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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I appreciate that the speed of communication in 1945 was not as fast as it is now—but the Wehrmacht soldiers in Amsterdam on May 7, 1945, would definitely have heard that on May 4, 1945, Field Marshal Montgomery accepted the official surrender of the German army in Northwest Europe at his headquarters on Lüneburger Heath in Germany. Then, on May 5, 1945, while Germany had already officially surrendered, General Blaskowitz in Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen signed the capitulation.
However, as thousands of people gathered to celebrate the end of the war and the arrival of Allied forces, German soldiers suddenly began firing into the crowd from nearby buildings. The exact reasons for the shooting remain somewhat unclear—but it’s believed that the German troops, who had not yet formally surrendered, fired in response to the jubilant atmosphere and possibly out of frustration or defiance.
While the local citizens celebrated on Dam Square, German soldiers of the Kriegsmarine were trapped inside the Groote Club (Grand Club) building, a large building at the corner of the Dam and Kalverstraat. In the nearby Paleisstraat, local forces arrested two German soldiers. One of them refused to surrender his weapon and fired a shot. German soldiers then appeared in the windows, on the balcony and on the roof of the Groote Club and started firing into the crowd with machine guns.[4]
Large-scale panic broke out in Dam Square and most of the crowd dispersed via the Nieuwendijk, Rokin and Damrak. Some people sought cover behind street lights and other objects, including a small truck and a barrel organ known as ‘t Snotneusje.[2][3]
After the initial shots, the Germans and resistance forces began to exchange fire. In total, the shooting lasted about two hours, until about 5pm. Members of the Scouts, Red Cross and nurses attempted to aid the victims.
The shooting lasted for two hours and ended around 5pm that day. The shooting resulted in numerous casualties, including deaths and injuries among civilians who had come to Dam Square to rejoice in the liberation of their city. The incident marred what should have been a moment of joy and marked the last violent act of the German occupiers in Amsterdam before their complete surrender.
It still remains unclear exactly how the shooting stopped.
According to some sources, Major Overhoff, commander of the local forces, convinced German Captain Bergmann to accompany him to the Groote Club and order the Germans to cease fire. Other sources say that the incident had ended earlier, once local forces fired bazookas at the building (or at least threatened to fire them).
The shooting was never fully investigated. After the event, local newspapers reported between 19 and 22 fatalities, but no official list of casualties was ever released. Stichting Memorial voor Damslachtoffers 7 mei 1945, an organisation founded to commemorate the event, has since identified a total of 32 people who died as a result of the event, not including German casualties. Twenty-six died immediately while five more died later of gunshot wounds. The last known victim died on June 22. The actual number of fatalities may be higher; in some cases, it had not yet been determined whether the death was related to the Dam Square shootout. The full number of wounded is also unknown; newspaper reports gave between 100 and 120 wounded.
In the photograph above you see a little girl walking away from some people that were trying to take cover. That little girl is Tiny van der Hoek. This is her recollection of that dreadful day.
‘My name is Tiny van der Hoek. I was 2 and a half years old and I was standing at the ice cream cart on the corner of Nieuwendijk Street and Dam Square, where I had just got an ice cream.
Immediately the ice cream fell on the ground to my great disappointment… People ran or stood behind something. I saw that from the ‘Groote Club’ (Grand Club). At the time this was the place where German flags were hanging and German soldiers were sitting. They were to blame for not having ice cream anymore so I went there. My mother was left with the ice cream cart.
Walking on Dam Square, towards the Groote Club, between running people, but exactly against the direction that they went, I was already on my way when I was suddenly picked up by a gentleman. He took me in his arms, put his jacket around me, and ran towards Nieuwendijk where I lived, at the time.
My mother came back—but nowhere inside was there shelter, everything was full, and we were refused entry. That gentleman saw that there was still room under the billiards in that shop. He kicked in a window, my mother crawled inside and took me in and we had shelter under the billiards. That gentleman disappeared towards Dam Square. Was he going to provide more help or find shelter himself? I do not know.
In my memory, there were always “slashes”. Later, in an amateur video recording made by Bert Haanstra, I understood that those “slash people” behind the lampposts were looking for cover behind each other. During my “mission”—complaining about having no more ice cream—I was focused on the corner window of the “Groote Club.”
It’s the window I still look at when I am in Amsterdam, where in my memory people on the street were resting. I didn’t realize then that I was walking past injured or dead people, so mesmerized I was to tell those evil people how mean I found them. Fortunately, I was picked up and brought to safety. This event on May 7th 1945 is still on my mind and of course, it was only later that I understood what was really going on.”
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The Battle of Castle Itter is a remarkable event from World War II, often referred to as one of the strangest battles of the war. It occurred on May 5, 1945, during the conflict in Europe’s final days.
Castle Itter, located in Austria, was being used as a prison for high-profile French prisoners, including former prime ministers, generals, and other prominent figures. As the war drew to a close, the situation in the region became chaotic, with the Allied advance and the collapse of Nazi Germany leading to confusion and shifting allegiances.
