Holocaust – Page 3 – History of Sorts

In the End—Love is Stronger than Hate and Death

The title is an excerpt from the diary of Etty Hillesum. Following are a few excerpts of several Holocaust diaries. What I find striking—is that despite the horrors, they still had a glimmer of hope.

Anne Frank
June 12, 1942: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”

July 15, 1944: “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

December 24, 1943: “What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.”

February 23, 1944: “I’ve found that there is always some beauty left — in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.”

March 29, 1944: “It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, and died in 1945 at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.

Rutka Laskier
February 5, 1943: “I cannot grasp that it is already 1943, four years since this hell began.”

February 20, 1943: “I have a feeling that I am writing for the last time. There is an Aktion [a Nazi operation] in town. I’m not allowed to go out, nobody is allowed to. The town has been cut off. Telephone connections have been cut off too. Jews are being taken out of their homes. There are constant shootings.”

April 24, 1943: “Today I’m worried. When will this misfortune end? It’s not a life, I am existing. Father is worried, because people have been taken away in Przemysl. Maniu [Rutka’s sister] wants to go to Israel. Mother wants to escape to Hungary.”

April 25, 1943: “I felt the air was again charged with unease, with horror. The sun was setting, and the silence so great that I thought I would hear my own heartbeats. Then shots rang out, a lot of shots, a hundred, no, thousands, each one echoing back from the woods, from the hills, from the distant city.”

Ruth Rutka was born on June 12, 1929, in Krakow, Poland, and died in 1943 at Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Chaim Kaplan
October 16, 1939: “A week has passed since the curse of war first descended upon us, and what a week! What suffering! What agony! Warsaw, the city of the wise, has become a city of despair, of darkness, of hunger, and of plague. […] We find ourselves in a dark tunnel without light, and we are swallowed up in darkness.”

December 7, 1940: “Life in the ghetto is intolerable. With the passage of each day, the people grow weaker and weaker. The little food we have is hardly enough to sustain us. The streets are filled with the sick and the dying. Death has become our constant companion.”

February 16, 1941: “The Germans continue to tighten their grip on the ghetto. The walls grow higher, the restrictions more severe. We are prisoners in our own city, condemned to a life of suffering and humiliation. Yet, despite it all, the spirit of the people remains unbroken. We refuse to surrender to despair.”

June 1, 1942: “The deportations have begun. Every day, trains filled with Jews leave the ghetto, bound for unknown destinations. We know not where they go, only that they never return. The streets are filled with tears, with cries of anguish. Yet, even in the face of such unspeakable horror, we must find the strength to carry on.”

April 19, 1943 (during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising): “The ghetto is in flames, the streets filled with the sound of gunfire. The brave fighters of the Jewish resistance are battling the Germans, refusing to surrender to tyranny and oppression. Though the odds are against us, we will not go quietly into the night. We will fight until our last breath, until freedom is ours once more.”

Chaim Kaplan was born on September 19, 1880, in Horoyszcze, Poland, and died at Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland in 1942.

Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish woman living in Amsterdam during the Holocaust, and her diary provides a remarkable and introspective account of her spiritual and emotional journey during that time. Here are some excerpts from her diary:

July 20, 1942: “We should be willing to act as a balm for all wounds. Sometimes a single warm word is enough to heal an open sore.”

August 18, 1941: “In the end, love is stronger than hate and death. It is as strange and mysterious as life itself. It is the force that holds the universe together.”

November 29, 1942: “Sometimes I feel as if I am carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. But then I remember that I am only human, and that I can only do what I can. The rest is in the hands of fate.”

March 15, 1943: “I have made a decision to embrace life fully, no matter what the circumstances. Even in the darkest moments, there is still beauty to be found, still joy to be experienced. I will not let the darkness consume me.”

September 3, 1943: “I am learning to find peace within myself, to accept the things I cannot change, and to find strength in the face of adversity. It is a difficult journey, but one that I am determined to take.”

Etty Hillesum was born in Middleburg, Netherlands on January 15, 1914. She died on November 30, 1943 in Oświęcim, Poland.

