World War 2
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One of the most disturbing aspects of the Holocaust is the “wholesale murder” approach the Nazis took, the industrialization of death. The gassing already started in 1939 as part of the T4 program, the murder of the disabled. What is really sickening is the fact that the first of such killings was at the request…
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A baby with the eyes of an angel. Edith Poppelsdorf was born in Amsterdam on 28 December 1941. She was murdered at Auschwitz on 16 August 1942. She reached the age of 7 months. Someone looked into those eyes and decided to send her to the gas chambers. That’s all I really can say about Edith.…
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For Anne and Margot Frank In secret rooms where daylight thinned,Two sisters lived, two hearts were pinnedTo dreams too vast for walls to bind—They wrote, they watched, they stayed behind. Margot, firstborn, quiet flame,A scholar’s grace, a whispered name.With pages neat and eyes downcast,She traced her prayers, she held them fast.A life of duty, still…
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I don’t hate you. I don’t even understand what that word means. There are things I don’t like, like Spinach. I’d rather have an ice cream or a lolly pop. Hate is a concept made by grown ups, not by children like me. I only see the good in people. Why should I hate you?…
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Karl Schümers (17 October 1905 – 18 August 1944) was a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS and Ordnungspolizei (police) of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded the SS Polizei Division in July – August 1944. He was directly or indirectly involved in many of the major atrocities committed in Greece during 1944. Killed…
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This is a point I have made before: the Holocaust was not perpetrated by Germans alone; there were many more who committed awful crimes. If we only blame the Germans, we allow others to get away with it. During World War II, one of the worst massacres of the war took place in Romania. In…
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Bizarrely enough diaries were not always used or recognized as evidence or as study material for the Holocaust. researchers tended to dismiss Jewish diaries as subjective and unreliable. Only in the last few decades the value of diaries have been acknowledged. To me there is nothing more powerful of the words of those who lived…
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It’s funny how your opinions can change as you grow older. The title of this blog, “Turnip and Chicory, Salsify and Leek,” is the English translation of a Dutch song: “Knolraap en Lof, Schorseneren en Prei.” I absolutely hated that song when I was younger. I still don’t like it all that much—but I have…
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On Normandy’s shores ‘neath dawn’s pale light,Brave souls stormed forth to end the night.Steel met sand in thunder’s cry,While hopes and fears rode sea and sky. The tide of war began to turn,As freedom’s fire began to burn.Through blood and grit, the path was paved—By those who fought, the world was saved. Into the Jaws…
History of Sorts 
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