John William Kaufman was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on 7th August 1952 to his parents William, a local GP and Breege, a Gynacologist at Edinburgh Royal Hospital. Kirkcaldy is an affluent and stunning village. The well heeled Kaufman’s lived on what was described as doctors row, a small exclusive crescent set in four acres of conservation green belt situated 16 miles north of the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Although John was often referred to as socially independent and some what detached in his primary school days John's academic ability was out standing and it was obvious and noted that from a very early age he was too achieve much in his life.
For this reason he received local government funding to attend the exclusive Ramplington modern, a feeder school in Belgrave, Oxford for Oxford University, of which John was amongst one of its youngest ever students at the age of 17 years and 2 days.
John excelled although he suffered from asthma and missed his family he went on to achieve a glowing report from his teacher and confidante Professor James Boyd head of History and Economics.
“John is the most talented student of his generation, he has an outstanding ability to out wit me and I often wonder who is the teacher and who is the pupil.”
He described John as, honourable, reliable and a damn decent chap.
John graduated with a Phd in 1975 at the age of 27. Later that year he joined the British foreign office and was soon too be posted to the troubled area of Beirut as attaché to the then British ambassador Herbert Smart-Henshall an ex military general well versed in middle eastern politics and a well respected figure in the muslim world.
It was here John was introduced to the local mayors daughter a beautiful, educated and intelligent lady three years his junior, Safwana Hasheed. They fell in love and married 12 months later and as Safwana fell pregnant John was presented with the news that he was too be given the position of the British ambassador to Iran in June 1978.
He was well respected in Tehran and held good diplomatic relations with the pre Islamic revolution Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as he sort to help educate and build new universities for Iran’s future generations with British money but not cultural influence.
John Kaufman was to show his true qualities after the militant revolution on 6th Jan 1979 with his refusal to return back to Britain. This was to prove vital during the taking of 53 American hostages who where held from 4th November 1979 until 20th January 1981 a total of 444 days.
After the failure to rescue the hostages in operation “Eagle Claw” 24th April 1981 Kaufman was called upon by the American president Ronald Reegan to use his diplomatic influence in a desperate attempt to appease the American public.
Kaufman agreed to help risking his life on several occasions to successfully arrange the release of all 53 hostages unharmed.
On 25th June 1981 John was honoured at The White House by the then president of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, with the countries highest medal of honour “The Presidential Medal Of Honour.”
Sir John Kaufman, (he was Knighted in July 1983) return to England and now lives a peaceful reclusive family life in rural Berkshire. He is still married to Safwana with whom they had two children William and Sasha.
Safia Halina Aehrenthal was born on 17th January 1937 along with her sibling and twin brother Klaus to Austro-Hungarian Parents Audo and Svetlana, in the small rural town of Kaunertalerhof in the North Eastern province of Katschensberg Austria.
Safia's father Audo Had been smuggled out of France during the German invasion on 5th June 1916 and was adopted and renamed to hide his identity and create anonymity from his German antagonists. Audo was a worker at the local foundry where they produced chess pieces for the wealthy European gentry. he earned a very modest amount.
Her mother Svetlana had travelled to the Katschensberg area from Russia as a journalist reporting on the struggle for autonomy in the region for the Russian Media giant SVET. She was putting her life in great danger as Russia were the historical enemy of the Austro-Hungarian people.
She met Audo one evening as she sort refuge in Kaunertalerhof, she had been followed that morning as she left the town hall where she had visited to study the archives of missing civilians and had started to fear for her safety. Audo noticed her unease and offered her refuge in his home. She fell in love with his kindness and humility and never returned to Russia. They married on 12th May 1936. I
Safia was educated at the local school and greatly enhanced by her mothers knowledge and own education. She spent much of her time at home reading history with her parents encouragement and influence. This foundation gave her a better and less biased understanding than most of her peers when she studied European politics in the Bavarian capital of Munich.
Her early days as a political activist earned her a reputation for her resilient and pragmatic style. She gained respect from those around her and she was able to conceal her ideology to unite the people and fight back against their oppressive rulers the Prussians, through her network of trusted friends.
History will recall the defiant " Dalke der Peopliza" march along with what was estimated to be 3.5 million Austro-Hungarian and Bavarian German people in Munich 18th November 1957. Little did we know that at a time of great economic instability, such an anonymous young woman would be responsible for laying down the foundations of modern European democracy.
She was instrumental in the organization of the distribution of leaflets and posters to inform the people of an uprising against their repression and the pragmatist of the end of Prussian Imperial dominance in middle Europe. The old order would be defeated and banished forever.
She was soon recognized to be a leader by her people and became the political figure head for the party that was born out of the march, the socialist "Peopliza Party"
The uprise spread like a wild fire through the Danzig corridor (historical trade route between the Slav's and Austro-Hungarians) as the people fought back. This backlash quickly brought about a reunion of the Slav's and the Austro's leaders in the Polish town of Danzig. This had been unimaginable for three centuries of persecution and ruthless sectarianism enforced upon them by Prussian military might.
The revolution would be too powerful for any army to stop and Safia was their leader.
The fall of the Prussian Empire was not a peaceful one and many people lost their lives. However on 29th November 1958 its destruction was an inevitable and swift one followed by trails of its dictators Ivon Weinsenhoff and Micheal Ivanschwien and their multitude of henchmen and their public executions.
There was a price to pay the Russians were not likely to take this lying down but the eyes of the now dominant west were upon them and the most they dare do was to annex East Prussia and so the infamous Berlin Wall was to be erected.
Russia's explanation was too keep a strategic distance between Moscow and western capitalist greed.
Of course we now recognize this as the key turning point towards the end of communism in Europe. One women's ideology, pragmatism and an understanding of her people and their history through her mothers own education in Russia creates a sense of irony.
Safia Halina Aehrenthal never married and dedicated her life to her conviction for justice. In 1997 she was posthumously awarded the Nobel peace prize.
It was presented to her parents in Zurich on 16th June.
She was assassinated in Dubrovnik on 3rd March 1995 as she travelled to attend a meeting with the Albanian Leader Enver Hoxha to discuss the annexing of Albanian nationals by NATO forces trapped in Serbia, a meeting that may have saved many thousands of lives. Although nobody has ever claimed responsibility it is believed Serbian Special forces "The Black Brigade" were responsible for her murder.
For part b of the exercise my partner Chloe and i agreed that we would move ahead with the John Kaufman story after making several changes to it we reverted back to the original story.
Who Is It?
The addition of hand written type is effective and i like its contrast
These images show the progression of our poster as we developed it through various stages.
After group tutorial it was point out that the type on the left hand side sat a little uncomfortable so we intend on addressing this issue.
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