[Some of my ancestors came from the Netherlands and kept in touch with the old country over following generations. This is a letter one of my people wrote to tell our family here what happened to them back there during WW2. I've tried to keep everything exactly except for the paragraphs but this was typed up, put in a pdf, and typed up again by me so it might have some errors. And I redacted a few things because yes, I am afraid that someone someday could be autistic enough to try to dox me through this. !historychads ]

[a village near Utrecht]

7, August '45

[Note: This is the day after Hiroshima, two days before Nagasaki.]

Dear Cousin,

Knowing you've always been interested in your Dutch family and haven't heard much news since the war started, I thought it is a good job for me to tell you something of the happenings in that time, of the family and of Holland in general. I know that you read Dutch as well as English, as my father told me, but as it's a good exercise for myself, I take the liberty to write in English. Which you will forgive, I hope. But first I want to present myself: I'm the son of your cousin, [redacted], (my name is [redacted], age 26) [redacted some more family members]

No doubt he was wearing these as he wrote.

I'll only tell you about the children of my Aunt [redacted]. The son, [redacted], was a government civil engineer in the Dutch East Indies and he was called up by the army when the situation in the Far East grew tight. He was married and had one little child. Since the Japs overran the Indies, we never had a word from him, so we don't even know if he is still alive. His sister, [redacted], [?] was a teacher but as that isn't very well paid over here, she quit and got a better job in an office. But after the liberation she left there, too, in order to get the job of leading some underfed children to England [?], an enviable job as no one can get out of the country so far as it is at the moment. She will leave very soon, with impossible orders of every member of the family to buy bicycle tires, fountain pens, and I don't know what not, as there is nothing for sale in this country.

Tijdeng concentration camp, Java. About 17,000 of the 100,000 interned Dutch civilians died in the camps.

Now I'll try to give you a short survey of what happened to Holland and to ourselves up to now. Perhaps, when you'll have read it through, you'll think that our hatred against the "Nazis" is a bit exaggerated, but I'll tell you, you've got to live through a German occupation to know what it is like. So I hope you'll take it at face value, and I've got to add that I ddin't see very much yet of their low doings, but more than enough to have learned what hate is. Well here I go:

Controversial opinion.

As you know the Germans came in May 1940, when they started their big drive towards the Channel and France, by means of fifth columnists and other traitors, merciless bombardments of Rotterdam and their overpowering numbers of troops, material, etc.

Kraut paratroopers landing in The Hague, May 10, 1940. This force was overrun by the Dutch, losing almost 2000 captured who were quickly sent to Britain.

Bombing of Rotterdam, May 14.

They started immediately to take our immense foodstocks away; cars, trucks, ship, in short everything they could lay their dirty paws on. They suppressed every political activity, except of the treacherous Dutch national-socialists, who got all the important jobs. The only thing they did to try to win our sympathy was releasing the prisoners of war. But that didn't last very long because notwithstanding their elaborate preparations for the in invasion of England, they couldn't get there after they lost the Battle of Britain and gradually with the first R.A.F. raids the underground activity sprang up, giving England information about ship consentrations, etc. by way of secret transmitters.

Portable radio of the kind dropped by the British SOE to Allied resistance in occupied Europe.

Then they regretted to have released the prisoners and so they planned to take at least the professional officers back to Germany again, considering them the most dangerous. To give you an example of their treacherous methods I'll tell you how they did it. They gave a proclamation to the newspapers ordering the professional officers to register in a certain place, all in one day, promising their safe return home. They even got return tickets paid. But on coming there they were taken into custody and a day later were brought to Germany to a Prisoner of War camp. This had the wrong effect, of course, and secret activity doubled, in which I had my little share. But it wasn't very well organized yet and lots of the workers were captured and some of them shot. Of my group for instance, only two escaped detection, another guy and myself. Sheer luck of course; the others were all brought to Germany, some of them shot. So the situation grew worse, hostages shot, Germans shot, vigorous reprisals again etc.

