History
General history issues, although a lot will be about WW2
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We all know who Eva Braun was, yet so little is known about her family. I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that Eva’s parents—Eva, who was just 17 when she first met Adolf Hitler—didn’t seem to object to her involvement with a man whose intentions were clearly malevolent. Some might argue that Eva herself…
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I am Dutch, and I always will be proud to be Dutch, but there are some things in my country’s history that really trouble me, even to the extent that it nearly sickens me. The Dutch bureaucracy is well known to be very efficient, which can be very beneficial, but it can also be destructive…
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Long before the first trains left for the concentration camps, the Jews in Germany were isolated not by putting them in ghettos but instead by removing them from every aspect of social life. On 29 November 1938, the Jews were forbidden to keep carrier pigeons, aka homing or postal pigeons, as ordered by The Reich…
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It is hard to believe this musical giant passed away this day 34 years ago. I still vividly remember the news reports. It had only been a few days after it was announced he had aids that the world heard that Freddie Mercury died at the age of 45 at his home in Kensington. The official cause…
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Reina Prinsen Geerligs, a young Dutch woman who lived a brief but impactful life, is remembered as a symbol of resistance and sacrifice during World War II. Born on October 7, 1922, Semarang, Dutch East Indies,(Indonesia nowadays)Reina’s early life was characterized by intellectual promise and a deep sense of justice. Her contributions to the Dutch…
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Dutch Christmas is slightly different from other Christmas celebrations. On the 5th of December, the Dutch celebrate “Sinterklaas” Saint Nicholas, although it is the same figure as Santa Claus or Father Christmas. There are subtle differences in the “configuration” Sinterklaas doesn’t come from Lapland but from Spain and arrives on a steamboat and a white…
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I always considered myself to be a bit of a World War II buff, but it was only when I started this website I realized how little I knew about World War II. This case is a good example. Venlo is a town in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, in the Southeast of…
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“A child is born with no state of mind,blind to the ways of mankind” I would never have imagined I would use the words of a 1980’s hip hop song in a blog relating to WWII. The words are from the 1982 Hip Hop hit “the Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. But…
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While the world is remembering the 62nd Anniversary of the Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I want to focus on a different aspect of JFK, his time during World War II. Specifically, his time on PT 109. “The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the NAVY and MARINE CORPS MEDAL to/ LIEUTENANT…
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It should never be forgotten that it was Germans who voted for Adolf Hitler. No matter how you twist and turn it, there is no escaping that fact. However, National Socialism and Fascism were not just German political ideologies—they were international. Most of Europe and even the USA subscribed to a level of National Socialism…
History of Sorts 