World War 2

  • World War II Fashion

    Before you ask, I know absolutely nothing about fashion. Then why do a piece on fashion in World War II? I hear you say. There is no particular reason, but after all the heavy subjects I usually explore, I decided to go with a more lighthearted one for a change, while still staying on the…

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  • Gottlieb Hering—Pure Evil

    I could nearly do a whole blog on how inappropriate this evil man’s name Gottlieb—translates to God Love. I doubt that very much. Gottlieb Hering was involved in the T4 program and later on, was the second and last commandant of the Belzec Extermination Camp. After Action T4, Hering was posted briefly to the Sicherheitsdienst…

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  • I often hear people say ‘that teenagers never has it as hard as they do now’. In a time where my generation failed to equip these teenagers with the resilience to deal with adversity, it is the absolute wrong message to sent out. In this post there will be small bios of teenagers who were…

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  • I know there are those who judge the Sonderkommandos. Sometimes people confuse them with the Kapos. In all honestly, I don’t judge them at all, because I was never put in the position they were put in. Especially the Sonderkommandos who were forced, on the threat of their deaths, to aid with the disposal of…

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  • Rosalina Zilverberg was born in Oss, the Netherlands, on October 5,1942. She was murdered in Vught concentration camp Vught on April 17, 1943. She lived for 194 days. In those 194 she will have only experienced her parents anxiety. She will have only experienced a life in captivity. She never got a chance to learn…

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  • Today 80 years ago my hometown, Geleen, was bombed by the RAF by mistake. Originally the target was the German city of Aachen. 84 were killed. This is the story of that day: England, 5 October 1942: The weather at 9:15 am: rain and low clouds; at 12:15 p.m.: clearings extending South; 4:10 pm: further…

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  • When you think of sports cars, one of the names you think of is Porsche. When you see a Porsche driving by, there is no second-guessing as to what car it is. The Dutch police used Porsches between 1962 and 1996. In the early 1960s the absence of speed limit indications on Dutch motorways saw…

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  • When I saw this photograph, I was reminded of another photo. It was a picture of my colleagues and I in 1993/1994. It was taken at work on the day of the retirement of one of my colleagues at the time. We had a small party afterwards at the cafeteria of Philips Sittard. The photo…

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  • Simon Walvisch was born in Amsterdam, 1 on 9 March 1882.He was murdered in Auschwitz, on 1 October 1942. Reached the age of 60 years Occupation: Tobacconist He was a son of Jacobus Mozes Walvisch and Schoontje Zeeman. He married Rosette Abram, a daughter of Simon Abram and Judith Presser, on 29 June 1904 in…

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  • On September 29, 1943, Amsterdam was declared ‘Judenrein’. (Free of Jews) It happened after a major raid, in which 5,000 people, including the board and employees of the Jewish Council, were arrested and transported via Amstel station to Camp Westerbork. Those who were able to avoid the raids ended up in hiding places. A countrywide…

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