Amsterdam
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The Holocaust wasn’t only the mass murder of Jews and others, it was preceded by other crimes. Although many people would not have perceived them as crimes, because they were legalised by Nazi laws. The greed of the Nazis was expressed in a large number of measures, orders and ordinances (VO) with the force of…
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Before I go into the main story about Adriana Valkenburg, I have to explain something about prostitution in the Netherlands to put this into context. It has always been acceptable in the Netherlands. However, it was only in 1988 that prostitution was considered a legal profession—but in the year 2000, prostitution was legalized by the…
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Catharina Brücker was the eldest child of Romanian tailor Mozes Brücker (1892–1944) and the Dutch Rossetta Eijl (1896–1944). Her father made women’s clothing for major fashion houses in Rotterdam and owned several shops in the city. From age six until she was twenty, Catharina attended a dance school where she learned ballet, tap dance, and…
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Anne Frank’s schoolmates played a significant role in her early life, forming a close circle of friends that shared childhood dreams, games, and conversations during a turbulent time Anne Frank attended two main schools in Amsterdam before she and her family went into hiding: Montessori School (from 1934 to 1941)Jewish Lyceum (from 1941 to 1942)Since…
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Amid all the horror stories of the Holocaust, every so often, a positive one emerges. I was sidetracked during my research on the Dutch entertainer Rudi Carrell’s life during World War II when the name of Abraham Bueno de Mesquita came up. Better known as Bueno de Mesquita, he and Rudi Carrell worked together in…
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Starting in May 1942, wearing a yellow fabric star in the Netherlands, called the “Star of David,” was made compulsory by the Nazis. This measure made it easy to identify Jewish people and was designed to stigmatize and dehumanize them. This was not a new idea; since medieval times many other societies had forced their…
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Abraham Icek Tuschinski was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of European cinema. Born in Poland and later becoming a celebrated entrepreneur in the Netherlands, Tuschinski transformed moviegoing into a luxurious cultural experience. His life reflected the hopes of immigrants in early twentieth-century Europe, the rapid rise of the film industry, and…
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In any war or crisis, there are companies that make a profit. To some people, this may sound disgusting—but unfortunately, it is a fact. Abraham Puls owned a removal company in Amsterdam. He had been a member of the NSB, the Dutch Nazis, since 1934. His company was responsible for the ransacking of the homes…
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I appreciate that the speed of communication in 1945 was not as fast as it is now—but the Wehrmacht soldiers in Amsterdam on May 7, 1945, would definitely have heard that on May 4, 1945, Field Marshal Montgomery accepted the official surrender of the German army in Northwest Europe at his headquarters on Lüneburger Heath…
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All I want is to be treated like a Human being. I don’t want big presents or fancy food. I don’t even want to be treated like a Prince. All I want is to feel the sunlight touch my skin on a warm summer day. Or to hear the crackling of the snow under my…
History of Sorts 
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