Hans Georg Calmeyer: The German Official Whose Decisions Could Mean Life or Death.

Hans Georg Calmeyer: The German Official Whose Decisions Could Mean Life or Death.

What would it do to you if every document placed on your desk could determine whether someone lived -or was sent to their death?

Today I want to find out a little about Hans Georg Calmeyer. He was a German lawyer whose decisions during the occupation of the Netherlands helped to save thousands of Jewish people, while leaving many others exposed to deportation and death.

Hans was born on the 23^rd of June 1903 in Osnabrück, Germany. He studied law and established a successful legal practice. Although he never joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, he belonged to the Federation of National Socialist German Lawyers.eportedpi

After Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hans initially served there as a German soldier. In March 1941, he transferred to the civilian occupation administration in The Hague. He was later placed in charge of reviewing cases involving people who challenged their classification as Jewish.

This gave Hans extraordinary power.

People could submit family records and witness statements claiming that they had non-Jewish ancestry. Hans frequently accepted altered or completely false documents, allowing many applicants to be reclassified and protected from deportation.

He reportedly referred to his department as a “lifeboat” and sometimes advised people on how to make their claims more convincing.

Thousands survived because he approved their applications. However, he did not save everyone.

Hans also rejected many appeals, knowing that an unfavourable decision could remove someone’s protection and expose them to deportation. Many of those rejected were subsequently deported to concentration and extermination camps. Some survivors later accused him of willingly participating in the persecution, while others believed he was attempting to save as many people as possible without attracting the attention of his superiors.

In a 1967 interview, Hans admitted that making these decisions haunted him. He said that choosing between life and death had left him feeling like a murderer.

Hans died on the 3^rd of September 1972. In 1992, Yad Vashem recognised him as Righteous Among the Nations.

His legacy remains deeply complicated. Was Hans Calmeyer a courageous rescuer working from within the system, or an official who became part of the machinery of persecution?

Henry Fitzalan: The Tudor Earl Who Helped Put Lady Jane Grey on the Throne-Then Turned Against Her

Henry Fitzalan: The Tudor Earl Who Helped Put Lady Jane Grey on the Throne-Then Turned Against Her

We have been finding out about some of the people surrounding Lady Jane Grey, but what about the powerful nobleman who supported her claim to the throne before helping to bring her short reign to an end?

Today I want to find out a little about Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel. He served several Tudor monarchs and became one of the most influential-and politically adaptable-noblemen of his time.

Henry was born on the 23rd of April 1512. He was the only son of William Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel, and Anne Percy, whose family included the powerful Earls of Northumberland.

Henry VIII reportedly acted as his godfather, and Henry entered the royal court while he was still a teenager. He later accompanied the king to Calais and was summoned to Parliament using one of his father’s titles, Lord Maltravers.

Henry also had an important family connection to Lady Jane Grey. His first wife, Katherine Grey, was the sister of Jane’s father, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk. This made Henry Fitzalan Jane’s uncle by marriage.

During Henry VIII’s reign, Arundel’s career continued to rise. He served in Calais, helped to improve its defences and became a Knight of the Garter. He was also appointed Lord Chamberlain, giving him an important position within the royal household.

He was present during the trials of Anne Boleyn and her brother George in May 1536, showing just how closely he stood to some of the most dramatic events of the Tudor court.

Arundel’s position became less secure after the young Edward VI inherited the throne. He became caught up in the struggle for power between Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

Arundel lost his offices, faced enormous fines and spent periods under house arrest and in prison. However, he eventually returned to the Privy Council in May 1553, just as Edward VI was becoming dangerously ill.

Edward did not want his Catholic half-sister Mary to succeed him. His new plan for the succession placed his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, next in line for the throne.

Arundel was among the councillors who signed the document supporting Jane’s claim.

After Edward died, Jane was proclaimed queen on the 10th of July 1553. However, Mary quickly gathered an army of supporters, while Jane’s government began to collapse.

Once Northumberland had left London to confront Mary, Arundel changed sides.

On the 19th of July, he helped to persuade the council to proclaim Mary as queen. He then travelled to meet her at Framlingham and later helped to arrest Northumberland.

Jane’s reign had lasted for only nine days.

Mary rewarded Arundel for his support, appointing him Lord Steward of the royal household. Yet his connection to Jane’s family did not protect them. After Jane’s father joined Wyatt’s Rebellion in 1554, Arundel presided over the trial of his own brother-in-law. Henry Grey was found guilty of treason and executed.

