Europe
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The Viking Siege of Paris of 845, stands as one of the most dramatic and consequential incursions of the early medieval Viking Age. Occurring during a period of political fragmentation in the former Carolingian Empire, the siege exposed both the vulnerability of Frankish defenses and the growing sophistication of Viking raiding strategies. In the mid-9th…
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The modern monarchy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formally established on 16 March 1815, when William I of the Netherlands proclaimed himself king, transforming the earlier principality into a kingdom. This event occurred during a critical moment in European history following the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire. The creation of the monarchy was…
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Tomorrow will mark the 83rd anniversary of the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. Rather than posting photographs, I thought it would be better to read the testimonies of two who survived. On March 13-14, 1943, the SS and police carried out the operation, shooting some 2,000 Jews in the ghetto. The SS transferred another 2,000…
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I found it difficult to select a suitable title for this blog but, I think Mundane Evil probably describes it best. The photograph above is of a list of belongings of an inmate of Auschwitz. Unfortunately, I can’t decipher the first name, but the last name is Ludwig. However, it also could be the first name. In…
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In the corner, worn and scuffed, it lay,A silent witness to a world gone gray.Its leather cracked, its latches weak,It held the echoes no voice could speak. Ingrid de Vries, a child so small,Born in Amsterdam, one crisp fall.Her laughter danced in the autumn air,A fleeting joy—beyond despair. Her suitcase—packed with careful hands,By those who…
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The title might sound very cold and calculated but the fact is in order to facilitate the mass deportation the Nazis applied very efficient and sophisticated supply chain management principles. In commerce, supply chain management (SCM), the management of the flow of goods and services,however they were the same principles used during the Holocaust. Crucial to this was the involvement…
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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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Amon Göth’s granddaughter, Jennifer Teege, wrote a book titled, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me. I don’t think that would be the case. In my opinion, Jennifer would not have been conceived had her grandfather been alive. Göth was relatively unknown until Stephen Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List. His brutality was unhinged. I wrote about Göth…
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For a long time in Dutch historiography and discourse, the entirety of the Indonesian War of Independence was referred to by the euphemistic term politionele acties, as used by the government at the time. In the Netherlands, the prevailing impression was that there had only been two distinct, short-term police actions intended to restore Dutch…
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In the fall of 1944, South Limburg was liberated by American troops. Many young men subsequently volunteered for the Domestic Forces to contribute to the liberation of the Netherlands after years of occupation. Among them were veterans Cor van Wageningen (1918–2013) and Frits Faro (1921–2012). In the fall of 1944, they were assigned as guards…
History of Sorts 