Holocaust Remembered CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST - A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 2017 ...
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A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION • SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 2017 • VOLUME 4
Holocaust Remembered
CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST
2 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 9, 2017
Contributors
Lilly Filler, M.D. The youngest Holocaust victims
C
Co-chair, Columbia Holocaust
Education Commission
Secretary, S.C. Council on the By Lilly Filler our children – in their physical, men-
Holocaust tal, emotional and social health.
hildren are voiceless
Lyssa Harvey, Ed.S This is the fourth edition of Holo-
about their environ-
Co-chair, Columbia Holocaust caust Remembered and the first de-
Education Commission
ment, about war or vio-
voted to the children of the Holocaust.
Teacher, therapist, artist lence. And yet the most
This supplement is but one example
poignant visual of war
Charles Beaman of the multiple objectives of the Co-
CEO, Palmetto Health and destruction are the
lumbia Holocaust Education Com-
children. This issue is devoted to our
Federica Clementi, Ph.D. youngest victims, our children. More
mission. This year, the supplement
Associate Professor of Jewish will be distributed to three additional
Studies, USC than 1.5 million children were mur-
markets outside of Columbia: Myrtle
Chavi Epstein dered in the Holocaust; only 150,000
Beach, Hilton Head and Beaufort, and
Judith Dim Evans children survived.
Rock Hill. We are thrilled to be able
Children
Francois Fisera who were 17
to share our stories with these com-
munities and hope that they will be
Rebecca Gray years old or interested in contributing to this pub-
Director of Media Relations and younger and
Internal Communications, lication next year.
Palmetto Health who lived in The Columbia Holocaust Edu-
Rachel Haynie or had lived cation Commission is a volunteer
in Eastern Eu-
Justin Heineman organization created from the re-
rope by 1945 maining funds from the Holocaust
Hayes Hoover are considered Memorial, dedicated on June 6, 2001,
Irene Jablon child survi- THE STATE FILE PHOTO
Filler in downtown Columbia. The Com-
Joseph J. Lipton vors. Fewer parent survive, but how were the par- children relied on their youthful re- mission funds grants for K-12 edu-
Gad Matzner than 3 percent of the entire commu- enting skills of that surviving parent? silience to put the trauma behind cators, provides a speakers bureau
Theodore Rosengarten, Ph.D. nity of survivors were children. Other What was the parent’s mental status, them and live productive lives. of knowledgeable Holocaust speak-
Zucker/Goldberg Chair in Holocaust than medical experimentation, the and how did the parent and child han- It is fitting that this edition is spon- ers and created a museum-quality
Studies, College of Charleston Nazis had no use for babies, toddlers dle the trauma they’d experienced? sored by Palmetto Health Children’s
Associate Professor of Jewish
“Holocaust Remembered” exhibit,
Studies, USC or young children. A child survivor One child survivor described her Hospital. This hospital caters to the shown at McKissick Museum this
stated, “My war started after the war.” situation as a “family of strangers.” children through its state-of-the-art year from Jan. 9 through April 8. It
Henry Silberstern
Children who had been sent to Stories of childhood trauma, suicide physical facilities, its trained profession- will be at the Katie and Irwin Kahn
Saskia Coenen Snyder, Ph.D. foster homes, orphanages, or placed and drug and alcohol abuse abound al staff, its high-tech medical advances Jewish Community Center from April
Associate Professor of Modern
Jewish History, USC with friends “met” their parent(s) af- amongst the child survivors. and its holistic philosophy. The child and 10 through May 1. An identical por-
Sarah Spoto, M.Ed, NBCT ter the war, but felt as if their lives of As the world tried to do its best to the family are of utmost importance and table exhibit is available for loan. If
relative safety were now endangered. make the situation better, the chil- take top priority in the problem-solving interested in securing a speaker or
Doyle Stevick, Ph.D. Children who lived in the forests, dren were traumatized again, meet- and delivering of services. borrowing the exhibit, please con-
Associate Professor of Educational
Leadership and Policies, USC sewers, in attics or basements had to ing new families, traveling to all parts Thank you to Palmetto Health Chil- tact Cheryl Nail at cheryln@jewish
acclimate to a totally different norm. of the world, learning new languages dren’s Hospital, the administration, columbia.org or 803-787-2023,
Caughman Taylor, M.D.
Senior Medical Director, Palmetto Interestingly, 70-75 percent of all and, in many cases, learning what it staff, and medical personnel for car- ext. 211, or visit the website www.
Health Children’s Hospital children who survived had at least one meant to be Jewish. However, many ing for our most prized possessions – columbiaholocausteducation.org.
Columbia Holocaust
Education Commission INDEX
www.columbiaholocausteducation.org The youngest Holocaust victims ..................... 2 Healing with creativity and play .....................11 Never forget! ........................................................22
Lilly Filler CO-CHAIR Through the eyes of a child ............................... 3 ‘Wrap them up and get out’ ............................. 12 Holocaust education resources......................23
Lyssa Harvey CO-CHAIR The loss of humanity’s innocence ...................4 ‘Though the storm howls around us’ ........... 14 Palmetto Health: sponsor.................................24
Barry Abels What is the Holocaust? ....................................... 5 ‘For the sake of humanity’ ................................ 15
Rachel G. Barnett Anne Frank and her diary ...................................6 We are children of God ....................................16
Esther Greenberg On the cover
Hannah McGee Elie Wiesel: An ethical compass ....................... 7 ‘Don’t worry; we are German’ .........................18
The Kindertransport: A survival story ............8 I have many names ............................................19 Child survivors and victims of the Holocaust.
Minda Miller
Cheryl Nail My grandfather’s blessing .................................9 A child survivor of Theresienstadt ............... 20 Photos from AP, USHMM and Yad Vashem.
Marlene Roth An application of intelligence .........................10 Lost childhood .................................................... 21 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY REBEKAH LEWIS HALL
Selden Smith MEMBER EMERITUS
APRIL 9, 2017 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 3
Through the eyes of a child
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here,
In the ghetto.
PAVEL FRIEDMANN
Jan. 7, 1921-Sept. 29, 1944; deported to
Terezin Concentration Camp in 1942 and died
in Auschwitz in 1944
N
By Charles D. Beaman Jr.
o one in a Jewish family was
safe from the cruelty of the
Nazis in Germany during
World War II, no matter how
young.
