History
General history issues, although a lot will be about WW2
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The name Abraham is synonymous with the age of 50 in the Netherlands. When a man reaches the age of 50. Dutchmen who turn fifty are embarrassed by a life-sized puppet of Abraham in the front garden or outside an apartment. Abraham Barend did not reach the age of 50. Abraham Barend did not reach…
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I dreamed that I’d be a ballet dancer one day. I dreamed that I’d help people as a nurse. I dreamed that, one day I’d be a Doctor I dreamed that I would get married, and have a most lavish wedding day. I dreamed that people would come to see me act on stage. I…
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I might lose some street cred here, but I always liked Cliff Richard’s ‘Carrie’, In 1988. ForceField II , aproject of Cozy Powell released Carrie on their album ‘The Talisman’ , One of those few occasions where a cover is better then the original. “Carrie” was written by the songwriting partnership of Terry Britten and…
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It is hard to believe that Fritz Lang’s masterpiece is 97 years old, In those 97 years, that movie has lost none of its magic. I have done a post on Metropolis before, the link is at the bottom of this post, but this edition will focus on a re-imagined version of the movie which…
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Petrus Antonius Aalders was just a young man who wanted to determine his future. Petrus was born on April 2, 1924, in Gennep, Limburg, the Netherlands and by trade, was a professional hairdresser. After being called up for the Arbeitseinsatz, forced labour in Germany, he went into hiding in Eindhoven. Now and then, he returned…
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Before I start the main story, I must tell you about the wider context. About 75% of all Jews in the Netherlands were murdered during the Holocaust. The Netherlands as a country, received understandably a lot of criticism for this and to a great extent, it was justified. However, it is not as a black-and-white…
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On December 17, I received an invitation and the privilege to attend a presentation organized by The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum. The presentation was titled—Under Beslenei’s Sky: A Tale of Courage. This story is about good people doing what was right despite their differences. It was the rescue of the Leningrad Jewish children in Beslenei…