World War 2
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On 25 October 1944, Fake Krist, a fanatic employee of the German Sicherheitsdienst, was shot dead by the Haarlem resistance, in the Netherlands Initially, the attack was attributed to Hannie Schaft’s resistance group, but later it turned out that a police squad with members from Halfweg, resistance group had liquidated Fake Krist. To this end,…
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Elleke Trijtel was born in Amsterdam on October 24. 160-days later, they murdered you in Sobibor. Dear Elleke, your parents loved each other, you were the fruit of their love. You were born under a regime that hated you so much, they only allowed you to live 160 days. There was no rain the day…
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We are less than a month away from the Fifa Worldcup. The selection of Qatar as the host nation is, to use an understatement, controversial. But I hope it will do some good. I was wondering though about the history of Dutch football and especially the World War II years, the national competition didn’t halt.…
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The birth of a baby is a joyous occasion, even in war time. I don’t know if it is a specific Jewish tradition, but I know it is a Dutch one, that the birth of a child is announced in the newspapers. As did Harry’s parents, Willy and Rose, when he was born on October…
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I am often very critical of the Dutch during World War II, but it would be unfair if I wouldn’t highlight the Dutch heroes from time to time. Louis Romuald Hubert Dobbelmann was born on July 1, 1911 in Rijswijk. He had three older sisters and a younger brother and sister. His father was the…
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To be honest, I was never a great fan of Charlie Chaplin. I was always more of a fan of the Laurel and Hardy-type of humour. I find that Charlie Chaplin’s movies are quite dated when compared to the aforementioned, Laurel and Hardy films. However, there is one notable exception. There has been one Chaplin…
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The number of victims of the Holocaust is just so difficult to fathom. When you talk about millions it just becomes a number it is just something that our human mind can’t comprehend. It is often better to remember those who were murdered, one by one. Today I am remembering Jesaia Swart. He was murdered…
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I once wrote a piece about Klara Borstel-Engelsman. Today is the 78th anniversary of her murder, and I felt compelled to do another one, just to show how utterly cruel, insane and absurd the Nazi regime was. Klara was murdered at age 102. She was the oldest Dutch person to be murdered by the Nazis.…
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Nathan was born in Arnhem, on 6 April 1931. Murdered in Auschwitz, on 12 October 1942. He reached the age of 11 years. In the last years of his short life, he had to witness some of the following “laws.” From July 1940, the freedom of Jews is curtailed by the introduction of anti-Jewish measures,…
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This will not be a post explaining what Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau was, We all know that by now. This is post with various eye witness reports. A former prisoner recalls the conditions inside the huts at Birkenau. “On rainy days, the packed-earth floor of the huts turned into a swamp as a result of the…
History of Sorts 