Holocaust

  • Claire Monis (1922–1967) lived a life that wove together art, defiance, and endurance. A French singer and actress from a Jewish family, she was both a member of the French Resistance and a survivor of Auschwitz, where she was forced to perform in the Women’s Orchestra. Her story illustrates how music could serve as both…

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  • I often hear people say ‘that teenagers never had it as hard as they do now’. In a time where my generation failed to equip these teenagers with the resilience to deal with adversity, it is the absolute wrong message to sent out. In this post there will be small bios of teenagers who were…

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  • During my interview with Liz Elsby, Holocaust Educator at Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem, we discussed freelance illustration, design and art direction. We also talked a bit about her work with Yad Vashem, but mainly about the current situation in Israel and her experience.

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  • The title is taken from a  letter written by Marcel Nadjari ,a Jewish-Greek survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau. Marcel  was a member of the Sonderkommando in Birkenau from May 1944 to November 1944. The letter is an eye witness account of his experiences as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz Birkenau. He had the task of of removing…

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  • Music is not just a few notes strung together to create a tune, often accompanied by lyrics. Music is much more then that. It is therapy. It gives hope where there is despair. It gives joy where there is grief. It can transport you back to the days of yore, when time was complicated. It…

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  • Burnings of Kali Sykia

    On the morning of October 6, 1943, the mountain village of Kali Sykia fell completely silent. The men had vanished into the ravines; only the women, children, and the elderly remained. By nightfall, thirteen people were dead—trapped inside their own homes as the wood was barricaded from the outside and set alight. Twelve were women,…

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  • The discovery of the Karl Höcker album—a collection of personal photographs documenting the social lives of Auschwitz SS officers—provides a chilling juxtaposition to the atrocities committed at the Nazi concentration and extermination camp. These images, often depicting lighthearted moments of camaraderie, leisure, and relaxation, offer a stark contrast to the brutality occurring just miles away.…

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  • The Budy Massacre of October 5–6, 1942, remains one of the lesser-known atrocities of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Within the women’s penal company (Frauenstrafkompanie) at the Budy subcamp, approximately ninety French-Jewish women were beaten to death by SS guards and prisoner functionaries. This blog reconstructs the event, examines its causes and aftermath, and situates…

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  • The Edelweiss Pirates, or Edelweißpiraten, were a group of loosely organized German youth who stood in open defiance of the Nazi regime during the Third Reich. They played a unique if often overlooked, role in resisting Nazi authority, fighting against conformity, and supporting anti-fascist efforts. Although they were not as coordinated or ideologically unified as…

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  • Fascism, a political ideology that rose to prominence in Europe during the early 20th century, left deep imprints on the history of several countries, from Mussolini’s Italy to Hitler’s Germany and Franco’s Spain. In Ireland, however, fascism remained a relatively marginal movement, confined to small groups and figures that never gained mass political support. Yet,…

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