Holocaust
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It is often believed that the Allied Forces were not aware of the mass killings. The fact is, they were aware but chose to ignore it. Jan Karski was a Polish soldier, resistance fighter, and diplomat during World War II. In late 1942, Karski was smuggled in and out of the Warsaw ghetto and Izbica,…
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In 1943, 19 trains left Westerbork for Sobibor. Over 34.000 men, women, and children from The Netherlands made this journey. Not knowing where they would go, thinking they would be resettled. Most of these people were all murdered within a five months of arriving in Sobibor. Only 18 people out of all these Dutch transports…
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Once again I had the privilege to attend a session organized by the Ghetto Fighters’ House museum. A very informative session and also very chilling the witness accounts. The third program in the series, “Rethinking the ‘Final Solution,’ and the Wannsee Conference 80 Years Later,” will present a multidisciplinary look at the three Operation Reinhard…
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On Tuesday March 1,2022 Russian missiles damaged the Babyn Yar (also known as Babi Yar) memorial site. One might say what is the big deal? It didn’t hit a residential area, right? Five people were killed in that strike which is an awful loss of life, any death cause by war is. But there is…
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I was going to write about a young boy called Jonas van Oosten. He was murdered in Auschwitz on January 16,1943, aged 16. When he was two years of age he won a kite competition. The kite was much bigger then himself. He proudly posed with his kite for a photograph, in front of a…
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Not every German supported the Nazis or signed up to their ideology. There were quite a few who were appalled by what their nation had become under the leadership of Hitler and his regime. However there were only a handful of people who had the courage to stand up against the Nazis, at risk of…
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Nathan Roozelaar& Eva Roozelaar-Hart, who were they? To be honest I know very little about them. All I know that they were both born in Amsterdam. Nathan on March 21,1887 and Eva on July 15,1887. At some stage they must have met because they got married, when I don’t know? I do know that Nathan…
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Amadeus, Goya’s Ghosts; Man on he Moon, these are some of my favourite movies. They were all directed by Miloš Forman. For two of them he received an academy award aka Oscar. That on its own is extraordinary, but it is nothing compared to Miloš’s story of his young…
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Remembering the victims of the Holocaust is extremely important, now probably more than ever, however it is also important to remember the heroes who saved so many from certain death. Today marks the 111th birthday of Irena Sendler. Sendler was born Irena Krzyżanowska on February 15, 1910, in Otwock, Poland. Her parents were members of…
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These are students and teachers of the Jewish Lyceum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, July 1942. More than 75% of the Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. There are about 60+ people in this photograph of which most or all were murdered. Most of them are young people. Girls who never again received a Valentine’s card. Boys…