the Netherlands

  • This looks like a fairly standard receipt and although it is hard to make out the names on the document, it does tell a very dark tale. The document is a receipt issued by the SS to a Dutch citizen. The receipt is an acknowledgement of a payment of 37.50 Dutch guilders to this man…

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  • I wish I could tell you that this picture was used to have a good laugh at my history teacher Benno Redisch. The photograph was handed to us by his wife to use in a presentation on his 10th anniversary as a teacher, but he was not my teacher. I wish I could tell you…

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  • The Nazis told so many lies about the Jews in order to justify their deportations and murder to the wider population. One of the lies was that the Jews were an economical threat, they were all very wealthy and lazy. Yes there were some wealthy Jews but not more then in any other group of…

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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 the town of Nijverdal during World War II. She acted as part of Utrechts Kindercomité,(Utrecht Children Committee) a Dutch resistance group based in Utrecht. Ankie was a…

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  • It is very easy to judge in retrospect. It is true that the Dutch could have and should have done more for their Jewish neighbours. However when even speaking out about the Nazi regime could get you arrested and even killed, it is understandable that people were reluctant to act, To be honest I would…

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  • One thing I only thought of today. On September 26 1940 there was a ban imposed on all Jewish newspapers in the Netherlands, with the exception of ” Het Joodsche Weekblad” the Jewish weekly. I always found that strange, why didn’t they ban all newspapers? Then today I cam across the story of Edmund Plesser…

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  • May 10, 2020 is Mother’s Day in most countries, with only a few exceptions like the UK and Ireland who had it on March 22. May 10 1943 is the date when one Jewish Mother and Grandmother was killed at Westerbork, aged 83. Her name was  Jeanette Meyer-Cahn, wife and  widow of Daniel Meyer. Daniel…

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  • There is a lot of rightful criticism about how the Dutch dealt with the Jews during WWII. A lot more could have been done, there is no question about that. But, it is easy to say these things in retrospect. If you are faced getting killed for a simple act of defiance , you might…

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  • NEVER AGAIN!

    Never Again, 2 simple words often spoken. But are they ever thought about. There is a contradiction in the words. Never as in not ever. Indicating that something will not happen anymore. Again, as in a re-occurring act. Going for a walk again, or having something to eat again. I am only mentioning these 2…

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  • I came across a website which a list of approximately 2,000 unpaid or unclaimed life insurance policies of mainly Dutch  Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It was so profoundly sad to see so many families on that list. So much unfulfilled potential, it was heartbreaking. I looked for a name I could somehow find a…

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