Rudolf Acohen
Rudolf, known as Rudi, and his brother were born in Amsterdam to a Jewish family of Spanish descent. The family lived in a pleasant neighborhood in the southern part of the city. Rudi attended Montessori grade school and high school.
1933-39: For summer vacation in 1935 Rudi's parents rented a house near the beach in Zandvoort, near Amsterdam. There he met a girl, Ina, and they became good friends. In the summer they discovered that they would be attending the same Montessori high school. Rudi and Ina and their many friends liked to get together in the evenings at someone's home and listen to records of Frank Sinatra, classical music, and popular French songs.
1940-42: Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 1940, but for a while there was still a sense of normal life. Rudi still met with his friends to play tennis, and sometimes they took long bike trips together. In the summer of 1941 they biked for several days, and Rudi kept a diary of their adventures.
On Sunday, June 7, 1942, Rudi was arrested in a raid in retaliation for the murder of a German in Amsterdam. Rudi was immediately deported to a killing center, where he perished.
Item ViewJerry von Halle describes hiding in Amsterdam
In 1933 Jerry's family moved from Hamburg to Amsterdam. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. In 1941, Jerry's brother perished in Mauthausen. Jerry and his parents went into hiding first in Amsterdam and then in a farmhouse in the south. The Gestapo (German Secret State Police) arrested Jerry's father in 1942, but Jerry and his mother managed to return to their first hiding place. They were liberated in Amsterdam by Canadian and Jewish Brigade troops.
Item ViewJerry von Halle describes restrictions on Jews in Amsterdam
In 1933 Jerry's family moved from Hamburg to Amsterdam. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. In 1941, Jerry's brother perished in Mauthausen. Jerry and his parents went into hiding first in Amsterdam and then in a farmhouse in the south. The Gestapo (German Secret State Police) arrested Jerry's father in 1942, but Jerry and his mother managed to return to their first hiding place. They were liberated in Amsterdam by Canadian and Jewish Brigade troops.
Item ViewBarbara Ledermann Rodbell describes her reaction to Nazi-mandated schools for Jewish children in Amsterdam
In 1933 Barbara's family moved to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. They became friends of Anne Frank and her family. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Barbara's boyfriend, Manfred, had underground contacts and she got false papers. Her mother, sister, and father were deported to Westerbork and then to Auschwitz. Barbara survived using her false papers and worked for the resistance. She helped take Jews to hiding places and also hid Jews in an apartment held in her false name.
Item ViewFrederik Polak
Frederik was raised in a religious Jewish home. His father was a scribe of Jewish holy texts. Frederik studied accounting and became a certified public accountant. After his father died, he helped support his three sisters, his blind brother and his mother. When he was in his mid-20's, Frederik married and started his own family.
1933-39: Creating an atmosphere of Jewish observance in the home was important to Frederik and his wife. They loved to celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays with their four children. In 1937, after Frederik's son, Jacob, passed the exam to be a certified tax consultant, he joined his father's accounting firm. Frederik often worked for charitable organizations, and would charge them a minimum, so his income was irregular and low.
1940-43: After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Frederik's business worked overtime to "register" Amsterdam's Jews--the Germans had ordered all Jews to be listed. Though the deportation of Dutch Jewry began in 1942, Frederik and his wife were not deported until June 1943 because his business was used for various official purposes by the Germans. After four weeks at the Westerbork camp in the Netherlands, the Polaks were informed that they were to be sent to Poland to work. In preparation, they packed their nicest clothes.
On July 23, 1943, Frederik and his wife, Grietje, were deported from Westerbork to the Sobibor killing center, where two days later they were killed.
Item ViewHilde Verdoner-Sluizer
Hilde was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Amsterdam. Like many of the Netherlands's Jews, Hilde's family was well-integrated in Dutch society. Hilde excelled in high school, especially in languages. After graduation, she studied homemaking for two years, and then took a job as a secretary in Rome. Hilde returned to Amsterdam where, at 24, she married Gerrit Verdoner in December 1933.
1933-39: After their wedding, Hilde and Gerrit moved to Hilversum, a residential town in the heart of the Netherlands. They lived in a spacious house in a tree-lined neighborhood where their three children were born: Yoka in 1934, Francisca in 1937, and Otto in 1939. Their life was comfortable in the Netherlands, but Hilde worried about the deteriorating situation of Jews in Germany. Her anxiety increased when Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
1940-44: In May 1940 Germany overran the Netherlands in five days. Anti-Jewish decrees forced Gerrit out of business. When the Nazis confiscated their home, the Verdoners moved in with Gerrit's parents in Amsterdam. The underground helped place their children in hiding. Mass deportations began in the summer of 1942. Hilde and Gerrit were sent to the Westerbork transit camp. Gerrit worked for the camp's Nazi-appointed Jewish administration, which saved them from immediate deportation.
