Category Archives: mercenaries

No Sun Without Shadow

“There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.” – Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

Archival assistance and emotional support from Farfel. Swissair ticket stubs from 29 December 1960 to 10 February 1961; Vlado’s father, Pavel, died of a heart attack in Berlin 19 December 1960. Sabena ticket stub appears to be from 1956, date is unclear. St. Bernard medal retrieved from the Albertina crash site, Ndola, 17-18 September 1961.
KLM postcard addressed to Vlado, care of the United Nations, New York, N.Y., “The Flying Dutchman”, Douglas DC-6B.
KLM postcard reverse, 29 December 1957: “Dear Vlady, Happy New Year to you and all the best wishes for you from an old friend. I think I won’t see you somewhere in N. York, I am getting married and my new home will be in Curacao…”
Farfel picks his favorite postcard from Vlado, sent from former Leopoldville, Democratic Republic of the Congo, now Kinshasa.
Reverse of postcard from Vlado, 12 August 1961, to his mother, “Maminka”, Madame Olga Fabry.
A better look at the real photo postcard from Vlado, purchased from the “Stanley-Hotel, Avenue Moulaert”.
Vlado’s signet ring, retrieved from the Albertina crash site, Ndola, 17-18 September 1961.

“The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” – Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

L’Express, 21 September 1961

I was hesitant to share this here, because of the editorial choice of the word “suicide” to describe the death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, but it is important because this was saved in a collection of other international papers by Olinka and Olga Fabry. The political cartoon, showing Moïse Tshombe collecting his money from the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga mines with the murders of Patrice Lumumba and Hammarskjold, is gruesome but on point. From our personal coin collection, not from the Fabry archive, I have also included scans of two coins from Katanga from 1961.