the Netherlands
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I have written quite extensively about the failure of the Dutch to protect their Jewish neighbors and even resist the Nazi occupiers in general. However, on February 24, 1941, the Dutch communist party called for a nationwide strike to protest against the treatment of Jews as well as the forced labor in Germany. The Communist…
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The picture is of a page in a poetry album which belonged to a friend of Hedi Metzger. The text is in German and it says. “Forget me not, trust in G-d. Speaking is silver, and silence is gold. This from your memories, Hedi Metzger, Amsterdam 19-4-1939.” Less than 2.5 years later she would be…
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In the 1920s, it was not uncommon in the Catholic south of the Netherlands for one or two children in a family to join a monastery or convent. However, having six out of eight children devote themselves to religious life was extraordinarily rare. What makes the Löb siblings’ story even more remarkable is that their…
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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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I have to be honest and admit that I am not entirely sure if the title is entirely correct, I am working on presumptions. However they are well founded presumptions. More then 75% of all Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust it is therefore safe to presume that the at least 75% of these…
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I want to start by saying that I am not Jewish, although I may have some Jewish ancestry. I am still looking into that. However, the Jews from Geleen were my fellow citizens, as were any other one, regardless of race or colour were my fellow citizens. However, the majority of the Jews of Geleen…
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The execution of five Dutch SS men took place in late September 1944 in a sheep shed at Zecksteeg, near Ede. Four of the five SS men had been captured by members of the Ede resistance; the fifth had been captured by British paratroopers participating in the Battle of Arnhem. The five men were imprisoned…
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The Nazis knew how to use the radio in a very effective way to relay their message of hate. It was the perfect tool for propaganda. The Volksempfänger ( “people’s receiver”) was a range of radio receivers developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda of the…
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I could write down the history of Bethrina Kooperberg but it is more poignant to use her own words to illustrate the person she was. The text is translated from Dutch and comes from a postcard and letter Bethrina sent from Camp Vught to her friends, the Van Beek family, dated 24 April 1943. “The…
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There are moments in football when the game changes without anyone in the stadium quite realizing it. On 21 September 2016, football history was made in the Netherlands. During the KNVB Cup match between Ajax and Willem II, it became clear almost immediately what Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) could mean for the game. Referee Danny…
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