War memories alongside the Westerbork walking path
Stories behind the 'remembrance objects'
‘Veluwe Remembers’ tells the history of former Jewish residents in seven stories. Six stories are located on the Westerbork walking path. This path runs from the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam to camp Westerbork. Remembrance objects have been placed at seven locations on which the stories below of Jewish families in the Veluwe region can be read and listened to.
Ermelo
It is the summer of 1942. The Jewish Staal family from Amsterdam had been in hiding in Ermelo for some time. Levie and Elisabeth were forced to hide in a holiday home called Brem & Den on Watervalweg 110, which the Keijzer family allowed them to use. They hide there with their children Abraham, Jacob and Betje. Grandma Betje is also with them.
On 22 March 1943, things go wrong. They are discovered and arrested by a group of Nazi-sympathising policemen led by NSB mayor Klinkenberg from Putten. They are then taken to the police station. Fifteen-year-old Abraham ‘Aby’ manages to escape. His family is first deported to Camp Westerbork and then to the Sobibor concentration camp. There, his family is murdered.
Those who provided shelter received the Yad Vashem award several years ago; Israel’s highest award for non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews survive during World War II.
The Pakhuis is an unusual museum in the middle of Ermelo. The collection consists mainly of archaeological finds from the Veluwe. Museum Het Pakhuis has existed for more than 12 years, basically the Pakhuis is a museum but also a social cultural centre with activities that regularly cross the boundary of ‘the museum’.
Joodse expositie © Museum Het Pakhuis, Ermelo
Elburg
In 1942, Klaartje de Hond lived with her parents, Barend and Sientje, and her brothers Jacob and David at 25 Beekstraat in Elburg. She was engaged shortly before, on 22 August, to Salo West from Sappemeer. On Friday evening, 2 October, Klaartje and her mother Sientje are rounded up and transported to camp Westerbork. Barend, Jacob and David had already ended up in Westerbork via a labour camp. Salo is also rounded up and in the same camp. In Westerbork, Klaartje and Salo get married. They write another letter to their neighbours, the Van Leijen family in Elburg.
Klaartje and her parents are deported to Auschwitz and gassed. Klaartje had only been married for three weeks at that point. Salo West also dies in Auschwitz on 28 February 1943. The youngest son, Ernst, perished in Sobibor extermination camp. His brothers Hans and Bert went into hiding and survived the war.
Museum Sjoel Elburg is a storytelling museum about the lives of 12 Jewish families who lived in Elburg from 1700 onwards. The museum offers a historical perspective for a current theme: integration and tolerance.
© Museum De Sjoel, Elburg
Apeldoorn
In 1941, Henri and Jet van Son and their children Sera, Hetty, Freddy and Sal were living in Apeldoorn. They have a butcher’s shop on Hoofdstraat and even supply the Royal Family.
The Nazis force them to close the butcher’s shop; Jews are no longer allowed to run a business. The children find work with a former client: the Jewish psychiatric institution Het Apeldoornsche Bosch.
On 20 January 1943, a locomotive with twenty empty wagons arrives in Apeldoorn. There is a rumour that Het Apeldoornsche Bosch is being evacuated. Freddy is in hiding by then, but Sera, Hetty and Sal have to flee. The next night, the train full of residents and staff of the Apeldoornsche Bosch passes this spot, never to return. Freddy is betrayed and dies in Sobibor. The rest of the family survives the war. After the war, their butcher’s shop reopens.
Apeldoornsche Bosch 1935, Apeldoorn
The Apeldoornsche Bosch Memorial Centre and the CODA Archive
The memorial wall in the Apeldoornsche Bosch commemorates the approximately 1300 patients and staff of the Jewish psychiatric institution ‘Het Apeldoornsche Bosch’ who were deported to camp Westerbork on 22 January 1943. Many of them were immediately forwarded to extermination camps. Only 21 staff ultimately survived the war.
