


BATTLEGROUND PERTHSHIRE is a concise account of the battles and minor military events that have taken place within the county of Perthshire. Comprising two thousand years of battles, raids, rebellions, sieges, riots, feuds, ambushes and skirmishes, Battleground Perthshire shines the spotlight on the military history of Scotland’s big county. Drawn from extensive primary and secondary sources: archives, eyewitness accounts and official records, it tells the fascinating stories of struggles for wealth, power, freedom and the right to self-determination. This chronicle of Perthshire’s military history stands as an important reminder of some of the events that have marked the development of the Scottish people. It will appeal both to the reader interested in the history of Scotland and to those interested in military history.
Battleground Perthshire can be bought from most bookshops in the Perthshire area: The Watermill at Aberfeldy; Sweet Words at Dunkeld; Waterstones - various stores including Perth; WHSmith - Perth and Pitlochry. And, in Perth Museum, the AK Bell Library, Gloagburn Farm Shop, the Brig Farm Shop by Bridge of Earn. Alternatively, it may be purchased for £7.00 with FREE postage and packing to any UK address {Please email for postage costs for locations outside UK}. Send cheque or postal order (payable to Tippermuir Books) to Tippermuir Books, c/o 3 Graham's Place, King Street, Perth, Perth, PH2 8HZ. It can also be bought through most of the UK online (internet) booksellers.

Spanish Thermopylae: Cypriot Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39 SPANISH THERMOPYLÆ is the story of the fifty-seven Cypriots who served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. It is also the story of a war that defined the lives of a generation and whose outcome decided the fate of hundreds of millions of people across the world. Drawing on recently released records from the Comintern Archive in Moscow, Spanish Thermopylae will appeal both to the reader interested in the experiences of the Cypriot volunteers, and to anyone looking for a concise history of the Spanish Civil War. 'This is the first book devoted solely to the contribution made by Cypriots to the cause of democracy and progress in the Spanish Civil War. It bears witness to the injustice committed against humanity by fascism in Spain and the inspirational sacrifices made by a small band of Cypriot volunteers. Spanish Thermopylae is a fitting tribute to them, and the International Brigades.' Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus 'True to the best traditions of their Greek forefathers, the heroes of the Greek War of Independence, the Cypriots rallied to the support of Spanish democracy and independence, realising that a defeat for the Spanish people would have meant world war. On the Spanish battlefields was being decided the fate of Europe and with it that of Cyprus. They recognised fascism as the greatest enemy of humanity and volunteered to help crush it... Many Cypriots lie buried in the Spanish soil fighting fascism. Cyprus is proud of her heroic sons who fell in the anti-fascist cause, but the fight is not over. We fight on until fascism is destroyed from the face of the earth.' Ezekias Papaioannou, Cypriot International Brigades volunteer and General Secretary of AKEL (1949-88) "Before many years have passed, their own countries will feel equally proud of the volunteers. That will be their best and highest reward." Juan Negrín, Prime Minister of the Spanish Republic (1937-39). It is available from www.amazon.co.uk
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HISTORY
Pastor Niemoller
Born the son of a Protestant pastor, Martin Niemoller’s stand against the Nazification of Germany would lead him to become Adolf Hitler’s special prisoner and a symbol of resistance. Although initially supporting the rise to power of the National Socialists as a response to his dislike of the Weimar Republic, Niemoller became stalwart in his opposition to its paganism from 1933 and helped lead from 1937 onwards the anti Nazi Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche). He also was instrumental in the formation of the Pastor’s Emergency League (Pfarrernotbund).
In 1961 he became a president of the World Council of Churches, a post he held until 1968. During Holy Week in March 1961 Pastor Niemoller came to Perth to take part in services at the St. John’s Kirk. On the 29th March 1961 at the end of his visit he was given a civic reception at the Station Hotel.
Pastor D. Martin Niemoller (D.D.) had been born in 1892 in Lippstadt, Westphalia and entered the German Navy in 1910. During the First World War he was a distinguished and decorated U-boat Commander whose record and exploits made him well known to the German people. In 1924 he was ordained and became the pastor of the Berlin parish of Dahlem in 1931. His account of this period is to be found in his best-selling book, ‘From U-boat to Pulpit’ (1934).
For his attack on the Nazi State, Pastor Niemoller was initially hounded by the Gestapo, arrested and fined 2,000 Reichsmarks. On release he was immediately rearrested and summoned for an interview with the Fuhrher. Despite being an ardent nationalist Niemoller would not support the Third Reich and was prohibited from preaching. This he conflated and consequently was imprisoned for seven years in the concentration camps of Dachau and Sachsenhausen. Much of this time he was placed in solitary confinement and narrowly avoided execution (despite Hitler’s order) as Germany collapsed under allied attacks. He was not released until the end of the Second World War at which point he helped to produce a document known as the ‘Stuttgart Confession of Guilt’ in 1945. This paper was a statement of the collective guilt of the German nation including Niemoller himself and a method of atonement. It was a formal confession of the complicity of the German Protestant Church in the suffering and death caused by the Nazi regime. Niemoller then went on to become the first President of a new Evangelical Church.
Amongst the awards and honours he achieved in his lifetime Pastor Niemoller counted the Lenin Peace Prize (1967) and the West German Grand Cross of Merit (1971). In later life Pastor Niemoller would go onto be a pacifist and campaign against nuclear weapons. He died at the age of 92 in Wiesbaden in Germany on March 6 1984.
“First they came for the Communists,
and I did not speak up,
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak up,
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak up,
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”
“Ask the first man you meet what he means by defending freedom, and he’ll tell you privately he means defending the standard of living.”
Pastor Niemoller
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