History
General history issues, although a lot will be about WW2
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Today marks the 60th anniversary of the release of the first James Bond movie, Dr No. Although it was the 1st movie, it was the sixth of Fleming’s series, beginning with Casino Royale. I am not going too much into the movie as such ,but more into some of the unknow aspects of Dr. No.…
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When you think of sports cars, one of the names you think of is Porsche. When you see a Porsche driving by, there is no second-guessing as to what car it is. The Dutch police used Porsches between 1962 and 1996. In the early 1960s the absence of speed limit indications on Dutch motorways saw…
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When I saw this photograph, I was reminded of another photo. It was a picture of my colleagues and I in 1993/1994. It was taken at work on the day of the retirement of one of my colleagues at the time. We had a small party afterwards at the cafeteria of Philips Sittard. The photo…
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What can you say about one of the funniest people that ever lived? Well frankly not much, except for that today marks his 132th birthday. Other then that I will leave Groucho do the talking. “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” “I never…
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I watched a documentary last night on BBC 4, titled “How pop song works”. Apparently the perfect time for a pop song is 3 minutes. That is probably why I am not the biggest fan of pop music, although I have to admit I liked all the ones they mentioned in the documentary. I tend…
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Simon Walvisch was born in Amsterdam, 1 on 9 March 1882.He was murdered in Auschwitz, on 1 October 1942. Reached the age of 60 years Occupation: Tobacconist He was a son of Jacobus Mozes Walvisch and Schoontje Zeeman. He married Rosette Abram, a daughter of Simon Abram and Judith Presser, on 29 June 1904 in…
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On September 29, 1943, Amsterdam was declared ‘Judenrein’. (Free of Jews) It happened after a major raid, in which 5,000 people, including the board and employees of the Jewish Council, were arrested and transported via Amstel station to Camp Westerbork. Those who were able to avoid the raids ended up in hiding places. A countrywide…
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These are just a few random bits of World War 2 history. The above picture is of Reich Commissioner Dr. Seyss-Inquart receiving a group of BDM girls: demonstration of gymnastics exercises. Netherlands, location unknown, September 29, 1941. What puzzles me is why would a 49 year old man be interested in a group of teenage…
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The picture is of a page in a poetry album which belonged to a friend of Hedi Metzger. The text is in German and it says. “Forget me not, trust in G-d. Speaking is silver, and silence is gold. This from your memories, Hedi Metzger, Amsterdam 19-4-1939.” Less than 2.5 years later she would be…
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Last Sunday I had the honor and privilege to be invited to a zoom presentation by the Ghetto Fighters’ House museum titled “The Hippocratic Oath at the Umschlagplatz: The Jewish Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto” Three words from that presentation stuck with me “Just like me”. The sum up perfectly what the Nazis should have…
History of Sorts 