Hendrik Seyffardt, traitor who commanded the Dutch SS. Shot and killed at his front door in The Hague, Feb 5, 1943.

One time 72 people shot in one day. But time went on and the Gerries came to know they couldn't take Russia. America joined the Allies and they feared an invasion in the West. So they started their construction of the Atland wall which had grave results in our home town, The Hague, being the biggest town on the coast.

Kraut occupiers in The Hague.

Twenty-five per cent of the town fell in the fortification area. Two thousand houses were broken down to make a wide corridor through the Hague strengthened by a concrete wall and a big sand ditch. Big fortifications were made in the dunes, in parks, etc. About twenty per cent of the inhabitants had to be evacuated. As father is a pensioned schoolteacher, my parents had to go too. They came to this village, [redacted village near Utrecht], but had to leave furniture and everything in the Hague, all heaped up in one room. Luckily, we knew the people who came into our house so nothing was stolen, as often happened to less lucky people. This happened in December of '42. My brother and I stayed in The Hague to continue our study, engineering. At the time I had nearly finished it, but I didn't want to pass the last exam, as there was a big danger of being sent to Germany. My brother, [redacted], who is 21 now, wanted to go to Delft's Technical high school, but couldn't as the Germans demanded 6 months "labor services" of new students and that was something he didn't want to do. So he went to another school, but afterwards he had to do the labor service nevertheless. But because of his change of address they couldn't fine [find?] him, though they thoroughly tried. But nobody knew where he was of course. He was lucky and never got caught and is going to start in Delft this autumn, having done nothing at all for the Huns. I was less lucky. The students had to sign a loyalty declaration to the Germans which of course I didn't do. But something was going to happen and we knew it. I had secured 5 addresses of people at whose houses I could hide, so I was pretty sure to pull through. But then the students who hadn't signed that declaration were called up for forced labour in Germany, the parents were held responsible for their going. And then all 5 addresses let me down, couldn't risk it, they said, penalties were too heavy. Well, I tell you I was a bit downhearted and really didn't know where to go. And as the biggest part of my friends had the same experience we had the stupidity to go! Knowing we had nothing better to do. Regretted it immediately, of course but too late. So we went to Berlin on the 6th of May '43.

A 14-year old Ukranian slave repairing motors in a German workshop, 1945.

That summer I tried to fine [find?] my way to Sweden [?], but didn't succeed. Then the winter came and the big bombardment of Berlin started, rather unpleasant I assure you. Came through unscathed, though we had several casualties at the factory. In spring I got a chance to go back to Holland on false papers, but two weeks before it was my turn (we were placed on a list) the Gestapo got wind of it and the whole organization was blown up. Then the invasion came and I thaught I'd have to stay to the end. But in August I got another chance and this time it came off. I spent 20 hours lying under the floor of a railway carriage and got to Amsterdam without being seen. The underground movement, better organized this time helped me get false papers and I was free again as far as possible at the time.

Literally this guy.

Meanwhile the situation hadn't altered very much, only grown gradually worse. But the worst was still to come. In September the Allied parachute landing at Arnhem came and in Holland the railways striked to hamper the German supply route. But they couldn't get across the Rhine and that meant that northern and western Holland had still some months to wait. But then the real looting started.

Allied paratroopers landing in the Netherlands, Sep 17, 1944.

British tanks meet the gigachads of the 101st Airborne Div.

Liberation of Eindhoven, Sep 18, 1944.

