History
General history issues, although a lot will be about WW2
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Before I go into the main story, I want to start with an extract of the testimony of Marcel Nadjari, who was a member of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz. The Sonderkommandos were groups of Jewish prisoners forced to perform a variety of duties in the gas chambers and crematoria of the Nazi camp system. “The…
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I know that most people will know what the Holocaust is, but for some groups, it had a different name. In this blog, I try to explain some of the complexities. The Holocaust stands as one of the most horrific and systematic genocides in human history. Occurring during World War II, from 1933 to 1945,…
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For anyone who has studied or has some interest in the NSDAP or Nazi party. it will come as no big surprise that they had no original ideas. The Swastika originated in India. The concentration camps were first used by the British during the Boer wars in South Africa. The Eagle symbol came from the…
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I know the sight of a mouse might freak some people out, but I believe the best way to tell the story of the Holocaust is by simplicity and small portions. That’s why I chose the mouse to use in the narrative of this poem. It is something we can identify with. In shadows deep,…
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For Americans, the 4th of July is a great day of celebration; it is Independence Day. However, for three Presidents, it was not such a great day; it was the day they died. Two American Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both died on July 4, 1826. This date was the 50th anniversary of the…
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Loulou Oderkerk was a Dutch resistance fighter who worked for the illegal newspaper Trouw. Through Trouw founder Gesina van der Molen, Oderkerk became involved in smuggling Jewish children to hiding places. Oderkerk also started doing courier work for Trouw, transporting copies, essays, newspapers and weapons. In October 1944, she was arrested and held prisoner in…
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Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi Concentration Camp located near the town of Bergen in Lower Saxony, Germany. Initially established in 1940 as a prisoner-of-war camp, it was later converted into a concentration camp. Early Years (1940-1943): Initially served as a POW camp primarily for French and Belgian soldiers. Later, Soviet prisoners were also held here, many…
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Mauthausen was one of the most prominent and most notorious Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Located near the town of Mauthausen in Upper Austria, it was established shortly after Germany annexed Austria in 1938. The camp, originally intended for political prisoners and those considered enemies of the Nazi regime, eventually held a wide…
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Most of us will have heard the phrase, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” The phrase is supposed to have originated in England in the 17th century. City streets were filthy then, and heavy rain would occasionally carry along dead animals. Richard Brome’s The City Witt, 1652, has the line, ‘It shall rain dogs and polecats.’…
History of Sorts 