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TIL After the cancellation of the 1944 Olympics, Polish prisoners of war being held in the Nazi Oflag II-C POW camp staged their own unofficial Olympics games. They made their own flag from a bed sheet, an opening ceremony was held and even a commemorative stamp was printed by the camp post office.

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a8YKA TIL that in the 1860s when the US was in Civil War, the French Emperir Napoleon III tried to place an Emperor in Mexico. After th US Civil War ended, members of the conservative Confederacy went into Mexico to support the Emperor while the rest of the US supplied arms to the liberal resistance.
mxpVR TIL that the large crowd that had gathered for the first execution by guillotine was greatly upset by the "clinical" nature of the device and its swiftness. They wanted a longer execution for more entertainment.
Q7X6 TIL: In 1963, Alfred Heineken created a beer bottle that could also function as a brick to build houses in impoverished countries.
8aVMa TIL of William Colepaugh, who upon being discharged from the US naval reserve defected to Nazi Germany in 1944. Trained as a spy, he was landed ashore at Gulf of Maine by an U boat. He voluntarily surrendered after partying with the money meant for espionage activities.
Q8dE TIL: Lions with black manes are alpha males. A dark-maned lion’s testosterone levels are higher than the levels in other males, his cubs are more likely to survive, and he is more likely to recover from wounds. Lionesses prefer a dark-maned mate.