In Arnhem, where the civilians had to go away because of the fighting, several German cities got a part of the city where they were allowed to take what they could. And they did. Long columns of trucks went to and fro taking everything away you can think of. No civilian could enter the city until everything was gone. And in the months between September and May of this year they took everything they could to Germany: machines, tools, locomotives, trains, ships, cars, trucks, carts, horses, cows, and other cattle, literally everything, from the wire for electric trains to sewing machines, from our last food to blankets and clothes. Everybody had to give a blanket, a set of underwear, a pair of socks, a blanket, a coast etc. and after years without textiles [?] distribution. And if you didn't bring it to them they searched your house and took it and some more. All bicycles weere ordered up and so on. And then they stopped all food transport to the west as a revenge for the railway strike. People lived on sugerbeets and tulip bulbs. Daily you saw people falling down in the streets from sheer starvation, thousands were starved to death. Every man from 17 to 40 was called up for labour in Germany. They held big searches for men in the big cities. Tens of thousand had to walk to Germany, half starved as they were. And so I could go on and on, but I would bore you probably. It was really unbelievable when at last the end came that you were free to go where you wanted and the hated Germans really had got it in the neck. The food situation was soon cleared by the Allies. Big American and British bombers dropped millions of kilos of the best food when the roads weren't free yet. People were crying in the streets for sheer job. They did a wonderful job bringing us all that. Now every ration has gone up. Only meat is still scarce (an ounce a day) and fat isn't high enough yet. But we're very content.

A British bomber dropping food over the Netherlands.

And now the situation is still chaotic of course. The coal problem is the greatest of all. This winter we had nothing of course, no light, no gas, nothing to cook on. So all trees and even bushes have gone. Parks don't exist anymore. Empty houses were absolutely broken down for the wood only. Practically all factories can't work. No coal or no machines. It'll really last sometime before everything will be all right again. I think Europe is done and out for the first five or ten years and I hope to get away as soon as possible. Only I shall have to finish my study, which will take me about a year, I think.

Boom.

The Pacific war'll be over soon, I hope, after the invention of the "atomic bomb". It is really astonishing the quantity and quality America has been producing. Practically all the war material in the west is American--fantastic. We really owe the Americans a lot. But has this been the last war? I have my doubts. Or will the atom bomb be so terrible that war will be impossible. Doubtful too. What'll be the end, complete destruction or everlasting peace? It looks like an easy choice, but who knows? Well, I hope, I ddin't bore you too much with my story. Father will tell you about the family so I will end this rather long letter, hoping you'll receive it in good health. Send my respectful greetings to your wife, daughter, and brothers.

Your unknown cousin, [redacted]

PS The old house Bezuidenhout [redacted number, maybe a street] was heavily damaged by an Allied raid, when they mistook one part of the town for another. This error destroyed another ten per cent of the Hague. It was rather a pity, as it happened just before the end (3 March) of the war. But that's fate, nothing doing.

The neighborhood after this raid.

Japan is going to quit. There'll be peace on earth in a few days at last. Let's hope mankind has enough of war for a long, long time.

Kamala Harris campaign manager explains the Democrat party could not have an open primary because it would have upset black women:
Quentin Fulks: "To open up a Democrat primary, you would have had black women, be highly upset if it was not Kamala Harris.
I hear your concern and… pic.twitter.com/ye8ofmx3WM

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) December 7, 2024

New York reporter admits communities of color didn't see Kamala as a 'part of the community':
Austin Jefferson: "I think some communities of color didn't necessarily see her as part of the community, for a variety of reasons."

So they're just going to come out and admit… pic.twitter.com/A5eWYkCPIx

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) December 7, 2024

>black women would be upset

>also we didn't see her as a member of the cummunity

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/kamalas-campaign-manager-we-didnt-have-an-open-primary-because-black-women-would-have-been-mad.5787621/

another day another week for Kamala's hole to be open

Name is /u/highlightkooky2232, deranged mod with terminal TDS and blames Zoomers for Trump winning

He had previously gotten suspended for trying to brigade r/GenZ

For the past 3 days, he's been nonstop seething over the assassin and reddit's support of him

https://old.reddit.com/r/NewsAndPolitics/comments/1hancyg/luigi_mangione_is_heir_to_holiday_resort_fortune/

https://old.reddit.com/r/EatTheRich/comments/1hara8k/alleged_unitedhealthcare_assassin_praised_elon/

My advertisement of our sub seems to have been the last straw for him, as he ya'lled the thread, perma-banned everyone who spoke in it, and banned all pro-shooter posts

https://old.reddit.com/r/FuckYouZoomer/comments/1hcfjhg/proshooter_posts_will_not_be_accepted_here/

He then visited /r/fuckluigimangione, and started arguing with the brigadeers from /r/whenthe, who began dunking on him https://undelete.pullpush.io/r/FuckLuigiMangione/comments/1hce9nn/slurp_slurp/

hn

I almost didn't write this.

