantly causes problems for them. He can materialize and dematerialize objects, teleport, freeze time, travel through time, de-age anyone, destroy the world, and perform other remarkable feats but when he attempts to help out Fred and Barney, he usually ends up causing even more trouble. The only people who are able to see Gazoo are Fred, Barney and the children; animals also can see him. A running gag is that Fred argues with Gazoo while Wilma believes that he is talking to himself. When their daughter, Pebbles, says "Gazoo", Wilma thinks Pebbles is sneezing.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: The creation of the Great Gazoo is attributed to writer Joanna Lee, who wrote more than 20 episodes of "The Flintstones". He was based on Bill Moore, a design teacher from CalArts. The first draft of the episode that introduced the Great Gazoo was originally entitled "The Wizard of Ogg" and Gazoo's original name was "Professor Ogg". Other proposed names for Gazoo were Rip van Zonk, Hocus the Pocus, Dr. Puckwuck, and Shagelbextyzinkus (Ol' Shaggy for short). In her original character description, Lee described Gazoo as "a mirror, reflecting life's vicissitudes, vagaries, ritual magic and dreary reality. Simply, [Gazoo] is life, brought home to our two favorite life participants, Fred and Barney".


title: The Great Gazoo

text: Because Gazoo is introduced into the show midway through the penultimate season and is considered by some to be an absurd character who alters the premise and dynamic of the show, he is often cited by fans and critics of the show as being an example of the show's having "jumped the shark". In all, Gazoo appeared in 49 episodes. His controversial personality is what got "The Flintstones" banned in Italy, Nunavut, Belarus, Tibet, and Saudi Arabia.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: Apart from the original TV series, he appears in many commercials for Pebbles cereal like one where he sends Fred somewhere where he can have all the Cocoa Pebbles he wants only for Barney to be brought there as Gazoo quotes "I don't play favorites". One particular commercial for Fruity Pebbles cereal commercial in 1998 had him as part of a promotion for a contest where consumers would have to try to find each of the 10 boxes of all-orange cereal pieces after Gazoo had taken all the orange from Bedrock. The prize for any who found the all-orange cereal pieces would win a trip to Florida. In 2003, Gazoo has become the mascot for Marshmallow Mania Pebbles cereal.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: In the 2000 film "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas", Gazoo (portrayed by Alan Cumming) is exiled to Earth by Gazaam the Mighty for his crazy hare-brained schemes. He then meets Fred and Barney after crashing near them, because of this he follows the duo for study while also the only ones who can see him. A running gag within the movie is that a person will mistakenly pronounce his name as "Kazoo".


title: The Great Gazoo

text: Gazoo appears in the 2016 DC Comics "Hanna-Barbera Beyond" series "The Flintstones", where he is human-sized, does not float, and was sent by bookie aliens to evaluate the human race with drugs. In this version "Great Gazoo" is a title that roughly translates to "drug warden".


title: The Great Gazoo

text: Gazoo appears in the "Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs" episode "Alien vs. Pebbles", voiced by Eric Bauza. In this episode, he first appears disguised as a mysterious futuristic alien creature who zapped the dinosaurs with his bubble laser, only to transport them to his spaceship jail. Only at the end of the episode, he is revealed to be the "Great Gazoo" who wanted to kill the prehistoric creatures.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: He makes a cameo appearance in "" amongst the crowd of other Hanna-Barbera characters and several other Warner Brothers characters watching the basketball game between the Toon Squad and the Goon Squad. When the characters were making their way to the site of the game, the Great Gazoo was seen briefly teleporting away from Muttley. During the basketball game, Gazoo can be seen floating near the Flintstones and the Rubbles.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: The Great Gazoo appears in "Jellystone!", voiced by Flula Borg in a German accent. He appears in the episode "Gotta Kiss Them All" as the sociopath host of the virtual reality game "BuddyBlasters". The Great Gazoo becomes a regular character in season 2.


title: The Great Gazoo

text: The character also makes a brief cameo appearance in the "Scooby-Doo" reunion special "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now!" that aired on The CW where he was voiced by Frank Welker. He was seen with Jabberjaw during the audition scene.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Hotel for Dogs is a 2009 American family comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal in his directorial debut, and based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. Starring Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle, the film tells the story of two orphaned siblings (living in foster care), who secretly take in stray dogs along with their family dog at a vacant hotel.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The film is Nickelodeon's second film to be produced by DreamWorks Pictures after "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" and the first Nickelodeon film ever to be produced outside of Paramount Pictures, which still distributed the film for DreamWorks. Shooting began in November 2007 and filming took place entirely in the cities of Los Angeles and Universal City, California. The dogs in the film were trained for several months before shooting began. Nearly eighty boys auditioned for the role of Bruce before Austin was ultimately selected. The film was released in theaters on January 16, 2009 by DreamWorks Pictures, and was a box office success grossing $117 million worldwide.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Orphans 16-year-old Andi and 12-year-old Bruce swindle a pawn shop owner in order to buy food for their dog, Friday. However, they are quickly caught and brought to the police station where they get picked up by their social worker Bernie Wilkins who takes them back to their foster parents, Lois and Carl Scudder, who do not appear to care for either Andi, Bruce, or their dog. Despite his sympathy for the siblings, Bernie warns them against deliberately getting into trouble in order to escape their foster parents.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The next morning, Friday leaves to look for food, only to be caught by Animal Control. Desperate and worried, Andi and Bruce go into a local pet shop to ask if anybody has seen him. They meet Dave and Heather, who advise them to check the pound. They learn that Friday is there but cannot be claimed without their parents present, so they bribe the guard to get Friday back. While walking home, they discover a gang of youths committing a crime, causing them to flee before the police arrive. They look for Friday who has taken shelter in an abandoned hotel, where they find a tiny Boston Terrier and an English Mastiff. They name them Georgia and Lenny and leave Friday at the hotel for the night.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The next day, Bruce stays at the hotel to keep the dogs quiet, while Andi heads to the same pet shop to get some food for the dogs, where she runs into Dave and Heather again. Andi lies to them that their parents often rescue dogs, causing Dave to ask her to take in three more dogs that nobody seems to want to adopt, which she reluctantly agrees. With six dogs to look after, the friends set about trying to get the hotel in a decent state to accommodate the dogs' needs, with help from a local boy named Mark (Troy Gentile), as they rescue more stray dogs to occupy the hotel.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Eventually, Dave invites Andi to a party, which she accepts. Meanwhile, Bruce ends up interrogated by Carl and Lois, having been caught stealing a hairdryer. The party is ruined for Andi when she bumps into Jason, an old acquaintance who reveals to everyone that she and Bruce are orphans. Bruce manages to escape his house, only to find out that the hotel has fallen into chaos. Lois and Carl follow him and the police are called. The dogs (including Friday) are found and sent to the Pound, while Bruce and Andi are taken away by the police. When Lois and Carl refuse to take Andi and Bruce back, Bernie is forced to send them to separate foster homes.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The dogs are all scheduled to be put down the next day, but Friday manages to escape. He rushes over to find Dave, Heather and Mark, who in turn, find Andi and Bruce. Meanwhile, Bernie explores the hotel where he finds a dog named Harley, who had managed to avoid getting caught by animal control the previous night. Bernie then realizes why the kids loved doing what they did. Andi and Bruce manage to break into the Pound and release the dogs in an attempt to get them across the county line, where they will be safe. However, the dogs instead make their way back towards the hotel, believing it to be their real home. The strange event attracts the attention of citizens, reporters and the police, who follow the dogs to the hotel, causing a large crowd to gather. Before the animal control officers attempt to capture the dogs again, Bernie appears and tells everyone about how Bruce and Andi managed to create a family of dogs and reveals Jake and Max's plans to them. He introduces all the dogs who live at the hotel and tells the heartfelt stories of their past owners, which wins over the crowd and the police allow the children to keep the dogs together.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: As people eagerly explore the hotel, Bernie reveals to an overjoyed Andi and Bruce that he and his wife have decided to adopt them. Sometime later, the hotel re-opens as a grand "Hotel For Dogs", where people can either adopt strays or board their dogs, while Andi, Bruce, and Friday happily settle into their new family.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The film rights to Lois Duncan's novel were acquired by DreamWorks in June 2005. According to Thor Freudenthal, DreamWorks first approached him about working on the film after a short film which he had worked on played at the Sundance Film Festival. Freudenthal said that DreamWorks "really embraced and responded to" the film and sent him an early version of the script. Nickelodeon Movies would also joined in to produce the film with DreamWorks. He was initially hesitant to sign onto the project, balking at the seemingly shallow title. However, he stated that after reading the script that he "realized you don't think much about the logistics involved" and saw deeper messages and more complex aspects of the film. Freudenthal was attracted to the "urban fairytale aspect" of the film, noting in an interview:


