Major A.T. Casdagli, the rebellious World War 2 Hero who needled the Nazis and stitched up Hitler
NEVER AGAIN!
World War 2 started on Friday, 1 September 1939 when Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany, and Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Fascist Italy, with other collaborators, invaded Poland. Nazism is based on the philosophy that the Aryan Race, descended from Proto-Indo-Europeans, are superior to all other races. To bring about the pure Aryan world they wanted, more or less everyone else had to be imprisoned or murdered in extermination and concentration camps. Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology, with power being held by one dictator under a single party. It rejects violence, for instance, as negative and views war more as a means to national rejuvenation and empowerment. On Sunday, 3 September 1939, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. Before long, this war reeked extreme suffering in the whole world, plunging it into terrifying violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide in extermination and concentration camps. This war devastated cities, infrastructure, resources and the environment. Famine and disease were widespread as were vast numbers of people fleeing in all directions.
COUNTING THE COST
In World War 2, the total estimate of deaths is between 70-80 million people, equaling approximately 3.76 of the world!s population. Military deaths are between 21-25 million, including 5 million Prisoners of War. Civilian deaths are estimated at between 50-55 millions. Nazi Germany with the Fascists and other collaborators, murdered some 6 million Jews. Other Nazi persecutions killed an even larger number of non-Jewish civilians and Prisoners of War.
PRISONER 3311
Major A.T. Casdagli was born on Wednesday, 4 April 1906. He was a Greek from Salford, Manchester, like his father before him. He was eight years old when World War 1 was declared and 12 years old when it ended. In 1939 when World War 2 broke out, Major A.T. Casdagli was one of the first to enlist, commissioned into the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. On 1 June 1941, he was captured by the Germans on the Greek Island of Crete and taken to Nazi Germany. His Prisoner of War number was 3311. During his imprisonment, he began to embroider and he is now world-famous for his F**k Hitler Embroidery! He also, in spite of great risk, kept a secret war diary, Prouder Than Ever. It is as if Major A.T. Casdagli knew this astonishing, honest and inspiring historical document would inevitably be published! Prouder Than Ever shows us why the lessons of history are so important. History might not repeat itself but it certainly rhymes!
PROUDER THAN EVER
Major A.T. Casdagli was captured on the Greek island of Crete on 1 June 1941 by the Germans and taken to Nazi Germany where he was held in various of War camps for four years. There, at great personal risk, in spite of confiscation and reprisals, he kept a secret war diary. Complied by his daughter, Alexis Penny Casdagli, Prouder Than Ever is illustrated with his photographs, embroideries, prison memorabilia and documents, which he carefully kept, as if Casdagli knew this honest and inspiring historical document would inevitably be published. Casdagli’s first war embroidery, the Fuck Hitler Sampler is now world famous. Every copy of Prouder Than Ever in this special edition of 1,000 is numbered and signed by Alexis Penny and comes with its own unique matchingly-numbered Fuck Hitler bookmark. 276 pages,135 illustrations, 82 in colour. ISBN: 978-0-9926759-6-7
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LOYAL TO THE HILL
Major A.T. Casdagli, aged 13, was given by his best friend, Demi, a Charles Letts’s Schoolboy Diary for 1920 that had a pencil tucked into the little diary’s spine. It’s as sharp now as it was then! Casdagli, who was extremely observant boy, lived with his wealthy family in Salford, Manchester. He wrote in his diary every single day. Casdagli’s daily view of the turbulent times he was living is indeed unique. The Great War still cast its long shadow and the Twenties were about to roar. Loyal To The Hill presents the diary in facsimile with a commentary by Alexis Penny Casdagli. Harrow School, which Casdagli attended, proudly proclaim him as a ‘Giants of Old’. Every copy of Loyal To The Hill in this special numbered edition of 750 is signed by the compiler. 280 pages, 85 illustrations, 24 in colour. ISBN: 978-0-9926759-9-8
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