the Netherlands

  • Willem Jacob van Stockum was born on November 20,1910 in Hattem,the Netherlands. Willem moved to Ireland in the late 1920s, Where he studied mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he earned a gold medal. He went on to earn an M.A. from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. The…

    Read more →

  • During World War II, Jewish citizens in the Netherlands were isolated and subjected to discrimination and persecution by the National Socialists and their associates. Most of them did not survive the war. More than 102,000 Jews from the Netherlands were deported and murdered during the Holocaust. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence to…

    Read more →

  • The most beautiful announcement any parent can make, is the announcement of the birth of a child. Mary Louise van der Horst-Beerenborg and Abraham Arthur van der Horst. must have been so proud when they put a notification in the Jewish weeklu(Het Joodsche Weekblad) on September 4.1942 that their son Hartog was born on August…

    Read more →

  • It is stories like Gideon’s that make me want to give up doing blogs on the Holocaust, but paradoxically, it also encourages me to continue with it. The reason why I want to stop is apparent. Every time when I see a picture of a beautiful innocent infant, knowing that child was murdered by an…

    Read more →

  • The Jehovah Witnesses are often forgotten as Holocaust victims. An estimated 1,000 German Jehovah’s Witnesses died or were murdered in concentration camps and prisons during the Nazi era, as did 400 Witnesses from other countries, including about 90 Austrians and 130 Dutch Jehovah Witnesses. On 29 May 1940, the Vereeniging of Bible researchers (The name…

    Read more →

  • Sally was born on August 19, 1934 in Geffen, the Netherlands. I wish I could say more about Sally, but there is very little known about him. The fact that he was murdered on May 28,1943 in Sobibor is sad, What makes it even sadder, his father, mother and older sister were murdered the same…

    Read more →

  • Before I go into the story of the men, who were put on slave labour by the Nazi regime, I will have to explain what ‘Limburg’ is .Limburg is a province in the southeast of the Netherlands and the northeast of Belgium. I was born and grew up in the Dutch side of Limburg. The…

    Read more →

  • 500 Jews responded to the German appeal and registered for departure to Camp Westerbork. They waited hours for the special train to transport them from Muiderpoort Station in Amsterdam to Westerbork. Of the 7,000 Jews who had to report to the Polderweg in Amsterdam that day for deportation to Westerbork, only 500 appeared that day,…

    Read more →

  • In this blog, I will address the actions of some so-called “Jewhunters” in the Netherlands during World War II. The main reason behind their actions wasn’t driven by political ideology; it was something much simpler—greed. Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer was a Dutch Nazi politician and a member of the NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging). He was tasked with…

    Read more →

  • Without a shadow of a doubt, the star of the 1936 Olympic Games was Jesse Owens. But there was another medal winner who became more infamous than famous. He came 3rd behind in the Men’s 100 metres sprint behind Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe and third place in the Men’s 200 metres sprint behind Jesse…

    Read more →