World War 2

  • The forgotten WWII massacre

    Although this blog is about a massacre which killed 750,000 victims within a week, not everyone reading this will be shocked about it. At the beginning of World War II, a government pamphlet led to a massive cull of British pets. As many as 750,000 British pets were killed in just one week. In 1939…

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  • The Holocaust is often best described in the simplicity of the art and words of the child victims. Below are some poems and drawings from children of the Holocaust. The painting above was by a child interred in the Terezin Camp during the Holocaust. She dreamed of seeing butterflies again. At TerezínWhen a new child…

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  • A question people often ask me is “Why did so many Germans believe Hitler and the NSDAP?” Hitler did not keep his hate for Jews and other groups he deemed unworthy a secret. In fact he wrote about it in Mein Kampf and other political publications.So why did so many Germans endorse him and his…

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  • Claire Monis (1922–1967) lived a life that wove together art, defiance, and endurance. A French singer and actress from a Jewish family, she was both a member of the French Resistance and a survivor of Auschwitz, where she was forced to perform in the Women’s Orchestra. Her story illustrates how music could serve as both…

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  • The picture above was taken on 30 October 1941. It is clear to me that it was taken for propaganda purposes. It is Prince Bernhard, who was the husband of the Dutch Crown Princess, handing Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands a check for the purchase of torpedo boats. Prince Bernhard married Princess Juliana in The…

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  • The title is taken from a  letter written by Marcel Nadjari ,a Jewish-Greek survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau. Marcel  was a member of the Sonderkommando in Birkenau from May 1944 to November 1944. The letter is an eye witness account of his experiences as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz Birkenau. He had the task of of removing…

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  • Alois Brunner was one of the most feared and ruthless Nazi war criminals during the Holocaust. As a senior SS officer and a close associate of Adolf Eichmann, Brunner played a pivotal role in the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews to concentration and extermination camps. Known for his cold-blooded efficiency and unrelenting cruelty,…

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  • One of the most cruelest crimes committed by the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII, was the Bataan Death March. It was a march in the Philippines of some 66 miles (106 km) that 76,000 prisoners of war (66,000 Filipinos, 10,000 Americans) were forced to take, by the Japanese military to endure in April 1942, during…

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  • The question ‘Is it acceptable to use data from Nazi experiments?’ is one of the most difficult ethical questions to answer. At least for me it is, I am a man who bases a lot of his decisions on his gut feeling. In this case my gut feeling says no. However if I keep my…

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  • October 6, 1944 — deep in the tropical waters of the Java Sea, two submarines hunted beneath the same sun. One flew the flag of the Royal Netherlands Navy, the other bore the iron cross of Nazi Germany.By the end of the day, only one would remain afloat. A Dutch Submarine Far From Home The…

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