The above photo is of the photographer Franz Stapf (Stapf Bilderdienst). Carrying a Leica camera in front of his stomach, in the Nieuwe Kerkstraat, Amsterdam where disturbances took place between WA people and Jews.
It is clear to see he is wearing a Nazi uniform, so how could he have been mistaken for a Jewish victim?
Franz Anton Stapf was not Jewish. He was German. He did not die in a gas chamber but fought on the Eastern Front from the end of 1941. He was a Nazi who took photos for newspapers and anti-Semitic pamphlets in Amsterdam. Stapf survived the war and died in 1977 in Frankfurt.
The photo above was taken by Franz Stapf of weapons used by a Jewish Fighting Squad. It was printed in the Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden on February 18, 1941, with the following caption: The Jews in Amsterdam had equipped themselves with hatchets, hammers and similar objects. They also had firearms. Our picture shows a small selection of the confiscated murder tools.
The photos were published in the NSB newspaper Het Nationale Dagblad, under the title “Jews unmasked,” to wage a smear campaign against Amsterdam’s Jews.
Historians René Kok and Erik Somers of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, discovered that Stapf’s name, that of his wife, two children and a sister, were incorrectly listed as Jewish war victims while doing research for the book, Stad in oorlog (City at war), which was published in 2017. The book is about Amsterdam in the period 1940 to 1945.
They believe that the error resulted from an incorrect interpretation of notes on a record card from the Amsterdam Council of Labor dating from 1950. The Council investigated financial matters affecting Jewish people murdered during the war. Stapf’s card reads, “Afgevoerd” in Dutch. According to Somers, that can be interpreted as “transported” to a concentration camp, or that he was discharged from the administration.
Stapf’s fate was long unclear after the war. In late 1941 he responded to a call for volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front. The rest of his life wasn’t tracked, which meant he was never prosecuted. His name fell under the “missing, don’t know where” category, along with the word “afgevoerd,” which could have certainly led to the wrong assumption that Stapf ended up in a concentration camp, according to Somers.
In 1981 NIOD received about five thousand negatives of photos taken by Stapf.
Stapf left for Germany after Mad Tuesday in 1944. In the municipal administration, it was noted, “Left for Germany.”
His name was listed on a memorial with the names of Jews murdered during the Holocaust. The Hollandsche Schouwburg, which houses the memorial, was told in February 20117 and immediately covered the name with a sticker.
“We are extremely shocked that such a bad man is among them. Terrible. That Nazi must be removed immediately,” said curator Annemiek Gringold.
Gringold contacted the company that created the wall of names in 1993. “It is a cumbersome procedure to remove the name. It has happened once before,” she said
The name, Stapf, also appeared in memory books and is on the list of the Holocaust Memorial Center Yad Vashem in Israel.
I know—to err is human—but this error could have easily been avoided if some research had taken place. Then again to finish the quote “To forgive is divine.”
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In the dark of history’s cruel abyss, A child’s innocence—lost in the mist. Amidst the horror, the anguish, the pain, A young soul’s light, forever slain.
In shadowed corners, where terror thrived, A child’s laughter, once so alive. But silenced now, by tyranny’s hand, In a world where humanity couldn’t stand.
No tender embrace, no gentle care, Just the echoes of sorrow, lingering in the air. In the grip of hatred’s ruthless hold, A child’s dreams—forever cold.
Their nameless faces haunt the past, In the chambers of death, their innocence is cast. Yet in our hearts, their memory lives, A testament to the love each child gives.
Though tears may fall for those we’ve lost, Their spirits endure, whatever the cost. In the song of remembrance, their voices soar, A tribute to the children of war.
So let us vow, with every breath, To never forget, to honor their death. For in their innocence, we find our plea, To build a world where all children are free.
Rest in peace Willem Alvares (Wimpie) Vega.
Born in Amsterdam on 5 August 1939 and murdered in Sobibor on 21 May 1943. He reached the age of three.
