This weekend in Russellville, Arkansas, a march of remembrance took place to honour those who were affected by the Holocaust during World War Two. While the majority of those present were there to pay their respects to the dead and remember those who survived the horrific ordeal, a smaller faction had showed up in order to terrorise marchers and spout antisemitic comments.

The group, who carried Swastika flags and signs which said, "The Holocaust didn't happen but it should have", was comprised of white nationalists. They flashed the white supremacist 'OK' sign and chanted things such as "six million more" - a reference to the six million jews who lost their lives between 1941 and 1945.

This is the disgusting moment the Shield Wall Network (SWN) crashed the memorial:

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"It made me feel terrible, it made me feel terrible for my friends. They were talking to us like we were pieces of nothing," said Joyce Griffis, who organised the memorial march. Even so, she still spoke with with an open mind and a kind heart. "We will accept you if you accept us," she said. "We want you to have your life, but we want our life also, and we want the truth to be known about history."

Meanwhile, Randy Cook, who led everyone in prayer at the end of the remembrance event, insisted that the small group of nationalists were not any reflection on the larger community of Russelville, or, indeed, of Arkansas.

"It's just a few people stirring things up," he said. "Russellville is a wonderful community, and we've never had any trouble. They don't reflect Russellville at all."

However, it should be acknowledged that this is not an isolated event. In fact, incidents like this have been happening more and more in recent years.

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At the same event this weekend, the Nazis interrupted a speech given by Sir Beryl Wolfson, a 96-year-old veteran who witnessed the liberation of Dachau, a concentration camp, in 1945.

Robert Vork, an associate professor of English at Arkansas Tech University described watching Wolfson struggle to hold it together as the supremacists hurled abuse at him.

"One of the most moving, revealing and angering things I've ever witnessed was watching Beryl Wolfson, a World War II veteran in his 90s, in a wheelchair, struggling to put his terrible memories Dachau into words and almost breaking down at one point because the Nazis [White Nationalists] were shouting obscenities at him," he said. "That courageous old man's shaking voice is a call to all of us."

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The group was organised by Billy Roper, a known neo-Nazi, and his group 'Shield Wall Network'. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Roper was born into a family of Klansmen and joined a "racist skinhead gang in Arkansas as a teenager" before going on to organise his own hate groups.

In a statement on his ideology, he once said: "Every non-White on the planet has to become extinct. We need to remove these minor-league amateur races out of the game, and refine the playoff brackets a bit, if you get my meaning."

In spite of his feeble attempts at interrupting the memorial march, however, those who turned out to support the movement still triumphed in doing so.

Since the election of President Donald Trump, the meaning and importance of free speech has been challenged on an almost daily basis. The prevalence of marches and rallies in the USA - some advocating for, and some uprising against the current government - seems more apparent than ever, and it's the same story when it comes to social media. Facebook and Twitter have become platforms to share political opinions and express - quite rightfully - free speech. However, freedom of speech does not equate to freedom from consequences, and so the more unpopular or controversial opinions are easily subjected to criticism. Chad Felix Greene, an author and journalist, is currently getting slammed on Twitter after implying that Nazis would still exist in an ideal universe. "I want to live in a world where ppl wearing swastikas or rainbows or Black Power shirts can coexist without physically attacking each other," he wrote yesterday on the social media platform. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/910287864088420352]] He followed up by saying, "I do not wish to weed out all the things that offend me and support what I enjoy as a requirement for happiness or stability." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/910288174378823685]] And many agreed with him. The first tweet has over 1,000 likes, and many people stepped in to claim that he was simply defending "free speech". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/PolitiBunny/status/910670149560209408]] The problem is, Greene's advocacy for "free speech" and a world in which people "wearing swastikas" is commonplace goes beyond just offending people - and is actually something that would put him, personally, in danger. "The Nazis wish to weed you out, my dude," wrote on Twitter user, who was probably referring to the fact that Greene is gay and Jewish - two demographics that the Nazis famously targeted and murdered by the millions. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/osutein/status/910346375879065601]] Others pointed out the obvious fact that the basis of Nazism is a refusal to coexist, and is founded on ideologies of superiority: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/taldorei/status/910365674782019584]] And many were quick to highlight the problems with equating Nazism - a fascist hate movement - with the struggles of black and LGBTQ people. While the former has only ever advocated for the regression of equality, the latter is still striving closer towards it. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/910358151865733120]] Greene's tweet was referring to an incident recently in which a man wearing a swastika armband in public was tracked down and punched by Twitter users. Again, the internet was divided on the attack, with some saying he deserved what he got, and others arguing that he was just expressing his opinion - as we all should be able to do. On the one hand, the man wearing the armband was not physically antagonising anybody at the time. However, on the other, when one person's opinion calls for the negative treatment - or, to some extremes, the genocide - of certain social and racial groups, it's no longer something that can be a part of a peaceful society. Even if he wasn't physically harming anyone, the man in the armband was supporting an idea that threatens millions of innocent people. Logically, there's not really a way for these groups to coexist. But still, Greene is entitled to express his opinion on the internet, and everybody else is well within their rights to ridicule him for it.

