Uncategorized
‘I’m fragmented, and a surviving remnant’: The story of Westerbork prisoner 8331
As prisoner 8331 at the Nazis’ Westerbork transit camp in Holland, Jacob Boas must have witnessed the sorrow and fear of hundreds if not thousands of fellow inmates before they were loaded onto cattle cars and sent to die at Auschwitz.
But he has no memory of it. Jacob Boas, a Dutch Jew, was born in the camp on Nov. 1, 1943, and was captive there until he, his parents and older brother along with 876 other prisoners were liberated by Canadian troops 18 months after Jacob was born.
There’s nothing that Jacob, or Jack, as he calls himself now, remembers of those 18 months.
“My earliest conscious memory is in postwar Amsterdam. I must’ve been around 2 or so because I was stuck in a high chair, the coal stove started smoking, and my mother came rushing in from the kitchen for the rescue,” Jack told me.
Each week during the war, a train of cattle cars delivered Westerbork prisoners, including Jack’s grandparents and other relatives, to die at Auschwitz or Sobibor. A total of 102,000 Dutch Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and many of them came through Westerbork, including Anne Frank.
Jack, his brother and their parents beat the odds through sheer luck: a camp commandant at Westerbork who had a policy of not immediately deporting mothers in late pregnancy, and a father with tailoring skills.
“The fact of being born in the transit camp has struck deep, impenetrable roots within me, coupled with a seemingly unslakable need to know,” Jack wrote in a book published two years ago, Until Further Notice … Theresienstadt On My Mind.
As a historian and author of six books, four of which deal with the Holocaust, Jack has spent his adult life trying to satisfy that need. He has also taught university courses on the Holocaust and writes magazine pieces.
I met Jack at a second-hand bookstore in Portland, Ore., where we both live. He works there every Monday as a volunteer. Jack is a self-effacing man, the kind who listens more than he talks. He’s not apt to come right out and tell you that he is a victim of the Holocaust. Jack’s story has come to me in segments, as we discovered we had a common obsession — German history. And the more we talk, the more intriguing his story becomes.
A false sense of security
Jack and I were having coffee at a Portland cafe when he showed me a photograph of a 1944 registration card from Camp Westerbork. It bears the names of his family: parents Barend and Anna, Jacob and his brother Marcus.
“Wife’s pregnancy exemption canceled because the child was born on Nov. 1, 1943,” states the typewritten card.
The camp commandant, Jack explained, had a policy regarding pregnant women that might seem merciful, but was not. Women in their third trimester were exempted from deportation until six weeks after giving birth, along with their husbands and children. This was part of a larger camp charade. Living conditions at Westerbork were not as bad as other camps. There were soccer matches, chess tournaments and concerts, and inmates wore their civilian clothes instead of concentration camp pajamas, so that prisoners would have a false sense of security before they were sent east.
The trimester “exemption” was one of two cards that had been protecting the Boas family. The other was Barend’s skills as a tailor. After their arrival at Westerbork, Barend was put to work in the camp’s tailor workshop, and later at the Nazis’ headquarters in The Hague.
In 1944, the family learned they were going to be sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia, which — although the Nazis presented it as a model camp — served as a feeder camp to Auschwitz. But they never got to Theresienstadt. Canadian troops liberated Camp Westerbork on April 12, 1945.
The family began putting their lives back together in Amsterdam. Barend started a tailor shop. Anna was a seamstress. They moved to Montreal in 1957 because they had no living relatives left in the Netherlands and because of two events portending war: the Suez Canal crisis and the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
Jack got a BA in history and political science at McGill University in Montreal, married a McGill student and followed her to the University of California, Riverside, where he earned his PhD in European history. His dissertation was about German Jews living under Hitler from 1933–39. Research for his dissertation led to his first book: Boulevard des Misères: The Story of Transit Camp Westerbork.
Jack’s parents didn’t talk much about Westerbork. This was not unusual for Holocaust survivors. They just wanted to get on with their lives. But Jack loved tracing the lives of people in the past, including his relatives. It became the mission that shaped his life.
Survivor syndrome
As I was having coffee with Jack, he talked about his eight-year struggle to get financial compensation as a Holocaust survivor from Dutch authorities. Jack filled out the application in February 1979, and later sent a separate document pertaining to his physical and mental health.
