1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Hey y'all, we're rerunning two episodes today in Troy the 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: show Hi, I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day in 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 1: History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit more 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:26,600 Speaker 1: about history every day. The day was January one, nineteen nineteen. 5 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: It had been just over two months since World War 6 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: One ended in Scotland was feeling the economic impact of 7 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: its resolution. People frustrated with the lack of jobs in 8 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: the long fifty four hour work week, had already been 9 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:47,480 Speaker 1: striking for days, but on this day, those frustrations rose 10 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: to a climax. Somewhere between twenty thousand and twenty thousand 11 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: people gathered in George Square in Glasgow, Scotland, to protest, 12 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: and all this commotion scared the British government. Government officials 13 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,759 Speaker 1: were already on edge because of other uprisings around Europe. 14 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: Scotland's Secretary, Robert Monroe had even declared that the Glasgow 15 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: situation wasn't just a strike but a Bolshevist uprising. So 16 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: the protests became a battle of police versus demonstrators on 17 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: a day that came to be known as Bloody Friday. 18 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 1: Nobody died in the riots, but accounts of the day's 19 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: events have gone on to reach a mythical status in 20 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: Scottish history. Scotland had sent a lot of its men 21 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: to fight in the First World War. Glasgow alone had 22 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:51,559 Speaker 1: enlisted two hundred thousand men. In Glasgow was a hub 23 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: of industry during the war. Clyde Side, the region along 24 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: the Clyde River in Scotland, was home to a bustling 25 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: ship building industry. The shipyards at Clydeside were the biggest 26 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: provider of vessels to the Royal Navy and the region 27 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: produced a lot of armaments. So when Scottish men left 28 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: for war, a bunch of women joined the workforce to 29 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: keep cranking out ships and munitions for the fight. But 30 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: just because business was booming didn't mean business was good. 31 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: Workers conditions were poor, people worked long days and weren't 32 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: paid well for it. Tensions were rising between factory owners 33 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: and industrial workers. Civil unrest was brewing and the organized 34 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: labor movement was growing in Glasgow. So after the war 35 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: ended in November nineteen eight, troops were demobilizing and returning 36 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: to Scotland looking for work, but munitions factories were closing, 37 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: and both industrial workers and returning soldiers found themselves out 38 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: of work, so the Clyde Workers Committee, made up of 39 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: engineering shop stewards from different trade unions, decided to advocate 40 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: for less hours for current workers. If people only worked 41 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 1: forty hours a week, there would be more jobs available 42 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: for the soldiers who were coming home from war. Put 43 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: Factory owners, on the other hand, wanted to keep a 44 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: longer work week so there would be less jobs in 45 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: a reserve of unemployed people. On January, leaders of the 46 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: Clyde Workers Committee called a strike to demand a forty 47 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: hour work week, and on January the strikes began. At first, employers, 48 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: trade union officials and the government just waved off the strike, 49 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: dismissing it as a minor dispute that would fizzle out 50 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: soon enough. But by the thirtieth of January it was 51 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: clear that was definitely not the case. Tens of thousands 52 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: of workers in Clyde Side were striking. Electricity supply workers 53 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: in my nurse had even gone on strike. In sympathy. 54 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: The Clyde Workers Committee sent out flying pickets, or people 55 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: who travel to places where workers are on strike to 56 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: incite more people to strike to help spread the mission faster. 57 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: On January nine, strikers rallied in Glasgow and marched to 58 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: George Square. A group of leaders from the Clyde Workers Committee, 59 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: including Willie Gallagher, Manny Shinwell and David Kirkwood, met with 60 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: the Lord Provost of Glasgow at the Glasgow City Chambers. 61 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: They requested he asked the Council to tell employers they 62 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: needed to grant workers a forty hour work week. The 63 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: Lord Provost said he couldn't give them an answer just 64 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: yet and to come back on the thirty one. But 65 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,559 Speaker 1: as people waited in the square to hear the Lord 66 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 1: Provost reply, the police began attacking demonstrators seemingly unprovoked. The 67 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: police beaton charged the crowd and the demonstrators fall back. 68 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: Gallkher punched the Chief Constable and was beaten. Kirkwood was 69 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: hit with the batons. People through water bottles at police, 70 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: smash windows and looted. As the violence escalated, police retreated, 71 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: but the fighting continued for hours. Nineteen police officers and 72 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: thirty four strikers were injured. Martial law had not been declared, 73 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: so the government didn't have the authority to send out troops. 74 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: The War Cabinet met in London and discussed the problem 75 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: in Glasgow, but it was the Sheriff of Lanarkshire who 76 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: requested a military deployment. The troops arrived after the riots 77 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: were over and they started patrolling the power stations and 78 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: set up tanks in the area. By Sunday, the city 79 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: settled down and the troops left After about two weeks. 80 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: Gallagher and Shinwell were arre stood for inciting a riot 81 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: and put on trial. They were convicted and got jail time, 82 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: but other strike leaders put on trial were acquitted. Workers 83 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: had not won the strike for a forty hour working week, 84 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: so they returned to an agreement Union officials had already 85 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: reached with employers for a forty seven hour work week. 86 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: I'm Eave Jeffcote and hopefully you know a little bit 87 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. Hey guys, 88 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: I know that I sound a little bit raspy today. 