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The Family Vincius – Berlin Page: 1 / 366 René Jean-Paul Dewil The Family Vincius Copyright © René Dewil Number of words: 196853 January 2020 – October 2020 The Family Vincius – Berlin Page: 2 / 366 Berlin 1880- 1930 Copyright © René Dewil Number of words: 196853 January 2020 – October 2020 The Family Vincius – Berlin Page: 3 / 366 Copyright Clause Copyright © René Jean-Paul Dewil 2020 René Jean-Paul Dewil is identified as the sole author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be altered without the written permission of the author. The book may be copied in electronic or other forms for personal use only. It may not be printed, introduced in any retrieval system, electronic or otherwise, photocopied or otherwise recorded without the prior written permission of the author. The only system where the e-book may be retrieved from is the Internet website www.theartofpainting.be, which holds the only and original text acknowledged by the author. This publication remains under copyright. ‘The Family Vincius - Berlin’ is a work of fiction. Therefore, all the names and the figures of the novel, except for the historical figures of the rulers and military leaders, are purely the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or to places of interest, is completely coincidental. The characters and events are totally fictional. The places, events and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Copyright © René Dewil Number of words: 196853 January 2020 – October 2020 The Family Vincius – Berlin Page: 4 / 366 Table of Contents Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 4 The Characters ........................................................................................................................... 7 The Family Vincius ............................................................................................................ 7 Other characters .................................................................................................................. 9 The Leaders of the Nations ............................................................................................... 13 Part I. The years 1880 to 1914. La Belle Époque. ............................................................... 18 The Family Vincius ............................................................................................................ 18 German Politics. Otto von Bismarck. 1870-1890 ............................................................ 23 The Kulturkampf ............................................................................................................ 28 The international Situation and the Great Depression ............................................... 34 Early anti-Semitism in Germany. 1879-1882 ............................................................... 42 Bismarck’s Social Welfare Bills and his Fall from Power. 1883-1890 ....................... 46 The Times after Bismarck’s Resignation ..................................................................... 50 The Vincius of Thorn. 1890-1900 .................................................................................. 52 The Jews in Russia and in Poland. The Pogroms. 1880-1900 ........................................ 54 The Pogroms ................................................................................................................... 59 The young Julian Vincius. 1890-1898 ............................................................................... 64 Julian Vincius in Freiburg. 1906-1912 ............................................................................. 74 Dora Gomol. Freiburg and Berlin. 1908-1911 ................................................................. 81 The Persecution of the Jews in Russia. 1900-1914 .......................................................... 93 International Developments. 1890-1914 ......................................................................... 103 The Concert of Europe. 1880-1900 ............................................................................. 103 The Russo-Japanese War. 1904-1906 ......................................................................... 113 Continued Conflicts. La Belle Époque. 1905-1912 .................................................... 119 Julian Vincius and Dora Gomol. Paris. 1910 ............................................................. 127 More Conflicts. The Balkan Wars. 1912-1913 ........................................................... 130 The Conflagration. 1914............................................................................................... 135 The Kleinberger and the von Chrapitz. 1900-1914 ....................................................... 140 Copyright © René Dewil Number of words: 196853 January 2020 – October 2020 The Family Vincius – Berlin Page: 5 / 366 Part II. The World War. 1914-1918 ................................................................................... 147 The War begins. 1914....................................................................................................... 147 Julian Vincius in the War. 1914 .................................................................................. 150 The War. 1914 ............................................................................................................... 158 Julian Vincius at Longwy. 1914................................................................................... 164 On the Eastern Front. 1914 ......................................................................................... 173 The ongoing War, the Years 1915 and 1916 .................................................................. 179 On the Western Front in 1915 ..................................................................................... 179 The Battle of Verdun .................................................................................................... 181 Longwy and Julian Vincius in 1915 ............................................................................ 187 Verdun from March to Autumn 1916......................................................................... 209 Julian Vincius in Longwy during the Battle of Verdun, 1916 .................................. 211 Verdun from October to December 1916 ................................................................... 218 On the eastern Fronts from 1915 to end 1916 ............................................................ 220 The Battle of the Somme .............................................................................................. 225 On the Balkan Front and Conclusion ......................................................................... 229 The World War in 1917 ................................................................................................... 232 The Russian revolution ................................................................................................ 232 Germany and the USA ................................................................................................. 243 German actions in the spring of 1917 ......................................................................... 244 1917 on the Western Front .......................................................................................... 245 Malou Vincius ............................................................................................................... 249 On the Italian Front ..................................................................................................... 253 The British Offensives of 1917 ..................................................................................... 256 Colonel Otto von Chrapitz in Longwy ........................................................................ 261 Politics and Peace Talks ............................................................................................... 269 The USA in the War ..................................................................................................... 273 New War Tactics ........................................................................................................... 275 The last Offensives and the Ending of the War. 1918 ................................................... 277 The Peace Treaty of Brest Litowsk for the Eastern Front, 1918 ............................. 277 The German Offensives on the Western front in 1918.............................................. 280 From the Diary of Otto von Chrapitz. Operation Blücher-Yorck. May-June 1918 .. 288 The Turning of the Tide. Allied Attacks on the Western Front. 1918 ........................ 299 Malou Vincius in Belgium ............................................................................................ 304 Copyright © René Dewil Number of words: 196853 January 2020 – October 2020 The Family Vincius – Berlin Page: 6 / 366 Developments on the Eastern Front............................................................................ 309 Longwy in 1918 ............................................................................................................. 311 The End of the War ...................................................................................................... 316 Julian Vincius’ return to Berlin .................................................................................. 321
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