The British army prior to 1939 was quite small, still suffering the hangover of World War One, and consisted almost entirely of volunteers. The army was tentative, and reluctant to engage in anything that would be seen as similar to the reckless destruction of the First World War. However, with the threat of Hitler growing… Read more »
THE FIRST DAYS OF WAR IN ROTTERDAM The German attack on the Netherlands and on Rotterdam begins on 10th May 1940. Already early in the morning, the Germans conquer the military airbase Waalhaven and soon German water planes land near the “Maasbruggen”, the bridges across the river Meuse. By lack of resistance the enemy can… Read more »
Since 1906 a park named “Luitpoldhain” , named after Luipold, Prince Regent of Bavaria , existed here. During the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) the “Ehrenhalle” (Hall of Honour) was built in the park. In 1933 Hitler replaced the park with a strictly-structured deployment area, the so-called “Luitpoldarena” with an area of 84,000 m². During the party rallies, deployments of… Read more »
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel, born 9 October 1907 in Bielefeld, was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) activist known for writing the lyrics to the “Horst-Wessel-Lied”. His death in 1930 was used by the party for propaganda purposes. By 1926, the German National People’s Party decided that Wessel had become “too radical” and he was removed. That December,… Read more »
Albert Battel was born on January 21, 1891 in Klein-Pramsen. As a fifty-one-year-old reserve officer and lawyer from Breslau, Dr. Battel was stationed in Przemysl in south Poland as the adjutant to the local military commander, Major Max Liedtke. When the SS prepared to launch their first large-scale “resettlement” (liquidation) action against the Jews of… Read more »