Robert Coopman was born in the German-occupied Netherlands in September 1940. This 1941 photograph shows Robert holding a telephone while sitting next to a teddy bear. Robert lived in Amsterdam with his parents, Maurits and Anna. In July 1942, the Germans began the systematic deportation of Jews from the Netherlands. In response, Robert's parents placed him in hiding. He hid with the Viejou family. In August 1944, a neighbor betrayed them. Nazi authorities eventually sent Robert to the Westerbork transit camp. He was later deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and then to the Theresienstadt ghetto.
Robert survived the Holocaust, but his parents did not. The Viejous eventually found Robert after the war. He returned to the Netherlands to live with his rescuer family until he was 18 years old.
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