by Oui
Wed Apr 19th, 2023 at 12:40:40 PM EST
This morning an impressive documentary on EuroNews about the yearly March of the Living at Auschwitz with interview of a lone survivor David Schecter who lost 105 family members.
My earlier diary ...
Global Xenophobia and Historical Amnesia | July 1, 2018 |
Before the invasion of Holland on Sunday morning May 10th 1940, motivation speech of the German Wehrmacht ... "We must defend ourselves, the enemy threatens our industries in the Ruhrgebied... show the same courage as you have shown by the invasion of Poland. The Blitzkrieg from the air."
The Dutch remained neutral during World War I, as Belgium was witness to the ravages of a devastating war.
Soon to force surrender, the Nazi Blitzkrieg started brutal bombing of cities like Rotterdam, keeping the port area safe as this was needed further war effort.
Memories of German fire-bombing city center of Rotterdam May 14. 1940
Never forget the most horrible element of German Nazi war crimes ... genocide 6+ million Jews, Roma, LGBT, and mentally ill. I was born near Leiden on the coast with a large mental institution. All patients were transported to German extermination camps and never returned.
Dutch attitude during the war can be summarized in four emotions: outrage, hope, fear and powerlessness.
Estimate 5% joined a resistance movement, 10% collaborated with the Nazi occupier. Most families were vulnerable and went into survival mode for food, some sort o making a living and secure limb and livelihood. Over the years I listened to many personal experiences from family and teachers in the classroom.
Fear played a role because often your neighbour or "friend" could be a collaborator or spread personal news that would get you into trouble with the occupier. No one could be trusted.
Living close to the North Sea just at the foot of the dunes, my parents watched the building of the Atlantikwall and the received the order of forced relocation to the city of Leiden. The so-called "Sperrgebiet" or no-go zone forbidden to tresspass.
Daily life during World War II in The Hague
History World War II -- Atlantic Wall
Walking or cycling in the dunes, you will come across them sooner or later: German bunkers from World War II. But not everyone will know that they are the visible remains of the Atlantic Wall, a 5,200-km-long defence line, which ran from Norway to southern France. The story of the Atlantic Wall is about its construction and military importance, but also about the lesser-known aspects such as mass evacuations, the demolition and reconstruction. The bunkers and other remnants of the Atlantic Wall form a memory landscape reminding us of the dark past of World War II.
Honest German citizens listened to Goebbels war propaganda for years, became more militarized as the production of war machinery got priority over other civilian needs. Millions believed the utter bull$hit as they became proud to be part of the "Wirtschaftswunder during the global depression years 1933-1939, and hyperinflation. Nearly all became enslaved in one single vision of destruction of enemy forces within, and from outside. Manipulation and propaganda is from all ages.
Today I live in The Hague in the neighborhood with lots of history about the German occupation ... signs still seen today after 77 years. In Park Clingendael lies the mansion used by Seyss-Inquart, the defenses of bunkers are still present and the walking in the park, the anti-tank moats with steep slopes can be seen as perimeter.
The park between Benoordenhout and Bezuidenhout was a launching pad for V-1 and V-2 rockets ... unimaginable today as the forest is dense again on lies in the hart of the city The Hague.
In a late attempt Spring 1945 to destroy the launching site, British bombers attacked the area ... unfortunately due to erroneous calculation of coordinates, the massive bombardment hit the Bezuidenhout district of Dutch population. Massive deaths and wounded, I still have the images in memory of a ruined district.
In the lower right corner is the park Haagse Bos, cleared of trees to house the rocket site in the heart of civilian population. If the bombing would have missed but bombed Benoordenhout, it would have destroyed the homes of German military and occupiers. This large area to was "Sperrgebiet".
I do hate war more than the Germans of today. Just like the Japanese, shedding the feathers of pacifism ☮️... hard to bear.
The stupid war in Ukraine brings back vivid memories of the early years post liberation by Canadian and Polish allied forces on May 5th, 1945.
In recent years, the U.S. Embassy in city center of The Hague had to relocate because of security issues. The mayor promised a wonderful area of a nearby park ... the old seat of the German administration led by Seyss-Inquart. A populous uprising during the presentation of the plan ultimately was successful.
Beautiful Dutch Democracy ¶ June 1, 2005
Cross-posted @BooMan
Nice name for the prior greyhound race track ... John Adams Park 😂 🇾🇪 🇺🇸
John Adams' second stay in France was disastrous. In July 1780 he wrote French Foreign Minister Vergennes that France was not doing enough to win the war. Affronted, Vergennes promptly severed communication with him. Franklin took the French Minister's side in a damning letter to Congress: ...
Adams didn't learn of Congress' decision for a year, during which time he traveled independently to the Netherlands to see, as he told Franklin, "whether something might be done to render us less dependent on France."
The embassy moved to the north in "no-man's" land, well fortified including a bunker construction six floors deep underground. After the US Embassy in the Green Zone in Baghdad, the most expensive construction by the State Department.
Under the Trump regime, we were fortunate with Pete Hoekstra to bully us into submission and follow US leadership. Apparently it had succes as the political leaders offer no resistance to foolhardy missions of foreign campaigns to subdue adversaries by force of military intervention. After 9/11 when everything turned upside down, the European defense organization of NATO became a useful tool. Not just the UK, Poland, and Romania are America's best friends ... all of the EU are best partners of NATO in wars. Gone is the issue of sovereignty ... war by collusion and collaboration. Pax Americana from the New World is here.
