March 2023

  • Rudolf Breslauer was born on 4 July 1903, in Leipzig, German Empire. He was a German Jewish director and cinematographer. He died on 28 February, 1945, in Auschwitz, a month after liberation. Westerbork Film is the title of a film made in 1944 at the Westerbork Transit Camp in the Netherlands. It was a transfer

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  • An estimated 1,800 Dutch citizens attempted to escape to England during World War II. The majority chose to travel via neighbouring countries, while a minority went straight across the North Sea. Many different vessels were used and at least 204 people made the crossing successfully. Most of the attempts were made in 1941 when the

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  • Burnden Park Disaster

    When you hear about football tragedies, you might think about something like Manchester United being beaten 7-0 by Liverpool, but not about a great number of casualties among supporters. Yet there have been dozens of football disasters with a great number of deaths. One I hadn’t heard of before is the Burnden Park disaster. Thirty-three

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  • Heroes don’t always wear capes, or are dressed in uniforms, sometimes they are just ordinary people. I say ordinary but more often than not they are anything but ordinary, as was the case with Fredy Hirsch. I first heard of Fredy a few years ago. I got the book, The Librarian of Auschwitz, as a

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  • Jeremy Strozer writes first-person historical flash fiction to expose the wanton waste of war. Fascinated by ideas and personal stories, he finds connections between seemingly disparate phenomena. By enjoying thinking and learning about the past he understands the present by creating its context. He has faith in the links between all things; believing there are

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  • Holocaust Letters

    Originally posted on History of Sorts: This is just my opinion and there is no scientific research done on this, at least not as far as I am aware, but I think the Holocaust can be categorized as organized randomness. On a large scale the industrialized murder of millions was organized efficiently, however on smaller…

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  • World War II Fashion

    Originally posted on History of Sorts: Before you ask, I know absolutely nothing about fashion. Then why do a piece on fashion in WW2? I hear you say. There is no particular reason, but after all the heavy subjects I usually explore, I decided to go with a more lighthearted one for a change, while…

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  • Originally posted on History of Sorts: On October 25, 1944, Fake Krist, a fanatic employee of the German Sicherheitsdienst, was shot dead by the Haarlem resistance, in the Netherlands Initially, the attack was attributed to Hannie Schaft’s resistance group, but later it turned out that a police squad with members from Halfweg, resistance group had…

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