Auschwitz
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I don’t want to tell your story, but I have to. It is my duty as a father and as a human being to ensure that no child will ever get treated, they way you were. My heart breaks each time when I see a photograph of innocence—knowing the war destroyed that innocence. What makes…
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(Originally posted on November 26, 2017) I was listening to some of the testimonies of the Eichmann trials yesterday, and I think they actually had a physical effect on me. I woke up this morning feeling a bit sick and for some reason the little toe on my right foot was paralyzed, this has never…
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On 5 July 1942, Margot Frank received a summons to report for forced labor in Germany. She was among the first Jews in the Netherlands to be called up. Her parents, Otto and Edith, did not want her to go—but refusal often led to arrest. Anticipating such an event, the Franks had already prepared a…
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Just a girl, not a soldier or a politician. Just a girl, the only threat she posed was that one day her smiley face would melt someone’s heart. Just a girl, no hate to be seen in her eyes. Just a girl, the only wish she had was to grow up. Just a girl, just…
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Alleen maar een meisje, geen soldaat of politicus Alleen maar een meisje, haar enige bedreiging dat haar glmlachend gezicht een hart zou kunnen laten smelten. Alleen maar een meisje, geen haat waar te nemen in haar ogen. Alleen maar een meisje, haar enige wens was om op te groeien. Alleen maar een meisje, Alleen maar…
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I can’t think of any place on Earth that was more evil than Auschwitz—although other camps had perhaps more cruelty, it is the scale of the cruelty, torture and murder that makes Auschwitz pure evil, a literal hell on Earth. The photograph above is of Yisrael and Zelig Jacob, the younger brothers of Lili Jacob.…
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A picture tells a thousand words, and in this case, they truly do. The drawings and cartoons are made by Emile Franken. I am not sure what happened to Emile. I do know he was born on 15 April 1921 somewhere in the Netherlands and he survived the war. I also know he spent time…
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Henri Kichka was 16 when he was deported to Auschwitz. He was born in Brussels, Belgium 14 April 1926, into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Poland. Below is a transcript of his interview with the BBC, where he describes that he no longer had a name but a number. “Henri Kichka: 1-7-7-7-8-9. My…
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The Netherlands is the country with the relatively highest number of Jewish victims in Western Europe. Of the 140,000 Jews, 107,000 were deported. Five thousand people returned from the camps, and approximately 20,000 survived in other ways, most of them in hiding. The persecution and murder of the Jews during the Second World War is…
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Anne Frank and Peter van Pels’s first kiss is one of the most touching and human moments in Anne’s diary, The Diary of a Young Girl. This event unfolds during one of the most challenging periods of Anne’s life, and it provides a poignant glimpse into the emotional complexity of adolescence in the face of…
History of Sorts 