College Gift
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Western New England College: Gift Purposes WELCOME AREAS OF NEED ANNUAL GIVING ENDOWED FUNDS PLANNED GIVING Life Income Gifts Order Booklets PARENT'S FUND DONORS' STORIES DONOR RECOGNITION SOCIETIES WAYS TO VOLUNTEER STAFF CONTACT US GIVE ONLINE Gift Purposes Supporters of Western New England College have two broad options for designating the use of their planned gifts, Unrestricted Gifts or Restricted Gifts. For Restricted Gifts, we ask that you please contact us for further information before finalizing your gift documents. Many supporters make contributions to Western New England College in the form of unrestricted gifts. Unrestricted gifts have no specific purpose designated by the donor. These gifts are extremely helpful because they can be used by the College for the most pressing needs or appropriate purposes at the time the gift is received. Most planned gifts -- such as retirement plan assets, bequests, life insurance, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and life estates -- will not come to the College until years or even decades from now (these are called deferred gifts). Because the College's funding needs and priorities change over time, leaving your gift unrestricted allows for the greatest flexibility by the College in determining your gift's most appropriate use. For the types of planned gifts mentioned above, please consider an unrestricted gift. You can designate that your gift be unrestricted for use by the College as a whole, or that it be for unrestricted use specifically by one or more of the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, or Law. You might prefer that your gift be used for a certain purpose. For planned gifts that will provide immediate funds, such as charitable lead trusts or outright gifts of real estate that will be sold upon receipt, you could designate your gift for an area that is currently targeted by the College for support. These options can be reviewed under Areas of Need . Two areas of support that will be of great help for the foreseeable future are: Financial Aid , which provides assistance to students to attain their educational goals without having to taking on high levels of debt. For further discussion, please see Areas of Need . Endowed Funds have become a popular way for donors to provide a source of permanent support for the College. For further explanation, please see the information under Endowed Funds . Please contact us: We make every effort to accommodate the wishes of our donors. If you have in mind a specific purpose for your planned gift, whether it be for any of the areas described above or for some other area that you are considering, please contact us to discuss the gift designation. We will work with you to ensure that the gift purpose is both helpful and practical and to craft appropriate language for your planned gift documents. Contact Us . Calculate Your Own Tax Savings and Income The Cupola Society Gift Purposes Estate Planning Informational Brochures Contact Us HOME | SITE INFORMATION
Groomsmen Gifts! Golf gear,
Office Theme Groomsmen Gifts, Weddding Party Gift Ideas Personalize FindGift.com! -- Login | Sign Up | List of Services Gift Ideas Gift Registry Gift Shops Gift Bookmarks Home | Help keyword search Gift Giving Made Easy! A free service dedicated to helping you find creative gift ideas! Home Categories Bridal Party Groomsmen Office Theme Refine Search for Bridal Party Gift Ideas Groomsmen Always Friends Barware Cigar Theme Golf Theme Office Theme Weird & Wacky Any Price $0 - $10 $11 - $25 $26 - $50 $51 - $100 $101 - $200 $200+ Related Links Sign Up for our FREE Bridal Registry! Wedding Gift Ideas Use our Gift Wizard to customize your gift search Use our Gift Finder to find gift ideas customized to the likes/dislikes of the recipient. Custom Bridal Party Gifts Personalized gifts for groomsmen, bridesmaids & more. Top quality! www.Wedding-Presents.com Hot Groomsmen Gifts! Golf gear, cigar stuff, knives and more! Personalization available. www.groomstand.com Viewing 1 - 10 of 109 gift ideas found Engraved Business Card Case from Personal Creations ($8.95) An elegant card case for your important businessman! We engrave any 3 initials across the top. Holds approximately 15 standard size business cards. $5 OFF orders over $40! Save on personalized gifts, ornaments and decorations. PROMO CODE: GFB548. (exp 12/31/05) Questions? Contact Personal Creations . