world-war-ii

  • Testimonies from the SS

    It is hard to put a value on the words of those who survived the Holocaust. Their words serve us as a constant reminder of the evil mankind is capable of. I believe the perpetrators’ testimonies are equally as important because they give some indication of the psyche that created such evil and the delusion…

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  • On September 15, 1935, the Nazi regime announced the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor (‘Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre’). The law forbade sexual relations and marriages between Germans classified as so-called ‘Aryans’ and Germans classified as Jews. “–Section 1 Section 2Sexual relations outside marriage between…

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  • Franceska Mann (February 4, 1917 – October 23, 1943) Franceska Mann was a talented dancer from Warsaw, Poland, celebrated for her beauty and skill in both classical and modern ballet. Before World War II, she studied under renowned dance teacher Irena Prusicka. She counted notable figures such as Wiera Gran and Stefania Grodzieńska among her…

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  • Pets During the Holocaust

    The Nazis implemented a series of discriminatory laws and regulations aimed at isolating and persecuting Jews. In many cases, Jews were forced to relinquish their pets as part of broader property confiscation. Pets were considered part of personal property, and when Jewish people were displaced, arrested, or deported, they were often forced to leave their…

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  • A vital element of the Holocaust’s industrial-scale genocide was the efficient logistics system that transported millions of people to their deaths in concentration and extermination camps. The Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German national railway company, played a central role in this process. By providing the means of transportation for the deportation of Jews and other victims,…

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  • Anna (also known as) Ans van Dijk, was a collaborator of Jewish descent. The Germans arrested Van Dijk while he was in hiding on April 25, 1943. After she agreed to work for the SD, Van Dijk was released. It is estimated that approximately seven hundred people had been arrested—because of her actions. Van Dijk…

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  • Paragraph 175

    Paragraph 175 was a law which was introduced on May 15, 1871, in Germany, just after Otto von Bismarck unified Germany into a nation-state, forming the German Empire. Ironically the law remained in place until a few years after the other German re-unification. The law was abolished in 1994. It made sexual relations between males…

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  • In The End Love Prevailed

    I planned to do this blog about Elisabeth Flesschedrager-Appelboom. She was born in Amsterdam, on 2 February 1921 . Murdered in Auschwitz, 18 January 1945. She reached the age of 23, and was a seamstress. She was married to Philip Flesschedrager, who was born in Amsterdam on 8 July 1920. Murdered in Auschwitz, 26 December…

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  • Alois Brunner was one of the most feared and ruthless Nazi war criminals during the Holocaust. As a senior SS officer and a close associate of Adolf Eichmann, Brunner played a pivotal role in the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews to concentration and extermination camps. Known for his cold-blooded efficiency and unrelenting cruelty,…

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  • One key document that reveals the Nazis administrative machinery behind the Holocaust, is the August Frank memorandum, issued on September 26, 1942. Written by SS official August Frank, this memorandum outlines the procedures for handling Jewish property during deportations to extermination camps. While many Nazi documents focused on the mechanics of extermination, Frank’s memorandum offers…

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