Auschwitz
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The picture is of a page in a poetry album which belonged to a friend of Hedi Metzger. The text is in German and it says. “Forget me not, trust in G-d. Speaking is silver, and silence is gold. This from your memories, Hedi Metzger, Amsterdam 19-4-1939.” Less than 2.5 years later she would be…
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In the 1920s, it was not uncommon in the Catholic south of the Netherlands for one or two children in a family to join a monastery or convent. However, having six out of eight children devote themselves to religious life was extraordinarily rare. What makes the Löb siblings’ story even more remarkable is that their…
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I was going to do a piece on Nora Italiaander. She would have celebrated her 86th birthday today, but she was murdered on June 4,1943 in Sobibor. She was just aged 2. The picture above is of her death notification issued on the 11th of June 1947, 4 years after her death. But like Nora…
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One key document that reveals the Nazis administrative machinery behind the Holocaust, is the August Frank memorandum, issued on September 26, 1942. Written by SS official August Frank, this memorandum outlines the procedures for handling Jewish property during deportations to extermination camps. While many Nazi documents focused on the mechanics of extermination, Frank’s memorandum offers…
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I want to start by saying that I am not Jewish, although I may have some Jewish ancestry. I am still looking into that. However, the Jews from Geleen were my fellow citizens, as were any other one, regardless of race or colour were my fellow citizens. However, the majority of the Jews of Geleen…
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I was struggling to give this blog a title. I was thinking of naming it—Brothels in the Concentration Camp. However, I think that would not do justice to the horror and impossible choices these women had to make. In general, women who worked in brothels had a bit of autonomy over their lives. Some women enjoyed…
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The Nazi concentration camp system evolved into a machine of mass murder, and Auschwitz became its deadliest cog. Located in Poland, Auschwitz initially served as a concentration and forced labor camp for Polish political prisoners. However, in 1941, it became the epicenter of Nazi extermination efforts. Among the most horrifying aspects of Auschwitz’s legacy was…
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On may 26,1992,Israel’s President Chaim Herzog unveiled a rock from Jerusalem, at Auschwitz. The rock serves as a permanent memorial to the 1.65 million Jews who were murdered there. Visibly anguished and tearful, President Herzog said the following words during the unveiling. “In this dread place, I stand here brokenhearted. This ground on which we…
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I want to start by saying that I am not Jewish, though I may have some Jewish ancestry, which I am still exploring. However, the Jewish people of Geleen were my fellow citizens, just like anyone else, regardless of race or color. Tragically, the majority of Jews from Geleen were murdered during the Holocaust—a fate…
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Ella Lingens’ life serves as a powerful testimony to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for moral courage in the face of unimaginable evil. Born in Vienna in 1908, Lingens was a physician, a resistance fighter, and a Holocaust survivor who risked her life to save Jews during the Nazi regime. Her…