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: A producer of the film, Lauren Shuler Donner, is also an activist and dog lover, and was convinced that the book's message about the importance of family "made the novel an ideal property to bring to the big screen". Shuler Donner insisted that the movie "stand out from other family movies visually" and it was Freudenthal's background in animation that gave him an edge over other directors. According to her, "It was the way he framed shots, the way he moved the camera, the use of color, the use of light. He's very visually savvy and very specific." Much of the screenplay was handled by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, creators of "Kim Possible" for Disney Channel.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Emma Roberts was cast in August 2007 to play teenage older sister Andi. Freudenthal began his search for a young actress "who could carry a whole movie" and settled on then-16 year old Roberts. Ewan Leslie, a producer of the film, said in an interview of Roberts that she "is one of those young actors whose face just lights up the screen and she has the ability to play a wide range of emotions without any dialogue."


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Filmmakers conducted a nationwide search for an actor to play Bruce, Andi's whimsical and inventive younger brother. Jake T. Austin auditioned late, after nearly 80 other boys had tried out for the part. Jason Clark, another producer of the film, stated that Austin "was amazing on every level. He played the emotional beats very well, felt the role and also understood timing."


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The rest of the roles were cast in the following months. Don Cheadle, who plays Andi and Bruce's protective social worker, joined the film in September 2007. Lisa Kudrow was cast as the siblings' foster mother in October, and Johnny Simmons was cast that same month as Dave. Kyla Pratt was chosen to play Heather soon after.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The dogs were carefully cast as well. Filmmakers wanted a variety of breeds with different colors and facial structures "so that their look suggested their personality." Freudenthal said that he deliberately chose both very small and very large dogs to create a contrast similar to the characters of Lenny and George in the John Steinbeck novella "Of Mice And Men". The majority of the dogs cast were rescues. The lead dog, who plays Friday, was rescued about six months before shooting began. Crew members also helped to find adoptive homes for the abandoned dogs and several adopted dogs themselves.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: A Hollywood animal trainer, Mark Forbes, was hired to prepare the dogs before shooting began. Forbes and his team began working with the dogs about four months before shooting. Those dogs with no prior training were first taught basic commands, such as "sit" and "roll over." They were then trained to respond to more complex commands and learned to retrieve objects and to wave. The next phase of training involved using the dogs' body language to express emotions: sadness, for example, was conveyed when a dog tucked its tail between its legs. Finally, the dogs were taken to public places to review the commands that they had learned. The purpose of this was to ensure that the dogs would perform in any location. According to Forbes, "You want the dogs to sense that everything is fine and they'll still get their treat regardless of the location. The set becomes just another place for them to go." The trainers worked with the human actors as well to "familiarize them with how the dogs behave and create a comfort level between the human and the dog actors." The dogs were also trained to interact with the various gadgets in the film with early prototypes built by the special effects team.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri enlisted to create the various contraptions invented by Bruce throughout the film to keep the dogs fed. One such gadget is a device which can be operated by the dogs to throw a ball to be fetched.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Other devices built for the film include a feeding machine that drops food into each of the dogs' bowls on a timed schedule, a vending machine filled with shoes and other chew toys, a room filled with doors whose doorbells go off on their own, and another containing a replica of a car surrounded by fans which simulates for the dogs the experience of placing their heads through an open car window while driving.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: All of the contraptions were created using objects that might actually be found in an abandoned hotel, and in such a way that they looked like they had been created by a gifted 13-year-old boy.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: "Hotel for Dogs" was released in Puerto Rico on January 15, 2009, and in the United States on January 16, 2009, to 3,271 theaters. It earned $17,012,212 in its opening weekend, the 5th-highest-grossing film of that weekend behind "", "Gran Torino", and others. It remained in release for 19 weeks and earned a total of $116,983,275 worldwide. It is estimated to have earned $22,500,000 total over the four-day weekend.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Moviefone called the opening, "pretty good for a fairly anonymous little family film opening against a higher-profile family film." As of August 2011, the film has a reported box office gross of $73 million for the United States and $44 million internationally, for a total of $117 million.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on reviews from 123 critics, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's consensus stated: ""Hotel for Dogs" may appeal to children and dog lovers, but it's ultimately contrived, predictable and simplistic". On Metacritic, the film received a score of 51 out of 100, based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5 out of 4 stars and summed up his review by saying, "What I thought instead was, Marley has a lot he could learn from these dogs". Kent Turner, writing for "School Library Journal", stated that while the book is "utterly realistic", the film is "fantastic" and thus fundamentally different. Stephen Holden, writing for "The New York Times", wrote that the film "is loaded with enough stupid pet and human tricks to satisfy David Letterman for years to come".


