March 2026
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Just to make it clear for all non-Irish, it is Saint Patrick’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day. Not Paddy’s Day, St Pat’s Day, St Paddy’s Day, etc. These are just some impressions of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations during World War II. Above is a photograph of St Patrick’s Day in Brooklyn, 1943. St. Patrick was…
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When I write an unfinished life, I mean it as the life of the 1.5 million children who were murdered during the Holocaust. For several years I have been trying to finish a song to remember all those children, but for some reason, I cannot finish it. Every time, I sit down to visualize the…
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Rudolf Breslauer was born on 4 July 1903, in Leipzig, German Empire. He was a German Jewish director and cinematographer. He died on 28 February, 1945, in Auschwitz, a month after liberation. Westerbork Film is the title of a film made in 1944 at the Westerbork Transit Camp in the Netherlands. It was a transfer…
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Saint Patrick’s Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, is widely celebrated in the English-speaking world and to a lesser degree in other parts of the world. But who exactly was he? Early in the 5th Century, an Irish ship beat against the waves along the western…
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In November 1942, Fritz Pfeffer joined the Frank and Van Pels families in hiding, bringing the total number of people to eight. He was a solitary figure among two families and shared a room with the adolescent Anne Frank. Fritz was also a father—he had a son, Werner, with his first wife, Vera Henriette Bythiner.…
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During World War II, one of the most daring and ambitious prisoner-of-war (POW) escapes in history took place in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III. Known as “The Great Escape,” Allied airmen executed this remarkable event, which demonstrated extraordinary resilience, ingenuity, and bravery in their pursuit of freedom. While the escape itself was a…
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During the final days of World War II, in the spring of 1945, the Nazi regime intensified its brutal campaign against political dissidents, resistance fighters, and those deemed enemies of the state. Among the many atrocities committed during this period, one of the most harrowing took place in Rombergpark, Dortmund, where 289 anti-fascists were executed…
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Ankie Stork was a Dutch resistance fighter during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She saved thirty-five Jewish children from the Nazis by hiding them in several locations in the town of Nijverdal during World War II. She acted as part of Utrecht’s Kindercomité (Utrecht Children Committee), a Dutch resistance group based in Utrecht. Louis…
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The modern monarchy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formally established on 16 March 1815, when William I of the Netherlands proclaimed himself king, transforming the earlier principality into a kingdom. This event occurred during a critical moment in European history following the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire. The creation of the monarchy was…
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The highlight of the year for the movie industry is without a doubt, or at least it used to be. But when did it all start? In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was established by Louis B. Mayer, the founder of the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which then would…
History of Sorts 