the Netherlands
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The above photograph is of a plaque that hangs over a house in The Hague. It was the residence of Mies Wahlbeehm, where she hid a great number of Jews. The one thing that captured my attention was the words at the top of the plaque, “De herrinering aan de doden is voor hen een…
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Anyone familiar with my blog knows that the murder of children during the Holocaust touches me deeply. I know one of the excuses for murdering children was to avoid that they would take revenge. It always puzzled me. The only reason why you’d want to kill someone to avoid revenge is because—you knew what you…
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If there is one thing that Anne Frank’s diary teaches us ,it’s the importance of context. If you take her diary out of context it probably is quite a boring book. But if you leave it in the context and the time it was written in it becomes a powerful story of daily life and…
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The lives of Jewish lives weren’t just the things they did, but also the things they owned. During the Holocaust, the majority of Dutch Jews weren’t only murdered—but their possessions were also stolen or destroyed. During World War II, the Nazis quickly moved to remove Jews from economic life in the Netherlands. Salomon David Nathans…
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It’s not every day one gets a chance to do a blog about one’s own death, and especially not before breakfast, but hey history is history. But before you start sending flowers and cards etc, the Dirk in the title is not me of course , but Count Dirk III of Holland, or West Friesland…
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The name Erika might have a nice ring to it but like all other Nazi concentration camps, Erika was a place of distress and torture.Erika was a Nazi concentration camp. The camp was situated at the Besthemerberg near Ommen, the Netherlands. The camp was designated mostly for Dutchmen convicted of black market trade or resistance…
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Viewing the photograph above, you can see a few boys having fun. You might ask yourself, “Who are these boys?” or “What game are they playing? I don’t know who these boys are. I know they were cared for by the BjZ or Buitenschoolse Jeugdzorg, a part of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.…
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On 16 November 1941, Betje Weijl-van Praag died from what appears to be suicide. The police report does not mention suicide, but the circumstances indicate that probably was what happened. “Notification is given by telephone that something has probably happened to the resident of plot Schuttersweg 88 because she has not been seen all day.…
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These Dutchmen were the most despicable breed of men. They were not driven by any political ideology—but purely by greed. Wim Henneicke was part of a group of bounty hunters called Colonne Henneicke. He betrayed and robbed Jews; between 8,000 and 9,000 Jews were betrayed by the group in 1943. Towards the end of the…
History of Sorts 