Tag Archives: Maastricht

Forget me not

The picture is of a page in a poetry album which belonged to a friend of Hedi Metzger.

The text is in German and it says. “Forget me not, trust in G-d. Speaking is silver, and silence is gold. This from your memories, Hedi Metzger, Amsterdam 19-4-1939.”

Less than 2.5 years later she would be murdered in Auschwitz.

Hedi was born in Berlichingen on 24 December 1926. She was murdered 80 years ago in Auschwitz on 26 September 1942 at the age of 15.

Hedy and her brother Lothar came to the Netherlands in January 1939. They first stayed in the Zeehuis in Bergen aan Zee, then in the Burgerweeshuis in Amsterdam, and in January 1940 moved in with a foster family in Amsterdam. Their parents were Lylli Gutmann, born in 1900 in Ohlhausen, and Simon, born in 1892 in Berlinchingen. Both perished in Riga in 1943.

In the orphanage, she wrote a few lines in the poetry album of a girlfriend, who like her came from Germany.

Hedi

In the 1960s, a collector bought a batch of books at an auction in Maastricht. Hedi’s little poem was also included in the books.

Twenty of those books had an ex-libris with the name Alex Heumann pasted on the inside of the cover. Presumably, this concerns Alex Heumann (Maastricht, 29 August 1885). His birthplace could be an explanation for his language skills. (Maastricht and the south of Limburg are close to Belgium and Germany, most people would speak German and/or French aside from their native Dutch)The collection contains Dutch, German and French authors, including Poelhekke (about Alberdingk Thijm), Boutens, Veth, Rilke, Tollens, Sternheim and Molière’s Oeuvres complètes.
In addition to being a proprietary mark, an ex libris is also a way in which the owner expresses something of himself.

Handwritten Notes
Very personal are the books in which the owner has made a note, although it is usually no more than his own name, sometimes supplemented with an address or a date. They are often religious books that have been preserved as special keepsakes. Such as the prayer book that Rachel Groenstad (Amsterdam, 14 July 1900) received on the occasion of her wedding on 6 September 1925. Her new name is printed on the cover,  Rachel Drilsma, geb. Green City. Johanna van Thijn-Goldsmid (Oss, 20 May 1905) owned a somewhat more luxurious version, whose name shone in gold letters on the cover.

Sometimes only the giver of a book is known, as is the case with the prayer book ‘Tephillah Wetachanoenim’, which Ruben Velleman (Groningen, January 11, 1894) donated to his nephew Joop in 1936 for his bar mitzvah. A sticker in the book shows that the book was obtained from the ‘Hebrew and Alg. bookstore’ by J.L. Joachimsthal in Amsterdam.
Remarkably many children have left a handwritten note in a book. It usually concerns gifts that they received on a special occasion. Edith Kahn (Wermelskirchen, November 10, 1924) had come to the Netherlands from Germany in the 1930s with her mother and two sisters. The family lived in Zaltbommel, where the mother started a business in embroidered baby clothes. In December 1932 Edith had been given a Haggadah for Passover as a ‘memorial of my visit to the Jewish School’.
In the prayer book Shabbos-Tefillo by Kurt Cahn (Wesseling, April 10, 1929) there is a cryptic, but significant text: ‘Kurt Cahn, B.6-21. Camp Westerbork, Hooghalen East’. Judging by his age, he may well have celebrated his bar mitzvah in camp Westerbork. Kurt had fled to the Netherlands in 1939 together with his brother Josef (Wesseling, 25 August 1925) and sister Hannelore (Wesseling, 31 May 1935). The three children stayed for some time in the Central Israelite Orphanage in Utrecht before they were transferred to Westerbork. In Westerbork, which first served as a refugee camp and later was used as an internment and transit camp, the small theatre hall in barrack 9 was used as a synagogue. Later, the central hall of the orphanage, barrack 35, was also used as a youth shul. Religious life simply continued the Nazis turned a blind eye initially.