Arundel remained an important figure under Elizabeth I, although his Catholic beliefs and involvement in discussions about the succession made the queen suspicious of him. He was arrested more than once because of alleged connections to plots involving Mary, Queen of Scots.

Henry Fitzalan died on the 24th of February 1580. His life had stretched across the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

He had supported Lady Jane Grey when it appeared that she would become queen-but abandoned her when Mary’s victory began to look certain.

Do you think Henry Fitzalan genuinely believed Mary was the rightful queen, or was he simply protecting himself?

Corrie ten Boom: The Dutch Watchmaker Who Hid Jewish People Behind a False Wall

Corrie ten Boom: The Dutch Watchmaker Who Hid Jewish People Behind a False Wall

When German officers searched Corrie ten Boom’s home, six people were hiding only a few feet away behind a false wall. If they had been discovered, everyone inside the house could have been killed.

Today I want to find out a little about Corrie ten Boom. She was a Dutch watchmaker whose family helped Jewish people and resistance workers during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

Corrie was born Cornelia Arnolda Johanna ten Boom on the 15th of April 1892 in Amsterdam. She was the youngest child of watchmaker and jeweller Casper ten Boom and his wife, Cornelia.

Soon afterwards, her family moved to Haarlem, where her father took over the family watch shop.

The family lived above their watch shop on Barteljorisstraat in a house they called the Beje. Their Christian faith shaped their lives, and they regularly offered food and shelter to people in need.

Corrie joined her father in the family business. She trained as a watchmaker and, in 1922, became one of the very few licensed female watchmakers in the Netherlands. Away from the shop, she also organised activities for teenage girls.

Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. As persecution intensified, Jewish people were stripped of their rights, forced into hiding and deported.

Corrie, her father Casper and her sister Betsie gradually became involved in resistance work. They welcomed Jewish people into their home and helped arrange safer hiding places elsewhere.

A secret room was built behind a false wall in Corrie’s bedroom. It could conceal six people, while an alarm warned them when they needed to hide. Corrie also helped to obtain illegal ration cards so that those living in hiding could be fed.

Her work became part of a wider underground network that moved Jewish people to safer locations. Corrie and those working with her are believed to have helped save hundreds of lives.

On the 28th of February 1944, the family was betrayed by a Dutch informant. German officers raided the Beje and arrested more than thirty people. However, the six people inside the hidden room were not discovered and were later moved to safety.

Corrie, Betsie and their elderly father were imprisoned. Casper died only ten days after his arrest. Corrie and Betsie were later sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany.

Despite the conditions, the sisters comforted other prisoners and secretly held Christian services. Betsie became seriously ill and sadly died on the 16th of December 1944.

Corrie was released twelve days later. It is often said that an administrative mistake led to her release, although the exact reasons are unclear.

After the war, Corrie opened a rehabilitation home for people traumatised by the occupation. She later travelled widely, speaking about faith, forgiveness and her wartime experiences. Her best-known book, The Hiding Place, brought her family’s story to an international audience.

Corrie was recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 1967. She died on the 15th of April 1983, her 91st birthday.

 

Would you have had the courage to open your home when doing so could have cost your entire family their lives?

 

Joseph Bazalgette: The Victorian Engineer Who Built the Sewers That Saved London

Joseph Bazalgette: The Victorian Engineer Who Built the Sewers That Saved London

Could one man’s engineering plans help to rescue Victorian London from disease, filth and an unbearable smell?

Today I want to find out a little about Joseph Bazalgette. He was the civil engineer responsible for designing the enormous sewer network that transformed London and helped to protect millions of people.

Joseph William Bazalgette was born on the 28th of March 1819 in Enfield, Middlesex. He trained as a civil engineer and initially worked on railway projects before establishing his own consultancy.

The pressure of his work eventually damaged his health. In 1847, Joseph suffered a serious breakdown caused by exhaustion and was forced to take time away from engineering.

After recovering, he joined the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers in 1849. London’s population was growing rapidly, but its sanitation system had failed to keep pace.

Many homes had to rely on overflowing cesspits, while drains carried human waste and industrial pollution into the River Thames. The increasing use of flushing toilets made the problem even worse by sending more sewage directly into the river.

This created a serious danger because parts of London’s drinking water were also taken from the Thames. Cholera epidemics repeatedly swept through the city, killing thousands of people.

In 1856, Joseph became Chief Engineer of the newly created Metropolitan Board of Works. He developed plans for a vast underground sewer system, but the cost caused politicians to delay approving the project.

Well, the inevitable happened in the hot summer of 1858.

