the Netherlands

  • The story of Emanuel Arnold Maurice Speijer reminds me a lot of that of Nikolai Vavilov, a scientist who sacrificed his life to save the seeds in the Leningrad seed bank. Emmanuel Speijer was more fortunate though. Speijer was an entomologist. Entomology is the study of insects and their relationship to humans, the environment, and…

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  • When I was younger, in my late teens, one of my uncles took his own life. I was devastated, not just because I was very fond of my uncle but because I never faced a situation like that. I didn’t know if there was anything I could do. Also, the fact that I had the…

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  • (Originally posted September 2019) In 1943 a law was passed in Germany which gave all foreign Waffen SS members the German nationality by default. This law still prevents extradition of WWII War criminals to be extradited to their native countries, because these men have the German nationality , and Germany does not extradite it’s own…

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  • When I write an unfinished life, I mean it as the life of the 1.5 million children who were murdered during the Holocaust. For several years I have been trying to finish a song to remember all those children, but for some reason, I cannot finish it. Every time, I sit down to visualize the…

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  • Rudolf Breslauer was born on 4 July 1903, in Leipzig, German Empire. He was a German Jewish director and cinematographer. He died on 28 February, 1945, in Auschwitz, a month after liberation. Westerbork Film is the title of a film made in 1944 at the Westerbork Transit Camp in the Netherlands. It was a transfer…

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  • In November 1942, Fritz Pfeffer joined the Frank and Van Pels families in hiding, bringing the total number of people to eight. He was a solitary figure among two families and shared a room with the adolescent Anne Frank. Fritz was also a father—he had a son, Werner, with his first wife, Vera Henriette Bythiner.…

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  • Ankie Stork was a Dutch resistance fighter during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She saved thirty-five Jewish children from the Nazis by hiding them in several locations in the town of Nijverdal during World War II. She acted as part of Utrecht’s Kindercomité (Utrecht Children Committee), a Dutch resistance group based in Utrecht. Louis…

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  • The modern monarchy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formally established on 16 March 1815, when William I of the Netherlands proclaimed himself king, transforming the earlier principality into a kingdom. This event occurred during a critical moment in European history following the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire. The creation of the monarchy was…

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  • Johannes Berens, a young Dutch policeman from Rotterdam, stands out as an emblem of quiet resistance and sacrifice during World War II. Born on January 27, 1924, Johannes was raised in the Netherlands, soon to face brutal occupation by Nazi Germany. His life, like many of his countrymen’s, would be profoundly impacted by the events…

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  • Nowadays, Amsterdam is known around the world for several distinctive features, most notably its famous Red Light District. This area is known for its legalised prostitution and its concentration of sex-related businesses, including sex shops, sex theatres, peep shows, and a sex museum. It also features a cannabis museum and numerous coffee shops where cannabis…

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