History of Sorts

Betsy van Creveld lived in Hoensbroek during the war. Sonny Zurel was her child.

The last refugees who were deported by the Nazis from South Limburg, the Netherlands, to Westerbork were two young nurses who had sought refuge in Hoensbroek. Betsie Zurel-van Creveld and her friend Cato van Lier, both from Amsterdam, were arrested by the SS on August 30, 1944, just over two weeks before the liberation of Hoensbroek, and were eventually deported to Westerbork. Betsie was heavily pregnant. On December 30, she gave birth to her son Sonny in Bergen-Belsen, who died six days later in the camp on January 4, 1945. Betsie died there on January 13, 1945. Her friend Cato did not survive the Ravensbrück Camp.

I wish I could write more, but I can’t this—hit me hard. Betsy gave birth to her son in hell. Maybe it was for the better that he only lived for a few days.

Sonny would have been 80 on December 30, 2024.

Sources

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/182384/betsy-henriette-zurel-van-creveld

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/900f8acf-835c-494c-b238-73946755953a