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Personalized Pub/Tavern Sign from Simply Sublime ($45.95) A fun way to personalize your rec room, bar, or personal getaway spot. Our 12"x18" tavern sign makes a great gift for Fathers day, perfect for groomsmen gifts, or for that hard to buy for person in your life. Personalize any of the text! No extra charge per letter. Christmas Delivery Deadline: December 1st Questions? Contact Simply Sublime . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Excalibur and 'Stone' Letter Opener Crafted by Gladius from Flame, Foundry and Forge ($49.95) The Sword and the Stone are yours! Stainless steel blade, gold plated hilt with leather grips. Letter opener: 9 1/2" total length. Metal 'Stone': 2 3/8" wide, 2" tall. Order before 2:30 PM Mountain Standard Time weekdays and your items will ship the same day! (When paid by credit card.) Questions? Contact Flame, Foundry and Forge . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Coral Stone Chess Sets from Khan Imports ($139.99) This fascinating Coral Stone Chess Set contains fossils up to 65 million years old! White Onyx provides a unique contrast. Matching chess peices have been intricately sculpted by hand. Offered in 12" and 16"sq. board sizes. Storewide Sale, Save Up to 25% + Free Shipping for orders over $100! Order by 10:00AM (PST) for same day shipping. Questions? Contact Khan Imports . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Round Glass Clock and Paperweight from Things Remembered ($34.95) Friends, coworkers and up-and-coming executives will proudly display this artistic clock engraved with their name. Clock also comes with coordinating, engravable paperweight. Limited time offer! Buy any gift and get the 2nd gift, of equal or lesser value, at 50% off! Questions? Contact Things Remembered . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Silver Plated Scroll Mouse from Things Remembered ($34.95) Our remarkable silver-plated mouse will fast become their favorite gift. It is USB compatible and includes an adapter for PSII, a mouse pad, and a satin lined blue presentation box. Be sure to add their name or initials. Limited time offer! Buy any gift and get the 2nd gift, of equal or lesser value, at 50% off! Questions? Contact Things Remembered . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Grey Stripe Business Card Case from Things Remembered ($29.95) The recipient of this elegant case will be happy to pull out a business card anytime. The case features a unique design with an engine turn pattern under transparent stoned enamel. Limited time offer! Buy any gift and get the 2nd gift, of equal or lesser value, at 50% off! Questions? Contact Things Remembered . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Multi-Tool Pen John Russell from Eco-Artware.com ($30.00) Hand-turned wood ball-point pen that can easily be changed into 4 different tools--phillips and regular screwdriver, art knife and tweezers. Tool heads are stored in the top pen barrel. Refillable. Gifts from recycled, reused and natural materials. Questions? Contact Eco-Artware.com . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Personalized Executive Golf Putter Set from OurCornerMarket.com ($49.95) Executive golf set for the golf lover or as a groomsmen gift. Has wood case with brass handle and a putter, 2 balls, and practice cup. Free engraving on a brass plate. More personalized items available. 8% discount on ALL orders over $19.00. Enter this code on the order form: findgift1031911. Offer expires Oct. 31, 2005 Questions? Contact OurCornerMarket.com . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Electronic Pocket Organizer/PDA Motorola from Cell-Phone-Accessories.com ($32.95) Get organized! Sleek 2" x 4" Motorola electronic pocket organizer/PDA. (Model 98177/ 98173) Includes holster and simplifies our complex lives. Get added benefits if you own a StarTAC, Timeport, or Talkabout phone! Free USPS shipping on purchases over $39 with coupon code, "Ship-Free". Questions? Contact Cell-Phone-Accessories.com . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | viewing 1 - 10 of 109 gift ideas found Bosses Day Oct 16, 2005 24 Shopping Days Left Bosses Day Gift Ideas Sweetest Day Oct 15 Halloween Oct 31 More Holidays Seasonal Gifts Wedding Gift Ideas Anniversary Gift Ideas Autumn Theme See this month's Top 20 Gift Ideas Gift Helpers » Anniversary Gifts » Flower Meanings » Monthly Flowers » Monthly Birthstones » Signs of the Zodiac » Additional Resources FindGift.com Newsletter Sign up to receive seasonal and unique gift ideas via email. Email Address Merchant Login | Add Your Products to FindGift.com | Press Room | FAQs | Contact FindGift.com Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy | Site Map © 1997-2005, Registry Online, Inc. FindGift.com and its logo are trademarks of Registry Online, Inc.
