Amsterdam
-
Dear Anne, You don’t know me, but I know you. In fact, nearly everyone knows you, and yet no one really knows you. We know you through the personal stories you wrote in your diary. We see each word, each letter and each paragraph, but we don’t see your hopes, your fears or your anxiety.…
-
Himmler, Seyss-Inquart and Rauter decided to set an example: the first round-up against Jews became a fact. On Saturday afternoon, 22 February 1941, a column of German trucks appeared near Waterlooplein,Amsterdam. The area was completely cordoned off. Young Jewish men were ruthlessly herded together on Jonas Daniël Meijerplein, in Amsterdam. On the following day, many…
-
It’s just a class of ordinary schoolchildren doing arts and crafts that doesn’t pose a threat to anyone. At first glance, it appears to be a regular photograph of school children, but if you look closely, you will see each one is wearing a star. The photograph from March 1943 was of the request of…
-
Flossenbürg concentration camp was one of the many Nazi concentration camps established during World War II. Located in Bavaria, Germany, near the Czech border, Flossenbürg was built in May 1938 and primarily functioned as a forced labor camp. Over its seven years of operation, the camp housed thousands of prisoners, many of whom perished due…
-
This is probably my most personal blog. I will not mention the names of the people involved, but I don’t think knowing the names is actually relevant. On June 13, 1991 the partially covered body of 18 year old Jessica R was found near a dump in Bergen op Zoom, in the province of Noord…
-
I always like ‘What if?’ scenarios. Sometimes, I wonder what would have become of Anne Frank if she had survived. The following are diary entries in Kitty that I envisage Anne may have written after the war. Diary Entry – September 13, 1948 Dear Kitty, I have not written to you in so long. Sometimes,…
-
In November 1942, Fritz Pfeffer joined the Frank and Van Pels families in hiding, bringing the total number of people to eight. He was a solitary figure among two families and shared a room with the adolescent Anne Frank. Fritz was also a father—he had a son, Werner, with his first wife, Vera Henriette Bythiner.…
-
Below are the translated lyrics of a Dutch song by the Jazzpolitie, they released it in 1993. The song is about the rice if extreme politics and the rise of anti Semitism. Considering what happened in Amsterdam yesterday, lessons have not been learned, And then she wakes upFrom mother’s last kissThe one she could still…
-
Nowadays, Amsterdam is known around the world for several distinctive features, most notably its famous Red Light District. This area is known for its legalised prostitution and its concentration of sex-related businesses, including sex shops, sex theatres, peep shows, and a sex museum. It also features a cannabis museum and numerous coffee shops where cannabis…
-
Not every evil act was committed by a weapon or by sending people to the gas chamber. Some evil acts were much more subtle. Herman Heukels was a photographer and a member of the NSB, the Dutch Nazi party, Hermans’ weapon was a camera. He took pictures of several raids. His most famous pictures are…
History of Sorts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.