Amsterdam

  • I wish I could tell you that this picture was used to have a good laugh at my history teacher Benno Redisch. The photograph was handed to us by his wife to use in a presentation on his 10th anniversary as a teacher, but he was not my teacher. I wish I could tell you…

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  • It is funny sometimes how you are researching one thing and it leads you to something completely different.I was looking at the origin of a Dutch TV show called ‘Ter land.ter zee en in de lucht” which translates to on the land, in the sea and in the air. It was a light-hearted entertainment show…

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  • Most of them were murdered.

    I have to be honest and admit that I am not entirely sure if the title is entirely correct, I am working on presumptions. However they are well founded presumptions. More then 75% of all Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust it is therefore safe to presume that the at least 75% of these…

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  • One thing I only thought of today. On September 26 1940 there was a ban imposed on all Jewish newspapers in the Netherlands, with the exception of ” Het Joodsche Weekblad” the Jewish weekly. I always found that strange, why didn’t they ban all newspapers? Then today I cam across the story of Edmund Plesser…

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  • The question who betrayed Anne Frank and the others hiding in the annex, has never really been conclusively answered. There are plenty of well founded speculations but there has not been a 100% certainty yet to who betrayed them. There is also still a possibility that no one betrayed them but that they were discovered…

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  • In any war or crisis, there are companies that make a profit. To some people, this may sound disgusting—but unfortunately, it is a fact. Abraham Puls owned a removal company in Amsterdam. He had been a member of the NSB, the Dutch Nazis, since 1934. His company was responsible for the ransacking of the homes…

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  • Just a happy girl

    Just a happy girl without a care in the world. Nor should she have any cares or worries. Her job is to be a child, go to school, do homework but most of all to be a child. At a desk with a peaceful picture of grazing Frisian cows behind her, Maybe they ere the…

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  • Bergen Belsen was liberated on April 15,1945. For many it was a true liberation but for others liberation came too late. Even for many of those who were liberated on that day it was still too late. They were either so ill or malnourished that they did not survive,  After liberation nearly 14,000 people died.…

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  • When you look at the above picture you may think there is nothing extraordinary about it. However when you delve only slightly into the history of the picture you quickly how realize how amazing the picture really is. The picture is of a Jewish male choir of the Great Synagogue in Amsterdam, it was taken…

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  • My Letter to Anne Frank

    Dear Anne, You don’t know me, but I know you. In fact, nearly everyone knows you, and yet no one really knows you. We know you through the personal stories you wrote in your diary. We see each word, each letter and each paragraph, but we don’t see your hopes, your fears or your anxiety.…

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