"outside, in addition to a huge mound of charred bone fragments, were the carefully sorted and stacked clothes of the victims - which obviously numbered in the thousands. although i stood there looking at it, i couldn't believe it. the realness of the whole mess is just gradually dawning on me, and i doubt if it ever will on you. there is a rumor circulating which says that the war is over. it probably is - as much as it will ever be. we've all been expecting the end for several days, but were not too excited about it because we know that it does not mean too much as far as our immediate situation is concerned. there was no celebration - it's difficult to celebrate anything with the morbid state we're in." - letter from harold porter, 1945 the letter is describing the reaction to what?

Harold R. Porter was a 22-year-old who had just graduated from the University of Michigan and worked as a surgical technician in the United States Army during World War II. In a series of letters to his family's house, he described the present conditions and his medical attention to the survivors. The fragment that is described comes from a letter that this soldier wrote to his parents and in it describes the situation in the Dachau concentration camp after the liberation

the crusades are one of the most significant events in the history of europe and the middle east.   they were a series of religious wars carried out by christian crusaders from europe during the timeframe of the middle ages.   beginning in 1095 ce, the crusades saw european knights and noblemen travel to the middle east in an attempt to capture the holy land away from muslim people that had controlled the region for the previous centuries.   the term crusade means ‘cross’.   therefore, the europeans that became crusaders viewed themselves as ‘taking up the cross’.   in fact, many of the crusaders wore crosses on their clothing and armor as they made their pilgrimage to the holy land.

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