A video has surfaced online of the moment a black woman refuses to accept the services of an independent contractor who drove to her home with a Confederate flag sticking out the back of his vehicle.

Allison and Zeke Brown, a married couple from Georgia, immediately noticed the flag, which has long been synonymous with the racism encountered by African Americans before and during the Civil Rights movement.

They had hired the contractor, called Michael, to replace the brakes on their golf cart, according to Yahoo.

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When Michael approaches the couple, Allison, in particular, has no qualms about making her feelings known.

"Hi, you know what, I do apologize," says the 40-year-old radiation therapist. "I know you’ve come from a very long way, but we’re going to use someone else."

"She’s upset about the flag," Allison's 48-year-old husband informs Michael to which Allison interjects: "No, I am beyond upset with the flag."

When Michael offers to remove it, Allison continues to refuse his services.

"No, you don't need to take it down," she insists. "You can continue to believe what you need to believe, sir. But no, I cannot pay you for your services. Thank you, have a good day."

When Allison returns to the house, Michael gets back into his vehicle and drives off.

"I didn’t want to be the 'angry black woman' but I wanted him to learn and feel that bottom-line loss," Allison later told Yahoo Lifestyle. "You don’t go to Germany and wave the Nazi flag. It’s the same thing."

After watching the video - which was posted by CNN commentator Keith Boykin and has since garnered over 4 million views - many took to Twitter to praise Allison for the way she reacted to the situation.

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Following the encounter, Michael messaged Zeke saying, "I didn’t know the flag offended y’all."

Zeke replied: "Yes, it is extremely offensive to anyone of color. I understand it is part of American history, but that flag stood for a time in history where people such as myself had a very bad way of life...Micheal, I hope this small interaction causes you to do a little research on how several Americans feel about the Confederacy. I know it’s part of history, so is Nazi Germany..."

Also speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, Michael explained that he is "redneck" and that the flag was meant to celebrate for the Fourth of July:

"My little siblings bought it from a flea market. I don’t support slavery and neither do my siblings. But I am not going to take it down when my siblings asked me to fly it. If [the family] wants to take offense, they can."

