Auschwitz
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I have written about Westerbork before, but today I want to address the paradox and the misconception of the camp. Camp Westerbork was a Nazi transit camp in Drenthe province, northeastern Netherlands, during World War II. It was used as a staging location for sending Jews to concentration camps elsewhere, mainly Auschwitz and Sobibor. The…
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The Couzijn family consisted out of 3 people. Marcus, his wife Hanni end their daughter Mirjam. Three people who were at the start of family life. Yet they were denied that most basic right, life. Not only were they denied the right of life they were also denied the dignity of being buried as a…
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Benjamin Hartog “Benno” ter Berg was born on July 4, 1924 in Assen, the Netherlands. He was murdered in Auschwitz on September 30,1942. The picture was taken from his diary, the newspaper article on the left is about a meeting of the NJN,(Nederlandse Jeugdbond voor Natuurstudie), the Dutch Youth union for Nature study. Of which…
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This is not the famous composer Joseph Strauss as a young man. This is actually another young man called Josef Strauss. Technically he never became a man because he was murdered in Auschwitz on August 17,1942. He was aged 17. Unlike his famous name bearer there is very little known about Josef, yet from the…
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On July 1st 1942 the Nazis took control of Concentration camp Westerbork. Jacques Schol, a Dutchman, was commander of the camp from July 16 1940 and until January 1943. He was known for his brutality against Jewish inmates, kicking inmates to death. Westerbork served as a temporary collection point for Jews in the Netherlands prior…
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Late in the morning of 4 August 1944, Dutch police entered the Secret Annexe and arrested the Frank family, the van Pels family, Fritz Pfeffer, Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler (who worked at Opetka). Otto Frank was the managing director of Opetka, and they had helped to hide the residents. On 8 August 1944, after several days…
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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…
History of Sorts 