World War 2

  • In June 1940, following the fall of France, Nazi Germany turned its attention to the Channel Islands—British territories located in the English Channel. While most islanders across the archipelago chose to remain, the residents of Alderney, fearing an imminent occupation, made the fateful decision to evacuate. This unfortunate decision, while tragic for civilians, unwittingly aided

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  • (Trying out a new lay out, feedback is appreciated) Executive Summary On 20 July 1944, German Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg placed a bomb in Hitler’s Eastern Front headquarters (Wolfsschanze / Wolf’s Lair) in East Prussia. The explosion injured but did not kill Hitler. The conspirators—an underground network of senior officers, diplomats, clergy, and

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  • Holocaust & Maastricht

    Maastricht is one of the most beautiful cities in the Netherlands. It’s in the southeast of the country in the Province of Limburg. It is very dear to me. I was born only a few miles away from it, but it is the city where my father was born. A few years after the war,

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  • This is a long read, but it offers a compelling glimpse into daily life in the Netherlands during World War II. Despite the horrors, life continued—though not for everyone. Tragically, 75% of Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Some of them had worked in the luxurious department store Bijenkorf and its affiliated store HEMA.

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  • The one thing I can’t come to terms with, and even refuse to come to terms with, is the murder of babies during the Holocaust. I know one of the reasons behind it was the purification of the Aryan race. But, how pure are you as a race when you murder babies? Another reason was

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  • I know there will be people who might think the title of the post is quite disrespectful, but it is far from it. The post will reflect how close and relevant the Holocaust still is. So many great rock songs would never have been written or recorded if the Nazis had succeeded in their plans

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  • In the West, when we think about World War II, we predominantly think about the war against the Nazis. However, there were quite a large number of Europeans who were fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. We also often forget that the Japanese Imperial Army, Navy, and Air Force were just as brutal and sometimes

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  • The Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup (the Vélodrome d’Hiver roundup), known in French as “Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv,” was a mass arrest of Jews in Paris by the French police under the orders of the Nazi German authorities during World War II. This event took place on July 16 and 17, 1942, and is one of the

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  • Arthur Seyss-Inquart gravely misjudged the Dutch population in believing they would embrace Nazi ideology. While a minority in the Netherlands supported National Socialism, the vast majority rejected Hitler’s vision. Arthur Seyss-Inquart (22 July 1892–16 October 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician who briefly served as Chancellor of Austria—from 11 to 13 March 1938—before the Anschluss,

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  • I once painted skies.Vast, open, careless heavens that dripped sunlight and hope.My brush danced with joy, my palette a chorus of life.But then came the grey. It was not the grey of morning mist or soft winter clouds—It was the grey of silence,of smoke that climbed like prayerfrom chimneys built to erase names. I was

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