On 30 September 1938, the leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy and Nazi Germany signed the Munich Agreement, handing the Sudetenland—the predominantly German-speaking border regions of Czechoslovakia—to Adolf Hitler's Germany. The Czechoslovaks themselves were not parties to the agreement. It was presented as a settlement intended to prevent another European war. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, returning to London the following day, famously spoke of having secured…

When you look at the picture above, you may just admire the men participating in physical exercise. You may even want to join them. But the picture is of concentration camp Mauthausen. The Mauthausen main camp operated from the time of the Anschluss, when Austria was united with Nazi Germany on 8 August 1938, to 5 May 1945, at the end of the European theatre of Second World War.

Life is only a sequence of events and accidents, often determined when and where you are born. When I was 15, as a young man in the 1980s in the Netherlands, my main interest was girls and trying to get beer. When Elie Wiesel was 15 and a young man in Romania (or then Hungary) in the 1940s, his interest was survival.

On 29 April 29, 1942, the Nazis announced a new law to further humiliate the Dutch Jews. From 3 May, they had to wear an identification mark—a six-pointed yellow Star of David with the word Jood in its centre. The star made it possible to recognize people as Jews on the street. The Nazis wanted to further isolate and single out Jews from the non-Jewish Dutch.

I had a dream last night. Why I had the dream, I don't know, and I am not sure what it means, but it was a sad and beautiful dream, and that's why I am sharing it. The dream was probably triggered by an article I read recently. The article said that the corpses of the murdered were burned in the crematoria.

This blog only contains 2 pictures. A picture of a broken doll and a picture of some children's shoes. Both were called pictures of Auschwitz artifacts, now I know the description is not meant disrespectful and was meant with the best intention and perhaps it is the only way to describe them. But the word artifact has several definitions below are 3 examples and none really get the essence of the objects in the pictures.

Dina Pronicheva (born Dina Mironovna Wasserman) was a Jewish actress at the Kyiv Puppet Theatre and one of the very few people—fewer than 30—who survived the mass executions at the Babi Yar ravine. Her detailed testimony remains one of the most significant eyewitness accounts of the atrocity carried out by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen and local collaborators on September 29–30, 1941, during which over 33,000 Jews were murdered in two days.

This is a fictional letter, but it is a letter I envisage I may have written to Margot, if I had been a friend or schoolmate. Dear Margot, I hope this letter finds you well, though I understand the circumstances surrounding us are far from what any of us could call "well." It is strange to put thoughts down on paper like this, knowing how little freedom we have and how uncertain the future remains for all of us.

On June 23, 1944, a delegation comprising two representatives from the International Red Cross and one from the Danish Red Cross conducted an inspection of Theresienstadt, accompanied by SS First Lieutenant Karl Rahm, the camp commandant, and one of his deputies. During the visit, the delegations were treated to an opera by Jewish composer Hans Krása. The children's opera Brundibár was originally composed by Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister in 1938 for a government competition, which was later canceled due to political developments.

Music is not just a series of notes strung together, it is also a tool that can be used for good and bad. Music evokes deep emotions, a bit of music often remains with you in your mind for the rest of your life. The Nazis used music in the concentration camps, not to make life more pleasant, but as a psychological weapon.

When I hear that wind blowAll across the Wicklow mountainsIs it you, I hear a calling?Johnny boy, oh Johnny boy When I look to the westAll across the river ShannonI can still see you smilingJohnny boy, oh Johnny boy When the leaves have turned to brownAnd winter is dueAs I watch the sun go down…

I have written quite extensively about the failure of the Dutch to protect their Jewish neighbors and even resist the Nazi occupiers in general. However, on February 24, 1941, the Dutch communist party called for a nationwide strike to protest against the treatment of Jews as well as the forced labor in Germany. The Communist Party of the Netherlands made illegal by the Germans, printed and spread a call to strike throughout Amsterdam the next morning.