As many as 1.5 million chil-
dren were murdered. Some were herded from
ghettos onto trains and delivered to their
graves if they looked
“unproductive.” The
older and able-bod-
ied found themselves
worked to death. Oth-
ers were the victims of
horrific medical exper-
iments. We shudder
to imagine the terror
YAD VASHEM
Beaman these children felt
being shuffled through Hungarian Jews deemed unfit for work wait in a grove near the gas chamber prior to extermination in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
the gates of hell into concentration camps you’re immersed in color. It’s somewhere we tinues working toward one goal: to provide transcends the distance between them. They
under the false promise “Work Sets You Free.” want children to feel like they belong. Every coordinated, compassionate care to South all draw their surroundings. They also draw
In the midst of their cold gray toil, children room has kid-friendly features built in to nur- Carolina’s sick and injured children. We also images of courage and hope, like butterflies
escaped through art. Pictures and poems were ture a child’s spirit. Family members can stay care for children with a suspicion of abuse or and kisses.
found after the war, expressing the reality they close by in areas specially designed for them. neglect and help remove them from danger- As a parent, I believe children are a gift from
experienced. They not only depicted their des- “To provide the best medical care, we ous situations. God. We don’t own them. They are entrusted
perate surroundings, but also illustrated the involve the child’s family. This teamwork We do our best to see children’s medical
hope they held inside. Like a butterfly, they to us to raise and to provide for their well-be-
builds a supportive relationship for the care through their eyes. Children are not little ing. The holy writings of King Solomon give us
saw themselves one day emerging from a child’s entire well-being. We include the fam- adults. Their bodies and spirits need a differ-
dark cocoon and flying away. Some children parental guidance: “Start children off on the
ily in every aspect of care – totally unlike ent type of care, shaped and sized especially
scratched the shape of butterflies into prison way they should go, and even when they are
what children endured during the Holocaust for them.
walls with their bare hands. As they faced an old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
when families were separated. Our holistic We embrace each unique child. A child’s job
uncertain future, these children still saw hope approach also extends beyond hospital walls. is to play. By seeing him or her as a child first On behalf of the 15,000 team members,
in their mind’s eye. When a child goes home, the family can rely and a patient second, we encourage play. Col- physicians and volunteers at Palmetto Health,
The experience of children of the Holocaust on community partnerships that help with oring and drawing are popular fun activities. we are honored to join with others to educate
stands in stark contrast to the experience of continued healing.” The art these children create may show a big the public about the horrors of the Holocaust
children we serve today at Palmetto Health In 1983, a group of 35 pediatricians, hos- needle, often with a big kiss right alongside. genocide of children. As a child of God, I
Children’s Hospital. pital leaders and community volunteers in Children of the Holocaust and those at believe people of all faiths have a duty to learn
“Children’s Hospital is a place of hope,” says Columbia laid the foundation for Children’s Children’s Hospital are separated by time and from this dark past and work together to teach
senior medical director of Children’s Hospital, Hospital. Today, a skilled team of 350 pediatric history. They may not seem to have much in our children and keep them safe, healthy and
R. Caughman Taylor, M.D. “Step inside and professionals, all located under one roof, con- common. Yet their art proves otherwise. It loved – today and in the future.
4 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 9, 2017
The loss of humanity’s innocence
By Federica Clementi
A
n 8-year-old Jewish boy marches,
hands up over his head, while SS
man Josef Blösche points a sub-ma-
chine gun at him after the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising of 1943.
Naked children run screaming in pain
and terror moments after South Vietnamese
planes have dropped napalm bombs on their
village of Trang Bang.
A vulture patiently awaits by the bony body
of an African toddler about to die of hunger in
1993 famine-ravaged Sudan.
The cadaverous body of 5-year-old Omran
Daqneesh is pulled out alive, in utter shock,
from under piles of rubble after an air-attack
pulverized his apartment building in Aleppo
in August 2016.
No image better than the one of a child
in the midst of war awakes in us awareness
of and indignation at the horrors of which
human aggressiveness is capable. Yet the fate
of children in war is also the least considered,
studied, and understood.
Children are often voiceless presences
in history: either because they are too little
to talk, or because, even when they are old
enough to articulate their thoughts, they are
not taken by the adults as legitimate speakers
of history. Children are seen as unreliable,
their grasp of the historical circumstances is
supposedly limited; in fact, moral and political
philosophies still struggle with the question of
whether or not children are moral subjects.
After the Holocaust, an enormous amount
of artifacts by children was found everywhere 1944 FILE PHOTO - YAD VASHEM PHOTO ARCHIVE VIA AP
in Europe: drawings, poems, diaries, journals
composed by children in hiding, imprisoned in A transport of Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia, a region annexed in 1939 to Hungary from Czechoslovakia, arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau in
Poland in May 1944.
the ghettos, dying in the concentration camps.
These works testify to the unimaginable
suffering endured by child victims. These and children’s particularity cannot rightly be to work (a default fate spared to men). Jo- measures that brought about the death of
historical traces of the dramas and traumas ignored by subsuming them under the gener- seph Mengele, known as the “Angel of Death” 1.5 million children: “So a child of three or four
of the youngest among us reach out through al category of victims, or by treating them as at Auschwitz-Birkenau, is reported to have years old was dangerous to the German people?”
time and space to the adults who, have the no different than men.” And this is especially said: “[W]hen a Jewish child is born, or when a lawyer asked him; Höss simply replied, “Yes.”
power to shape communal, national, global the case in genocide as scholar Mary Felstin- a woman comes to the camp with a child al- The Nazis even built a specific concentra-
destinies. It might be transformative for our er pointed out, “Genocide is the act of put- ready, I don’t know what to do with the child… tion camp, Ravensbrück, about 55 miles north
society to heed them. ting women and children first.” We must treat It would not be humanitarian to send a child of Berlin, designated exclusively for women
women and children as a distinct group of vic- to the ovens without permitting the mother to (among whom was Gemma LaGuardia Gluck,
Women and children tims: especially since they are seen as such by be there to witness the child’s death. That is sister of New York City Mayor Fiorello) and,
during the Holocaust the perpetrators themselves. why I send the mother and the child to the gas therefore, children.
