May 2023

  • Comrade Putin

    Dear Comrade Putin, I heard your ambassador to the UK this week that he was implying that Ukraine was the aggressor in this so-called “Military Operation.” He appeared to be a bit confused, as we all might believe. However, I understand you are confused now—as you have a lot on your plate. You’ve started a…

    Read more →

  • One Small Step for Man — One Tiny Adjustment to the Budget

    Commonplace Fun Facts The budget for mankind’s first manned mission to the moon was about $25.4 billion. Buried within the countless lines of expense details is the cost for one of the most memorable aspects of the mission. The cost for that could probably be covered by the spare change you have laying around your…

    Read more →

  • The Star

    I came across an excerpt from the book Wiswassebeesjes by author Dieta Kalk. I can’t think of a proper translation for the word, but that doesn’t really matter. In the book the writer, recalls the removal of the Wallage family from Aprikozenweg 21 in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, a day after seeing the Star of David.…

    Read more →

  • A Small Light

    I finished watching A Small Light last night. It’s on National Geographic and Disney+. It follows the heroic story of Miep Gies and her husband Jan Giesm and others, who risked their lives to shelter Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis for more than two years during World War II. I highly recommend A Small Light because…

    Read more →

  • Maria Walsh is an Irish, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Midlands-North-West. She is a member of Fine Gael, and her European Parliament is the EPP Group. Maria is a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), and the Delegation for Relations with…

    Read more →

  • Just Children

    The worst crime the Nazis committed was the murder of children. An estimated 1.5 million children were murdered by the Nazis. This number is just an estimate, although I have no data to back this up, I believe the number is higher. Not all children who died on the transport are included in this number.…

    Read more →

  • Yesterday I had the privilege to interview Madene Shachar, Museum Educator at The Ghetto Fighters Museum. The Ghetto Fighters’ House – Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum– known as the “House” – is not only the first Holocaust museum in the world but also the first of its kind to be founded by…

    Read more →

  • When I do posts on the Holocaust, I always try to do them with as little emotion as possible. I try to be objective as humanly possible. The reasoning I use to write without emotions is if I didn’t, I think I would get mental problems down the line. However, sometimes, I let my emotions…

    Read more →

  • 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…

    Read more →

  • The Netherlands has produced some of the greatest football players in the world. The Dutch are proud of their footballing history. My hometown of Geleen is where Dutch professional football originated. However, there are some football stars we are not proud of. Gejus van der Meulen was a goalkeeper of HFC and the Dutch national…

    Read more →