History of Sorts

I was going to write a post about the 100th Anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch, was an initially failed coup d’état by the Nazi Party. We all know that eventually, they did seize control of Germany.

Instead of writing about Hitler and his cronies, I decided to talk about one of their many victims. I have three reasons for doing this. First, I believe that every victim of the Holocaust should be remembered individually; second, Hanna Salomons was born on 8 November 1923, the very same day as the Beerhall Putsch took place; and third, Hanna was murdered on 13 August in Auschwitz, aged 18—my daughter turned 18 this year on August 13. Arnold Salomons, Hanna’s father, was murdered in Auschwitz on 18 October 1944.

I believe—the best way of telling a Holocaust story is to make it relatable and personal.

Arnold Salomons and his daughter Hanna lived in Frankfurt at the outbreak of the war. At some point, they fled to the Netherlands and first lived in The Hague. Hanna moved to Maartensdijk (now part of Utrecht) and thought she could move to Switzerland via Belgium to be safe there.

Unfortunately, she was arrested in Belgium and deported to Auschwitz via Kazerne Dossin with Transport II on 11-8-1942. This transport consisted of 999 people, 3 of whom survived the war.

What I found frightening about this—is that if I had been born a few decades earlier, that easily could have been my daughter and me. What I still find scary is there is no guarantee this will not happen to us.

Source

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/667313/hanna-salomons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechelen_transit_camp