Roberta Seret's Blog - Posts Tagged "transylvanian-trilogy"
NEWS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY
“HENRY JACOBER: THE SAINT WHO SOLD SOULS”
Romania’s General Marcu, a high-ranking member of Romania’s secret service, the Securitate, was the Communists’ operative to price and collect money for selling Romanian Jews to emigrate to Israel.
After World War ll, he began the sale. By the end of the 1940’s, Israel was supplying the Romanian oil industry with oil drills in exchange for thousands of exit visas.
Henry Jacober, a Jewish businessman based in London and working with the Mossad, continued the “business deals” in the 1950’s and 1960’s with dictator, Gheorghiu-Dej. Jaober began his negotiations not with supplying oil equipment, but by building for the dictator, a chicken farm, if the Romanian government would allow 400 Jewish prisoners and their families to leave for Israel. Jacober understood that the Romanian government liked chickens more than Jews.
In 1965, when Gheorghiu-Dej died and Ceausescu came into power, Romania owned thousands of chicken, pig, turkey and sheep farms with slaughterhouses, storehouses, packaging plants and fleets of Mercedes trucks and cars to transport the meat. Everything paid for by Henry Jacober on behalf of the Israeli government and the United Jewish Appeal.
When Ceausescu learned about these transactions, he was furious. Not because he was losing his Jews, but that the deals were just bringing in chickens and pigs. He wanted CASH, cold dollars, even gold. And so, the Israeli government with Henry Jacober as middleman, paid the Romanian government for thousands of more visas to Israel, between $2,000 and $25,000 per Jew depending on their age, education and importance. Under Jacober’s dealings, more than 230,000 Romanian Jews left the country. From 1965 to 1989, Ceausescu received more than a hundred million dollars in cash for these transactions, as well as abandoned apartments with antique furniture, art and vacated jobs from the Jews who left the country.
But the trunk-loads of cash were not enough for Comrade Ceausescu. The communist leader wanted machine guns, weapons, ammunitions, and war tanks. And when Ceausescu received these, he copied them and made dozens more, selling them to his friends and America’s enemies: Gaddafi and Arafat. And who knows who else?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ai59...
Romania’s General Marcu, a high-ranking member of Romania’s secret service, the Securitate, was the Communists’ operative to price and collect money for selling Romanian Jews to emigrate to Israel.
After World War ll, he began the sale. By the end of the 1940’s, Israel was supplying the Romanian oil industry with oil drills in exchange for thousands of exit visas.
Henry Jacober, a Jewish businessman based in London and working with the Mossad, continued the “business deals” in the 1950’s and 1960’s with dictator, Gheorghiu-Dej. Jaober began his negotiations not with supplying oil equipment, but by building for the dictator, a chicken farm, if the Romanian government would allow 400 Jewish prisoners and their families to leave for Israel. Jacober understood that the Romanian government liked chickens more than Jews.
In 1965, when Gheorghiu-Dej died and Ceausescu came into power, Romania owned thousands of chicken, pig, turkey and sheep farms with slaughterhouses, storehouses, packaging plants and fleets of Mercedes trucks and cars to transport the meat. Everything paid for by Henry Jacober on behalf of the Israeli government and the United Jewish Appeal.
When Ceausescu learned about these transactions, he was furious. Not because he was losing his Jews, but that the deals were just bringing in chickens and pigs. He wanted CASH, cold dollars, even gold. And so, the Israeli government with Henry Jacober as middleman, paid the Romanian government for thousands of more visas to Israel, between $2,000 and $25,000 per Jew depending on their age, education and importance. Under Jacober’s dealings, more than 230,000 Romanian Jews left the country. From 1965 to 1989, Ceausescu received more than a hundred million dollars in cash for these transactions, as well as abandoned apartments with antique furniture, art and vacated jobs from the Jews who left the country.
But the trunk-loads of cash were not enough for Comrade Ceausescu. The communist leader wanted machine guns, weapons, ammunitions, and war tanks. And when Ceausescu received these, he copied them and made dozens more, selling them to his friends and America’s enemies: Gaddafi and Arafat. And who knows who else?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ai59...
“THE CURSE OF DIAMONDS”
NEWS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY
“THE CURSE OF DIAMONDS”
The infamous cursed diamonds of tales and legends, can find their origin in the hands of French explorer, Tavernier. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a 16th century world traveler searching for diamonds in India and then selling them to the Kings of Europe.
