Germany

  • This blog has nothing to do with the Holocaust—yet, paradoxically, it has everything to do with it. It has nothing to do with the Holocaust because the event I am discussing took place decades later. And yet, it has everything to do with the Holocaust because it illustrates just how easy it was for a…

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  • The Holocaust remains one of the darkest periods in human history, and while the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime are well-documented, the role of major corporations in facilitating these crimes is often less discussed. One such corporation is International Business Machines (IBM), an American multinational known for its computing technology. The company’s involvement with…

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  • One of the most iconic pictures of women during WWII is the picture of Lee Miller sitting in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub, in his Munich apartment in 1945. “I was living in Hitler’s private apartment in Munich when his death was announced.” she said afterwards. Lee Miller however wasn’t just a lady in a bathtub. Elizabeth…

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  • The title may sound unusual, but it reflects the difficulty of capturing this idea succinctly. One of the most damning aspects surrounding the Holocaust—arguably even more troubling than the staggering number of victims—is how the international community repeatedly stood by as Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles. At multiple points, Germany’s military expansion could have…

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  • The picture is of a vacant building in the town center of Geleen in the Netherlands. The building wasn’t always empty. It used to be a clothes shop called “Modehuis” or Fashion House. It was a shop that catered more for the older ladies, my mother liked to shop there A few doors next to…

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  • In 1918, Germany lost the First World War. By the end of the war, uprisings and revolutions had broken out across the country. Many German revolutionaries followed the example of the revolution that had erupted in Russia in 1917, which led to a bloody civil war that lasted until 1922 and ended with the proclamation…

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  • A vital element of the Holocaust’s industrial-scale genocide was the efficient logistics system that transported millions of people to their deaths in concentration and extermination camps. The Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German national railway company, played a central role in this process. By providing the means of transportation for the deportation of Jews and other victims,…

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  • The Killing Wasn’t Enough

    The Holocaust didn’t start with killing, it started with dehumanizing Jews and other “undesirables.” Convince the population that those deemed by the Nazi regime as inferior were just that—inferior. Throughout the war they humiliated Jews, just killing wasn’t good enough they had to be mocked and ridiculed also, for they were considered to be subhuman…

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  • The closing months of the Second World War witnessed a dramatic culmination of the Nazi regime’s repression against internal dissent. Among the many Germans who opposed Adolf Hitler’s tyranny from within were Alfred Delp, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, and Johannes Popitz — three men of distinct backgrounds whose resistance activities ultimately led to their execution on…

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  • Adolf Hitler-My Fair Lady

    I know that many of you will be scratching your head thinking “Where is he going with this?” when you look at the title. But please bear with me. Last night I was watching a documentary about the early days of the Nazi party and mainly about the relationship between Dietrich Eckart and Adolf Hitler.…

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