Tag Archives: Wedding

Til Death We Do Part—Weddings at Westerbork Concentration Camp

Westerbork may not have been an extermination camp, but that didn’t mean it was less evil. In a way, it may have been eviler because it created an illusion that life wasn’t that bad and gave the people a false hope that their endurance of camp life would be temporary.

The 261 couples married at Camp Westerbork did so without knowing their fates.

Rosalie Norden married Max Wieselmann at the Westerbork camp on 22 October 1943. He later died at Buchenwald Camp in the first months of 1945, and she survived the war and moved to Australia in 1951. She died in 2002.

Saskia Aukema devoted a book to the marriages of Camp Westerbork, Tot de dood ons scheidt (Til Death Do We Part).

Aukema became interested in the camp marriages when she learned that a great-aunt had married at the camp—Annie Preger married Hans van Witsen on 28 January 1943 at the Westerbork Transit Camp. He was a nurse, and she was a student nurse. The marriage lasted 36 days. On 5 March 1943, in Sobibor they were murdered.

The camp management facilitated the marriages. A special barrack became the registry office where a wedding official would appear regularly to perform the ceremony. The administration kept careful records of the unions.

There was even room for intimacy. Max Vlessing bribed someone on his wedding night with a loaf of bread and butter for privacy. “After transport in the upper beds of the barracks was also an option,” his wife Mientje Vomberg added. Max and his wife survived the Holocaust.

That led to Westerbork babies being born. Robert Falk, for example, was born on 28 March 1943—nine months after his parents’ Westerbork wedding.

His father, Max Falk, was murdered in the Langenstein-Zwieberg Concentration Camp in Austria, a subcamp of Buchenwald, on 19 March 1945. Robert and his mother, Franscisca Falk-Grün’s date or place of death is unknown.

Approximately 60 of the 261 couples that Westerbork married survived.

sources

https://nos.nl/collectie/13878/artikel/2414670-huwelijken-in-kamp-westerbork-ze-zijn-belazerd

https://kampwesterbork.nl/de-stichting/nieuws/item/huwelijk-in-kamp-westerbork

https://www.trouw.nl/cultuur-media/honderden-stellen-trouwden-in-kamp-westerbork-niet-wetende-dat-ze-daarna-alsnog-de-dood-werden-ingejaagd~b28042cc/

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/647413/max-falk

https://dezwijger.nl/programma/tot-de-dood-ons-scheidt

Improvised Wedding Photo

I remember when I was getting married, one of the aspects that needed to be perfect was photography. It was going to be a special day and the photographs needed to reflect that.

But what do you do when your every move is watched and you are seen as an enemy of the state? You have watched so many being arrested and deported. The last thing you want to do is to draw attention to yourself.

Gustaaf van der Wijk and Mina van der Wijk-de Vries got married on August 17, 1942. On that day wedding photos were taken in Amsterdam under improvised circumstances.

The Dutch Jews had been subjected to a great number of restrictions, these are just some of them.

On January 7, 1941, the Dutch Cinema Association decided that Jews would no longer be allowed access to cinemas. On January 12, 1941, this measure is published in the newspapers.

The Registration of Jewish Residents was Ordinance no. 6/1941 of Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart, issued on January 10, 1941. It obliged all Jewish residents of the Netherlands to register with the Population Register, which cost one guilder. Those who refused to do so could be imprisoned for up to five years. Moreover, this information was already known to the Jewish municipalities and the population register.

From September 1, 1941, Jewish children had to go to separate schools and were no longer allowed to go to public schools. In Amsterdam, this applied from 1 October 1941.

The Compulsory Star of David was introduced on 3 May 1942 and required all Jews over the age of six to wear the Star of David. It had to be worn visibly at chest height. The star was distributed by the Jewish Council and cost 4 cents each.

As for the newlyweds Gustaaf van der Wijk and Mina van der Wijk-de Vries. Mina was born in Leiden, on 17 July 1916 and was murdered in Sobibor, on 20 March 1943.