In early May 1945, a small group of Wehrmacht soldiers—led by Major Josef Gangl—found themselves in an unusual position. They were stationed near Castle Itter and had received word that the SS was planning to execute the prisoners held there. Gangl, sympathetic to the prisoners’ plight, decided to defy orders and protect them.
The purpose of the prison was to hold high-profile prisoners that the Reich deemed valuable. A notable prisoner was the tennis player Jean Borotra, French VIP prisoners, French Resistance member François de La Rocque, and many Eastern European prisoners from Dachau, who performed maintenance and other menial tasks. Also among them were former Prime Ministers Paul Reynaud and Edouard Daladier, General Maxim Weygand, former Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, and Madame Weygan, wife of General Weygan.
What ensued was a remarkable alliance between former enemies. Major Gangl and his men joined forces with the prisoners, who included French resistance fighters and American soldiers. Together, they defended the castle against an attack by SS Forces, who were intent on carrying out the prisoners’ executions.
A highly decorated Wehrmacht officer, Gangl had become opposed to the Nazis and was collaborating with the Austrian resistance.
Gangl had intended to free the castle prisoners but was unwilling to sacrifice the few troops he had in a suicidal attack on a heavily defended fortress manned by the SS. Instead, he was conserving them to protect residents from SS reprisals, in which troops shot at any window displaying either a white or Austrian flag and summarily executed males as deserters, traitors, and defeatists. His hopes were pinned on the Americans reaching Wörgl and promptly surrendering to them. Instead, he approached them under a white flag and asked for their help.
Around the same time, a reconnaissance unit of four Sherman tanks of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division of the US XXI Corps.
The battle began to kindle when, on May 3, the Yugoslav handyman Zvonimir Čučković and the Communist Resistance member—left the castle on the pretense of an errand for Commander Sebastian Wimmer. Čučković carried a letter with him, in English, that he intended to give to the first American he found, which asked for Allied help.
The closest town, Wörgl, was still under German command, so Čučković traveled towards Innsbruck, 40 miles away. That same evening, Čučković reached the city’s outskirts and encountered an advance party of the 409th Infantry Regiment of the American 103rd Infantry Division of the US VI corps, whom he told about the prison. While they could not mount the rescue operation themselves, they passed the message on to their headquarters for an answer.
At dawn the next day, a heavily armored rescue operation was mounted, but they were forced to stop upon encountering heavy shelling after Jenbach. Around the same time, with the failure of Čučković to return, Commander Sebastian Wimmer fled his post in fear he had been discovered. With Wimmer gone, the SS-Totenkopfverbände guards soon departed their posts. The prisoners soon took over the castle and armed themselves with what weaponry remained.
Gangl sought to maintain his unit’s position in the town to protect residents from SS reprisals. Nazi loyalists would shoot at any window displaying either a white flag or an Austrian flag, and would summarily execute males as possible deserters. Gangl’s hopes were pinned on the Americans reaching Wörgl promptly so he could surrender to them.[21] Instead, he would now have to approach them under a white flag to ask for their help.
Around the same time, a reconnaissance unit of four Sherman tanks of the 23rd Tank Battalion, 12th Armored Division of the US XXI Corps, under the command of Lieut. Lee had reached Kufstein, Austria, 13 km (8 mi) to the north.
There in the town square, it idled while waiting for the 12th to be relieved by the 36th Infantry Division. Asked to provide relief by Gangl, Lee did not hesitate, volunteering to lead the rescue mission and immediately earning permission from his HQ.
The battle was intense and chaotic, with the defenders heavily outnumbered and outgunned. However, they managed to hold out until reinforcements from the 142nd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 36th Division arrived, effectively ending the threat from the SS.
Unfortunately, Gangl was fatally hit by a sniper while trying to get former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud out of the line of fire. At around 4:00 p.m., a relief unit from the 142nd US Infantry Regiment reached the castle and defeated the besiegers, capturing about 100 SS men.
The Battle of Castle Itter was not the first time US soldiers and German Wehrmacht soldiers worked together. One week earlier on April 28, 1945, a coalition of American and German soldiers worked to save the famous white Lipizzaner horses from an advancing Russian army. It was called Operation Cowboy.
Both events are rare, nearly bizarre, examples of cooperation between unlikely allies amid war. It highlights the complexities and fluidity of the final days of World War II in Europe, as well as the resilience and courage of those involved.
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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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A picture tells a thousand words but never tells the full story. Following are the words of some of those who survived the worst crime ever committed, the Holocaust.
