the Netherlands
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The one thing that always baffled me is the vehement hate the Nazis had for Jazz music. It was considered “Entartete Musik”—degenerate music, a label applied in the 1930s by the Nazis to Jazz and also other forms of music. I wrote a piece about Johnny & Jones before, this is not so much a…
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I sincerely believe that some people are just born evil. If it hadn’t been for the war, their evil ways—would probably have been displayed in other ways. Dr. Ernst Knorr was born Heiligenbeil, Germany on October 13, 1899. He died in Scheveningen, the Netherlands on 7 July 1945. He was an SS officer in the…
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Maastricht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and one of the first settlements. It was also the first city to be liberated in World War 2. On 13 and 14 September 1944 it was the first Dutch city to be liberated by Allied forces of the US Old Hickory Division.. These are…
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Ankie Stork was a Dutch resistance fighter during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She saved thirty-five Jewish children from the Nazis by hiding them in several locations in the town of Nijverdal during World War II. She acted as part of Utrecht’s Kindercomité (Utrecht Children Committee), a Dutch resistance group based in Utrecht. Louis…
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This is a historical blog however not so much about a big historical event but more a personal historical tale, which I was reminded of today. In 1991 hardly anyone had heard about Andre Rieu, I know I didn’t. My Mother was getting remarried and I had told her that I would pay for the…
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In the past, I had written a few posts about Kasteel (castle) Hoensbroek in the Netherlands and its young inhabitants. However, the photographs are so heartwarming that I thought it would be nice to do one more post. The photos were taken on 2 March 1945. Dutch children entertained GIs in the famous castle. The…
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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…
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On 3 September 1944, Anne Frank and the seven others living in hiding at the Secret Annex were put on the last transport to Auschwitz, along with over a thousand other Jewish prisoners. One of the cruellest jokes (for lack of a better word) the Nazis played was to pretend these journeys were return trips…
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In 1964, Heineken, one of the world’s most renowned beer companies, ventured into a groundbreaking project that fused sustainability, innovation, and corporate social responsibility. This initiative, led by Heineken’s visionary chairman Alfred “Freddy” Heineken, sought to address two pressing global issues: housing shortages in underprivileged regions and the environmental problem of waste from discarded beer…
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When you think of popes, you wouldn’t believe that a small country like the Netherlands would ever produce a pope, but it did. Pope Adrian VI: The Dutch Reformer of the Papacy Pope Adrian VI, born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens, holds the unique distinction of being the only Dutchman to ascend to the papacy. His brief…
History of Sorts 