Holocaust

  • Happy Birthday Aron Polak

    Aron would have been 81 today, but he didn’t even get to the age of 2. He was born in Amsterdam on September 8, 1941. He was murdered in Sobibor March 26,1943. The fact that he was murdered at such a young age is not even the saddest part of his story. There was actually…

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  • I wish I could say I am remembering Sjakie Degen for his breakthrough work in science. I wish I could say I am remembering Sjakie Degen for a great book he wrote. I wish I could say I am remembering Sjakie Degen for a great painting he painted. I wish I could say that Sjakie…

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  • T4

    The first of September 1939 is well-known for the German invasion of Poland, triggering World War II. However, it is less known as the date the official killing of disabled people was made law, albeit under the guise of euthanasia. It was only five lines which determined the fate of hundreds of thousands:Reichsleiter [Philipp] Bouhler…

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  • Westerbork

    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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  • Happy Birthday Wolf Blits

    In my opinion the best way to remember the victims of the Holocaust is to personalize their stories. Rather then a number, show the human side. Because that is what they were ,all those millions were all individual human beings, just like everyone else. I wish I could show you a picture of Wolf Blits.…

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  • After the Holocaust

    The one subject I find difficult to address is how the Dutch treated the Jews during the war. It is easy for me to say they didn’t do enough to help their Jewish neighbours, because that would be true. However I did not live in that time. I did not have to face severe punishments,…

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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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  • The Table of Truth

    The Table of TruthSeptember 12, 202110 AM Pacific | 1 PM Eastern7 PM South Africa | 8 PM IsraelAbout This Event Learn about the extraordinary connection to one chess table between Faina Kukliansky, Lithuanian Jewish Community Chair, Shulamit Rabinovich, San Franciscan engineer, Dudu Fisher, Israeli world-renowned entertainer, Grant Gochin, South African Wealth Manager, and Silvia…

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  • Remembering Josef Strauss

    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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