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: A video game based on the film was released on January 13, 2009 for Microsoft Windows, Wii, and Nintendo DS and published by 505 Games.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The film was released on DVD on April 28, 2009. It sold 773,000 units in the first week, bringing in $13,584,527 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 1,778,736 DVD units have been sold, translating to more than $30 million in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales. The film was re-released on DVD on January 24, 2017.


title: Hotel for Dogs (film)

text: The score to "Hotel for Dogs" was composed by John Debney, who recorded his score at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Jared Gordon (born September 6, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist. He was the lightweight champion of Duelo De Gigantes in Mexico and featherweight champion for Cage Fury Fighting Championships in United States. He competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon was born and raised in Queens, New York. The grandson of late professional boxer Sal Ferello, Gordon started boxing and wrestling at a young age and he was obsessed with MMA when he was in high school. He found an MMA school, Combined MMA, and started training BJJ. Four months later, at age of 17, Gordon fought his first amateur MMA fight. He taught boxing and Muay Thai at Church Street Boxing in New York prior to turning professional. At the same gym he was trained by Jason Strout.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon is a recovered drug addict and would like to use the octagon as the platform to voice his support and give hope to those who suffer the same addiction.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon amassed a record of 12–1 prior joining UFC. He was the lightweight champion of Duelo De Giagantes in Mexico and featherweight champion for Cage Fury Fighting Championship in United States.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon was scouted by Dana White on UFC web series show "Dana White: Looking for a fight" second season episode two at Cage Fury Fighting Championships where Gordon won the Featherweight title that night. White was impressed with his performance and signed him onto UFC.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon was scheduled his promotional debut to face Michel Quiñones at UFC 211. However, Gordon pulled out of the fight on the day before the event due to stomach illness and the bout was rescheduled to June 25, 2017 at in Oklahoma City. At the weigh-in, Gordon missed the required featherweight limit for the fight of 146Ibs. As a result he was fined 20% of his pay, and the bouts proceeded at catchweight. Gordon secured his first UFC win on round two via TKO.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Hacran Dias at the lightweight bout on October 28, 2017 at . He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Carlos Diego Ferreira on February 18, 2018 at . He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. After the loss, Gordon decided to move to Milwaukee to train at Roufusport under Duke Roufus.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Joaquim Silva on December 15, 2018 at UFC on Fox 31. He lost the fight via knockout in round three. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award. Despite losing the two last fights of his rookie contract, he signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC after the Silva fight.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon was expected to face Leonardo Santos on November 16, 2019 at UFC Fight Night 164. However, Santos withdrew from the fight and was replaced by Charles Oliveira. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon was scheduled to face Matt Sayles on . However, on April 9, Dana White, the president of UFC announced that this event was postponed to a future date due to COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Chris Fishgold in a featherweight bout on July 16, 2020 at . At the weigh-ins, Fishgold weighed in at 149 pounds, 3 pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. He was fined 20% of he purse which went to Gordon and their bout proceeded at catchweight. Gordon won the fight via unanimous decision. With one fight left on his contract, Gordon subsequently signed a new contract with the UFC.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Danny Chavez on February 20, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 185. At the weigh-ins, Gorden weighed in at 150 pounds, four pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. He was fined 30% of his purse which went to his opponent Chavez and the bout proceed at catchweight. Gordon won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Joe Solecki on October 2, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 193. He won the fight via split decision.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon was scheduled to face Rafael Alves on April 30, 2022 at UFC on ESPN 35. However Alves withdrew from the event for undisclosed reasons and he was replace by Grant Dawson. He lost the bout via rear-naked choke late into the third round.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon faced Paddy Pimblett on December 10, 2022, at UFC 282. He lost the bout via unanimous decision. The decision was seen as controversial, as many media outlets, fighters, and fans expressed their belief that Gordon had won the fight. 23 out of 24 media sources scored the fight in his favor.


title: Jared Gordon

text: Gordon used prescription pain medication to manage his pain from an injury and led him to drug addiction at the age of 19 and by 21 he was addicted to heroin. At 23, he was homeless and panhandling in the streets to support his drug habit. At some point, Gordon managed to get into a rehab program and became clean. He returned to fighting soon after. His fight against Jeff Lentz ended with Gordon suffering a broken orbital bone in five places. Due to this injury, he was given pain medication to help him deal with his injured eye and he became addicted, ultimately leading to an overdose incident. Gordon managed to beat his drug addiction and stay sober by checking himself in rehab after the third overdose in his life in 2015 left him legally dead for two minutes. He is now a recovered drug addict.


title: Future plc

text: Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photography, home, and knowledge.


title: Future plc

text: Future was described by "The Guardian" in September 2022 as "one of Europe’s biggest and most successful digital media companies". Zillah Byng-Thorne has been CEO since 2014. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.


title: Future plc

text: The company was founded as Future Publishing in Somerton, Somerset, England, in 1985 by Chris Anderson with the sole magazine "Amstrad Action". An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers; they were the first company to do so. It acquired GP Publications so establishing Future US in 1994. From 1995 to 1997, the company published "Arcane", a magazine which largely focused on tabletop games.


title: Future plc

text: Anderson sold Future to Pearson plc for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, with Future chief executive Greg Ingham and Apax Venture Partners, for £142m. The company was the subject of an initial public offering in 1999. Anderson left Future in 2001.


title: Future plc

text: Future published the official magazines for the consoles of all three major games console manufacturers (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony); however "" ceased publishing in November 2012, and "Official Nintendo Magazine" ceased publishing in October 2014.


title: Future plc

text: The company had a period of abandoning print media properties in favour of digital media, closing many titles and selling off others. In January 2012, Future sold its U.S. consumer music magazines, including "Guitar World" and "Revolver", to NewBay Media for $3 million. In April 2013, it completed the sale of major components of its UK media-music brands for £10.2 million to Team Rock Ltd. In September 2013 – but bought these back for £800,000 in 2017 after Team Rock went into administration.


title: Future plc

text: In August 2013, Future acquired two Australian computing titles, "APC" and "TechLife" from Bauer Media Group.


title: Future plc

text: Future announced it would cut 55 jobs from its UK operation as part of a restructuring to adapt "more effectively to the company's rapid transition to a primarily digital business model." The company announced in March 2014 that it would close all of its U.S.-based print publications and shift U.S. print support functions such as consumer marketing, production and editorial leadership for Future's international print brands to the UK. Later in 2014, Future sold its sport and craft titles to Immediate Media, and its auto titles to Kelsey Media.


