The murder of Vrouwtje Gosschalk-van Esso

Each single murder committed during the Holocaust was truly awful, but there are some who even have a sadder element to the death.

Vrouwtje Gosschalk-van Esso was born in Meppel, the Netherlands, on 11 June 1895.Her place and time of death are registered as Bergen-Belsen, 17 April 1945. Her first name Vrouwtje, translates as little woman.

BBergen Belsen was liberated 2 days before her death. Although Bergen Belsen is the registered place of death, Vrouwtje was no longer there.

At the beginning of April 1945, prisoners from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were transferred in three trains to Theresienstadt concentration camp. Many passengers did not survive this train journey. Vrouwtje Gosschalk-van Esso died on the Wittenberge-Berlin-Lübben section and was buried on the Senftenberg-Schipkau section 300 meters before the railway bridge near the village of Schipkau on the south side of the railway tracks, about 30 meters from a switch.

If she had…