Holocaust

  • Herman Friedrich Graebe or Gräbe, (June 19, 1900 – April 17, 1986) was a German manager and engineer in charge of a German building firm in Ukraine, who witnessed mass executions of the Jews of Dubno on October 5, 1942 by Nazis. Following the war he wrote a famous and horrifying testimony. “My foreman and I went…

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  • We have all seen Steven Spielberg’s movie Schindler’s list.One of the most powerful portrayals of the Holocaust. A few years ago I decided to show the movie to my kids.Even though they were still young, I found it important for them to know what evil men were capable of , but that there are also heroes…

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  • The one thing that really intrigues me about the Holocaust and other horrific events throughout history is ,how do people justify killing and torturing fellow human beings. It will take an awful lot before I would hurt another human being, only when I would be physically threatened I would resort to a physical defense. The…

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  •   Not every Holocaust victim was Jewish, besides the Roma,Sinti, Homosexuals,Disabled, the Jehovah witnesses were also persecuted by the Nazi regime. Forgotten History-The Jehovah Witnesses Holocaust Unlike Jews and Romani who were persecuted on the basis of their ethnicity, Jehovah’s Witnesses could escape persecution and personal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs by signing a document indicating…

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  • Just Following Orders

    The words”Just following orders” together with “Arbeit macht frei” are probably the worst words ever to be used in history. “Just following orders” was used as justification by those who committed the most evil crimes against humanity. And alas they are still used nowadays for the same purpose. But why did regular and ordinary citizens…

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  • In November 1944 20 Jewish children, ten boys and ten girls, had been brought from Auschwitz to the concentration camp of Neuengamme, just outside Hamburg. Below are pictures of 3 of the children-Jacqueline Morgenstern,Georges Andre Kohn and Sergio de Desimone. The youngsters, aged between 5 and 12 years old, came from all over Europe and…

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  • Irene Opdyke ( 5 May 1922, Kozienice, Poland – 17 May 2003) was a Polish nurse who gained recognition for aiding Jews persecuted by the Nazis during World War II and for saving twelve Jews. She was born Irene Gut on May 5 1922, one of five girls, into a Catholic family in a small…

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  • Now with the Olympic Games in Rio at full swing it is a great opportunity to have a closer look at the other Rio de Janeiro, even though it bears mentioning that it has nothing to do with sports nor the 2nd largest city in Brasil. MS Rio de Janeiro was a German steam ship…

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  • Today marks the 73rd anniversary of Anne Frank’s arrest. I will not go to deep into Anne Frank’s story because so much is already written about her by people who know an awful lot about her then I do. I want to focus on that fateful day and the aftermath. On a warm summer’s day…

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  •   I am amazed that people are still surprised at the actions of the IOC, This year it was widely expected that Russia would be banned from the Rio Olympics due to doping scandal surrounding their athletes and the cover up of the Russian Olympic Committee. The only thing the IOC is interested in is the…

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