dirkdeklein
-
There is no denying that the Dutch should have done more to protect their Jewish neighbours during World War II. But I am looking at this from a retrospective point of view; hindsight always comes with 20/20 vision. That’s why I can’t judge; I really don’t know what I would or wouldn’t have done. However,…
-
A caterpillar sneaks into a gate. It looks around and sees empty barracks. It is there for the next phase in its life. It really is something magical, a miracle of nature—from hairy caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. The butterfly emerges, it has been more than two years since it was a caterpillar. It flies…
-
When you look at the photograph above, your first reaction is to probably think it’s an ordinary historical picture from somewhere in the Netherlands. The picture couldn’t be more typically Dutch if for one detail—the photograph was taken in Amsterdam during the war, and the man is wearing a star on his jacket. As in…
-
Douglas Albert Munro holds a unique and hallowed place in United States military history as the only member of the U.S. Coast Guard to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration. His story is one of selflessness, bravery, and dedication to duty—qualities that not only defined his short life but also left…
-
It is amazing that 4 letters can cause such an offence. The word ‘fuck’ is really one of the commonly used words in the English language. Yet so many people get offended by it. One place where fuck really is still a taboo word is in politics. However , just like any other man or…
-
The Japanese who liberated the Dachau Concentration camps complex.. The soldiers were from the 442nd Infantry Regiment an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The unit is most known as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry aka Nisei.Although some of them had been in internment camps themselves,…
-
I never met Lia, in fact today is the first time I came across her picture. It would have been her 93rd birthday two days ago. She was born in Amsterdam, 20 September 1932 . And murdered in Sobibor, 2 July 1943. Reached the age of 10 years. When I was born she would have…
-
Mara Ginic (now Kraus) was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1925. At the age of 3 or 4 she moved with her grandparents to Osijek, Slavonia(Nowadays in Croatia). When she was five years old her parents divorced and her mother moved to Belgrade, but she stayed with her father and grand parents in Osijek. When…
-
When you look at the picture, you would assume it is the mugshot of a hardened criminal. But you couldn’t be further from the truth. The picture is of Hans Scholl. He was arrested and later murdered for exposing the criminals that arrested him. There wasn’t an awful lot of resistance in Germany against the…
