Amsterdam

  • Just Children

    The worst crime the Nazis committed was the murder of children. An estimated 1.5 million children were murdered by the Nazis. This number is just an estimate, although I have no data to back this up, I believe the number is higher. Not all children who died on the transport are included in this number.…

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  • Desperate Act

    On 10 May 1940, the Netherlands was attacked by Germany. After a four-day battle and the bombardment of Rotterdam, the capitulation was signed on 15 May. The short but fierce battle cost many lives and caused a lot of damage. It triggered a wave of suicides during and after the German invasion.During the first month…

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  • Heroes of the February Strike

    The news of the 22 February 1941 raid of 427 Amsterdam Jews made a deep impression on the Amsterdam population. Out of solidarity with fellow-Jewish citizens and resentment of the Nazis’ actions in the capitol, a general strike, was announced for 25 February 1941. The call, which came from several members of the illegally operating…

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  • Rosette Levie was deported to Sobibor in June 1943 from Vught via Westerbork on the so-called children’s transport She was born in Amsterdam on 24 February 1938. She was murdered in Sobibor on 11 June 1943 at age five. Dear Rosette, you never made it to your first school day. You were denied your first…

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  • The Evil of Colonne Henneicke

    The photograph above is of Wim Henneicke, a bounty hunter and collaborator. His wasn’t driven by hate or by a warped sense of nationalism but by greed. Wim Henneicke was part of a group called “Colonne Henneicke.” The Colonne Henneicke, officially the Hausraterfassungsstelle, was a group of Dutch collaborators who were active as bounty hunters…

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  • Below is a press cutting from the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games. “Everything was taken care of down to the last detail. Nice practice material—not too heavy—logically composed, neatly executed in class, wonderful order and leadership, in one word sublime. …The jury was also enthusiastic and awarded the Kleerekoper corps a total score of 316.75 points,…

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  • We now live in an era when we consider 73 years a young age to die. Isaac Michel Max Rosenbaum lived for only 73 days. He was born in Amsterdam on 19 January 1943. The Nazis murdered him at Sobibor on 2 April 1943. His father was Ephraim Izak Levie Rosenbaum, who lived with his…

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  • Behind the Star

    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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  • Restricted Education

    The right to education is one of the most fundamental human rights. In August 1941, the Nazis passed a law to set up schools for Jewish students and teachers only in the Netherlands. The photograph above is of Jewish students of the school on Cliffordstraat, Amsterdam West. A class of 10 students, with teacher Goubitz.The…

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  • I find it increasingly difficult to write about the murdered children of the Holocaust. 1.5 million innocent souls who are now 1.5 million stars in the sky. This post will have the raw data of some children murdered on this day 80 years ago. But just the raw data should send shivers down your spine.…

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