Birthday Present Ideas -
Best Birthday Present Ideas & Birthday Gift Suggestions - Children'sBirthday Presents - Best Birthday Present Ideas Birthday Present Ideas - Birthday Gift Recommendations Looking for the ideal Birthday present? This page links you to some of the best and most innovative birthday gift ideas online. Looking for children's toys? Click here for John Lewis or here for Woolworths. The secret to a good birthday gift is taking the time to get something the person really wants or would appreciate. Don't always pick the obvious and look to make someone happy. Remember there isn't a formula, whilst a trip to Paris on Eurostar may hit the spot for some of us, others may prefer a beautiful bouquet . If you want to know what presents are hot for big boys try visiting the Boys Stuff website or for girls the Girls Stuff website. If you are looking for inspiration follow the banners further down the page. If you know what you are looking for try these links: Gift Suggestions & Recommendations Flowers and Champagne - Add something to every occasion Gift Certificates - Amazon's gift vouchers are amongst the most popular gifts on the WWW Boys Stuff - Great gifts, gadgets and present ideas for grown up and not so grown up boys Books and DVDs - Fiction, non fiction, reference works, technical manuals. Clothes for Her or Him - Designer labels for every occasion Harrods - The place for great gifts Magazine subscriptions - Almost every subject covered, a present that lasts all year. Wine - Spoil someone with a few bottles of their favorite tipple Thanks Darling specialise in all types of gift activities, driving, outdoors, wining & dining and much more as well as the more traditional gifts such as champagne, flowers, chocolates, gadgets and big boys toys. Ipod, IPod Mini, IPod Shuffle, IPod Limited and Itunes, the hottest gifts around. Gadget Stuff, original, innovative, presents that get people excited. Do you know somebody who has always wanted to drive a tank, race a rally car, sky-dive from 10,000 feet or spend a weekend being pampered at a top health spa? Everybody does! Boots.com are one of the leading gift retailers. They stock over 12,000 items, including Boots' exclusive brands and virtually all Boots' seasonal gift range. They also sell products not available in store. Amazon sell more than just books, they have one of the biggest and best present and gift selections on the web. At Amazon you'll find the web's best prices on thousands of items like; handhelds & PDAs, digital cameras, every genre of music, videos, DVDs, home & business software, health & beauty products, gift sets, toys, console games and much more. Heals have recently revamped the gift pages of their website. They have hundreds of gift suggestions for birthdays and anniversaries in categories like; Elegant Ideas, Food & Drink, Games & Gadgets, Stationery, Stocking Fillers, Toiletries, For Him, For Her, For Kids & Gift Vouchers Great looking underwear for men and women always makes a welcome gift but make sure you get the sizes right. Figleaves offer over 100 leading brands - including Gossard, Wonderbra, D&G and Janet Reger - fast, free delivery, no quibble free returns, gift wrapping and personalised messaging. A member of the Which Webtrader Association. John Lewis has literally thousands of gift ideas for almost every occasion. Just try the search engine to see. Hundreds of gift ideas at Comet; Goodmans LCD TV, JVC DAB micro hi fi system, Robosapien, Navman PIN pocket PC, Fajita sizzler, Kenwood smoothie maker, 40 Gb iPod, Xbox Crystal, Scalextric road rivals, Remington hair straighteners, Massage chair & many many more suggestions on the website Yves Rocher is the 1st in botanical cosmetics in the world, 100% natural products and non-tested on animals. More than 800 beauty products on-line, as well as new products every month, a newsletter sent every month to our ever increasing database of customers Please refer to our disclaimer , Yourcounty does not have any responsibility for the content of external websites. * Details correct at the time of publication, for the latest information confirm directly with the retailer. Some offers are limited and terms and conditions may apply. Price reduction shown may be sale price, reduced web price or alternative offer. Yourcounty recommended and suggested products are provided for information purposes as a consumer guide. They do not constitute a product endorsement or guarantee, rather an opinion based on our market knowledge. Yourcounty' Best Buys' are defined as products that we feel offer particularly good value taking into account a wide range of factors; they are not necessarily suggested on price issues alone. Although they will generally be very competitively priced against other similar products on a like for like basis. Consumers should always check details with retailers prior to purchase and compare prices personally. www.yourcounty.co.uk