The fate of young children and their moth- During the Holocaust, women who en- ovens together.” The situations in which Jewish children
ers is never so tightly knitted together as in tered the concentration camps pregnant or At his Nuremberg trial, Rudolf Höss, ruth- found themselves during World War II in Eu-
times of war. Historian and filmmaker Daniel with children were automatically selected for less Kommandant of Auschwitz for almost rope are innumerable: some went into hiding
Goldhagen correctly writes that “Women’s the gas chambers, regardless of their ability five years, was interrogated about the Nazi with their parents, some were sent to safe-
APRIL 9, 2017 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 5
ty abroad by their parents whom they never
saw again, some survived or perished with
their parents in the ghettos, some were used What is the
for “medical” experimentation, some had to
pretend to be Christian and erase their Jew- Holocaust?
ish identity, sometimes forever, in order to
live. Some children saw their parents selected As defined in 1979 by the
for death in the concentration camps, some President’s Commission on
were killed in front of their parents, and some the Holocaust:
still were shoved into the ovens by their own “The Holocaust was the
fathers working in the Sonderkommando, a systematic bureaucratic
special unit assigned to the task of disposing annihilation of 6 million
of the corpses from the gas chambers. Jews by the Nazis and their
collaborators as a central act
Everything, from lives to possessions to
of state during the Second
psyches, was destroyed in the genocide. World War. It was a crime
Childhood itself was shattered. As Geoffrey unique in the annals of
Hartman put it: “Before Auschwitz we were human history, different not
children in our imagination of evil; after Aus- only in the quantity of vio-
chwitz we are no longer children.” lence – the sheer numbers
1943 AP FILE PHOTO killed – but in its manner
Loss of human innocence and purpose as a mass crim-
Genocide does not only target children A German officer rounds up residents of the Warsaw ghetto before its destruction in 1943.
inal enterprise organized by
for murder as the essential root of a group’s the state against defenseless
future generation, it also aims at destroying about adulthood: about our ethical failures civilian populations. The
the children’s sense of personal identity and and responsibilities. decision to kill every Jew
psychological well-being. In socially and psy- Of the overall Jewish population of Europe everywhere in Europe: the
chologically healthy circumstances, children during the Holocaust the highest death rate definition of Jew as target
look at the adults around them as sites of safe- was that of children. Around 92 percent of for death transcended all
ty, reliability and protection. Perhaps what is Europe’s Jewish children were murdered. In boundaries …
poetically called “the innocence of childhood” the Łódz Ghetto alone, 95 percent of children “The concept of annihila-
is but the privilege of children to perceive the died. At war’s end, only 5,000 Jewish children tion of an entire people, as
world as a place not yet mined by betrayal and remained alive in all of Poland. distinguished from their sub-
Out of the Łódz Ghetto, one of several voic- jugation, was unprecedent-
mortal danger. War and genocide leave no
es of murdered children still reaches us. It ed; never before in human
room for innocence. history had genocide been
The child’s world is regulated by a basic comes in the form of a poem written in 1943 by
an all-pervasive government
principle of justice: good is rewarded, evil 13-year-old Abramek Koplowicz (translated by
policy unaffected by territo-
punished. G. K. Chesterton idealistically said Sarah Lawson and Małgorzata Koraszewska): rial or economic advantage
that “children are innocent and love justice, and unchecked by moral or
while most of us are wicked and naturally pre- When I am twenty years of age, religious constraints …
fer mercy.” But what if justice is turned on its I will burst forth from this cage “The Holocaust was
head? What if the child inhabits a reality in And begin to see our splendid Earth not simply a throwback to
which any logical connection between crime For the first time since my birth! medieval torture or archaic
and punishment is lost; in which one is pun- In my motorized bird I’ll soar so high 1944 FILE PHOTO - YAD VASHEM PHOTO ARCHIVE VIA AP
barbarism, but a thorough-
ished for no comprehensible reason; and in Above the world, up in the sky, ly modern expression of
Over rivers and the seas, Jews evicted from their homes march bureaucratic organization,
which, domestic reality appears to defy the
With such stupefying ease, through the streets of Koermend, Hungary, industrial management,
comforting assumptions that the home is a
on their way to the ghetto in 1944. scientific achievement, and
haven and adults know best? With my brother wind and sister cloud, I’ll
technological sophistication.
All the ethical principles that parents in- Marvel at the Euphrates and the Nile;
To the ruins of Pompeii The entire apparatus of the
still in their children in times of peace were The goddess Isis ruled the land that links German bureaucracy was
invalidated and reversed by the war and the The Pyramids and the massive Sphynx. At the edge of Naples Bay,
I’ll continue to the Holy Land, then seek marshalled in the service of
Holocaust. In order to survive and protect I will glide above Niagara Falls, the extermination process …
those around them, children had to keep se- And sunbathe where the Sahara calls; The home of Homer, the celebrated Greek. “The Holocaust stands
crets, lie, break the laws, steal, and, in the case If I want to escape the scorching heat, More and more astonished will I grow as a tragedy for Europe, for
of the young Resistance fighters, kill. Children I will fly up north to an Arctic retreat. At the beauty of the Earth below. Western Civilization, and
shared every bit of the experience of discrim- I will top the cloudy peaks of Tibetan fame In all my travelling I’ll be twinned for all the world. We must
ination, humiliation, terror and ultimately And survey the fabled land whence the Magi With my siblings, cloud and wind. remember the facts of the
death, with the adults. Understanding the fate came. Holocaust, and work to
of child victims of genocide does not teach us From the Island of Kangaroos A year later, Abramek was gassed in understand these facts.”
anything about childhood, but it is a lesson I’ll take my time and cruise Auschwitz.
6 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 9, 2017
Anne Frank and her diary
CHILD HOLOCAUST VICTIM
I
By Doyle Stevick
f there is a single face that has
come to represent the victims
of the Holocaust, it is Annelies
Marie Frank, or as we know her,
Anne Frank. Her brief life and
powerful voice have echoed around
the world. Born in Frankfurt, Germa-
ny, in 1929, Anne was 4 when the Na-
zis took control of Germany. Through
her entire life, she knew only a Europe
where Hitler’s forces threatened the One of the final photos taken of
very existence of the Jewish people. Anne Frank.
Compelled to leave their home-
land for good, the Frank family Anne Frank’s
moved to Amsterdam, the Neth- diary –
erlands, imagining they would be originally
safe from persecution there. But the titled “Het
threat expanded more quickly than Achterhuis,”
their opportunities to escape it. or “The
Though the U.S. knew the threat the Secret” – first
appeared in
Nazis posed to German and other German Jewish refugees Otto Frank, third left, and daughter Anne, third right, walk among guests after the
print June 25,
European Jews, strict caps on Jewish wedding of Miep Santrouschitz and Jan Geis on July 17, 1941, in Amsterdam.
immigration were maintained and 1947.
there was little support for admit-
ting Jewish refugees like Anne. Even PHOTOS COURTESY OF DOYLE STEVICK
though her father, Otto, had worked
his daughters perished in the camps.
a summer at the Macy’s Department
While her life was cut short, Anne’s
Store in New York City, the family was
writings have lived on. Otto returned
unable to escape Europe to the U.S.
