30. August 1943

12. September 1943

The deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is liberated as part of a German military operation. Curt Bloch mentions the liberation mission in the poem Soap Bubbles.

02. October 1943

In early October 1943, the Dutch Winter Relief conducts a street collection. This initiative with butterfly-shaped pins inspires Curt Bloch to write the poem Winter Relief Campaign 1943/1944.

05. October 1943

Four individuals are executed in Germany for spreading a satirical poem about Adolf Hitler. Curt Bloch responds to this with his poem A Goal.

18. October 1943

The writer and committed socialist A. M. de Jong is murdered by the Dutch SS. His death inspires Curt Bloch to write the poem In Memoriam A. M. de Jong.

09. November 1943

Curt Bloch’s 35th birthday. For this occasion, Bloch publishes the poem November’s Child.

23. November 1943

An Allied bombing raid destroys large parts of the Berlin Zoo and kills numerous animals. This news inspires Curt Bloch to write his poem Unsatisfying.

26. November 1943

The Belarusian city of Gomel is liberated by the Red Army. Curt Bloch addresses the propagandistic reinterpretation of this and other defeats of the German Wehrmacht as victories in his poem The Countermove.

28. November 1943

From November 28 to December 1, 1943, the first conference of the government leaders of the three major Allies takes place in Tehran. Curt Bloch writes the poem In Tehran about this event.

26. December 1943

The German battleship “Scharnhorst” is sunk. In the poem Setback, Bloch reflects on Hitler’s ambitious plans for naval warfare against Britain.

01. January 1944

At the beginning of the year, Curt Bloch publishes a New Year’s edition with the first issue of the year 1944.

11. January 1944

Execution of Italian fascist politician Gian Galeazzo Ciano by his own father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, after a show trial because Ciano had agreed to the removal of Mussolini in the Fascist Grand Council. Curt Bloch addresses these events in the poems Apology of a Father-in-Law and Solve the Ridddle.

13. January 1944

Execution of resistance fighters Nicolaas “Ko” Beuzemaker and Kees Schalker. In the poem “To die!” Curt Bloch discusses the murder of these two men.

15. February 1944

In Monte Cassino (Southern Italy), the world-famous Benedictine monastery dating back to the 6th century is completely destroyed by an Allied bombing raid. This inspires Curt Bloch to write the poem Lying Film “Monte Cassino” a month later.

19. February 1944

The Allies conduct a bombing raid on the industrial city of Leipzig, resulting in 79 Royal Air Force aircraft not returning to England. The Nazi press reports on this military failure, and Curt Bloch responds with his poem The New Battle at Leipzig.

24. February 1944

The Knight‘s Cross of the War Merit Cross is awarded to Dr. Theodor Morell (1886-1948), Hitler’s physician. Bloch asks in the poem His Personal Physician why Morell continues to keep his patient healthy, whom he refers to as the “the world’s cancerous growth.”

25. February 1944

In an editorial in the newspaper “Das Reich,” Joseph Goebbels looks confidently to the future, despite the impending defeat of the Germans, and claims, among other things, that the German nation will be the intellectual leader of civilized humanity in the year 2000. Curt Bloch responds to the article with the poem The Bellamy Imitation.

05. March 1944

Due to urgent wartime measures, the Japanese government decides to close all tea houses and geisha houses for a year starting from March 5, 1944. Curt Bloch writes the poem Poor Little Geisha … about this.

16. March 1944

Marcel Déat is appointed as Minister of Labor and National Solidarity in the Vichy government. Curt Bloch writes the poem The Imitator about this.

17. March 1944

The 18-year-old SS member Strootmann falls in the East. Inspired by his family‘s obituary, Curt Bloch writes an ironic Obituary for SS-Sturmmann Johann Strootmann.

11. April 1944

Soviet troops capture Dzhankoy and Kerch in Crimea on April 11, 1944. Two months later, Curt Bloch celebrates these events on the peninsula with the poem The Crimea is free again!

14. April 1944

61st Birthday of Paula Bloch – which she doesn’t live to see, as Curt Bloch’s mother is deported together with his youngest sister Helene and murdered on May 21, 1943. Curt Bloch only learns of her death after the war. In hiding, he dedicates to her the poem For Mother.

