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The Last Bris in the Hague under Nazi Rule
In the middle of April 1912 I attended a so called “Bris”,(circumcision) of a child of a dear friend of mine, Mr. Max Finkel. He originally came from Poland, then when Hitler got into power, moved to the Netherlands, to Arnhem. When it was feared that the Germans would also invade the Netherlands he moved behind the “waterline” (water defense) to the Hague. He played an active part in the activities of the Jewish Community, especially in connection with the teenage boys and girls. Mr. Max Finkel had many children. This is what he put on paper and presented to me: Bedomayich-chayi Springtime of the year 1942 was a sad…
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Rabbi Jona Glauber
The story of Rabbi Jona Glauber of Brooklyn, New York, originally from Hungary, whose wife and 8 children were brutally murdered by the Nazis, mirrors the Biblical story of Hanna and her sons. From the Memoirs: 1948. Rabbi J. Glauber is the head of the “Jeshieve” in Leiden, Holland and teaches about 15 boys. He originally came from Budapest, Hungary. When the Germans invaded this country in 1944, all Jews were deported. He and his family were sent to Auschwitz; his wife and 8 children (3 boys and 5 girls) from the age of 17 years down to 1 year were put to death. Rabbi J. Glauber stayed in Auschwitz…
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Rita the Angel
Rita Boijenk, was a Righteous Gentile living on the same street in the Hague, who assisted the Frankenhuis family during the war years by arranging hiding for 13 persons, and visitations between the family members offering emotional support. While the Frankenhuis family was incarcerated in the camps, she managed to elude her direct connection and was instrumental in helping save them from deportation to Auschwitz via the Jewish Council. She earned the title “Angel” because of her devotion in saving the lives of the Frankenhuis family. From the Memoirs: This is where Rita (Boijenk) lived. An upper floor apartment, in the Van Alkemadelaan. A number 33, a house nothing but…
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The Jewish Museum (New York)
Lodz Ghetto coins donated to Jewish Museum in New York, 1965 “Der Aelteste der Juden in Litzmannstadt” (The Oldest of the Jews in Litzmannstadt) During the World War 1939-1945 the words “concentration camp” became words of fear. Unlike prisoner-of-war camps and internment camps which gave at least some recognition of the rules of war, concentration camps were slave labor and death camps, with the emphasis on death. Other than political prisoners, the bulk of the concentration camp inmates was comprised of races that the rulers of Germany seemed determined to eradi- cate, with the Jews in first place. Six million died in these camps, the result of starvation, brutality, shooting…
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Get Out
Later in the history books, people will probably read that it was maybe a minority of the Germans who wanted war. But I want to tell these people: do not believe it. I know. Read my books, circulars, diaries. This is the real thing and – Maybe? – the historic books are fairy tales, a distortion of the facts in the years 1933…… And I should like to tell this to my people and their offspring. If there ever is a persecution again, when a minority is treated again as an inferior individual, it is the duty of every responsible person to… get out… clear out… And if it is…
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Going into Hiding
Rita, the good soul, the “Angel” as my mother calls her, stands in front of her house, knowing the time about which I would leave and accompanying mea little way on my road to lighten the heavy gait. “Here is something for the nerves” when she pushes a little bottle into my hand and dropping a few pills in one of my side-pockets.” When you enter the lodgings, you take a tablet.” How good it is at this moment to have a human being who has got pity on you, to relieve you from your pains and what is more, to hear her prophecies “that this spook will only last…
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Hitler’s Suite at Hotel Dreesen, Bad Godesberg
A visit to Bad Godesberg and interview with Fritz Dreesen On my way in Bonn, where I had the opportunity to speak to Chancellor Dr. Konrad Adenauer for a very short period, receiving his autographed photograph through the cordiality of his Secretary Ministerialdirigent Herr Selbach, I decided to go to Bad Godesberg/Rhein, to the Hotel Dreesen, where Chamberlain and Hitler signed the treaty which proved so fatal to the entire world. It was here that Chamberlain was fooled by Herr Hitler – “PEACE IN OUR TIME.” The owner of the Hotel, Fritz Dreesen, gave me permission to occupy the suite where Hitler stayed from 1926 on; the Hotel later became…
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Prince Louis Ferdinand
Three Hohenzollern, three S.A. Men! On March 1934 the German Ex-crown prince Wilhelm let himself be photographed at the castle Caecilian-Hof with both of his sons. At that time Hitler was in power for a good year. The ex-crown prince (middle) on this occasion was wearing the uniform of motor- S.A.- man, Prince Hubertus (left ) the uniform of “Sturmfuhrer ” (Com.commandant with the S. A.) Reserve I and prince Friedrich (right) that of ” Oberscharfuhrer ” of the Reserve I. The sons were holding a higher office (order) than their father. The picture was published of the son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the crown prince together with his 2…
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Burgsteinfurt
July 1966 Every year when I go to Europe I visit the city of Burgsteinfurt and this time again, the middle of July, 1966.I was born in this place on February 24, 1894 in the Kirchstrasze No. 17. This house has now been transformed and quite different compared to what it looked like before.It was an old house. I always was a citizen of the Netherlands, as according to the law, a child takes the nationality of the Father, different to that of the U.S.A. In this country, you are an American when you are born here.When I wanted to immigrate to the U.S.A. prior to the War 1939 –…
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Personal Effects
Two custom display cases created by Maurice Frankenhuis to house all of his personal effects that he managed to carry with him through the camps and left with. His descriptions on the left are his full explanation and expressive regard for its value to him in the environment of the concentration camps.