The destruction of innocence.

Posted on by under History

History of Sorts

u5_ch4_lastdrawing

A child is born with no state if mind,blind to the ways of mankind.However for the children who lived and died during the Holocaust this innocence was forever stolen and destroyed.

The survivors often lost their friends and families, but they always lost their childhood.Below are some drawings of children of the Holocaust.

Ella Liebermann. 16 years old. Eating and soup distribution. Bedzin’s ghetto. Poland.

comiendo_y_sopa

Helga Weissova. 13 years old. ‘Bread transported in a hearse’

weissova_terezinAlfred Kantor. 17 years old

Alfred-Kantor

Pavel Sonnenschein, who died aged 13, painted the inside of a ghetto.

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Vilem Eisner, who was 13 when he died, painted a lesson being held in a dorm room

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This one touched me the most because it serves as a lesson to all of us, even in the bleakest of moments we can still have positive thoughts. It was painted by Ruth Cechova, who died aged 13, she…

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Eli Wallach-Is this war?

Posted on by under History

History of Sorts

Eli

Who doesn’t know Eli Wallach? Such a great character actor, known from iconic movies like “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, “Mystic River” or more recently “The Holiday” . He was such a versatile actor but the role he not known for was his portrayal of Adolf Hitler. Born on December 7 1915 in Brooklyn, to Polish Jewish immigrants Abraham and Bertha  Wallach.

He gained his first method acting skills  at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. But on December 7, 1941. Wallach’s 26th birthday , Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, drawing the USA into WWII.

ATTACK

Like so many others Eli Wallach was drafted into the United States Army in January 1942

During World War II, Wallach first served as a United States Army staff sergeant at a military hospital in Hawaii. He then went to the Officer Candidate School in Abilene, Texas to train…

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Shakespeare at War.

Posted on by under History

History of Sorts

Shakespear

I have to confess the title is a bit deceptive. When I refer to Shakespeare I am not talking about the famous bard William Shakespeare but rather HMS Shakespeare, an S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during WWII.

BLUEPRINT

During her service in the Mediterranean, she sank the Italian sailing vessels Sant’ Anna M. and Adelina. On September 7,1943 she sank the Italian submarine Velella off the coast near Salerno.There were no survivors.

vallela

Later on during the war HMS Shakespeare was transferred to  to the Far East, she sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Unryu Maru.

Shakespeare

Sources

Reddit

Encyclopaedia of British Submarines.

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Alexander Zwaap AKA Lex van Delden

Posted on by under History

History of Sorts

Lex

Although he was born as Alexander Zwaap, for most of his life he would be known as Lex van Delden. He was a truly remarkable man, despite hardships he never gave up.

He was born  in Amsterdam on September 10, 1919, as the only child of Wolf Zwaap, a school-teacher, and his wife Sara Olivier-Zwaap, Lex started taking piano-lessons from an early age, initially from  from Martha Zwaga and later from the celebrated pianist, Cor de Groot.

In 1938 he enrolled at the University of Amsterdam to study medicines, he wanted to become a neuro-surgeon, but he did not lose his love for music and composing.

In 1942, two years into German occupation of the Netherlands he was  forced to interrupt his studies,because he was Jewish. He had no other choice then  to go into hiding. Refuge and a hiding place was arranged at the home of a former colleague…

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Jan Ruschkewitz

Posted on by under History

History of Sorts

Jantje

Jan Ruschkewitz, just a name of a young boy. A young bot born in the Hague in the Netherlands.

23 years after the international peace palace was established. A palace that was suppose to safeguard your peace.

In the picture you are about 2 or 3, but your peace would soon be destroyed.

Jan Ruschkewitz, just a name of a young boy, a boy who could have been anything. You were born 28 days before my father was born.

Jan Ruschkewitz, just a name of a young boy , a young boy who remained a young boy. He was brutally murdered 23 October 1942 , 10 days before his 6th birthday. A so called enemy of the state. What state has 6 year old children as enemies.?

Jan Ruschkewitz, just a name of a young boy, a boy whose name I will forever remember.

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Heinrich Bütefisch- virtually unpunished.

Posted on by under History, Holocaust, Nazi Crimes, Nazi supporters, World War 2, Zyklon B

Heinrich

Heinrich Bütefisch- is not a well known name in the context of WWII and the Holocaust, yet he was responsible for the deaths of thousands, In addition to that he also worked for a company who had helped to develop Zyklon b, the gas used to kill millions.

The company that produced Zyklon B was Degesch -Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung(German Corporation for Pest control) which was owned for 42.5 per cent by IG Farben.

Heinrich Bütefisch was a leading manager at IG Farben, and an Obersturmbannführer in the SS.

zyklon b

He was placed as the head of the gasoline synthesis program to be established at the I.G. Auschwitz plant.He was places in charge  of production at the Buna werke facitory at Monowitz, sometimes referred to as Auschwitz III.

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When the factory was being built Jews in the surrounding areas were removed from their homes, and the homes were given to Germans employd at the factory, Some Polish residents were also moved.

The life expectancy for Jews working at Monoiwtz were 3 to 4 months, and for those working in the nearby supply mines it was only 1 month.

An estimate 10,000 died at Monowitz/Buna Werke . Bütefisch claimed he was never actually present at the Monowitz concentration camp, and he only  knew the construction site only from a few visits. I doubt this was true, and even if it was he was the man in charge and ultimately was responsible for everything that happened there.