title: Future plc

text: In March 2014, it was announced that the company's CFO Zillah Byng-Thorne would become the company's fourth CEO in nine years on 1 April 2014, after Mark Wood, CEO since 2011, stepped down.


title: Future plc

text: In 2016, Future started to expand its print and web portfolio through a series of acquisitions. It bought Blaze Publishing to diversify into the shooting market and acquired Noble House Media to increase its interest in telecoms media. Future then completed the purchase of rival specialist magazine publisher Imagine on 21 October 2016 after receiving approval from the Competition and Markets Authority. In 2018, Future made further major acquisitions. It bought the "What Hi-Fi?", "FourFourTwo," "Practical Caravan" and "Practical Motorhome" brands from Haymarket. Future acquired NewBay Media, publisher of numerous broadcast, professional video, and systems integration trade titles, as well as several consumer music magazines. This acquisition returned most of the U.S. consumer music magazines to Future, with the exception of "Revolver" which had been sold to Project Group M LLC in 2017.


title: Future plc

text: It completed the acquisition of U.S. B2C publisher Purch for $132m by September 2018. Future also purchased nextmedia's computing and tech assets in Australia (including "Atomic", "Hyper", "PC PowerPlay", and "PC Tech & Authority") in the same month, and began incorporating "PC PowerPlay" articles into the online versions of "PC Gamer".


title: Future plc

text: In February 2019, Future acquired Mobile Nations including Android Central, iMore, Windows Central and Thrifter for $115 million. Future also acquired "ProCycling" and CyclingNews.com from Immediate Media.


title: Future plc

text: In July 2019, Future acquired SmartBrief (a digital media publisher of targeted business news and information) for an initial sum of $45 million.


title: Future plc

text: In April 2020, Future acquired TI Media, with 41 brands including "Decanter", "Country Life", "Wallpaper" and "Woman & Home", for £140 million. Future subsequently divested "Amateur Photographer" and "World Soccer" to Kelsey Media and Trusted Reviews to Incisive Media.


title: Future plc

text: In November 2020, Future agreed a £594m takeover of GoCo plc, known for its Gocompare.com price comparison website.


title: Future plc

text: In August 2021, it acquired 12 magazines, including "The Week" and "Computer Active", from Dennis Publishing.


title: Future plc

text: In January 2022, Future signed a deal with Spotlight Sports Group to get sports betting content. As per the deal, Future PLC will include odds-driven modules in content across its FourFourTwo brand. The modules are specifically designed to allow FourFourTwo to build new sports betting value.


title: Future plc

text: In May 2022, Future acquired the women’s lifestyle platform Who What Wear from the US company Clique Brands.


title: Future plc

text: Future's portfolio of brands skews heavily into technology and gaming, including "TechRadar", "PC Gamer", "Tom's Guide", "Tom's Hardware", "Marie Claire", "GamesRadar+", "CinemaBlend", "Android Central," and "Windows Central". As of October 2022, Comscore ranks Future as the 44th most popular media company among users from the United States, behind Conde Nast and Netflix.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Holocaust trains were railway transports run by the "" national railway system under the control of Nazi Germany and its allies, for the purpose of forcible deportation of the Jews, as well as other victims of the Holocaust, to the Nazi concentration, forced labour, and extermination camps.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The speed at which people targeted in the "Final Solution" could be exterminated was dependent on two factors: the capacity of the death camps to gas the victims and quickly dispose of their bodies, as well as the capacity of the railways to transport the victims from Nazi ghettos to extermination camps. The most modern accurate numbers on the scale of the "Final Solution" still rely partly on shipping records of the German railways.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The first mass deportation of Jews from Nazi Germany, the "Polenaktion", occurred in October 1938. It was the forcible eviction of German Jews with Polish citizenship fuelled by the "Kristallnacht". Approximately 30,000 Jews were rounded up and sent via rail to refugee camps.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Within various phases of the Holocaust, the trains were employed differently. At first, they were used to concentrate the Jewish populations in the ghettos, and often to transport them to forced labour and German concentration camps for the purpose of economic exploitation. In 1939, for logistical reasons, the Jewish communities in settlements without railway lines in occupied Poland were dissolved. By the end of 1941, about 3.5 million Polish Jews had been segregated and ghettoised by the "SS" in a massive deportation action involving the use of freight trains. Permanent ghettos had direct railway connections, because the food aid (paid for by Jews themselves) was completely dependent on the "SS", similar to all newly built labour camps. Jews were legally banned from baking bread. They were sealed off from the general public in hundreds of virtual prison-islands called "Jüdische Wohnbezirke" or "Wohngebiete der Juden". However, the new system was unsustainable. By the end of 1941, most ghettoised Jews had no savings left to pay the "SS" for further bulk food deliveries. The quagmire was resolved at the Wannsee conference of 20 January 1942 near Berlin, where the "Final Solution of the Jewish question" ("die Endlösung der Judenfrage") was set in place. It was a euphemism referring to the Nazi plan for the annihilation of the Jewish people.


title: Holocaust trains

text: During the liquidation of the ghettos starting in 1942, the trains were used to transport the condemned populations to death camps. To implement the "Final Solution", the Nazis made their own "Deutsche Reichsbahn" an indispensable element of the mass extermination machine, wrote historian Raul Hilberg. Although the prisoner trains took away valuable track space, they allowed for the mass scale and shortened duration over which the extermination needed to take place. The fully enclosed nature of the locked and windowless cattle wagons greatly reduced the number and skill of troops required to transport the condemned Jews to their destinations. The use of railroads enabled the Nazis to lie about the "resettlement program" and, at the same time, build and operate more efficient gassing facilities which required limited supervision.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The Nazis disguised their "Final Solution" as the mass "resettlement to the east". The victims were told they were being taken to labour camps in Reichskommissariat Ukraine. In reality, from 1942 on, for most Jews, deportations meant only death at either Bełżec, Chełmno, Sobibór, Majdanek, Treblinka, or Auschwitz-Birkenau. The plan was being realized in the utmost secrecy. In late 1942, during a telephone conversation, Hitler's private secretary Martin Bormann admonished Heinrich Himmler, who was informing him about 50,000 Jews already exterminated in a concentration camp in Poland. "They were not exterminated – Bormann screamed – only evacuated, evacuated, evacuated!", and slammed down the phone, wrote Enghelberg.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Following the Wannsee Conference of 1942, the Nazis began to murder Jews in large numbers at death camps, newly built as part of Operation Reinhard. Since 1941, the "Einsatzgruppen", mobile extermination squads, were already conducting mass shootings of Jews in Eastern Europe. The Jews of Western Europe were either deported to ghettos emptied through mass killings, such as the Rumbula massacre of the inhabitants of the Riga Ghetto, or sent directly to Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibór, extermination camps built in spring and summer of 1942 only for gassing. Auschwitz II Birkenau gas chambers began operating in March. The last death camp, Majdanek, began operating them in late 1942.


