My name is Rob Hopmans , born in 1946 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and I have four older brothers and one older sister   On 17th of September 1944 our parents lived at the Biesterweg 65 in Eindhoven, Holland, a street about 150 feet parallel to the march way of British General Brian Horrocks’s XXX Corps ,… Read more »

ODESSA, the Organization of Former SS Members (“Organization Der Ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen”), was an organization founded in 1944 with the express purpose of helping Nazi members flee Europe and escape justice. As early as 1947,Simon Wiesenthal  began to identify routes used by Nazis to escape from Germany knowing that the fugitives had little or no difficulty… Read more »

Bormann, Martin Adolf, born 14-04-1930 in Grünwald , Bavaria, the oldest of the ten children of the head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and private secretary to Führer, Adolf Hitler, Martin Bormann and his wife, Gerda Buch (1909–1946).  She got the Mother’s Cross of Honour  for her ten children. The Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei), was the name of the head office… Read more »

In Nazi Germany, attempts were made to bring the celebration of  Christmas in line with Nazi ideology. The Jewish origins of Jesus and the commemoration of his birth as the Jewish Messiah was troubling for Nazi racial beliefs. Between 1933 and 1945, government officials attempted to remove these aspects of Christmas from civil celebrations and concentrate on the… Read more »

In early 1915 sergeant Hitler adopted a stray dog he named Fuchsl (little fox), who was taught many tricks and became his beloved companion. Hitler described him as a “proper circus dog”. In August 1917 the List Regiment transferred to a quiet sector of the front in Alsace. During the journey, both Fuchsl and Hitler’s portfolio… Read more »

Operation Market Garden from 17–25 September 1944, was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the World War II. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time. Delivering over 34.600 men of the 101st  under General Maxwell Davenport Taylor,  82nd under General James “Slim Jim” Gavin  and 1st Airborne Division… Read more »

In marked contrast to Volkssturmjunge Alfred Czech’s heroic story, the second vignette is about Hans-Georg Henke. a 16 year old soldier in an anti-aircraft detachment of the Luftwaffe. His father died in 1938 but when his mother died in 1944 leaving the family destitute, Hans-Georg had to find work in order to support the family. At… Read more »

Tsvi Chaim Nussbaum (October 31, 1935 –age 76- July 2, 2012) was a Holocaust survivor, known as possibly being the boy in a famous photograph of the Warsaw Ghetto   That cap, the big buttoned jacket, the raised socks. But especially the defenseless hands and the anxious eyes. You almost see them tremble. A terrified child who does not understand… Read more »

‘Omaha’ refers to a section of the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel 8 kilometers (5 mi) long, from east of Saint Honorine des Pertes to west of Vierville sur Mer on the right bank of the Douve River, where 101 Airborne Chaplain Father Francis Leon Sampson   dropped in on D-day, estuary and an estimated 150-foot… Read more »

Until the very last minute, the place of invasion – Normandy- was the most heavily guarded secret on the planet Even the units conducting the initial assaults did not know the locations of their landings. Surprise was crucial since Germany had 55 divisions in France – the Allies could transport no more than 8 divisions on D-Day… Read more »