Toby Biber “This one morning, orders – ‘get out, get out’ – and whatever. By then we only had a few bits belongings – you, we grabbed the belongings and lined up to march to Plaszow. Plaszow is the outskirts of Krakow, and it, in Plaszow children were not allowed, older people were not allowed and there were shot on the spot. But some people took a chance and smuggled in some children in the bag, in the rucksack, whatever way the could. Plaszow was a Jewish cemetery. When we got to Plaszow, as we arrived through the gates and it wasn’t even ready – it was no huts even built for us – we saw already three men hanging. Frightened, I, I just don’t know, and when I think back, we must have been completely already numb, without no feeling, we just obeyed and did what we had to do. There were inspections by the Gestapo. So the children had no right to be there, so for some, something happened that they decided, they knew that, they found out that there are children in the camp, so they decided to set up a nursery. So of course the parents were glad, the children would be able, will be looked after in the nursery, so of course the children were put there. And it didn’t take long, maybe two weeks after, we were standing on the appell, and the music was blaring – always in the most terrifying moments there was music. We see from a distance a lorry, an open lorry, with the children. Next to me was standing a mother with twins, two little girls, if there were 10, on the appell and they were going around looking – the Gestapo – if there was any children, or anybody that shouldn’t be there, and these two children clinging to their mother, ‘mother they’re coming, they’re going to take us away’. And so they did. And this lorry, while we were standing there on the appell, this lorry with the children drove off and never seen again. And that’s how those parents lost their children, with a trick that the children will be looked after. Well when I think back today – I don’t know – how can anybody survive? The first two years when we were still at home, with family, and knowing the peasants in our town, it wasn’t so bad, because the peasants were always helping, bringing us food, in exchange for other goods, but in the camps, that was impossible. And how we survived on this black water in the morning that was supposed to be coffee, or the grey soup at lunchtime with the little square of black bread that was like lime, and when we ate it, we didn’t feel any different. It didn’t satisfy in any way, and we were forever hungry…If you’re tired, you’re scared, you’re hungry, lack of sleep and always in fear from one minute to the next, we didn’t know what’s going to happen to us.”
Premysl Dobias “When we came to the railway station in Linz, before we went, we were taken out, we were cuffed together, two and two. We were taken and lined up on the railway station. I recall vividly that there were mostly women sitting waiting for trains, when one of them came closer and ask one of the armed officers who was guarding us, who we were. And he told her in German, I remember that closely, because I was nearby: ‘Das sind die Feinde unseres Fuhrers’ – these are the enemies of our Fuhrer. The woman then came and spat on us and the others, the other women then star…asked her what happened, she told him them who we were, then about a dozen of them came closer to us and all of them were spitting on us and shouting abuse. The SS told us in German that they needed some prisoners who knew, who were from the farm who knew how to feed pigs, and they would then come every day from the camp direct to that farm to look after the pigs. Obviously everybody wanted to get away from the hard work in the camp and there were – all of them were volunteers. The SS told us he had to have only those who were from a farm and who knew, who spoke German. That eliminated a few Spaniards who were in the group, but we were mostly Czechs, and even some Czechs didn’t know German. So finally the SS guard selected about, oh twenty prisoners, lined them up and I overheard the other one telling him: ‘Du hast zu viele’ – you have too many. So he started to push back a few, he pushed back two Spaniards, then he came to me, he pushed me back, and I was hoping so much to be able to be working on a farm, I was so hungry I hoped that I could actually eat with the pigs. So I came forward and in German, at attention, I told him that I was born on a farm and all I did all my life was feeding pigs – of course it was not true. But he very cruelly kicked me, I still have the mark on my leg, and pushed me back. When he had finally selected about a dozen, I believe dozen to fifteen, he told them: ‘turn right, without step walk to that farm’. And both of them remained behind the group which was marching very happily to the farm. That part of the camp was separated by guards and the guards had machine-guns to guard the outlines of the camp. We were very upset that we were left behind, and looked with envy at those who were marching to that farm. But suddenly we heard machine-gun shooting from two sides and with horror we noticed that all the prisoners who were marching to that farm, crossed the so-called border and were gunned down dead. I could have been one of them. Then the SS turned back, laughingly came back to our Kommando, we again stood at attention and one of them laughingly said ‘who else knows how to feed pigs?’ That is an experience which will haunt me all my life. It’s a tremendous nightmare, nightmare to such an extent, that I could have never believed that a nation, civilized nation, which gave the world musicians, poets, experts in every field of science, how they could have been fooled by a maniac like Hitler is something which I will never understand.”
Magdalena Kusserow One of 11 children, Magdalena was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. When she was 7, her family moved to the small town of Bad Lippspringe. Her father was a retired postal official and her mother was a teacher. Their home was known as “The Golden Age” because it was the headquarters of the local Jehovah’s Witness congregation. By age 8 Magdalena could recite many Bible verses by heart.
1933-39: The Kusserow’s loyalty was to Jehovah, so the Nazis marked them as enemies. At 12 Magdalena joined her parents and sister in missionary work. Catholic priests denounced them. Her father was arrested for hosting Bible study meetings in their home; even her mother was arrested. The Gestapo searched their house many times, but Magdalena and her sisters managed to hide the religious literature. In 1939 the police took her three youngest siblings to be “reeducated” in Nazi foster homes.
