Holocaust

  • Music is not just a series of notes strung together, it is also a tool that can be used for good and bad. Music evokes deep emotions, a bit of music often remains with you in your mind for the rest of your life. The Nazis used music in the concentration camps, not to make…

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  • Anne Frank’s schoolmates played a significant role in her early life, forming a close circle of friends that shared childhood dreams, games, and conversations during a turbulent time Anne Frank attended two main schools in Amsterdam before she and her family went into hiding: Montessori School (from 1934 to 1941)Jewish Lyceum (from 1941 to 1942)Since…

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  • The Polish Blue Police (Granatowa Policja), officially known as the Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa, represents one of the more controversial aspects of Poland’s experience under Nazi occupation during World War II. Established by Nazi Germany following its invasion of Poland in 1939, this police force, composed primarily of pre-war Polish police officers, operated under the…

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  • Amid all the horror stories of the Holocaust, every so often, a positive one emerges. I was sidetracked during my research on the Dutch entertainer Rudi Carrell’s life during World War II when the name of Abraham Bueno de Mesquita came up. Better known as Bueno de Mesquita, he and Rudi Carrell worked together in…

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  • Pogroms

    I had a chat a few days ago with a friend. We were talking about the Holocaust, and we both agreed that the Germans, specifically the German Nazis, were the main instigators and culprits of the world’s biggest crime. Without them, there may not have been a Holocaust or at least not on the scale.…

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  • Behind the Star

    Starting in May 1942, wearing a yellow fabric star in the Netherlands, called the “Star of David,” was made compulsory by the Nazis. This measure made it easy to identify Jewish people and was designed to stigmatize and dehumanize them. This was not a new idea; since medieval times many other societies had forced their…

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  • (Repost from Nov 18- 2023) I watched a documentary last night, Adolf Island, and to be honest, it wasn’t great. I can see why it only received 5.8 (out of 10) on the IMDB scale. However, it was a fascinating subject, presented by British archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls. I had known about concentration camps on the…

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  • Abraham Icek Tuschinski was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of European cinema. Born in Poland and later becoming a celebrated entrepreneur in the Netherlands, Tuschinski transformed moviegoing into a luxurious cultural experience. His life reflected the hopes of immigrants in early twentieth-century Europe, the rapid rise of the film industry, and…

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  • It is strange how things can come full circle. My first real blog was about an event during WWII in my hometown of which I was blissfully ignorant about, until I stumbled upon it by accident.. I came across the story of Frieda Goldschmidt-Jakob which actually ties into that story. On October 5,1942 the RAF…

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  • In any war or crisis, there are companies that make a profit. To some people, this may sound disgusting—but unfortunately, it is a fact. Abraham Puls owned a removal company in Amsterdam. He had been a member of the NSB, the Dutch Nazis, since 1934. His company was responsible for the ransacking of the homes…

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