July 2026
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The Illusion of Sanctuary (September 1943) On 6 September 1943, a transport carrying 5,007 Jewish prisoners from the Czech lands departed the Theresienstadt ghetto. Among them were able-bodied men deported together with their families. The prisoners were told they were being sent to a labor camp. In reality, their destination was the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and…
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The 12th of July is the day when a whole bunch of protestants in Northern Ireland go Dutch. It is an event that truly intrigues me, because it basically goes against everything the Dutch stand for. So what is it all about? On the 12th of July every year. The day commemorates Protestant king William…
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In the summer of 1947, a battered, repurposed American pleasure steamer groaned under the weight of 4,515 Holocaust survivors. Its official destination on paper was Colombia, but everyone on board—and the British intelligence services tracking it—knew the truth. The ship was headed for Mandatory Palestine. It was originally named the President Warfield, but midway across…
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The graph above shows the estimated breakdown of the people murdered during the Holocaust. It is an estimated number because no one knows the exact number. The estimates are compiled by “Statista” a leading and very reputable statistics provider. The estimated number they have come up with is 17,458,900. Personally, I think that number is…
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Some people will probably accuse me of using specific words in the title as ‘clickbait’, and to an extent that is true. But anyone who writes a blog, and especially one with an extraordinary story, wants readers to click on that link to read that story. I make no excuse for using the title, basically…
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I know there will be people who might think the title of the post is quite disrespectful, but it is far from it. The post will reflect how close and relevant the Holocaust still is. So many great rock songs would never have been written or recorded if the Nazis had succeeded in their plans…
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Karl Berg was originally the third man in the chain of command at Camp Amersfoort and in 1943 he was appointed camp commandant. He had a reputation for being cruel and merciless. Berg was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of prisoners. A group of 101 Russian prisoners who had arrived at the camp in…
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My phonebook is thinning out, not by design but by fate.The numbers are still there yet calling them is meaningless, for there will be no answer. You would give anything just to hear that voice one more time.Sometimes you feel like just giving up, but you know it is disrespectful to those who never gave…
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I know this is going to be a controversial blog, even though there should not be any controversy about it. It is based on facts, but unfortunately, there are quite a few people who don’t want to accept the facts. Today, July 10, marks the 85th anniversary of the Jedwabne pogrom, a horrific event in…
History of Sorts 