the Netherlands
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In quiet solemnity, we stand,Upon this hallowed ground,Where memories, like whispers, spanThrough ages that surround. Each name is engraved, a sacred threadThat binds the past to now,In hearts, the echoes of the dead,Their legacy, we vow. On this fourth of May, we pause,To honour those who fell,Their sacrifice, our guiding cause,Their stories, we retell. In…
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Voor de Nederlandse slachtoffers van de Tweede Wereldoorlog Beneath the bells that softly toll,In hush of dusk, we bare our soul.Two minutes still, the world stands shy,As tears fall slow from silent sky. We speak no names — yet all are near,The brave, the lost, the ones held dear.From city square to windswept dune,Their memory…
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During the winter of 1944/45 approximately 20,000 citizens died in the so-called Hunger Winter, the Dutch famine. A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm towns. Some 4.5 million were affected and survived thanks to soup kitchens. As the war was wrapping up in April of 1945, in an effort to alleviate…
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I do despair at times when I see how many of my fellow Dutch citizens were so willing to help the Nazi regime. I know it is easy (for me) to judge because I was never put in a similar situation. But it is still a puzzle to me that a nation known for its…
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Martin Haas was born Martijn Haas, at the end of 1936 in Breda, a small city in the south of the Netherlands. Just before the war started, about two hundred Jews lived in Breda. Martin survived because his parents kept him safe in hiding. His parents and 2 of his siblings did not survive. His…
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Auguste van Pels, born September 29, 1900, in Buer, Germany, lived through one of the most tragic periods in history, ultimately losing her life during the Holocaust. Though she might have remained unknown to the world, she is now remembered as one of the residents of the Secret Annex, a small group of Jewish individuals…
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North Holland was the only province to have a Regional Sabotage Division (GSA). This was a resistance unit within the Internal Forces (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten), composed of experienced members of the Ordedienst (OD), the Raad van Verzet (RVV), and the Landelijke Knokploegen (LKP) under the command of Colonel Wastenecker. The GSA was involved in seizing and…
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This broke my heart. On September 14, 1945, an obituary appeared in the Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad, a Dutch Jewish weekly newspaper. It was an obituary for several generations of one family: George Sandelowsky (father and father-in-law), who had died on February 25 as a result of the awful conditions in Bergen Belsen concentration camp. aged…
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The story of C&A during the Nazi regime is a microcosm of the broader interaction between businesses and totalitarian states. Founded in 1841 by Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer in the Netherlands, C&A grew to become a major player in the European clothing retail industry by the early 20th century. The rise of the Nazi regime…
History of Sorts 