1940-44: Magdalena was arrested in April 1941 and detained in nearby juvenile prisons until she was 18. She was told she could go home if she signed a statement repudiating her faith. But Magdalena refused and was deported to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. After a harrowing trip with common criminals and prostitutes, she was assigned to do gardening work and look after the children of the SS women. Within a year, her mother and sister Hildegard were also in Ravensbrueck; with God’s help, the Jehovah’s Witnesses stuck together.
During a forced march from Ravensbrück in April 1945, Magdalena, her sister, and her mother were liberated. When the war ended, they returned to Bad Lippspringe.
“They told us, they said, my father especially, he teached us, he said ‘Look, Heil Hitler’ means the salvation comes by Hitler, but if we learned by the Bible that the salvation comes from, by Jesus Christ and so my father say you yourself has to choose. I don’t say you must say ‘Heil Hitler’ and you must not say. You have to do like you want it. But he said, he teached us what happened, and he said also by the Bible, the Bible tells us the real Christian will be persecuted. So my father said ‘We have to count’, he said, ‘that one day maybe they will persecute us also and the Bible say some will be killed because of the faith, belief in Christ’ – but I thought it will not be killing, it will not be in our own families, or I never was thinking about it until it came. My brother Wilhelm, it was about one year ago, he got a letter then and he wrote ‘I’m condemned to death, please visit me’ and my mother and I, we went to Munster to the prison – we visit my brother Wilhelm and he was so strong and my mother nearly cried. She said ‘I would like to die for you’ and he said ‘No mother I will make it, I want it’, it was already over – and then he wrote a last letter to us and this makes us more strong. We thought if Wilhelm is so strong in his faith, he will make it, because there’s nothing wrong to believe in the Bible. And before they brought me to concentration camp, in Bielefeld, my other brother Wolfgang, he got then the invitation to go to the milli, to the military, to the war and he visit, it was the last visit. He visit me in Bielefeld and he said ‘Look Magdalena I, I have now the letter to go to the war, but of course I will refuse, I will not go’. And, then this was the last time I saw him. And I reached in concentration camp in February and he was beheaded in March, one month later. But the police, the woman of the wife of this police in Bielefeld, she said ‘Oh crazy, your brother, the Gestapo offered him to, to bring him in the concentration camps and maybe he could save his life, but now for sure they will kill him’ and ok, they killed him later on.”
Jan Imich, from Krakow in Poland, was nine when he was arrested, separated from his family, and imprisoned in a succession of concentration camps. He was reunited with his father in the UK after the war.
“As far as I can see from meeting others nowadays, since the exhibition opened, since I met quite a few people, it was a determination to go on, irrespective of what had happened to all of us before. Us, I see the world now; very few lessons have been learned by the, by, by the whole of the, of the world, no matter what religion people are, what nationality. And we now have a rise in anti-Semitism, racism, anti, whatever, everything, anti-everything, and we simply have to make sure that the young people know what happened in those days, and indeed what is happening nowadays, of course. And simply hope against hope, sometimes I feel, that it will stick in their minds and that they will remember. I always tell that the school children, saying that I hope that some of, that most of you will remember what I said and try to bear it in mind in the future.”
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In the shadows of history’s darkest hour, Lies a place where hope lost its power. Auschwitz-Birkenau, silent and stark, Bears witness to humanity’s deepest mark.
Within its fences, anguish did reign, As innocent souls felt the tormenting pain. Their cries echoing through the chilling air, Beseeching a world that seemed not to care.
In barracks cramped, they huddled in fear, Their dreams shattered, their future unclear. Families torn apart, their bonds severed, In the grip of hatred, they endured forever.
Yet amidst the despair, a flicker of light, As they clung to memories, holding them tight. Love transcending barbed wire and hate’s decree, A testament to the strength of humanity.
Though they may be gone, their voices still rise, A haunting reminder of the ultimate price. We vow to remember, to honor and mourn, The souls of Auschwitz, forever reborn.
Let their stories be told, let their names be heard, May their legacy inspire, their memory preserved. For in our remembrance, they shall never be lost, The victims of Auschwitz, forever embossed.
These are just a few.
Ester Wouthuijsen-Ricardo, born in Amsterdam, on 8 August 1887—was murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau, on 14 August 1942. Reached the age of 55 years.
Alexander Waterman was born in Amsterdam on 20 March 1937. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau on 2 August 1942. He reached the age of 5.
Esther Eveline Werkenda was born in Borgerhout on 13 September 1933. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau on 2 August 1942. She was 8 years old.
Abraham Schuit was born in Amsterdam on 19 September 1907. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau, on 30 September 1942. He reached the age of 35 years. Occupation: Diamond polisher
Sara Mol-Pam was born in Amsterdam on 23 June 1904. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau on 26 August 1943 at the age of 39.
Dachau Concentration Camp was the first of the Nazi concentration camps established in Germany. It opened in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor, and it operated until its liberation by American troops in 1945. Situated just north of Munich, Dachau served as a model for other concentration camps that followed.
