Dutch resistance
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On 19 February 1941, the German Grüne Polizei stormed into the Koco ice cream salon in the Van Woustraat. In the fight that ensued, several police officers were wounded. The Nazi authorities did not put up with the attack on their police officers. To end the unrest, they decided to hold a raid the weekend…
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I am not sure what to make about the photograph above. It is either extremely brave and heroic, or naive, perhaps even arrogant. The photo is of Pierre Coronel, operating a radio transmitter during World War II, while in hiding. It is one from a set of pictures. Listening to an illegal radio could result…
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Nowadays we take it for granted that we can conduct in peaceful protest, as a means to highlight our grievances. However in Nazi occupied Amsterdam during World War 2 any form of protest could be and would be considered an act of resistance which could lead to being jailed and even death. On August 5,1940…
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The above photograph is of a plaque that hangs over a house in The Hague. It was the residence of Mies Wahlbeehm, where she hid a great number of Jews. The one thing that captured my attention was the words at the top of the plaque, “De herrinering aan de doden is voor hen een…
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Not all heroes wear uniforms or capes. Not all resistance fighters use guns. In fact, the bravest ones don’t. Betsie ten Boom was a Hero and resistance fighter. She and her family saw what was happening with their Jewish neighbours and acted. I wish politicians nowadays would follow Betsie’s example and not do the easy…
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The SS established the Neuengamme concentration camp on December 13, 1938.It would become the biggest concentration camp in Northwest Germany.In excess of 100,000 inmates would come through Neuengamme and its sub camps. The death toll totaled approximately 42,900: about 14,000 in the main camp, 12,800 in the subcamps, and 16,100 during the death marches. These…
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There were very few Dutch who defied the Nazi occupiers; this is not to judge because I was never in that situation, and I wouldn’t know what I would have done. However, it is a fact that there were only a few who offered Resistance. Hannie Schaft was one of those few. Born Jannetje Johanna…
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Operation Silbertanne (silver fir) was the codename of a series of murders taking place between September 1943 and September 1944 during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The assassinations were carried out by a death squad composed of Dutch members of the SS and Dutch veterans of the Eastern Front. The objective of the operation was…
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There is no denying that the Dutch should have done more to protect their Jewish neighbours during World War II. But I am looking at this from a retrospective point of view; hindsight always comes with 20/20 vision. That’s why I can’t judge; I really don’t know what I would or wouldn’t have done. However,…
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As many of you will know by now, I was born and raised in a small mining town in the southeast of the Netherlands. The town is named Geleen, but like so many other towns, Geleen is divided into several neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood where I grew up is called Lindenheuvel. In 1926, the Dutch government…
History of Sorts 