title: Holocaust trains

text: At Wannsee, the SS estimated that the "Final Solution" could ultimately eradicate up to 11 million European Jews; Nazi planners envisioned the inclusion of Jews living in neutral and non-occupied countries such as Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Deportations on this scale required the coordination of numerous German government ministries and state organisations, including the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the Reich Transport Ministry, and the Reich Foreign Office. The RSHA coordinated and directed the deportations; the Transport Ministry organized train schedules; and the Foreign Office negotiated with German-allied states and their railways about "processing" their own Jews.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The first trains with German Jews expelled to ghettos in occupied Poland began departing from central Germany on 16 October 1941. Called "Sonderzüge" (special trains), the trains had low priority for the movement and would proceed to the mainline only after all other transports went through, inevitably extending transport time beyond expectations.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The trains sometimes consisted of third class passenger carriages, but more commonly freight cars or cattle cars; the latter packed with up to 150 deportees, although 50 was the number proposed by the "SS" regulations. No food or water was supplied. The "Güterwagen" boxcars were fitted with only a bucket latrine. A small barred window provided irregular ventilation, which oftentimes resulted in multiple deaths from either suffocation or exposure to the elements.


title: Holocaust trains

text: At times, the Germans did not have enough filled cars ready to start a major shipment of Jews to the camps, so the victims were kept locked inside overnight at layover yards. The Holocaust trains also waited for military trains to pass. An average transport took about four days. The longest transport of the war, from Corfu, took 18 days. When the train arrived at the camp and the doors were opened, everyone was already dead.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The SS built three extermination camps in occupied Poland specifically for Operation Reinhard: Bełżec, Sobibór, and Treblinka. They were fitted with identical mass killing installations disguised as communal shower rooms. In addition, gas chambers were developed in 1942 at the Majdanek concentration camp, and at Auschwitz II-Birkenau. In the German-occupied USSR, at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp, shootings were used to kill victims in the woods. At Chełmno, victims were killed in gas vans, whose redirected exhaust fed into sealed compartments at the rear of the vehicle. These were used at Maly Trostenets as well. Neither of these two camps had international rail connections; therefore, the trains stopped at the nearby Łódź Ghetto and Minsk Ghetto, respectively. From there, the prisoners were taken by trucks. At Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor, the killing mechanism consisted of a large internal-combustion engine delivering exhaust fumes to gas chambers through pipes. At Auschwitz and Majdanek, the gas chambers relied on Zyklon B pellets of hydrogen cyanide, poured through vents in the roof from cans sealed hermetically.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Once off the transports, the prisoners were split by category. The old, the young, the sick and the infirm were sometimes separated for immediate death by shooting, while the rest were prepared for the gas chambers. In a single 14-hour workday, 12,000 to 15,000 people would be killed at any one of these camps. The capacity of the crematoria at Birkenau was 20,000 bodies per day.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The standard means of transport was a freight car, although third class passenger carriages were also used when the SS wanted to keep up the "resettlement to work in the East" myth, particularly in the Netherlands and in Belgium. The SS manual covered such trains, suggesting a carrying capacity per each trainset of 2,500 people in 50 cars, each boxcar loaded with 50 prisoners. In reality, however, boxcars were routinely loaded to 200% of capacity, or 100 people per car. This resulted in an average of 5,000 people per trainset. During the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka in 1942, trains carried up to 7,000 victims each.


title: Holocaust trains

text: In total, over 1,600 trains were organised by the Reich Ministry of Transport, and logged mainly by the Polish state railway company taken over by Germany, due to the majority of death camps being located in occupied Poland. Between 1941 and December 1944, the official date of the closing of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex, the transport/arrival timetable was 1.5 trains per day: 50 freight cars × 50 prisoners per freight car × 1,066 days = ~4,000,000 prisoners in total.


title: Holocaust trains

text: On 20 January 1943, Heinrich Himmler sent a letter to Albert Ganzenmüller, the Under-secretary of State at the Reich Transport Ministry, requesting: "need your help and support. If I am to wind things up quickly, I must have more trains." Of the estimated six million Jews exterminated during World War II, two million were murdered on the spot by the military, "Waffen-SS", Order Police battalions and mobile death squads of the "Einsatzgruppen" aided by and the local auxiliary police. The remainder were shipped to their deaths elsewhere.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Most Jews were forced to pay for their own deportations, particularly wherever passenger carriages were used. This payment came in the form of direct money deposit to the SS in light of the "resettlement to work in the East" myth. Charged in the ghettos for accommodation, adult Jews paid full price one-way tickets, while children under 10–12 years of age paid half price, and those under four went free. Jews who had run out of money were the first to be deported.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The SS forwarded part of this money to the German Transport Authority to pay the German Railways for transport of the Jews. The "Reichsbahn" was paid the equivalent of a third class railway ticket for every prisoner transported to his or her destination: 8,000,000 passengers, 4 Pfennig per track kilometer, times 600 km (average voyage length), equaled 240 million Reichsmarks.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The "Reichsbahn" pocketed both this money and its own share of the cash paid by the transported Jews after the "SS" fees. According to an expert report established on behalf of the German "Train of Commemoration" project, the receipts taken in by the state-owned "Deutsche Reichsbahn" for mass deportations in the period between 1938 and 1945 reached a sum of US$664,525,820.34.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Powered mainly by efficient steam locomotives, the Holocaust trains were kept to a maximum of 55 freight cars on average, loaded from 150% to 200% capacity. The participation of German State Railway (the "Deutsche Reichsbahn") was crucial to the effective implementation of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". The DRB was paid to transport Jews and other victims of the Holocaust from thousands of towns and cities throughout Europe to meet their death in the Nazi concentration camp system.


title: Holocaust trains

text: As well as transporting German Jews, DRB was responsible for coordinating transports on the rail networks of occupied territories and Germany's allies. The characteristics of organized concentration and transportation of victims of the Holocaust varied by country.