Housewarming Gifts Articles Ice
Good Housewarming Gifts - Gifts BW gifts | gifts Resources | Add URL Wine Gifts & Baskets From the casual wine drinker to the serious enthusiast, we have a gift that will make them smile. Our selection includes premium wine, gourmet baskets, distinctive champagne sets & the very finest California and Northwest wines. Good Housewarming Gifts Articles Ice Cream Sauces Add one of these to your ice cream to make it a complete dessert, from your About.com Guide...( Continue Reading ) Housewarming Gift Ideas: Continued Here are our favorite, and not so favorite gift ideas for housewarmings....( Continue Reading ) Housewarming Gift Ideas Moving into a new home is a time that's full of possibilies, and we often share in the excitement by taking a housewarming gift to the new homeowners. But what should you give? Here are our favorite, and not so favorite gift ideas for housewarmings....( Continue Reading ) A Housewarming Party A party plan for hosting a Housewarming Party with recipes and menu ideas....( Continue Reading ) A Housewarming Party A party plan for hosting a Housewarming Party with recipes and menu ideas....( Continue Reading ) Good Housewarming Gifts Directory Links hot holiday gifts things remembered personalized gifts retirement gifts for teachers coaches gifts organic baby gifts custom baby gifts gifts for 50th wedding anniversary 25th wedding aniversary gifts handmade mothers day gifts graduation gifts for girls ideas for mothers day gifts best christmas gifts 2002 valentine day gifts for guys gift baskets of delaware cheap gifts for guys gifts 2 india wicker storage baskets recipes for food gifts personalized golf gifts five year anniversary gifts online gifts to india 2nd anniversary gifts homemade teacher gifts gifts for father gift baskets cheese spiritual gifts from god birthday gifts by mail gift baskets chocolate japanese garden gifts anniversary gifts 10 year gifts for a girlfriend graduation gifts for nurses christmas gifts for mothers gifts for little girls gift baskets las vegas great grandmother gifts sterling silver baby gifts baskets gifts homemade wedding gifts beneva flowers and gifts gift baskets of texas biblical spiritual gifts bridal attendent gifts wholesale christmas gifts gift baskets for delivery Popular Search Terms: Gifts BW © 2004 Gifts BW All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. This site is not related to Brajeshwar or Brajeshwar.com in anyway, shape or form
Birthday Presents || Special
GDR Souvenirs - Birthday and Anniversary Presents Preface || Introduction || Official Gifts || Gifts to the Party Birthday Presents || Special Items || Site Map Information || Guestbook || Picture galerie Birthday and Anniversary Presents by Andreas Michaelis One might be forgiven for thinking that birthdays, even those that come in round figures, are essentially private or indeed contemplative occasions. Not so, if the birthday boy happens to be the head of a state or Party or is in some other way in the public eye. In that case, a birthday becomes a public event. The guests can no longer be hand-picked, nor the tidal wave of presents averted. Gifts made to GDR leaders, if they were of the right kind, tended to end up in the museum. They included both highly individual pieces and items off the mass production conveyor belts. These souvenirs sometimes commemorated significant social occasions, sometimes insignificant; some were presented by governments, some by ordinary working people; and, while some might be suited to the personality and office of a president, others were given in friendship or comradeship. Along with presents to mark birthdays or other occasions in the lives of the state and Party leaders, there are certain items that were presented by home or foreign givers on particular GDR anniversaries. Most of these, and the oldest too, were left by Wilhelm Pieck at his death. One remarkable for its origins was given to him in Moscow in December 1943: a desktop calendar handcrafted out of wood for the Communist leader by German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union. The red crayon inscription reads: Unity and peace to the German people - Wilhelm Pieck - From antifascist prisoners of war in USSR p.o.w. camp 158. Three presents given to Wilhelm Pieck in Soviet exile in 1936, on his sixtieth birthday, have survived. They were made by Soviet industries, using material from the current production line, and represent a kind of gift that seems to have appeared for the first time in the USSR in the 20s. These presents signalled a deliberate rejection of feudal or bourgeois traditions and a liberation from the material and artistic values of an old societal system then supposed defunct, and their meaning to the recipient lay purely in their symbolic function. Doubtless it would be going too far to suggest that there was an individual artistic style of expression peculiar to socialism as practised in the Communist