Switzerland

  • 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

    Read more →

  • It’s funny how your opinions can change as you grow older. The title of this blog, “Turnip and Chicory, Salsify and Leek,” is the English translation of a Dutch song: “Knolraap en Lof, Schorseneren en Prei.” I absolutely hated that song when I was younger. I still don’t like it all that much—but I have

    Read more →

  • The song tells the story of a recording session in Montreux, Switzerland, that didn’t go as planned. At the time, Deep Purple had traveled to the lakeside town to record their sixth album, Machine Head, at the Montreux Casino. The venue was not only a renowned concert hall but also the main location for the

    Read more →

  • My interview with Hans Knoop.

    I had the privilege today to interview Hans Knoop. Hans Knoop is a Dutch journalist who was best known for the role he played in the unmasking and arrest of the war criminal Pieter Menten.Knoop was born during the Second World War to Jewish parents in hiding. Knoop grew up in Amsterdam. In 1963, Knoop

    Read more →

  • I am a member of several history websites receiving daily notifications about events that happened in history this day. Today, I received a notification of the anniversary of the 1945 death of Anne Frank at Bergen Belsen. I don’t know how they came to that conclusion, because the exact date of Anne and Margot Frank’s

    Read more →

  • I could have done a piece on any of the millions of victims of the Holocaust. The reason why I picked Kurt Jozef Rudolf Rosenthal, is because he was murdered today 80 years ago. His story is still important today because he was a refugee, trying to find a better future but he found death

    Read more →

  • Dagobert Stibbe was born in Amsterdam, 13 October 1918. He was murdered in Auschwitz, 23 June 1943. He was a student at the Technische Hogeschool(Technical University)Delft. He tried to escape to Switzerland, but this failed. He was caught on 2 June 1943 just 15 meters away from French-Swiss border. He was sent to the transit

    Read more →

  • The NSNAP could be considered a NSDAP wannabe. However it would be foolish to trivialize their existence. The Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiderspartij (National Socialist Dutch Workers Party were founded in 1931 by Ernst Herman van Rappard(seen below in an SS uniform) He was born in the Banyumas Regency, Central Java, Dutch East Indies.His educative years he spent

    Read more →

  • Basel massacre

    The Basel massacre of Jews took place on 9 January 1349, as part of the Black Death persecutions of 1348–1350. Following the spread of the Black Death through the surrounding countryside of Savoy and subsequently Basel, the Jews were accused of having poisoned the wells, because they suffered a lower mortality rate than the local gentiles from the pestilence. The Black Death, which is estimated to

    Read more →

  • There have been many attempts to assassinate Hitler, bizarrely enough they all failed.The attempt by Maurice Bavaud is one of the lesser known ones, Partially because it was overshadowed by the events unfolding due to the ‘Kristallnacht-Night of Broken glass’ Student Maurice Bavaud, 25, who was from the western Swiss town of Neuchatel, was executed in

    Read more →