the Netherlands
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The below story was brought to my attention by a friend, he also published it in a local Athens-Alabama newspaper. THE OWL’S EYE Equal justice under the law Some may believe an event both a continent and 76 years away of little interest to our Athens- Limestone County. Let this flight of recollection help. We…
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A Pinch Cat Flashlight I worked for Philips from 1987 to 1997. It was a company that took great pride in its history. In 1891, mechanical engineer Gerard Philips (1858–1942) and his father—manufacturer, banker and tobacco and coffee trader—Frederik Philips founded the light bulb factory of the same name in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In 1991,…
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Before I delve into the main story, it is worth providing a brief synopsis of Limburg. Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands and stands apart from the rest of the country due to its distinctive geography, strong historical connections to Central Europe, and unique cultural identity. Unlike the famously flat,…
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Catharina Brücker was the eldest child of Romanian tailor Mozes Brücker (1892–1944) and the Dutch Rossetta Eijl (1896–1944). Her father made women’s clothing for major fashion houses in Rotterdam and owned several shops in the city. From age six until she was twenty, Catharina attended a dance school where she learned ballet, tap dance, and…
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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 This film is a significant historical document because it provides a rare visual record of life in a Nazi transit camp.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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A diary is like a chronicle, a chronological summary of someone’s life, or at least part of it. Nowadays people use social media to document their daily life. Unlike social media, diaries are meant to be secret. That’s why the words from Holocaust diaries which were published after World War II, should be treated with…
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Anne Frank’s schoolmates played a significant role in her early life, forming a close circle of friends that shared childhood dreams, games, and conversations during a turbulent time Anne Frank attended two main schools in Amsterdam before she and her family went into hiding: Montessori School (from 1934 to 1941)Jewish Lyceum (from 1941 to 1942)Since…
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Amid all the horror stories of the Holocaust, every so often, a positive one emerges. I was sidetracked during my research on the Dutch entertainer Rudi Carrell’s life during World War II when the name of Abraham Bueno de Mesquita came up. Better known as Bueno de Mesquita, he and Rudi Carrell worked together in…
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Starting in May 1942, wearing a yellow fabric star in the Netherlands, called the “Star of David,” was made compulsory by the Nazis. This measure made it easy to identify Jewish people and was designed to stigmatize and dehumanize them. This was not a new idea; since medieval times many other societies had forced their…
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The battle of the Netherlands was really best described in biblical terms, it was a fight between David and Goliath. Valiantly the Dutch fought the Germans for 4 days, Although they were poorly equipped and badly organized they kept fighting and caused significant damage to the Germans. But on May 14,1940 when the Luftwaffe virtually…
History of Sorts 