Sources

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/who-was-anne-frank

February 6, 1943 – Rutka Laskier

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kaplan-chaim-aron

https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/jewishaccounts/chaimkaplandiary.html

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/hillesum-etty

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Amongst the Poplar Trees—A Dachau Poem

Last year in June, I had the chance to visit Dachau, for lack of a better word, it was the highlight of my year. Strangely enough, it inspired me—in a creative way.

In shadows cast by history’s hand,
Where sorrow’s echo still commands,
Lies a place where darkness roams,
A haunting tale of Dachau’s home.

Amongst the polar trees, a silent vow,
Whispers of souls in silence now,
Where barbed wire weaves its somber tale,
And cries of anguish still prevail.

In Dachau’s fields, where freedom fell,
A solemn hymn, a tolling bell,
Where names are etched on walls of stone,
Each one is a story, each one alone.

The winds that sweep through rusted wire,
Carry echoes of a world on fire,
Of faces etched with silent screams,
Lost within a torment’s seams.

Yet in this place of deepest pain,
Springs forth a hope, a gentle strain,
For memory’s flame can never die,
Though shadows loom, it still can fly.

So let us honor those who fell,
Their stories are whispered, we retell,
In Dachau’s solemn, hallowed ground,
Where peace and memory are found.

Murdered—March 31 at Auschwitz

Fritz Beer, was born in Berlin, on 28 May 1927. He was murdered at Auschwitz on 31 March 1944, He was 16 years old.

Emanuel Louis Kats was born in Apeldoorn, on 5 April 1915. He was murdered at Auschwitz on 31 March 1944, His occupation was a tailor. He was 28 at the time of his death.

His wife, Henderina Kats-Eliasar was born in Amsterdam on 26 March 1921, Her occupation was that of seamstress. They murdered her at Auschwitz on 19 November 1943. She had reached the age of 22.

Simon Goudeketting was born in Amsterdam on 1 December 1892. He was a salesman before the Nazis murdered him at Auschwitz, upon his arrival on 31 March 1944. He was 51 years old.

Hans Peter Schürmann was born in Wuppertal on 10 January 1914. He was murdered at Auschwitz on 31 March 1944. He reached the age of 30.

Sophia Pais was born in Amsterdam on 17 November 1919. Her occupation was that of a cutter. She was murdered at Auschwitz on 31 March 1944 at the age of 24.

These were just a handful of the approximately 100,000 Jews who were Dutch or had been living in the Netherlands, that were murdered by the Nazis.

Source

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/search?mode=cards&qs=#eyJjYXRlZ29yeSI6W10sImNvbnRlbnRHcm91cHMiOltdLCJwYWdlIjo5LCJzb3J0aW5nIjoiIiwiYWR2YW5jZWRmaWx0ZXJzIjp7InN1ck5hbWUiOm51bGwsImZpcnN0TmFtZSI6bnVsbCwiYmlydGhDaXR5IjpudWxsLCJkZWF0aENpdHkiOiJBdXNjaHdpdHoiLCJyZXNpZGVuY2VDaXR5IjpudWxsLCJyZXNpZGVuY2VTdHJlZXQiOm51bGwsIm9jY3VwYXRpb24iOm51bGwsImJpcnRoWWVhciI6bnVsbCwiYmlydGhNb250aCI6bnVsbCwiYmlydGhEYXkiOm51bGwsImRlYXRoWWVhciI6MTk0NCwiZGVhdGhNb250aCI6MywiZGVhdGhEYXkiOjMxLCJkZWNlYXNlQWdlIjpudWxsfX0=

A Rose in Bergen-Belsen

In the solemn and haunting grounds of Bergen-Belsen, where the echoes of a dark past resonate, exists an unexpected symbol of hope amidst the memories of suffering and loss: a single rose. This rose, though seemingly insignificant in the vastness of the camp’s history, carries within its delicate petals a story of resilience and defiance against the atrocities of humanity.

Amid despair, amidst the barbed wire fences and crumbling barracks, this rose blooms, its vibrant crimson hue stark against this backdrop of desolation. Its presence defies the horrors that once consumed this place, serving as a silent testament to the endurance of the human spirit.

Planted perhaps by an anonymous hand, its origins shrouded in mystery, the rose stands as a beacon of remembrance. It whispers tales of courage and survival, reminding visitors of the individuals who once walked these grounds, their lives unjustly taken but their spirits refusing to be extinguished.

