March 2025
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The term ‘work extension’ was a euphemistic term for the actual goal of the deportations: to work to death those who were healthy enough to work and to murder all others. At least 102,000 Jewish Dutch people were murdered or died from exhaustion and diseases. Auschwitz-BirkenauIt is not exactly known when the Nazis decided to…
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Flossenbürg concentration camp was one of the many Nazi concentration camps established during World War II. Located in Bavaria, Germany, near the Czech border, Flossenbürg was built in May 1938 and primarily functioned as a forced labor camp. Over its seven years of operation, the camp housed thousands of prisoners, many of whom perished due…
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When you think of sports cars, one of the names you think of is Porsche. When you see a Porsche driving by, there is no second-guessing as to what car it is. The Dutch police used Porsches between 1962 and 1996. In the early 1960s the absence of speed limit indications on Dutch motorways saw…
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The title is a translation of a line from the Dutch song Blauw (“Blue”). I was listening to it in my car today, and this particular line stayed with me. That line perfectly captures what I experience every time I write about the youngest victims of the Holocaust. Seeing their faces—just a fleeting moment captured…
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Dachau: A Symbol of Nazi Terror and Remembrance Dachau, a name synonymous with suffering and oppression, was the first concentration camp established by the Nazi regime. Opened on March 22, 1933, it was originally intended to house political prisoners but soon became a model for subsequent concentration camps. Located near Munich, Germany, Dachau was operational…
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Operation Carthage was a British air raid conducted during World War II on March 21, 1945. The target of the raid was the Shellhus building in Copenhagen, Denmark, which housed the Gestapo headquarters. This operation was executed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to support the Danish resistance movement by destroying German intelligence records and…
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If not for the dreadful setting of this story, the title might suggest a fairy tale. However, this is anything but a fairy tale—though it is certainly a grim one. Princess Mafalda of Savoy, born on November 19, 1902, was an Italian princess who became a tragic figure in European history. As the second daughter…
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The Linköping Bloodbath was a significant event in Swedish history that took place on March 20, 1600, during the early stages of the power struggle between Duke Charles (later King Charles IX) and the supporters of King Sigismund III of Poland. The execution of five noblemen in Linköping was not merely an act of retribution…
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The photograph above was taken in January 2013, when Freda Wineman met former prime minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2013. Unfortunately, Freda Wineman died on 3 January 2022 at age 98. This is just my observation, but so many survivors who lived a long life looked still…
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The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (abbreviation: NSB) was a Dutch political party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The NSB adhered to the ideology of National Socialism, presented itself not as a party but as a movement based on an anti-democratic attitude, and functioned as a collaboration party during the German occupation of…
History of Sorts 