Compensation requests were processed by Dutch authorities under a victims’ benefit act known by its Dutch initials, WUV. A WUV representative went to Jack’s San Francisco apartment to question him, which was followed by interviews by a psychiatrist hired by WUV administrators.
Reports written from these conversations said Jack suffered from “major identity issues,” struggled with depression, implied he was lazy and irresponsible, and noted that his marriage had failed. But the WUV psychiatrist said he was unable to “relate his (Jack’s) symptoms or his cognitive or identity issues directly with his family experience or with his wartime experience.” One report made the ludicrous assertion that approving Jack’s application for compensation would place “a heavy burden on the Dutch budget.”
So Jack’s application was rejected.
The WUV-hired psychiatrist was not a specialist in the problems of Holocaust survivors. Jack hired one who was, who concluded that Jack showed symptoms of “survivor syndrome,” which he listed as “repeated feelings of persecution, long-term depression, problems with authority, intense anxiety, displaced rage and aggression and obsession with the Holocaust.” Another psychiatrist engaged by Jack said Jack was suffering from “significant repercussions the camp experience had on him and his family.”
Jack’s application for compensation was finally approved in 1984.
It is important to note here that many thousands of Nazi survivors had to wait decades for compensation, partly due to racist or antisemitic attitudes as well as Cold War politics — including forced laborers, German military deserters, Sinti and Roma, and relatives of people murdered because they had disabilities. Even many Jewish survivors encountered long delays, especially those who fled early, lived in hiding, or lacked the documents postwar officials insisted on.
I went to a talk Jack gave on his latest book, Burden of Proof: Fragments of a Surviving Remnant. “Burden of proof” refers to the ordeal he went through for compensation. The second part of the title refers to himself. “I’m fragmented, and a surviving remnant,” he told his listeners.
Jack’s audience was mesmerized as he told of his lifelong pursuit to understand his identity in the context of the Holocaust — his research trips to Holland, an invitation by the German government to attend the commemoration of a victims’ memorial, his adventures as an extra in a Dutch docudrama about Bergen-Belsen. He is neither maudlin nor angry when he tells these stories. And he frequently jokes about his experiences.
So this is who prisoner 8331 has become: a surviving remnant who is piecing together a life from fragments, and who reminds us that even fractured memory can be an act of defiance.
The post ‘I’m fragmented, and a surviving remnant’: The story of Westerbork prisoner 8331 appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Fate of Iran Peace Talks Uncertain as Deadline Approaches for End of Ceasefire
A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. Photo: CENTCOM/Handout via REUTERS
Iran is considering attending peace talks with the United States in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, following moves by Islamabad to end a US blockade of Iran‘s ports, a major hurdle for Tehran to rejoin peace efforts.
However, the official stressed that no decision had been made.
Adding to the uncertainty, a source told Reuters that Vice President JD Vance was still in the US, denying reports that he was already on his way to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for talks.
With a two-week ceasefire set to expire this week, the senior Iranian official said Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation but no final decision had been made. The comments conveyed a clear change of tone from earlier statements ruling out attendance and pledging to retaliate for US aggression.
The Iranian official said mediator Pakistan was making positive efforts to end the US blockade and ensure Iran‘s participation.
BLOCKADE POSES A PROBLEM
The ceasefire had appeared in jeopardy after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate.
A Pakistani security source said Pakistan’s key mediator, Field Marshal Asim Munir, had told US President Donald Trump the blockade was an obstacle to talks, and that Trump had promised to consider ending it.
The US was hoping to start negotiations in Pakistan shortly before the ceasefire expires, with sweeping security preparations under way in Islamabad.
However, Iran‘s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that “unconstructive & contradictory signals from American officials carry a bitter message; they seek Iran‘s surrender.”
“Iranians do not submit to force,” he added on X.
US-IRAN CEASEFIRE SET TO EXPIRE
Trump announced the two-week ceasefire with Iran on April 7, and has not specified when precisely it ends.
A Pakistani source involved in the talks said it would expire at 8 pm ET on Wednesday, which would be midnight GMT or 3:30 am Thursday in Iran.
The US has maintained its blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran lifted and then reimposed its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied gas supply.
Oil prices rose around 5% as traders remained fearful that the ceasefire would collapse. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual standstill with just three crossings in the space of 12 hours, according to shipping data.
