Dutch Israelite Girls Orphanage—MA’ASIEM TOVIEM MEGADLE JETHOMOTH

This house was an orphanage for Jewish girls from 1861 to 1943.
In 1889 the orphanage was extended to include the neighbouring house.
On 10 February 1943, the girls and their attendants were
deported to the extermination camp Sobibor.

They were supposed to have been deported before, but due to a scarlet fever outbreak on 4 July 1942, that was postponed.

Thanks to the outbreak, the deportation of children could be temporarily prevented. In each case, the medical service issued a statement showing that the orphanage was infected and that the occupier stayed outside. No new cases of scarlet fever occurred in October 1942, and on November 1, 1942, the protection afforded by the declarations was over.

A raid took place on 10 February 1943. Several children were able to flee or were released thanks to the Jewish Council, as a result of the 103 girls in the orphanage, 63 were eventually murdered. They were transferred to Westerbork by train. 25 children were immediately deported to Sobibor, along with five employees of the orphanage. On 10 March 1943, the other children and the director Rebekka Frank were deported to Sobibor. All children and employees deported to Sobibor were murdered. Deputy headmistress Betsy Vromen-Snapper was deported to Bergen-Belsen and survived the Holocaust.

This is just one of those children.

Marion Preuss was born in Berlin on 1 August 1931. She was murdered in Sobibor on 23 July 1943 at the age of 11.

Another disturbing fact is how willingly the Dutch civil servants were helping the Nazis. The documents were in Dutch, signed by Dutch civil servants.