The force of destiny has intrigued philosophers, authors, theologians and perhaps all of us in some way,

1. DAYS OF DESTINY
November 9, Deutschlands “Schicksalstag” –
Day of Destiny

2. A Note on Robert Blum, Martyred in Pursuit of the Cause of German
Democratic Reform on November 9, 1848. Memorial tablet at

3. "Fischmarkt" in Cologne where Robert Blum was born Inscript: "Born at
this place on November 10 in 1807, shot at Vienna on November 9,
1848; I die for the German liberty that I fought for. May the fatherland
remember me."
November 9 has become widely known as Germany’s Schicksalstag, ‘day of
destiny,’ particularly after the fall of the Berlin Wall on that date in 1989. This
propitious event broke the chain of calamitous events that had also taken place
on the 9th
of November for on the same date in the year 1918 the establishment
of the ill-fated Weimar German Republic was proclaimed. In 1923 it was on this
that date Hitler and Ludendorff mounted an attempt to overthrow the same
Republic and, most ominously, the so-called Reichs-Kristallnacht fell on the 9th
of
November in 1938, this being the state-organized destruction of synagogues and
Jewish property that pointed foreshadowed the Holocaust. Add to all this a less
well known date in German history, the execution of Robert Blum in Vienna
in1848, which marked the crushing of the first opportunity for the establishment
of a democratic framework within which German states could work together
towards peace, security and ultimate unity.
Robert Blum was born on November 9, 1807 in Cologne. His family circumstances
were harsh but after working in various trades he found secure employment in a
theatre company and then scope for self-education and the development of
writing skills which included writing poetry dedicated to the cause of liberty and
social justice. His political involvement brought him into leading positions within
the movement towards political and constitutional reform of the German
Confederation and promoted him to the office of delegate to the Diet of 1848
held in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, where he played a prominent and influential
role. He was a ‘Radical Liberal’ in terms of the party-political spectrum of the
times but he was in no sense an extremist or demagogue. He eschewed Prussian
ethnocentric militarism, recourse to violence as a vehicle of protest and remained
a Catholic, through one who rejected certain forms of rigid authoritarianism and
clerical intransigence. He went to Vienna during an outburst or revolutionary
foment which provoked a severe counterrevolutionary reaction. The regime
arrested Blum on charges of terrorist activity and despite his right to immunity as
a delegate to the Frankfurt Diet he was condemned to death and executed on the

4. November 9. Can we connect the dots between the historical occurrences noted
above? The tragic failure of the bid to reform the constitution of the German
Confederation in 1848 set the scene for the chain of events that led to world war,
the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust. On the other hand, the opening of the Berlin
Wall brought the end of the Cold War but much remains to be done before we
can talk of the dawning of a new age.
Painting by Carl Steffeck of the execution of Robert Blum, 1848
A Recall of the Overlord Operation
I received quite a shock when I casually turned on my TV this morning and
happened to access a film that had already started. The film in question was
Churchill (2017) starring Brian Cox in the role of Winston Churchill and Miranda
Richardson in that of Clementine Churchill and my entry point was the scene that
showed Churchill in agitated contention with Dwight Eisenhower and Bernard
Montgomery only two days before D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, would take
place. At this juncture it was not even known whether the invasion would go ahead
in view of prevailing stormy weather conditions. It was already too late to proceed

