the Netherlands

  • The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (abbreviation: NSB) was a Dutch political party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The NSB adhered to the ideology of National Socialism, presented itself not as a party but as a movement based on an anti-democratic attitude, and functioned as a collaboration party during the German occupation of…

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  • Westerbork may not have been an extermination camp, but that didn’t mean it was less evil. In a way, it may have been eviler because it created an illusion that life wasn’t that bad and gave the people a false hope that their endurance of camp life would be temporary. The 261 couples married at…

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  • A Traitor on Trial

    Below is the transcript of a Dutch court case. The defendant, referred to only as Mrs. C., was accused of treason and collaboration during World War II. The Dutch legal system continues to follow this practice today, where defendants’ names are identified only by the first letter of their surname. The transcript is dated September…

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  • Raguhn Concentration Camp

    Raguhn, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, was established during World War II in the village of Raguhn, Germany. This relatively small camp housed between 500 and 700 female prisoners, primarily Jewish women and girls, who were subjected to forced labor at a nearby aircraft parts factory operated by Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG.…

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  • This blog contains 2 pictures of 2 baby boys both aged 10 months. With these pictures I will be attempting to explain the Holocaust in a way that most anyone can understand it. Having that said no one will really ever understand how it was possible to massacre so many innocent lives on such an…

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  • Many people may have heard of David Koker or at least know about the remarkable diary he kept during his imprisonment in Camp Vught, a concentration camp in the Netherlands. His writings offer a rare and invaluable insight into daily life in the camp, the resilience of the human spirit, and the looming horror of…

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  • The city of Nijmegen, located in the Netherlands near the German border, became an unintended victim of war on February 22, 1944, when American bombers mistakenly targeted it during an Allied air raid. This tragic event resulted in the deaths of nearly 800 civilians and widespread destruction of the city’s historic center. The bombing remains…

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  • On February 11, 1941, the NSB member Hendrik Koot was injured fatally during a brawl at Waterlooplein. The official reports on the incident remained lost for decades. KootHendrik Koot was a member of the Weerafdeling (WA), the paramilitary wing of the NSB. Since late 1940, WA members had been intimidating and assaulting Jewish residents of…

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  • The name Hermine Santrouschitz may not be widely recognized, but the name Miep Gies is known around the world—forever linked to a teenage diarist named Anne Frank. Miep Gies, born Hermine Santrouschitz, would have celebrated her 116th birthday yesterday. Though she didn’t reach that milestone, she lived to be 100—a remarkable life devoted to courage…

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  • The Forgotten Jews

    Jewish Soldiers in the Dutch Military During World War II When discussing Jewish war victims, fallen soldiers may not be the first to come to mind. However, hundreds of Jewish men attempted to resist the advancing Nazi regime with weapons in hand. Several dozen of them perished during the German invasion in May 1940. The…

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