Poetry albums
A third category of life signs in books is found in poetry albums. This kind of touching children’s prose has been popping up more and more lately. Former girlfriends are often only too happy that they still have something tangible from their deported classmates.
For example, ‘Thea’ found two poems from former girlfriends in her carefully preserved album. One is by Frieda Mathilde Kattenburg (Amsterdam, March 27, 1932). She wrote: “Dear Thea, Even though you are not my sister; and you don’t get a kiss either; mine every day too; still as a girlfriend; I write a sentence; that I like you.” The other poem is by Anita Maria Grünewald (Duisburg, December 15, 1931), written in March 1941: ‘It is of little value; what I offer you; pick roses on earth; but don’t forget me.”

Several writers made good use of the double meaning of forget-me-nots. Klaartje Fresco (Rotterdam, 26 March 1934) wrote a poem in June 1941: ‘Sprinkle flowers in your path. Roses and daisies. But in between all those flowers! A few forget-me-nots for me.” Hedy Metzger (Berlichingen, December 24, 1926) used the literal meaning a few years earlier. In a heart-shaped template, she wrote to a friend from Germany just like herself, ‘Ver-giß-mich-nicht! Vertrau auf G.tt!!

For her 13th birthday in 1940, Geertruida (Truus) Spanjer (Amsterdam, 26 November 1927) had been given a poetry album. The album has been preserved and contains, among other things, a poem by her niece Selma Spanjer (Amsterdam, 19 May 1931) from May 1942, Dear Truus, Een hart klein, full of sunshine. A big smile, every day. That makes your body fat and round. Dear Truus, stay healthy.

Jiska Pinkhof (Den Helder, December 9, 1931) was the daughter of the painter Leonard Pinkhof (Amsterdam, June 19, 1898). She wrote in a friend’s album: ‘Always be a ray of sunshine to everyone you meet. Then you bring joy to others, and you are well off yourself.” Bertha Augurkiesman (Antwerp, 18 May 1930) left the following rhyme to a girl next door: ‘Dear Hennie, I am sitting here sighing; I bite my pen; what a pity I am not a poet; but oh dear Hennie; I don’t know anymore; then my best wishes; and I’ll never rhyme again.”
Finally, a heartfelt wish from Frijda Goudsmit (Amsterdam, 28 March 1927). At the end of the thirties, she and other children from the Middenweg in Amsterdam were part of the club ‘The cheerful Achttal’. In a preserved poetry album, Frijda wrote in 1939: ‘An angel comes flying. See how kindly she smiles. It’s not a lie. Happiness is what she brought.”

I will not forget.

sources

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/30894/hedy-metzger

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/343585/levenstekens-in-boeken

Desecrating Synagogues

The Holocaust wasn’t only the mass murder of the European Jews and other groups, it was also desecrating places of worships, especially synagogues,. It was showing total contempt and disrespect for holy places.

The above picture was taken on September 16,1944. It shows American and Canadian Jewish soldiers clear the synagogue in Maastricht , which was used as a warehouse during the war. This photo appeared in the New York Times of September 16, 1944 under the caption: “Hope springs eternal”.

The V-actions were Allied propaganda expressions based on the V-sign (V for Victory). To curb the success of these actions, the Germans devised a similar action: ‘V=Victory, because Germany wins for Europe on all fronts’. In August 1941, the synagogue in Apeldoorn. was set on fire, and daubed during on of those V-actions.

The synagogue in Deventer, destroyed by the Nazis, 1941.

Synagogue of Nijmegen, in Gerard Noodtstraat, defaced with anti-Semitic slogans and a Swastika , August 1941

Defaced synagogue in Beverwijk, circa 1942

The synagogue in Apeldoorn was set on fire and defaced by NSB members. August 1941.

Synagogue Paslaan 18, in Apeldoorn. Set on fire by NSB members in mid-August 1941.

