Holocaust
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This is one of those amazing stories of resilience and perseverance. Odette Sansom, aka Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, code name Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom’s clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during World War II. She was born on 28 April 1912 in Amiens, France. She met an Englishman, Roy…
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This house was an orphanage for Jewish girls from 1861 to 1943.In 1889 the orphanage was extended to include the neighbouring house.On 10 February 1943, the girls and their attendants weredeported to the extermination camp Sobibor. They were supposed to have been deported before, but due to a scarlet fever outbreak on 4 July 1942,…
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Most people will have heard about the Kindertansport-Children-Transport—a unique humanitarian rescue programme, which ran between November 1938 and September 1939. Approximately 10,000 children, the majority of whom were Jewish, were sent from their homes and families in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. But there were two other Kindertransports. In Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, better known…
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If you look for the name Elfried Huth, you probably won’t find anything. Her story is both amazing and appalling. It is also the most bizarre and disturbing love story you will ever read. Elfriede was born on 14 July 1922, in Leipzig. 22 years later, being still quite young, she joined the ranks of…
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The last few weeks I had the privilege, to have been been invited to several on line presentations, organised by the Ghetto Fighters’ House. The last two presentations were about the art of David Friedman and were presented by David’s daughter Miriam. I am also privileged to know Miriam. David Friedmann (David Friedman, Dav. Friedmann)…
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It is impossible to remember all six million+ Jewish victims of the Holocaust individually. However, it is important whenever it is possible to remember one individual to do so. Because they weren’t born to be victims, they were born to lead a life like anyone else. They were all human beings, with the same needs,…
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Sometimes I come across photographs which are so vivid that they seem like they are not photos—but realistic. And then, knowing what the fate is of those in the picture, I feel like just giving them a hug and telling them everything will be fine. I also know that couldn’t be further from the truth.…
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On 2 June 1942, 64 people were transported from Camp Amersfoort in the Netherlands to Mauthausen in Austria. Of the 64 people, 12 were murdered on 6 July 1942. Nathan de Klijn was born in Amsterdam on 29 August 1905. He was murdered in Mauthausen on 6 July 1942. He reached the age of 36…
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Eva and Bram, born in 1932 and 1934, were the children of Hartog Beem and Retje Kannewasser in Leeuwarden. At the end of 1942, and at least until May 1943, Eva and Bram were still in-hiding in the Veluwe, at ‘De Zwarte Boer’ near Elspeet. The children were arrested in February 1944 and 6 March…
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Eduard and Alexander Hornemann are two of the 20 Bullenhuser Damm children who were murdered on 20 April 1945. I have written about the Bullenhuser Damm children before, but I just want to focus on the two brothers now. The reason being, at another time it could have been my boys whose names would have…
History of Sorts 