The Nazi regime was undoubtedly one of the most evil tyrannies in modern history and was directly responsible for the persecution and genocide of millions of Jews, Slavs, gypsies, homosexuals and disabled people. The atrocities of the Third Reich have been well-documented and the vast majority of people today are well aware of the horrors of the Holocaust. However, that's not to say that Nazi Germany wasn't also responsible for a number of impressive breakthroughs in the fields of science, medicine and engineering. This is not to excuse their appalling crimes, but nevertheless, it seems paradoxical that the Fascists who killed and maimed so many innocents have also advanced so many fields of human endeavour. Just look at how many Nazi scientists were cleared of war crimes and recruited by the United States in Operation Paperclip after the end of the war. Unfortunately for many people, Dr Otto Warburg was not one of them. Since Nazi Germany was an autocracy, scientific research was dictated by the often-mercurial whims of Adolf Hitler, and one of the Führer's biggest fears was cancer. Indeed, Hitler himself was something of a health freak throughout his life. He was vegetarian and was ardently against smoking; not to mention the Nazis produced a nicotine-free brand of tobacco in the 1930s after Eberhard Schairer and Erich Schöniger observed that lung cancer patients were also likely to be heavy smokers. After the removal of a laryngeal polyp, Hitler became paranoid about anything cancer-related. [caption id="attachment_15017" align="aligncenter" width="478"] Credit: Getty[/caption] As Robert Proctor, author of the medical history book The Nazi War on Cancer states, "The irony is that in this murderous regime, you also find the world’s most progressive anticancer policy. This has been totally ignored ... Health researchers feel uncomfortable citing Nazi sources, and historians are wary of stressing anything that appears 'positive' about the period. What has to be recognised is that good science can travel with bad politics." Nowhere is this more apparent than the case of scientist Dr Otto Warburg, a pioneer in the field of physiology and cancer research, who even managed to win the Nobel prize in 1931 as a result of his research. Yet, when a shadow fell over Germany in the wake of the Great Depression and fascism seized the nation, Warburg was forced to collaborate with the Nazi party in order to preserve his research. For Warburg had loftier ambitions than most men. He was less concerned with the horrors of the second world war, and the institutional abuses of minorities perpetrated under Hitler's orders. In his mind, the only war worth fighting was against disease, against malignant cells and inoperable tumours, which would kill far more people than the Nazi party ever would. Many of his peers treated his complicity with scorn, and yet despite once being one of the most famous researchers of his day, he is practically unknown among the former Allied powers, even though his contributions to cancer research were so vital. In another time, living outside a dictatorship, maybe Warburg could have cured cancer. [caption id="attachment_15020" align="aligncenter" width="464"] Credit: Getty[/caption] Dr Otto Warburg was born in 1883 on the border between Germany and Switzerland and was a quarter Jewish on his father's side. As a young man he studied chemistry under the famous Emil Fischer, and later served in World War I in a cavalry unit, where he was awarded the Iron Cross for his feats of bravery. Although he did not deny his Jewish heritage, he was intensely patriotic. He was also a friend and contemporary of Albert Einstein, who convinced him to academia after armistice day. By 1918, Warburg had been appointed professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology and by 1931 he was named Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology. It was after the latter appointment that he first began his research into cancerous cells by investigating the metabolism of tumours and the respiration of cells, discovering that cancerous cells appeared to thrive in a low-alkaline, low-oxygen environment. He was awarded the Nobel prize for this discovery. But he was still dissatisfied: he had not yet discovered the primary cause of cancerous cells. What unknown factor caused them to divide wrongly? Warburg could not rest until the question was settled. Warburg was known for being a very private man, sarcastic and biting yet also warm and caring. He could tax his research assistants to no end, kept a distance from his extended family, and had no contact with the Jewish community. He was a lifelong bachelor, and there were many rumours about the nature of his sexuality. Many people believed him to be a closeted gay man. He was apolitical, and appeared to favour no ideology other than that which would further his research. There is no doubt that he was a Nazi affiliate, but he could be critical of the Nazi regime, and at one point his heretical comments even resulted a temporary dismissal from his academic post. He was reinstated not long after, despite Hitler considering his work far too critical. [[heroimage||http://cdn.junglecreations.com/wp/junglecms/2017/09/rsz_gettyimages-56461967-min.jpg||image]] Indeed, Warburg was treated with an unusual amount of lenience by the authorities. Herman Göering demanded that he be reclassified as a quarter-Jewish, instead of half by the typical standards. He was protected from persecution thanks to his connections with the Reichwehr and Viktor Brack and Phillip Bouhler, two high-ranking SS and government operatives. Furthermore, Warburg's sisters survived by marrying high-status Aryans and by converting to Christianity. Warburg’s biographer, the Nobel Laureate Hans Krebs, later wrote: "Warburg’s willingness to let his Jewish blood be diluted in this way, and thus to make a pact with the Nazis, incensed colleagues outside Germany." By the year 1944, Warburg felt that he was close to a cure for cancer. He developed the Warburg hypothesis, a theory which remains as controversial as it is important in the field of cancer research. In it, Warburg used his Nobel prize-winning theory to advance his concept of a primary cause of cancer in cells. Warburg believed that oxygen starvation in cells was the key to everything. If a cell was deprived of oxygen then it would rely on fermentation instead of respiration in order to gain energy. The cells would depend on glycolysis to achieve this, and thus would produce a more acidic environment as a result of the  fermentation process; the pace of cancer cell growth and division is quicker than the production of non-cancerous oxygen-supplying blood vessels, and thus cancer soon overtakes the body and causes a number of adverse health effects ... or so Warburg claimed. [caption id="attachment_15022" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Credit: Getty[/caption] His study of "hydrogen transfer of cell enzymes" earned him a third Nobel nomination, but the publication was highly politicised, and a number of fellow-scientists were content to shun him and his contributions as a result of his political affiliations. It could be argued that Warburg was only working with the Nazis out of necessity, and to preserve work that could save millions of lives. But the fact that he was offered a position working for the Rockefeller Institute during WWII, which he himself turned down, seems to contradict this. After the end of the war, he applied to work in the United States, but was refused a Visa and struggled to gain exposure for his work during the war. Warburg was convinced that he was right about a complete theory of cancer and that the increasing rates of cancer diagnosis in the western world were down to pollution and exposure to toxins. Warburg died of a pulmonary embolism in 1970 and did not live to see his theory confirmed. Today, a number of other prime causes of cancer have been advanced besides sugar fermentation, although nearly 18,000 publications have been published on the Warburg effect in the period 2000 to 2015 and thousands of publications claim to have determined its functions or causes. Yet we still have approximately 8 million people suffer from cancer each year. [caption id="attachment_15023" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Credit: Getty[/caption] The moral of this story is that science can never truly be apolitical. Like it or not, science is dictated by political aims, and the ideology and morality of the scientist has a direct effect on the public reception of their findings. As Warburg himself once wrote: "The prevention of cancer will come there is no doubt, for man wishes to survive. But how long prevention will be avoided depends on how long the prophets of agnosticism will succeed in inhibiting the application of scientific knowledge in the cancer field. In the meantime, millions of men must die of cancer unnecessarily." Warburg's complicity with the Nazis directly impeded the results of his inquiries. Who knows what he might have achieved otherwise? But we cannot remain complacent to the health crisis facing us. Please donate to Cancer Research UK to end the pain of countless people around the world.  

