World War 2
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On 28 August 1939, Europe stood on the edge of catastrophe. Adolf Hitler had already dismantled the post-WWI peace: Austria was annexed, Czechoslovakia was broken, and Poland sat squarely in Germany’s sights. Governments knew war was looming, but knowing war was possible was vastly different from knowing the German war machine was poised to strike.…
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(First published September 2, 2018) The position of Ireland during World War II was a bit of a tricky one. A lot of people actually were pro-German, not so much because they agreed with the German policies but more because they were at war with Britain, and there was still this feeling that Britain’s enemy…
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It is seldom that 3 random words can send shivers down your spine but the words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ do. Just three ordinary words used many times in daily life and yet they also mean total horror. The literal translation is Work makes free, I know they are often translated as works set you free,…
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I have written about Westerbork before, but today I want to address the paradox and the misconception of the camp. Camp Westerbork was a Nazi transit camp in Drenthe province, northeastern Netherlands, during World War II. It was used as a staging location for sending Jews to concentration camps elsewhere, mainly Auschwitz and Sobibor. The…
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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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Steel serpents carved through dawn’s first light,A journey veiled in darkest night,Crammed boxcars held the silent screams,Of shattered lives and broken dreams. On iron trails, their hopes erased,Through countrysides, the engines raced,Families torn from all they knew,A past that dwindled from their view. No windows showed the path ahead,The air was thick with fear and…
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On the night of August 31, 1939, a German radio station in the small town of Gleiwitz (now Gliwice, Poland) became the stage for one of the most infamous false-flag operations in modern history. Known as the Gleiwitz incident, this orchestrated event was part of a broader Nazi propaganda effort to fabricate a justification for…
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An increasing amount of people say that stories of the Holocaust are no longer relevant and should be left in the past. I don’t subscribe to that point of view, remembering the Holocaust is now more important then it ever has been.In a time where some politicians are making policies based on hate, it is…
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I know that some people will disagree with the description of the victim, but unfortunately, Anne Frank was murdered during the Holocaust, which does make her a victim. But before that, she was also a child. This blog contains pictures to remind us of the fact that she had been a child, who lived a…
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The history of Sittard-Geleen is a bit of a complicated one. The city used to be 2 towns, but in 2001 the towns of Sittard and Geleen merged and are now known as Sittard-Geleen. On September 18, 1944 both towns were liberated. With the liberation of Sittard on 18 and 19 September 1944, the war…
History of Sorts 