Biographies

• Article by Pieter Schlebaum
• Published on April 17th, 2024

Patrick Playfair

Introduction

• Article by Kevin Prenger
• Published on March 10th, 2024

Julius Madritsch

A tree with a nameplate in Jerusalem is one of the few tangible memories of Austrian Julius Madritsch. In 1964, Yad Vashem nominated him Righteous among the nations. As a factory owner in Poland, he managed to save the lives of a part of his Jewish employees. He did this in cooperation with his much better-known colleague Oskar Schindler, whose story was filmed by Steven Spielberg under the name ‘Schindler’s List’ in 1993.

• Article by Wilco Vermeer
• Published on December 27th, 2023

Frederick Browning

Frederick Arthur Montague Browning was born 20 december 20, 1896 in Kensington (Londen), the first son of wine merchant Frederick "Freddie" Henry Browning and his wife Anne "Nancy" Browning-Alt. In 1905, he went to the West Downs School in Winchester (Hampshire) and was sent to Eton in 1910. There he joined the army clas and the officers trainiing course. After graduation he wanted to go the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Unfortunately, he failed the entrance exam but the principal of Eton, Edward Lyttelton stood up for him and he was admitted after all on December 27, 1914.

• Article by Robert Jan Noks
• Published on October 29th, 2023

Rudolf Lange

Rudolph Lange was a German lawyer and SS officer. After a career in the Gestapo, he became SD chief in Latvia after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He was responsible for the mass murders on Latvian Jews and Reichsjuden. In January 1942, he participated in the notorious Wannsee Conference. In February 1945, he died during the occupation of Poznan by the Red Army.

• Article by Robert Jan Noks
• Published on June 1st, 2023

Martin Luther

Martin Franz Julius Luther was born in Berlin on December 16, 1895. He dropped out of grammar school in August 1914. Shortly after the onset of World War I, he enlisted as a volunteer in the Prussian army. Until 1918, he served with the railroad troops. He reached the rank of reserve lieutenant.

• Article by Kevin Prenger
• Published on March 19th, 2023

Benjamin Ferencz

Benjamin Ferencz (1920) was just 27 years of age when he was appointed chief prosecutor shortly after the war at the Einsatzgruppen tribunal in Nuremberg that was called the 'largest murder trial in history' by the media.

• Article by Ruben Krutzen
• Published on March 4th, 2023

Caspar Sporck

Caspar / Casper Sporck (1922 – 1945) was a non-commissioned officer of the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. He was awarded the German Knight’s Cross for his heroic actions. This is remarkable, because only three other Dutch people were given this medal. Sporck was awarded several other medals as well, including a medal for sustained injuries. About 22.000 to 25.000 Dutch volunteers joined the Waffen-SS during the Second World War.

• Article by Sanne Jussen
• Published on January 28th, 2023

Annick van Hardeveld

Annick van Hardeveld was a courier in Amsterdam for the Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten (NBS; English: Dutch Domestic Armed Forces). In the night of May 4, 1945, Annick was travelling on her bike to the inner city of Amsterdam to deliver a message. On the Hekelveld, she was suddenly shot by a patrol of the Grüne Polizei. Annick was only 21 years old.

• Article by Kevin Prenger
• Published on December 28th, 2022

Ilse Koch

Ilse Koch's name has been synonymous with the horrors of the concentration camps since the American tribunal at Dachau, which took place from November 1945 to August 1948. The blond wife of the camp commander was accused of the most heinous crimes and became notorious in Germany as 'Die Hexe von Buchenwald.' In the American media, she came to be known as 'The Bitch of Buchenwald.'

• Article by Robert Jan Noks
• Published on November 26th, 2022

Friedrich Kritzinger

Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger was born April 24, 1890 in the little village of Grünfier, the son of a Lutheranian reverend. After 3 years of private education, young Kritzinger attended grammar school in Posen from 1899 to 1904 and subsequently the grammar school in nearby Gnesen (in Polish: Gniezno) until 1908. Between 1911 and 1913 and from 1920 to 1921, he served as an apprentice on the courts of Mogilno and at the Staatsanwaltschaft in Hirschberg.

• Article by Arnold Palthe
• Published on November 19th, 2022

Theodore Roosevelt Jr

Theodore Roosevelt Jr was born November 13, 1887 in Oyster Bay, New York, as son of the later 26th president of the United States of America.

Original article by Max Poorthuis

• Article by Auke de Vlieger
• Published on October 23rd, 2022

Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs

Maximilian Maria Joseph Karl Gabriel Lamoral Reichsfreiherr von und zu Weichs an der Glon was born November 12, 1881 in Dessau in Prussian Saxonia. He was the son of a Prussian cavalry officer. After the early demise of his father, Maximilian and his mother moved to Munich where he graduated from high school.