Caroline Stella Os—A Life Denied

Caroline Stella Os was born in Rotterdam on 8 October 1940. Her life ended when she was murdered at Westerbork, by the Nazis, on 8 June 1943. She reached the tender age of two years old.

How can I write about a girl who only lived for 32 months?

What can I write about a girl who only lived for 32 months?

The answer to both questions is, ”I can’t.”

All I can do is to reflect on a life denied.

She was—denied education.

She was—denied going to a playground.

She was—denied proper medical care.

She was—denied the chance of motherhood.

She was—denied the chance of becoming a girlfriend or wife.

She was—denied the chance to travel the world.

She was—denied a career.

She was—denied the opportunity to write a book.

She was—denied the opportunity to compose a piece of music.

She was—denied choosing her favourite song.

She was—denied reading her favourite book.

She was—denied the chance to develop her creativity, perhaps to paint a masterpiece like the great Dutch masters before her.

She was—denied the chance of an education, perhaps to become a doctor or a nurse.

She was—the opportunity to buy sweets in a shop.

She was—denied a life.

Carolina Stella Os, on 22 April 1943, was sent to the Vught Concentration Camp, then deported on 6 June 1943 to Westerbork on the so-called Children’s Transport. Two days later—she was murdered by the Nazis.

sources

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/33047/caroline-stella-os

https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/393040?s=393040&t=2136477&p=0

Just Children

The worst crime the Nazis committed was the murder of children. An estimated 1.5 million children were murdered by the Nazis. This number is just an estimate, although I have no data to back this up, I believe the number is higher.

Not all children who died on the transport are included in this number. Nor are the children who were murdered before they even went on the train. There are reports of SS officers murdering babies by smashing their heads against walls or other surfaces.

Then there are the babies who were born in the camps, some would have been accidentally smothered by their mothers to keep them quiet, I don’t judge these mothers, and I never will, these children were also victims of the Nazi regime. I could write so much about the children, but at the moment I am just not emotionally capable to do so.

All I will do today is post pictures of children who were murdered. I will not even put all the names down of the children, I really should be posting pictures of men and women in their 80s and 90s, because all these children could still be alive.

I will do one story of the child who was more than likely the last Dutch child victim of the evil of the Nazi regime.

All I want today is for you to look into these youngsters‘ eyes and pledge that you will do everything in your power to stop an event like the Holocaust, so it will never happen again. We owe it to them.

Rika Overdijk

Thousands of people gathered at Dam Square in Amsterdam, on 7 May 1945 to celebrate arrival the of the liberators. While the local citizens celebrated on Dam Square, German soldiers of the Kriegsmarine were trapped inside the Groote Club (Grand Club) building, a large building at the corner of the Dam and Kalverstraat. In the nearby Paleisstraat, local forces arrested two German soldiers. One of them refused to surrender his weapon and fired a shot. German soldiers then appeared in the windows, on the balcony and the roof of the Groote Club and started firing into the crowd with machine guns.

On 7 May 1945, Joop van Beek (15) moved from Barentszstraat to Dam Square: it was rumoured that the Canadians would arrive there. “When we arrived at Dam Square, there was a festive atmosphere. There was even a barrel organ playing,” he recalled later.

The festivities turned into a bloodbath.

Some people hid behind a camera car that had driven into the city with the Canadians, and also behind that barrel organ. Joop van Beek heard when he came home that his neighbour, Rika Overdijk, had died. Rika was only 12 years old when she was killed by bullets at 3 p.m. She was the only child of electrician Dirk Overdijk¹⁹ and Rimkien Ossel.

sources

https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/dit-draaiorgel-behoedde-omstanders-op-de-dam-voor-kogels-van-duitse-soldaten~b992848d/

Rika Overdijk – Rita

When the children cry

The current crises and tragedies in Afghanistan and Ukraine are heart wrenching. What makes it worse is that it is not unique. Throughout history there have been wars and often worse aftermaths of war.

Another thing that is also not unique is the fact that it is the children who are always hit the hardest. There is a line in the Elvis song “Don’t cry daddy” which describes it best. “Why are children always first. To feel the pain and the hurt the worst?”

There is no better song though, to describe the failure of mankind to protect their children, the “When the children Cry” by White Lion. Below is the text and the song itself.

“Little child dry your crying eyes
How can I explain the fear you feel inside
‘Cause you were born into this evil world

Where man is killing man and no one knows just why
What have we become just look what we have done
All that we destroyed you must build again

When the children cry let them know we tried
‘Cause when the children sing then the new world begins

Little child you must show the way
To a better day for all the young
‘Cause you were born for all the world to see
That we all can live with love and peace

No more presidents and all the wars will end
One united world under God
When the children cry let them know we tried
‘Cause when the children sing then the new world begins
What have we become just look what we have done

All that we destroyed you must build again
No more presidents and all the wars will end
One united world under God
When the children cry let them know we tried
When the children fight let them know it ain’t right
When the children pray let them know the way
‘Cause when the children sing then the new world begins”

When you come back to school, and your classmates are gone.

