Written by: Sophia Halverson On March 29th the Irish government announced its intention to build a ‘site of national conscience’ in the center of downtown Dublin, to honor the survivors of the inhumane mother and baby homes and Magdalene Laundries during the last two centuries of Irish history. The National Center for Research and Remembrance…
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Fourth Covid Wave in Europe Forces Governments to Seek New Options
Written by: Sophia Halverson As Europe struggles with a fourth wave of Covid cases, country governments are once again being forced to make tough choices about how to deal with the virus. While most countries are reluctant to impose yet another lockdown, countries that have done so have been met with fierce demonstrations that have…
Stash of Tudor Coins Found in English Garden Showcase Prevalence of Home Discoveries
Written by: Sophia Halverson In December 2020, a family wedding in a backyard garden in New Forest, England made a surprising discovery: 63 gold coins and one silver coin, probably buried around 1540. The collection includes coins from the time of King Edward IV through to his grandson Henry VIII and contains the initials of…
Polish Libel Case Signals Chilling Limits in Polish Holocaust Research
Written by: Sophia Halverson A judge ruled in a Polish libel case that two prominent Holocaust survivors must apologize to a woman who feels that her uncle was slandered in a 1,600-page book, Night Without End: The Fate of Jews in Selected Counties of Occupied Poland. In the book, a Holocaust survivor testified that Filomena…
The United Kingdom, France, and Germany Respond to Christmas in the Age of Coronavirus
Written by: Sophia Halverson Note: This article was written before the UK government instituted new coronavirus restrictions and lockdown measures due to a new strain of the virus. As the winter holidays (particularly Christmas) approach, Europe and the rest of the world prepare for yet another holiday in the age of the Coronavirus where people…
Sweden’s Refusal to Issue Stay At Home Orders Leads to Scandinavia’s Highest Number of Coronavirus Cases
Written by: Sophia Halverson In a world where the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled most of Asia, Europe, and the United States and social distancing has become the norm of the day, Swedish government officials have chosen a different path. Unlike their nearby countries Denmark and Norway, which have closed their borders and universities and issued…
Austria Opens Shops as WHO Warns Against Moving Too Fast
Written by: Sophia Halverson As the rest of Europe has been struggling with COVID-19, Austria has mostly flattened the curve and is ready to make decisive steps toward returning to normal. While most countries in Europe were still struggling with whether or not to institute full shutdowns, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a decisive…
As Spanish Dictator is Re-exhumed, Wounds From Civil War Still Fester
Written by: Sophia Halverson The Spanish Civil War was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the twentieth century-and yet most of the world has never heard of it. Although the story has begun to migrate outside Spain’s borders, fifty years of enforced silence under military dictator Francisco Franco has created a culture of silence that…
A Century After Assassinations, the Romanov Family Remains Fractured
Written by: Sophia Halverson It’s been 101 years since the collapse of the last Russian dynasty, and yet the word ‘Romanov’ still conjures up fantasies of incredible wealth-from the Winter Palace, with its more than a thousand rooms, summer palaces in the Crimea, cathedrals filled with icons, and mysterious Amber Room that went missing after…
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