• I am a great believer that people should investigate their past before they pass judgment on others. There were many Dutch who did good during World War II; many risked their lives and sometimes gave their lives to help or save their Jewish neighbors. However, on the other hand, there were also many, and probably…

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  • Austria 1933-1939

    Historians usually focus on 1930s Germany when analyzing National Socialism, but I believe pre-WWII Austria has just as much to teach us. In fact, studying Austria’s political environment during that era offers a fascinating lens for understanding modern politics. Between 1933 and 1939, Austria experienced a rapid shift from a fragile parliamentary democracy to an…

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  • Medical Doctors generally work closely together with Pharmacists. During the Holocaust this was not much different. Victor  Capesius was born to a doctor of German descent in 1907, in a part of Romania which then belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied in Romania and Vienna where, in 1933, he completed his doctorate in pharmacy.…

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  • Social Equality

    Be careful what you wish for. Did you want a leader that works with and for the people supporting free higher education, pensions, health insurance, family and child support with an assortment of public services, including paid vacations—not just days off but actually weeks away and trips abroad, sponsored by the state, state-supported and sponsored…

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  • (originally posted on November 1, 2021, My friend Norman Stone pointed the story out to me, sadly Norman passed away last year) Hate is never good, it clouds judgement and mind. I am not only saying this to those who read this but more so to myself. I have written so many pieces about World…

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  • The Netherlands Union (Nederlandsche Unie) was a Dutch political movement during the German occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War. It was founded by a trio consisting of Louis Einthoven (Chief Commissioner of Police in Rotterdam), Johannes Linthorst Homan (Queen’s Commissioner in the Province of Groningen), and Jan de Quay (Government Commissioner for…

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  • As the Nazis did in Europe, the Japanese Imperial Army had concentration camps in the Pacific. The Asian camps weren’t nearly as horrific as the European ones, but the conditions were inhumane, nonetheless. This is just a side note, but I did notice, while researching, none of the Pacific camps were referred to as camps…

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  • Most people will have heard about the Kindertansport-Children-Transport—a unique humanitarian rescue programme, which ran between November 1938 and September 1939. Approximately 10,000 children, the majority of whom were Jewish, were sent from their homes and families in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. But there were two other Kindertransports. In Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, better known…

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  • According to the Joods Monument (Jewish Monument) website, 210 Dutch Jews were murdered on this day 84 years ago in Auschwitz. I could write a piece on each person, but I decided to stick with only one of the victims because it symbolises the pure evil of the Nazi regime. The photograph above is of…

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  • A Funny Story

    This is a slightly less usual blog, it is a funny story. I don’t know it’s origin, but I hope you will enjoy it. Bob Hill and his new wife, Betty, are vacationing in Europe, near Transylvania. They re driving in a rental car along a rather deserted highway. It is late, raining very hard…

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