Anne and her family went into to Amsterdam, and once he learned
hiding in a secret annex at Otto’s that his family had all perished, Miep
place of business in 1942, and evad- gave him the pages she gathered from
ed detection for about two years the Annex. Otto combined parts of the
with the aid of a secretary and oth- original diary and the edited version,
ers. Here, Anne wrote her famous and omitting the pages that acknowl-
diary, or at least, its first draft. In edged the changes she experienced
March 1944, Anne heard a member going through puberty in hiding.
of the Dutch government in exile The published versions of the diary
say he wanted to preserve a record now generally include these omitted
of the war. She realized her diary pages, but still blend her original and
Otto Frank with daughters Margot, Anne Frank, sitting at the back right table and wearing a white dress, is rewritten versions. For these rea-
could be published. She then edited left, and Anne. shown in the sixth-year class at the Montessori School in Amsterdam.
and rewrote the original with an eye sons, we have never read the version
to publication. When the family was nation. It is important to remember ration-card fraud. The fraud or other port. Anne and her sister Margot were that Anne herself intended us to see.
discovered, Anne’s writing was scat- that it was often difficult after years illegal work may have led to the raid. relocated to Bergen-Belsen, where Meanwhile, the theater and cinema
tered and collected by Miep Gies. of war to get enough to eat in a time Anne’s diary ends abruptly when she they died in 1945, just months before versions of her story may overshad-
The Nazis discovered the hiding of rationing. Consistently and furtively was captured, but we know that her the camp was liberated. Their moth- ow her own writing. But to under-
place, and it was reasonably assumed getting enough food for an additional family was on the last train from the er remained at Auschwitz, where she stand Anne and her experience, there
that they had received a tip. But a new eight people was much more chal- Dutch transit camp Westerbork sent to starved to death on January 6th, exact- is no substitute for reading – or re-
study from the Anne Frank House sug- lenging still. The building containing Auschwitz, and Anne, now 15, was one ly three weeks before it was liberated. reading – her own words, in the ex-
gests that there may be another expla- their hiding place was also a site of of the youngest survivors of that trans- Otto had already been liberated when traordinary voice of an ordinary girl.
APRIL 9, 2017 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 7
Elie Wiesel: An ethical compass
CHILD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR
By Lilly Filler Wiesel continues to stress in his
W
comments to President Carter: “The
e were very lucky here in most vital lesson to be drawn from the
Columbia, South Caroli- Holocaust era is that Auschwitz was
na. Elie Wiesel was in our possible because the enemy of the Jew-
capitol city twice: at Columbia College ish people and of mankind – and it is al-
in 1986 and again at the University of ways the same enemy – succeeded in di-
South Carolina in 2006. viding, in separating, in splitting human
I had the opportunity to meet Mr. society, nation against nation, Christian
Wiesel when he was the Solomon- against Jew, young against old. And not
Tenenbaum Guest Lecturer at USC. I enough people cared. In Germany and
was fortunate to have a few moments other occupied countries, most specta-
with him during a dinner preceding tors chose not to interfere with the kill-
the lecture. He was a physically small ers; in other lands, too, many persons
man, soft-spoken, with sad but under- chose to remain neutral. As a result, the
standing eyes. He received my small killers killed, the victims died, and the
gifts, mementos of the Columbia Ho- world remained neutral.”
locaust Memorial, with graciousness, Wiesel served for six years as the
and he thanked me. Imagine, Elie founding chairman of the governing
Wiesel thanking me! council that would oversee the de-
He was an icon to me, a man who velopment of the United States Holo-
transcended the evils of the Holo- 1945 AP FILE PHOTO
caust Memorial Museum.
caust, a man who turned his personal Clockwise from top, Elie Wiesel in his bunk at Buchenwald a few days after U.S. troops liberated the camp in Wiesel died July 2, 2016, and the
sorrows and tragedies into meaning- 1945; with then-President Barack Obama in 2009 at Buchenwald; and in 2012 at his New York office. world mourned. He was not a polit-
ful lessons to the world, a man who ical figure, but an ethical compass.
wanted the world a better place. Hearing of his death, then-President
Wiesel, arguably the most famous Barack Obama stated:
child survivor of the Holocaust, un- “Elie Wiesel was one of the great mor-
derstood the precious price of life, of al voices of our time, and in many ways,
the destruction that man can invoke, the conscience of the world. ... Elie was
and of the need to continue to speak not just the world’s most prominent Ho-
out against injustice and inhumanity. locaust survivor; he was a living memo-
He gently spoke of tolerance, of diver- rial. After we walked together among
sity, of man’s responsibility to all man- the barbed wire and guard towers of Bu-
kind and of love and understanding. chenwald where he was held as a teen-
At that visit, in 2006 at the Koger Cen- ager and where his father perished, Elie
ter for the Arts, the packed auditori- The horrors and unjust behaviors wit- ences in the death camp. He has since sion on the Holocaust and appointing spoke words I’ve never forgotten: ‘Mem-
um listened and strained to hear his nessed by the boy Wiesel were mem- written over 40 books, and probably his Wiesel, Auschwitz survivor and Nobel ory has become a sacred duty of all peo-
words, his ideas, and his wisdom. ories that the man Wiesel transported most acclaimed was “Night” (“La Nuit”), Peace Prize laureate, the chairman of ple of goodwill.’ Upholding that sacred
Wiesel was born in Sighet, Romania into his many writings and books. which was translated into 30 languages. the Commission. Writing to President duty was Elie’s life. Along with his be-
on Sept. 30, 1928, to Jewish parents. He After the war, Wiesel studied in He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Carter, Wiesel stated: loved wife Marion (son Shlomo) and
had three sisters – two older and one France and became a writer and jour- But to me, his contribution to man- “We will accomplish a mission that the foundation that bears his name,
younger. When he was 15 years old, he nalist. He wrote in French and in He- kind was his uncanny ability to put the victims have assigned to us: col- he raised his voice, not just against an-
and his father were deported to Buch- brew, contributing to newspapers. For into common, simple words the sig- lect memories and tears, fragments ti-Semitism, but against hatred, bigot-
enwald, and his sisters and mother to 10 years after his liberation from Bu- nificance of memory, of remem- of fire and sorrow, tales of despair ry and intolerance in all forms. He im-
Auschwitz. The two older sisters sur- chenwald in April 1945, he refused to brance, and of empathy. His quotes and defiance and names – above all – plored each of us, as nations and as hu-
vived; his mother and younger sister talk or write about his concentration are profound, his words are a great names. What we all have in common man beings, to do the same, to see our-
were murdered. Wiesel lamented that camp experiences, but during an in- moral voice, and his vision exact. is an obsession not to betray the dead selves in each other and to make real
he felt the strong need to survive so that terview with the distinguished French In 1978, President Jimmy Carter is- we left behind or who left us behind. that pledge of ‘never again.’ ”
his father would survive, but only a few writer Francois Mauriac, he was final- sued Executive Order No. 12093, es- They were killed once. They must not Wiesel will be greatly missed by us
weeks before liberation, his father died. ly persuaded to write about his experi- tablishing the President’s Commis- be killed again through forgetfulness.” all – all mankind and the world.
