The Valkyries

The government of Japan put the number of casualties from the recent earthquake and tsunami at more than 10,000. It has been more than a week and recovery operations around the devastated area goes on. It is quite inspiring to learn of stories of survival amidst the ruins as well as the efforts at saving as many lives as possible in the aftermath.

A valkyrie is a female Norse mythological figure who decides who will live and who will die in battle. This belief emphasizes the randomness by which events happen.

In 1964 March 27th, the City of Anchorage, Alaska felt the earth move with an intensity 9.2. It will suffer through an 8.2 meter tsunami as well as ground liquefaction and landslides. It was called the Good Friday Earthquake and the valkyries took 131 lives.

It was not all nature's fury when it comes to death. Man can arrange wars and throughout history the valkyries were busy-choosing who to take into the afterlife.

Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff was a high ranking German officer in Hitler's Army. He discovered the mass graves of the Soviet atrocities in Katyn done to Polish officers, 4,000 of them shot by the soviet secret police. He was recruited to assassinate his fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. His own plan calls for a series of explosions including a bomb strapped to his body. He is a suicide bomber and his target is a madman.

He survived the war. He was captured by the Americans. He was one of the few who plotted against Hitler and escaped capture. Most of those who tried to kill Adolf Hitler (there were at least 15 attempts) were made to stand against a wall and shot. No trials. He died at the age of 74 in 1980.

Yes. The valkyries spared this one.