The last few years have been a strange year for a great number of countries across the world, especially when it comes to education. There is no doubt that the Covid 19 pandemic will have consequences down the line for many students.

However most of them when they go back to school, they will still see their fellow school friend and students.

During the Holocaust a great number Jewish children were killed. In the Netherlands 75 % of all Jews were murdered. Yet the Nazis still created the illusion, that life was reasonably ‘normal’ for the Jews. Jewish children were still going to school, although their curriculum was greatly reduced. Even extra curricular activities were still encouraged.

This to me is one of the more sickening of the Nazi occupation, they gave people false hope. I have said this before that the Nazis had never been abled to succeed with their final solution plans without the help of other. The bureaucrats, the civil servants, the public transport staff and also other citizens who thought they could benefit from the removal of their Jewish neighbours, this wasn’t only the case in the Netherlands but all of occupied Europe. The one main difference with the Netherlands compared to many of the other countries, the Dutch had an extremely efficient public service, which was used to its full capacity by the Nazis.

I sometimes wonder how distressing it must have been for those poor children to see that every time they came back to school from a break, or after the weekend, some of their classmates were gone. What questions would have gone through their minds?

Any nation that kills their children, kills its own future. Most of the children in the pictures in this blog would have been murdered during the Holocaust. I don’t know their names, where they lived, what age they were. But that is not important, all I know that none of them deserved to be treated like subhuman, none of them deserved the be murdered, none of their futures should have been stolen from them. What they deserve now is to be remembered and for all is us to work hard to avoid something like the Holocaust happening again.

Source

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=Joodse%20Kinderen&rows=25&page=2

Ankie Stork- The Stork who delivered 35 Jewish children.

Ankie Stork was a Dutch resistance fighter during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She saved thirty-five Jewish children from the Nazis by hiding them in several locations the town of Nijverdal during World War II. She acted as part of Utrechts Kindercomité,(Utrecht Children Committee) a Dutch resistance group based in Utrecht.

Ankie was a member of the Hengelo manufacturing family, the daughter of Johan Charles Stork, the director of the Koninklijke Stoombleekerij in Nijverdal.
She became a lecturer and spokesperson after the war. She continued to reside at two residences in Enschede and The Hague until shortly before her death. She died in Enschede on November 23, 2015, at the age of 93.
Her father and brother,Piet, had tried to escape to England at the start of the occupation of the Netherlands, but were arrested. After they were released ,they turned their home into centre of resistance and also a hiding place for Jews.
In 1942 Ankie started to study social geography. She had to end her studies quite soon after she started because she refused to sign the Loyalty declaration, which was a declaration pledging loyalty to the German occupier.

In 1943 her cousin Anne Maclaine Pont asked her to join the resistance by starting to sell copies of “Het lied der achttien dooden” (the song of the 18 dead) by Jan Campert in order to fund the resistance.
Later on with help from others like the Pastor Hendrikus Berkhof, who had warned about the dangers of Nazism during his sermons, to find hiding places for Jewish children, she found places for these children in the eastern rural parts of the Netherlands.
In May 1944 she was caught and arrested but was released after 6 weeks due to lack of evidence.
Because of her and her helpers 35 Jewish children survived the war.

Sources

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn44496

https://peoplepill.com/people/ankie-stork/

Jan Campert-“The Song of the Eighteen Dead” a WW2 Hero.

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Most of them were murdered.

I have to be honest and admit that I am not entirely sure if the title is entirely correct, I am working on presumptions. However they are well founded presumptions.

More then 75% of all Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust it is therefore safe to presume that the at least 75% of these children were murdered too.

I also believe that the picture below is from the same school or after school youth care organisation in Amsterdam which was organised by the Jewish Council.

The things I am certain about is that at least 2 survived one of them is Fred Lessing(below an interview with Fred from January 26,1993)

The other survivor is an unknown visitor to the NIOD Image bank website he said this about the below picture

“‘I am in this picture, sitting in the middle (round shirt collar). Born October 26, 1935. Am sitting next to Fred Lessing .'”

Just look at all those angelic faces and think of the fact that most of them were murdered for no other reason then hate.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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sources

https://www.yadvashem.org/artifacts/featured/teddy-bear-fred-lessing.html

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/404f7f7e-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/60ad524a-368e-1a86-c82d-1c8be40a0367?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=Joodse%20Kinderen&rows=1&page=40

http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/interview.php?D=lessing&section=1

Three Children-Two different realities- One Hate.

There are 2 different pictures in this blog. Both pictures portray children but their reality could not be further apart, yet the were all victim of hate. One because he was murdered because of hate, the others because they were indoctrinated by hate from a very young age.

The picture above is of 2 toddlers dressed in Nazi uniforms. They were taught to hate, the choice to love was taken away from them.

The picture below is of Henri Markus a young Jewish boy born in Paris. He was killed in Auschwitz on August 17, 1942 aged 8.

It is always the children who suffer most.

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Children

The one thing I find hardest to come to terms with is the relationship to the Holocaust—the murder of the children. It is something I will never be able to comprehend.