He was arrested  by the U.S. Army in 1945, and was indicted at the Nuremberg IG Farben trial in 1948. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison ,including time already served.

After his early release from prison in 1951, heh became a member of several supervisory boards, including Deutsche Gasolin AG, Feldmühle, and Papier- und Zellstoffwerke AG, the following year.

He also was hired as a  consultant for Ruhrchemie AG Oberhausen, and becamed a member ofits supervisory board in 1952.

Of the 24 defendants at the IG Farben Trial, 10 were acquitted . One was removed due to medical reasons. The remaining 13 men received sentences varying form 1 to 8 years, none of them served the full term.

trial

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the paypal link. Many thanks

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sources

http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/heinrich_buetefisch_18941969

https://www.chemie.de/lexikon/Heinrich_B%C3%BCtefisch.html

https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/nuremberg_photos/63/

Does it really matter who betrayed Anne Frank?

Posted on by under Amsterdam, Anne Frank, History, Holocaust, World War 2

anne frank

The question who betrayed Anne Frank and the others hiding in the annex, has never really been conclusively answered. There are plenty of well founded speculations but there has not been a 100% certainty yet to who betrayed them.

There is also still a possibility that no one betrayed them but that they were discovered by accident. Contrary to popular believe it can actually get quite hot in the Netherlands during the summer months. The early days in August 1944 the average temperature was 21 degrees Centigrade(72 Fahrenheit). In the big cities it often feels hotter. There was no air conditioning in the small annex, there were 8 people in there. Maybe someone just briefly opened  a window a bit for some fresh air and this may have been spotted.

I know this theory adds to more speculation ,but here is the thing. Does it really mater who betrayed them?

I believe the only thing that matters is that they should not have been in that annex in the first place. They should have been able to walk around freely wherever they so desired. Their rights should never have been taken away, They were human beings just like anyone else.

It is true that the Nazi regime who had occupied the Netherlands at the time persecuted all the Jews in the country, but this regime would not have been so successful if they hadn’t received assistance from the public servants who insisted in doing their jobs to their best ability. Maybe this was out of fear, and to an extent it was but there were those who endorsed the ruthless regime.

Of course there were more people who were totally horrified by the evil deeds  they witnessed, and often were crippled by fear.

If we keep on asking who betrayed Anne Frank, we also have to look why did they receive so little help from others, before they had to go into hiding. This question has answers which not many people want to hear, because that implicates governments including the US government who refused to give Otto Frank and his family Visas.

So the real answer to who betrayed Anne Frank is, nearly everyone.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the paypal link. Many thanks

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5000 bodies

Posted on by under Bergen Belsen, History, Holocaust, World War 2

5000

One sign, 2 languages, 5000 bodies.

A sign that explains that a number of 5000 bodies are buried there. No individual graves with head stones. No individual places where family members leave small artifacts or flowers.

No place to gather around a single grave to say a prayer.

Some of those 5000 may have been complete families wiped out by the worst disease of all, hate. Hate because they were different, and yet they were not. They were the same human beings who experience sunlight  and rain in exactly the same way as anyone else.

They were killed by hate fueled by a sick and twisted political ideology.

The sign was posted in Bergen Belsen. The sad thing is that those 5000 were only 10% of all who were killed there. But even before they died there poor sanitary conditions, and not enough adequate food, water, and shelter which  led to an outbreak of  horrible diseases like typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery. Thousands died in the last few months of the camp. They were so near to liberation and yet they were so far.

So much potential destroyed, and why??

5000 nameless but not forgotten.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know a you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the paypal link. Many thanks

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Richard Hayes AKA Captain Gray-Ireland’s WWII code breaker.

Posted on by under History

History of Sorts

Doertz

Although Ireland was neutral during WWII it didn’t stay completely out of the war.There were even some famous Irish war heroes like the Beamish brothers from Cork who became RAF flying aces.

beamish

On the other hand there were less conspicuous heroes, unlikely heroes even like Limerick man Richard Hayes.

He was born in Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick and grew up in in Claremorris, Co. Mayo. He was educated in Clongowes Wood College in Klidare and in Trinity College in Dublin.

trinity

Richard Hayes was no soldier ,he was a librarian, in fact in he was the director of the National Library in Dublin. It is nor clear how Colonel Dan Bryan, head of Ireland’s G2 intelligence service identified Hayes as a code breaker, but he did, probably because Hayes,was highly regarded for his mathematical and linguistic expertise.

Great  Britain had complained of radio transmissions from a house in north Dublin owned by…

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Gallery

Operation Bernhard

History of Sorts

krueger

This story had all the makings of a great spy movie and no wonder that in 2007 ,film director Stefan Ruzowitzky made the movie “The Counterfeiters” which won the Oscar for best movie in a foreign Language.

Operation Bernhard was the name of a secret German plan devised during World War II to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes, which was named after the SS officer who ran it.

Only a fortnight after the start of World War II, at a meeting that has remained a secret for more than half a century, officials of German finance and Nazi espionage approved an audacious plot to bring down the world’s financial system. Hundreds of millions of forged British pounds were to become a weapon of war. Operation Bernhard not only became the greatest counterfeit scheme in history but the most wide-ranging and…

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