December 2022
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These are just a few impressions of Christmas during World War II. The above photo is of a Christmas party in a German hospital (Lazarett) on 20 December 1941. Sisters of the Red Cross wanted to surprise the wounded German soldiers on Christmas Eve and diligently practice their Christmas Carol. Dutch soldiers during the mobilization
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“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” is a famous line which was used by a character in William Congreve’s 1697 play The Mourning Bride. And sometimes music does soothe the savage beast, but during the Holocaust, some of these ‘beasts’ were so evil that nothing could soothe them. However, music did play an
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It would be easy for me to say that Dutch Jews, and those who fled Germany and Austria, were badly treated by the Germans in the Netherlands during World War II. To a great extent that would be true, but the Germans were helped by a great number of Dutch. One thing I have often
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: All of those men who liberated the camps throughout Europe, never lost the memories of what they witnessed. Below are just some of their accouns. The Dachau concentration camp was liberated on April 29, 1945. Hilbert Margol(pictured above}and his twin brother Howard. 2 Jewish American soldiers were there and…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: The saying goes “Music can soothe the savage beast”, but what if it is the savage beast that is using the music as a cynical form of evil and torture. In July 1942 Hans Bonarewitz attempted to escape from Mauthausen concentration camp, he tried to hide in a box.…
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Westerbork had opened by the Dutch authorities during the summer of 1939 to shelter and house the Jewish refugees coming from Germany. The first refugees arrived in Westerbork on 9 October 1939. After Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands, Westerbork became the main concentration camp in the Netherlands. From 1942 to 1944, the majority
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Today marks the 15th anniversary of Dan Fogelberg’s death. I thought it would be appropriate to remember him with one of my favourite Christmas songs. “Same Old Lang Syne” is a song written and sung by Dan Fogelberg released as a single in 1980. The narrator is reunited with an old flame at a grocery
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I am a great believer in balance. It is good to have a balanced view of life. I have written quite a bit on how the Dutch failed their Jewish-fellow citizens, and the Dutch complacency might be considered a crime. However, as I mentioned earlier, sometimes you need to take a step back and take
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: Irene Opdyke ( 5 May 1922, Kozienice, Poland – 17 May 2003) was a Polish nurse who gained recognition for aiding Jews persecuted by the Nazis during World War II and for saving twelve Jews. She was born Irene Gut on May 5 1922, one of five girls, into…
History of Sorts 