"The Charbor Chronicles": World War II Newspapers (Part One)

World War II Newspapers

So, I have been doing some "spring cleaning" for a while, and encountered a cardboard box where I kept some old, old newspapers dating back to the Second World War, which I won on Ebay some time ago.

Now, I was meaning to do something with them, although I was not quite sure what. These papers are historical items, and some of them were in rough shape. The idea was to make sure not to do any more damage to them than they already had. But I wondered how I could do it.

Initially, my idea was to make copies of them, but the quality of these copies just was not good, and quickly, I found myself losing enthusiasm for it. At the time, I had no real camera. I had a camera that was malfunctioning on the Kindle, but that was about it. No camera on the cheap cell phone that I was using, and certainly no real, professional grade camera (or less than professional grade camera, for that matter).

Perhaps, then, it was no surprise that I put all of the newspapers in a cardboard box, and basically stored them. it was a big box, taking up a lot of space, and I was not entirely sure what to do with it. But these papers were really, really cool! History as seen while it was taking place, and there was a special feeling each time my eyes would fall on them, imagining that some seventy or so years earlier, someone was reading these things while these monumental events in history were still taking place, and the outcome often still very much uncertain. As a history buff, that appealed to me.

But still, what was I going to do with them? I thought of perhaps hanging them up, at least one or two that were particularly appealing. But that would require framing them, and that would also require space on walls with my girlfriend's approval, and I guess that idea died away quickly, too.

What to do? I have been thinking of trying to sell things on Ebay lately, but the idea of selling these treasures never seriously crossed my mind. Only if I really became desperate. Because to me, these are very precious, things that I can pass down to my son someday. Almost a piece of history, if you will, even though that probably sounds cliché. So, I did not want to merely sell them.

No surprise, then, that they wound up being stored right back into the boxes that they came in the first place. I remember going through them, looking at each one, marveling at having actual period newspapers from one of the most fascinating chapters in all of history. I mean, growing up in the eighties, the shadow of the momentous events of World War II, where there were greater and more rapid changes in the world map than probably at any other time in history, spoke for itself. My grandparents generation, sometimes referred to as "The Greatest Generation", had been from that legendary time, and everyone that I knew that had lived through it had tons of stories. Back then, it seemed that each generation - the "Greatest Generation" and the Baby Boomer generation, which had seen also huge events in the sixties and the Vietnam conflict, had just tons of stories. They had witnessed history, and I, being of a generation that was still undergoing childhood, felt most envious!

The feeling died a bit over time, although a part of me still finds it intriguing, to think of the events of the past. Hell, I felt nostalgic for an event I was not yet born for when my brother and I visited Woodstock last October - and he had not been born yet, either. But you just get the sense of something that took on a life of it's own, that was larger than any individuals or bands that were a part of those three days. How could you not be fascinated, or hold it with a certain reverence? Also, there was an idealism, a striving for a better world, that existed with Woodstock that had largely died in the years that followed.

It is the same with some of the old Beatles records that my parents used to have. Most of those records are from the "mop top" days, and it was sometimes hard to imagine that such times had actually existed. Somehow, it felt that it had happened an impossibly long time ago, although when I was listening to those records in the early eighties, those days had been less than twenty years earlier! I now know that twenty years can pass very fast - faster than I ever imagined it could back when I was younger!

There was a bit of that feeling in relation to World War II, as well. So much happened in such a compact amount of time. The rise and fall of the Third Reich, with Germany rising from being on it's knees and, within years, ruling over much of Europe, only to eventually collapse like no other country had collapsed before, literally with it's empire crumbled and in ruins, and Germany's reputation greatly tarnished for being responsible for crimes against humanity unlike anything the world had seen before or since - and that's saying something! Japan had risen (although not as quickly) as well, and they, too, had taken over huge pieces of the map, only to eventually be beaten back and, ultimately, to have experienced what no other nation has experiences, having the atomic bomb dropped on them by an enemy nation. The bloodiest war in human history -particularly on the Eastern Front between the Soviets and the Germans, had taken place. The Japanese had been canabalistic, literally, towards captured POW's from other nations. Hell, the Germans had build death factories, where people were gassed to death in showers. The only escape, as Elie Wiesel suggested, was through the chimneys.

