April 2025
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I always get frustrated when people try to excuse the actions of thugs and criminals by blaming their difficult childhoods or lack of places to play. These photos are from a petrochemical plant in Geleen, the Netherlands. When I was growing up, it was known as DSM (Dutch State Mines), even after the actual mines…
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The marriage of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun is one of the most infamous and enigmatic unions in modern history, not for the grandeur of the ceremony or the love story behind it, but because of its context: it took place during the final hours of the Third Reich, deep within the Führerbunker in Berlin,…
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They grew not in gardens,nor fields brushed by spring,but in the hush between heartbeats,where grief has taken wing. Each one, a tender blossom —a smile just barely sown,a laugh that caught the morning,a dream not fully grown. They plucked them from the sunlight,before they knew the rain,before they tasted birthdays,or danced away the pain. Petals…
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On October 26, 1944, British soldiers from the 51st Highland Division turned onto the Boslaan in Vught. As they passed through the wooded heath, the sight of barbed wire and watchtowers came into view, marking the entrance to Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch—better known as Camp Vught. Though the grounds were nearly deserted, the abandoned barracks, workshops, and…
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I had a great interview with Kevin Harrison, a budding author, about his book- Churchill’s ACES – Sealion Returns-. We discussed how difficult it is for new authors to get a book published nowadays, but also of course about his book and the inspiration behind it. Operation Sealion was the plan by Nazi Germany to…
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Nicolas Jacques Pelletier occupies a unique and somewhat grim place in French history as the first person executed by guillotine. While his crime may have been unremarkable in the annals of criminal history, the method of his execution symbolized a turning point during one of the most turbulent times in France: the French Revolution. Pelletier…
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The Nazi regime, targeted numerous groups during its reign from 1933 to 1945. Among those persecuted were Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination whose beliefs and practices placed them in direct opposition to Nazi ideology. Unlike many other victims of the regime, Jehovah’s Witnesses were not targeted based on race or ethnicity, but because of their…
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The Holocaust did not start at the start of World War II, although this is what many people believe. The foundation for the Holocaust, was laid out long before that. There had been Anti-Semitism in Europe and other parts of the world for centuries. However, during the Weimar Republic in Germany, the seeds were planted…
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I cannot decide which is worse, the crimes of Auke Bert Pattist or his remorselessness. Also, the fact that some people saw him as a hero—depresses me. Auke Bert Pattist was born in 1920. In 1943 he voluntarily entered the Waffen-SS. As an officer, he would be involved in arresting and ill-treating a large number…
History of Sorts 