Amsterdam
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Max Hirsch was one of the 937 passengers aboard the St. Louis, the cruise ship that left the port of Hamburg on May 13, 1939, with Cuba as its final destination. The vast majority of the passengers were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. Across the Atlantic Ocean, they hoped to find a safe haven. However,…
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Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is one of World War II’s most famous personal accounts, providing a powerful and intimate look into the life of a Jewish teenager in hiding. However, many readers are unaware that the original version of Anne’s diary contained passages about her developing sexuality, curiosity about the human…
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In November 1942, Fritz Pfeffer joined the Frank and Van Pels families in hiding, bringing the total number of people to eight. He was a solitary figure among two families and shared a room with the adolescent Anne Frank. Fritz was also a father—he had a son, Werner, with his first wife, Vera Henriette Bythiner.…
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On February 11, 1941, the NSB member Hendrik Koot was injured fatally during a brawl at Waterlooplein. The official reports on the incident remained lost for decades. KootHendrik Koot was a member of the Weerafdeling (WA), the paramilitary wing of the NSB. Since late 1940, WA members had been intimidating and assaulting Jewish residents of…
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Judith Kinsbergen, known as Jetty, was the daughter of Salomon Kinsbergen and Marianne van der Kar. She married Max Eugen Groszkopf in 1934 but divorced in 1938. She was born in Amsterdam on February 6, 1908, and was murdered in Bergen-Belsen on February 13, 1945, at the age of 37. She was a talented pianist.…
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Anne Frank’s diary remains one of the most significant and poignant records of the Holocaust, providing an intimate glimpse into the lives of those forced into hiding under the oppressive rule of Nazi Germany. However, while Anne’s voice is immortalized in her writings, the other individuals who shared her confinement in the secret annex in…
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Willem Arondeus, a name that resonates with courage, defiance, and an unyielding stand against oppression, was a Dutch artist and writer who became a key figure in the resistance against Nazi occupation in the Netherlands during World War II. His heroism, coupled with his unspoken advocacy for LGBT rights in an era of rampant discrimination,…
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Annick (Germaine Mathilde) van Hardeveld Annick (Germaine Mathilde) van Hardeveld was born in 1923 in Amsterdam. She was the first child of her father, Jan van Hardeveld, and her French mother, Germaine Bertin. A few years later, a baby brother was born: Yann Emile. When the war broke out in May 1940, Annick was sixteen…
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Betje Bierman was the second child of Levie Bierman and Sara Italiaander. She was born in Amsterdam on September 8, 1897, and married there on April 10, 1918, to diamond cutter Abraham Katwijk, the son of Jacob Katwijk and Sara Gobes, who was also born in Amsterdam on May 1, 1894. After Betje and Abraham…
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Sara de Jong van Koningsbrugge was born in Schoten, the Netherlands, on 24 April 1914. The SS murdered her in Auschwitz on 21 January 1945 at the age of 30. Since 1936, Sara de Jong was married to Adolphus (‘Dolf’) Adrianus Petrus van Koningsbrugge (Amsterdam, 21 October 1913 – Heerlen, 15 June 1974). Based on…
History of Sorts 