Transcripts For CSPAN3 Surviving The Holocaust In Amsterdam

There we go, there is the netherlands. And the pointer is now pointing to the city of amsterdam, the capital of the netherlands. This is where louises family went into hiding until the very end of the war. This is my favorite one. This is a picture of louise and she was one years old. She was cute then, she is still to now. Now. Ill cute this is louise with her favorite dog, her brother and one of the chairs she had as a gift for her second birthday. That chair is now in the possession of the United States Holocaust Memorial museum. It is occasionally uneasy out exhibits on exhibit a to louise. Her parents celebrated her birthday during their time in hiding thanks to some of their friends and reserve officers from the outside. So this is louises apartment building, you can see the arrow pointing to the attica apartment where her family hid during the war years. Following louises birthday, that picture we just saw, that Little Family would spend an additional year in hiding almost until the liberation by Canadian Forces in 1945. , louise sorry lawrenceisraels story is one of the most poignant stories. She will share that story with us. Please join me in welcoming louise lawrenceisraels. [applause] louise. Thank you for being with us today, louise. Maybe we can start by talking , kindwhat your family did of family experiences you had before the war started. You were not born yet, but what did your family do, how do they live before that german invasion of the netherlands . Louise my parents not married before the nazis got married before the nazis invaded, and so i have a brother born in 1940. My father was in business with his dad. They had a textile firm with a manufactured clothing, and they had a store with it sold the clothing. They are jewish, the whole family is jewish, but they were very religious. That was the most important thing in their it wasnt the most important thing in their daily life. Sorry, notland these invaded poland. The dutch nazis invaded poland. The dutch army conscripted young men to serve. The dutch army was really in shambles. We had not participated in the first world war, so my dad was a reserve officer, but uniforms were hard boiled wool that he could not even move his arms. But in the meantime, they trained for a possible invasion. They never expected. The germans were our friends. We gave homage to the german kaiser. After the first world war, why would you invade a friendly country . Louise right patricia right. Louise probably they wanted the city, easier to have ships in the harbor and invade the rest of the world. , 1940, myhey came in fathers Engineering Battalion was ready in the southern part of holland, and they were ready to build build blow up the bridges over the river. My father was taken prisoner of war. Patricia when he is taken prisoner of war, was this the fact that he was drafted him of the fact that he served in the army listed not save him from the threat of deportation. What happened to him when he was captured . Louise he was with his whole group, they were prisoners of war. After holland capitulated because they only fought for four days, a couple weeks after, they let all the dutch officers go back to holland. We became part of germany of the third reich. Mike aarons settled in the town of harlem my parents settled in the town of harlem with my little brother. And the threat against jews was not there yet. My father just lived there. Patricia right. But very early on, there came some antijewish legislation. The German Occupation put on essentially the laws that had been already in force in the third reich, so there was persecution shortly afterwards. Louise that is correct. All the things that everybody will see when you go to the children,ke jewish were not allowed to be educated in a regular school. If you are sick, you could only go to a jewish hospital, treated by jewish doctors, cannot go to the doc the park. So my family, our business was confiscated because it was a jewish business. Patricia very early on, if i remember your story correctly, your family had a dramatic experience. That had to do with the resident of the Jewish Community and neighbors. 1922, everyone organized in that time. The occupying nazis already had jewsain, prepare to stuff into death camps in poland. But also our resistance, but a lot of those, some of those soldiers had been taken prisoner of war, had joined the resistance. That is why my father knew them. They got very organized. I have to backtrack because our neighbors across the street are very religious jews. It was a very large family. There was the president of the germans of the Jewish Society in harlem. They all had kids. Some of the kids were engaged but no one married. Twoset of grandparents, unmarried ants, everybody lived in that house. In 1942, after the order that everyone above the age of six had to wear a star, we got orders to move to amsterdam, and the resistance grew up. Egistration officers to make it harder for nazis to find more jews later. As a punishment for blowing up Registration Office in the town of harlem, they took the 10 most , marched jewish men them onto the square and shot them in front of the population. With them was our neighbor across the street, the president and two rabbis and two other men. Patricia so what happened then with that family . Louise none of them were able to work anymore to give they one of them, a daughter was my moms age, her name was selma. She became friends with my mom. She helped my mom take care of my brother and myself. I was by that time almost six months old. Selmas of days after dad was shot, selma was in our house. From my bedroom window across the street, she was looking at her house, she saw a large truck pull up in front of her house, and people jumped off with a lot of screaming, kicked in the door and rounded up everybody at that time. , except forove away one brother who later escaped. She never saw the rest of her family again. So that was so scary, such a same night, we moved to amsterdam. We had no place to really live yet, so we moved in and rarely with one of my temporarily with one of my fathers friends that was also in the resistance, and we went out to look for a hiding place. Patricia so he continued he could not continue his business and answer dam. What was he doing there . Louise in harlem, the business was confiscated early on. That was in amsterdam. Thearlem, he found a job at pants press or in a small jewish drycleaning place. No basement. So i tell you the comparison. My father was a spoiled man. He had a doctorate in economics. He came to the United States to do an internship here for two years. He got a Corner Office of his father, and he ran the business. Really smart man. And he became a pants press her. Questions not ask him for many, many years because the resulting to talk about the war. There was nothing to talk about but the war. So i said, how did that make you feel, because that hurt when i found out he had been doing that. He said, actually i went to work singing. He had to walk five miles because his bicycle was confiscated and jews could not use public transportation. I came back singing. I was happy, everything is relative. You have to feed your family, and i made some money. Not much, but it made him happy. Patricia but all this time, he was making elaborate arrangements to bring you and your brother and mother and his parents louise my fathers parents, yes. Patricia can you talk about that . The elaboratee plans after he moved to amsterdam. It is the silly thing to talk about. I was wondering why didnt they do it before . They did not how long this would last. It will be over tomorrow. But it wasnt over tomorrow. Place. Found this hiding walkup. Fourstory it had a storage attic. Nothing much in it except a table and chairs and a cover and , but iter dusty boxes was across the street from the main park in amsterdam. He figured he would have to go out and night, make contact with the resistance, try to get food he would have neighbors across the street that could see the strange man coming out of the house in the dark. He had also asked people he worked with, he had a textile firm, but they worked with bolts and bolts of fabric. He asked people if they could take as many bolts out as possible. He figured that would be something that he could barter with. When there was no more income, he could trade a couple of yards of fabric for a couple of slices of bread. And he also used fabric when we got into the attic to make makeshift rooms, walls, actually, so everybody had a little bit of privacy. Patricia and he paid a lot of rent for the apartment. Louise he paid rent for 10 years, so he did not have to go out when the rent would be too dangerous. He did not know how long it would last. Patricia so when he went into hiding, what time was that . What timeframe was that, and how many people went into hiding with you . Louise it was my father and my mother, my brother and myself, becauseparents, selma, her parents were gone and she did not know or they were. Where they were. My fathers parents temporarily. I always said he can move into hiding with a moving truck, so they really thought about the parents. Y talk about mattresses they took mattresses, a crib for me. A camping stove, oil lamps, everything burned on oil, pots and pans and utensils. We only had a small toilet that was already there and a small sink with cold running water. That was it. Patricia and you were very young at the time. What did your parents tell you about do you or member things that happened when you were in hiding . Louise there were two things. My parents were amazing, thinking about that now and a couple of years ago. When you are in the middle of it, you take everything for granted. My. Did everything they could to shield us, shield us. They never talked about the outside world. They never told us what was going on, and they never told us how scared they were. My fathers parents only stayed with us a short time. When the resistance pick them up, they found another hiding place for them. But they had no idea where anybody was. But they did not share that with us. They thought if we didnt know, then we wouldnt miss it. Also, they never talked about the outside world. If my mom set on a nice sunny day, and we had a tiny window, if you had said it is a beautiful day, and i wish you could take children out and play, we would have missed it. So by not talking about it, every day was normal for us. Not for them, but for us. They had to keep us busy. What we did talk about that . Patricia yeah, did your parents what did they do to keep you busy, to keep you engaged . Louise my brother had been allowed to take with him one toy, his favorite, and my father took in a lot of scrap paper and color pencils. Crawling around willie just went into hiding, i heard my father and my mother and selma sitting on the table. Mom and selma were always sewing , but they were talking to my brother. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. So i was an early talker and a late walker. As soon as i could talk, i said, can i sit with you . I was talking so much might my mother finally said you have to listen, dont talk anymore. At least i can sit there. What were they doing with my brother . They were doing color and games with colors. They were teaching him numbers, very simple arithmetic, and then letters and words. It was a form of homeschooling. I loved it. I wanted to participate. It was funny, because if you say a word is brown, then what is a bird . Ht mom to draw very world my mom could drop very well. She would not draw birds and trees because that would make us wonder about outside and what are trees, but we would know what a bird was. We would know what a flower was, it was always color and explain. They homeschooled us for from Early Morning to women went to bed. That is how they kept us busy. So when we were liberated i was almost three and i could read. ,eople are much smarter than me but it is reputation it is reputation. Repetition. No radio, nothing. You, so it isdid clear, how did you survive that . Me sometimes your father went out . Louise food was scarce, and we were often hungry. Even for the dutch. The occupying nazis and the collaborators took all the stuff. The nokia to send it to germany for their families. Germany fort it to their families. We did not have ration cards will we went into hiding. So i would not be sitting there today without that. If there was nothing in the morning, my mom on her camping stove would boil water and we would get a bowl of warm water. It settles your stomach and takes hunger pangs away to start with. We us children got something every day, just