On May 8, 1940, the Van Hasselt family were festively dressed—as guests at the wedding of Meijer Nieweg, Missus van Hasselt’s brother. Simon van Hasselt was wearing a white flower for the occasion.
Two days later, the Germans invaded the Netherlands.
Less than two years later, on April 29, 1942, the van Hasselt family, like all other Jews in the Netherlands, were forced to wear a Yellow Star to be easily identified—or rather, singled out.
Simon van Hasselt was born on November 5, 1900, in Siddeburen, the Netherlands. He was a teacher, Groningen dialect writer, and head of the school in Frieske Waskemeer. Simon and Geertje Nieweg married in 1927 in Appingedam. At the end of 1929, the family moved to Zwartemeer. They had two daughters—Hermi Sophia Kaatje, born on August 1, 1928, in Slochteren, and Sophia Kaatje, born on April 20, 1933, in Ooststellingwerf. In 1932, the family moved to Haulerwijk-beden, where Simon van Hasselt became head of the school.
In September 1941, the Municipality of Groningen opened a primary school for students of Jewish Blood—Simon van Hasselt, dismissed as a teacher earlier in 1941 because of his Jewish background, was appointed the Head of School at Prinsenstraat, number 11. The school had more than 200 students divided over the six grades. It closed in early 1943 due to a lack of students and teachers. That was because the Nazis were murdering them, as would be the case for Simon and his family. The Nazis murdered the whole family at Auschwitz on February 12, 1943.
In 1932, Simon van Hasselt had been appointed head of the primary school in Haulerwijk-Beneden (now Waskemeer). After the war, the school honored his name by renaming it—Meester van Hasseltschool.
SOURCES
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/135129/simon-van-hasselt
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