the Netherlands
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As I sat doing research on the days before the Germans invaded the Netherlands, I came across a newspaper article about the murder of Gretha Melaard. Gretha Melaard was a 26-year-old student nurse who was killed on Friday, May 3rd, 1940. She had left Rotterdam that day at 8:30 pm to go to work in…
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On 4 May 1940, the Vatican advised the Netherlands envoy to the Vatican that the Germans planned to invade France through the low countries. With the blessing of the Pope, the Vatican sent a coded radio message to its nuncios in Brussels and The Hague. The messages were intercepted by the Nazis On May 5…
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You could have been my teacher You could have been the mother of my best friend You could have been the midwife who helped deliver me You could have been my dentist You could have been a waitress in my favourite restaurant You could have been a lady working in a shop who wraps my…
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As the saying goes “A picture tells a thousand words” therefor rather then writing at length about WWII in the Netherlands, I have decided that this time I will let the pictures do the talking. The photograph on the top is a picture of American troops from the 82nd Airborne Division parachute into The Netherlands on…
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The 4th of May is the day when the Dutch remember the dead—those who died because of war. At the start of World War II, my hometown had 37 Jewish citizens; by the 4th of May 1945, they had all perished. Here is a poem remembering those 37 innocent lives. You are not different than…
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For a small nation the Dutch have been involved in a great number of battles and wars, often against nation multiple the size of the Netherlands. Although the Dutch didn’t win all the battles there were quite a few where they were the victors On the 25th of April 1607, the Dutch defeated the Spanish…
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On April 19, 1782, John Adams was received by the States-General and the Dutch Republic as they were the first country, together with Morocco and France, to recognize the United States as an independent government. John Adams then became the first U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and the house that he had purchased at Fluwelen…
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This blog will be based on facts and some presumptions, but the presumptions are more then likely correct. I was going over the history of the deported Jews from my birthplace Geleen, south east of the Netherlands. when I noticed the name of the Cohen family. There is not a lot I know or could…
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We all know the story of Anne Frank, well at least we think we do. But Anne Frank wasn’t only a girl who wrote a diary, she was also still a child and I think this is often forgotten. It’s probably because of her mature attitude but at the end of the day she was…
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Dear Sir, you don’t know it but I owe you so much,possibly my life. Often have I visited the cemetery where your final resting place is. I may have even stood at your grave, contemplating why you and your band of brothers that surround you,sacrificed their lives in a land that was not theirs. It…
History of Sorts 
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