Like a lot of you, I've been watching the past year of layoffs, studio closures, and market implosions with a mix of dread and déjà vu. It feels like the worst time to be making a game—especially with a small team that's high on ambition and low on funds.

But here's the thing.

After saying a prayer, rolling the virtual dice, and surviving every omen that screamed "TURN BACK"... somehow, against all odds—the finish line for our demo is in sight.

But this almost didn't happen.

My mentor, a AAA and mobile super-producer (old-school in all the best ways), was coming out of retirement to shepherd this thing. He rallied some serious talent, cashed in favors, and even put up his own money during pre-production. Concept art and designs were in full swing. The momentum was real.

And then, in late 2023…he passed away.

This was a guy who saw something in me when I was just starting out. He guided me through the maddening trenches, championed my ability to create smart, dark, and engaging stories, and drilled every lesson of production and direction into me over the years. Losing him just a year after reuniting for this (our last collab was 2018) was a baseball bat to the teeth.

I wanted to quit.

But then I heard his gruff-butt voice in my head, reminding me of the one motto he lived by:

"Good ideas mean frick all if you can't ship something."

After 18 months of bootstrapping, pivoting, and surviving every indie dev nightmare, we're on the verge of something playable, and dare I say compelling. And in this climate, with the industry crumbling beneath our feet...well, that feels like a goddarn miracle.

So why post this?

Because I know I'm not alone in this fight. I know some of you are feeling the exhaustion, and the fear, and the creeping doubt that what you're building- YOUR dream - is worth the struggle.

It is. It always is.

If you're working on something you love—if you believe in it even when no one else does—you have have to bite down hard and keep going.

You gotta SHIP.

If this resonates, I hope you'll post your own war stories. And if you're curious to see what we've been building through all this madness, let me know—I might just be in a sharing mood before the next wave of crippling doubt rolls in...

I may have expressed in the past that I've been feeling pretty bleak for the game dev community and not as much contempt recently.

This was a mistake.

These people are acting as if they're stoic jedi knights holding the wall at castle black to protect the people of middle earth and not the most r-slurred breed of programmer on the planet. I have stopped interacting with them almost entirely as Chat GPT produces more reliable information and that thing is often just straight up lying.

At least when the Electric Jeet tells me lies I can call it out and have it immediately confess to the fabricated information. On reddit I just get pinged false information hours later by someone who can barely read.

Nevermind

'It's completely fine to not be around [Trump voters] and to tell them why,' Yale University chief psychiatry resident Dr. Amanda Calhoun told MSNBC

With the holiday season approaching, a prominent mental health expert told MSNBC viewers that they should feel justified in cutting ties with relatives that voted for President-elect Donald Trump.

Yale University chief psychiatry resident Dr. Amanda Calhoun spoke to MSNBC host Joy Reid on Friday night about ways liberals who are devastated with Trump's re-election this week can cope with news, including separating from certain loved ones.

"So, if you are going into a situation where you have family members, where you have close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you… it's completely fine to not be around those people and to tell them why," Calhoun told Reid.

The host prompted the expert's answer by discussing how the LGBTQ community and other minority groups have been feeling particularly vulnerable following Trump's election on early Wednesday morning.

Citing a recent report from progressive outlet, The 19th, Reid said, "Yeah, and we know that there's been a vast increase since the election – 700 percent increase in calls from LGBTQ youth to The Trevor Project, which offers phone, online chat, or text to people – 700 percent increase in calls, texts, and chats compared to recent weeks."

