Germany
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Heidegger’s famous address, often referred to as “The Rector’s Address” or “The Rectorate Address,” was delivered on May 27, 1933, at the University of Freiburg. Its full title is “The Self-Assertion of the German University” (German: “Die Selbstbehauptung der deutschen Universität”). In this speech, Martin Heidegger, who had recently been appointed Rector of the university,…
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One of the most despicable henchmen of he Nazi regime was Roland Freisler. The only redeeming factor he had was that he also tried high-ranking Nazis . You could be for 90% certain that if you would appear before his court you would be sentenced to death or to life imprisonment. On 20 August 1942,…
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Porajmos—sometimes spelt Porrajmos or Pharrajimos—means devouring or destruction—in some dialects of the Romani language, is the term for the Roma Sinti Holocaust during World War II. It was introduced by Romani scholar and political activist Ian Hancock in the early 1990s. He chose to use the term coined by Kalderash Roma when he picked it…
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I recall an experience from a few years ago when I was taking a web development course. One evening, I gave some of my fellow students a ride home, and in that moment, my car became a microcosm of diverse faiths—there was a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, and an atheist, all connected through a…
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One of the most iconic pictures of women during WWII is the picture of Lee Miller sitting in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub, in his Munich apartment in 1945. “I was living in Hitler’s private apartment in Munich when his death was announced.” she said afterwards. Lee Miller however wasn’t just a lady in a bathtub. Elizabeth…
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The picture is of a vacant building in the town center of Geleen in the Netherlands. The building wasn’t always empty. It used to be a clothes shop called “Modehuis” or Fashion House. It was a shop that catered more for the older ladies, my mother liked to shop there A few doors next to…
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In 1918, Germany lost the First World War. By the end of the war, uprisings and revolutions had broken out across the country. Many German revolutionaries followed the example of the revolution that had erupted in Russia in 1917, which led to a bloody civil war that lasted until 1922 and ended with the proclamation…
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A vital element of the Holocaust’s industrial-scale genocide was the efficient logistics system that transported millions of people to their deaths in concentration and extermination camps. The Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German national railway company, played a central role in this process. By providing the means of transportation for the deportation of Jews and other victims,…
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Maurice Blik is a British sculptor and a former President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. He is known for his figurative male sculpture. He was born in Amsterdam on 21 April 1939. Many pieces of his art were influenced by his experiences in Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp as a young child. His father…
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Earlier this week I had one question and one statement about concentration camps. The question was “What are the differences between a concentration camp and an extermination camp?” This question I will try to address as much as possible in this blog. But before I do that I want to mention the statement which was…