Auschwitz
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There are so few things that make sense in relation to the Holocaust, in fact there is nothing that make sense. On January 17,1945 In mid-January 1945,the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its subcamps. SS units forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to march west from the Auschwitz camp system. This murderous evacuation, known as the “Death…
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Silvain Wolf was just a footnote in history. But his story is an important one to tell. He was born on October 7,1902 in Beek, a small town in the province of Limburg, in the South East of the Netherlands. In 1930 he moved to nearby Sittard, where he got a job with his uncle…
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There are no pictures of Michel Polak and Mirjam Brilleman. There is only a picture of one the place they were murdered. Auschwitz and more then likely Auschwitz-Birkenau. There are no pictures of the 2 children because they were born on November 20,1941 in Amsterdam. The Nazis already had a tight grip on Dutch society…
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Edward Jonas Ossendrijver was born on November 8,1941. Today would have been his 80th birthday. On his 10th birthday he may have listened to Cold, Cold Heart, sung by Tony Bennett which was released that day. On his 20th birthday he may have heard about the Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8, a Lockheed Constellation aircraft, which…
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Like Anne Frank ,Etty (Esther) Hillesum, also kept a diary during World War 2,describing her experiences of the Holocaust. She was born in the city of Middelburg in the southwest of the Netherlands, on January 15,1914. She was the daughter of Levie Hillesum and Riva Bernstein. In 1932 she moved to Amsterdam to study law…
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It is strange sometimes how one thing can draw your attention to another. I did a piece recently on the German national anthem, that led me to look at the Dutch national anthem. “Wilhelmus van Nassouwe”, usually known just as “Wilhelmus” is the national anthem of the Netherlands. It dates back to at least 1572,…
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I usually include a photograph when I write about the youngest victims of the Nazi regime. But I could not find a picture of poor little Mirjam Rosalie de Leeuw. In a way I am happy about that, I have looked into too many eyes of the innocent souls that were brutally murdered ,and regardless…
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Gustav Mahler is one of the most famous classical music composers and conductors of all time. Yet, his music was considered as degenerate by the Nazi regime, and was therefore banned in Germany and all the occupies territories. It was not because Mahler was a bad composer but because he was Jewish. However the Nazis…
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I always found it hard to understand why the Nazis kept the shoes of those they murdered. Of all clothing items, shoes are the most personal. Even today you don’t go to a shoe shop and just pick a pair of the shelves. You sit down and you fit them first to see if they…
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Whoever has the youth has the future. Whoever kills the youth destroys the future. I can never understand the mindset of murdering innocent lives. No matter what ideology, any normal human being must know that killing a little healthy, happy child is wrong, more then wrong, it is evil and despicable. Yet there were so…
History of Sorts 