The host then asked how these people should be interacting with those they know – including family – that voted for Trump, who she accused of being against Americans' rights.

"But I wonder if also, are people challenged with the idea of, how do you interact with people who voted for this?"

She added, "If you are an LGBTQ person and you know someone in your family voted essentially against your rights, or you're a woman knowing, you know, that this man was calling people the b word. JD Vance was literally calling Kamala Harris 'the trash.' He said, 'We're going to take out the trash.' I know a lot of Black women were incredibly triggered by that."

Calhoun affirmed it's fine for those aggrieved by Trump's win to avoid Trump supporting family and friends, adding that they should tell them why.

"You know, to say, 'I have a problem with the way that you voted because it went against my very livelihood, and I'm not going to be around you this holiday. I need to take some space for me.'"

Calhoun continued, noting that it is important, and even "essential" for people to establish boundaries with family members for their own sanity.

"I think you should very much be entitled to do so, and I think it may be essential for your mental health."

Do liberals and leftists hate you, your families, and humanity itself? Studies say yes.

Good morning !chuds

Chud replies with facts and logic and gets downmarseyd into oblivion

https://old.reddit.com/r/IncelTears/comments/1hxarvc/genuinely_curious_why_this_even_needed_to_be_asked/

A classical Greek tragedy about hard work, big egos, and French culture.

His fanatical attention to detail, frenetic work ethic, and discerning palate, propelled him to the top of his profession, and earned him a knowledgeable and loyal, but unforgiving and demanding clientele.

In the late 1990s, a new form of Asian-inspired "fusion cuisine" swept France, catering to an international corporate class and pleasing trend-driven "foodies" (a neologism of the movement), which Loiseau resisted.

Loiseau was downgraded from 19/20 to 17/20 in the Gault et Millau guide and received a strong negative media review from the gastronomic critic François Simon in the newspaper Le Figaro, but he still had his three stars in the Michelin Guide. Criticism continued to pour in and the media speculated about a possible future loss of a Michelin star.

But on February 24, 2003, the chef finished his lunchtime service, rolled up his apron and drove home. Telling his ten-year old son – one of three children – to go and play outside, he went upstairs, locked the bedroom door and shot himself in the head with a hunting rifle, a present from his wife.

After his death, three-star chef Jacques Lameloise said Loiseau had once confided, "If I lose a star, I'll kill myself".

Derek Brown, Michelin director at the time, said: "The idea of telling him about the concerns we had about some of his cooking was in order to give him an opportunity to consider whether he wanted to do something about it, which he did, as it turned out."

All in all, a messy story sparking many debates about whether reviewers should really be brutally honest, and if they are unfairly harsh. Perhaps it inspired Ratatouille (2007)?

• pennsylvania trump assassin: googled biden rallies too, just wanted to go out in a blaze of glory: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/trump-shooting-crooks-motive.html

• florida trump assassin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Wesley_Routh#Political_views

• luigi: u alrdy know

!grillers pls rise for the radical centrist anthem:

i always love games of intersectional twister, and this one's amazing: leftists standing up for anesthesiologists who make an average of 472k, and whose slaraies increased by an average of ~70k from 2022 to 2023 at a time of tons of bill-paying struggles

~~ L E F T I S M ~~ https://t.co/ovTyZxd2Az

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) December 5, 2024

He rpeosted tihs thraed

BCBS told some extremely overpaid specialists (median salary: $430,600) that they would be cutting their pay by applying some of Medicare's payment rules.

This is how single-payer works: Squeeze rentier providers, lower costs.

If you're outraged by this, you're getting played! https://t.co/1mc5TJ8bD0

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) December 5, 2024

anesthesiologists should be paid infinity dollars, and anyone who thinks they should get $1 less should be immediately executed without trial https://t.co/32Aq797DcO

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) December 5, 2024

my bad: the us healthcare system is great, costs are kept under control, and there's no corruption or rent-seeking behavior (as lefties have been saying all along!) https://t.co/dedxN7TTh7

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) December 5, 2024

he gvie me lot to tihnk abuot tbh

But it's too dark out now to shoot anything and there's no wildlife in the mornings because it's so darn cold.

