dirkdeklein

  • On May 8, 1940, the Van Hasselt family were festively dressed—as guests at the wedding of Meijer Nieweg, Missus van Hasselt’s brother. Simon van Hasselt was wearing a white flower for the occasion. Two days later, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Less than two years later, on April 29, 1942, the van Hasselt family, like…

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  • Sun-tanned, Wind-blownHoneymooners at last alone.Feeling far above par.Oh, how lucky we are!While I give to you and you give to me,True love, true love.So on and on it’ll always be,True love, true love. For you and IHave a guardian angel on high,With nothin’ to do.But to give to you and to give to me,Love forever…

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  • Grief

    After someone who is close to you has died, some people will say that you have to get over it. That advise is total nonsense. You don’t get over it. You deal with it and you move on after a certain time, but you don’t get over it. There is no need to do that,…

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  • The title of this blog is a question I have often asked myself. Why did the Dutch not stop the Nazis from persecuting and murdering the Jews? It is also a question I will attempt to answer—at least to an extent. The Dutch are often known for their pragmatism, directness, and openness. They value honesty…

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  • I am not sure if this was a case of friendly fire. In my opinion, it should be considered a war crime by the Japanese Imperial Navy for not marking the ship accordingly as POW and civilian transport. The attack on the Dorish Maru occurred on the night of February 6, 1944. The ship, commanded…

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  • Just a Girl

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  • The photograph above is of a child-size violin that belonged to 13-year-old Boruch Golden, who the Nazis murdered in the massacres at Ponary in September 1943. Baruch began playing the violin when he was six years old. His sister, Niusia (Anna), saved the violin. She survived the war in hiding. Following the invasion of Soviet…

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  • Words of Evil Men

    “The truly and deliberately evil men are a very small minority; it is the appeaser who unleashes them on mankind.” —Ayn Rand Following are testimonies of some of the SS men who worked in the concentration camps. Willi Mentz: Willi Mentz was a member of the SS in World War II who worked at the…

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