Horrors of the Second World War on postage stamps

At the Auschwitz monument in the Wertheimpark in Amsterdam, a warning was issued last Sunday, January 26 (a day before the liberation of the extermination camp by the Russians) about a resurgence of antisemitism. Rabbi Menno ten Brink: “We only have to use the word genocide and you hear: ‘Yes, but in Gaza.’ That is not what this is about today. It is about what happened here. The more than 100.000 Dutch Jews who were murdered!” On the left stand German soldiers, and on the right, lined up in an orderly row, arrested Jewish residents of Amsterdam. A German soldier had the film he had made developed by an Amsterdam photographer. The shopkeeper secretly kept a few images from it, because he immediately realized he was in possession of historical photographic material. Designer Jan van Toorn has used a cropped section of it, in which the essence of a raid remains undeniably clear. A drawn, raised hand across the photo spells out 'HALT'. The large black letter 'R' containing the numbers 41 and 91 refers to RACISM. Jewish raid On Saturday, February 22 and Sunday, February 23, armed members of the Ordnungspolizei rounded up Jewish men during a massive raid. Nearly 400 were arrested and deported to Germany. The reason? Fights between Jews, antisemitic gangs, and the German police. It was bitter and appalling that the raid started on a Saturday of all days, the weekly day of rest in Judaism. The Shabbat celebration begins on Friday evening at sunset and ends 25 hours later on Saturday evening at sunset. 2a) Graphic designer Jan Bons: Resistance and Liberation 1985 In 1985, Jan Bons designed a triptych stamp depicting the war period of 1940–1945 50 years later. The design was not published but rejected. The reason? Too daring and bold. * A torn fingerprint, taken from an identity card required for food and ration coupons, among other things, symbolizes the liquidation of the person. * The typographical text 'I am truly free when all the people around me are also free' within the lowercase text with the word 'free' rendered in red is attributed to the Russian anarchist Bakunin, known as a precursor to Bolshevism. The slanted numerical notation '45 – 85' dynamically depicts not only the war period as a grey past but also the recovery and progress of 50 years after the war. The playfully cheerful notation of the word 'vrij' with 'dots' in a festively cheerful form and color execution gives an impression of the post-war period 1954 – 1985. Graphic designer Pieter Brattinga: Resistance and Liberation 1985 In 1985, Pieter Brattinga replaced the rejected design by Jan Bons on the 'Resistance and Liberation' issue, consisting of four stamps (nvph 1329/32), with a collage of 12 black-and-white photos. 3) Graphic designer Cas Oorthuys: 30 years liberated Graphic designer Cas Oorthuys depicts / commemorates humanity and war, along with the issues of imprisonment and oppression, through preliminary designs for the liberation stamp '30 Years Liberated' (NVPH 1072). * Behind the years (representing 30 years of peace) on the layered stamp and behind the barbed wire lies the somber-colored Second World War period, featuring the outstretched hands of prisoners and an eye looking back in horror (on two preliminary designs). The 'stamp eye' behind the barbed wire refers to the politically persecuted. A noteworthy detail: the eye belongs to Oorthuys' daughter, Fenna. 4) The definitive end! * The 2-meter-high bronze memorial monument 'The Fallen' in Waalwijk (design by JA, Raedecker, nvph 836) depicts a man crashing after being executed. In the background stands the sculpture 'Destroyed City' Rotterdam (Oscar Zadkine). *As far as I know, two people are depicted on a Dutch postage stamp who died in a concentration camp: – Anne Frank was murdered at the age of 16 in the Bergen-Belsen extermination camp on March 31, 1945. – Mr. JF van Royen, General Secretary of the PTT, opposed the German Kultuurkamer and consequently ended up as a prisoner in Camp Amersfoort, where he died of exhaustion on June 10, 1942. 5) 80 years of freedom Over the years following the Second World War, liberation stamps were issued: 1955 flaming sword, 1965 resistance monuments, 1970 V-sign, 1975 eye, 1980 food drop, 1985 photo collage, 1990 church ruin, and 1995 typographic 40/45 & 45/95. * In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, four commemorative stamps were issued: February Strike, Westerbork, Radio Oranje, and Market Garden. * In 1999, the last liberation/commemorative stamp appeared as part of the 'Highlights of the 20th Century' issue (nvph 1842/51). Here, the Second World War is brought to a postal close. * In 1924 and 1925, our country celebrated the fact that the Second World War had ended 80 years earlier.