When most people think of the Holocaust diary of a Dutch Jew, they think of Anne Frank. But she was not alone. Yoshua Tolle describes his recent visit to the Vught concentration camp in the southern Netherlands, and the chronicle kept there by a young poet and translator by the name of David Koker:

Published to acclaim in 1977 as Dagboek geschreven in Vught (“Diary Written in Vught”), his account is marked by almost novelistic observation and startling insights made in the moment. . . . When he is not watching history strut before him in the shape of a man, Koker is busy falling in (unreciprocated) love with a girl in the camp. Other entries depict the beauties of the surrounding country. . . . Nearly 80 years later, you can look out the window of a bus from Den Bosch at some of the same verdant landscape.

The year of reflections he was able to get smuggled out to his friends in Amsterdam (the last six months were lost) makes for bracing reading as much for the moments of apparent contentment as for the scenes of deportation and casual sadism.

Koker froze to death in February 1945 on a sick transport to Dachau. Buried in a mass grave, his remains were never identified.

While the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has never been friendly to Hamas, his government has objected strenuously to the Israeli campaign in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip. Haisam Hassanein explains why:

Cairo has long been playing a double game, holding Hamas terrorists near while simultaneously trying to appear helpful to the United States and Israel. Israel taking control of Rafah threatens Egypt’s ability to exploit the chaos in Gaza, both to generate profits for regime insiders and so Cairo can pose as an indispensable mediator and preserve access to U.S. money and arms.

Egyptian security officials have looked the other way while Hamas and other Palestinian militants dug tunnels on the Egyptian-Gaza border. That gave Cairo the ability to use the situation in Gaza as a tool for regional influence and to ensure Egypt’s role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would not be eclipsed by regional competitors such as Qatar and Turkey.

Some elements close to the Sisi regime have benefited from Hamas control over Gaza and the Rafah crossing. Media reports indicate an Egyptian company run by one of Sisi’s close allies is making hundreds of millions of dollars by taxing Gazans fleeing the current conflict.

Moreover, writes Judith Miller, the Gaza war has been a godsend to the entire Egyptian economy, which was in dire straits last fall. Since October 7, the International Monetary Fund has given the country a much-needed injection of cash, since the U.S. and other Western countries believe it is a necessary intermediary and stabilizing force. Cairo therefore sees the continuation of the war, rather than an Israeli victory, as most desirable. Hassanein concludes:

Adding to its financial incentive, the Sisi regime views the Rafah crossing as a crucial card in preserving Cairo’s regional standing. Holding it increases Egypt’s relevance to countries that want to send aid to the Palestinians and ensures Washington stays quiet about Egypt’s gross human-rights violations so it can maintain a stable flow of U.S. assistance and weaponry. . . . No serious effort to turn the page on Hamas will yield the desired results without cutting this umbilical cord between the Sisi regime and Hamas.