July 2023
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The title of this post is the words of a then 9-year-old girl, Jiska Pinkhof. In 1940, she wrote in the album of her friend Elly, “Always be a ray of sunshine to everyone you meet. Then you give joy to others, and you yourself are well off.” Wise words for a 9-year-old. Jiska was
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: I love the Netherlands. I was born and raised there and proud to call myself a Dutchman. Like all other countries in this world, it has pages in history that are not so glorious. I believe that the best way for any country to deal with the darker days…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: The title is about Jacques Swaluw but it really is about just more then Jacques. Jacques was born in Rotterdam on the 19th of June 1942. Esther Swaluw was a daughter of Isaäc Swaluw and Maria Melkman. 2 December 1913 she married Izak van Been in Rotterdam, a son…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: David Eduard Izaks would have celebrated his 90th birthday today. He was born on 14 April 1933 in Woerden, the Netherlands. He was the youngest son of Eliazar Izaks and Henriëtte Izaks-Glaser. He had two brothers, Gerson and Salomon Albert, and a sister, Saartje Henriëtte. The family lived at…
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These are testimonies of two men, one a low-ranking SS Infantry soldier, the other a member of the Hlinka Guard. The most disturbing aspect of the testimonies is not the description of the crimes committed, but the casual way of describing them. Hans Friedrich was a member of the 1st Infantry Brigade. He claimed not
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: Although its official name is Gurs Internment Camp, let’s call it what it really was, a concentration camp. It is also probably one, if not the only time, the Nazis sent Jews westward. At first, it served as a camp for Spanish republicans and German refugees who fled from…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: (courtesy of John Davis) This is an excerpt of John Davis’s book “Rainy Street Stories” It tells the story of a survivor he met at Flossenburg, who had survived Auschwitz, Ravensbruch, and finally Flosssenburg “Z-1557While vacationing many years ago my wife Jane and I decided to visit Flossenburg, West…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: Amsterdam City Bioscoop (cinema) is probably one of the finest film houses in the Netherlands, if not Europe. In 1995 it was bought by the Pathé Cinema Group and is since known as Pathé City. But it has one black page in its long history. The Nazi regime in…
History of Sorts 