September 2025
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The story of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker (1897–1940) unfolds like a World War II drama—complete with a daring escape from the Nazis, a tragic accident, an opera singer, and the plundering of a world-class art collection. Goudstikker was one of Amsterdam’s leading Jewish art dealers, renowned for his connoisseurship and scholarly expertise, and his
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A swan flies over the Shannon while a Limerick Rose fades A tormented but beautiful soul I remember seeing you for the first time, no it was not in concert but in a shopping mall You looked so fragile next to the man who towered over you,your husband. Small and fragile but yet so tall
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I was going to write an article about Ursula Gerson, who was murdered in Auschwitz on September 6, 1944, at the age of 8. But then I saw there were more Dutch Jewish children and Jewish refugees, who fled Germany and Austria with their parents, who were murdered that day. Duifje Gans was murdered in
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When I visited Dachau in June,2023, I decided I would not take pictures of the gas chamber. To me, it felt wrong. However, I don’t judge people who have taken photographs in the past, like the one above. The gas chamber in Dachau was not used for mass murder. According to one eye witness account,
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Amid the wire and winter’s breath,Where silence echoes the song of death,A lone starling perched, dark and small,Sang to the void that answered its call. It fluttered near walls stained by grief,Among the ruins, beyond belief,Its wings beat fast against the grey,A fleeting dance in a world of decay. Above the barracks, cold and bare,It
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Luise Löwenfels (was a German nun of Jewish descent who is remembered for her courage and faith during the Nazi era. Her story is one of personal sacrifice, spiritual conviction, and tragic martyrdom. She was born on July 5, 1915, in Eschweiler, Germany, into a Jewish family. Her parents, both of Jewish heritage, raised her
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“Dagen H,” or “H Day,” stands for “Högertrafikomläggningen” in Swedish, meaning “The right-hand traffic diversion.” This term refers to one of the most significant and carefully planned transportation changes in Sweden’s history: the switch from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. On September 3, 1967, Sweden made this monumental change.
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On 3 September 1944, Anne Frank and the seven others living in hiding at the Secret Annex were put on the last transport to Auschwitz, along with over a thousand other Jewish prisoners. One of the cruellest jokes (for lack of a better word) the Nazis played was to pretend these journeys were return trips
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Someone asked me recently when I will stop telling Holocaust stories? I replied “there were 11 million victims, once all of their stories are told I’ll stop.” I won’t be able to tell all 11 million personal accounts but this is one of them. Thomas Pfeffer was born on November 22, 1936 in Amsterdam, the
History of Sorts 