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Behind the Aegis

(53,831 posts)
Thu Oct 7, 2021, 04:26 PM Oct 2021

LGBT History Month: Meet the Dutch gay man who defied the Nazis & saved thousands of lives

In the final days before his execution in July 1943 at the hands of the Nazi party, Willem Arondeus asked his lawyer for one last request: to spread a message after he was gone.

“Let it be known,” he said. “Homosexuals are not cowards.”

A battle cry of defiance and a bold assertion of his strength, Arondeus lived his life by these words. An openly gay man and a tireless member of the Dutch resistance against the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, he willingly sacrificed his life for a mission that ultimately protected hundreds of thousands of Jews’ lives.

A budding artist struggling to survive
From an early age, Arondeus was no stranger to the concept of defiance.



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LGBT History Month: Meet the Dutch gay man who defied the Nazis & saved thousands of lives (Original Post) Behind the Aegis Oct 2021 OP
Cha cha heels KICK Behind the Aegis Oct 2021 #1
I read about this, maybe posted by you but definitely here, just a year or so ago dsc Oct 2021 #2
DURec leftstreet Oct 2021 #3
People like Willem go to good places after they die. roamer65 Oct 2021 #4
Amazing story. K&R for visibility. crickets Oct 2021 #5
K&R Solly Mack Oct 2021 #6

dsc

(52,130 posts)
2. I read about this, maybe posted by you but definitely here, just a year or so ago
Thu Oct 7, 2021, 08:42 PM
Oct 2021

I wonder just how much LGBT history I still don't know.

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