before we went to bed so we did not have to go to bed hungry. Sometimes it wasnt more than sharing have a cracker. My parents always had some emergency food. It was always for the children first. They went hungry. For many days. Patricia can you tell us about that half vacation, your birthday . Louise we did not know. We thought this was perfectly normal, whatever they look like. Ton my father went out again make contact with somebody from the resistance. It was very important besides food and medicine, to bring home news. We had no newspapers, there was no way to get any news. News would give you hope. So he came home and looked differently. My brother picked up on that and said, what happened . Human outside, and you look you went outside, and you look different . My father looked happier. My brother saw it, i didnt. He said the allied army has landed in normandy. Maybe it will be over soon. Patricia you were born in july. Was june. My father wanted to make a special day. My second birthday to do that. If you forget your best friends birthday, you can still plan on ice party at night. A nice party at night. Corner bakery. Not when you are in hiding. It is a lot of planning and help people in the resistance that helped us. Patricia they made a cake . Louise my father made a cake and baked it on top of the camping stove does he did not have an oven. My mother cut up cloth and made address. Selma added old rags and made a doll, and my brother wrapped his only toy for me. I had been watching that for years, but i had never been able to touch it. I could just look at it, but it was his toy. He was going to give it for me for my birthday. Patricia for one day. Louise he said it was just for today. I wanted that tonight. I want it back tonight. [laughter] patricia he knew about the plans louise can you about the plans because he had given ingredients for the cake. She got this doll and this wicker chair, but it was already an antique. I got it, i was so happy i sat in it. I was a little that i sat in the chair and held the dull in my arms. Ll in my arms. That picture is a tribute to my parents. What you saw is a perfectly happy 2yearold, not any different on any other siblings there to use all. My parents wanted us to be happy children. Since we did not know the difference with any outside or inside, we were happy children. Patricia it is beautiful. , and a your parents did very scary situation. A potentially deadly situation. Many people when they think of it in children, they think of anne frank, who lived not far from you, five blocks from where you were hiding, in a very different context. For one thing, you were alive and with us today. Secondly, you werent hiding in the sacred annex. You are sort of hiding in lane site. What did your neighbors think . Did they suspect you were there . Louise we were lucky we had our own walkup. It is a different set up in that row of houses that every floor has its own front door and its own set of stairs. So we never, my father going downstairs, never met anybody, and that probably saved him. We had neighbors below us that must have heard us walk, flush the toilet. They never said anything. So people can say, well, they heard people up there, but maybe they were interested. For us, it was a lucky thing. Helpinguch better than from afar. If they had known us, befriended us are helped us, if a not see or collaborator had rung the zi or collaborator had rung the bell and asked if anyone was living upstairs, they wouldve had to live. Or they would have seen it, that since they lie and did not have to lie at all, they could say, we dont know. It is just a storage attic. But afterwards, i would say they were good dutch people. They knew people were inside. And they never said a word. Patricia never said a word, right. Toward the end of your time in hiding, there was a round up of jewish officers, and your father did not show up. Headcountere was a for all officers. My father could not go out without a star. After the invasion of the allied army, i guess the nazis got jittery, especially the army. So they suggest we have a headcount. My father was told by some of his army buddies that there was a headcount, and it was close to the central station, the hit train station. I will not go, i have a star i have to wear even though we had fake identity papers. Still, he said i will never make it. So he didnt go. Nd he was right there was a headcount, and everybody was pushed onto a train and sent back to germany for the duration of the next eight months of liberation. To my knowledge, not one jewish officer came back. So he didnt go. It was a good thing for the dutch army after liberation, because when we were liberated, forather was picked up conduct unbecoming an officer, thrown in jail by the dutch army. His only lasted three days and then reinstated him, but it took a lot of explaining. Patricia there was a time when your father was arrested. He had a time getting away from the nokia authorities. Authorities. Louise we all had fake identities. My name was maria. I did not know my name was louisa. Dutch collaborator with a lot of screaming. My brother hit in the corner. We were holding onto each other or dear life, scared. We never heard anybody scream at us. What our reals names, and we didnt know them, so we set our faith identities. Fake identities. But they did not like my fathers papers. It was not always perfect, and they took cam. Of the war,the end of occupation, there was no more trains going east. The Railroad Tracks had been bombed. Makeshiftthrown in a prison in the middle of amsterdam, a school. And one night, he tried his door and the door was open. And then he walked in the hallway and walked all the way to the front door, and that was open, and he walked home. They were organized anymore. If the people had picked them up cold kill the people in the jail, there and there, they would have come looking for him. But he came home. A couple of times Something Like that happened, so we were very lucky. Patricia you had bombings in answer them knew the end of the amsterdamthem at the end of the war. Louise they were flying over holland. Tellingir raid alarms you a bomber was approaching, and my dad knew the strongest staircase, so we had a routine. The air raid alarm sounded, my brother and i would hold onto each other, my father would check the stairwell, motion to