World War 2
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There were very few Dutch who defied the Nazi occupiers; this is not to judge because I was never in that situation, and I wouldn’t know what I would have done. However, it is a fact that there were only a few who offered Resistance. Hannie Schaft was one of those few. Born Jannetje Johanna
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I will not be silenced, no matter how often people try to silence me. I will not be silenced despite the threats. I will not be silenced although a small voice in my head sometimes says, “just give up”, but there is a louder voice screaming “No you fool, you have to keep going. You
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Some people say that Kristallnacht marks the start of the Holocaust. I don’t really subscribe to that point of view. In my opinion, the Holocaust started on 19 August 1934. That was the date when 88.1% of the German population gave Hitler Carte blanche to do whatever he wanted via a referendum, merging the posts
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I am Dutch, and I always will be proud to be Dutch, but there are some things in my country’s history that really trouble me, even to the extent that it nearly sickens me. The Dutch bureaucracy is well known to be very efficient, which can be very beneficial, but it can also be destructive
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Long before the first trains left for the concentration camps, the Jews in Germany were isolated not by putting them in ghettos but instead by removing them from every aspect of social life. On 29 November 1938, the Jews were forbidden to keep carrier pigeons, aka homing or postal pigeons, as ordered by The Reich
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Reina Prinsen Geerligs, a young Dutch woman who lived a brief but impactful life, is remembered as a symbol of resistance and sacrifice during World War II. Born on October 7, 1922, Semarang, Dutch East Indies,(Indonesia nowadays)Reina’s early life was characterized by intellectual promise and a deep sense of justice. Her contributions to the Dutch
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Dutch Christmas is slightly different from other Christmas celebrations. On the 5th of December, the Dutch celebrate “Sinterklaas” Saint Nicholas, although it is the same figure as Santa Claus or Father Christmas. There are subtle differences in the “configuration” Sinterklaas doesn’t come from Lapland but from Spain and arrives on a steamboat and a white
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I always considered myself to be a bit of a World War II buff, but it was only when I started this website I realized how little I knew about World War II. This case is a good example. Venlo is a town in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, in the Southeast of
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“A child is born with no state of mind,blind to the ways of mankind” I would never have imagined I would use the words of a 1980’s hip hop song in a blog relating to WWII. The words are from the 1982 Hip Hop hit “the Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. But
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While the world is remembering the 62nd Anniversary of the Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I want to focus on a different aspect of JFK, his time during World War II. Specifically, his time on PT 109. “The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the NAVY and MARINE CORPS MEDAL to/ LIEUTENANT
History of Sorts 