Voices of the Holocaust
Holocaust Testimonies
For our International Legacies of Anne Frank class we studied Holocaust testimonies from the USC Shoah Foundation archive. The USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg. The organization maintains an extensive archive of Holocaust testimonies. The Foundation conducted around 52,000 interviews of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. Most of these testimonies are accessible through their online archive and they were an invaluable resource to our class. Below are some student summaries of survivors' testimony:
Gary Raven |
Gita Leyser |
by Linda and Bethany
Gary Raven, born June 3, 1924 in Berlin Germany. Interviewed by David Brotsky in Montclair NJ on October 18, 1995. Gary started out the war at an agricultural school where he tended to the land and worked with livestock like cows and horses. These are happy moments he reflected on. However in the summer of 1942, he was forced into hiding in Amsterdam to avoid being sent to concentration camps. He was fairly fortunate throughout this. For example he spent time with several farming families before entering hiding. These families always treated him as if he was one of their own children. He recalls eating tea and cookies with them after spending days working on the farm. The Germans kept promulgating laws that pushed Jews further and further away from the coast. Eventually he met with the Steenbergen family that promised he could stay in the event he needed a hiding place. He took up this offer with two friends- Kalb and Max Valer. There was very little room in the apartment where they stayed but they were treated well by the family. They created a hiding place in the floor in the event Nazi’s came. They were smuggled books, food, and listened to the radio to pass the time. Also the family had a dog named Bobby who provided companionship during hiding. They never had the opportunity to leave the hiding place. Except for once when Gary had infected toes and the underground took him to a doctor to be treated. There were upstairs neighbors that were oblivious to the Jews being hidden there. This was a good thing because they were Nazi collaborators. Gary had a good relationship with the family who hid him and stayed with them for a year after the liberation. He remained in contact with them throughout his life. They attended his wedding and he even brought his children to meet them. Gerrit Peereboomby Becca and Erin
Gerrit Peereboom, born September, 1924 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Interviewed by Adam Brown in Fairfax, VA on February 4, 1996. Gerrit Peereboom was born in September 1924 and lived in the Hague in the Netherlands before the war. Gerrit’s immediate family was relatively wealthy, but his extended family lived modestly. Gerrit’s grandparents lived in Amsterdam, and he visited them often. After high school, Gerrit aspired to become a doctor. Of course, at this time, Jewish restrictions had been insituted, and he was unable to attend medicle school. He did, however, intern privately with a medial professional. In August 1942, he and his family were summoned for deportation. To his dismay, his mom urged him to go into hiding. He argued, “but I’m strong and capable!” Nonetheless, he was eventually persuaded to flee to Maastricht. On the train, a woman offered him a hiding place. She, first, introduced him to a Catholic priest, who then recruited the local Jailor to accomodate Gerrit. In Maastricht, he hid in the jailor’s attic, which had a bed and a small window. Durring the day, he went downstairs with the family, and at night, he sometimes ventured outdoors. Eventually, neighbors became suspicious after hearing a toilet flush in the middle of the day when, otherwise, no one was supposed to be home. He was then relocated to a new residence, about 80 miles away. There, he lived with an older couple, and their teenaged son. Durring the day, he helped with houshold chores, like cleaning, mending clothes, and baking. During his stay, his host-mother recieved word that her son had been executed by the German army. Gerrit reports, “I became her surrogate son.” In March, 1944, Gerrit’s father visited unexpectedly. He relayed the news that Gerrit’s mother, sister, and cousin had, tragically, been betrayed and apprehended. Five months later, after local suspicions rose again, Gerrit left. His father delivered him to his uncle’s residence, where he lived with his uncle, aunt, grandmother, and cousins. One night, the Nazis came. As Gerrit hid, his grandmother left with them, still in her nightclothes. “That was the last time I saw her,” he says. Shortly thereafter, Gerrit’s uncle decided to relocate. The family, including Gerrit’s father and sister, moved into a small apartment in Utrecht. After the war, Gerrit went back to the Hague, where his old house still stood. His father, however, lobbied to abandon the house. He, apparently, did not want to live there. They, instead, rented an apartment nearby. Eventually, Gerrit went to medical school. After medical school, he settled in the U.S. Hans Angressby Lauren and Brittany
