World War 2
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Before I start the main story, I must tell you about the wider context. About 75% of all Jews in the Netherlands were murdered during the Holocaust. The Netherlands as a country, received understandably a lot of criticism for this and to a great extent, it was justified. However, it is not as a black-and-white…
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On December 17, I received an invitation and the privilege to attend a presentation organized by The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum. The presentation was titled—Under Beslenei’s Sky: A Tale of Courage. This story is about good people doing what was right despite their differences. It was the rescue of the Leningrad Jewish children in Beslenei…
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Henriëtte Delia (Jetje) Hamburger was part of the so-called Gruppe Unbekannte Kinde, unknown children, a group of more than fifty children whom the Nazis had failed to identify. She and her brother—were betrayed at their hiding place in Amsterdam. Jetje Hamburger was born on December 24, 1943 in Eindhoven. Her parents were no longer together. Her…
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This is Rachel Soesan—her face is filled with so much life and joy, and why wouldn’t it be when she was 4. Her whole life lay before her. Yet there were some who perceived her as a threat to society. She was born on December 20, 1938 in Amsterdam. She would have been 85 today.…
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Just 10 words, but with such significance. A hurried dispatch from the ranking United States naval officer in Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, to all major navy commands and fleet units provided the first official word of the attack at the ill-prepared Pearl Harbor base.…
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I am actually happy that I could not find any images of Anton de Rosa because I don’t think I could take that. When I say 10 months of life, that is literally what it was. He only lived for 10 months. The picture above is of his birthplace, Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. Where was…
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“On March 22, 1933, a few weeks after Adolf Hitler had been appointed Reich Chancellor, a concentration camp for political prisoners was set up in Dachau. This camp served as a model for all later concentration camps and as a “school of violence” for the SS men under whose command it stood. In the twelve…
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This post will be about the first Kindertransport, which arrived in the United Kingdom on 2 December 1938. However, I am starting with a speech by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on 30 September 1938. “There are only two things I want to say. First of all, I have received an immense number of letters…
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One of the definitions of hygiene is conditions or practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease—specifically through cleanliness. The lack of hygiene was one of the hidden killers during World War II, and indeed any other war, because it wasn’t always possible to keep a minimal level of hygiene. This post has a few…
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I am always surprised why so little is reported about the Holocaust in Luxembourg. In the late 1930s, Luxembourg had a population of approximately 300,000, of which 3.500 were Jews. In addition, more than 1,000 German-Jewish refugees had found shelter in Luxembourg. Nazi Germany occupied Luxembourg in May 1940, with the Luxembourg government fleeing into…
History of Sorts 