The book burning in Germany on May 10, 1933, was a significant event orchestrated by the Nazi regime. It took place largely in Berlin, but similar events occurred in other cities across Germany. The Nazis, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, organized the burning of books deemed “un-German,” including those written by Jewish, communist, socialist, and other dissenting authors.
The goal of the book burning was to suppress ideas that contradicted Nazi ideology and to exert control over culture and education. The burning of books symbolized the suppression of intellectual freedom and the persecution of those who opposed the Nazi regime. It was a chilling precursor to the broader censorship and oppression that characterized the Nazi era. This event remains a stark reminder of the dangers of censorship and the importance of safeguarding intellectual freedom.
On 10 May 1933, National Socialist students organised book burnings at universities all over Germany. These actions were symbolic, directed against everything that the Nazis felt did not belong in Germany. Books by Jewish, left-wing, or pacifist writers such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Erich Maria Remarque went up in flames. Students in 34 university towns across Germany burned over 25,000 books.
The students sought to purify German literature of “foreign,” especially Jewish, and other immoral influences.
As early as two weeks before, American organizations like the American Jewish Congress knew of the planned book burnings and launched protests. With her books slated for the bonfires, Helen Keller confronted German students in an open letter: “History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds.” Similarly, novelist Sherwood Anderson, best-selling author Faith Baldwin, scriptwriter Erwin Cobb, and Nobel laureate Sinclair Lewis declared solidarity with the banned writers and publicly protested the book burnings. The next day, and in the weeks following, there was a massive reaction in the world press, especially since many other German university towns imitated this infamous act. German newspapers reported, in triumph, that Germany was beginning to purge itself of the alien and decadent corrupters of the German spirit, and newspapers and magazines abroad, from as far away as China and Japan, responded in surprise and shock. Even then, some knowledgeable journalists recalled the prediction of the poet Heinrich Heine, who had said a century earlier, “Where one burns books, one will soon burn people.”
In the effort to synchronize the literary community, Goebbels had a strong ally in the National Socialist German Students’ Association (Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund, or NSDStB). German university students were among the vanguard of the early Nazi movement, and in the late 1920s, many filled the ranks of various Nazi formations. The ultra-nationalism and antisemitism of middle-class, secular student organizations had been intense and vocal for decades. After World War I, many students opposed the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and found National Socialism a suitable vehicle for their political discontent and hostility.
Not all book burnings were on May 10, as the German Student Association had planned. Some were postponed a few days because of rain, others, based on local chapter preference, took place on June 21, the summer solstice, a traditional date for bonfire celebrations in Germany.
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In shadows deep, where memory weeps, A solemn vow, our conscience keeps. For in the annals of history’s scroll, A harrowing tale, the heart’s deep toll.
In silence, hear the echoes of despair, As anguish fills the somber air. In chambers choked with darkness dread, Lies the testament of the countless dead.
Whispers linger of horrors untold, Of innocence robbed, of stories cold. Yet amidst the ashes, a flicker of light, Resilience shines, a beacon bright.
From the depths of despair, hope arose, As heroes emerged, defiance chose. Their courage, a testament to human grace, In the darkest hour, they held their place.
Let us remember, with hearts sincere, The lives lost, the ones held dear. May their legacy forever endure, A solemn vow, we shall ensure.
For in the echoes of history’s cry, We pledge to never let them die. Holocaust Remembrance, a sacred vow, Lest we forget, we remember now.
One name to represent the millions.
Curt Simon Wolff was born in Bad Neuenahr, Germany on 18 September 1928. Murdered in Tröbitz on 6 May 1945. He reached the age of 16 years.
For Curt, it was a double tragedy. In early April 1945, prisoners from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were transferred to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. One of the three trains used for this was liberated by the Russian army near the village of Tröbitz. Many passengers did not survive this train journey. Of those who survived the train journey, a large number died as a result of the outbreak of the typhus epidemic. Curt was one of them, liberation had come too late. His family lived in the Netherlands when the war broke out. His mother was Dutch and died a few days later on May 11, 1945. Curt died one day after the Netherlands was liberated. Both liberations did not save his life.