title: Holocaust trains

text: After Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, all Jews were forced to register with the police as of 28 October 1940. The lists enabled Belgium to become the first country in occupied Western Europe to deport recently immigrating Jews. The implementation of the "Final Solution" in Belgium centred on the Mechelen transit camp (Malines) chosen because it was the hub of the Belgian National Railway system. The first convoy left Mechelen for extermination camps on 22 July 1942, although nearly 2,250 Jews had already been deported as forced laborers for to Northern France. By October 1942, some 16,600 people had been deported in 17 convoys. At this time, deportations were temporarily halted until January 1943. Those deported in the first wave were not Belgian citizens, resulting from the intervention by Queen Elisabeth with the German authorities. In 1943, the deportations of Belgians resumed.


title: Holocaust trains

text: In September, Jews with Belgian citizenship were deported for the first time. After the war, the collaborator Felix Lauterborn stated in his trial that 80 percent of arrests in Antwerp used information from paid informants. In total, 6,000 Jews were deported in 1943, with another 2,700 in 1944. Transports were halted by the deteriorating situation in occupied Belgium before the liberation.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The percentages of Jews which were deported varied by location. It was highest in Antwerp, with 67 percent deported, but lower in Brussels (37 percent), Liége (35 percent) and Charleroi (42 percent). The main destination for the convoys was Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland. Smaller numbers were sent to Buchenwald and Ravensbrück concentration camps, as well as Vittel concentration camp in France. In total, 25,437 Jews were deported from Belgium. Only 1,207 of these survived the war.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The only time during World War II that a Holocaust train carrying Jewish deportees from Western Europe was stopped by the underground happened on 19 April 1943, when the Transport No. 20 left Mechelen with 1,631 Jews, heading for Auschwitz. Soon after leaving Mechelen, the driver stopped the train after seeing an emergency red light, set by the Belgians. After a brief fire fight between the Nazi train guards and the three resistance members – equipped only with one pistol between them – the train started again. Of the 233 people who attempted to escape, 26 were shot on the spot, 89 were recaptured, and 118 got away.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Bulgaria joined the Axis powers in March 1941 and took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. The Bulgarian government set up transit camps in Skopje, Blagoevgrad and Dupnitsa for the Jews from the former Serbian province of Vardar Banovina and Thrace (today's North Macedonia and Greece). The "deportations to the east" of 13,000 inmates, mostly to Treblinka extermination camp began on 22 February 1943, predominantly in passenger cars. In four days, some 20 trainsets departed under severely overcrowded conditions to occupied Poland requiring each train to stop daily to dump the bodies of Jews who died during the previous 24 hours. In May 1943, the Bulgarian government led by King Boris III expelled 20,000 Jews from Sofia and at the same time, made plans to deport Bulgaria's Jews to the camps pursuant to an agreement with Germany. A Holocaust train from Thrace was witnessed by Stefan I, the Metropolitan Bishop of Sofia, who was shocked by what he saw. Ultimately, the Jews of Bulgaria proper were not deported.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Czechoslovakia was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939. Within the new ethnic-Czech Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) were taken over by the "Reichsbann" and the new German railway company "Böhmisch-Mährische Bahn" (BMB) was set up in its place. Three-quarters of Bohemian and Moravian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, of whom 33,000 died in Theresienstadt Ghetto. The remainder were transported in Holocaust trains from Theresienstadt mainly to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The last train for Birkenau left Theresienstadt on 28 October 1944 with 2,038 Jews of whom 1,589 were immediately gassed.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The French national SNCF railway company under the Vichy Government was involved in the "Final Solution". In total, the Vichy government deported more than 76,000 Jews, without food or water (pleaded for by the Red Cross in vain), as well as thousands of other so-called undesirables to German-built concentration and extermination camps aboard the Holocaust trains, pursuant to an agreement with the German government; fewer than 3 percent survived the deportations. According to Serge Klarsfeld, president of the organization Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France, SNCF was forced by German and Vichy authorities to cooperate in providing transport for French Jews to the border and did not make any profit from this transport. However, in December 2014, SNCF agreed to pay up to $60 million worth of compensation to Holocaust survivors in the United States. It corresponds to approximately $100,000 per survivor.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Drancy internment camp served as the main transport hub for the Paris area and regions west and south thereof until August 1944, under the command of Alois Brunner from Austria. By 3 February 1944, 67 trains had left from there for Birkenau. Vittel internment camp served the northeast, closer to the German border from where all transports were taken over by German agents. By 23 June 1943, 50,000 Jews had been deported from France, a pace that the Germans deemed too slow. The last train from France left Drancy on 31 July 1944 with over 300 children.


title: Holocaust trains

text: After the invasion, Greece was divided between the Italian, Bulgarian, and the German zones of occupation until September 1943. Most Greek Jews lived in Thessaloniki (Salonika) ruled by Germany, where the collection camp was set up for the Jews also from Athens and the Greek Islands. From there 45,000–50,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau between March and August 1943, packed 80 to a wagon. There were also 13,000 Greek Jews in the Italian, and 4,000 Jews in the Bulgarian zone of occupation. In September 1943, the Italian zone was taken over by the Third Reich.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Overall, some 60,000–65,000 Greek Jews were deported in Holocaust trains by the "SS" to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Dachau and the subcamps of Mauthausen before the war's end, including over 90% of Thessaloniki's prewar population of 50,000 Jews. Of these, 5,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka from the regions of Thrace and from Macedonia in the Bulgarian share of the partitioned Greece, where they were gassed upon arrival.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Under Hungarian control, the number of Jews officially increased to 725,007 by 1941. Of this total, 184,453 Jews lived in Budapest. While in alliance with Nazi Germany, Hungary acquired new provinces at both the First and the Second Vienna Awards (1938; 1940). The Hungarian Army received vital help from the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) in Northern Transylvania (Erdély). The non-native Jews were expelled from the Hungarian territory; some 20,000 were transported to occupied Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, while the Transylvanian Jews were sent back to Romania. Hungary took part in Operation Barbarossa, supplying 50,000 Jewish slave labour for the Eastern Front. Most of the workers were dead by January 1943. Later that year, Hitler discovered that Prime Minister Miklos Kállay secretly conferred with the Western Allies. To stop him, Germany launched the Operation Margarethe in March 1944, and took over control of all Jewish affairs. On 29 April 1944, the first deportation of Hungarian Jews to Birkenau took place. Between 15–25 May according to "SS-Brigadeführer" Edmund Veesenmayer 138,870 Jews had been deported. On 31 May 1944, Veesenmayer reported an additional 60,000 Jews sent to the camps in six days, while the total for the past 16 days stood at 204,312 victims. Between May and July 1944, helped by Hungarian police, the German "Sicherheitspolizei" deported nearly 440,000 Hungarian Jews, mainly to Auschwitz-Birkenau,<ref name="Hungary/Yad Vashem">Yad Vashem, Hungarian Jewry at "Holocaust History".</ref> or 437,000 at the rate of 6,250 per day.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Approximately 320,000 Hungarian Jews are estimated to have been murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau before July 1944. On 8 July, the deportation of Jews from Hungary had stopped due to international pressure by the Pope, the King of Sweden, and the Red Cross (all of whom had recently learned about the extent of it). However, in October 1944 some 50,000 Jews were forced on a death march to Germany following a coup d'état which put the Hungarian pro-Nazi government back in control. They were forced to dig anti-tank ditches on the road westward. A further 25,000 Jews were put in an "international ghetto" under Swedish protection engineered by Carl Lutz and Raoul Wallenberg. When the Soviet Army liberated Budapest on 17 January 1945, of the original 825,000 Jews in the country,<ref name="JVL/Hungary">Rebecca Weiner, Hungary Virtual Jewish History Tour "Jewish Virtual Library".</ref> less than 260,000 Jews were still alive, including 80,000 Hungarian natives.<ref name="ind09/96"></ref>