Initially, Dachau held political prisoners, particularly those deemed enemies of the Nazi regime, including communists, socialists, trade unionists, and others opposed to Hitler’s ideology. Over time, it became a site for the imprisonment and extermination of various groups, including Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Roma people, among others.
Conditions in Dachau were brutal, with prisoners enduring forced labor, starvation, disease, and systematic abuse. Medical experiments were also conducted on inmates, often resulting in severe suffering and death. The camp’s liberation in April 1945 revealed the extent of the atrocities committed by the Nazis, leading to its designation as a memorial site and a stark reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust. Today, Dachau serves as a memorial and museum, honoring the memory of the victims and educating visitors about the crimes of the Nazi regime.
The liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp happened on April 29, 1945. om the same day as Hitler married Eva Braun.
The marriage certificate of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun
Below are some testimonies of survivors and liberators.
Henk van de Water, survivor, on the 75th anniversary of the liberation
“I was liberated by the Americans from Dachau concentration camp. I had typhus and was about to die. The liberation should not have happened a day later, because then I would not have survived. Through all this, I have always experienced freedom very intensely in my further life and tried to get the most out of it. I was very happy and prepared for the commemorations of 75 years of liberation in Dachau this year. Unfortunately, it is not possible now, but I am now 96 years old and I still hope to experience this at a later date.”
Pierre Rolinet, survivor
“Dear friends,
We former prisoners did not leave the Concentration Camps the same as we entered them. We are marked for life by this event. All this was planned and organized – to make us disappear. I think that, if the Nazis had won the war, no prisoner would have returned. Under these extreme living conditions, constantly changing depending on events, each prisoner took a different course more or less depending on chance, at the disposition of other men: SS or Kapos. Life was hanging by a thread, death was always present. Considered as animals, we were nevertheless able to organize ourselves and resist. Our fraternity and our solidarity permitted some among us to survive this atrocious regime. In order to prevent that this were to happen again, some survivors decided to give testimony, so that the world would know our living conditions, and to explain, how people in a civilized country could let themselves be conditioned by Nazism and commit unimaginable crimes. I have long placed the luck of returning home, of being available again, in the service of problems of memory. On the other hand, the survivors will soon pass on, but luckily their commitment will continue, as there are people to be found in all nations, who are dedicated to carrying on. In this environment, I have re-found this spirit of fraternity and mutual aid which permitted us to endure our suffering and I thank you for it.”
Gerald O. Eaton, liberator
“We had been pushing towards Munich when Dachau was liberated. General Collins sent word that any man who wanted to see why we were fighting should go over. The next morning, we were loaded into trucks for the trip. It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. Bodies were stacked in rail cars. We were warned not to feed any survivors, doctors would do that.
At the dedication of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, a man grabbed my arm when he saw my Rainbow tie. He said, I want to thank you. He was a Dachau survivor.”
A letter by Glenn Edward Belcher, a liberator written in 1985. written to his daughter
April 20, 1985
Dear Susan,
You have asked me to set down in writing some of the things I remember about Dachau. It’s difficult. It was just about 40 years ago today that I was there and as a consequence of the time interval, I can’t be absolutely certain as to the accuracy of that which I believe I saw and did.
Our division (the 42nd Infantry – about 15,000 men) was heading for the city of Munich, and as I recall we were going across a wide expanse of level land, and over to the left I saw what appeared to be a large factory which was enclosed by a wall — to the best of my recollection this was my first view of Dachau although I didn’t know it at the time and we did not stop.
While crossing this level land we were overtaken by (what seemed to me like) hundreds of American tanks. I read somewhere later that this was the 20th Tank Corps and that they had been ordered to overtake us and enter Munich first. The dust, noise, and confusion was one thing I recall – for some reason or another, I have a recollection of Munich being exactly 17 kilometers from Dachau. Whether this is the correct distance – or why I remember it as such is beyond my comprehension.
I don’t recall where I spent the night but I do remember being in Munich early the next day – strange – I found a book there about the 1936 Olympics and remember looking at Jesse Owen’s picture. For some unknown reason—me and several other guys in our company were loaded into the back of a truck and driven out of the city. We were taken to Dachau.
I don’t know how long we stayed there or what we were supposed to do there – but I do recall that we went back to Munich later that same night.
Now for Dachau – we saw nothing unusual from a distance – some smoke coming out of smokestacks – you couldn’t see inside the walls or whatever the enclosure was. We got out of the truck and walked toward a gate (wide enough for a vehicle).
Before we got to the gate we found a railroad siding with a bunch of box cars on it. Some of the doors to the box cars were open and as we got closer to them I saw that they were piled up with emaciated bodies – it seemed to me that they were lying on top of each other and piled up to a depth of 4 or 5 feet. As I walked toward the end of the train toward the gate I saw a dead German soldier and beside him a rifle that was broken in half. I recall supposing that someone had hit him so hard with the rifle that it had killed him and broken the rifle.