Harderwijk
Did you know that the first mention of a Jew in Harderwijk dates back to 1657? At the time, he had to leave town because Jews were forbidden to live here. A hundred years later, the economic situation had greatly improved and almost two hundred Jews lived in Harderwijk. There was a room for prayer services, a ritual bath (mikveh) and a Jewish cemetery. In 1838, the prayer hall was in very poor condition and had to be demolished. Two years later, in 1840, a larger synagogue was consecrated on the same spot. In addition, a Jewish school was set up in the Hoogstraat.
By 1940, 43 Jews were registered in Harderwijk, mostly merchants and shopkeepers. Of these, 21 would not survive the war. After the war, prayer services could no longer be held in the synagogue. The required number of Jewish adult men was missing and the interior was completely destroyed. In 1947, the Jewish community of Harderwijk was officially dissolved.
Monument Omgekomen Geallieerde Vliegeniers, Harderwijk
In the centre of Harderwijk, on the corner of Jodenkerksteeg and Kleine Marktstraat, stands the former synagogue. It is one of the few physical monuments that still recalls Harderwijk’s Jewish past. In the former synagogue, an exhibition on former Jewish life has been set up on the first floor. An exhibition with objects from the Jewish religion; a photo and memory wall, animated films of partly vanished Jewish heritage and parts of the documentary ‘Jewish Harderwijkers’.
Putten
In 1934, the German Meijer-Cohen family fled from Hitler to The Hague. In 1940, the family had to leave again by order of the German occupiers. After some wandering, Arthur and Helene ended up in ‘Pension Vale Ouwe’ at 85 Harderwijkerstraat in Putten.
While Arthur is in hospital, NSB mayor Klinkenberg, a fanatical Jew-hunter, arranges for Helene to be transferred to the Westerbork transit camp on 18 November 1942. Arthur is left with no choice but to join her just under a month later. On 2 February 1943, the couple is deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they are murdered three days later.
In Putten are stolpersteine of Arthur and Helene Meijer, near Harderwijkerstraat 91. Look here for the exact location.
Portret van Arthur Meijer
Nunspeet
In 1944, Annie Otten-Wolff lived with her 5-year-old son Daniel at a hiding address on Brandsweg in Hulshorst. Annie was a widow. Her husband, who was a general practitioner in Dalfsen, was killed in a car accident on a railway crossing in 1938.
On 18 July 1944, Annie is arrested by the fanatical Jew hunter F.J. Jansen while visiting hairdresser Van Koot in Nunspeet. She is first taken to the military barracks on F.A. Molijnlaan and then transferred to camp Westerbork.
From Westerbork, Annie is deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then to Bergen-Belsen.There she is murdered in February 1945. Her infant son Daniel survives the war because his father was not Jewish.
They went into hiding in the woods of Nunspeet, fleeing Hitler’s Nazi regime. Jewish families with children, resistance fighters, Allies, a Russian and a German deserter. From February 1943 to October 1944, people were hidden in self-built sod huts underground without water and electricity. Thanks to the help of brave local people, most residents of the hidden village survived the war. But not everyone, the camp was discovered. Some huts have been recreated on the site of Het Verscholen Dorp. Between sunrise and sunset the hidden village is freely accessible.
Het Verscholen Dorp, Nunspeet
Nijkerk
In 1943, Bep and Anna Hammelburg lived with their parents, Isaac and Judith, at 18-20 Venestraat in Nijkerk. Number 18 is their butcher’s shop, while they live at number 20. Because their Jewish identity is known to the German occupiers, the family is arrested on 9 April and transported to Camp Vught.
Bep survives the war by working for the Philips-command in Camp Vught and later for Telefunken in Auschwitz. She is sent on a foot march by the Nazis and eventually liberated in northern Germany by the Allies. Her sister Anna also survives the war, along with her infant daughter. Their parents, Isaac and Judith, are both killed.
Museum Nijkerk is located in a beautiful national monument in Nijkerk. The building is originally the late-medieval Gasthuis, located on the old thoroughfare from Amersfoort to Zwolle. Pilgrims, travellers and poor inhabitants of the city found a meal and a bed here. In this historic location, the museum welcomes contemporary visitors and presents the history of Nijkerk. Museum Nijkerk is a spacious, high-quality and attractive museum with plenty of room for exhibitions, interaction, an open depot and a knowledge centre about the history of Nijkerk and Westerborkpad.