An older Where did you go when the room fell still, Beyond the quiet window sill? Why did the clock keep ticking on, When all your light was suddenly gone? Who will carry the stories now, Or remember the laughter, and tell us how To speak of youth in the past tense, Or make this heavy silence make sense? What do we do with the shared, sweet years,

There are some in Germany and other countries—who portray all of those involved in the 20 July plot as heroes. I believe this is a misinterpretation. Firstly, they are not heroes because they did not succeed, and secondly, there were quite a few of them who had no issues with the Nazi policies but had more of an issue with Adolf Hitler.

The picture is of a page in a poetry album which belonged to a friend of Hedi Metzger. The text is in German and it says. "Forget me not, trust in G-d. Speaking is silver, and silence is gold. This from your memories, Hedi Metzger, Amsterdam 19-4-1939." Less than 2.5 years later she would be murdered in Auschwitz. Hedi was born in Berlichingen on 24 December 1926.

In the 1920s, it was not uncommon in the Catholic south of the Netherlands for one or two children in a family to join a monastery or convent. However, having six out of eight children devote themselves to religious life was extraordinarily rare. What makes the Löb siblings’ story even more remarkable is that their parents were Jewish converts to Catholicism.

Hate is mankind's worst disease and it seems to be incurable. I am only limiting this to the 1933-1945 era but I could easily have dozens of pages of pictures of all era's  going up to today. Nazis singing to encourage a boycott of Jewish shops , 1933 A German woman facing public humiliation because of a romantic affair with a Polish man, 1942…

++++++CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES++++++++++ We have all heard about the experiments conducted by the Nazis during World War II, but relatively little is known about the experiments by the Japanese Imperial Army. More specifically Unit 731. The unit, also is known as, "Detachment 731" and the "Kamo Detachment." was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II.

The killing of innocent lives is despicable enough, but trying to make a profit out of it in the most deceitful way is beyond evil. Giving people hope that somehow they will survive, where there really was no intention of sparing their lives, sickens me to the core. Shortly after the armistice between Italy and the Allied forces on September 8, 1943, the German military occupied Rome, and Herbert Kappler was appointed Chief of the Security Police and Security Service for all SS and Order Police units deployed in Rome.

I was going to do a piece on Nora Italiaander. She would have celebrated her 86th birthday today, but she was murdered on June 4,1943 in Sobibor. She was just aged 2. The picture above is of her death notification issued on the 11th of June 1947, 4 years after her death. But like Nora there were more children who were born on September 26 and they only got to celebrate a few birthdays.

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 a unique perspective on the financial and material exploitation that accompanied the mass murder of European Jewry.

To most modern listeners, "Black Betty" is remembered as a driving, hard-rock anthem—a 1977 powerhouse single by the New York band Ram Jam defined by booming electric guitars, driving drums, and an infectious, repetitive call-and-response refrain. Yet beneath its electrifying rock 'n' roll exterior lies a rich, complex history that reaches back into the 19th-century American South. Long before it entered the pop charts, "Black Betty" was an African American work song born out of rural labor and Southern prison farms.

Hans Asperger, the Austrian pediatrician whose name became synonymous with a specific form of autism, is a figure both celebrated and condemned. His work in the 1940s led to the identification of what would later be called Asperger syndrome, a condition marked by difficulties in social interaction, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors, often accompanied by high intelligence. For decades, Asperger's was viewed as a pioneer in autism research, contributing to the understanding of neurodiversity and advocating for the education of children with special needs.

I have to be honest and admit that I am not entirely sure if the title is entirely correct, I am working on presumptions. However they are well founded presumptions. More then 75% of all Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust it is therefore safe to presume that the at least 75% of these children were murdered too. I also believe that the picture below is from the same school or after school youth care organisation in Amsterdam which was organised by the Jewish Council.

"Goodbye" is such a strange word. It carries both positive and negative connotations in equal measure.Positive, because it marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one.Negative, because sometimes it is final, with no possibility of turning back.Over the years, I have felt immense guilt and pain for not having the chance to say goodbye to a friend or family member before they left this world.

I want to start by saying that I am not Jewish, although I may have some Jewish ancestry. I am still looking into that. However, the Jews from Geleen were my fellow citizens, as were any other one, regardless of race or colour were my fellow citizens. However, the majority of the Jews of Geleen were murdered during the Holocaust—this was not the case for other groups.

