dirkdeklein
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Esther Feitsma was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, on November 30, 1931. She was murdered in Auschwitz on October 8, 1942, at the age of just 10 years. There is no picture of Esther Feitsma, nor is there much information about her. So why did I choose to write about this seemingly random name? Because,
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Robert Johnson, often hailed as the “King of the Delta Blues,” occupies a mythical space in the annals of American music. His life and career, marked by mystery and immense talent, have been immortalized not only by his songs but also by the legend that he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads
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The 1930s were a period of profound upheaval in Europe. The rise of fascism and Nazism was altering the political landscape, and many countries were drawn into the vortex of ideologies that would define much of the 20th century. While much of the world’s attention was focused on the German threat under Adolf Hitler, the
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This piece isn’t about a Star Wars Christmas special—though, to be honest, seeing Santa join Darth Vader on the Dark Side would be undeniably awesome. When we think of Christmas, images of jolly Santa Claus, festive decorations, and cheerful Christmas carols come to mind. But hidden within the warmth of holiday cheer lies a figure
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Awful atrocities were carried out at the Janowska concentration camp and surrounding Lvov (aka Lwow and Lviv) by the Nazis, Soviet troops and Ukrainian nationalists. In September 1941, the Germans set up a factory on Janowska Street in the northwestern suburbs of Lvov, in southeastern Poland(today Lviv in Ukraine). This factory became part of a
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When we think of Nazi concentration camps, our minds often conjure images of mass extermination, terror, and starvation. The haunting images of piles of corpses at Bergen-Belsen and the crematoriums of Auschwitz are etched into our collective memory. However, in the final years of the Third Reich’s vast concentration-camp system, the Nazis introduced a disturbing
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On November 18, 1939, the Dutch passenger ship Simón Bolívar met a tragic end after striking a German mine in the North Sea. This devastating incident, which resulted in the loss of 86 lives, serves as a grim reminder of the indiscriminate dangers of naval warfare. Occurring during the early stages of World War II,
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The Holocaust was not only a result of systemic ideologies but also the actions of individuals who embraced cruelty with fervor. Among these was Ruth Closius-Neudeck, a German SS overseer at concentration camps, whose infamy stems from her merciless treatment of prisoners. Her life and actions provide a chilling example of how ordinary individuals can
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Viewing images of the death and destruction wrought by the Holocaust can be deeply gut-wrenching. While it’s often said that a photograph speaks a thousand words, it’s equally valid that it can never tell the whole story. A photo captures only a single moment in time. This is one of the reasons I rarely share
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On November 17, 1917—just weeks after the Bolsheviks seized power—Vladimir Lenin delivered one of his most explicit defenses of suppressing opposition newspapers. In the document “Draft Decree on Freedom of the Press” and accompanying statements, Lenin justified what he called a temporary abolition of press freedom, framing it as a revolutionary necessity rather than a
History of Sorts 