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The address of Bloemenmarkt 7 won’t mean much to most of you, and it probably doesn’t mean that much to some of the people in Geleen. It was the address of a butcher shop and apartment in a square in the suburbs of Lindenheuvel in Geleen, the Netherlands. Today it is the home of a…
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The Hindenburg disaster is probably just as iconic(for lack of a better word) as the Titanic disaster. The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, burst into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crew members. The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, New…
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I am always surprised why so little is reported about the Holocaust in Luxembourg. In the late 1930s, Luxembourg had a population of approximately 300,000, of which 3.500 were Jews. In addition, more than 1,000 German-Jewish refugees had found shelter in Luxembourg. Nazi Germany occupied Luxembourg in May 1940, with the Luxembourg government fleeing into…
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It may sound like a 19th century Gothic novel or the name of an Irish folk singer but neither apply, Penny Black is in fact the name of the first adhesive postage stamp. It was first issued in Great Britain om May 1 ,1840 but was not valid for use until 6 May it showed…
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Josefine Glück’s life began in the vibrant culture of 1872 Vienna, but it would end in the cold deprivation of a concentration camp. Born to Jewish parents with Hungarian roots. Orphaned at the age of fourteen, she later pursued a career as an actress and remained unmarried throughout her life. Her son, Hermann Philippus Glück,…
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On 5 May 1945, Mauthausen Concentration Camp was liberated by the US Army. Just a simple poem to commemorate that day. In Mauthausen’s shadow, where darkness did dwell,In the heart of despair, where horrors did swell,There came a day of courage, a day of light,When the chains of oppression were shattered in flight. From the…
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On 4 May 1945, the German Admiral Von Friedeburg at Lüneburg surrendered to British Field Marshal Montgomery on behalf of the German troops in Northwest Germany, the Netherlands, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark. On 5 May, Canadian General Charles Foulkes summoned the German Supreme Commander Johannes Blaskowitz to Hotel De Wereld in Wageningen to discuss the effect…
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Between 1816 and 1949, the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, was a Dutch colony. Between 1941 and 1945 it was occupied by Japan. On 19 and 20 July 1940, 231 people who were on leave from the Dutch East Indies in the Netherlands were arrested by the Germans. They were called ‘Indian hostages’. It was…
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(Re-post from May 4 2021) May 4th is the designated day in the Netherlands to remember all those who died in WWII and other conflicts. At 8pm, two minutes of silence will be observed across the country. A few years ago, I saw a picture that really touched me. It was of a pizza delivery…
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In quiet solemnity, we stand,Upon this hallowed ground,Where memories, like whispers, spanThrough ages that surround. Each name is engraved, a sacred threadThat binds the past to now,In hearts, the echoes of the dead,Their legacy, we vow. On this fourth of May, we pause,To honour those who fell,Their sacrifice, our guiding cause,Their stories, we retell. In…
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History of Sorts 