The water level of the Thames fell, which left sewage and rotting waste exposed along its banks. The smell became so overpowering that it could be smelt in the Houses of Parliament. This crisis became known as the Great Stink.

Politicians could no longer ignore the problem, in part because now it was directly affecting them. Funding for Joseph’s plans was finally approved.

His design used large intercepting sewers to collect waste before it entered the Thames in central London. The sewage was then carried east, away from the most heavily populated parts of the city.

Around 1,100 miles of street drains and sewers fed into approximately 82 miles of new brick-lined main sewers. Pumping stations were built at places including Crossness and Abbey Mills to help move the waste through the system.

Joseph deliberately made the sewers larger than needed because he believed London would continue to grow. He was right! His planning allowed much of the network to remain in use for generations.

The project also reshaped the city above ground. The Victoria, Albert and Chelsea Embankments were created partly to contain the new sewers, while they also provided roads and walkways beside the river.

The sewer system greatly reduced the contamination of London’s water supplies. London experienced one final major cholera outbreak in 1866, largely confined to an East London district that had not yet been connected to the new system.

Joseph retired in 1889 and died on the 15th of March 1891. Most Londoners never saw his greatest achievement because it remained hidden under their feet, but his work changed the city forever.

Do you think Joseph Bazalgette deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest heroes of Victorian Britain?

Zofia Kossak-Szczucka: The Polish Writer Who Helped to Lay the Foundations of Żegota

Zofia Kossak-Szczucka: The Polish Writer Who Helped to Lay the Foundations of Żegota

Could someone hold deeply prejudiced views and yet still risk everything to save the people they opposed?

Today I want to find out a little about Zofia Kossak-Szczucka. She was a successful Polish writer and resistance member who helped to establish Żegota, the underground organisation created to rescue Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Zofia was born on the 10th of August 1889 in Kośmin, then part of the Russian Empire. She came from a well-known artistic family. Her grandfather, Juliusz Kossak, and her uncle, Wojciech Kossak, were both celebrated Polish painters.

She married Stefan Szczucki, but after his death she moved to Górki Wielkie in southern Poland. In 1925, she married her second husband, Zygmunt Szatkowski.

Before the Second World War, Zofia became known for her historical and religious writing. Her novels often explored Polish history, Christianity and the Crusades, and several were translated into other languages.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Zofia became involved in the resistance. Using the code name Weronika, she worked for underground newspapers and helped to establish the Catholic resistance organisation known as the Front for the Rebirth of Poland.

In the summer of 1942, German forces began the mass deportation of Jewish people from the Warsaw Ghetto. In response, Zofia wrote and secretly distributed a leaflet called Protest.

The leaflet condemned the killings and criticised governments, organisations and ordinary people who remained silent. Zofia argued that anyone who witnessed mass murder without objecting shared responsibility for what was happening.

Zofia openly expressed nationalist and antisemitic views. But, she believed that these prejudices could never justify persecution. As a Catholic, she argued that she had a moral duty to oppose the destruction of Poland’s Jewish population.

Zofia helped to create the Provisional Committee to Aid Jews. This later developed into the Council to Aid Jews, better known by its code name, Żegota.

Żegota provided Jewish people with hiding places, forged identity documents, money, food and medical assistance. It was the only state-sponsored organisation in Europe created specifically to rescue Jewish people during the Second World War.

On the 27th of September 1943, Zofia was arrested by a German patrol in Warsaw. The authorities did not initially realise that they had captured an important resistance figure. She was imprisoned at Pawiak before being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

When her true identity was discovered, she was returned to Warsaw for interrogation and sentenced to death. Members of the Polish underground managed to secure her release in July 1944. Soon afterwards, she took part in the Warsaw Uprising.

After the war, Zofia left communist-controlled Poland and lived in Britain for several years. She eventually returned to Poland in 1957 and continued writing until she died on the 9th of April 1968 at the age of 78.

She was later recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for her contribution to rescuing Jewish people.

Do you think someone’s courageous actions can be remembered while still acknowledging their troubling beliefs?

John the Fearless: The Duke Whose Ruthless Ambition Divided France

John the Fearless: The Duke Whose Ruthless Ambition Divided France

How did a prince celebrated for his courage become one of the most controversial figures of the Hundred Years’ War?

Today I want to find out a little about John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. He was a powerful French prince whose struggle for control of the royal government helped to plunge France into civil war.

John was born on the 28th of May 1371 at the ducal palace in Dijon. His father was Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, while his mother, Margaret, was the heiress to the wealthy counties of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy.