01. May 1944

Julius Dorpmüller, Hermann Röchling, Albert Vögler, and Claudius Dornier are honored. In the poem Pioneers of Labor, Bloch refers to the awardees as exploiters of workers in the name of Hitler.

09. May 1944

he Red Army occupies the city of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. The 21,000 remaining German soldiers surrender and fall into Russian captivity. The loss of Crimea is the subject of the poem Nazi twilight.

11. May 1944

On the occasion of NSB leader Anton Mussert‘s 50th birthday, Curt Bloch settles scores with Mussert in the poem The Leader and predicts his imminent fall.

28. May 1944

Whit Sunday. On the occasion of this holiday, Curt Bloch publishes his poem Pentecost 1944.

01. June 1944

Start of the Allied landing in Normandy. Already on May 20, 1944, Bloch predicts this “Day D” and explores the moods of the various belligerent parties.

12. June 1944

London is bombed for the first time with the German flying bomb V1. Curt Bloch publishes his poem The Little V1 Song two months later.

23. June 1944

The Nazi-sympathizing General Eduard Dietl dies in a plane crash. Bloch writes the ironic poem Obituary for Dietl on this occasion.

28. June 1944

The extreme-right French politician Philippe Henriot, Minister of Information and Propaganda of the Vichy regime, is assassinated. Bloch addresses this event in his poem France Wakes Up!

02. July 1944

After open criticism of the top leadership, the Supreme Commander of the West, Gerd von Rundstedt, is replaced by Adolf Hitler with Günther von Kluge. In the poem Von Rundstedt Resigns, Curt Bloch questions the reasons for this personnel change.

20. July 1944

On July 20, 1944, a group led by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb attack. However, the coup fails, Hitler is only lightly injured and survives. Curt Bloch dedicates several poems to this event, such as The German “Solidarity”.

22. July 1944

On July 22, 1944, Arthur Seyß-Inquart, appointed by Adolf Hitler as Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands, celebrates his 52nd birthday. Curt Bloch publishes the poem Seyss-Inquart has a Birthday (22-7-44) in honor of his birthday.

02. August 1944

On August 2, 1944, it is the tenth anniversary of Paul von Hindenburg‘s death. His lavish funeral took place on August 7, 1934, in Tannenberg, with military honors. As the Red Army approaches in the final phase of World War II, Hitler has Hindenburg‘s body exhumed and brought to Bernterode in Thuringia. Curt Bloch learns of the exhumation, which inspires him to write the poem “Valhalla”.

05. August 1944

As a result of the “total war,” no equestrian events are held in Germany starting from August 5. Curt Bloch comments on this news with his poem Horse Races Forbidden in his magazine on August 30, 1944.

23. August 1944

On August 23, 1944, a coup takes place in the Kingdom of Romania led by Romanian King Michael I to end the military dictatorship under Ion Antonescu and the alliance with Nazi Germany. Curt Bloch addresses this event and its impact on the warfare in the poem Balkan Twilight.

25. August 1944

On August 25, 1944, the Allies liberated Paris with great cheering of the population without a fight. Two days earlier, Curt Bloch published his poem Paris in Expectation.

01. September 1944

On September 1, 1944, Joseph Goebbels ordered the cessation of theater and concert performances in Germany. All artists were to be either sent to the front or employed as laborers in the arms industry. Curt Bloch responds to this development in his poem Goebbels’ Cultural Demolition.

05. September 1944

Due to false rumors, “Dolle Dinsdag” (Mad Tuesday) was believed to mark the liberation of the Netherlands by the Allies, which led Frederik Willem van Vloten (1889–-1970), director of the Dutch Winterhulp, and many NSB members to flee. Bloch reflects on the collapse of the Winterhulp and the hope of the arrival of American troops in his poem Winter Aid in These Times.

12. September 1944

Liberation of the town of Noorbeek as first in the Southern Netherlands. Anton Mussert, leader of the Dutch Nazi movement NSB, urges his members on the eve to evacuate their families to the northeast. Curt Bloch writes the poem The NSB Members Tremble about this event.

14. September 1944

In the poem Maastricht Liberated!, Bloch celebrates the arrival of the Allies and looks forward with hope to the future when Enschede will finally be liberated.

17. September 1944

The Battle of Arnhem begins. In the poem Arnhem, Bloch mourns the victory of the German Wehrmacht but expresses optimism about the future course of the war for the Allies.