What pains me to say is that all of these synagogues were desecrated by Dutch and not Germans. They probably were members of the NSB, the Dutch Nazi Party, buy they were Dutch and no one forced them to do this.

source

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&rows=25&page=1&fq%5B%5D=search_s_keywords_poolparty:%22Synagogen%22&sort=random%7B1663313780418%7D%20asc

Maastricht Liberated.

Maastricht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and one of the first settlements. It was also the first city to be liberated in World War 2.

On 13 and 14 September 1944 it was the first Dutch city to be liberated by Allied forces of the US Old Hickory Division..

These are just some impressions of the liberation of Maastricht. Picture above: Wijck and Maastricht are liberated on 13 and 14 September. German prisoners of war are taken away by American soldiers of the Old Hickory division. This American infantry division played a leading role in the liberation of South Limburg.

American soldiers of the 113th Cavalry Group transport prisoners of war in East Maarland.

‘Maastricht 14 September 1944. The house of the NSB member Spoor is stormed.’

Wycker Brugstraat, direction Sint Servaasbrug in Maastricht. The building on the right in the background is on the west bank, corner Maastrichter Brugstraat/Kesselskade. Photo taken to the west, after September 14, 1944.

An American soldier in the photo with a woman in Maastricht.

Location: Vrijthof, north side. Photo taken to the east, towards Grote Straat. The boy is probably a member of the scouting company.

source

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=Bevrijding%20Maastricht&rows=1&page=4

The bombing of Maastricht

Maastricht is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. in the Southeast of the Netherlands. On August 18, the Unites States Army Airforce, attempted to bomb a railway bridge, but it went horribly wrong.

Friday, August 18, 1944 was a warm sunny day that started nicely but ended in a drama when at the beginning of the evening a group of American bombers attacked the railway bridge over the Maas. (Meuse)

The aim was to make the retreat of the German troops more difficult, because the Allies had the wind at their back in France and were doing everything they could to make the escape of the Germans more difficult and to prevent them from bringing in supplies. The fact that this required bombing in populated areas, with a real chance of civilian casualties, was an acceptable risk.
But instead of hitting the bridges, the bombs wreaked havoc on neighboring residential areas. 26 American B-17s dropped about 160 thousand pounds on the railway bridge, but it almost entirely unscathed. It was different in the surrounding neighborhoods where the population paid a heavy toll: 129 deaths, countless seriously injured and hundreds of houses on both banks of the Maas were wiped off the map.

Due to the anti-aircraft fire near the city, most bombers continued to fly at high altitudes. It was virtual impossible to accurately pinpoint the of a precision attack on the bridge,therfore many of the 156 bombs ended up in the wide perimeter of the bridge. Only one direct hit on the target was counted.

Many residents of Maastricht were concerned about the approaching violence of war. Some had decided to take shelter in the caves of the Sint-Pietersberg for the time being.

Trees Dubois was aged 12 when the bombing happened.

In an interview she gave for a local newspaper she recalled the following.

“I was very scared,my father sent me to the bomb shelter. I went out with the neighbor. She returned halfway through to get something. She didn’t survive.”

sources

https://www.gld.nl/nieuws/2139953/het-bombardement-op-maastricht-dat-fout-ging-zwarte-vrijdag

https://nos.nl/75jaarbevrijding/bericht/2300046-zwarte-vrijdag-veel-doden-bij-bombardement-maastricht

Father’s Day

This will be a blog post about my Dad because it is Father’s day.

There is so much I could say about my Dad and yet there is so little. For a long tome he had not been a part of my life, for 18 years to be precise. Especially the last years of those 18, I started to feel a hate for the man. That hate turned into bitterness, at that stage I realized that I had to do something about it. I had just got married and my wife deserved better then to have a bitter man.

I had found out where my Dad worked, which was in a restaurant in Valkenburg, the south east of the Netherlands which was only a few miles from where we lived. My wife and I, although she was still my girlfriend at the time, went to Valkenburg and sat down on a terrace of the restaurant where he worked.

