World War 2
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On this day, Father’s Day, I can’t help but wonder about Otto Frank, seen above in conversation with Millie Perkins, the leading actress in the 1958 film about Anne. How did Mr Frank celebrate Father’s Day? I know he remarried and had a stepdaughter. However, I am sure he adored his stepdaughter—Eva Schloss—there weren’t any…
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Nico Peeters was born on 12 April 1893 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and lived in The Hague. He grew up with his brothers and sister in a family with deaf parents. He was an entrepreneur and resistance member. Nico owned a cigar factory with his brother Ben. The Peeters family was idealistic and active in the resistance.…
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Primo Levi is one of the most famous Holocaust survivors. He wrote in 1986, “It happened, and thus it can happen again.” For some survivors, this was a reality soon after being liberated. Howard Cwick was an American Jewish soldier who liberated Buchenwald.The shame he and other liberators felt came from not liberating the camp…
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World War II was one if not the darkest era in history, Unprecedented death and destruction, and genocide. However, there were lighter moments during the six years of war. The photograph above is of French children playing with the U.S. mascot in Normandy. An American soldier and his pet fox made friends with two small…
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Caroline Stella Os was born in Rotterdam on 8 October 1940. Her life ended when she was murdered at Westerbork, by the Nazis, on 8 June 1943. She reached the tender age of two years old. How can I write about a girl who only lived for 32 months? What can I write about a…
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Since 2017, I have been writing and researching the evils thrust upon Europe and beyond by the NSDAP or in short Nazis, but I had never visited a concentration camp until last Sunday—4 June 2023. I will not just write about Dachau but include the place I visited the day before—Das NS-Dokumentationszentrum München—the National Socialists…
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I came across an excerpt from the book Wiswassebeesjes by author Dieta Kalk. I can’t think of a proper translation for the word, but that doesn’t really matter. In the book the writer, recalls the removal of the Wallage family from Aprikozenweg 21 in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, a day after seeing the Star of David.…
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I finished watching A Small Light last night. It’s on National Geographic and Disney+. It follows the heroic story of Miep Gies and her husband Jan Giesm and others, who risked their lives to shelter Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis for more than two years during World War II. I highly recommend A Small Light because…
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The worst crime the Nazis committed was the murder of children. An estimated 1.5 million children were murdered by the Nazis. This number is just an estimate, although I have no data to back this up, I believe the number is higher. Not all children who died on the transport are included in this number.…
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Yesterday I had the privilege to interview Madene Shachar, Museum Educator at The Ghetto Fighters Museum. The Ghetto Fighters’ House – Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum– known as the “House” – is not only the first Holocaust museum in the world but also the first of its kind to be founded by…
History of Sorts 