I know that some people will say The Nazis did not select children because they were children but because they were, or rather their parents, part of dangerous racial, biological, or political groups as per Nazi ideology. But I do not give a f*ck about that. Excuse my language—I get angry when people start to look for a reason behind the murder of innocent lives. There is only one reason—pure evil.

There will be people who will say that those involved in the killing were following orders and were afraid of their own lives because if they did not carry out those orders, they, themselves, would be killed. There is no evidence whatsoever—that any punitive actions were taken against those who refused to kill children or even adults.

Even if that had been the case—even if I had been in their place, I would have let them kill me before I would even think of killing a child. In fact, I probably would have fought back first and killed those who ordered the kill for the simple reason that I am a human being, and every fiber of my humanity tells me murdering a child is wrong and takes away my humanity.

The photograph at the top and the one below are photos of children who were put on transports to death camps for the sole reason—to be murdered. What strikes me about the photos is that they were put in a non-Holocaust context. They could have been pictures of children going on a school trip. There is no chaos—they walk in an orderly line, completely trusting the adults who are accompanying them.

I know tonight I will have nightmares, and the photographs will haunt me, but that is a small price to pay.

 

Source

USHMM

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A single rail track.

I took the picture above this morning at about 11:00 am . It is a rail track just around the corner of my home. When I looked at that rail track this morning several thoughts came to mind.

Firstly I thought how the railways made such a big change in the lives of ordinary citizens. It connected cities and also countries. People were no longer bound by the location they were born in. To this day it still fuels the imagination of children. Shows like Thomas the Tank engine are immensely popular as are the books. Even my own children when they were growing up loved to read those books and watch the show. My oldest son first learned to read from a book entitled “My first book of trains”

My second thought when I looked at the tracks  and at the picture after I took it,was that it looked like a picture of a rail track to any of the concentration camps, be it Auschwitz,Treblinka, Bergen Belsen. It occurred to me that the Holocaust really could have happened any period in history. The picture could have easily been taken in 1942.

I also realized that for the survivors and their children and grandchildren the Holocaust is still a daily reality. For those who survived they still relive that train journey every day.

The one thing that was built to connect people was used to facilitate the mass murder of millions. 1.5 million of which were  children. Children who would have been in awe of the technology,

Train journeys were supposed to be pleasant but there was nothing pleasant about their journeys.Often a hundred or more people would be cramped in a cattle car with no windows , no sanitary facilities, nowhere to sit and many would not even survive the journey.

Below is a picture of some children who survived. Who they are I don’t know. All I know is that they were liberated from the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.

They were some of the lucky ones, but I say lucky reluctantly because even though they survived their nightmare still went on in their minds for years to come,sometimes coupled with the insult by those who claimed the Holocaust never happened. The Holocaust would forever be a part of their lives.

1.5 Million were killed,although I do believe that number is higher.

Here are just some of their names

Harry Knöpfelmacher  Murdered age 9

Hedwig Zander Murdered age 12

Frederika Borstrock Murdered age 4

Ester Kwint Murdered age 12 or 13

Peter Czeisler Murdered age 2

The scary thing is that it appears we haven’t learned from our mistakes and the one thing I fear most is that a Holocaust is very likely to happen again  and it could happen to any group of people.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Lodz Ghetto . Children rounded up for deportation to Chelmno extermination camp.

I wanted to change the title of the blog to evoke an emotion, but I figured if this doesn’t hit you in the gut nothing will.

It is the actual  title of the picture it is from a public domain. I only changed the names from German into the Polish names.

When you don’t know the background to the picture, you would think that it is an old picture of young primary school children going for a walk or a field trip.

I regularly see a group of children of a similar size, about 30 or so, walking from the local primary school to the leisure centre about half a mile down he road, it is the same centre I attend, they go there for swimming lessons.My children were pupils in that school and would have walked that same route.

However the children in the picture don’t go for a fun activity. They were rounded up to be transported to a place where they would be murdered. There are only 2 adults in the picture A man who is near the end of the group, he is bend over and appears to be giving some instructions.He is wearing an armband so I assuming he is a Kapo or Sonderkommando,but I can’t tell for certain.

On the right edge of the picture stands a woman, she may just be a bystander but my feeling tells me she is a female guard.

What disturbs me about this is that those 2 adults know what will happen to the children and are willingly or forcibly participating. I could not do that, I’d rather kill myself.

Time and time again I ask myself, Why the children? I know the answer but I cannot and will not accept it, the children were seen as enemies and subhuman, and they would grow up to be adult enemies. But the twisted and evil logic behind it escapes me.

This is a line from a Whitney Houston song but it is so fitting here “I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.Show them all the beauty they possess inside.”

They are our future by killing them you kill the future.

Every time I see a group of Schoolchildren now going for a walk or fieldtrip, I will think of this picture and will pray that no other child will ever be deported to be killed.But I will also look at the kids and will enjoy their innocent smiles and laughter, just a bit more then I did before

Source

USHMM