On February 8, 1944, Hilde was deported for "resettlement in the East." The transport was sent to Auschwitz, where Hilde was gassed three days later. She was 34.
Item ViewJacob Unger
Jacob was living in Essen, Germany, when he met and married Erna Schumer, who, like him, came from a religious Jewish background. The couple had two children, Max, born in 1923 and Dora, born in 1925. Jacob worked as a salesman, and in the evenings he tutored students in Hebrew.
1933-39: In 1933 when Hitler came to power, Jacob went to Amsterdam to explore the possibility of the family moving there. However, Erna did not want to leave her three sisters who were living in Essen, and she also believed that the family would be safe if they remained in Germany. After nationwide pogroms in November 1938, the Ungers finally fled to the Netherlands. There, as penniless refugees, the Unger family was split up: Max and Dora were placed in the care of Jewish organizations.
1940-44: The Germans invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. For three years Erna and Jacob survived in hiding. On April 17, 1943, they were sent to the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands and deported seven days later to the Sobibor killing center in Poland.
Jacob was gassed at Sobibor in 1943. He was 72 years old.
Item ViewAnna Pfeffer
Anna, affectionately known as Aennchen to her family, was the daughter of non-religious German-Jewish parents. Her father died when she was young and Anna was raised in the town of Bruchsal by her impoverished mother. Anna married a well-to-do, older gentleman in 1905 and moved to the fashionable city of Duesseldorf, where he was a department store manager. By 1933 they had two grown sons.
1933-39: The Pfeffer's comfortable life unraveled after the Nazis came to power. The Nazis arrested Anna's brother and deported him to a concentration camp, where he was murdered. Anna's oldest son, who had married a Dutch woman, emigrated to the Netherlands. After her husband lost his job and after the November 1938 pogrom, the Pfeffers also emigrated to the Netherlands. There, they joined their oldest son and daughter-in-law.
1940-44: Anna's husband passed away, and she spent her time in Amsterdam with her grandchildren. In May 1940 the Germans occupied the Netherlands. Jews were ordered to register and their rights were curtailed. Like other Jews, Anna lost whatever property she had. A year after being required to wear an identifying yellow badge, she was separated from her family and sent to Westerbork, a transit camp for Jews. Four months later, she was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia.
On October 9, 1944, Anna was deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, where she was gassed two days later. She was 58 years old.
Item ViewJudith Margareth Konijn
Judith was the younger of two children born to religious, middle-class Jewish parents. Judith's mother, Clara, was Sephardic, a descendant of Jews who had been expelled from Spain in 1492. Her father, Lodewijk, was a traveling representative for a firm based in Amsterdam. The family lived in an apartment in a new section of Amsterdam on the southern outskirts.
1933-39: Judith attended grade school with her cousin Hetty who was the same age. Judith loved to study. Her mother taught piano to students who came to the house for lessons. Judith loved to play the piano, too. Her family celebrated the Jewish holidays, and like most Dutch families, they exchanged gifts every December 6 on Saint Nicholas Day.
1940-43: After the Germans occupied Amsterdam, they enforced new laws that forbade Jews to enter libraries and museums, or even to use street cars. Then they ordered Jews to wear an identifying yellow badge, and would not allow Jewish children to attend public schools. One by one Judith's relatives disappeared, picked up by the Germans. Then Judith, her mother and brother were arrested in a roundup by the Germans who came while Judith's father was away at work on a night shift.
Judith was deported to the Westerbork transit camp. From there she was sent to a killing center in Poland. She was 13 years old when she died.
Item ViewJerry von Halle describes hunger while in hiding in Amsterdam
In 1933 Jerry's family moved from Hamburg to Amsterdam. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. In 1941, Jerry's brother perished in Mauthausen. Jerry and his parents went into hiding first in Amsterdam and then in a farmhouse in the south. The Gestapo (German Secret State Police) arrested Jerry's father in 1942, but Jerry and his mother managed to return to their first hiding place. They were liberated in Amsterdam by Canadian and Jewish Brigade troops.
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