bloc countries - but it remains true that this kind of characteristic symbolic gift was in evidence in almost every east European country till the late 1980s. The workers at the factory or plant in question would normally be identified as the givers of presents of this sort. Thus Wilhelm Pieck was given a ball-bearing mount by the workforce at the 1st State Ball-Bearing Works, a clock (inevitably) by the workforce at the 2nd State Clock Factory in Moscow and a smoker's set made of cogwheels by the Sergo Orjonikidse Machine Tools Works. In 1954 the workers at Zeulenroda furniture factory took Pieck by surprise when they remembered an anniversary he had probably forgotten himself: in 1894, the President, then an apprentice carpenter, had joined the German Woodworkers' Association, and his fellows in the craft were keen to mark his diamond jubilee as an active member of the trade union movement. On the side of the chest they made to celebrate the occasion is an image of Stalinallee (Stalin Avenue) in East Berlin, which East Germany touted as the premier socialist street in the capital of the GDR. Naturally the Communist bloc had another tradition, first practised in the Soviet Union: the naming of cities, factories, co-operatives, streets and public amenities after prominent Communist personalities, often when they were still alive. A danger was concealed in this kind of honour, however. If a personality fell out of favour, or was downgraded by his successors, the names all had to be changed. Thus cities, works and streets named after Stalin were renamed almost immediately after the 20th congress of the Soviet Communist Party in 1956, and Stalin memorials were toppled. Stalin was dropped from the leadership hall of fame. The boulevard once known as Stalin Avenue became Karl Marx Avenue, which it remains to this day (though the names of other leading Communists have been largely removed following the velvet revolution in eastern Europe). In 1946, for his seventieth birthday, Wilhelm Pieck, then leader of the German Communist Party in the Soviet zone of occupation, was given a number of china figurines and a metal sombrero by the Party's cell in Mexican exile. Rather more useful, no doubt, was a cigarette case embellished with portraits of Lenin and Stalin which he received from Soviet comrades for his seventy-fifth birthday. One motif that recurs insistently in the presents given to him on that birthday and his eightieth is the first of the GDR's five-year plans. It was launched in 1951 and declared over in 1955, ahead of schedule, the targets more than met. Even at that date, the propaganda that accompanied the beginnings of an East German planned economy could be grotesque, and the items that recollect this phase will doubtless tickle many now. It would only be fair, however, to bear in mind that in the first decade of the GDR's history the struggle to fulfil plans was accompanied by a genuine sense of a fresh start, a new and energetic departure - and in this respect it was finally a more honest thing than the ossified, dogmatic planned economy of the 70s and 80s,with its clichés and hot air. Slogans such as Peace - Reconstruction - Prosperity, or the five-year plan emblem together with its motto The key to our success, are eloquent not only of the political vocabulary favoured during the 50s but also of the hopes and longings of the East German people. Among the many activities mounted by the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) was the Wilhelm-Pieck-Campaign , intended to prompt greater effort by the country's young people and the working population in general, to mark the President's eightieth birthday. On this occasion, the apprentices at the Bitterfeld electrochemicals combine gave Pieck a stylish folder containing documents and statements concerning their FDJ group. At their deaths, Pieck and Grotewohl left several hundred folders of this kind, with enough material for a hefty tome, or a feature-length satirical programme. Elsewhere, workers in factories set a good example in cost-cutting. If honorific gifts were produced in series, a given item could be made at a fraction of the cost of an individually-crafted piece. The figure of a muscular miner in a combative attitude, an optimistic expression firmly on his face, was far and away the most frequently given present for Pieck's eightieth birthday. He received numerous gifts from comrades in the Federal Republic too. Most of them were little items with some local connection, such as a figure of Roland from Bremen , or one of Hamburg's typical Hummel figures . The GDR leadership's duties routinely included visits to factories. These visits served primarily to demonstrate the closeness of the state and Party leadership to the working classes. In 1953, Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl visited the Ernst Thälmann Polygraphics Works at Saalfeld. He may have been critical of the work being done by the