• 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…

  • Medals handcrafted for Princess Beatrix whilst in hiding

    From the Memoirs: A MEDAL FOR PRINCESS BEATRIX For 21 months, our family lived at 185, Galilaestraat, The Hague, all four of us cooped up in one room. We were hidden by trusted friends, whose vigilance postponed the day when we would be caught and sent off to concentration camps, and perhaps even to the gas chambers. In a way, our plight was similar to that of the family of Anne Frank and thousands of others who had no alternative but to stay under cover during the German invasion of Holland which began, without any provocation, on May 10, 1940. All of Holland was stunned by the ruthless acts of…

  • 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…

  • Radio sets and BBC Broadcasts

    SURRENDER OF RADIO SETS OF THE JEWS (1941) “The Mayor and Aldermen herewith give notice that Radio sets have to be surrendered by the Jews in the school of the Van Dijckstraat”.This was one of the headlines in the local papers, followed up by a long statement of date, hour, family name to start with letter A/ etc. including…as where to hand these radios in. Also it is mentioned in the papers that the surrendering of these sets is to be placed for safekeeping and that they will be returned later to the owners.For the umpteenth time it is mentioned those who have to be considered as a Jew…… The…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Shawls

    Nazi liquidation of Dutch institutions With the pilfering of the various institutions; well, in the old days it was called in German “klauen” (pilfer), now it is called in German “einnehmen” (take in). Let me use the old way, that is: With the pilfering of the various institutions, like: De Joodsche Invaliede (The Jewish Invalid) in the city of Amsterdam Het Joodsche Weeshuis (The Jewish Orphanage House) of The Hague Het Apeldoornsche Bosch (The Apeldoorn Forst) of Apeldoorn And various others in the country – including very many synagogues – their inhabitants left for an unknown destination somewhere in the East. Suddenly there was an oversupply of shawls, an abundance…

  • Commander Gemmeker

    Maurice Frankenhuis, an inmate at the deportation camp Westerbork in Holland, procured sketches and schematics and clandestine photographs. Commander Gemmecke, now commonly spelled Gemmeker, overseeing Jews being loaded into transport trains at Westerbork concentration camp. The identical scene was captured by two artists: Werner Lowenhardt, an artist, and a photographer – from a different perspective. Notice the identical tree, smoke, and wheelbarrow, and of course, Gemmecke standing with his hands clasped behind his back. Sketch and photograph of Gemmecke in Westerbork Artifacts from the Frankenhuis Collection