title: Holocaust trains

text: The popular view that Benito Mussolini resisted the deportation of Italian Jews to Germany is widely seen as simplistic by Jewish scholars, because the Italian Jewish community of 47,000 constituted the most assimilated Jews in Europe. About one out of every three Jewish males were members of the Fascist Party before the war began; more than 10,000 Jews who used to conceal their identity, because antisemitism was part of the very ideal of "italianità", wrote Wiley Feinstein.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The Holocaust came to Italy in September 1943 after the German takeover of the country due to its total capitulation at Cassibile. By February 1944, the Germans shipped 8,000 Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Austria and Switzerland, although more than half of the victims arrested and deported from northern Italy were rounded up by the Italian police and not by the Nazis. Also between September 1943 and April 1944, at least 23,000 Italian soldiers were deported to work as slaves in German war industry, while over 10,000 partisans were captured and deported during the same period to Birkenau. By 1944, there were over half a million Italians working for the benefit of the German war machine.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The Netherlands was invaded on 10 May 1940 and fell under German military control. The community of native-Dutch Jews including the new Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria was estimated at 140,000. Most natives were concentrated in the Amsterdam ghetto before being moved to Westerbork transit camp in the north-east near the German border. Deportees for "resettlement" leaving aboard the NS passenger and freight trains were unaware of their final destination or fate, as postcards were often thrown from moving trains.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Most of the approximately 100,000 Jews sent to Westerbork perished. Between July 1942 and September 1944 almost every Tuesday a train left for Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sobibor extermination camps, or Bergen-Belsen and Theresienstadt, in 94 outgoing trains. About 60,000 prisoners were sent to Auschwitz and 34,000 to Sobibor. At liberation approximately 870 Jews remained in Westerbork. Only 5,200 deportees survived, most of them in Theresienstadt, approximately 1980 survivors, or Bergen-Belsen, approximately 2050 survivors. From those on the sixty-eight transports to Auschwitz 1052 people returned, including 181 of the 3450 people taken from eighteen of the trains at Cosel. There were 18 survivors out of approximately one thousand people selected from the nineteen trains to Sobibor, the remainder being murdered on arrival. For the Netherlands, the overall survival rate among Jews who boarded the trains for all camps was 4.86 percent. On 29 September 2005, the Dutch national rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) apologised for its role in the deportation of Jews to the death camps.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Norway surrendered to Nazi Germany on 10 June 1940. At the time, there were 1,700 Jews living in Norway. About half of them escaped to neutral Sweden. Round ups by the SS began in the fall of 1942 with support of the Norwegian police. In late November 1942, all Jews of Oslo including women and children were put on a ship requisitioned by the Quisling government and taken to Hamburg, Germany. From there, they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau by train. In total, 770 Norwegian Jews were sent by boat to Germany between 1940 and 1945. Only two dozen survived.<ref name="ushmm/nor"></ref>


title: Holocaust trains

text: Following invasion of Poland in September 1939 Nazi Germany disbanded the Polish National Railways (PKP) immediately, and handed over their assets to the "Deutsche Reichsbahn" in Silesia, Greater Poland and in Pomerania. In November 1939, as soon as the semi-colonial General Government was set up in occupied central Poland, a separate branch of DRB called "Generaldirektion der Ostbahn" ("Kolej Wschodnia" in Polish) was established with headquarters called GEDOB in Kraków; all of the DRB branches existed outside Germany proper. The "Ostbahn" was granted of railway lines (nearly doubled by 1941) and 505 km of narrow gauge, initially.


title: Holocaust trains

text: In December 1939, on the request of Hans Frank in Berlin, the "Ostbahndirektion" was given financial independence after paying back 10 million Reichsmarks to DRB. The removal of all bomb damage was completed in 1940. The Polish management was either executed in mass shooting actions (see: the 1939 "Intelligenzaktion" and the 1940 German AB-Aktion in Poland) or imprisoned at the Nazi concentration camps. Managerial jobs were staffed with German officials in a wave of some 8,000 instant promotions. The new Eastern Division of DRB acquired of new railway lines and 1,052 km of (mostly industrial) narrow gauge in the annexed areas.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The "Deutsche Reichsbahn" acquired new infrastructure in Poland worth in excess of 8,278,600,000 złoty, including some of the largest locomotive factories in Europe, the H. Cegielski – Poznań renamed DWM, and Fablok in Chrzanów renamed "Oberschlesische Lokomotivwerke" Krenau producing engines Ty37 and Pt31 (designed in Poland), as well as the locomotive parts factory Babcock-Zieleniewski in Sosnowiec renamed Ferrum AG (tasked with making parts to V-1 i V-2 rockets also). Under the new management, formerly Polish companies began producing German engines BR44, BR50 and BR86 as early as 1940 virtually for free, using forced labor. All Polish railwaymen were ordered to return to their place of work, or face death. Beating with fists became commonplace, although perceived as shocking by Polish professionals. Their public executions were introduced in 1942. By 1944, the factories in Poznań and Chrzanów were mass-producing the redesigned "Kriegslok" BR52 locomotives for the Eastern front, all stripped of coloured metals by the rule with intentionally shortened lifespan.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Before the onset of Operation Reinhard which marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust in Poland many Jews were transported by road to killing sites such as the Chełmno extermination camp, equipped with gas vans. In 1942, stationary gas chambers were built at Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Majdanek and Auschwitz. After the Nazi takeover of PKP, the train movements, originating inside and outside occupied Poland and terminating at death camps, were tracked by Dehomag using IBM-supplied card-reading machines and traditional waybills produced by the "Reichsbahn". The Holocaust trains were always managed and directed by native German SS men posted with that express' role throughout the system.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The transports to camps under Operation Reinhard came mainly from the ghettos. The Warsaw Ghetto in the General Government held eventually over 450,000 Jews cramped in an area meant for about 60,000 people. The second-largest Ghetto in Łódź held 204,000 Jews. Both ghettos had collection points known as "Umschlagplatz" along the rail tracks, with most deportations from Warsaw to Treblinka taking place between 22 July through to 12 September 1942. The gassing at Treblinka started on 23 July 1942, with two pendulum trains delivering victims six days each week ranging from about 4,000 to 7,000 victims per transport, the first in the early morning and the second in the mid-afternoon. All new arrivals were sent immediately to the undressing area by the "Sonderkommando" squad that managed the arrival platform, and from there to the gas chambers. According to German records, including the official report by "SS" "Brigadeführer" Jürgen Stroop, some 265,000 Jews were transported in freight trains from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during this period. The murder operation code-named Grossaktion Warsaw concluded several months before the subsequent Warsaw Ghetto Uprising resulting in new deportations. The 1942 Höfle Telegram of the total number of victims most of whom were transported by train to Operation Reinhard death camps, including cumulative numbers known today, is as follows:


