Holocaust
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On July 24, 1922, the Council of the League of Nations — the predecessor to the United Nations Security Council — formally approved the British Mandate for Palestine, marking one of the earliest legal steps toward the eventual establishment of the State of Israel. This decision came in the aftermath of World War I and…
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On May 20, 1940, the first group of prisoners arrived at Auschwitz: approximately 30 German inmates classified by the SS as “professional criminals.” They had been selected from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. Less than a month later, on June 14, 728 Polish prisoners were deported by German authorities from a prison in Tarnów,…
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The “Westerbork Film” refers to a film shot by Rudolf Breslauer at the Westerbork transit camp during World War II. This film is a significant historical document because it provides a rare visual record of life in a Nazi transit camp. The film was commissioned by Albert Gemmeker, the Westerbork Camp Commandant in 1944. He…
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Behind every yellow star was a human being with hopes, fears, and a life—just like you and me. This blog will contain images of human beings. These are all photographs of Dutch Jews, or of other European Jews who had managed to escape the Nazi regime—though only briefly. I don’t know the fate of each…
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The Stroop Report is one of the most damning and significant pieces of documentary evidence from the Holocaust, meticulously detailing the Nazi suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. Compiled by SS General Jürgen Stroop, the report serves not only as a military account but also as a grim testament to the brutality and…
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(Repost from Nov 18- 2023) I watched a documentary last night, Adolf Island, and to be honest, it wasn’t great. I can see why it only received 5.8 (out of 10) on the IMDB scale. However, it was a fascinating subject, presented by British archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls. I had known about concentration camps on the…
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As I’ve said before: a picture tells a thousand words, but never the full story. That’s one of the reasons I choose to limit the use of graphic images. Words can leave a deeper impact—they require time, attention, and reflection. A picture allows you to quickly decide whether or not to engage, but a story…
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The photograph above might appear strange for a Holocaust story, but I posted it for a good reason. It is a chemical plant called DSM. At the edge on the top of the photo, you can see a few apartment blocks where I grew up, in the town of Geleen in the Netherlands. The DSM…
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The Madagascar Plan represents a chilling chapter in the history of Nazi Germany’s antisemitic policies. Developed primarily between 1938 and 1940, the plan envisioned the forced resettlement of Europe’s Jewish population to the island of Madagascar, then a French colony. While it was never implemented, the Madagascar Plan reveals the trajectory of Nazi ideology and…
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Charles Aznavour, widely recognized as one of France’s greatest singer-songwriters, led a life that extended far beyond the stage and spotlight. Born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian on May 22, 1924, in Paris to Armenian immigrant parents, Aznavour’s early life was marked by the struggle of displaced peoples and the complexities of identity. While his artistic legacy…
History of Sorts 