the Netherlands
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Only a few days ago we celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day. People often forget that D-Day did not mark the end of WWII, it merely marked the beginning of the end. So many sacrifices were still made in the days and months following D-Day. Thousands and thousands of mainly young men, some the same…
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When you look up information on Anne Frank, the first thing you will see is that she is described as a German born or Dutch Diarist, as if she was a well established author or Journalist, but she wasn’t. She was just a teenage girl who happened to write a diary, like so many other…
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I remember as a kid , my neighbor and I made our own bows and arrows, We used it to target practice on a spare door we had in the storage rooms in the basement of our apartment block. We bought the materials for these ‘weapons’ in a shop in the center of our town,Geleen,…
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Around this time of year, many 17-year-old kids are getting ready for school exams. Although they may think it is unfair that they have to sit for hours and hours to do their exams(I know I thought it was unfair), they don’t actually realize how lucky they are. Education, although a basic human right, is…
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Anyone living outside the Netherlands or the Flemish speaking part of Belgium will probably have never heard of Wim Kan. It is actually not that easy to describe what he was, his title was cabaretier ,which is French for Cabaret performer. But I think the term ‘stand up comedian’ would be more relevant nowadays, even…
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This week the painting with the name “Haystacks” by Claude Monet was sold for $110 Million.But that value pales compared to the value of the scrappy bits of paper which contained the last words of those who were killed in the Holocaust. Those bits of paper are invaluable and no amount of money on earth,…
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On May 5,2019 on the 74th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. One of the heroes who contributed to this liberation passed away aged 103. Like me he was Dutch and like me he had a love for Ireland and we both ended up making this emerald isle our home. But where I am…
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Perhaps the Dutch government were naive to believe that they would able to stay neutral like they did in WWI. Perhaps they thought they had nothing to fear from the Germans. However when Germany invaded Norway and Denmark in April 1940, it became clear that neutrality was no protection. Frantically the Dutch started to prepare…
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I want to sing one last song , maybe “Hoedje van Papier” (hat made out of paper) my Dad sings that for me everyday and I know all the words. I want to draw one more picture. Perhaps of a butterfly who sits still on a tulip in the garden. I want to have one…
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Below are the estimated numbers of the Holocaust victims. The keyword is estimated because an exact number is not known. I believe the actual number is higher when you take in consideration the numbers of victims who died on the transports, not all of them will have been recorded. Women who were late in their…
History of Sorts 
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