Holocaust
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When the rain falls, my face gets wet. When the sun shines, it blinds my eyes. When the snow falls, I want to go out and feel the crunch of the fresh new snow beneath my feet. When it is muddy, I get dirty. When I am hungry, I eat. When I am thirsty, I…
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History is not only shaped by great victories, cultural flourishing, or moments of unity; it is equally defined by the tragedies that scar communities for generations. One such tragedy is the Treznea Massacre, an atrocity committed on September 9, 1940, in the village of Treznea (Hungarian: Ördögkút), in Sălaj County, Transylvania. This event remains one…
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People sometimes tell me that the pictures of the piles of corpses, in the concentration camps are the most disturbing ones from the Holocaust. However, I am not in total agreement because I found the photo above much more disturbing. It shows the cause of the Holocaust. Hitler understood for the Nazi ideology to work…
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(originally published September 21 2023) The last two nights, I watched the documentary Ordinary Men—The Forgotten Holocaust (now streaming on Netflix). It is a German documentary film by director Manfred Oldenburg and producer Leopold Hoesch from 2022. The documentary examines how and why thousands of ordinary Germans participated in mass atrocities as members of Nazi…
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Sabotage: a destructive or obstructive action carried out by a civilian or enemy agent to hinder a nation’s war effort. The Dutch are often criticized for not having done enough to protect their fellow citizens during World War II, especially their Jewish neighbours. To an extent, it is a justified criticism. However, this doesn’t mean…
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World War II officially started on 3 September 1939. The Nazis wasted very little time in committing their first mass murder during the war. It was only hours after the war was declared. The S.S. Athenia was commanded by Captain James Cook. He left Glasgow for Montreal via Liverpool and Belfast. She carried 1,103 passengers,…
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There is, quite rightly, considerable criticism of how Dutch society and institutions dealt with the persecution of Jews during the Second World War. More could undoubtedly have been done, and there is no question that too many people cooperated, remained passive, or simply looked the other way. But it is easy to make such judgments…
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When you look at the photograph above, you may be forgiven for thinking it shows a class of children doing arts and crafts at school. They are children doing arts and crafts, but it is not in a school (at least not a regular school) it is a group of children in the Westerbork Transit…
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A few years ago, on the 22nd of June 2016, to be precise I wrote a blog titled “Holocaust and Humour.” I received loads of criticism for it. The thing I found extraordinary the criticism didn’t come from people who read the blog, but only from people who read the title. I didn’t mean to…
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I was going to write an article about Ursula Gerson, who was murdered in Auschwitz on September 6, 1944, at the age of 8. But then I saw there were more Dutch Jewish children and Jewish refugees, who fled Germany and Austria with their parents, who were murdered that day. Duifje Gans was murdered in…
History of Sorts 