5. with the invasion on the 5th
of June as originally planned and the outlook for the
following way was unfavourable. Even so, Eisenhower and Montgomery pressed
for immediate action while Churchill argued strongly for a delay. It soon became
clear that in his heart of hearts he was against the entire invasion project itself for
this he deemed to be of uncertain outcome and likely to end in an excessive
number of dead British and allied soldiers.
The root of his distaste for a large-scale invasion became apparent when he
recalled in anguish the failure of his attempt to capture the heights of Gallipoli in
1915 when he, as First Lord of the Admiralty, was in command of this operation, a
failure that earned him a bad reputation not only in British political circles but also
and, more profoundly, in those of Australia and New Zealand. He contemplated in
horror the prospect that twenty thousand young allied soldiers would die within
the coming two days. In the privacy of his apartment he suffered an emotional
breakdown when thrusting his breakfast tray on the floor and then sobbing like a
child on his bed. After vainly pleading with him to take a grip on himself,
Clementine, his despairing wife, came close to leaving him. This was not the
Churchill one expected to see on the basis of his reputation as a man of iron
resolution and unflinching courage. In addition to all this, close-up shots of his facial
features revealed clear signs of aging and a decline towards senility.
A weather report indicated that a brief clearing of the generally prevailing stormy
weather favoured the chances of a successful landing of allied troops on the
beaches of Normandy on the sixth of June, - in fact, as a voice-over sequence
pointed out, ‘on the sixth hour, on the sixth day of the sixth month.’ Churchill
recovered his spirits largely thanks to encouragement from his wife and Field
Marshal Jan Smuts and delivered a resounding speech in his typical style which was
broadcasted to the British nation as he announced that the allies had successfully
secured a foothold in Normandy on the way to the liberation of Europe.
Historians may dispute some aspects of picture as presented by the film,
particularly with regard the depth of depression that Churchill may have suffered
in the lead-up to D-Day, the state of his marriage and his poor relations with
Eisenhower and Montgomery, who allegedly treated him as something of a
busybody and a bit of a nuisance. Even King George VI had to insist that Churchill
could not witness the invasion from the deck of a naval vessel as he so wanted to

6. do. There can be no doubt that Churchill and Eisenhower entertained
fundamentally divergent notions on the right strategy to end the war. Churchill felt
that allied forces should approach Germany from the south of France and Italy
instead of taking the perilous and costly option of invading Normandy. Perhaps we
do not have to follow the filmmaker’s lead in his cynical assertion that Churchill
wanted the Germans and Soviets to knock each other out and thus relieve the
Western allies of doing the dirty work themselves.
Historians will affirm that it was no easy matter for the allies to coordinate the
efforts in the fight against the Nazis. The very title of the D-Day campaign was ‘the
Overlord Operation’ expressed the hope that a coordinating and guiding force
should direct the entire campaign. Overall command of this operation was held by
Dwight Eisenhower. It was he who had to make the final decision to proceed with
the D-Day invasion but even he did not have a free hand in the matter. It was the
brief break in cloudy and stormy weather conditions that signaled to him that the
invasion could succeed. Was the real overlord in this case the weather, Saint Peter
or Providence? By way of a parallel, Richard III lamented the failure of the sun to
shine on his troops as they entered the field of battle but consoled himself with the
thought that the sun also denied its rays to the enemy. The dismal cloudy weather
that hampered the allies also denied the German air force any ability to reconnoiter
the Channel and thus get a warning of the imminent invasion. On account of
adverse weather conditions senior officers, Rommel included, took leave from
active duty during in the early days of June.
Any talk of the controlling power of the weather broaches a wider question. What
power or influence underlies both the realm of the weather and the domain of
human affairs? Does the threefold reference to the number six mentioned above
suggests something mysterious, even creepy? 666, for example? What does the ‘D’
in D-Day signify? ‘Day’ or ‘Departure’? There were other D-Days during War II and
so the fact that the term now refers to one specific day in history resides in the
perceived importance of this day itself. Words and numbers crept into events that
surrounded the invasion in an odd name when the Secret Service noted that the
code names of sections of the Normandy beaches on D-Day {UTAH, OMAHA, JUNO,
etc.) appeared in the solutions of a crossword puzzle in The Daily Telegraph, much
to the consternation of the said organization.

7. Those familiar with the Gematria in Kabbalistic or rabbinic tradition need not be
surprised by the quest for the deeper significance of numbers and letters but it is
not so usual to trace the putative deep significance of dates though in most cultures
calendars are seen as being imbued with religious or mystical significance. A
remarkable string of recurring numbers had occurred much earlier in English
history, by the way. Edward I died in Carlisle on his way to combat the Scots on the
seventh day of the seventh week of the seventh year of the fourteenth century
(July 7 in 1307). His son died in 1327 and his grandson Edward III in 1377. To say
the very least, 7 was not a lucky number for English monarchs named Edward
during the 14th
century.
The Normandy campaign recalls the great invasion that proceeded from Normandy
in 1066. We have already noted the prominence of the number 6 in connection
with D-Day. There are other links too. The battle of Hastings took place on 14th
October (according to the Julian calendar). Eisenhower was born on – and Rommel
died - on October 14th
(according to the Gregorian calendar). Rommel was seriously
wounded when the vehicle in which he was being driven was strafed by the RAF at
Montgomerie-Foy, a small village. The German army in Normandy was destroyed
within ‘the Falaise pocket,’ Falaise being the native city of William the Conqueror.
The days in which we are now living are becoming no less fraught with danger than
the days of the Normandy invasion. Will the weather and Providence once more
save the day? There has been a lot of UFO activity over the Ukraine recently.
Hmmmm. Who is the real Overlord here?
Gravy or the Grave?
Examining Two Christmas Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens with a View to
Showing How Dickens Satirized or Analyzed Attempts to Explain Away
Paranormal Phenomena