Gustaaf was born in Amsterdam, on 28 December 1917. He was murdered in Auschwitz, on 13 November 1942. Less than two months after his wedding day.

sources

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Gustaaf-van-der-Wijk/02/175455

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/a95b58bc-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/9b1dcf83-48d9-f32f-155d-91eb74fa6c68?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=20%20november&rows=1&page=50

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/153998/gustaaf-van-der-wijk

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/131361/mina-van-der-wijk-de-vries

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Love in the Holocaust

I am always amazed and in awe of people, who despite awful conditions and a very uncertain and bleak future, were still determined to not let that destroy their love for each other. Although they knew the marriage probably wouldn’t last long they still decided to get married.

The picture is a wedding picture of Leendert Vischschraper and Mietje Zendijk. They got married on 12 August 1942 in Amsterdam.

Leendert was murdered in Auschwitz on May31,1944. Mietje was murdered in Bergen Belsen on March 15,1945.

The above picture was taken on the 7th of June 1942. I don’t know who the married couple are, or what their fate was , but more then likely they were also murdered. It could be a weeding picture of Abraham (Jim) de Zwarte and Roza Wertheim, but I am not sure.

Salomon Schrijver married Flora Mendels on 16 April 1942 in Amsterdam. Salomon and Flora deported to Sobibor and murdered on July 9th, 1943.

Abraham (Jim) de Zwarte married Roza Wertheim on 7 June 1942 in the New Synagogue in Amsterdam. A film was made of their wedding , which now is in the Jewish Historical Museum.

The day started in Amsterdam South, in the Waverstraat, where the groom and his family leave for the Transvaalkade in East and then to the Retiefstraat (East). Here, in Jim’s house, the bride is picked up. The wedding will be held in the New Synagogue on Jonas Daniel Meijerplein. A title card with the text ‘star parade’ refers to the obligatory wearing of the Star of David when leaving the synagogue (since 1 May 1942).

Fur worker Abraham aka Jim de Zwarte was born on 13-10-1916 in Amsterdam and murdered in Auschwitz on 28-2-1943, at the age of 26. Seamstress Rosa (or Roza) de Zwarte-Wertheim was born on 13-3-1920 in Amsterdam and murdered in Auschwitz on 15-12-1942, at the age of 22, six months after her marriage.

Below is the link of the film of the wedding day.

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/7a9d9fd4-e4ff-ff3e-eba4-7e4a90209055/media/3b794541-530f-eaff-1df1-133d538b3425

These were just a few of those brave people, defying hate to seal their love.

sources

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/achter-de-ster-beeldbank/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&rows=45&page=1&fq%5B%5D=search_s_keywords_poolparty:%22Huwelijk%22&sort=random%7B1649932449873%7D%20asc

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/531767/about-abraham-de-zwarte

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/202672/leendert-vischschraper

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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A Jewish wedding

I often wonder why did people get married during World War 2. Especially when you were Jewish, because you had even more uncertainty about your life then the general population.

But then I look at the 2 people in the picture, and all I see is pure love. That look is the look of a couple destined to be together. Their love conquered the fear of their future. Their love conquered the hate that they experienced on a daily basis.

The couple was Maurits (Mau) Samuel de Jong and Annie Rozet de Jong-Wijnman. The picture was taken on August 23,1942 in The Hague, the Netherlands. It was their wedding picture. I don’t know too much about Jewish weddings , but I do know about one particular wedding ritual,”Bedken”.

I understand that during Bedken, the groom approaches the bride and places a veil over her bride this is to symbolize modesty as well as his commitment to clothe and protect his wife. It also signifies that the love of the groom for his bride is not only for her external but also her inner beauty. The tradition of the groom veiling the bride himself goes back to biblical times .It is to ensure that the groom does not get tricked into marrying someone else.

Not long after the Bombardment of Rotterdam of May 1940 the young teacher Maurits Samuel de Jong moved to Zaltbommel. The rabbi of Zaltbommel had already fled at that time. Mau de Jong then took over the tasks of the rabbi. Even though he was offered places to go into hiding he said he wanted to go where the community went.

I doubt that the newly wed couple went on a honeymoon.