25. September 1944

Adolf Hitler orders the mobilization of all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60. The following month, Curt Bloch publishes the poem The German People’s Storm.

05. October 1944

Bloch expresses satisfaction with the death of pilot Helmut Lent in the poem Night Fighter Helmuth Lent. He places it in the context of the overall downfall of the Third Reich and suspects that Hitler is fearful in the face of impending defeat.

14. October 1944

German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide under the threat of a high treason trial. Officially, it is said that he died as a result of a serious car accident. Curt Bloch publishes the poem The Song of Marshal Rommel † about his death in the following month.

09. November 1944

Curt Bloch celebrates his 36th birthday. But in his hiding place, he doesn’t feel like celebrating. This is also expressed in the poem Hidden Birthday 1944.

12. November 1944

The last major battleship of the German Navy, the “Tirpitz,” is sunk in Norway. Curt Bloch writes the poem In Memoriam “Tirpitz” about this event.

15. November 1944

Dutch resistance fighters commit a bank robbery and seize 46.1 million guilders (value in 2023: 354 million euros). An editor in the Nazi press imagines what can be done with the reward for capturing the culprits. Curt Bloch responds to this with his Reply to “de Rakker”.

06. December 1944

On the occasion of the 95th birthday of August von Mackensen, Bloch reflects in Generals on the seemingly comfortable, long life of generals behind the frontlines. He explains that only criticism of the rulers shortens the life of generals, as he illustrates with some examples.

24. December 1944

Curt Bloch contemplates the biblical message of peace in his poem Christmas 1944.

01. January 1945

Bloch prophesies, on the occasion of Adolf Hitler’s New Year’s Address, his downfall in the year 1945.

21. January 1945

The Tannenberg Monument is blown up by the retreating German Wehrmacht after the coffins of Hindenburg and his wife were evacuated from the crypt. In the poems Precautionary measure and Valhalla, Bloch comments on this event and interprets it as a sign of an imminent end to the war.

30. January 1945

The premiere of the movie “Kolberg” takes place in Berlin and in front of German soldiers in the Allied-enclosed submarine base of La Rochelle. For the premiere, the soldiers‘ newspaper “Wacht im Westen” publishes an article that inspires Curt Bloch to write the Dutch poem Movie Theatre in La Rochelle.

02. February 1945

On February 2, Jan Feitsma, a member of the Dutch National Socialists (NSB) and the Attorney General in Amsterdam, is shot by a member of the resistance. He succumbs to his injuries shortly afterward. The NSB party organ „Volk en Vaderland“ reports on the assassination attempt. The newspaper article inspires Curt Bloch to write his poem Murdered?.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Feitsma

03. February 1945

On February 3, 1945, heavy air raids on Berlin, involving around one thousand Allied bombers, result in approximately 25,000 casualties. Despite this, a Dutch occupation newspaper states that the residents of the capital are holding up “magnificently” thanks to their “dogged spirit.” Curt Bloch responds to this news about a month later with the poem “They will not keep us down”.

06. March 1945

On March 6, 1945, members of the Dutch resistance shot Hanns Albin Rauter, the higher SS and police leader of the occupied Netherlands, severely wounding him. He survived the assassination attempt by pretending to be dead and was promptly taken to a hospital. Curt Bloch, hiding in his refuge, apparently received only news of the assassination attempt and assumed that Rauter had been killed. This led to the creation of the satirical obituary In Memoriam Rauter †.

07. March 1945

On March 7, 1945, the attempt to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge, also known as the Remagen Bridge, before the advancing Allied troops, failed. As a result, 18 Allied regiments were able to cross the Rhine. Hitler ordered the summary execution of five officers for “cowardice” and “dereliction of duty.” The news of this event inspired Curt Bloch to write the poem “Exemplary-noble Aryan”.

13. March 1945

After five years in exile, Queen Wilhelmina returned to Dutch soil, having spent the years of German occupation in England. Shortly before her return to the Netherlands, her daughter Juliana received a motorhome as a gift from the English queen. Curt Bloch addressed this press release in his poem Criticism of a Gift.

01. April 1945

On April 1, 1945, British troops reach the cities of Enschede and Hengelo, subsequently liberating the people from the German invaders. With the liberation, Curt Bloch concludes his underground publishing work, and his final magazine is published on April 3, 1945.