We went in the gate and there was some people inside – as the day went on more and more people came. I didn’t know who they were at the time but found out later that some of them were war correspondents – as you probably know from your journalism studies many of them traveled with front-line troops.
Just inside the gate and to the right was a high wire enclosure—it was filled with big, mean-looking dogs who were barking like hell – this went on all the time I was there. I recall hoping that nobody turned them loose – this was before I saw all the other unthinkable things. I never ever saw any mention of those dogs in anything I ever read.
Immediately in front of me after entering the gate – and about 20 yards away was a moat with water in it about 4 or 5 feet wide – a dead soldier was laying face down in it. Just beyond the moat was a high fence – I’d guess it to be 8 or 10 feet high – I understood it was electrified. On the other side of the fence was a valley which was about 20 feet wide and 8 or 10 feet deep – on the other side of the valley were barracks and those locked up.
We did not talk to the prisoners and they did not talk to us – between us, there was a moat, an electrified fence, and a steep up-and-down valley. We stared at them and they stared at us. It was as if they didn’t know what to do and neither did we.
On our side of the fence and to the right of where the dogs were – were the gas chambers and ovens where people were killed and then burned. There were stacks of bodies (all looked like skeletons) apparently prepared for burning.
There was a long walk (cement) and roadway (black-top) to the right of the ovens which ran alongside the moat and fence that I mentioned before – it ran the entire length of the compound and I would guess it to be between 1/4 and 1/2 mile in length. Down toward the end of this, I saw a big cart – the kind you used to see around railroad depots. It was filled with bread and was being taken into the prisoners.
Why I should remember this I don’t know—but near this wagon of bread was a woman and a man who were dressed in civilian clothes rather than the striped uniforms that other prisoners wore. They seemed to be in much better health than all the others. Somebody told me that this couple was Kurt Von Schussnig and his wife – and that prior to becoming a prisoner he was the Chancellor of Austria. Whether this is true or not I would have no way of knowing – but this is what comes out of my not-so-good memory.
In retrospect, I suppose we should have done something immediately to ease the prisoners’ pain or to free them from their confinement—but on the other hand, perhaps we were all too shocked by the gruesome discovery to be anything other than immobilized. The only people at that time who were not immobilized were a few prisoners who threw themselves into the fences I told you about earlier. I understand that shortly after I was there guards were established to prevent them from doing this – but neither myself nor others with me did anything.
I’ve already told you about picking up the orange-colored thermos bottle at Dachau—and discarding it a few days later—I wasn’t the only one who did this. I think all of us who were sent out to Dachau that day wanted to get it out of sight – and out of mind as quickly as we could. I don’t think any of us were successful despite the fact that to the best of my knowledge, not a single person who was there with me ever discussed it with me – nor I with them. I even went so far as to not even mention it in my letters to your mother.
As I sit here and write this I am reminded of a monumental inconsistency. During the war, as we traveled through German-occupied territory it was common for us to encounter slave laborers in both cities and the countryside. We did the natural thing and released them—there was joy and celebration on both sides. I guess as I said before—Dachau was too much—all we were capable of doing was staring and being immobilized.
The Jewish people and all the rest of us should continue to try to encourage all of us to remember places like Dachau – despite my own constant push to repress that which is so horrible, I too would like to forget but I can’t quite cut it. Perhaps I should be more upbeat like Mr. Reagan.
Your asking me to do this has been helpful – it makes me feel more thankful for what is as opposed to what used to be and what was.
Warmest regards to you and Frank, and the kids.
Love, Mom & Dad
P.S. You suggested taking a half-hour for this. It took about 4…
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you.
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Hermann Fegelein’s execution took place on April 28, 1945, during the final days of World War II and the collapse of the Nazi regime. Fegelein, a high-ranking SS officer and member of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle had fallen out of favor with Hitler due to his perceived desertion and betrayal.
Fegelein was arrested by the Gestapo on April 27, 1945, on the orders of Hitler himself. He was accused of deserting his post and attempting to flee Berlin as Soviet forces closed in on the city. Fegelein’s actions were seen as a betrayal of the regime and a failure to fulfill his duties in defending the capital.
Following his arrest, Fegelein was swiftly tried by a Nazi court-martial, found guilty of desertion and treason, and sentenced to death. On April 28, 1945, he was executed by firing squad. His execution took place just days before Hitler’s own suicide in the Führerbunker on April 30, 1945.
The exact circumstances of Fegelein’s execution, including the location and specific details, may vary depending on historical accounts. However, it is generally agreed upon that he was executed on Hitler’s orders as the Nazi regime crumbled in the face of defeat. Fegelein’s fate serves as a poignant example of the internal chaos and collapse within Hitler’s inner circle during the final days of the war.
So who was Hermann Fegelein?
Well if he had been executed a day or two later, he would have died as technically as Hitler’s brother in Law.
The image at the start of the blog is a group photo in the great hall of the Berghof. on the occasion of the wedding of Hermann Fegelein and Gretl Braun, Eva’s sister. Taken on the 3rd of June 1944.