Not the SS men that were executed The execution of five Dutch SS men took place in late September 1944 in a sheep shed at Zecksteeg, near Ede. Four of the five SS men had been captured by members of the Ede resistance; the fifth had been captured by British paratroopers participating in the Battle of Arnhem. The five men were imprisoned in the sheep shed, but shortly afterwards the building was needed to shelter paratroopers who had remained behind in the area following the failed battle.

I was struggling to give this blog a title. I was thinking of naming it—Brothels in the Concentration Camp. However, I think that would not do justice to the horror and impossible choices these women had to make. In general, women who worked in brothels had a bit of autonomy over their lives. Some women enjoyed working there. The women forced to work at the concentration camp brothels— had no choice—it was a matter of life and death.

The Nazis knew how to use the radio in a very effective way to relay their message of hate. It was the perfect tool for propaganda. The Volksempfänger ( "people's receiver") was a range of radio receivers developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda of the Nazi regime. In the 1930s, everyone wanted a radio.

The English rock band, The Kinks once sang, "He is a dedicated follower of fashion" and I can assure you, I am not that. However, there are people working in the fashion industry, be it as designers, manufacturers or models, who often do not know the history of the brands they represent. On the other hand, there are people, who will buy a fashion item, regardless of the amount on the price tag, because of the brand name—not realizing how that particular brand got where it is now.

⚠️ WARNING: This article contains graphic descriptions of torture and murder. One of the most grotesque contradictions of the Nazi regime was its attitude toward cruelty. The same state that organised mass murder, genocide, and barbaric medical experiments could condemn acts of violence when they violated its own rules or threatened its authority. Within the concentration-camp system, murder and torture were not necessarily crimes in the eyes of the perpetrators.

Karl August Wilhelm Frenzel was an SS non-commissioned officer at the Sobibór extermination camp. As commander of Camp I, he was responsible for a Sonderkommando—a unit made up of prisoners, predominantly Jews, who were forced to perform a range of tasks within the camp, including herding newly arrived victims towards the gas chambers. After the war, Frenzel claimed that he had always been fair when administering punishment.

I could write down the history of Bethrina Kooperberg but it is more poignant to use her own words to illustrate the person she was. The text is translated from Dutch and comes from a postcard and letter Bethrina sent from Camp Vught to her friends, the Van Beek family, dated 24 April 1943. "The first night we were here, Aunt Fie and I laughed like madmen, despite everything.

I could write down the history of Bethrina Kooperberg but it is more poignant to use her own words to illustrate the person she was. The text is translated from Dutch and comes from a postcard and letter Bethrina sent from Camp Vught to her friends, the Van Beek family, dated 24 April 1943. "The first night we were here, Aunt Fie and I laughed like madmen, despite everything.

I wanted to change the title of the blog to evoke an emotion, but then I thought: if this picture doesn't hit you in the gut, perhaps nothing will. The title is actually the title of the original photograph, which is in the public domain. I have only changed the names from their German forms to their Polish names. If you didn't know the story behind this photograph, you might simply think it was an old picture of a group of primary-school children on their way to a field trip.

The Nazi concentration camp system evolved into a machine of mass murder, and Auschwitz became its deadliest cog. Located in Poland, Auschwitz initially served as a concentration and forced labor camp for Polish political prisoners. However, in 1941, it became the epicenter of Nazi extermination efforts. Among the most horrifying aspects of Auschwitz’s legacy was its role as a testing ground for industrialized mass murder through gas.

In 1798, the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, one of the best-known poems in the English language. Among its most famous lines are: “Water, water, every where,Nor any drop to drink.” The words describe the terrible irony of being surrounded by water while being unable to drink it. More than a century later, those same words would acquire an especially grim resonance at Dachau concentration camp, where prisoners were subjected to seawater experiments between July and September 1944.

There are moments in football when the game changes without anyone in the stadium quite realizing it. On 21 September 2016, football history was made in the Netherlands. During the KNVB Cup match between Ajax and Willem II, it became clear almost immediately what Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) could mean for the game. Referee Danny Makkelie initially showed Willem II midfielder Anouar Kali a yellow card for a foul.