As visitors solemnly tread the paths of Bergen-Belsen, their eyes catch sight of a solitary rose, a symbol that amidst the darkest of times, beauty and hope can still emerge. Its fragrance mingled with the heavy air of sorrow. It offers a fleeting moment of solace, a reminder that even in the most harrowing circumstances, humanity’s capacity for kindness and compassion endures.

The rose of Bergen-Belsen stands not only as a symbol of remembrance but also as a call to action, urging future generations to strive for a world where such atrocities can never again take root. Its presence serves as a poignant reminder that while the scars of history may never fully heal, they can inspire us to create a future built upon empathy, understanding, and peace.

Source

The “Trawniki Men”

The history of the Trawniki Men stands as a chilling testament to the banality of evil and the role that ordinary individuals can play in perpetrating atrocities on a massive scale. While their actions may have faded into obscurity for many, it is essential to remember their complicity in the Holocaust and to honor the memory of their countless victims. By confronting this dark chapter of history, we reaffirm our commitment—never forget the horrors of the past and strive for a future built on justice, compassion, and human dignity.

Trawniki Men refers to a group of men primarily from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries. During World War II, the Nazis recruited them. They received their name after the Trawniki Training Camp, located in Poland. It was where they received their indoctrination and military training.

The recruitment of the Trawniki Men began in 1941 as the Nazi regime sought to bolster its forces for the implementation of their genocidal policies, particularly in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. These men were often former prisoners of war, volunteers, or coerced individuals who were promised better treatment or privileges in exchange for their collaboration.

The primary role of the Trawniki Men was to assist the SS Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads tasked with exterminating Jews, Roma, and other targeted groups. They were involved in a range of activities, including rounding up victims, guarding ghettos and concentration camps, and actively participating in mass shootings and deportations. Their knowledge of local languages and terrain made them valuable assets to the Nazi regime in carrying out its murderous campaigns with ruthless efficiency.

The Trawniki Men were directly complicit in some of the most heinous crimes committed during the Holocaust. They played a key role in the systematic murder of millions of innocent civilians, often showing little hesitation or remorse in carrying out their orders. Their participation in mass shootings, deportations to death camps, and other acts of brutality left an indelible mark on the annals of history.

One infamous example of their involvement in the massacre was at Babi Yar, a ravine near Kiev, Ukraine. There more than 33,000 Jews were slaughtered in two days in September 1941. Trawniki men were among those responsible for carrying out the executions, demonstrating the extent of their culpability in the Holocaust.

With the end of World War II and the collapse of the Nazi regime, many Trawniki Men attempted to evade justice by blending back into civilian life or fleeing to other countries. However, in the ensuing years, efforts were made to identify and prosecute those who had participated in Nazi crimes.

One significant legal case involving the Trawniki Men was the 1961 trial of Ivan Demjanjuk in Israel. Demjanjuk, a former Trawniki guard, was accused of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka Extermination Camp known as “Ivan the Terrible.” Although he denied the charges, he was ultimately convicted in 1988, highlighting the ongoing pursuit of justice for those complicit in the Holocaust.

The legacy of the Trawniki Men serves as a grim reminder of the depths of human depravity and the ease with which ordinary individuals can be drawn into committing acts of unspeakable evil under the influence of authoritarian regimes. Their collaboration with the Nazis underscores the importance of vigilance in the face of tyranny and the necessity of holding perpetrators of genocide accountable for their actions.

Sources

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/trawniki

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2020/01/23/how-department-justice-team-exposed-nazis-hiding-america

https://academic.oup.com/hgs/article-abstract/25/1/1/674673

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The Evil of Amon Göth

The Evil of Amon Göth

Behind the Star

From the 3rd of May 1942, the Nazis made it mandatory to wear a yellow cloth star, called the “Star of David,” in the Netherlands. This measure made it easy to identify Jewish people and was intended to stigmatize and dehumanize them.

These stars were printed on inexpensive yellow cotton, in De Nijverheid, a textile factory, in the Dutch city of Enschede that had previously belonged to a Jewish family. The company had been confiscated from them shortly before and placed under German supervision. The around 100,000 yellow stars needed in the Netherlands were probably printed on the material pictured above, a 10,000-meter roll. Production most likely took no more than a day. The sale of these stars went for 4 cents each. It was a very profitable business. In addition to the purchase price, Jews had to turn in a textile ration coupon.