89 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: I'm recovering from a cold, but thank you so much 90 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: for bearing with me. You can subscribe to This Day 91 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: and History Class on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, 92 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in tomorrow for 93 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: another day in History. Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. 94 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: I'm Eves and you're listening to This Day in History Class, 95 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: a podcast that really takes to heart the phrase you 96 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: learn something new every day. The day was January thirty one, 97 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine. Jewish teenager Rena Spiegel was living in 98 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: Poland months before the outbreak of World War Two when 99 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: she wrote the first entry in her now published diary. 100 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: Spiegel died in the Holocaust, but her diary has since 101 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: shed light on her life under Soviet and Nazi rule. 102 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: Spiegel was born in a village in Poland in nineteen 103 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: four Her parents were Russa and Bernard Spiegel, and she 104 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: had a younger sister named Arianna. In nineteen thirty eight, Arianna, 105 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: a child actress, went to live in Warsaw with Russa. 106 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: In pursuit of her career, Arena went to live with 107 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: her grandparents in Semischl, a town in Poland. Arianna went 108 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: back to Simischal that summer, returning without her mother. On 109 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: January thirty one, nineteen thirty nine, when she was fifteen 110 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: years old, Spiegel began writing in her diary, and her 111 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: first diary entry, Spiegel wrote the following in part, why 112 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: did I decide to start a diary? Today? Has something 113 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,559 Speaker 1: important happened. Have I discovered that my friends are keeping 114 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: diaries of their own? No, I just want a friend, 115 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: somebody I can talk to about my everyday worries and joys. 116 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: Somebody who will feel what I feel, believe what I say, 117 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: and never reveal my secrets. No human being could ever 118 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: be that kind of friend. She wrote about how her 119 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: life used to be in Warsaw, how she missed her mother, 120 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: and how she felt like she had no real home. 121 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: She also wrote about her school and classmates. As the 122 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: start of World War Two loomed, Spiegel continued to write 123 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: in her diary about her friends, family, boys, sadness, nostalgia, 124 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 1: and war. She also wrote poems and drew in the diary. 125 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,439 Speaker 1: But by September of ninety nine, Nazi Germany and the 126 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: Soviet Union occupied Poland, and the country was divided between 127 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: the two invaders, with the Nazis in the west and 128 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: the Soviets in the east. Rusa was stuck in Nazi 129 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: controlled territory, while Irenya and Ariana were on the Soviet side. 130 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: The two children and their grandfather left town while their 131 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: grandmother stayed behind. Their father disappeared during the war and 132 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: was presumed killed. As World War Two steadily intensified, Spiegel 133 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: kept attending school in Simischal and fell in love with 134 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: a boy named Zigmut Schwarzer. In nineteen forty one, days 135 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: after her first kiss with Sparser, the Third Reich declared 136 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: war on the Soviet Union. Arena and other Jewish people 137 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: began having to wear a white arm band with a 138 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: blue star of David on it. The Germans began establishing 139 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: ghettos in Poland in July of nineteen forty two. As 140 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: the Nazis murdered thousands of Jewish and Polish people, they 141 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: set up a sealed ghetto in Simischal. Arena and her 142 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: friends and relatives were ordered to stay in the ghetto. 143 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,439 Speaker 1: Zig Munt, who was working with the local resistance, managed 144 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: to get Ya and Ariana out of the ghetto. He 145 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: set Arena and his parents up in the attic of 146 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: a house where his uncle lived. He took Arianna to 147 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: a friend's father, and he took over Irania's diary, writing 148 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: about his efforts to save his girlfriend and family. The 149 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: Nazis executed Arena and Spartzer's parents on July thirtieth, nineteen 150 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: forty two, when they found the attic hiding spot. Arena 151 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,079 Speaker 1: was only eighteen years old when she was killed. Spartzer 152 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: wrote the last words in the diary. He wrote about 153 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: the execution of Arena and his parents, expressing his anguish 154 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: at their deaths. Spartser survived the Holocaust and eventually passed 155 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: the diary to Rootsa and Arianna, now named Elizabeth Bellock. 156 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: The two women had fled to the US after World 157 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: War Two. The nearly seven hundred page diary stayed in 158 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: a safe deposit box in New York City for more 159 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: than forty years. It was published in Polish in and 160 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, the first full English translate and of 161 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: the diary was published. The diary is noted as a 162 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: unique and well written personal account of everyday life under 163 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: Soviet and Nazi occupation in Poland. I'm Eves Jeff Cote 164 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 165 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. Looking out for our content a 166 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: little more sophisticated than cat memes in your feed. Connect 167 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,960 Speaker 1: with us on social media at t D I h 168 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: C Podcast. If you prefer something a little bit more formal, 169 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: then you can write us at this day at I 170 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: heart media dot com. I hope you liked this show. 171 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:39,839 Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow with another episode.