› added 4 months ago

14

TIL that the Auschwitz "Arbeit macht frei" sign features an inverted "B" - Jan Liwacz, Konzentrationslager prisoner who made the sign, inverted the letter in defiance of Nazi oppression. Jan Liwacz survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen and died in 1980 a respected and well known artisan smith.

E15ed TIL of the old jewish cemetery in prague. Dating back to 1478, it has gotten full so many times and they just kept adding layers. Now there are 12 layers of graves stacked on top of each other. There are about 12,000 visible tombstones but over 100,000 people buried there.
4k0DN TIL that in the 17th & 18th centuries, the traditional source of cadavers—executions—declined, leading to a surge in corpse theft due to rising medical demand, poor preservation, and minimal penalties.
KO5B4 TIL that in order to stop the existence of brothels, various US states forbid a large number of women from living together in one house. In Ohio, it's illegal for more than 5 women to live together; in Tennessee, it's illegal for more than 8; and in Pennsylvania, it's illegal for more than 15
kwl7 TIL that two men claimed to have been abducted by aliens with carrot-like faces and lobster-claw hands. The local sheriff left them alone and secretly recorded them, expecting a hoax to be revealed, but they continued to discuss the events with each other as if they were terrified.
dDvwZ TIL Japan has only eaten raw salmon since the 90s due to pacific salmon being prone to parasites, it took Norway having an excess of the Atlantic variety for raw salmon to become popular there and considered safe for consumption.