Now I don't know about you, but I have watched enough scary movies to know that history can inspire the most terrifying of stories. Whether we're talking about creepy serial killers of times past or a bloody battle waged in the medieval era, history is always a rich resource when it comes to horror. Certainly, Hollywood has drawn much inspiration for their coterie of horror flicks from ancient times. The list is endless; most recently there has been Crimson Peak, but I'm sure that you're more acquainted with names like Dracula, Young Frankenstein and Black Death. Personally, however, I find such movies much more frightening than the gore-ridden slasher films that have become incredibly popular of late. Imgur user CanadaSpeedoMan proved my point perfectly when he took to the platform to share what happened when he stumbled across a forgotten military site in Greenland... "Just last week my wife and I had the opportunity to take part in a backcountry expedition to South East Greenland", the Imgur user wrote. "After days and miles and miles of trekking through the fjords, we arrived at the site of 'Bluie East Two'. It was EXTREMELY remote and pretty eerie to find that far away from civilization." What the man had stumbled on was a minor United States Army Air Force airfield. Located in Ikateq, East Greenland, it was operational from 1942 to 1947. As he then explains, "the site was used to refuel planes travelling from the USA to Europe during the war". "The site could only be accessed by boat during several months of the year. Otherwise, it was completely inaccessible because of the sea ice  Thousands upon thousands of barrels for fuel were left. Some still with fuel inside When they abandoned the air strip, it appears everything was left as is." The user also shared a picture of an abandoned hangar. "The local Inuit people salvaged much of the usable material that could be transported by foot or with their small fishing boats," he added. The user posted a picture of his wife crossing an old bridge, saying: "ALL the wood had to be brought in by boat. There are no trees in South East Greenland. Any driftwood found comes from Siberia". And he sourced some pictures of what the airfield looked like back when it was in use - as you can see everything was a lot tidier: "I could have spent a week here and not have had the chance to see everything. Hope you enjoyed!" The Imgur user wrote before providing interested readers with some more background information on the historic site. Well, how creepy was all of that? While I'm not going to be flying out to Greenland just to spend some time in an abandoned airfield, if you are keen to visit the site, you better go soon, because as the user explains, it will be undergoing a clean-up process, which is due to start in 2018.