I have to admit I was impressed to see him at work. Bringing out about 6 meals at the same time, balancing 3 meals on his left arm and 3 meals on his right arm, it was like watching an artist at work.

He did spot us and he came over to us and offered us a drink. It was a bit strange situation, awkward even, so we left after we finished our drinks.

A few months passed again and I decided to reach out to my Dad. But as is often the case, fate beat me to it. In early January 1996,my paternal grandmother died, a woman who I didn’t really know, but my Father called me and asked me if I wanted to come to the funeral. I had a chat with my wife and siblings, and we decided to go especially because our Mother gave us the blessing to go.

At the funeral I could not feel but sorry for the man who I recognized as my Father. We had a chat afterwards and said we would meet again, but had not set a date.

Alas fate hit again and on January 26th ,1996, my Mother suddenly passed away. This time it was my Dad’s turn to come to the funeral. My Mom was very loved by friends and neighbours which was evident at her funeral, because the church was packed. There were even people outside, my Dad was in the hall of the church.

When we walked out, he was there with his arms wide open, ready to embrace us.

The tragedy of my Mom’s death was also the moment that rekindled my relationship with my Dad. There were a few more unfortunate events though, both my wife and I were hospitalised, I in March and my wife in May of 1996. This however strengthened the bond between my Dad and I. He also ended up in hospital a few weeks later. So 1996 was a turbulent year for the family.

What copper fastened our relationship was the fact that one day my Dad visited me at home, we had a good chat and he asked me for forgiveness for the mistakes he had made. To me this was a very brave act, because I jus didn’t know how I may react to that. I also noticed that maybe I lost track of him, he definitely kept track of me, he even knew the grades I got for my school exams.

In 1997 my wife and I immigrated to Ireland, just to make sure that she would be close to her parents. At that stage air travel between Ireland and the Netherlands had become very affordable, therefor it would be possible for me and my Dad to visit each other whenever we wanted.

Our relationship grew stronger and stronger. I had come to understand my Father, his Dad was killed during World War 2, when my Father was still only very young, he was only 5 at the time. So he never really got to know his own Dad, and he never had a Father-Son bond with his own Dad. How could I hold a grudge, knowing this? I couldn’t, was the answer.

Despite having a few health scares he held on, Alas in 2015 he passed away. It was Father’s day 2015 that was the last time I got to see him and talk to him. This time we used modern technology, we had a chat via Skype. Little did we know then that so many would celebrate Father’s day in a similar way in 2020 and 2021. due to the Covid 19 pandemic

Six days later he died.

His story did not end there. He was cremated on July 2nd 2015.The following day my siblings and I decided to go his birthplace, Maastricht, to celebrate his life. When we were there we saw that Andre Rieu would start a week long of concerts, starting that day . We thought that this would be the perfect way to celebrate Dad, but we also knew it would be impossible to get tickets. We tried all the surrounding restaurants at the Vrijthof, where the concert would be held, they offered a dinner and the concert.

All of the restaurants said ‘no’ the tickets had been sold out for months. For some reason though, the last place we tried also said no, but he also he would try to get something sorted for us. He told us to come back just before the concert would start, but we were to come via the back entrance of the restaurant, We did as we were told and the man had arranged a table for us on the terrace, so we could see and hear the concert and also enjoy the meal. I thanked the man and explained to him why we were there that day. That must have touched him because when we wanted to pay, the waitress said there was no charge. We felt that moment our Father looked out for us.

Happy Father’s day to all the Fathers out there. Enjoy it and make the most of it, because you just don’t know what tomorrow brings.

Paying the ultimate price for helping others.

Maastricht is one of my favourite cities. I grew up only about 10 miles away from it and would have visited it numerous times. It is, the most south eastern city in the Netherlands and is well known for its close proximity to Belgium and Germany. It is also the the home of violin virtuoso Andre Rieu and his Strauss Orchestra.

In Europe it is known for the treaty which was signed there on February 7,1992. It shaped the future of the EU.

