Holocaust
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This will not be a post explaining what Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau was, We all know that by now. This is post with various eye witness reports. A former prisoner recalls the conditions inside the huts at Birkenau. “On rainy days, the packed-earth floor of the huts turned into a swamp as a result of the…
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Did nightingales sing in Auschwitz? Were they allowed to do so? Did their song bring any joy? Did nightingales know what was happening? Did they see the suffering? Did their eyes witness hell? Did nightingales sing in Auschwitz? Did wolves howl outside of Auschwitz? Or were they scared too? Did they feel alone? Did wolves…
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I know there are those who judge the Sonderkommandos. Sometimes people confuse them with the Kapos. In all honestly, I don’t judge them at all, because I was never put in the position they were put in. Especially the Sonderkommandos who were forced, on the threat of their deaths, to aid with the disposal of…
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Rosalina Zilverberg was born in Oss, the Netherlands, on October 5,1942. She was murdered in Vught concentration camp Vught on April 17, 1943. She lived for 194 days. In those 194 she will have only experienced her parents anxiety. She will have only experienced a life in captivity. She never got a chance to learn…
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When I saw this photograph, I was reminded of another photo. It was a picture of my colleagues and I in 1993/1994. It was taken at work on the day of the retirement of one of my colleagues at the time. We had a small party afterwards at the cafeteria of Philips Sittard. The photo…
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Simon Walvisch was born in Amsterdam, 1 on 9 March 1882.He was murdered in Auschwitz, on 1 October 1942. Reached the age of 60 years Occupation: Tobacconist He was a son of Jacobus Mozes Walvisch and Schoontje Zeeman. He married Rosette Abram, a daughter of Simon Abram and Judith Presser, on 29 June 1904 in…
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On September 29, 1943, Amsterdam was declared ‘Judenrein’. (Free of Jews) It happened after a major raid, in which 5,000 people, including the board and employees of the Jewish Council, were arrested and transported via Amstel station to Camp Westerbork. Those who were able to avoid the raids ended up in hiding places. A countrywide…
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These are just a few random bits of World War 2 history. The above picture is of Reich Commissioner Dr. Seyss-Inquart receiving a group of BDM girls: demonstration of gymnastics exercises. Netherlands, location unknown, September 29, 1941. What puzzles me is why would a 49 year old man be interested in a group of teenage…
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Last Sunday I had the honor and privilege to be invited to a zoom presentation by the Ghetto Fighters’ House museum titled “The Hippocratic Oath at the Umschlagplatz: The Jewish Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto” Three words from that presentation stuck with me “Just like me”. The sum up perfectly what the Nazis should have…
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I came across Gershon Willinger’s name on the Joods Monument website. It is his 80 birthday today, When I saw his name and his birthday, I also saw that the date and the place of his death were not known. I figured this was going to be an awful tragic and depressing story. I decided…
