World War 2
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I was going to do a piece on the often-forgotten victims of the Holocaust, those who did want to be captured alive and decided to take their own lives. But when I looked at the list of suicides of Jews in the Netherlands during World War II, I discovered there were hundreds. Many decided to…
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Every aspect in Auschwitz was designed for either extermination or dehumanization of the prisoners, mainly Jewish prisoners. For those young and fit enough to work there was a daily roll call, sometimes these could last for hours. Prisoner were forced to stand still, wearing very thin clothing regardless what weather condition ,even the slightest movement…
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Heinrich Hoffmann was a Nazi politician but also was Adolf Hitler’s official photographer.He was also part of the Nazi propaganda machine. The one thing that always intrigued me is why did a man who was so close to Hitler mot see what freak he was dealing with. He must have seen that the man was clearly…
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Many European countries had an equivalent of the NSDAP(Nazi) party, the Dutch National Socialist party was the NSB. It may be hard to believe nowadays but not every National Socialist party started off as an anti-Semitic party, as was the case with the NSB. The NSB even had Jewish members, and the party leader ,Anton…
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Some impressions and stories of Thanksgiving during World War II. American soldiers in Paris are shown leaving the famous Notre Dame Cathedral after a special Thanksgiving Day service. November 23, 1944. Sgt. Bill Murphy Jr. (Perryville, Kentucky) shares his Thanksgiving turkey with a small Italian girl on the 5th Army front in the San Marcello…
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There were very few Dutch who defied the Nazi occupiers; this is not to judge because I was never in that situation, and I wouldn’t know what I would have done. However, it is a fact that there were only a few who offered Resistance. Hannie Schaft was one of those few. Born Jannetje Johanna…
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I will not be silenced, no matter how often people try to silence me. I will not be silenced despite the threats. I will not be silenced although a small voice in my head sometimes says, “just give up”, but there is a louder voice screaming “No you fool, you have to keep going. You…
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Some people say that Kristallnacht marks the start of the Holocaust. I don’t really subscribe to that point of view. In my opinion, the Holocaust started on 19 August 1934. That was the date when 88.1% of the German population gave Hitler Carte blanche to do whatever he wanted via a referendum, merging the posts…
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We all know who Eva Braun was, yet so little is known about her family. I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that Eva’s parents—Eva, who was just 17 when she first met Adolf Hitler—didn’t seem to object to her involvement with a man whose intentions were clearly malevolent. Some might argue that Eva herself…
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I am Dutch, and I always will be proud to be Dutch, but there are some things in my country’s history that really trouble me, even to the extent that it nearly sickens me. The Dutch bureaucracy is well known to be very efficient, which can be very beneficial, but it can also be destructive…
History of Sorts 