But I am not going to talk about any of that. I want to add a name to the Maastricht narrative and would love it if in years to come people would say “Maastricht, oh yes that is the place where Derk van Assen and his wife Berendje are from”

Derk and Berendje van Assen were heroes in every sense of the word. They paid the ultimate price for helping their neighbours.

Derk was active in the underground resistance from the beginning of
the war, in May 1940. Initially without being part of an organised group, but later he joined the Versleyen group, a group of tax officials
within the L.O (National Organisation for help to those in hiding); he
was also a member of the Trouw group, the national Christian
resistance group.

In Derk’s Christian believes and humanist principles, all people were equal and he was prepared to risk everything to save the lives of Jews and others. Using his many talents Derk contributed during the war to illegal newspapers, organized national information networks and offered professional document forgers a place to work in his home. Derk and Berendje were friendly with Isidore and Frederika Schaap, who had come to Maastricht in 1939, together with their daughter Hetty. Isidore headed a branch of a Ladies fashion firm that was based in Rotterdam and Berendje was one of his customers.

The Shaap family had totally integrated; in the ways of the more the more Burgundian lifestyle of the southern Netherlands and sometimes they even went with Derk and Berendje to the Reformed Church on Sunday mornings.

In the summer of 1942, the Schaaps received orders to report for deportation ,Derk helped them find a place to hide. They spent their first couple of nights hiding with a family who owned an optician’s shop in Maastricht. During this time their identity cards were altered and the “J” removed, which gave them the freedom to travel with less risk. The next following day, the Schaap family took a train to Utrecht, to the home of one of Derk’s cousins. They soon moved to a family in Hillegom, South Holland, also relations of the van Assens. The Schaap family then had to split up Isidore and Frederika moved to Amsterdam, where they were later arrested.

The Police Commissioner of Maastricht had requested that Isidore Schaap and Frederika Roza Schaap-Kamerling, both residents of Maastricht, be located, detained and brought to trial. They were suspected of having changed their place of residence without the required authorization. This description referred to Jews who had gone into hiding.

On 26 July 1943 Derk was arrested in Maastricht after having been
under surveillance shadowed for some time by the SD (Sicherheitsdienst). The SD had recruited “Blonde Mien”, a resistance activist. Mien was tasked to gather information about Derk’s contacts, but before she could do so Derk was apprehended and incarcerated in the local prison. In this prison, Oberscharfuehrer Richard Nitsch interrogated Derk for seven weeks, during which time Derk’s colleagues were planning his escape. However, the authorities discovered the plot and to abort it Nitsch and two other SD men executed Derk in Horst, Limburg, on September 14, 1943.

In the meantime, Berendje was also arrested and imprisoned, first in
Maastricht, then in Haaren and finally in Vught. From there she was
deported to Camp Ravensbruck in Germany where she died on 2
February 1945.

Two heroes who gave their lives for others. After the war Derk and Berendje were decorated by the Air Chief
Marshall and Vice Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces for
“assistance to officers of the marine, land and air forces to escape
from imprisonment, or to avoid being taken prisoner by the enemy”.
On 6 September 1989 Derk van Assen and Berendina van Assen –
Grolleman were awarded the honorary title of Righteous among the
Nations by Yad Vashem.

Frederika Roza Schaap-Kamerling born Wildervank, 28 February 1894 – Murdered in Auschwitz, 28 January 1944.Reached the age of 49 years.

Isidore Schaap ,born Rotterdam, 24 April 1894 – murdered in Auschwitz, 8 April 1944. Reached the age of 49 years.

I could not find out what happened to their daughter Hetty.

sources

https://righteous.yadvashem.org/?searchType=all&language=en&itemId=4013739&ind=66

Click to access b11884_att-van-assen-biography-eng.pdf

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/130959/isidore-schaap

https://www.tracesofwar.nl/sights/67272/Monument-Derk-van-Assen.htm

Donation

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Clara de Vries-Jazz Musician murdered in Auschwitz.