Born April 14, 1928 in Berlin, Germany. Interview by Zepporah Glass in Copati, California, 3/14/2001. Hans Angress, like many Holocaust survivors, suffers the afterdeath of the Holocaust and tells and retells hi story not necessarily as a tale of survival but as an experience of bravery and only possible with the help of those who against the Nazi regime such as the Dutch Underground. Angress provides close attention to detail such as his reaction to frequent raids, what he and his family did prior to remaining in hiding for an extended period of time, and any relationship to Anne Frank.What separates Hans from other survivors is that Hans was actively involved in aiding the Dutch Underground while he was in hiding from the Nazis. Angress did not remain consolidated, rather he adopted a fake persona (via fake ID) and traveled out and about while technically in hiding. |
by Allison and Brianna
Gita Leyser, born April 19, 1929 in Dusseldorf Germany. Interviewed by Mark Goldberg in Roslyn NY on March 28, 1995. In 1941, Gita lived in an apartment in Amsterdam and went to the Jewish school where she met Anne Frank. As round-ups increased, the SS came to arrest and deport Gita’s family. Gita hid behind a balcony door to avoid deportation and luckily, her parents returned. Her father was very well connected in Amsterdam and his wealth helped Gita's family enormously during this time. Several times they escaped round-ups and after the third time, her parents obtained an infectious disease notice and informed neighbors that Gita was sick. By doing this, they avoided visitors and deportation. Eventually, in 1942, her family moved to the Jewish ghetto in Amsterdam, which they thought would be safer than their apartment. In the ghetto, the Dutch Underground offered to take Gita to the countryside and hide her with a family there. Gita spoke about how difficult this decision was for her family: “They couldn’t live with the idea that they didn’t know where I was or what my fate would be.” Thus, Gita’s family remained together. As deportations continued, Gita’s family became more concerned and contacted the Vandertoorens, who had housed Gita’s father earlier for a few nights while round-ups occurred. From September 1943 to May 1945, the family hid in the Vandertooren’s apartment and paid the Vandertoorens for the hiding place. While hiding, Gita’s family faced uncertain circumstances and hardships from fear and lack of food. Towards the end of the war, Gita’s family considered giving up, but they managed to live and stay hidden until liberation in May 1945. Betsy Cohenby Sam and Julia
Interviewed by Linda Feldman, May 2 1996 in Windsor, Ontario Betsy Cohen was born in 1928 in Amsterdam. Her father was a pastry chef and her mother was, in Betsy’s description ‘a true intellectual’. Betsy Cohen went into hiding at 14 years old and remained in hiding for over three years. She primarily was in hiding at Tante Toes’ house. Initially, she was in hiding with her father at Tante Toes’ brother and sister in law’s house, but then her entire family hid at Tante Toes’ house together. The house was on Jan Evertsenstraat and had special hiding space. There was a false wall in the kitchen, behind which they all had to hide.Tante Toes had a husband named John and a teenage son, Hans, whom Betsy eventually befriended. Hans was in hiding too because he was supposed to be working at a German factory. Although Betsy’s mother and Tante Toes bickered, Betsy thought Tante Toes was a positive person. She had fond memories of her and Hans. However, there were also very negative memories from hiding. A year before the war ended, her mother died and they had to remove the body from the house. Lena Abramsby Michelle and Meredith
Lena’s story of hiding is largely shaped by help of non-Jews. In 1942, Lena and her twin sister were sent to a transit camp. Lena’s sister was working for a factory that made clothes for Nazis. The sisters convinced the German Jews working at the camp to let them both return to Amsterdam. Upon their return, their father brought them to a hiding place he had set up in the building that housed the business he owned. The neighbors knew that there were Jews living there but they never gave them up. The twins frequently returned to their old apartment until they learned from a neighbor that their apartment had been sealed. Under the belief that the more people were in the loft, the more likely it would be that they would get caught, Lena’s father helped her obtain false papers from the Resistance. The Resistance then placed Lena in a fishing house as a maid for a family in which the children were unaware of Lena’s Jewish identity. Lena spent her days off at her father’s in Amsterdam, traveling 2 hours by foot each leg of the journey. After the fishing house was bombed, Lena moved back into the loft with her father, sister, and the family friend. From there, the Resistance found an opportunity for her to work as a maid for a doctor in Amsterdam who was also part of the Resistance. Lena spoke of him fondly. It is from here that she experienced liberation and had a hard time leaving the doctor and his family who had been so kind to her. Reflecting on her good luck during the Holocaust, Lena states, “there were always people that would help but you have to know who would help you.” |