Sobibor

  • Of the approximately 100,000 Dutch Jews who the Nazis murdered during the Holocaust, about one-third of them were murdered at Sobibor. Below is the breakdown of the figures of those killed at Sobibor. The TransportsTuesday, 2 March 1943             1105 deportees       No survivorsWednesday, 10 March 1943     1105 deportees      13 survivorsWednesday, 17 March 1943      …

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  • Why Them???

    Philip Wallage was born in Groningen on 12 July 1927. He was murdered at Sobibor on 26 March 1943. He was 15 years old upon his death. Rosalien Wallage was born in Groningen on 15 May 1932. She was murdered at Sobibor on 26 March 1943. She reached 10 years of age. Elisabeth Wallage was…

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  • I was going to do a piece on Nora Italiaander. She would have celebrated her 86th birthday today, but she was murdered on June 4,1943 in Sobibor. She was just aged 2. The picture above is of her death notification issued on the 11th of June 1947, 4 years after her death. But like Nora…

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  • Karl August Wilhelm Frenzel was an SS non-commissioned officer at the Sobibór extermination camp. As commander of Camp I, he was responsible for a Sonderkommando—a unit made up of prisoners, predominantly Jews, who were forced to perform a range of tasks within the camp, including herding newly arrived victims towards the gas chambers. After the…

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  • I want to start by saying that I am not Jewish, though I may have some Jewish ancestry, which I am still exploring. However, the Jewish people of Geleen were my fellow citizens, just like anyone else, regardless of race or color. Tragically, the majority of Jews from Geleen were murdered during the Holocaust—a fate…

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  • 41 Months and 6 Days

    41 Months and 6 Days was all I was allowed to live. After 41 Months and 6 Days I was given a death sentence. No, I was not a criminal. No, I harmed no one. In fact I wasn’t even of a school going age as of yet. What did I do in those 41…

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  • Resistance Through Sabotage

    Sabotage: a destructive or obstructive action carried out by a civilian or enemy agent to hinder a nation’s war effort. The Dutch are often criticized for not having done enough to protect their fellow citizens during World War II, especially their Jewish neighbours. To an extent, it is a justified criticism. However, this doesn’t mean…

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  • Queen Wilhelmina was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw both World War I, although the Netherlands was neutral during World War I and World War II, as well as the Dutch economic crisis of 1933.…

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  • A Murdered Family

    The photograph above is of Gezina de Leeuwe-de Jong with her four children. I presume the photo was taken by her husband and the father of the children, Louis de Leeuw. I reckon that’s why he is not in the picture. He was a son of Barend de Leeuwe and Sientje van Minden. He married…

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  • It is nearly impossible to quantify the number of people being killed during the Holocaust, I personally think the estimated number of 1.5 million children is too low. The one thing that can be quantified accurately is the value put on life. For a family of 5 it would be 37.50 guilders ,or the 2022…

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