8 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 9, 2017
The Kindertransport: A survival story
ANNE FISCHER HEINEMAN’S STORY
I
By Justin Heineman
magine being 13 years old and
journeying alone to flee the only
country you ever knew with just
$10 to your name. This is the
story of my grandmother, Anne
Fischer Heineman.
Anne was born Nov. 7, 1925, in
Germany to Oskar and Gertrude
Fischer. The Fischers were an upper-
middle-class family living in the western
Berlin suburb of Charlottenburg. Anne
and her family lived an ordinary life until
August 1934, ABOVE: After the war, Anne, fourth
when Hitler from left, served as an Allied
came to power. Civilian Employee, translating
Although it Nazi documents from German to
became clear English for the U.S. military. LEFT:
that Germany Anne more recently.
was no longer
a welcoming offered to help Anne immigrate to the
U.S. This offer proved to be invaluable.
Justin Heineman place for Jews, In 1947, after her honorable discharge
an already
difficult decision to leave was made from the ACE program and return home
more difficult by the many obstacles to London, Anne received an affidavit
boarding house. Anne and Rolf moved from Richard in the mail, allowing Anne
to emigration. The few countries that in with them to help support the family.
admitted Jews attached strict condi- to come to the U.S. After discussing it
The family’s unification was short-
tions, and by 1938, the Nazis had con- with her parents, she immigrated in No-
lived. British tribunals began placing
fiscated Jews’ passports. Fortunately, vember 1947. She traveled to New York
non-citizens in internment camps.
Anne’s parents had obtained a study- City and lived with Richard and his wife,
Though the tribunal initially ruled that
abroad visa for Anne’s older brother, Barbara. Anne got a job which again
the Fischers would not be interned,
Rolf, shortly after Hitler came to pow- made use of her translation skills.
this was reversed, and the entire fam-
er, and Rolf was safe in England. ily was transported to the Isle of Man. In the spring of 1948, the Halperns
On Nov. 9, 1938, the night known as They lived in gender-separated camps moved to their hometown in Los An-
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUSTIN HEINEMAN
Kristallnacht, Nazis took to the streets for a year. Upon their release, the geles and invited Anne to join them.
torching synagogues, vandalizing Jew- Anne Fischer and Warner Heineman on their wedding day, outside the Anne moved to California, where
courthouse in Santa Barbara, California. Fischers faced new dangers, including
ish homes, schools and businesses, pervasive German bombings. Anne she met her future husband, Warner
and killing close to 100 Jews. Recog- from Germany in late November 1938. a private high school. herself experienced two close calls. Heineman, on a ski trip organized by
nizing the urgency of the situation, At the train station before departing Meanwhile, Anne’s parents re- But Anne persevered. During 1943 a young refugee group. Anne and War-
the Fischers applied to the German Germany, Anne wore a sign around mained in Germany, and the situation and 1944, Anne attended the Girls ner married and had two children, my
Jewish Family Agency to send Anne on her neck identifying her foster family, was getting increasingly dire. Rolf had Training Corps Officer Training School. father Larry and my aunt Carol.
the next available Kindertransport to the Arreggers of Bromley. The Nazis a friend who knew a representative in After the war, Anne became an Allied My grandmother’s story is harrowing
England. The Kindertransport was a permitted Anne to bring just 10 marks, the House of Commons. He reached Civilian Employee interpreter with the but inspiring. She not only overcame
British-organized effort that rescued nine of which went to the customs out to this representative, and by the U.S. Department of War Civil Censor- adversity but persevered and flourished.
nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish agent who greeted her before board- end of 1939, visas were approved for ship Division. Anne’s work required Whenever I encounter obstacles, I recall
children just before the outbreak of ing the ship to England. After arriving, Oskar and Gertrude. The Fischers ar- travel between Paris and Germany her story. Her survival story is both an
the war by transporting them to En- Anne met her “new” family. Anne knew rived with little in their pockets and as she translated Nazi documenta- inspiration and a reminder of what the
gland and placing them with British no English, but Rolf helped interpret. no knowledge of English. After a short tion into English for the U.S. military. world can become if people and coun-
families or organizations. Anne, then, While living with the Arregers, Anne stay with Rolf, they rented a home and During this time, she met and befriend- tries turn a blind eye to hate and intoler-
was on the second Kindertransport learned to speak English and attended began earning a living by operating a ed an American, Richard Halpern, who ance. Let history never repeat itself!
APRIL 9, 2017 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 9
My grandfather’s
blessing
ESTHER WEINSTOCK KALMS’ STORY
G
By Chavi Kalms Epstein that the Jewish nation, too, would my mother’s sense of adventure.
never be completely destroyed. In the company of a schoolteacher
rowing up in an afflu- Being aware of the dangers and two of her siblings and a few of
ent home in London, however, my mother begged her her friends, my mother began her
England, it was not parents to send her to safety. This escape with a fair amount of excite-
obvious to me, for happened thanks to my grand- ment, gratitude and hope.
those first years of life, mother’s huge efforts, which se- Although hours away from her sib-
that I was missing my set of mater- cured my mother and two of her lings, my mother comfortably began
nal grandparents. There were no siblings seats on one of the Kinder- her new life with the new “family” in
photographs, stories or even a hint transport trains that led 10,000 Sunderland – attending school and
of a mem- children to freedom in England. A making new friends. News reached
ory shared third sibling was transported later. my mother of her father’s death in
and I was The fourth sibling escaped to Israel Buchenwald through a schoolteach-
none the
and joined the Haganah but was er. Too far away from any family to
wiser that
killed during the Hadassah convoy digest the shock, the grieving process
anything
of nurses and doctors. was never allowed to start, but rather
was amiss.
