History of Sorts

According to the Joods Monument (Jewish Monument) website, 210 Dutch Jews were murdered on this day 80 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 Leendert Engelsman. He was born in Amsterdam on 19 May 1940. He and his mother were both murdered on the same day. A few months later, the Nazis murdered his father.

At some point, several people have looked at this boy, looked him in the eyes, perhaps even rubbed his head, and smiled at him. Yet they put him on a train to Auschwitz, knowing his fate.

Those same people would go home after work and eat dinner. At night, they would sleep in their beds. Perhaps they even had a son the same age as Leendert, and they’d be reading them a bedtime story, telling them not to be afraid of the bogeyman. Not realising they were the bogeyman.

When Leendert arrived in Auschwitz, there would be someone who looked at his beautiful, angelic face. That person would select him and his mother for a horrendous murder.

Why, why, why??

Source

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/159323/leendert-engelsman