Both Mau and Annie were deported to Sobibor where they were murdered on July 16,1943. Mau was aged 23, Annie was aged 21. They didn’t even get to celebrate their first anniversary.

sources

https://www.geni.com/people/Annie-Wijnman/6000000032604786897

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/222479/maurits-samuel-de-jong

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/143614/annie-rozet-de-jong-wijnman

https://www.geni.com/people/Maurits-Samuel-de-Jong/6000000045379808003

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/achter-de-ster-beeldbank/detail/b6a16ad4-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/29557d78-3791-3aea-6cca-6d65ae2691f8?mode=detail&view=horizontal&rows=1&page=115&sort=random%7B1644223477420%7D%20asc

Love during the Holocaust

Getting married is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to you in life. It is a union of love which is quite powerful.

However it can also be nerve wrecking, admittedly more so for the bride then the groom. You want to make sure the day goes well, you hope the weather will be good and that the guests won’t complain too much. And of course then there is that all important wedding night, you may have made love before, but the wedding night is just that bit more special , and you may just want to be a bit more adventurous when it comes to sex.

Now go back to the period of 1940-1945. Your country has been occupied by a foreign power, helped by some of those you once may have known as friends or neighbours.

The Nazis who want to eradicate everyone like you, juts because you are Jewish. Your future is uncertain, you don’t know how long it will take before you are picked up and transported to who knows where.

But you are in love with a beautiful lady and the beautiful lady is in love with a handsome man. What do you do? Will you let hate stop you from loving each other?

No, because you know that despite everything there is no stronger power then love.

The loving couple is Elias(Edie) van Biene and Sonja Rood. I don’t know when they got married but it must have been after April 29,1942. That was the date the Dutch Jews were ordered to wear the Yellow star. I believe they got married in Rotterdam. Elias was murdered in Außernlager KZ Auschwitz, KZ Althammer, Poland. On January 20,1945. One week before Auschwitz was liberated. Elias was 26 when he died.

Sonja managed to hide initially, but she was captured and send to Auschwitz. She did survive and moved to Israel after the war where she died on April 25, 1971 aged 52.

Despite the horrors around them, and the hate that surrounded them. The love of these 2 people for each other conquered that hate and got married. The looks in their eyes shows pure unconditional love.

Love is stronger then hate.

sources

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/4e042c32-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/b2c146c6-8a8f-fac5-dcfb-218e35d54ea3?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=Joods%20Huwelijk&rows=1&page=72

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/143581/elias-van-biene

https://www.geni.com/people/Sonja-Rood/6000000078350610530

https://www.geni.com/people/Elias-Edie-van-Biene/6000000056418936867

Love is stronger then the fear of death.

Weddimg

I probably could do a whole essay on how Guus van der Wijk and Mina de Vries met, and at some stage I probably will, but for now it suffices to say they were extremely brave people, in fact in my eyes they are heroes.

Despite the knowledge that there was a great chance they would be separated and likely would face death , it did not stop them in declaring their love for each other and copper fasten their love in matrimony, and capture that moment for future generations.

On August 17,1942 arranged in an improvised manner to have a wedding picture taken,in Leeuwarden in the North of th Netherlands. There was no fancy wedding dress or expensive ring. Just ordinary attire, the only indication that it was a festive occasion was the carnation on Mina’s dress.

In less then 3 months later Mina would become a widow,Guus was killed in Auschwitz on November 13,1942.

Mina herself would be killed in Sobibor on March 20,1943.

In death they would be reunited again because their love had no fear of death.

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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Source

NIOD

 

The time Michael Jackson became Elvis’s son in law.

blogs-aisle-say-michael-jackson-and-lisa-marie-wedding

This is something that had slipped my mind but on this day in 1994, Michael Jackson married Lisa-Marie Presley.

They first met nearly 2 decades before they got married.He was introduced to her when he was 16 ans she was 6.at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada by her Elvis.

Elvis head brought her there to see the Jackson 5 perform.

Jackson 5

The pair picked up their friendship many years later in 1992,at a private dinner held at the home of their mutual friend the artist Brett-Livingstone Strong.  and two years after that, the ruler of Neverland and the heiress of Graceland were to be wed.

Although no one knew at the time. They got married in secret in n a secluded part of the Dominican Republic. The news about the wedding only leaked 11 weeks later.

MJ and LM

Lisa Marie had been a great support to Michael Jackson,when he became the subject of child sexual abuse accusations in 1993.

Michael Jackson had proposed to Lisa Marie while she was still married to actor Danny Keough. Jackson and Presley wed on May 26, 1994, at a ceremony in the Dominican Republic.Presley had divorced Keough only 20 days before.