As a It was the second night of Chanu- put under lock and key for the next
student, kah; my grandfather, Rabbi Dovid 70 years. The vibrant, loving Chassid-
Epstein I learned Pesachya Weinstock, placed his ic lifestyle that my mother had lived
about the terror of Kristallnacht hands on my mother’s head. Proba- in Vienna was abruptly shelved, leav-
from a textbook, unaware that my bly knowing that he was holding her ing behind many questions and an
own mother, Esther Weinstock for the last time, he blessed her. Bless- imprisoned heart.
Kalms, had awoken that night, Nov. ings in general were something that It wasn’t until one of my moth-
9, 1938, to screams and smashing my grandfather highly revered. My er’s visits to South Carolina years
of the glass windows in a syna-
gogue directly beneath her home in mother remembers that my grand- later that I heard her explain to
Vienna, Austria. father was scrupulous in making a some of my friends who were
In recent years and with support, blessing before and after eating food. questioning her about her journey
my mother started to share frag- He was also extraordinarily careful back to her Chassidic lifestyle, that
ments of her personal story. Ironical- about not making any extra blessings my mother shared how she had
ly, although that night set the stage of that would be taking God’s name in felt like a “dropped letter” that the
fear for what was yet to come, for my vain. On this particular night, it was Lubavitcher Rebbe had picked up
mother, there was also a visual reas- my mother’s first conscious experi- and returned to its rightful place.
surance of the eventual victory. ence of actually receiving one. It was Fortunately, thanks to the local
As her parents and four siblings something she felt he would not have Chabad rabbi in London, who had
peered through windows, remain- done in a normal situation. become a close friend of my father’s,
ing hidden, terrified that the Ger- Even today, my mother is con- my parents’ four daughters received
mans would come for them next, vinced that all the subsequent a solid Jewish education – some-
my mother noticed a Nazi repeat- blessings of marriage, children thing my mother had always hoped
edly kicking at a Torah scroll with and sustenance come through the for but never had any idea how that
the back of his boot. Furious as he channel of that last night’s blessing. could possibly happen. Now, my
was, no amount of violence was able Surprisingly, although my moth- proud parents – may they live and be
to tear the parchment. At the ten- er feared that she would never see well – have over 60 offspring all living
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHAVI KALMS EPSTEIN der age of 9, from deep within, my her parents again, there was a huge meaningful Torah lives – no doubt all
Esther Weinstock Kalms, above, and two of her siblings left their home in Vienna mother understood not only that sense of relief that dominated the part of that continuous blessing from
and their parents, top, on a Kindertransport train bound for England in 1938. the parchment would never tear, but train ride, as well as, of all things, my beloved grandfather!
10 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 9, 2017
An application of intelligence
DAVID TOREN’S STORY
D
By Rachel Haynie “In our community, it was my
father who organized the Kinder-
avid Toren’s 1939 es- transport. The seat I took had been
cape to Sweden from promised to a friend who had left our
the German city of
community with his family, destined
Breslau (now Wro-
for the Dominican Republic.” Toren
claw) on the Kinder-
explained that country’s then-presi-
transport separated
dent, Rafael Trujillo, believed accept-
him from his older brother. While Da-
ing German Jews who had profession-
vid took refuge in Sweden, Hans Peter
al credentials would help improve the
had gone ahead, arriving in England
intellectual fiber of the country.
one day before World War II began.
The exodus of both brothers took
The Toren parents had information
place in 1939, Toren said, “… and my
on David’s whereabouts, but did not
know where their firstborn was. parents were still alive. They were
At age 14, David cleverly devised a killed March 4, 1943, in the gas cham-
ploy that got information past Nazi bers at Auschwitz.”
censors, tipping his parents off as to Toren managed to hang onto the
Hans Peter’s iconic encyclopedia through tumul-
location. For tuous war times, followed by inter-
his ploy, he national moves, service in the Israeli
turned to an military and, eventually, immigration
encyclopedia. to the United States. Unfortunately,
“I knew we he cannot show readers what that ref-
both had cop- erence book looked like.
ies of a single- “I kept it with me all those years,”
volume en- explained Toren, who at age 90 still
Haynie holds sway at the Manhattan law firm
cyclopedia
published by Knaur. I told my parents on whose letterhead his name is list-
in a letter: ‘I do not want to forget ed. Throughout his professional life,
RACHEL HAYNIE - THE STATE FILE PHOTO
German, so I am memorizing it, going he practiced intellectual property law.
entry by entry in the encyclopedia. I “The Knaur Encyclopedia was in
am now up to Leibzins.’ My father re- my office on the 54th floor, North
alized something was hidden in that Tower, World Trade Center on 9/11,
message. The next entry was Leister, a the day Bin Laden struck.”
university town in England. From my Toren has emerged on the interna-
reference my parents knew Leister tional news scene in recent years be-
was the town my brother was in and cause of his successful lawsuit against
were able to figure out the rest.” Germany for the return of Nazi-looted
More than seven decades later, To- art work for which he produced in- COURTESY OF DAVID TOREN
ren still cherishes his father’s respond- disputable proof of heirship. A Max
TOP: New Yorker David Toren feels
ing letter of praise, calling him smart Liebermann painting, “Two Riders on
a replica of the Max Liebermann
for such an application of intelligence. the Beach,” was one of 306 art items painting the Nazis stole from his
He also remembers the long and stolen from Toren’s great-uncle, and family. Columbia artist Christian
troubling train ride from his native has been only one of a few works of Thee created the copy, left, in
Germany to an unknown Sweden, art returned to rightful heirs. bas relief so Toren, who is blind,
a trip during which the teenage boy Toren resides in Manhattan. He has can feel it. ABOVE: Toren is
held on his lap someone’s baby, en- new legal claims in motion against barely distinguishable in the
trusted to him. As the train rumbled Germany for the return of the other only childhood photo of him that
across Europe, he reflected on the life 305 works of art and porcelain stolen survived World War II.
being left behind. from his family. RACHEL HAYNIE - THE STATE FILE PHOTOAPRIL 9, 2017 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 11
Surviving trauma through creativity
“
A
By Lyssa Harvey Standing behind the curtained window,
n estimated 1.5 million I watched the children playing and wished that “
Jewish children died in I too could go outside. Instead I visited the children
the Holocaust. Most of
the children who sur-
on paper. I took a walk with them on paper.
vived the Holocaust were
NELLY TOLL
not among those liberated from con- Without Surrender: Art of the Holocaust
centration camps, but children who
had lived during the war hidden with
Christian fam-
ilies, placed in
monasteries
and orphan-
ages, or sur-
vived in the
woods. Most
of the children
Harvey who survived
were orphans
and lost family members. An estimat-
ed 150,000 Jewish children survived
World War II.