Mica learns about Tavernier first from her father, as he takes her down to their basement, removes the key from under a brick, and unlocks the treasures that one day will offer secrets to Mica. But he also confesses, “These Tavernier diamonds may be cursed!”
Let us hear again in Roberta Seret’s novel, GIFT OF DIAMONDS, as Ben, the nurse’s brother in Budapest, offers another facet to the legend’s curse:
To Be Continued....
“THE CURSE OF DIAMONDS”
The infamous cursed diamonds of tales and legends, can find their origin in the hands of French explorer, Tavernier. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a 16th century world traveler searching for diamonds in India and then selling them to the Kings of Europe.
Mica learns about Tavernier first from her father, as he takes her down to their basement, removes the key from under a brick, and unlocks the treasures that one day will offer secrets to Mica. But he also confesses, “These Tavernier diamonds may be cursed!”
Let us hear again in Roberta Seret’s novel, GIFT OF DIAMONDS, as Ben, the nurse’s brother in Budapest, offers another facet to the legend’s curse:
To Be Continued....
NEWS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY
For a moment, Mica imagined herself going to the Chain Bridge and throwing not just the blue diamond, but all of her diamonds into the river!
“What happened to the Hope diamond?” Magda asked.
“It brought nothing but sorrow to the people who owned it. Tavernier sold it to Louis XlV in 1668. The Sun King died in Versailles from gangrene. The diamond went down the family line to Louis XVI, who gave it to Marie Antoinette to wear around her neck. Legends say it caused the beginning of the French Revolution. Who knows? But history does state that Marie Antoinette finished her life with the guillotine around her neck.
“Then it disappeared for two hundred years and reappeared mysteriously in London in 1830, where it was bought at an auction by Henry Philip Hope, a wealthy banker. Since then, it kept going into different hands, each time causing havoc.
“A Ziegfeld Follies star received the diamond as a present and was afterwards murdered by her lover. Then a Greek bought it and subsequently fell off a cliff with his wife and children. In 1908, it went into the hands of a Turkish collector who soon died in a shipwreck. Next, the diamond went into the hands of the Sultan of Turkey, Selim Habib, but he had to sell it when he found himself in the middle of a revolution and a sword pointed between his eyes.
“Pierre Cartier purchased the gem from the Sultan and sold it to Mr. and Mrs. McClean in 1911, the owners of the Washington Post. But still the blue diamond didn't carry much hope. In 1912, their son was killed by a car. Years later their daughter died of an overdose of sleeping pills. The husband finished his life insane and with cirrhosis of the liver while Mrs. McClean committed suicide after losing her entire fortune.
“In 1949, the Hope diamond was sold to the jeweler, Harry Winston, but no one wanted to buy it from him. They were afraid. People claimed it was cursed. He ended up donating it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. It’s there now.”
“Do you believe these stories?" Mica asked Ben. “Did all of this really happen?”
“Before I started learning about the history of the diamonds, I would have said no; they’re stories, legends,” he answered. “But history is history, and diamonds have strange powers that I never understood until my father starting teaching me how to cut them and understand their stories. And now, I see their stories as real, part of history.”
To Be Continued...
“What happened to the Hope diamond?” Magda asked.
“It brought nothing but sorrow to the people who owned it. Tavernier sold it to Louis XlV in 1668. The Sun King died in Versailles from gangrene. The diamond went down the family line to Louis XVI, who gave it to Marie Antoinette to wear around her neck. Legends say it caused the beginning of the French Revolution. Who knows? But history does state that Marie Antoinette finished her life with the guillotine around her neck.
“Then it disappeared for two hundred years and reappeared mysteriously in London in 1830, where it was bought at an auction by Henry Philip Hope, a wealthy banker. Since then, it kept going into different hands, each time causing havoc.
“A Ziegfeld Follies star received the diamond as a present and was afterwards murdered by her lover. Then a Greek bought it and subsequently fell off a cliff with his wife and children. In 1908, it went into the hands of a Turkish collector who soon died in a shipwreck. Next, the diamond went into the hands of the Sultan of Turkey, Selim Habib, but he had to sell it when he found himself in the middle of a revolution and a sword pointed between his eyes.
“Pierre Cartier purchased the gem from the Sultan and sold it to Mr. and Mrs. McClean in 1911, the owners of the Washington Post. But still the blue diamond didn't carry much hope. In 1912, their son was killed by a car. Years later their daughter died of an overdose of sleeping pills. The husband finished his life insane and with cirrhosis of the liver while Mrs. McClean committed suicide after losing her entire fortune.
