thread 🧵 Auschwitz had always been on my list of places to visit. Having a mum and dad who lived alongside a big Jewish community in London and hearing stories from a young age attracted my attention. School history covered it and my interest deepened 1/ - ThreadSky

jojohook.bsky.social • 32 days ago

thread 🧵 Auschwitz had always been on my list of places to visit. Having a mum and dad who lived alongside a big Jewish community in London and hearing stories from a young age attracted my attention. School history covered it and my interest deepened 1/

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jojohook.bsky.social•32 days ago

Having a partner who is also a military historian exacerbated the urge to go out of the guiding season. And then a little story seemed to pull the idea of a trip together. Here is that story 2/

jojohook.bsky.social•32 days ago

In this non-descript house in Netherlands lived a family. A mother, father and two young boys Edo & Lex Hornemann. They went to school at the building in the 2nd pic. Their father worked at Phillips Electronics before WW2. 1940 changed everything when the NL was occupied 3/

jojohook.bsky.social•32 days ago

Mr Hornemann continued work at Phillips & up to a point family were protected as essential workers. However in 1943 all Phillips Jews were sent to Vught concentration camp. The entire family went there hoping they would be there for the duration 4/

jojohook.bsky.social•32 days ago

This was not to be. On 03.06.44 they were all sent to Auschwitz. Not long after Flip (father) was sent to Germany as an essential worker where he eventually perished. Worse was to follow when Bets (mother) died of typhus in Auschwitz 5/

jojohook.bsky.social•32 days ago

Whilst at Auschwitz Edo & Lex along with a number of other children were selected to go to Neuengamme. Prior to going they were given nourishing food, toys and the best of care. Not because anyone cared about them, not because it was, after all, the right thing to do 6/

jojohook.bsky.social•32 days ago

But because under the sadistic Josef Mengele they were selected to go to Neuengamme for his equally sadistic colleague Kurt Heissmeyer to carry out medical experiments on them. The children needed to be healthy just so that they could be injected with tuberculosis 7/

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