Historical Context:

1. -1906: Great Earthquake of San Francisco
   

2. -1912: The Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic
   

3. -1914: Germany declares war on France. World War I begins and Netherlands remains neutral.
   

4. -1917: Russian Revolution
   

5. -1918 (to 1920): “Spanish flu” (influenza) sweeps the world killing between 50 and 100 million people.
   

6. -1921/22: Noordwijk Vuurtoren is constructed
   

7. -1932: Zuider Zee Project commences
   

8. -1933: Hitler appointed a Chancellor of Germany
   

9. -1939: Dutch government opens Westerbork as a refugee camp
   

10. -1939 September: Nazi Germany invades Poland and World War II commences.
    

    Netherlands declares neutrality: WWII

    England and Canada declare war on Nazi Germany

1. -1940 May:
   

    Germany invades Netherlands

    Germany severely bombs Rotterdam

    Netherlands surrenders and becomes occupied territory

   Queen Wilhelmina evacuates to England establishes government in exile

1. -1940: Princess Juliana in exile in Ottawa
   

2. - January 1941: Princess Margriet is born in Ottawa Canada
   

3. -December 1941:
   

    Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor

    USA enters WWII

- 1942: Nazis convert Westerbork refugee camp into a deportation camp.

Irene and Anne Frank were  both interned in Westerbork before being send to their deaths in Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen respectively.

- 1942: Construction of the “Atlantic Wall” begins in Noordwijk

Irene Blass

Born: 19 Oct 1904

- Wien Austria

Married: Johannes Cornelis Plug,  1930

1. -Berlin, Germany
   

Children:

No children

 

Interned: April 1943

1. -Westerbork NL
   

Died: 3 September 1943

1. -Auschwitz Poland
   

Parents:

- Josef Blass (b.1872 d.1940)

1. -Rifca Leizerovic (b.1877 d.1934)