World War 2
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Bizarrely enough diaries were not always used or recognized as evidence or as study material for the Holocaust. researchers tended to dismiss Jewish diaries as subjective and unreliable. Only in the last few decades the value of diaries have been acknowledged. To me there is nothing more powerful of the words of those who lived…
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It’s funny how your opinions can change as you grow older. The title of this blog, “Turnip and Chicory, Salsify and Leek,” is the English translation of a Dutch song: “Knolraap en Lof, Schorseneren en Prei.” I absolutely hated that song when I was younger. I still don’t like it all that much—but I have…
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The above photograph is of Eugen Fischer, a German professor of medicine, anthropology, and eugenics and a member of the Nazi Party. He authored a 1913 study of the Mischlinge (racially mixed) children of Dutch men and Hottentot women in German Southwest Africa. Fischer opposed racial mixing, arguing that Negro blood was of lesser value…
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On Normandy’s shores ‘neath dawn’s pale light,Brave souls stormed forth to end the night.Steel met sand in thunder’s cry,While hopes and fears rode sea and sky. The tide of war began to turn,As freedom’s fire began to burn.Through blood and grit, the path was paved—By those who fought, the world was saved. Into the Jaws…
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“Le Dernier Métro” (The Last Metro) is a 1980 French film directed by François Truffaut. It is a poignant drama set in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. The film captures the struggles of a Jewish theater owner and his wife as they attempt to keep their theater running amidst the horrors of occupation and…
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Paul Touvier was a French Nazi collaborator during World War II, known for his involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. His actions during the war and subsequent legal proceedings have marked him as one of the most notorious figures associated with the Vichy regime’s collaboration with Nazi Germany. He was born on April…
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Before sharing the story of Frits Philips, I’d like to first touch on his family’s background The patriarch of the Philips family is Philip Philips, a Jewish merchant from North Rhine-Westphalia who came to the Netherlands. Little is known about him. He was married to Rebecca van Crefelt. Lion Philips (Zaltbommel, October 29, 1794 –…
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This is not a poem written by a Holocaust victim or survivor. These are my personal reflections—what I imagine I might have written if I had lived through that experience, Along the iron serpent’s spine,Through soot-choked skies and frozen time,A whistle screams — a hollow sound —The wheels begin to kiss the ground.From village, city,…
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On the night of May 31, 1941, during the height of World War II, the city of Dublin, capital of neutral Ireland, was shaken by an unexpected and deadly event: a German Luftwaffe air raid that killed 28 people and left nearly 100 injured. This bombing, which occurred in the North Strand area, has remained…
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Most of you will think I am talking about the USA when you read the title. However, you’d be wrong. The America in the title is a parish village in the Dutch province of Limburg, known historically for its peat extraction. The Germans must have laughed, when they saw the name in May 1940. In…
History of Sorts 