Politics
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Like in Germany, the Holocaust in the Netherlands didn’t start with the mass murder of Jews—it was a gradual process. It started with a number of measures to initially humiliate the Dutch Jews. Summer 1942SD agents check the identity cards of Jewish citizens on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, in Amsterdam. At the beginning of January 1941,…
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The Ritchie Boys were a group of military intelligence officers and enlisted men of World War II trained at Camp Ritchie in Maryland, USA. Many of them were Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi Germany and other Axis countries. They were primarily recruited from immigrant communities in the United States, particularly those who spoke German,…
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For all of you die hard Star Wars fans who think that you have seen all movies in the Star Wars universe, more then likely you have not. A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, in fact this galaxy. The 1980 short film was created to accompany The Empire Strikes Back…
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“Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler” is the first line of the theme of the British sitcom Dad’s Army. A truly hilarious show. I remember one episode where Capt Mainwaring is telling a story how he met an Australian soldier. He had asked him “Did you come here to die?” whereupon the…
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On December 2, 1845, U.S. President James K. Polk addressed Congress, advocating for the aggressive westward expansion of the United States—a philosophy widely known as “Manifest Destiny.” I first encountered the term in the 1970s when I heard it mentioned in Redbone’s song Wounded Knee. For years, however, I misheard the lyrics, thinking they sang…
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I know this subject may offend some people, but I won’t apologize for that because sex is the most human instinct and aspect of humanity; it is how we have all come to be. The Third Reich, including the most intimate aspects of human existence, sexuality, under Nazi rule, was not just a private matter…
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On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed, and the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized. In total, twelve ships were sunk or beached, and nine additional vessels were damaged. More than 160 aircraft were destroyed…
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I don’t think there is a more powerful song then ” Strange Fruit” which deals with racism. Especially the original version sung by Billie Holiday. The lynching of black men in the American South was an all-too-familiar occurrence in the 1930s, even though it rarely made news. So when Billie Holiday had a hit record…
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The phrase “our man in New York” most commonly refers to William Stephenson, the Canadian-born MI6 officer who led a covert British intelligence operation in the United States aimed at shaping public opinion and encouraging American entry into the Second World War. His remarkable work is the focus of Henry Hemming’s critically acclaimed 2019 non-fiction…
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Wauwilermoos was an internment camp as well as a prisoner-of-war penal camp during World War II in Switzerland, situated in the municipalities of Wauwil and Egolzwil in the Canton of Luzern. Established in 1940, Wauwilermoos was a penal camp for internees, including Allied soldiers during World War II, among them members of the United States…
History of Sorts 