The whole ceremony only lasted for 15 minutes and was held by was held by Judge Hugo Francisco Alvarez Perez at his home.

The marriage only lasted for 2 years. They got divorced on August 20 1996.

2018-05-26.png

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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Source

Bride

 

 

 

Holocaust Wedding

1

Elisabeth Appelboom and Philip Flesschedrager did what so many young people of their age did, they fell in love, got married and promised to stay together until death did them part.

For most married couples it is a journey they enjoy for many years to come. But not for Elisabeth and Philip. because death did do them part sooner then they had envisaged.

Philip Flesschedrager was a shop assistant age 21  when he married Elisabeth Appelboom  on April 8 1942 a seamstress age also age 21,

They got married in the Synagogue on the Rapenburgerstreet in Amsterdam.

3

Up until spring time 1942 daily life had been reasonably ‘normal’ for Jews in Amsterdam. It was only on May 3rd it was obligatory for the Jewish population to wear the yellow Star of David.

Little did the newlyweds know that just over 1.5 year later their marriage would come to an end.

4

On December 26 1943 Philip was killed in Auschwitz age. Elisabeth was killed on January 18 1945, they were both 23.

Elisabeth Appelboom and Philip Flesschedrager had a child that survived the war.

5

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

Joods Monument

 

I pronounce you POTUS and first lady.

truman

I have to admit that the title isn’t technically correct, since at the time they were not yet a President of the US and their first wives.(with the exception of President Cleveland)But if I would have called it I pronounce you husband and wife people would not think this blog would contain wedding pictures of former US Presidents and their wives, they might just think it was a blog promoting “Say yes to the dress” Yes I know it is scary I even know the title.

The President of the USA is without a doubt the most powerful office on the globe, but before they became president they were just ‘regular’ human beings who did regular things like getting married. The above picture is a wedding photograph of Harry and Bess Truman, 1919.

Below are few more pictures o presidential wedded bliss.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter married in 1946 before Jimmy graduated from Naval school—hence his dashing uniform in their wedding photo. They lived all over the country thanks to Jimmy’s deployment, but eventually settled down in the White House

072516-presidential-wedings-12

Hillary initially rejected Bill’s proposal—but she eventually agreed to marry him and they tied the knot in 1975.

Billary and Hilary

Barbara and George H.W. Bush, First Presbyterian Church, Rye, NY, January 6, 1945.

bush sr

President George W. Bush met Laura Welch at a backyard barbecue, and they were engaged after just three months. The couple got married in 1977 and had twin girls in 1981—Barbara and Jenna.

Bush Jr

Drawing of President Grover Cleveland’s and Frances Folsom’s wedding, the Executive Mansion (White House), Washington, D.C., June 2, 1886.

Cleveland entered the White House as a bachelor, and his sister Rose Cleveland joined him, to act as hostess for the first two years of his administration. However, unlike the previous bachelor president James Buchanan, Cleveland did not remain a bachelor for very long. In 1885 the daughter of Cleveland’s friend Oscar Folsom visited him in Washington.Frances Folsom was a student at Wells College. When she returned to school, President Cleveland received her mother’s permission to correspond with her, and they were soon engaged to be married.On June 2, 1886, Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room at the White House.He was the second President to wed while in office,and has been the only President married in the White House.

cleveland

Barack and Michelle put a ring on it in 1992 after meeting at their law firm. Their first date? A screening of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing.

obama

JFK and Jackie . got married in a 1953 Newport, Rhode Island, wedding, with 700 guests at the ceremony and a whopping 1,200 at the reception. Hope they had a big cake because that’s a lot of hungry people to feed.

jfk

Ronald and Nancy Reagan, the Little Brown Church in the Valley, Los Angeles, CA, March 4, 1952. It was of course the 2nd time around for Reagan.

reagan ronald

Charles Henry, Lou Henry Hoover, Jean Henry, Herbert Hoover and Florence Henry, Monterey, CA, February 10, 1899

hoover

The price for the most handsome couple has to go the Eisenhowers. How completely and totally iconic is this 1916 wedding portrait of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie? These two married at Mamie’s parents’ home in Colorado after getting engaged on Valentine’s day.

072516-presidential-wedings-7

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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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