It is funny sometimes how you are researching one thing and it leads you to something completely different.
I was looking at the origin of a Dutch TV show called ‘Ter land.ter zee en in de lucht” which translates to on the land, in the sea and in the air. It was a light-hearted entertainment show where candidates from all over the Netherlands demonstrate in open air how long and far, they can keep going (sometimes only a few meters) in a self-constructed sort of go-cart, before crashing mostly in to water. But for most it was really more for showing off the design of their ‘vehicles’ rather than winning.
While I was researching it ,I noticed a piece of music used for the show called the beach party, which was performed by a Jazz musician called Willy Schobben, a Jazz trumpetist from Maastricht which is a city I know well because I grew up only a few mile away from it.
When I looked up Willy Schobben, I discovered he married Clara de Vries in 1936, like Willy Clara was also a Jazz trumpetist, and by all accounts an exceptionally talented one. Louis Armstrong once said of her “That Louis de Vries, he had a sister Clara with a ladies-band. Oh boy, she could play that horn!” Her brother Louis, another Trumpetist, was often referred to as the Dutch Louis Armstrong. Unfortunately, he died in a car crash in 1935.
Clara was the sister of Louis de Vries and Jack de Vries, received trumpet lessons from her father Arend de Vries. So, she had quite a musical pedigree.
She played in several Jazz Bands like: Shirmann Jazz Girls; Clara de Vries and her Jazz-ladies; The Rosian Ladies; the Swinging Rascals; and several other bands.

Her talent though was soon to be destroyed, Clara was Jewish and when the German invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 her fate and that of many other Jews was sealed. Added to that she played Jazz, which was considered degenerate art by the Nazis. Jewish musicians were also forbidden to perform for non-Jewish people and later they were forbidden to perform their art at all
On February 9, 1941 Clara was still giving concerts outside the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam in the Café-Cabaret Alcazar. The NSB, the Dutch Nazis, had heard there was a Jewish musician playing in the club and raided the place. Which led to fights and 23 people were injured.
Clara however, refused to stop playing concerts.
On October 15, 1942 Clara and her family were arrested and sent to Westerbork, A few days later, on October 21 she was put on transport to Auschwitz where she was murdered on arrival a day later, on October 22.
Except for her brother Jakob, all her siblings and parents were murdered.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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sources

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/507961/about-clara-johanna-suzanna-de-vries

Clara de Vries

http://www.nettyvanhoorn.nl/sweet_and_hot_music.html

http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Vriesde

Frieda Goldschmidt-Jakob-bombed by the RAF and Victim of the Nazis.

Frieda

It is strange how things can come full circle. My first real blog was about an event during WWII in my hometown of which I was blissfully ignorant about, until I stumbled upon it by accident.. I came across the story of Frieda Goldschmidt-Jakob which actually ties into that story.

On October 5,1942 the RAF accidentally bombed the town of Geleen in the Netherlands. They mistakenly thought it was Aachen in Germany, which is only about 25 km  away from Geleen.The bombing resulted in 83 being killed, 57 houses totally destroyed , severely damaging 227 more house and causing further damage to another 1728 homes.

Frieda Goldschmidt-Jakob and her husband lived on Groenstraat 7. which also functioned as a shop.

(the building in the middle is No 7.)Groenstraat 7

During that RAF bombing the Goldschmidt’s house was one of the homes which were hit and were destroyed. However they both survived.

Groenstraat 5

October 5,1942- The Bombing of Geleen.

Frieda and Joseph Goldschmidt fled Germany in 1936 and moved to the Netherlands where they setlled in Geleen . The oldest son Louis fled to the Netherlands in 1934, it is not known where exactly he moved to. The 2 oldest daughters also moved to Geleen in 1936, The 3 youngest children Alma , Hubert  and Irene Initially moved to Utrecht and then moved in with their parents in Geleen in 1937.Irene moved to a different address in Geleen

Frieda’s oldest daughter Elsa and her husband Adolf Markus managed to emigreat to the US in 1940.

