Identification and analysis of human remains recovered from wells from the 1991 War in Croatia

From 1996 to the present, the remains of 61 individuals killed during the 1991 War in Croatia were recovered from both dried out and functioning wells. Positive identification was established in 60.7% or 37/61 cases. Remains recovered from the same geographical region but from non-well settings were identified in 77.4% or 1256/1623 cases. The purpose of this paper is to report on the taphonomic, demographic and trauma characteristics of remains recovered from wells and identify factors responsible for the discrepancy in the identification ratios. The age and sex distributions in the well and non-well series were similar, as were the frequencies of recovered personal documents, jewelry and other artifacts. The taphonomic features of the remains were, however, significantly different. Preservation of remains was considerably better in non-well settings (1400/1623 or 86.3% compared to 40/61 or 65.5% in wells). Congruently, commingling of remains was more frequent in wells (26/61 or 42.6% compared to 77/1623 or 4.7% in non-well settings). In bodies recovered from non-well settings the preservation, state and commingling of the remains were strongly correlated with positive identification. None of these features were correlated with the identification of bodies from wells. Instead, identification of remains from wells was significantly affected by the presence or absence of water in the well. As both series have similar frequencies, and identical rankings of identification factors, the reason for the discrepancy in the identification ratios lies in the fact that by themselves, these factors were rarely sufficient for positive identification. In both series the majority of identifications (51.4% in the well, and 58.1% in the non-well series) were established through a combination of biological and non-biological features. The significantly lower identification ratio in the well series resulted from the difficult recovery conditions in wells with significant amounts of water, and the negative effect that water had on the preservation of clothing, personal artifacts and some dental features. Significant differences were also noted in the types and locations of perimortem traumas. There is a significantly higher frequency of entrance gunshot wounds to the back of the head, suggestive of execution style murders, in the well series.     

Baltic Refugees and Policy Formation in Sweden 1940–1950

The Baltic refugees of the Second World War, in Sweden, were part of the opening up of Sweden to immigration. New research, after the turn of the century, has shown how this change of policy was part of the emerging welfare state, embracing a wider geographical area. Still, the opening was conditioned by degrees of “Nordicness” and the conditions of neutrality toward Germany and not least the Soviet Union. This review article highlights some of the new insights of Swedish historiography.     

Punishing German Soldiers during the Cold War: The Case of Erich von Manstein

Bloxham examines the events and rhetoric surrounding the trial and premature release from custody of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. Von Manstein was convicted of involvement in atrocities on the Eastern Front, yet his story aroused the sympathy of many in Britain, including influential politicians, who believed the Wehrmacht to be innocent of the crimes of Nazism. His trial also fell squarely into a period, the onset of the Cold War, when Britain was attempting to restore relations with West Germany. Pressure both from the nascent West German elite and from within the Conservative government (re-elected in 1951) and its foreign diplomatic corps ensured that a series of dubious legal devices would be used to accelerate the liberation of von Manstein at a time of negotiations about a German contribution to a Western European army. Similar contrivances abetted the early release of another field marshal, Kesselring, and a senior general, Falkenhorst. The releases, and the obfuscations of the soldiers' war-time records that were an essential part of justifying the releases, constitute a substantial British contribution both to the undermining of the process of war crimes trials and to the rewriting of the Second World War.     

Experience Writing on World War II in Post-war Japanese Literature

In early postwar Japanese literature emerged a large number of literary works on the experience of World War II. All these works interpret the writers’ intuitive sense from the perspective of battlefield experience, captive experience, atomic bomb blast experience, post-war experience and the occupied experience. Although they had the same topic, different literature schools and different individual authors wrote in quite different ways, whose views on the war were totally diverse. Among all these writers, some reflected on the duty of war with consciences; the others attempted to obscure the guilty in their works. Thus it is necessary to make concrete analyses on concrete conditions when the literary criticism is being studied, which is not only the expression of respecting historical truth, but also the objective requirement of maintaining the victory of the war against Fascism.     

解放战争时期政治生态与中国共产党执政地位的最终确立

解放战争时期是中国共产党最终确立执政地位的重要时期和关键阶段,解放战争这一特殊历史时期政治生态的变化演进,充分证明了"中国共产党是历史的选择和人民的选择"这一科学论断。     

The 1972 Memorandum to the United Nations and its repercussions: Émigré politics and Soviet Estonian dissent during the ‘era of stagnation’

The Estonian dissidents’ Memorandum to the United Nations, drafted as a call for national self-determination in 1972, set new standards for the émigré community’s campaigns. Although its political message was initially dismissed as utopian, the subsequently emerging cooperation between émigré and homeland activists via intricate courier networks significantly strengthened the authority of Estonian voices in the West. By the early 1980s, the political alliances across the Iron Curtain eventually bore fruit. The Memorandum’s core demands reappeared in political debates on Baltic issues on both sides of the Atlantic, foreshadowing the massive Western support for the Baltic cause during the Singing Revolutions.     

Political Marketing Management of Parliament Under the Presidential Government System: A Lesson Learned from the Indonesia House of Representative Post–New Order Soeharto

Modern political marketing management of parties, government, and parliament have gradually taken place within and across democratic countries ruled under either the parliamentary government or presidential government systems. Little attention, however, has been directed to the extent to which modern political marketing management of parliament has taken place within countries run under the presidential system of government, especially Indonesia. As led by hypothetical-inductive approach, this work has been specifically directed to explore (1) the dynamic exchanges and interactions; (2) the nature and structure of political market arenas; (3) types of political products; and (4) models of political marketing management of the Indonesian parliament/the Indonesian House of Representatives. This work explores the extent to which institutional marketing management strategies have been advanced by the Indonesian Parliament/the Indonesian House of Representatives since Post–New Order Soeharto up to the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) government era (2004 to 2014).     

印度对第一次印支战争的政策演变

印度独立后对印度支那人民的反法斗争采取中立的＂不卷入＂政策,但到1954年日内瓦会议前后,印度抛弃＂不卷入＂政策,以外交斡旋的方式积极介入调停。印度在日内瓦会议上的外交斡旋促进了日内瓦协议的签订。印度对第一次印度支那战争的政策演变是印度对国家利益认知不断提升的结果。     

论美军院校学员身体素质培养特点及启示

美军院校注重学员身体素质的培养,学员通过大学四年系统的培养都具有良好的身体素质。培养过程中的课程设置、教学计划和教学保障等都具有显箸的特点。