Behind the stars were human beings just like you and me.

Human beings from different ages, sizes, sexes, and backgrounds.

Behind the stars—were human beings who needed food and water to live, just like any other human being.

Human beings who needed oxygen.

Behind the stars were dentists, teachers, doctors, nurses, and postmen—all helping everyone, regardless, in society.

Human beings who contributed in talents and services.

Behind the stars were students.

Young human beings who had not developed fully yet, just like any other students.

None of these people, who were singled out and often murdered, were ever a threat to society. The real threat to society was those who betrayed, arrested, and murdered them.

We should never think that anyone is more or less than us. We are all the same—our differences make us who we are, and allow us to build our strength.

Alas, this lesson is yet to be learned.

Just remember—next time it could be you behind a star or any other symbol.

Sources

Roll of ‘Yellow Star’ Fabric

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/achter-de-ster-beeldbank/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&rows=25&page=1&sort=random%7B1711654690053%7D%20asc

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The Evil of Colonne Henneicke

The Evil of Colonne Henneicke

Transport 70 from the Drancy Transit Camp, France to Auschwitz-Birkenau

Before I go into the main story, I’d like you to look at the photograph above. Drancy Transit Camp was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews for deportation to extermination camps during the World War II German occupation of France. However, as you can see, there is only one uniformed person in the photo—a French police officer. It is a point I have made many times before, and I will make it again. Without the help of people in the occupied countries, the Nazis would not have been able to carry out the murders on such a large scale/ Many of the non-Germans were happy to participate in the murder and persecution of Jews, Roma, LGBT, disabled, etc.

On March 27, 1944, a transport left Drancy with the end destination Auschwitz Birkenau—the route of that transport.

Before reaching Auschwitz-Birkenau, the train passed eight or so stations. I don’t know if the train stopped at any of them. However, I presume it may have stopped at some of the stations. Rarely mentioned—every time that train stopped, the people inside had thoughts of fear or joy. Fear for the unknown, the uncertainty of what was about to happen. Joy because they may have thought they would get off the train, and perhaps the ordeal may be over. The psychological terror of that journey, and all the other journeys, is often forgotten.

There were two rail companies involved with Transport 70. Unsurprisingly, the German Reich railways, Deutsche Reichbahn. The other is the SNCF. The French National Railway Company, SNCF, Société Nationale des chemins de fer français. SNCF was formed in 1938, following the nationalization of France’s five main railway companies.

The French state-owned trains and state-paid rail workers were responsible for carrying approximately 76,000 Jews from France to Germany and the East during World War II. Only a handful returned.

According to the list prepared in the Drancy Transit Camp before the departure, there were 1,000 Jews on Transport 70. A copy of the list was sent to the Union of French Jews (Union générale des israélites de France [UGIF]), recovered by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Centre (Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine [CDJC]) after the war, and edited by Serge Klarsfeld in his 1978 work, Mémorial de la déportation des Juifs de France. However, Klarsfeld’s Le Calendrier de la persécution des Juifs de France records a total of 1,025 deportees (609 men and 416 women). Klarsfeld also notes that the Jews deported on this transport were arrested during roundups in the Paris region—the Isère, the Savoie, the Lyon region, Vichy, Toulouse, Marseille, and Côte d’Azur.

I won’t be able to go into the 1025 stories, but I will use Daniel Tytelman to commemorate all murders.

There is some confusion about Daniel’s age. Yad Vashem has two birth years, 1928 and 1930, but looking at that picture of him, he doesn’t look 14. After research, I found a document that puts his birthdate as April 11, 1928. nearly 40 years before I was born, just off by one day.

Daniel was murdered when he was still 15. There are also two versions of the way he was murdered. He was transported on March 27 from Drancy to Auschwitz. He died, according to one version, shot while trying to escape while the train was slowing down at Bar-le-Duc. According to another, he was gassed upon his arrival on April 1.

Only 15% of all those deported that day survived the Holocaust.

