Sittard-Geleen
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July 21, 2025 was my 30th wedding anniversary. I still vividly remember my wedding day. It was the hottest day of the 20th century, at least in the town of Geleen, the Netherlands, where I got married. It was 42 degrees Celsius. Despite the heat, it was a beautiful day because both my family and…
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The above photograph sent shivers down my spine. Not because it is a horrific image but because the opposite is true. Three young girls walk into town, pushing a pram. Why I find it so disturbing is—I know that street very well. I have walked the same route many times. In fact, all my Dutch…
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I could call this history on my doorstep. The Peschstraat in Geleen, the Netherlands, is a street that is well known to me. Although it is on the other side of town, I often went there to visit friends who lived on that street or nearby. Yet, despite my familiarity with the area, I knew…
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The picture is of a vacant building in the town center of Geleen in the Netherlands. The building wasn’t always empty. It used to be a clothes shop called “Modehuis” or Fashion House. It was a shop that catered more for the older ladies, my mother liked to shop there A few doors next to…
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Croonenberg Family of Grevenbicht (a small village near Sittard) Before I go into the main story I have to explain the geographical history of the Westelijke Mijnstreek (Western Mining area). It is situated in the province of Limburg, the most southern province of the Netherlands, in the southeast of the country. It is also the…
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This is something I do not usually do, but because it concerns the son of one of my cousins—who was murdered 20 years ago—I am sharing this cold case. ———————————————————————— On Monday, January 3, 2005, a local resident of the Lindenheuvel neighborhood made a shocking discovery when he came across the dead body of Henri…
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Margard (Marga) Kaufmann, born in Gronau, Germany 10 November 1928. Murdered in Auschwitz on 3 September 1943, reached the age of 14 years. Marga’s parents were married in 1923 in Gronau, where her mother, Adele, had taken over her grandmother’s grocery store in 1918. Marga never knew her grandparents, Zilversmit. Her mother had four brothers,…
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The title might suggest that I’ll be discussing the dangers of television content, but my focus is actually on the physical hazards associated with televisions in the past — specifically, the risks involved in the manufacturing of certain TV components, with particular attention to flat shadow masks. Shadow-masks: how the tiny grid behind colour CRTs…
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By mid-September 1944, the Allies had made substantial progress in their liberation of Western Europe following the successful Normandy landings in June. Operation Market Garden, launched on September 17, was a large-scale Allied offensive aimed at quickly advancing through the Netherlands, securing key bridges, and eventually entering Germany to end the war sooner. This operation…
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I always get frustrated when people try to excuse the actions of thugs and criminals by blaming their difficult childhoods or lack of places to play. These photos are from a petrochemical plant in Geleen, the Netherlands. When I was growing up, it was known as DSM (Dutch State Mines), even after the actual mines…
History of Sorts 