the Netherlands

  • Most of them were murdered.

    I have to be honest and admit that I am not entirely sure if the title is entirely correct, I am working on presumptions. However they are well founded presumptions. More then 75% of all Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust it is therefore safe to presume that the at least 75% of these…

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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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  • Bergen Belsen was liberated on April 15,1945. For many it was a true liberation but for others liberation came too late. Even for many of those who were liberated on that day it was still too late. They were either so ill or malnourished that they did not survive,  After liberation nearly 14,000 people died.…

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  • Alexander Hornemann, 8, the Netherlands Eduard Hornemann, 12, the Netherlands Marek Steinbaum, 10, Poland Marek James, 6, Poland W. Junglieb, 12, Yugoslavia Roman Witonski, 7, Poland Roman Zeller, 12, Poland Sergio de Simone, 7, Italy Georges Andre Kohn, 12, France Eduard Reichenbaum, 10, Poland Jacqueline Morgenstern, 12, France Surcis Goldinger, 11, Poland Lelka Birnbaum, 12,…

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  • Approximately 105,000 OF THE 140,000 Jews in the Netherlands were murdered during the Holocaust. The attempt to erase the Jews from the country did not happen overnight ,it was a gradual process. Every few weeks new measures were introduced to make the life for the Dutch Jews as hard as possible. Some of these measures…

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