graphic artists and designers there; at all events, for his sixtieth birthday the following year he was presented with an entire collection of draft designs for new product labels. In the 50s, in addition to the obligatory gift, a leader might be honoured by having a work team (at least) named after him. Long before he officially took over the reins of the state and Party, Walter Ulbricht was so popular that labour collectives bore his name as early as 1953. For his sixtieth birthday, one of his work teams presented him with a desktop set praising his endeavours on behalf of peace, unity, democracy and socialism. Ten years later, as chair of the GDR's Council of State, he received for the first time one of the traditional presents from the Soviet armed forces in Germany - generally bombastic and symbolically top-heavy affairs. That first gift was a model of a Soviet cosmonaut memorial. A present from the Soviet armed forces to Otto Grotewohl has survived too, a figure reaching for the stars and thus symbolizing humanity's unceasing striving after higher things - an allegory that recurs frequently in Communist and socialist iconography. The Honecker era, too, in due course provided the Deutsches Historisches Museum with a number of anniversary presents. The desk set given to Erich Honecker, on his sixtieth birthday, by Lieutenant Colonel Kurkotkin, commander in chief of the Soviet armed forces in Germany, and bearing a personal dedication, particularly intrigues all who see it. The martial character of the set was no doubt intended to convey that the SED First Secretary could count on the massed firepower of the Soviet Union behind him, and thus settle in to a quiet period in power. The composition - typical in approach, given its origin - does in fact include a number of useful items, regardless of its military character and offputting design: a radio, a thermometer in the TV mast, a calendar, and four ball-points disguised as missiles. Ten years later a Soviet-German joint-stock company, SDAG Wismut - which was the last company in East Germany to remain under partial Soviet administration and control (till 1990), because of the uranium it was mining - presented a conversation piece inspired by mining. The bismuth workers, honouring an established tradition, selected a particularly fine mineral sample. The musical box they built into the sample seems never to have been used. On the same occasion, Honecker was presented with a pick by the Senftenberg Brown Coal Combine. It was not to be the last he received in his lengthy career as head of state and Party. It was not only the leaders of state and Party that were given these heavily symbolic presents; the tradition was observed at every level of the state and Party hierarchy. Stasi boss Erich Mielke kept a trophy room, as it were, at his headquarters in Normannenstrasse. Numerous honorifics are now on display there, gifts to Mielke or the ministry on a variety of occasions. Some were passed on to the Stasi ministry's information centre, whence they were made over to the Museum für Deutsche Geschichte in 1990. There are the usual plaques and tapestries, but one of the Stasi ministers birthday presents was a rather unusual model of an electric oven. In the GDR, 7 October was a national holiday, an annual celebration of the establishment of the first German workers' and peasants' state, and the date was marked with a grand parade, a government ceremony, and countless local festivities around the country. And every five years, on jubilee occasions, the state and Party leadership celebrated in lavish style. Leaders from friendly countries, and representatives from around the world, would pay their respects to the GDR. Again, it is the presents made by the Soviet armed forces that are especially striking. The model of the Soviet memorial in Treptow Park, which symbolizes the liberation of Germany from fascism and stresses the role played by the Red Army, was a gift to mark the GDR's silverjubilee in 1974. The outsized helm presented to Honecker on the 35th anniversary by the Schwerin SED regional leaders alluded to the well-worn image of Erich Honecker as the great helmsman of state. The accompanying letter is a gem, sparkling with all the routine phrases that had become de rigueur among the Party leadership echelons. The regional first secretary thanks our dear comrade Erich Honecker for his outstanding personal contribution to the conception and realisation of policies designed to assure the happiness of the people and the safeguarding of peace, and asserts that the people of our region are paying tribute to these fine socialist politics by making greater endeavours than ever before, in every field of society. By the time of the 40th anniversary celebrations, however, a gloomy knowledge of imminent upheaval darkened the leaders' festivities - though surely none of them could suspect at the time that it was to be the GDR's very last birthday.