Kurt Vonnegut referred to World War II as the last necessary war. There were aggressive powers that needed to be stopped, and the Allies, rather reluctantly, entered a war to go ahead and stop them. Vonnegut himself went to Europe to fight in that war, only to be captured by the Germans as a POW and sent to Dresden, where he survived a massive firebombing from the makeshift shelter that the Germans had provided for the POW's - which was called Slaughterhouse-5 (you might recognize the name from the title of the book that Vonnegut is most famous for).

Indeed, it was a time when differentiating between right from wrong seemed a whole lot clearer and easier. Nowadays, it seems a lot less clear cut. It reminds me a bit of those lyrics by the Counting Crows from Round Here, when they sing about "the crumbling difference between wrong and right."

Not the cheeriest subject, but all of it was fascinating. And, perhaps growing up, I admired the role that the United States had played (or the role I then believed it had played) - that of the conquering heroes, liberating Europe in particular from the shackles of oppression from a truly evil empire.

The world since seemed so....well, kind of....a bit dull, honestly. More polished, perhaps. But definitely, something was lacking (or so it seemed to me at the time).

Perusing through those papers, and trying to imagine what it might have been like to have been living in those times, and to have witnessed those events unfolding while they were happening, was truly fascinating, on so many levels!

Simply put, World War II was an event and a time period in history like no other. There was the world before, and the world after. Nothing would really ever quite be the same again.

Still, I did not know what to actually do with those newspapers. Not yet. I still am not quite sure, although someday, I really would like to frame one or two of my favorites. So, back into the box they went, although a little reluctantly, since it felt like I should be doing more with them.

Yet, when I encountered the box the other day, I was hit with a sense of purpose. It was like an epiphany! Why not take pictures and post them here, on The Charbor Chronicles?

I mean, I'm a history buff, but surely not the only one, right?

Surely, someone out there would be interested to see at least images of these old newspapers, right? If I could take pictures, close enough for people to be able to read the actual articles, to look upon those pictures - hell, even to see the period advertisements!

I found it fascinating, so why wouldn't others?

So, here they are. Well, at least the first batch.

What I discovered while doing this was that it would prove to be a very time consuming project. Worthwhile, I hope. But still, very time consuming. Carefully taking the papers out of the plastic, being careful that the scotch tape that the dude that sold them to me would not stick to them, damaging them further than age had already done. Then, perusing through them. Picking the right ones, then going through those papers, and picking the right articles to focus in on. Adjusting the pictures, because sometimes they came out too blurry, and sometimes, parts of the articles were cut off.

And what I discovered first and foremost is that without some kind of professional equipment, this would be an impossible task!

You might never know it, but simply taking pictures of four of those newspapers - and two of them are merely the front pages, rather than the entire newspapers - -took an enormous amount of time. I had not eaten all days, and before long, I felt myself completely depleted of energy! I had to stop and eat, take a break. That had not been part of the plan.

When I resumed, I was already resigned to this task not being as complete, or professional grade, as I had hoped.

Yet, I continued, and will continue still, because it felt somehow worthwhile. This, again, was a piece of history, and some of the articles were legible, even though the camera I was using can hardly be considered professional quality.

It took some time to get the pictures, then took some time to send the images to my email, then to download them onto the computer, and from there, to download them onto this website. It seems that everything was a lot more involved and complicated than I had envisioned.

Still, it feels like something that was worthwhile, and I wonder why the idea never popped into my head earlier? As a history fan, with the privilege, really, of having acquired these papers, it felt like the best, most responsible thing to do. In my own way, I am preserving history, doing my part.

Plus, it gives me a chance to write about it all.

So, without further ado, here is the first batch of pictures that I took yesterday. They are of the Los Angeles Times, the front pages (and second page) from August 25, 1944, September 2, 1944, and September 39, 1944, respectively. Enjoy!