World War 2
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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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On 3 September 1944, Anne Frank and her family were put on a transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz. It would be the last train to leave Westerbork. The train arrived three days later at Auschwitz. The women selected from this transport, including Anne, Edith, and Margot, were marked with numbers between A-25060–A-25271. Anne Frank’s final…
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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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Herta Bothe was a German concentration camp guard during World War II. She was imprisoned for war crimes after the defeat of Nazi Germany and was subsequently released from prison early on 22 December 1951 as an act of leniency by the British government. She was 6ft 3in, which must have been quite intimidating for…
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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…
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In general, I have some level, albeit low, of sympathy for those who chose to collaborate with the Nazi regime in the Netherlands because maybe they felt it was the only way to survive. However, I have no sympathy for the Nederlandse Landwacht. They were in it for their own greed and hungered for power.…
History of Sorts 