8. By A. E. Abbey, 1876
When directly confronted by Marley’s ghost, Ebenezer Scrooge desperately
sought to assuage his dread of the unknown by offering himself a rational
explanation of Marley’s appearance. He speculated that a bout of indigestion had
made him hallucinate, a half-boiled potato perhaps being the instigator of this mental
affliction. Further evidence forced Scrooge to accept that Marley’s ghost like the
spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future truly existed in a
mystical realm that lay beyond the ken of rationalists and scientists. However
profound the message conveyed by Scrooge’s failed attempt to explain away a
supernatural event, the reading or viewing public, for the most part at least, relishes
the humorous and entertaining side of Dickens’ world-famous short story without
pondering its philosophical and religious-mystical implications. Christmas jollity
has precedence over Christmas-inspired devotion.
The last Christmas Dickens ever celebrated was disturbed by the failure of a
Christmas present to arrive on time at his table. The year in question was 1869. The
present in question was a turkey and the cause of its loss in question was a train
accident. Strangely enough, Dickens’ and trains did not get along well together,
certainly not since the Staplehurst train accident in 1865 when Dickens, who almost

9. came to grief, heroically helped to save the lives of injured fellow passengers. In his
novel Our Mutual Friend there is a description of a nocturnal train journey that
arouses images of the instruments of war and thoughts of death as life’s final
destination. The same lugubrious tone is struck by a short story composed in 1866,
its title: The Signalman. Strangely enough, this story continued a tradition
constituted by a ghost story for reading at Christmas and this tradition was initiated
by A Christmas Carol.
Essentially The Signalman raises the very same question as that which informs A
Christmas Carol but it does so in an altogether serious and searching manner. How
can the rational mind contend with phenomena that are not readily explicable on the
basis of scientific knowledge and logical thinking?
The person given the role of the first person narrator in this story is an erudite
down-to-earth and well-meaning proponent of a common-sense approach to life.
While walking along the upper edge of a railway cutting he notices a man who is
standing beside the railway track below him and under the influence of a
spontaneous urge he makes his way down to the track and meet this man, who turns
out to be a signalman. His job requires him to work inside a shed-like observation
post and telegraph communication centre. At times he must stand by the track at the
opening of a tunnel and wave a red flag to warn incoming train drivers of any
imminent danger.
The signalman admits to being deeply troubled by his situation in life. On two
occasions he has heard the eerie ringing of the telegraph bell shortly before a terrible
accident occurs, either one that results from a collision of two trains within tunnel
near his post or from the deadly fall of a young woman that takes place as the train
exits the tunnel. There are other omens of doom. The signalman sees a ghostly face
at the mouth of the tunnel. A red signal has turned on for no understandable reason.
The narrator tries to convince the signalman that his fears are needless, occasioned
by meaningless ‘coincidences’ but the signalman remains unconvinced by such an
explanation.
On the third occasion when the signalman hears the bell ring, and only he can hear
this ringing, he places himself at the mouth of the tunnel where he stands as though
entranced by an unknown power until he himself is run over by the next train. While
in A Christmas Carol warning signs have a positive heal effect, the signalman is
powerless to alert engine drivers to imminent dangers. Why this difference? Have
the Staplehurst accident and Dickens’ separation from his wife anything to do with
it?

10. Link: A Lady in the Smoke – Facts | My Reading Journal (wordpress.com)
And oh, the Staplehurst accident occurred on the 9th of June 1865, exactly five
years before the 9th of June 1870, the day of Dickens’ death.
The Signalman in a short film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL_4VHxdXng