How do children survive the trauma
of witnessing the unthinkable, becom-
ing displaced, losing their families and
their childhoods? How does trauma af-
fect their lifelong experiences and how A 1942 painting by Sophia Kalski depicts children playing in the Lvov
did these children heal? Child Survivor ghetto. The game “lacked the joy of childhood,” she wrote. “Already PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
stories are unfathomable, but yet they then, the children didn’t know how to laugh.” Shortly after his liberation, Michael J. Kraus, a Czech Jew born in 1930,
survived, thrived, and have inspired. wrote about and illustrated the crematorium at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
How is this possible? Child survivors of the Holocaust reha- children cope with stressful or hostile
Children learn about their world bilitated their lives, established families environments. Repairing sensory trau- were attempts at organized play, art being preserved through the growing
through safe exploration and using and developed successful careers. ma through imagination and creativity lessons and storytelling. Out of the genre of Holocaust books, film, pho-
their five senses. What they see, hear, Most adult survivors of trauma re- allows children to heal from trauma, 15,000 children who passed through tography, theatre, dance, and art.
smell, touch and taste are a child’s tools port that the memories don’t leave their loss and grief. The creative process helps this camp approximately 90% of these Being able to express a traumatic
for learning. Children who survived the body, brain or heart. They have learned build new coping skills and brings new children perished in death camps. experience can be a powerful healing
Holocaust could have suffered from to safely compartmentalize the mem- insights to present circumstances. Be- After World War II, there are docu- tool at any stage in life. The creative
sensory trauma or what today is called ories away in order to adequately func- ing able to voice personal stories is a mented examples of art and play activ- process allows for emotional healing
Post Trauma Stress Disorder. Early tion in their lives. Some survivors of the profound, cathartic, and powerful way ities for children in the many displace- and can bring personal reconciliation.
trauma increases the risks of many Holocaust learned to isolate the trauma to help children survivors of trauma. ment camps throughout Europe. This This positive narrative can be consid-
psychiatric and medical disorders. In of the past. They didn’t allow the past to During the Holocaust there were may have helped to absorb some of the ered part of the epigenetics of resil-
addition, the effects of trauma may interfere with their present lives. There desperate attempts of adults and chil- shock and trauma while becoming re- ience in Holocaust survivors and their
extend beyond the immediate individ- is speculation that since Holocaust re- dren to recreate a sense of normalcy. acquainted with the reality of post Ho- families. Children survivors of the
ual into subsequent generations as a lated traumas were not caused by sig- Children were encouraged to play or locaust life. It is known that many indi- Holocaust and their descendants who
consequence of epigenetic effects. De- nificant attachment figures, but rather found a way to play even in hostile viduals including children suffered long share their stories are finding remark-
scendants of Holocaust survivors may by an external force against an entire settings. Some children were able to term psychological and physical dam- able ways to remember and teach the
experience positive or negative effects ethnic group that greater post traumat- share what they saw and to express age from the traumas of the Holocaust. lessons of the Holocaust.
from the consequences of their par- ic growth was possible. Many survivors their feelings through art, stories, po- Many child survivors of the Holo- Many children who were trauma-
ent’s experiences. Today the study and have healed by safely de-attaching from ems and diaries. An example of docu- caust eventually shared memories tized by the Holocaust not only sur-
recognition of the biological and trans- their memories and traumas. mented children’s activities took place with family members and others. De- vived, but thrived and through their
generational impact of trauma has led The power of creativity and play also at the Theresienstadt concentration scendants of survivors have also told lives and their shared stories have
experts to better understand resilience provides a balm for healing, renewal camp in what is now the Czech Re- the stories to others when a survivor inspired others to remember the past
and vulnerability in the healing process. and growth. Creativity and play helps public. Although forbidden, there couldn’t or passed away. Memories are and create change for the future.12 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2016 APRIL 24, 2016 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 13
‘Wrap them up and get out’
CHILD RESCUE IN NAZI-OCCUPIED AMSTERDAM
B
By Saskia Coenen Snyder determined to maintain calm among the children who would have otherwise faced 1-month-old infant to the Bongers fami-
deportees, the Nazi authorities allowed Nazi brutality and murder in their most ly in Overtoom, who were strictly Dutch
aby Benjamin Flesschedrag- nursing mothers to visit their little ones horrifying manifestations. Reformed. A new baby didn’t remain un-
er was 10 days old when his every few hours. Accompanied by Nazi To save a Jewish child from deporta- noticed in such circles. When a neigh-
parents, Philip Flessche- guards, Jewish mothers left the Dutch tion, a number of procedures needed to be bor, who supported the Dutch Nazi
drager (1920-1943) and Elis- Theater, crossed the busy street while set in motion. First, Pimentel and Süskind movement (the Nationaal-Socialistische
abeth Appelboom (1921- Tram No. 9 passed on its way to the cen- required the permission of parents to take Bond or NSB) inquired after the new ad-
1945), carried him into the tral train station, and nursed their babies their child to an unknown location for an dition to the family, the Bongers’ replied
Dutch Theater on Plantage Middenlaan at the crèche before they were escorted indeterminate time. One staff member of that their daughter, Rie, had given birth
in the heart of the Jewish neighborhood in back to their husbands. Sieny Kattenburg, the crèche recounted that “(v)ery quietly, to a baby boy out of wedlock – a confes-
Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Born in hid- who worked at the nursery as a nanny, re- so nobody would hear, I would ask par- sion that brought great shame to a deep-
ing, Benjamin, who cried often, had posed lated after the war that children would be ents ‘Would you like to leave your child ly pious family in 1940s Holland.
a danger to the people caring for the young returned to their parents on the evening with us? We will arrange for a safe place The Bongers realized, however, that
Flesschedrager family, and they had con- of their scheduled deportation. until you return.’ I would walk across the it was the only plausible lie that would
sequently been asked to leave. On June 20, “We woke them up at 9 p.m. and gave street (to the Theater) a few hours later to save this Jewish child’s life. Reassured by
1943, however, before they could find an them a bottle or something to eat. Then hear their decision. Most parents refused. the explanation, the NSB neighbor sub-
alternative hiding place, disaster struck they had to go across the street. I’ll never Who gives away their own child, without sequently delivered bottles of milk twice
when the Nazis arrested Philip, Elisabeth, forget those pale, frightened faces of the knowing who will care for it?” a week “for the baby who cries so much.”
