2 posts

There will be two posts today, one of which will be a normal entry and the second will be for Michael Cornelius, about whores, drugs and museums about whores and drugs, as per his request

Post 1 (not for Mike)

I went to two museums, the first was the Dutch Resistance Museum. Filled with artifacts of World War II and of the history of the Dutch resistance.

The Dutch resistance: Prior to the German invasion, the Netherlands had adhered to a policy of strict neutrality. The Dutch had not engaged in war with any European nation since 1830. The Germans did not invade the Netherlands during the first world war so it was a shock to the Dutch when On May 10, 1940, German troops invaded the Netherlands without a declaration of war. The day before, small groups of German troops in Dutch uniforms had entered the country. Many of them were wearing Dutch helmets, some made of cardboard as there were not enough originals. Although the Dutch army was inferior in nearly every way, four days later it looked as if the Dutch had stopped the German advance. Hitler, who had expected the occupation to be completed in two days, ordered Rotterdam to be annihilated, followed by every other Dutch city if the Dutch refused to surrender. The Dutch, who had quickly lost the bulk of their air force, realised they could not stop the German bombers and surrendered.

Nevertheless, while the Dutch envoy who had just signed the ceasefire agreement with the Germans was on his way back, German bombers roared overhead, and Rotterdam was indeed bombed. The Dutch soldiers who died defending their country, together with at least 800 civilians who perished in the flames of Rotterdam, were the first victims of Nazi occupation which was to last five years.

The Museum was throughly interesting and engaged with memories of sorrow and anger. I find it a bit fitting that I am in Europe on the 70th aniversery of the start of World War II.

The Dutch had several layers of resistance, first, Already on May 15, 1940, the day after the Dutch capitulation, the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) held a meeting in order to organize their underground existence and resistance against the German occupier. It was the first resistance organisation in the Netherlands. As a result, some 2000 communists would lose their lives in torture rooms. Additional resistance groups:

The LO ("Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers", or National Organization for Help to People in Hiding);

The KP ("Knokploeg", or Assault Group), with 550 members conducting sabotage operations and occasional assassinations;

The RVV ("Raad van Verzet" or Council of Resistance), engaged in sabotage, assassinations, and the protection of people in hiding;

And the OD ("Orde Dienst" or Order of Service), a group preparing for the return of the exiled Dutch government, and its subgroup the GDN (Dutch Secret Service), the intelligence arm of the OD.

The Picture above was posted through The Netherlands during WWII it reads "Berlin will fall today or tommorrow - do not give in to the hunger - continue the resistance"

Tommorrow I am going to go look at windmills, and lighter subject matter.

Geen definities gevonden!!

Later my people,

Matthew

P.S I think that photobucket will work to post more pictures, but it takes goddam forever for it to upload, so mayhaps you only get one at a time.