Holocaust

  • (Repost from March 12 2023) I recently interviewed Eddy Boas and his son Phil. Here are some of the subjects we touched on. Eddy Boas is a Holocaust survivor and author of the book I’m Not a Victim— I Am a Survivor. He was born in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1940. Eddy was just…

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  • Hanna Isidora van PraagHanna Isidora van Praag was born in Amsterdam on 7 June 1928 and murdered at Auschwitz on 9 November 1943. She reached the age of 15 years. For Hanna Isidora van Praag Born beneath Amsterdam skies so fair,A whisper of wind, a dark hair,The streets she knew, the canals bright,Her laughter lit…

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  • Something that always fascinated me (for lack of a better word) about Hitler was the double standards he applied. As the leader of his country, he always portrayed himself as someone with principles. However, he broke those principles—time and time again. Hitler hated smoking and had been a smoker himself but had stopped at a…

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  • Like his leader and idol, Adolf Hitler was a failed artist and Joseph Göbbels a failed author. Both men sought scapegoats for their shortcomings. Below is a testimony from Dr Johnston, who I believe was a fellow-schoolmate of Göbbels. “I lived in Rheydt in Rheinland and attended secondary school here. Rheydt is the birthplace of…

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  • Finland’s Jewish Soldiers

    Denmark is often lauded for their actions during World War II, saving most Danish Jews from the Holocaust. The wartime Jewish population of Denmark was 7,800, of which 102 lost their lives to the Nazis during the Holocaust. However, Denmark was the only Nordic country that saved its majority of Jewish citizens. Finland had a…

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  • Football Heroes—PEC Zwolle

    When I say football heroes, I don’t mean heroes on the pitch, scoring goals and winning matches, even though they did that too. In this case I am referring to the conduct of the whole football club. Sunday, 22 June 1941, the same day that Germany broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and…

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  • A few weeks ago, I was a guest on The Movie Show at the Limerick City Community Radio, and we discussed Holocaust movies, specifically Schindler’s List, The Last Days, The Last Laugh, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Jo Jo Rabbit. Here is the podcast:

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  • ****************WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT**************** This will be the most horrific post I have done on the Holocaust. Generally, I try to avoid graphic images because they make me feel uncomfortable. However, there is nothing comfortable about the Holocaust, and it should make us feel uneasy. There were millions murdered in the most gruesome way possible. I…

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  • Jacob de Mesquita

    I look at the picture of Jacob de Mesquita and I ask myself “How was this possible?” How was it possible that this baby was selected to be send to the gas chambers? Was there not one person among the Auschwitz staff members who thought that this was wrong? Was there no one who saw…

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  • The above photograph is of a plaque that hangs over a house in The Hague. It was the residence of Mies Wahlbeehm, where she hid a great number of Jews. The one thing that captured my attention was the words at the top of the plaque, “De herrinering aan de doden is voor hen een…

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