the Netherlands
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The buzzword nowadays is “immigrants” and in hardly any context it is used in a positive way.Here is the thing though, who is an immigrant? This is just a micro snapshot in history. It is basically a background of my family well at least from my Mother’s side. The picture at the start of the…
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In September 1944, most of the southern part of the Netherlands had been liberated. Unfortunately, the rest of the country faced a very harsh winter. Extreme cold combined with a lack of food resulted in a famine, causing the death of about 20,000 citizens. Dutch railway workers had gone on strike with the hope of…
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Little did I know when I was aged 7, that 2 headlines in a regional newspaper would have links to my life in ways I could never have imagined. On November 7,1975 2 events were in the Dutch newspapers. One event was a disaster which happened in a chemical plant, the other event was the…
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Two sisters, the younger one lively,outgoing and bubbly, the older one a bit more reserved and shy. Two sisters who were very different and yet in many ways the same, On October 30, 1944, they both boarded a train. Not to go a big city to go for a shopping spree or to the cinema,…
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They gave their today for our tomorrow. Our tomorrow was sacred to them. They gave their today for our tomorrow. Sacrificing their own lives for those they would never meet. They gave their today for our tomorrow. A tomorrow that we should cherish even more. They gave their today for our tomorrow. Their bravery should…
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I would love to say there was not a single person in the Netherlands who turned a blind eye to the brutal Nazi regime and especially in relation the treatment of their fellow citizens, who happened to be Jewish. But I’d be telling a lie. There were many who at risk of their own lives…
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In the southeast province of the Netherlands is Limburg. It used to be a rural area with mainly farming as employment opportunities. However, in the late 19th and early 20th century, something nicknamed “black gold” was discovered in the southern part of the province. This ‘black gold’ was coal. The Dutch government exploited the discovery…
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My name is Frouktje Oudgenoeg, I am 2 years old. My last name means Old Enough. That is exactly what I am. I am old enough to sing and dance. I am old enough to play outside in the garden, come rain or shine. I am old enough to get my face dirty with jam…
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The Holocaust didn’t start with the mass extermination of Jews, it started in ways which could even be considered non violent, with gradually excluding Jews from society. In this blog there are some examples of signs saying ~Forbidden for Jews” or”No Jews allowed” from several locations in the Netherlands. On the signs above it says…
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October 5th,1942, was one of the darkest if not the darkest days of WWII for my hometown of Geleen, at the time it was a small mining town in the south east of the Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. Shortly after 21.30 the alarms sounded,warning the population of an imminent attack. The bombing did…
History of Sorts 
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