Canon 400mm f5.6L. It's one of those lenses that depreciated in the used market because of the lack of image stabilization, but now that modern camera bodies have in-body stabilization it becomes an actually useful lens. Only paid $500 for it.

Coming soon! pic.twitter.com/BETCBf4s3N

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 5, 2025

pic.twitter.com/J8iDhSEewa

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 5, 2025

The Trump Resort, Gaza in 2030 pic.twitter.com/8ERR1Nyiz5

— Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) February 5, 2025

🫳🏼
🇵🇸
🗑️

— Hashem (@HashemAllMighty) February 5, 2025

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/5zn6HMLSJd

— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) February 5, 2025

Think bigger pic.twitter.com/vxZJpXvxEq

— Kitty Surprise (@KittySurprise1) February 5, 2025

Confetti was needed 🎉 pic.twitter.com/H5TP1H2AIE

— Caт Вee ✡︎🪶 (@CatShoshanna) February 5, 2025

Trump sent every fed a Fork in the Road email offering 9 months severance if they quit in the next 2 weeks

🚨 NEW: This is the full buyout memo from the OPM sent to all Federal employees titled “A Fork in the Road.” The pillars of the new Federal government are clearly laid out.

If Federal employees wish to resign they simply put “RESIGN” in the subject line of the email they… pic.twitter.com/fFCiSAiprV

— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) January 29, 2025

I attribute this solely to this community and the solidarity found in it. I'm the only person on my team of 8 that's on Reddit and not only have I been better informed, I've been faring better than the others. Two people went on stress leave and frankly I'd be one of them too if I didn't have this community. I'll continue to do my job and fight for the position I've earned. It took me 10 years of applying and 20 years experience in my field to get here. I will not be pushed out by two billionaire trust funds babies. I'M NOT LEAVING!'

I was chill and laid back prior. Now I'm digging my heels in out of spite. I'm a big time hater and being petty is my favorite thing to do.

I can hold a grudge like it's my job

I knew my grudge-holding skills would come in handy someday.

I've never been more motivated to stay. Before the "buyout" memo, I was ready to go job hunting, but then a revelation hit. I took an oath under this position to the American people and leaving my job under the current state would be failing to maintain my oath as civil servant.

I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Did you guys know how much of the posting on /r/fednews takes place when they should be working?

And that there is netflow data for every federal agency to determine who these employees are?@DOGE @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/7Hicz91pjY

— 🏛 Aristophanes 🏛 (@Aristos_Revenge) January 29, 2025

Here we spot wild Bardfinn Bluesky activities.

Be valid and ping ! bardfinn for something worthwhile or create a new thread.

Das bist du 🫡 pic.twitter.com/HmqhCkw6yI

— vanessa k. (@VANKRAUT) February 14, 2025

BREAKING: Republican Senator Jerry Moran just announced that he will oppose Donald Trump’s efforts to gut USAID. The aura of invincibility surrounding Donald Trump has just been burst.

— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) February 8, 2025

A Republican. https://t.co/7fs7R9d1rM

— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) February 8, 2025

Everything under Trump must be blamed on him, just like what MAGA did with Biden. I don't make the rules. pic.twitter.com/yW6p357Ynv

— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) February 7, 2025

Donald Trump is going to HATE the new cover of TIME magazine pic.twitter.com/CZuPRUwozb

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 7, 2025

A federal judge—a Reagan appointee—blocked Trump’s “blatantly unconstitutional” executive order this week, stating that Trump sought to “navigate around or simply ignore” the rule of law “for political or personal gain.” And yet, it’s barely mentioned in the news, drowned out by… pic.twitter.com/qiKdRlwYUQ

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 7, 2025