In 1941, new laws restricted the movement of Jews  Hubert and Alma were transported to Toulouse in France. Frieda and her husband Joseph did not need to move because of their old age Irene was deported to Poland . When Frieda and Joseph’s house was bombed they moved into Irene’s house

On 9 April 1943 Joseph and other remaining Jews in the province of Limburg were sent to Vught and a few weeks later to Sobibor via Westerbork, He was immediately gassed when he arrived in Sobibor, aged 75.

All the stress must have got the better of Frieda because she became ill and rather then to be sent to Vught she was sent to a hospital in Maastricht by ambulance. She died in Maastricht on October 7 1943, age 74 just over a year after her house and shop was mistakenly bombed by the RAF.

It is believed that Hubert and Alma Goldschmidt and Elsa and her family have survived the war.

De Groenstraat is the street I often walked across to get to town centre, in fact it is actually where the town centre starts. Yet another placed I passed by daily and never knew the significance of the place. I had to immigrate to Ireland to discover these things.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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sources

https://www.stolpersteinesittardgeleen.nl/Slachtoffers/Frieda-Goldschmidt-Jakob

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/137530/frieda-goldschmidt-jakob

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/1bc53612-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/c1af75f9-4762-f57c-7bfd-ac9828699f8e?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=Geleen&rows=1&page=1

Heinz Sommerfeld-Transport Ek no. 1458 (28. 09. 1944, Terezín -> Auschwitz)

Heinz

Around this time of year many 17 year old kids are getting ready for school exams. And although they may think it is unfair that they have to sit for hours and hours, to do their exams(I know I thought it was unfair). They don’t actually realize how lucky they are.

Education, even though it is a basic human right.it is not a certainty and it should be seen as a privilege when it is given to you.

I am sure Heinz Sommerfeld would have loved to have done his exams when he was 17, but he never got the chance. His biggest worry was staying alive, and because of an evil regime he did not succeed in that either.

He was born in Berlin on March 26th, 1927. On January 5th, 1939, aged 11, he  came to the Netherlands as a refugee without his parents on a  Kindertransport. (children’s transport)

Kinder

When he arrived in the Netherlands he was first in an orphanage in Amsterdam, but in November 1939 he was put in foster care with the Lipschits family in Maastricht . However a few months after the Nazis invaded the Netherlands he was moved again to an orphanage, this time in Utrecht.

In February 1942 he was deported to Westerbork. On January 20th, 1944 he was put on the train to Theresienstadt, from where he was deported to Auschwitz on September 28th, 1944 on transport 1458. A total of 2499 persons were registered on that transport. Heinz was one of them.

The train arrived in Auschwitz on September 29th,1944. What happened to the other 2498 I don’t know, but Heinz was murdered in the gas chambers upon arrival.

He was murdered not because he was bad but because he was perceived to be different, He was Jewish that was enough for the Nazis to kill him.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Dr. Leonhard Levy.

LRVY

I often wonder how many really died during the Holocaust and where they did stop being considered a fatality of the Holocaust?

I think the real numbers are much higher because I don’t think the numbers include victims who died after the war as a direct result of the Holocaust.

Dr. Leonhard Levy was born July 14, 1898, in Hamburg .He married Gertraud Friedländer  in April 1943. I wish I could say more about him, but unfortunately there is not much more I found out. The only thing I know, but I don’t even know for certain is that at some stage he moved to the Netherlands.

What I do know for certain is that he had been imprisoned in Bergen Belsen concentration camp and was liberated from there. However due to the hardships he had endured while imprisoned, he had become very ill.He eventually still succumbed to the horrors of Bergen Belsen and died on November 23,1945,in Vaals , the Netherlands more then 6 Months after the liberation of the Netherlands.

Dutch Notification

He was laid to rest on November 26,1945 in a Cemetery in Maastricht.I know it’s not much but the only consolations is that he died a free man surrounded by people who loved him. His wife survived the war.

begraaf

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