and their newborn son and sent them to children while we walked down the stairs. Especially in 1942 and early 1943, when Benjamin survived the war, although
the Dutch Theater, which served as the Across the street, at the Theater, fear pre- most Dutch Jews didn’t know about gas his parents did not. Reunited with fam-
central holding place for Jews slated for de- vailed among those selected for trans- chambers and crematoria, most parents ily members after the Nazi regime col-
portation first to Westerbork, then to Aus- port. We had to return the kids to their showed reluctance to separate from their lapsed, Benjamin learned only at age 10
chwitz or Sobibor. terrified parents. It was horrible. Nobody children, their dearest possession in a what had happened to his parents and
The Dutch Theater, or Hollandsche knew what was going to happen.” cruel world. While rumors circulated, few what “grandpa and grandma Bongers”
Schouwburg, was a small and utterly un- Most of the children never Dutch Jews realized the scope and magni- had done for him.
suitable building to hold large numbers returned. tude of Hitler’s Final Solution – “annihila- Benjamin’s parents were among 75
RESISTANCE MUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM
of people and luggage. The air was stifling, tion was simply unthinkable,” as one child
The lucky few survivor explained. JEWISH HISTORICAL MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM percent of Dutch Jews murdered during
conditions were chaotic, and sanitary pro- A different fate, however, awaited the Holocaust, a comparatively high
visions proved woefully insufficient, all of When, however, parents granted per- number for a Western European coun-
Baby Benjamin. He was one of the ap- mission, the second course of action re- derground resistance, who arranged for suitcases, boxes, laundry bins, and duffle the front door of the crèche with it. Wrap
which intensified the already high levels proximately 500 children who were try. Henriëtte Pimentel died in Aus-
quired the administrative disappear- new temporary homes and coordinated bags. The majority were taken out at night- them up and get out – that’s what it all
of anxiety and fear among Jewish families. smuggled out of the crèche and taken chwitz at the age of 67. Walter Süskind
ance of the child’s name from registration the journey. Accompanying a Jewish child time into the back garden – shared with came down to, really.”
To relieve overcrowding and noise, Nazi to non-Jewish families across the coun- arrived in Auschwitz, together with his
and deportation lists. Süskind, who was from Amsterdam to a new destination by the adjacent Kweekschool – and handed The actions of all these rescuers, Jew-
officials had, already in 1942, designated try by members of the Dutch resistance. family, in the fall of 1944. Upon arriv-
in charge of recording new arrivals at the means of public transportation was a dan- over to Jan van Hulst, who took the chil- ish and non-Jewish, illustrate that Dutch
the Jewish child care center (crèche) di- This risky undertaking involved an elab- al, his wife and daughter were gassed
Dutch Theater, secretly erased names from gerous task: Those taking the train includ- dren through the Dutch Reformed school Jews and Christians were not all passive
rectly across the street as a dépendance orate network of people, whose primary immediately; Süskind succumbed on a
these lists. It helped that Süskind, who was ed not merely Dutch commuters but also building to the next caretaker. Sometimes in the hands of Nazi totalitarian power
(annex) for Jewish children. The crèche, organizers included Henriëtte Henriquez death march in late February 1945. Jo-
born in Lüdenscheid, spoke fluent Ger- Nazi soldiers and officials who could eas- children were carried out the front door and genocide. Resistance and rescue ef-
which was well-known for its progressive Pimentel (the director of the day care cen- han van Hulst survived the war and be-
man and had attended the same school ily overhear conversations. While traveling in broad daylight, timed precisely at the forts occurred and saved lives, although
teaching philosophy and excellent early ter), Walter Süskind (a member of the Jew- it is equally true that they didn’t occur on came a professor of pedagogy at the
childhood education training program in as the SS-Hauptsturmführer Ferdinand aus with a stranger, children often talked about moment Tram No. 9 stopped in front of
ish Council in charge of the Dutch The- the scale that we may have hoped. Res- University of Amsterdam, a prominent
der Fünten, the head of the Central Office their families, asked questions, or cried, the Theater and blocked the view of Nazi
the 1930s and 1940s, abruptly metamor- ater), and Johan van Hulst (the head of the cue efforts existed alongside paralysis, leader of the CDA political party (Chris-
for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam, who and they did so in public spaces occupied guards. As many people walked in and out
phosed from a small, daytime nursery to a Dutch Reformed Kweekschool, a training fear, conformity – sometimes even un- tian Democratic Appeal), a member of
orchestrated the deportation of Dutch by Dutchmen and Germans, friends and of the nursery – nannies, parents, Jewish
round-the-clock emergency holding facili- college for school teachers located next equivocal collaboration on the part of the European Parliament, and a prolific
Jews. Adept at feigning cordial relations, foes. To avoid inquiries, the resistance typ- Council members, Nazi guards – it raised
ty where some 5,000 Jewish children found door to the crèche). They stood in close the non-Jewish Dutch population. The writer. As for the many members of the
Süskind, with the help of alcoholic bribes, ically assigned women to chaperon Jew- few suspicions when, every now and then,
temporary shelter between July 1942 and contact with members of the Dutch under- story of the Jewish crèche is remarkable underground Dutch Resistance and the
was able to divert the attention of Nazi of- ish children to the Dutch countryside as a someone left the building carrying a bag.
August 1943. Lovingly cared for by Jewish ground resistance (many of whom were precisely because it wasn’t typical. families who hid Jewish children, most
ficials and expunge the names of Jewish
staff, the children slept, ate and played at university students), who in turn arranged mother-child duo raised fewer suspicions Betty Oudkerk, who partook in the res- of their identities are unknown. With-
JEWISH HISTORICAL MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM children from administrative records.
the crèche, sometimes only for a few days, for non-Jewish families willing to take in a and lowered chances of arrest. cue operations, related after the war that Benjamin’s fate out their help, courage, and conviction
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The No . 9 Tramline, which ran across from the sometimes for weeks, before they were re- Jewish child at a time of war. Through care- The dangerous journey Before they boarded trains or trams, she regularly “flirted with German guards Baby Benjamin was smuggled out that rescue “was the right thing to do,”
Dutch Theater; sleeping quarters at the creche; and the Dutch Theater united with their parents and deported. ful planning and cooperation, this network Once parents had granted permis- Jewish children first had to be smuggled while (she) carried a large bag with a baby of the nursery in a trash can. A couri- the number of victims would have been
NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR WAR DOCUMENTATION building. RIGHT: Children at the creche photographed circa 1942. While aware of their ultimate fate but of people saved the lives of hundreds of sion, Pimentel contacted the Dutch un- out of the crèche. They were hidden in inside. Just a duffle bag. (She) walked out of er of the Dutch resistance took the now even higher.You can also read
