dirkdeklein

  • How Many Survived?

    Viewing the photograph above, you can see a few boys having fun. You might ask yourself, “Who are these boys?” or “What game are they playing? I don’t know who these boys are. I know they were cared for by the BjZ or Buitenschoolse Jeugdzorg, a part of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

    Read more →

  • The Shoe of a Child

    The shoe of a child, looking at the type of shoe, it probably belonged to a boy. The shoe of a child, I can see the front is faded maybe he kicked a ball, his favourite toy. The shoe of a child, what was his name? The shoe of a child, did he like to

    Read more →

  • A few days ago, I had the privilege to interview Lisa Liss concerning The Bandage Project, an organization she started to remember the 1.5 million children murdered during the Holocaust and other children. Lisa Liss has taught her students about tolerance and how it affected millions of people, especially during the Holocaust. Many years later,

    Read more →

  • On 16 November 1941, Betje Weijl-van Praag died from what appears to be suicide. The police report does not mention suicide, but the circumstances indicate that probably was what happened. “Notification is given by telephone that something has probably happened to the resident of plot Schuttersweg 88 because she has not been seen all day.

    Read more →

  • Paragraph 175

    Paragraph 175 was a law which was introduced on May 15, 1871, in Germany, just after Otto von Bismarck unified Germany into a nation-state, forming the German Empire. Ironically the law remained in place until a few years after the other German re-unification. The law was abolished in 1994. It made sexual relations between males

    Read more →

  • Colonne Henneicke

    These Dutchmen were the most despicable breed of men. They were not driven by any political ideology—but purely by greed. Wim Henneicke was part of a group of bounty hunters called Colonne Henneicke. He betrayed and robbed Jews; between 8,000 and 9,000 Jews were betrayed by the group in 1943. Towards the end of the

    Read more →

  • Not all heroes wear uniforms or capes. Not all resistance fighters use guns. In fact, the bravest ones don’t. Betsie ten Boom was a Hero and resistance fighter. She and her family saw what was happening with their Jewish neighbours and acted. I wish politicians nowadays would follow Betsie’s example and not do the easy

    Read more →

  • Albert Konrad Gemmeker (1907–1982) was a German SS officer who served as the commandant of the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands during World War II. Born on September 27, 1907, in Düsseldorf, Germany, Gemmeker pursued a career in law enforcement, joining the police force in Duisburg in 1933. By 1935, he held an administrative

    Read more →

  • A Recipe for French Onion Soup Ingredients: 6 large onions, noble in stature, sliced with care2 tablespoons of butter, as golden as the sun in the sky2 cloves of garlic, minced with artful hand4 cups of beef broth, rich and deep, akin to the best of life’s nectar1 cup of white wine, for the soul’s

    Read more →

  • Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley, known as the “King of Rock and Roll,” was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was the only surviving child of Vernon and Gladys Presley, as his twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn. Growing up in a modest, working-class household, Elvis was

    Read more →