the Netherlands
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The Roman Catholic church, especially the Vatican, still has many questions to answer about the Holocaust. However, some Catholic clergymen, even a few high-placed ones, did not keep their mouths shut and defied the Nazis. Cardinal Johannes de Jong was one of those men. He was ordained to the priesthood on 15 August 1908 and…
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The Weerbaarheidsafdeling (WA; “Resilience Department”) was the paramilitary arm of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB), the fascist political party that collaborated with the Nazi ocdupiers of the Netherlands during World War II. The organization, roughly equivalent to the German SA, was founded in 1932 by Anton Mussert, co-founder of the NSB in…
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The Englandspiel was a counter-espionage operation set up by the Germans that lasted from March 1942 to April 1944. Secret agents of the SOE who had been dropped over the Netherlands were often arrested immediately upon landing and forced to maintain radio contact with England. Despite hidden warnings in their broadcast messages, British intelligence continued…
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On Tuesday September 5, 1944, after the liberation of Antwerp, Belgium, rumors arose about the imminent arrival of the Allies in the NetherlandThe population is preparing to welcome the liberators. Some illegal newspapers publish a liberation issue. The Germans do not intervene. Many German soldiers even fled. 60,000 NSB members leave for Germany on special…
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The best way to describe this story is a microcosm of the Holocaust history. But before I go into the story, I have to explain the wider background, to put it into context. Although I am fully Dutch, I was seen as a child of a mixed marriage, The Netherlands is a small country, however,…
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Joseph is just one of the 6 million Jews who was murdered during the Holocaust. He was murdered today 80 years ago in Auschwitz. He was born in Amsterdam, 20 February 1921. Joseph Charles Rosenberg Polak (Jop) lived with his parents at 163 Pieter Cornelisz Hooftstraat in Amsterdam. He wanted to study medicine, following in…
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Queen Wilhelmina was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw both World War I, although the Netherlands was neutral during World War I and World War II, as well as the Dutch economic crisis of 1933.…
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In a way I hate saying Happy Birthday ,because is supposed to be Ina’s 80yj birthday today. But she didn’t even get to celebrate her 2nd. She was born in Amsterdam on August 30,1942. She was murdered on October 22nd,in Auschwitz. The reason why I do say Happy Birthday is because she deserves to be…
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In August 1942, a group of refugees from the Netherlands was arrested in Belgium. The men were placed in Breendonk, and the women and children were placed in the Jewish orphanage. They were all very young children. In the end they were all deported to Auschwitz and murdered upon arrival on August 28, 1942. Below…