Amsterdam
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First of all, let me tell you I am Dutch, and I am proud to be Dutch. I love the country where I was born and where I grew up. But I am not proud of some of its black pages in history. I can understand why some Dutch bureaucrats and civil servants colluded with…
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There is this funny riddle, it goes like “What’s Rembrandt’s first name?” Rembrandt of course is his first name, his last name is van Rijn. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn born 15 July 1606 Unlike the riddle, his life wasn’t funny. He suffered many tragedies in his life. He got married on June 22 1634 to…
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Elisabeth Appelboom and Philip Flesschedrager did what so many young people of their age did, they fell in love, got married and promised to stay together until death did them part. For most married couples it is a journey they enjoy for many years to come. But not for Elisabeth and Philip. because death did…
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I am a product of love,love between a man and a woman. I am a product of love, by 2 people who would do anything for me. I am a product of love, for anyone who looks into my angelic eyes can’t but love me. I am a product of love to all those around…
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“Only the good die young, all the evil seem to live forever” are lyrics from an Iron Maiden song. For many years—I thought this to be a true statement, as I saw so many evil men living long lives. However, luckily, I was wrong in that assumption. Sometimes, a good man does live a long…
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We all know the story of Anne Frank but we don’t really know that much of the others who hid in the secret annex. On Father’s day lets have a look at the other 2 Fathers who stayed with Anne Frank and her family. Hermann van Pels, (31 March 1898 – October 1944), known as…
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Ernst Cahn, a German-Jewish refugee,son of Salomon Cahn and Rosa Katzenstein. He married in 1914 and had two children who survived the war. He lived with his family from 1924-1928 in Amsterdam. In 1936 he returned to the Netherlands, to Huizen, from Germany because of the persecution of the Jews. Ernst Cahn co-owned ice-cream parlour…
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On 7 May 1945, three days after German capitulation, thousands of Dutch people were waiting for Canadian troops to arrive on the Dam square in Amsterdam. In the Grote Club, on the corner of the Kalverstraat and the Paleisstraat, members of the Kriegsmarine watched as the crowd below their balcony grew and people danced and…
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Karl Josef Silberbauer (21 June 1911 – 2 September 1972) was an Austrian police officer, SS-Oberscharführer (staff sergeant), and undercover investigator for the West German Federal Intelligence Service. Silberbauer is best known, however, for his activities in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during World War II. In 1963, Silberbauer, by then an Inspector in the Vienna police, was…
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The Netherlands Armed Forces surrendered to Nazi Germany in May 1940, and the first anti-Jewish measures (the barring of Jews from the air-raid defence services) began in June 1940. These culminated in November 1940 in the removal of all Jews from public positions, including universities, which led directly to student protests in Leiden and elsewhere.…
History of Sorts 
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