As many of you will know by now, I was born and raised in a small mining town in the southeast of the Netherlands. The town is named Geleen, but like so many other towns, Geleen is divided into several neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood where I grew up is called Lindenheuvel. In 1926, the Dutch government opened a state-run coal mine called Maurits adjacent to Lindenheuvel.

Often, the public thinks that the murders by the Nazis during the Holocaust only started after World War II began. However, in fact, it began in April 1933, only ten weeks after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. It is sad enough that young men lost their lives on April 12, 1933; it is even more tragic to think that one of them, and in fact the very first to be killed, wasn't even supposed to have been in Germany at the time.

The world’s leading transport and logistics company, Kühne + Nagel, has been portrayed in historical research as one of the principal logistics companies involved in the Nazi regime’s systematic plundering of Jewish property during the Holocaust. Beginning in early 1942, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) carried out what became known as the “Furniture Action”, or M-Aktion (Möbel-Aktion). Under this vast operation, the homes of approximately 70,000 Jewish families in France, Belgium and the Netherlands were systematically emptied after their occupants had either fled or been deported by the Nazis.

As Nazi forces prepared to retreat from Kyiv in the autumn of 1943, they attempted to conceal the evidence of the atrocities they had committed at Babi Yar. The ravine had become one of the most infamous killing sites of the Holocaust, where tens of thousands of Jews and other victims had been murdered. Now, the Nazis sought to erase the physical traces of their crimes.

Serial killers are not exclusively a Western phenomenon. Throughout history, individuals who committed multiple murders have appeared in countries across the globe, leaving behind crimes that continue to disturb and fascinate long after the perpetrators are gone. Among the most unsettling cases is that of Seisaku Nakamura, whose story is particularly disturbing because he began killing at an extraordinarily young age.

The Holocaust is widely recognized for the systematic genocide of six million Jews, along with the persecution and murder of other marginalized groups such as Roma (Gypsies), disabled individuals, Slavs, political dissidents, and homosexuals. However, lesser-known is the plight of the Freemasons (a global fraternal organization) that became one of the targets of the Nazi regime. Freemasonry: Ideals and Influence…

On may 26,1992,Israel's President Chaim Herzog unveiled a rock from Jerusalem, at Auschwitz. The rock serves as a permanent memorial to the 1.65 million Jews who were murdered there. Visibly anguished and tearful, President Herzog said the following words during the unveiling. “In this dread place, I stand here brokenhearted. This ground on which we stand was drenched in the blood of the pure and holy.

Operation Market Garden, launched on September 17,1944 during World War II, was an ambitious Allied military operation aimed at ending the war by securing key bridges in the Netherlands and enabling a rapid advance into Germany. The operation combined airborne assaults with a ground offensive, making it one of the largest airborne operations in history. From a supply chain management perspective, the operation presents a case study in logistics planning, execution, and the consequences of mismanagement.

The history of military conflict is defined not only by sweeping strategic maneuvers, but by individual acts of supreme resolve under impossible circumstances. Lieutenant John Hollington Grayburn, VC, stands as one of the most remarkable examples of leadership and sacrifice in the Second World War. Serving with the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden in September 1944, Grayburn’s actions at the Arnhem road bridge earned him a posthumous Victoria Cross—the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy within the British and Commonwealth armed forces.

I want to start by saying that I am not Jewish, though I may have some Jewish ancestry, which I am still exploring. However, the Jewish people of Geleen were my fellow citizens, just like anyone else, regardless of race or color. Tragically, the majority of Jews from Geleen were murdered during the Holocaust—a fate that did not befall other groups to the same extent.

Jim Croce’s music career was brief, but his impact on American popular music was profound. In just a few short years, he created a catalog of songs that blended humor, tenderness, and timeless observations about the human condition. Croce was more than a singer-songwriter; he was a storyteller. His death in a plane crash in 1973 cut short a promising career, yet his songs endure as narratives of love, loss, and the struggles of ordinary life.

The photograph above was taken in January 2013, when Freda Wineman met former prime minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2013. Unfortunately, Freda Wineman died on 3 January 2022 at age 98. This is just my observation, but so many survivors who lived a long life looked still so young. Freda would have been 89 in that photo, and she doesn't look a bit of it.