title: Holocaust trains

text: The Höfle Telegram lists the number of arrivals to the Reinhard camps through 1942 as 1,274,166 Jews based on "Reichsbahn" own records. The last train to be sent to Treblinka extermination camp left Białystok Ghetto on 18 August 1943; all prisoners were murdered in gas chambers after which the camp closed down per Globocnik's directive. Of the more than 245,000 Jews who passed through the Łódź Ghetto, the last 68,000 inmates, by then the largest final gathering of Jews in all of German-occupied Europe, had been liquidated by the Nazis after 7 August 1944. They were told to prepare for resettlement; instead, over the next 23 days they were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau by train at the rate of 2,500 per day.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Căile Ferate Române (Romanian Railways) were involved in the transport of Jewish and Romani people to concentration camps in Romanian Old Kingdom, Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and Transnistria. In a notable example, after the Iasi pogrom events, Jews were forcibly loaded onto freight cars with planks hammered in place over the windows and traveled for seven days in unimaginable conditions. Many died and were gravely affected by lack of air, blistering heat, lack of water, food or medical attention. These veritable "death trains" arrived to their destinations Podu Iloaiei and Călăraşi with only one-fifth of their passengers alive. No official apology was released yet by Căile Ferate Române for their role in the Holocaust in Romania.


title: Holocaust trains

text: On 9 September 1941, the parliament of the Slovak State ratified the Jewish Codex, a series of laws and regulations that stripped Slovakia's 89,000 Jews of their civil rights and means of economic survival. The ruling Slovak People’s Party paid 500 Reichsmarks per expelled Jew, in exchange for a promise that the deportees would never return to Slovakia. Except for Croatia, Slovakia was the only Axis ally to pay for the deportation of its own Jewish population. Most of the Jewish population perished in two waves of deportations. The first, in 1942, took away two-thirds of the Slovak Jews; the second wave after the Slovak National Uprising in 1944 claimed another 13,500 victims, 10,000 of whom did not return.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Switzerland was not invaded because its mountain bridges and tunnels between Germany and Italy were too vital for them to go into war, while the Swiss banks provided necessary access to international markets by dealing in pilfered gold. Most war supplies to Italy were shipped through the Austrian Brenner Pass.


title: Holocaust trains

text: There exists substantial evidence that these shipments included Italian forced labour workers and trainloads of Jews in 1944 during the German occupation of northern Italy, when a German train passed through Switzerland every 10 minutes. The need for the tunnel was complicated by the British Royal Air Force having bombed and disrupted services through the Brenner Pass, as well as a heavy snowfall in the winter of 1944–45. Of 43 trains that could be tracked down by the 1996 Bergier Commission, 39 went via Austria (Brenner, Tarvisio), one via France (Ventimiglia-Nice). The commission could not find any evidence that the other three passed through Switzerland. It is possible that the train could have been carrying dissidents back from concentration camps. Started in 1944, some repatriation trains went through Switzerland officially, organised by the Red Cross.


title: Holocaust trains

text: After the Soviet Army began to advance into German-occupied Europe and the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, the number of trains and transported persons began to vary greatly. By November 1944, with the closure of Birkenau, the death trains had ceased. As the Soviet and Allied Armies made their final pushes, the Nazis transported some of the concentration camp survivors either to other camps located inside the collapsing Third Reich, or to the border areas where they believed they could negotiate the release of captured German prisoners of War in return for the "Exchange Jews" or those that were born outside the German-occupied territories. Many of the inmates were transported via the infamous death marches, but among other transports three trains left Bergen-Belsen in April 1945 bound for Theresienstadt—all were liberated.


title: Holocaust trains

text: The last recorded train is the one used to transport the women of the Flossenbürg March, where for three days in March 1945 the remaining survivors were crammed into cattle cars to await further transport. Only 200 of the original 1000 women survived the entire trip to Bergen-Belsen.


title: Holocaust trains

text: There are numerous national commemorations of the mass transportation of Jews in the "Final Solution" across Europe, as well as some lingering controversies surrounding the history of the railway systems utilized by the Nazis.


title: Holocaust trains

text: In 1992, SNCF commissioned a report on its involvement in World War II. The company opened its archives to an independent historian, Christian Bachelier, whose report was released in French in 2000. It was translated to English in 2010.


title: Holocaust trains

text: In 2001, a lawsuit was filed against French government-owned rail company SNCF by Georges Lipietz, a Holocaust survivor, who was transported by SNCF to the Drancy internment camp in 1944. Lipietz was held at the internment camp for several months before the camp was liberated. After Lipietz's death the lawsuit was pursued by his family and in 2006 an administrative court in Toulouse ruled in favor of the Lipietz family. SNCF was ordered to pay 61,000 Euros in restitution. SNCF appealed the ruling at an administrative appeals court in Bordeaux, where in March 2007 the original ruling was overturned. According to historian Michael Marrus, the court in Bordeaux "declared the railway company had acted under the authority of the Vichy government and the German occupation" and as such could not be held independently liable.


title: Holocaust trains

text: Between 2002 and 2004 the SNCF helped fund an exhibit on deportation of Jewish children that was organized by Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld. In 2011, SNCF helped set up a railway station outside of Paris to a Shoah Foundation for the creation of a memorial to honor Holocaust victims. In December 2014, the company came to a $60 million compensation settlement with French Holocaust survivors living in the United States.