Sources

https://www.deportesdelyon.fr/les-archives-par-famille-n-z/enfants-tytelman

https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/deportations/5092642

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11751246

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Hanns Albin Rauter—Pure Evil

It is important how you report on history. No one expects things to be always 100% accurate, but facts that can easily be verified should always be correct. In the case of Hanns Albin Rauter, I have seen him described as the Dutch head of Police during World War II, this is not true, he wasn’t Dutch, but Austrian. On Wikipedia I had seen the date of his execution as March 24, 1949, this is also incorrect, the date is a day later March 25, 1949.

He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands during the period of 1940-1945. He was responsible for the repression of the Dutch resistance and supervised the deportation of the Dutch Jews to the concentration and death camps. Some sites refer to the occupied Netherlands, I don’t like that term, because that is giving an excuse to many of the Dutch who also played a part in governing the country as part of the Nazi regime.

On March 29, 1943, an order issued by Hanns Albin Rauter was published in most of the Dutch newspapers, “As of 10 April 1943, Jews are forbidden to stay in the provinces of Friesland, Drenthe, Groningen, Overijssel, Gelderland, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, and Zeeland. Jews who are currently in the aforementioned provinces must go to camp Vught.”

Anne Frank wrote of the news in her diary: ‘Rauter, some German bigwig, recently gave a speech. “All Jews must be out of the German-occupied territories before July 1st. The province of Utrecht will be cleansed of Jews (as if they were cockroaches) between April 1st and May 1st, and the provinces of North and South Holland between May 1st and June 1st. These poor people are being shipped off to filthy slaughterhouses like a herd of sick and neglected cattle. But I’ll say no more on the subject. My own thoughts give me nightmares!”

As I said earlier there were many Dutch involved in governing the Netherlands during World War 2. One of them was the leader of the NSB, the Dutch Nazi Union. Anton Mussert. Seen above on the left standing next to Adriaan Anton Hanns Albin Rauter and Arthur Seyss-Inquart,

Rauter was the main instigator of terror through summary arrests and internment in the Netherlands. The SS set up a concentration camp named Herzogenbusch after the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch but located in the neighboring town of Vught gave the camp its name—Kamp Vught. In total this camp detained 31,000 people, of whom about 735 were killed.

Also, his SS manned a so-called polizeiliches Durchgangslager or police transit camp near Amersfoort, known as Kamp Amersfoort, in fact, a concentration camp, where approximately 35,000 people were detained and maltreated and 650 people (Dutch and Russian) died.

Rauter’s SS also managed the Kamp Westerbork (Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Westerbork), the place from which 110,000 plus Dutch Jews were deported to Nazi concentration and extermination camps, mainly Auschwitz and Sobibor.

75% of all Dutch Jews and Jews living in the Netherlands were murdered by the Nazis. Additionally, almost 20,000 Dutch people were arrested because of their work with the resistance, of which, two thousand resistance fighters were executed. Others were sent to detention centers or to concentration camps. Hanns Albin Rauter was one of the main architects.

On the night of 6 March 1945, Rauter was severely injured in a resistance attack. A day later, the Germans executed 263 political prisoners in retaliation. When the war ended, Rauter was still recovering in a German hospital, where he was arrested by the British. Rauter was handed over to the Dutch government by the British, in 1948, and was tried by a special court in The Hague. Rauter was sentenced to death on May 4th, 1948. He appealed to the Court of Cassation on May 12, 1948. The case was tried for the Bijzondere Raad van Cassatie (‘special court of cassation’) on October 20th and 22nd, 1948 in the building of the Hoge Raad (‘supreme court’) of the Netherlands. The death sentence was confirmed on January 12, 1949. He was executed on March 25, 1949.

Rauter, like several other high-ranking Nazis, had a scar on his cheek. This was not caused by the war but was as a result of dueling. These so-called dueling scars (or “Schmisse” in German) have been seen as a badge of honor since as early as 1825. Alternatively referred to as “Mensur scars,” “smite,” “Schimitte,” or “Renommierschmiss,” they became popular among upper-class Austrians and Germans involved in academic fencing at the start of the 20th century. Consequently, many of these same upper-class men who fashioned them found themselves wearing German army uniforms in both World War I and II. German military laws permitted men to wage duels of honor until World War I. During the Third Reich, the Mensur was prohibited at all universities following the party line.