“In 1949, the Hope diamond was sold to the jeweler, Harry Winston, but no one wanted to buy it from him. They were afraid. People claimed it was cursed. He ended up donating it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. It’s there now.”
“Do you believe these stories?" Mica asked Ben. “Did all of this really happen?”
“Before I started learning about the history of the diamonds, I would have said no; they’re stories, legends,” he answered. “But history is history, and diamonds have strange powers that I never understood until my father starting teaching me how to cut them and understand their stories. And now, I see their stories as real, part of history.”
To Be Continued...
NEWS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY
Ben was holding the blue diamond up to the light again. “Let me tell you about the second of Tavernier’s diamond cut from the original, 112-carat-blue. After the Hope diamond was the blue, Bonaparte diamond, square and forty-three carats. Tavernier sold it first to the Sultan of India in 1669 who in turn, sold it to a Japanese samurai who hid it in his sailboat on the way to Egypt. One of Napoleon’s generals found it in a Pharaoh’s pyramid when he and his army were there in 1798. Napoleon Bonaparte took the diamond back with him to France and embedded the jewel in his sword for his inauguration. Defying tradition, Napoleon raised his diamond sword and crowned himself emperor by taking the crown from the Pope's hands into his own. That’s when Napoleon's good luck turned bad.”
“Do you think that was because of the diamond?” Mica asked, horrified.
“Who knows?” Ben said, “but even after he died, the curse didn’t end. The Bonaparte diamond went to his second wife, Marie-Louise, and continued to cause misery.”
“Yes?” Mica said, eager to hear that diamond’s history.
“Marie-Louise was the daughter of Franz Joseph, emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Within a year Marie-Louise gave Napoleon a son, Le Roi de Rome- L’Aiglon.
“At this time, Napoleon's success was over. He started losing on the battlefield. After Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of Elba and then after that, he was exiled again to St. Helena, where he died alone and miserable.
“Marie-Louise returned to Vienna with the diamond, prying it from Napoleon's sword. She was a greedy woman.
“Misery followed the blue diamond. Her son, called The Duke of Reichstadt by the Austrians, died in his early twenties. Some say he was poisoned by Metternich, the emperor’s ambitious, Foreign Minister.
“The Bonaparte diamond stayed in Vienna with Marie-Louise until her father, the emperor, was afraid of the diamond's curse and insisted she send it back to France. But it was too late. She had already possessed the diamond. In fact, the story goes that Marie-Louise was quite possessed- she was a nymphomaniac.
To Be Continued...
“Do you think that was because of the diamond?” Mica asked, horrified.
“Who knows?” Ben said, “but even after he died, the curse didn’t end. The Bonaparte diamond went to his second wife, Marie-Louise, and continued to cause misery.”
“Yes?” Mica said, eager to hear that diamond’s history.
“Marie-Louise was the daughter of Franz Joseph, emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Within a year Marie-Louise gave Napoleon a son, Le Roi de Rome- L’Aiglon.
“At this time, Napoleon's success was over. He started losing on the battlefield. After Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of Elba and then after that, he was exiled again to St. Helena, where he died alone and miserable.
“Marie-Louise returned to Vienna with the diamond, prying it from Napoleon's sword. She was a greedy woman.
“Misery followed the blue diamond. Her son, called The Duke of Reichstadt by the Austrians, died in his early twenties. Some say he was poisoned by Metternich, the emperor’s ambitious, Foreign Minister.
“The Bonaparte diamond stayed in Vienna with Marie-Louise until her father, the emperor, was afraid of the diamond's curse and insisted she send it back to France. But it was too late. She had already possessed the diamond. In fact, the story goes that Marie-Louise was quite possessed- she was a nymphomaniac.
To Be Continued...
A Look into the Lives of Women in Communist Romania
Gift of DiamondsA Look into the Lives of Women in Communist Romania
FEBRUARY 6, 2021
HISTORY ARTICLES
https://lazyhistorian.com/a-look-into...
FEBRUARY 6, 2021
HISTORY ARTICLES
https://lazyhistorian.com/a-look-into...
THANK YOU FOR READING MY BOOKS
GIFT OF DIAMONDS
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
LOVE ODYSSEY
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
LOVE ODYSSEY
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