US MARINES BOARD IRANIAN VESSEL
The US military said it had fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship headed towards Iran‘s Bandar Abbas port on Sunday after a six-hour standoff, disabling its engines. US Central Command released video showing Marines descending ropes from helicopters onto the vessel.
The vessel is likely to have been carrying what Washington deems dual-use items that could be used by the military, maritime security sources said on Monday.
Iran‘s military said the ship had been traveling from China and accused the US of “armed piracy,” according to state media. They said they were ready to confront US forces over the “blatant aggression,” but were constrained by the presence of crew members’ families on board.
China, the main buyer of Iranian crude, expressed concern over the “forced interception,” and Chinese President Xi Jinping called for ships to resume passage through the strait as normal and for the conflict to be resolved through political and diplomatic channels, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Trump warned on Sunday that the US would destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if it rejected his terms, continuing a recent pattern of such threats.
Iran has said that if the United States were to attack its civilian infrastructure, it would strike power stations and desalination plants in its Gulf Arab neighbors.
PREPARING FOR TALKS THAT MIGHT NOT HAPPEN
Pakistan geared up to host the talks despite uncertainty over whether they would go ahead. Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed across the capital Islamabad, a government official and a security official said.
The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, in part to prevent the regime from developing nuclear weapons.
Trump said on Monday he believed a nuclear deal the US is currently negotiating with Iran will be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
“The DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal‘,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
During his first White House term, Trump in 2018 withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed to by Iran, the United States and world powers, calling it “the worst deal ever.”
“I am under no pressure whatsoever, although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!” Trump added in his Truth Social post.
Uncategorized
The Strokes End Coachella Set With Video Montage to Denounce US, Israel Bombings in Iran, Gaza
Part of the video montage shown by The Strokes during their Coachella set on April 18, 2026. Photo: YouTube screenshot
The American rock band The Strokes ended their performance on Saturday night, during the second weekend of the Coachella music festival, by showing the audience a video montage denouncing recent bombings in the Gaza Strip by Israel and joint US-Israel military airstrikes in Iran.
Massive screens behind Coachella’s main stage displayed footage of a controlled demolition of a large building in Gaza and an accompanying caption said the structure was the “last university standing” in the enclave. The footage followed scenes of destruction in the Islamic Republic with the caption “Over 30 universities destroyed in Iran.” The video montage was not included in the band’s set during the first weekend of Coachella.
Before turning to footage from the Middle East, the montage showed images and messages that accused the CIA of being involved in overthrowing governments and assassinating leaders in foreign countries. The video mentioned the separate plane crashes in 1981 that killed Panamanian President Omar Torrijos and Ecuador’s President Jaime Rondos, as well as the overthrowing of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, Guatemala’s President Jacob Arbenz in 1954, Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961, Chilean President Salvador Alende in 1973, and Bolivian President Juan Torres in 1976.
The video montage also promoted the conspiracy theory that the US was involved in the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The Strokes showed his image and a caption that read: “US govt found guilty of his murder in civil trial.” The mentioned trial, King v. Jowers, took place in 1999, but in 2000, a review by the US Justice Department found no credible evidence to validate the jury’s verdict. The video also showed images of slavery in the US and Black Lives Matter protests.
The video montage was displayed as The Strokes performed their song “Oblivius” for the first time in 10 years and the second time ever in concert. As the clip played for the audience, the band’s lead singer, Julian Casablancas, kept repeating the same lyrics in the song’s chorus: “What side you standing on?”
For those not attending the set in-person, their performance was available to watch live on Coachella’s official YouTube channel. The video montage and the band’s performance of “Oblivius” was not included in the band’s Coachella weekend one performance on April 11.
The Strokes is made up of Casablancas, Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, and Fabrizio Moretti. In 2021, Casablancas signed a “Musicians for Palestine” open letter that asked artists to boycot Israel and publicly express solidarity with Palestinians.
The band will begin a world tour in June, and in August, they will headline the 2026 Just Like Heaven festival in Pasadena, California. The festival is produced by Goldenvoice, which also produces Coachella.
Uncategorized
Trump: Israel Never Talked Me Into War With Iran
US President Donald Trump speaks about research into mental health treatments in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 18, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israel did not persuade him to attack Iran, after news reports that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu influenced the US president’s decision and criticism from right-wing commentators.
“Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump also said “the results in Iran will be amazing” in the post, which came as the United States prepared to resume negotiations in Pakistan although Iran was undecided.
“And if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!” Trump wrote.