History of Sorts

Bernard Henri Piller was born in Maastricht on 8 February 1932 and murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz on 23 September 1943. He reached the age of 11 years.

Henri Samuel Piller was also born in Maastricht on 15 April 1935. The nazis murdered him at Auschwitz on 23 September 1943 at the tender age of eight.

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Henri Samuel Piller was born in Maastricht on 15 April 1935. He was the youngest son of David Piller (30 June 1904 – 3 August 1943) and Carolina Anna Polak (30 July 1910 – 23 September 1943). His father, David, came to Maastricht from his birthplace, Amsterdam, in the early 1930s and then moved into Hotel Wilhelmina at Wilhelminasingel 88 in Maastricht. Henri’s grandfather and namesake, Henri Samuel Polak, managed this kosher hotel, and his grandmother, Grietje Sanders. Henri and Grietje had three children: daughters Ansje and Carolina Anna and son David Samuel. Apparently, there was a spark between David and Carolina because they got married on 27 March 1931.

About ten months after the wedding, Henri’s brother, Bernard Henri, was born on 8 February 1932. At the beginning of January 1933, the family moved with Carolina’s parents to Wilhelminalaan 70 in Valkenburg, where Henri and Grietje had been running the Pension/Restaurant Den Halder since June 1927. However, they only lived in Valkenburg for a short time. After Henri Polak died in April 1934, David, Carolina, Bernard, and grandmother Grietje soon moved back to Maastricht. They then moved to Scharnerweg 108. Henri Samuel was born there on 15 April 1935. At the end of February 1937, the family moved again. This time, they rented a house at Koning Clovisstraat 57b in Maastricht.

When the war broke out in May 1940, Henri was five years old. Step by step, the Nazis were banning memberships in a sports club, walking in parks, going to the swimming pool, going to the market, going to the cinema, or going to school. After the summer holidays of 1941, Jewish students were not allowed to return to their old school because the German occupiers had decided that as of 1 September, Jewish children would no longer be allowed to attend school with non-Jewish children. A Jewish class was founded in Maastricht that existed until the end of 1942. On 24 August 1942, the Maastricht municipal police set out with a registered letter intended for 159 Jewish fellow citizens. It was a call for deportation to Westerbork, which would take place the next day.

Henri, his parents, and his brother did not receive a call because they had a ‘Sperre bis auf Weiteres’— (Provisional) Exemption from deportation that was granted by the Security Service (SD), probably because Henri’s father became head of the purchasing committee at the Jewish Council in Maastricht on 19 August 1942. Things had now become busier in the Piller home. On 7 August 1942, Paul Sommer and his wife, Carla Sommer-de Vries, moved in with them. Arnold Sandhaus and his wife Johanna would join them in March 1943.

Then, on November 10 and 11, 1942, a raid followed in which Jewish residents were picked up and deported to Westerbork. The Sperre protected the Piller family against deportation, but not for much longer. When, at the end of March 1943, the highest SS man in the Netherlands, Hanns Albin Rauter, ordered that eight Dutch provinces, including Limburg, be made Judenfrei, all Sperres were withdrawn. The Jews who still legally lived in those provinces had to report to Camp Vught before 10 April 1943, including Henri, his parents, and his brother. But David and Carolina decided to go into hiding with their children. Then disaster struck: in May 1943, The Nazis arrested Henri’s father in Belgium with a false ID. It stated that David —alias Désiré Peeters—had lived in the municipality of Crainhem (Brussels) since 12 February 1942.

After being held captive in Barracks Dossin for more than two months, Henri’s father, David, was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 31 July 1943 on Transport XXI. There were 1,563 women, men, and children on board. David was murdered almost immediately after arriving at Auschwitz. His date of death was reported as 3 August 1943, when David was 39 years old.

Henri also ended up in Kazerne Dossin. On the day the SS murdered his father at Auschwitz, he, his brother, Mother, Grandmother Grietje, and Uncle David were registered there. They were arrested separately from Henri’s father and did not see him again in Kazerne Dossin. They were all deported to Auschwitz on 20 September 1943 on transport XXIIA. Upon arrival, the SS immediately sent 75% of the women and girls and 48% of the men and boys to the gas chambers. The SS selected Henri, his mother, and his brother for the gas chamber on 23 September 1943. Henri Samuel was only eight years old, his mother was 33 years old, and his brother Bernard was 11 years old.

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Sources

Piller, David