Auschwitz
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Gesina Groen would have been 80 today. But she was murdered on her 1st birthday. She was born on July 26,1941 in Amsterdam and murdered in Auschwitz July 26,1942, together with her mother. There are no pictures of Gesina, just a picture of the house she lived in. The address is Nieuwe Keizersgracht 70, Amsterdam,…
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Vél d’Hiv It always amazes me how easy it was for some Europeans to give up their Jewish neighbours. I know it’s easy for me to say that in retrospect, because I don’t know how I would have reacted if put in that situation. But I have a feeling I would have spoken out about…
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I could have picked any name out of millions of victims to write about today. So why did I select Margot Frank-Cohen? No particular reason other than that she would have been 100 years old today. A few decades ago, it would have been utter nonsense to talk about someone’s 100th birthday. Hardly anyone would…
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Dagobert Stibbe was born in Amsterdam, 13 October 1918. He was murdered in Auschwitz, 23 June 1943. He was a student at the Technische Hogeschool(Technical University)Delft. He tried to escape to Switzerland, but this failed. He was caught on 2 June 1943 just 15 meters away from French-Swiss border. He was sent to the transit…
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I have 3 children and I witnessed the birth of all 3 of them. The birth of a child must be the greatest miracle, Sure the sex beforehand is wonderful, but just imagine it, a sperm cell from a fertile man swims up through the vagina and into the uterus of a woman and joins…
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It is strange sometimes how little you can find out of a person, yet you can still tell a story about him. Martin Sealtiel was born on May 19,1935. There are no pictures of him. The only indication that he was born was a newspaper announcement in a local newspaper, placed on May 20-1935 by…
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There are millions of Holocaust stories I could write, but none will be as powerful as the testimonies of those who survived the darkest era. Following are some of those testimonies. Written by Zdeněk and Jiří Steiner, born 20. 5. 1929 in Prague, residents of Prague, former prisoners in the concentration camps of Theresienstadt and…
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I came across date about the ‘Voormalig Rotterdams kindertehuis’ or Former Rotterdam home for Children. Initially I was a bit confused. I wanted to find out more so I looked in some Rotterdam archives, then I noticed that the actual home was in Arnhem. To make it even more confusing the address was Amsterdamscheweg 1,…
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One thing that never should be said about children is “Reached the age of..” Yet this did apply to so many children who were murdered during the Holocaust. Everyone who was murdered during that time was innocent. 1.5 million children were killed. 1.5 million human being who never were allowed to blossom into you men…
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(originally posted March 22, 2020) I did a blog on Marcel Marceau about two years ago. Today, he would have been 100 years old. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to do another tribute to this Silent Hero. He survived the Nazi occupation and saved many children during World War II. He was regarded for his…
History of Sorts 