Hermann Fegelein was a notable figure during World War II, primarily known for his association with Adolf Hitler’s inner circle and his marriage to Gretl Braun, the sister of Eva Braun, Hitler’s mistress and later wife.
Fegelein was born on October 30, 1906, in Ansbach, Germany. He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and later the SS in 1933. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a trusted confidant of Heinrich Himmler. Fegelein served in various capacities within the SS, including as an adjutant to Himmler.
One of his significant roles was overseeing the preparations for the equestrian events at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Despite his efforts, Fegelein failed to secure a spot on the German equestrian team for the Olympics, facing stiff competition from the Kavallerieschule Hannover.
During the war, Fegelein was involved in several key roles including commanding SS Cavalry units on the Eastern Front.
In September 1939, he commanded the SS Totenkopf Reiterstandarte (Death’s-Head Horse Regiment) in Poland. This unit was involved in supporting police activities and played a role in the Intelligenzaktion, which targeted Polish intellectuals and clergy.
As the war progressed, Fegelein found himself on the Eastern Front, where units under his command were responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians during the Pripyat Marshes massacres. His tenure as the commander of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer in 1943 involved combating partisans and defending against the Red Army.
However, his most significant role came during the final days of the war when he was appointed as the liaison officer between Hitler and Heinrich Himmler.
In April 1945, as the Soviet forces closed in on Berlin and the situation became increasingly dire for the Nazi regime, Fegelein’s actions came under scrutiny. He was accused of desertion and treason for abandoning his military duties and focusing instead on securing his own safety and that of his family.
Gretl Braun gave birth to a baby girl, Eva Barbara, on May 5,1945 a week after the execution of her Husband. An execution which probably could have been stopped by Gretl’s sister Eva. However, it appears that Hitler had no loyalty to anyone, only to himself.
Eva Barbara Fegelein killed herself in April 1971 after her boyfriend died in a car accident. Gretl Braun-Fegelein moved to Munich and remarried in 1954. She died in 1987 at the age of 72.
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Nieuwlande is a village in the Netherlands, located in the province of Drenthe, known for its unique history during World War II. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Nieuwlande became a safe haven for Jews and others. The villagers, predominantly farmers, worked together to hide Jewish families and individuals, saving them from persecution and deportation to concentration camps. This act of resistance and compassion is known as the Nieuwlande Experiment, and it stands as a testament to the courage and humanity of the people who lived there. Today, Nieuwlande is remembered for its remarkable role during the war, and there are monuments and memorials in the village to honor the bravery of its inhabitants.
Unlike other forms of resistance, which often involved armed struggle or sabotage, the Nieuwlande Experiment was a non-violent, highly effective form of resistance. The villagers risked their own lives and livelihoods to offer sanctuary to those fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust. They provided hiding places, food, and support, all while living under the constant threat of discovery by the Nazis.
Because of this unique, collective relief action, on April 11, 1985, the entire population of Nieuwelande was presented with an honorary certificate from the Israeli institute Yad Vashem by the Israeli ambassador Yaacov Nechushtan. Johannes Post was the driving force behind the resistance in Nieuwlande. He was born on October 4, 1906, in Hollandscheveld near Hoogeveen. During the occupation, he abandoned his prosperous agricultural business in Oosterhesselen (Drenthe) to devote himself entirely to resistance work. He played an important role, especially in the national Fighting Squads. Post was the leader of the KP(fighting squad) in the north of the Netherlands and undertook many sabotage actions and robberies of distribution offices and prisons. On July 16, 1944, Post was shot in the dunes near Bloemendaal. The prominent resistance fighter was buried at the Honorary Cemetery in Overveen. Unveiling The monument was unveiled in 1985.
Johannes Post was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II, known for his leadership and bravery in resisting the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Born on October 4, 1906, in Hollandscheveld, Netherlands, Post was a devout Christian and a schoolteacher by profession.
Post became involved in the resistance movement early in the war, joining the group, “De Gereformeerde Kerken,” affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. He later became a prominent member of the resistance organization known as the Knokploegen, or “Fighting Groups,” in the Drenthe region.
Post and his resistance group were involved in various acts of sabotage against the German occupiers, including destroying railways, disrupting communication lines, and assisting in smuggling Jews and downed Allied pilots to safety. They also collected intelligence and distributed underground newspapers to counter Nazi propaganda.
In addition to his activities in the resistance, Post played a key role in the Nieuwlande Experiment, helping to organize the hiding and protection of Jews in the village of Nieuwlande, where he lived.
Post’s resistance activities eventually led to his arrest by the Gestapo in 1944. Despite being subjected to torture, he refused to divulge information about his comrades or the resistance network. On July 16, 1944, Johannes Post was executed by firing squad along with his brother, Marinus, and several other resistance members.
Post’s bravery and sacrifice have been remembered and honored in the Netherlands. He is regarded as a national hero for his role in the resistance against Nazi oppression.
