Poland
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I know this is going to be a controversial blog, even though there should not be any controversy about it. It is based on facts, but unfortunately, there are quite a few people who don’t want to accept the facts. Today, July 10, marks the 85th anniversary of the Jedwabne pogrom, a horrific event in…
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Geleen is a small former mining town in the province of Limburg, in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is not a particularly famous place, although it is where the first professional football was played in the Netherlands, and it used to host one of the world’s biggest rock festivals, “PinkPop.” It is also where…
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A picture tells a thousand words, but never the full story. There is nothing more powerful then the words of those who survived the darkest era of mankind. Barbara Stimler was born in Poland, in the town of Aleksandrow Kujawski, close to the German border. She was 12 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland…
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Just a girl, not a soldier or a politician. Just a girl, the only threat she posed was that one day her smiley face would melt someone’s heart. Just a girl, no hate to be seen in her eyes. Just a girl, the only wish she had was to grow up. Just a girl, just…
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A picture tells a thousand words, and in this case, they truly do. The drawings and cartoons are made by Emile Franken. I am not sure what happened to Emile. I do know he was born on 15 April 1921 somewhere in the Netherlands and he survived the war. I also know he spent time…
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Renia Spiegel was born on 18 June 1924, in Uhryńkowce, then in Poland and now in Western Ukraine, to Polish-Jewish parents Bernard Spiegel and Róża Maria Leszczyńska. Like many other teenage girls, Renia kept a diary. She started hers at age 15, on 31 January 1939, nine months before German and Slovak troops invaded Poland.…
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When we reflect upon Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, the towering specter of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising understandably dominates collective memory. It has become the defining symbol of armed Jewish defiance against Nazi tyranny. Yet the history of resistance was never confined to Warsaw alone. Across occupied Poland—in cramped ghettos, isolated towns, and heavily fortified…
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On June 20, 1942, the SS guard at the Auschwitz exit was visibly shaken. In front of him idled the car of Rudolf Höss, commandant of the notorious concentration camp. Inside were four armed SS men. One of them—a second lieutenant, or Untersturmführer—was shouting and cursing furiously. “Wake up, you buggers!” he bellowed in German.…
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Delphine Anja Jennifer Drielsma Delphine was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 19 June 1939. and murdered in Auschwitz, Poland, on 24 September 1942. She reached the age of three. A 3-year-old enemy of the state. Which state, though? In a world where shadows linger, cold and gray,A tender soul was taken far away,Innocence wrapped…
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The history of World War II is usually written in the sweeping movements of armies, the strategic decisions of generals, and the devastating statistics of ruined cities. Yet, some of the most profound battles of that dark era were fought in total silence, within the hidden recesses of the human soul. Among these quiet victories…
History of Sorts 