As a grandson of King John II of France, John belonged to the French royal family. In 1385, he married Margaret of Bavaria as part of an arrangement intended to strengthen Burgundian influence in the Low Countries. They went on to have several children, including Philip the Good, who later succeeded his father.

John earned his famous nickname during the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis on the 25th of September 1396. He joined a European crusading army attempting to stop the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

John fought with great courage, but the crusaders were defeated and he was taken prisoner. He was released the following year after an enormous ransom was paid. His bravery during the campaign earned him the name John the Fearless.

Following his father’s death in 1404, John became Duke of Burgundy. When his mother died in 1405, he also inherited Flanders, Artois and the County of Burgundy, making him one of the most powerful princes in France and the Low Countries.

France was experiencing a serious political crisis. King Charles VI suffered repeated periods of severe mental illness, leaving different members of the royal family competing to govern in his place.

John’s greatest rival was the king’s brother, Louis, Duke of Orléans. Both men attempted to control the royal government, the treasury and the king’s family.

Their rivalry became increasingly bitter. Although they publicly agreed to reconcile, Louis was attacked and killed in Paris on the 23rd of November 1407. John admitted responsibility and attempted to justify the murder by claiming that Louis had behaved like a tyrant.

The killing divided France. Supporters of the murdered duke became known as the Armagnacs, while John’s followers were called the Burgundians. The resulting Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War weakened the country just as King Henry V of England renewed the Hundred Years’ War.

John himself was absent from the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and the main Burgundian contingent stayed away, although two of his brothers fought for France and were killed.

In May 1418, Burgundian forces captured Paris. The Dauphin Charles, the future Charles VII, escaped and continued leading the Armagnac faction.

Attempts were eventually made to reconcile John and the Dauphin. On the 10th of September 1419, they met on the bridge at Montereau. During the meeting, John was attacked and killed by members of the Dauphin’s party.

His assassination had enormous consequences. John’s son, Philip the Good, responded by forming an alliance with England. This helped the English to strengthen their position in France and it prolonged the conflict for many more years.

John the Fearless was definitely brave on the battlefield, but his ambition and his willingness to use violence helped to divide France during one of the most dangerous periods in its history.

Do you think that John’s nickname reflected his courage, or do you think that it hides the more ruthless side of his character?

 

Jane Haining: The Scottish Missionary Who Refused to Abandon the Jewish Girls in Her Care

Jane Haining: The Scottish Missionary Who Refused to Abandon the Jewish Girls in Her Care

Would you remain with the children in your care, even after being warned that your own life was in danger?

Today I want to find out a little about Jane Haining. She was a Scottish missionary who remained in Hungary during the Holocaust and continued caring for Jewish schoolgirls until she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz.

Jane was born on the 6th of June 1897 near Dunscore in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Her mother died when Jane was only five, and she was raised on the family farm alongside her siblings.

She was an exceptionally talented student, and went to Dumfries Academy. While she was there  she won numerous prizes and became the highest-achieving pupil in her year. She later trained in Glasgow and worked for the thread manufacturer J. and P. Coats.

Jane was deeply involved in her church and taught at Sunday school. After hearing about missionary work in Europe, she decided that she had found the purpose she wanted to dedicate her life to.

In 1932, Jane travelled to Budapest to become matron of a boarding home connected to a school run by the Scottish Mission. The school educated both Jewish and Christian girls, and Jane became responsible for their care.

When the Second World War began, Jane was advised to return to Britain. But, she chose to remain in Budapest, she believed the girls needed her.

Increasing numbers of Jewish refugees arrived in Hungary and Jane worked tirelessly to support them. She searched markets for food, repaired the children’s shoes and attempted to make sure that every girl was treated with dignity and kindness.

Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. Jewish people were forced to wear yellow stars, and mass deportations soon began.

Jane reportedly wept as she helped sew the stars onto the clothing of the Jewish girls. On the 25th of April 1944, she was arrested by the Gestapo. Among the accusations against her were that she had worked with Jewish people, listened to British radio broadcasts and sent parcels to prisoners of war.

Jane was eventually deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was registered as prisoner number 79467. She tragically died there on the 17th of July 1944, aged only forty-seven. The precise circumstances of her death is unclear, although starvation, illness and the appalling camp conditions probably contributed.

In 1997, Jane Haining was recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. She was later named a British Hero of the Holocaust.

Jane had been offered the chance to leave, but she refused to abandon the girls who depended upon her.

Do you think Jane Haining’s courage deserves to be more widely remembered?

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