Roffel, Willem & Ritske (Blaak) Willem Roffel, born in Odoorn, was the beadle of the strictly Calvinist Dutch Reformed church in Nieuwlande, Drenthe. Nieuwlande is renowned for the large number of Jews hidden there during the war, among them two youngsters known as Peter and Herman (but actually named Isidore Joseph Davids and Lou Gans). Peter and Herman were training to be graphic artists and they were both talented draftsmen. While in hiding, they made themselves useful by falsifying identity cards and food coupons. They also wrote De Duikelaar, a satirical illegal weekly publication. In addition to these activities, Peter and Herman designed cartoon postcards to be sold to Resistance sympathizers, with the proceeds being donated to the Resistance. In October 1943, Nieuwlande was subjected to regular house searches, thus, the boys’ hiding place became unsafe. They moved the handouts to a safe hideout, dug out under the church’s pulpit. In this hideout, they set up their drafting tables, and a printing press and continued their work by candlelight. Willem Roffel and his wife, Ritske, also born in Odoorn, were the only people who knew about the hiding place and supplied Peter and Herman with food and other necessities daily. Willem and Ritske also distributed the fugitives’ publications and forged documents from the hideout. Peter and Herman hid in the dugout for nine months. One night in December 1944, the Germans carried out a house search. They forcibly took Willem to the church and ordered him to show them the hiding place. By this time, the boys were no longer there. On June 9, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Willem Roffel and his wife, Ritske Roffel-Blaak, as Righteous Among the Nations.
It was certainly not the case that the entire village helped people in hiding en masse. That turns out to be a myth that was/is maintained consciously or subconsciously by some people. In short, this is because until recently the village was far too lowly estimated during the war in terms of the number of houses and inhabitants, plus the many hiding activities in surrounding villages were also wrongly attributed to the statistics that have been attributed to this village. This creates very skewed proportions and it seems as if almost every farm in this village must have had people in hiding, which is certainly not the case.
It is people like this though that make me proud to be Dutch, because many other Dutch, collaborated with the Nazis or turned a blind eye.
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Just two names of people who should have never been murdered. Micheal van West was a florist. There is no records of his wife, Saartje van West-Goldsmit’s profession, but I will presume she was a stay at home mother. They were no threat to anyone–just two people trying to get by.
Michael van West was the sixth of the nine children of Salomon van West (1859-1931) and Betje Lelie (1853-1935) and born in Amsterdam on 31 October 1887. Like all his brothers and his father, Michel was also a flower dealer. He married Saartje Goudsmit on 31 July 1912 in Amsterdam, a daughter of Levie Goudsmit and Hanna Vos, she was born on 6 October 1887 there. At the same time as Michael, his brother Jacob, married Saartje’s sister, Raatje Goudsmit.
Michael had five brothers and four sisters, all born in Amsterdam. On 1 December 1910, the still unmarried Michael van West left for Belgium and was registered there at the address Krijtstraat 8 in Berchem. According to the statement that Michael made to the Antwerp officials, he planned to stay there for more than six months.
After the marriage of Michael and his brother Jacob van West to Saartje and Raatje Goudsmit respectively, at the end of July 1912, the four of them left for Brussels on 6 August 1912, where they came to live at 31, Rue de L’Ascension.
Nothing is known about the period from August 1912 to 1944 about Michael and his wife Saartje, as well about Jacob and his wife Raatje. However, it is certain that Michael van West and Saartje Goudsmit were arrested in the early spring of 1944 and transferred to the transit camp in Mechelen, Kazerne Dossin. In March of that year, by order of the Central Bureau for National Security, an instruction was issued to urgently proceed to the arrest of Jews.
Michael and Saartje were deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz on 4 April 1944 with convoy 24, which arrived there on 7 April 1944 with 625 victims in total. Of these, 270 were murdered immediately upon arrival in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau; 355 people were registered in the camp, of which 147 were still alive when Auschwitz was liberated.
It is not known whether Michael and Saartje belonged to the group of 270 victims, or to the group of 355 people who were registered. However, it is clear that they did not belong to the 147 people who were liberated ,but were murdered in Auschwitz after 7 April 1944, or died due to exhaustion, abuse or diseases.
The 24th Convoy of 4 April 1944, was one of the many tragic transports during the Holocaust. It departed from Mechelen, Belgium, which was a major transit point for deportations of Jews during World War II. The destination of this convoy was Auschwitz.
The convoy consisted of Jewish men, women, and children who were rounded up by the Nazis and their collaborators as part of their systematic genocide of European Jews. The journey from Mechelen to Auschwitz was harrowing, with cramped conditions, lack of food and water, and the constant fear of the unknown awaiting them at their destination.
Michael and Saartje had two sons. Edouard Elias van West was murdered somewhere in Germany in February 1945. aged 17. The eldest son, Leo van West, was also murdered in February 1945 in Mauthausen. He was 31 years old.
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you.
To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.
History of Sorts 
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