July 2023
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: During the night of 21 to 22 January 1943, the Nazis raided Het Apeldoornsche Bosch, a Jewish psychiatric hospital in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. Nearly 1300 people are deported to Auschwitz. All 1181 patients, sometimes naked, confused or in straitjackets, were forced by units of the SS and the Ordnungspolizei…
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Today is my 29th wedding anniversary. I still vividly remember my wedding day. It was the hottest day of the 20th century, at least in the town of Geleen, the Netherlands, where I got married. It was 42 degrees Celsius. Despite the heat, it was a beautiful day because both my family and my wife’s
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I have always been fascinated by aerial shots taken during World War II. These are just some of them. The photograph above:A reconnaissance photo taken after bomb smoke lifted over the three ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt shows the damage inflicted by the The Mighty Eighth US Air Force during a concentrated attack on 21 July
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To gauge the feeling of the population on a particular subject, conducting an opinion poll is a powerful tool. Below are some polls taken in the United States just before and during World War II. Gallup poll conducted September 1-6, 1939. How far should we go in helping England, France and Poland … Yes No
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: The right to education is one of the most fundamental human rights. In August 1941 the Nazis passed a law to set up schools for Jewish students and teachers only in the Netherlands. The picture above is of Jewish students of the school on Cliffordstraat, Amsterdam West. A class…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: A U.S. military policeman prepares Corporal Wilhelm Schmidt, 24, for the firing squad. With two other German spies, Officer-Cadet Guenther Billing, 21, and Sergeant Manfred Pernass, 23, Schmidt was shot after a court-martial by American authorities in Belgium during the Ardennes offensives. Three Germans were captured wearing American uniforms,…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: A diary is the most personal possession someone might have. It is a journal of their wishes, fears and often their secrets. It is therefore extremely important when a diary becomes public it is treated with the utmost dignity and respect, especially those that were written during the darkest…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: Westerbork had been 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 October 9, 1939. After Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands, Westerbork became the main concentration camp in the…
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Originally posted on History of Sorts: It would be very 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…
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