On 5 May 1945, Mauthausen Concentration Camp was liberated by the US Army.
Just a simple poem to commemorate that day.
In Mauthausen’s shadow, where darkness did dwell, In the heart of despair, where horrors did swell, There came a day of courage, a day of light, When the chains of oppression were shattered in flight.
From the depths of anguish, where freedom seemed lost, Rose the spirit of resistance, no matter the cost. In the eyes of the weary, defiance did gleam, As they dared to dream of a world redeemed.
Through the barbed wire fences, they saw hope’s distant gleam, A beacon of liberation, like a radiant stream. With each step towards freedom, they reclaimed their might, Breaking the shackles of tyranny, banishing the night.
In the echoes of Mauthausen, the voices of the brave, Sing of resilience, of the souls they saved. Though the scars may linger, and memories remain, Their triumph stands eternal, a testament to pain.
So let us remember, the courage of that day, When the walls of oppression crumbled away. In the liberation of Mauthausen, let freedom resound, A triumph of humanity, on hallowed ground.
Dr. Mehak Burza, Head, Global Holocaust and Religious Studies, Global Centre for Religious Research, Denver, United States; Assistant Professor in English, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Although the Red Cross does important work, it often got it wrong in the past, and arguably in the present, when it’s about political positions. They appear to take one side—usually the side that controls the data.
One infamous example is the visit by the International Red Cross to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in 1944. The Nazis orchestrated a deceptive façade, presenting the camp as a model settlement to the Red Cross inspectors, who were not allowed to speak with the inmates freely. This visit resulted in a misleading report that downplayed the true nature of the camp and the Holocaust.
An inspection was demanded by the King of Denmark, following the deportation of 466 Danish Jews to Terezin in 1943.
In February 1944, the SS embarked on a “beautification” (German: Verschönerung) campaign to prepare the ghetto for the Red Cross visit. Many “prominent” prisoners and Danish Jews were re-housed in private, superior quarters. The streets were renamed and cleaned; sham shops and a school were set up; the SS encouraged the prisoners to perform an increasing number of cultural activities, which exceeded that of an ordinary town in peacetime. As part of the preparations, 7,503 people were sent to the family camp at Auschwitz in May; the transports targeted sick, elderly, and disabled people who had no place in the ideal Jewish settlement.
Maurice Rossel was a Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who visited Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in June 1944. His report on Theresienstadt has been a subject of controversy and criticism. Rossel’s report portrayed Theresienstadt as a “model ghetto” where Jews were supposedly well-treated, with adequate housing, food, and cultural activities. However, this depiction was highly misleading and failed to capture the true horrors of the Holocaust. Rossel admitted that he gave Theresienstadt a clean bill of health and would probably have done so again and that he was also given a tour of Auschwitz, which he did not realize was a death camp despite the sullen, haunted looks he received from the inmates.
Two delegates—from the International Red Cross and one from the Danish Red Cross—visited the ghetto, accompanied by Theresienstadt commandant SS First Lieutenant Karl Rahm and one of his deputies. The facility had been “cleaned up” and rearranged as a model village. Hints that all was not well included a bruise under the eye of the “mayor” of the “town,” a part played by Paul Eppstein, the Elders’ Council member representing German Jews. Despite these hints, the International Red Cross inspectors were taken in. This was in part because they expected to see ghetto conditions like those in occupied Poland with people starving in the streets and armed policemen on the perimeter.
For the Red Cross visit, even the SS Scharfuhrer [squad leader] Rudolph Haindl was nice to the children for the benefit of the camera…he posed for the camera, smiling, and not insisting that he be greeted by Jews from a distance of three steps, as he had demanded just the day before.
Margit Koretzova painted this while imprisoned at the Theresienstadt, and was murdered at the age of ten
The visitors were suitably impressed, and the reports after the visit were positive. Pleased with their success, the Nazis decided to create a “documentary-style” film about Terezín in the summer of 1944. Kurt Gerron, an inmate who had been a well-known actor and director, was put in charge of the filming of The Führer Gives a City to the Jews, but he was not allowed to edit the film or even view the developed footage.
