the Netherlands
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Geleen is a small former mining town in the province of Limburg, in the south east of the Netherlands. It is not a particular famous place, although it is the place 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…
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Every time when I look at a picture of a young Holocaust victim, I get this uncomfortable feeling, and even feel physically unwell. But that is a miniscule price to pay to ensure that they are remembered, not as just a number or statistic, but as a human being. Made from flesh and blood, a…
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Each single murder committed during the Holocaust was truly awful, but there are some who even have a sadder element to the death. Vrouwtje Gosschalk-van Esso was born in Meppel, the Netherlands, on 11 June 1895.Her place and time of death are registered as Bergen-Belsen, 17 April 1945. Her first name Vrouwtje, translates as little…
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I am always amazed and in awe of people, who despite awful conditions and a very uncertain and bleak future, were still determined to not let that destroy their love for each other. Although they knew the marriage probably wouldn’t last long they still decided to get married. The picture is a wedding picture of…
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Robert Bierman was murdered on July 18, 1942 in Auschwitz, he was 4 years old. I could have done a piece on his sister ,Francisca, who was also murdered on July 18, 1942. She was aged 6. The reason why I picked Robert because it is his birthday today. He was born in Amsterdam on…
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Westerbork was liberated on April 12, 1945, by Canadian forces. At the time there were still 876 inmates there. Something which isn’t widely known is that this liberation nearly was a destruction. The Canadians thought the camp was a Germany military base. They had plans for shelling Weseterbork. This was published in de Telegraaf on…
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I had written two blogs about these children previously, but since their story is such an uplifting one, I decided to revisit it once again. I also stumbled upon a few new photos. Hoensbroek Castle, one of the largest castles in the Netherlands, served as a children’s home for 120 children under government guardianship starting…
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Marie Davidson-Wallach was one of the 8 Dutch Jews who were murdered on April 9, 1945. Now some people will dispute this . They will say that she probably just died because of disease our malnourishment. The fact is that she was forcibly taken from her house, transported to more then one camp, against her…
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Jacob was born on October 19,1934 in Amsterdam. He was the youngest child and only son of Rachel Morpurgo-Kijl and Abraham Morpurgo. He had 2 siblings, sisters Carla Celina Morpurgo and Vogelina Morpurgo. This family was just a regular family, the Father Abraham, was a draper by trade. Mother Rachel is what they call nowadays…
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All Holocaust stories are sad, even the stories of survival have elements of sadness in them. Because the survivors will have suffered physical and mental pain, and also coping with the loss of family and friends. I came across a list of household inventory of goods that had belonged to Sara Dewijgaert-Blits. Sara was born…
History of Sorts 