This PAINTING by Bedrich Fritta, a prisoner at Terezín, depicts the “beautification” of the ghetto camp undertaken by the SS before the Red Cross visit in 1944
Two weeks after the movie was completed, he and other participants were sent to Auschwitz. Gerron was gassed soon after his arrival.
On December 19, 1996, the International Committee of the Red Cross today released copies of its World War II files, some of which provided verification that it knew of the persecution of Jews in Nazi concentration camps but felt powerless to speak out.
The files, 25,000 microfilmed pages, were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Red Cross said its knowledge about the treatment of Jews during World War II had been written about by Jean-Claude Favez in his book ”Une Mission Impossible.” The book was published in France in 1988 and later translated into German but never appeared in English. Some American scholars and Holocaust survivors in the United States were also aware of the Red Cross’s knowledge, but generally, it was not known more widely.
The Red Cross has long acknowledged its awareness of the treatment of Jews during World War II, maintaining that if it had disclosed what it knew, it would have lost its ability to inspect prisoner-of-war camps on both sides of the front.
No one at the museum has had the opportunity to study the material, said Radu Ioanid, the museum’s specialist on Holocaust survivors. But Mr. Ioanid said documents that he had briefly seen disclosed that the Red Cross, which is supposed to maintain neutrality, had rescued thousands of Jews in Hungary and Romania and had assisted Jews at a concentration camp in Ravensbruck, Germany.
For the most part, however, the Red Cross’s assistance came late in the war and beneficiaries were relatively few compared with the millions of people who died in the camps.
”The International Committee of the Red Cross has shared responsibility for the silence of the world community,” Georges Willemin, the organization’s archivist, said today. ”Could we have gone further? Could we have done more? I don’t know.”
The documents are in two groups, one dealing with Jewish prisoners and the other with hostages and political detainees. Mr. Willemin said both groups of files contained many first-hand accounts and reports on the persecution of Jews and political prisoners from 1939 to 1945.
Asked why it had taken more than 50 years for the organization’s information to be released, Mr. Willemin replied, ”Because it takes time to face your own history.”
Miles Lerman, chairman of the Holocaust Museum, said lives could have been saved if the Red Cross had spoken out during the war, but Mr. Lerman also cautioned against condemning the organization.
”There is no question about it,” he said. ”People, good people, decided to look the other way, including people in the Red Cross in Britain and the United States.
”Always when people speak out, lives are saved. ”I wouldn’t describe them as villains but as part of the world that found it more convenient to remain silent.”
Another scholar at the museum, Randolph L. Braham, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Political Science at the City University of New York, wrote in his book, ”The Politics of Genocide” (Columbia University Press, 1994): ”The International Red Cross feared that intervention in support of the Jews might jeopardize its traditional activities on behalf of prisoners of war.”
Mr. Ioanid said, ”There is no doubt that the Red Cross let itself be used by the Nazis.”
He gave as an example the ”positive reports” that Red Cross inspectors wrote about the concentration camp at Terezin, Czechoslovakia, and said the organization had been ”clearly manipulated.”
To all outward appearances, Terezin, also known as Theresienstadt, was an unthreatening, model camp that even had its own symphony orchestra. In reality, it was a way station for Jews and other prisoners headed to the death camp at Auschwitz.
To its credit, Mr. Ioanid said, the Red Cross took 3,000 to 3,500 Jewish orphans from Romania to Palestine on ships in 1944 when the Romanians realized their German allies were going to lose the war and relaxed their anti-Jewish campaign. By then, however, half of Romania’s 760,000 Jews had already been killed.
Mr. Willemin said the Red Cross’s decision to release its wartime records ”was an important change for an organization that through its history has been inclined to protect the privacy of its records so as not to run any risk of impairing its humanitarian work and its reputation for impartiality and neutrality.”
The camp became a model city for six hours while International Red Cross delegates visited on June 23, 1944. Unfortunately, the International Red Cross seems not to have learned from the past.
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History of Sorts 
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