On December 17, I received an invitation and the privilege to attend a presentation organized by The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum. The presentation was titled—Under Beslenei’s Sky: A Tale of Courage.
This story is about good people doing what was right despite their differences. It was the rescue of the Leningrad Jewish children in Beslenei on August 24. 1942, in all of Beslenei, Cherkess Autonomous Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR, when the local Circassian villagers adopted evacuated children from the Leningrad orphanage, most of whom were Jewish, and managed to forge documents with the purpose, to prove to Nazis that the children were of local descent. The majority of Circassians are Muslim.
Following is the recording of the presentation of the unknown heroic story of Beslenei, a small village at the heart of the Caucasus. During the Holocaust, the Circassian-Muslim people of Beslenei adopted orphaned children, some of whom were Jewish, who had fled the siege of Leningrad, putting their entire community at risk.
The panel members were Yigal Cohen, museum CEO and former principal of the Anne Frank High School in Galilee; David Shawgen, academic advisor and researcher at the Circassian Museum in Kfar Kamal; Zoher Thawcho, a Circassian-Israeli who was similarly drawn to this story; and Lana Harshuk, a Circassian-Israeli educator at the Anne Frank High School.
Henriëtte Delia (Jetje) Hamburger was part of the so-called Gruppe Unbekannte Kinde, unknown children, a group of more than fifty children whom the Nazis had failed to identify. She and her brother—were betrayed at their hiding place in Amsterdam.
Jetje Hamburger was born on December 24, 1943 in Eindhoven. Her parents were no longer together. Her father was in a camp in Poland, and her mother was in hiding. While in hiding, she gave birth to Henriëtte Delia, nicknamed Jetje. The girl and her older brother Bert were separated from their mother and ended up in another hiding place. Their mother still had photos taken of her children. She wanted to send them to their father.
Jetje is one of the 51 unknown children. A group of Jewish boys and girls of whom it was not clear who they were. Fifty children miraculously survived the hardships. Only little Jetje did not make it.
Jetje and her 3-year-old brother were betrayed, arrested, and sent to Camp Westerbork. There, they ended up in the orphanage barracks. On September 13, 1944, with the other children, they were transported. It was the last transport that left Westerbork for the concentration camps.
Caregiver Mary Adriaansz—an arrested Jewish woman from Rotterdam—takes care of the children.
Jetje did not survive the transport to Bergen Belsen. She died from pneumonia on October 7, 1944.
Bert—Jet’s brother—survived the war. He was five years old when he returned to the Netherlands from Theresienstadt and reunited with his parents.
When it comes to the persecution of Jews and others during the Holocaust, some people are very definite in their judgement of people who did nothing and then would condemn them and say that they would have acted that way. However, the fact is that no one really knows their reaction until they are in a similar position. I am brutally honest—I do not know what I would have done in those circumstances. I reckon I would have acted and possibly joined the resistance if I were single. However, if I had had a family, the dynamics would have changed, but all of this is speculation.
The context of the photograph above:
At half past three on Sunday night, June 20, 1943, Lages, German chief of the Sicherheitsdienst in Amsterdam during the Second World War, had Amsterdam South and the Transvaalbuurt in East hermetically sealed off. Loudspeaker trucks drove through the streets. Almost all Jews had to go to the assigned assembly points, and from there, they were taken to the station by trams. During this collection action, the Ordnungspolizei were assisted by the Jewish auxiliary police from Westerbork camp, who had come over specially. These men were recognizable by a white band around their arms.
You can clearly see the people in the photograph watching their fellow Jewish neighbours being roundup. You could easily judge these people, but ask yourself, “What would I have done?” It may not seem this way, but the fact that a photograph was on its own an act of resistance. Anyone caught taking pictures of raids would face severe punishments. The same is true about the snapshot below.
The photo snapped on June 20, 1943, in Amsterdam. It is the same neighbourhood as the photograph at the top. The photographer took it as secretly as possible from a house in Uiterwaardenstraat, leaving the two empty cups of tea on the windowsill. The sight was of Jews and their luggage gathering in front of the door on the corner of Lekstraat and Kinderdijkstraat. Two neighbours across the street hang out of the window, watching the events unfold.
I am ending this piece with the question I started with—“What would I have done?”
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This is Rachel Soesan—her face is filled with so much life and joy, and why wouldn’t it be when she was 4. Her whole life lay before her.
Yet there were some who perceived her as a threat to society.
She was born on December 20, 1938 in Amsterdam. She would have been 85 today. I can’t comprehend that no one asked questions.
I do not have an exact date of the arrest—but they arrested her. A 4-year-old arrested! No one asked any questions, and no one noticed the absurdity of this arrest.
Until June 5, 1943. this 4-year-old was imprisoned in Vught Concentration Camp. Again, no questions were asked, and orders were followed blindly.
On June 6, 1943. she was transported to Westerbork. The person who put her on that transport must have known what Rachel’s ultimate fate would be, and yet again, no questions were asked.
From Westerbork, she was deported to Sobibor. Whoever processed her deportation knew what the purpose of Sobibor was, yet the deportation was not stopped. Orders were orders. Critical thinking did not apply.
Rachel arrived in Sobibor on June 11, 1943. There, she was sent to the gas chamber. Someone must have looked at Rachel’s angelic face and reckoned that she was an immediate threat to their life.
Rachel Soesan, a 4-year-old, a clear and present danger, was murdered in Sobibor on June 11, 1943, but she should have been blowing out 85 birthday candles on her cake today.
Despite the dire circumstances she was living through, Anne Frank did not give up hope. It should be a lesson for all of us.
The following are some (of her) words of hope—she was wise beyond her years.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
“In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.”
“I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death!”
“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”
“I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death…and yet…I think this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.”
“As long as this exists, this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?”
“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.”
Not all heroes wear uniforms or capes. Not all resistance fighters use guns. In fact, the bravest ones don’t. Betsie ten Boom was a Hero and resistance fighter. She and her family saw what was happening with their Jewish neighbours and acted. I wish politicians nowadays would follow Betsie’s example and not do the easy thing—but the right thing.
Many people will know the name of Corrie ten Boom from the book and movie The Hiding Place, which tells the story of Corrie and her family who hid Jews in their home during the war.
Betsie was Corrie’s older sister, and her story is less known. Betsie was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and strongly believed all men were equal in the eyes of God. She remained steadfast in that belief until the day she died.
She was born on 19th August 1885 in Amsterdam, with Congenital pernicious anemia, which is believed to be caused by a malfunction of the gastric juices of intrinsic factor during the nine weeks before birth. Her illness prevented her from bearing children, so she chose, at a young age, not to marry. Whilst she wasn’t active outside of the home during the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, she did keep everyone who passed through the home fed and watered and was a welcoming host.
In May 1942, a Jewish woman came to the Ten Boom home begging for help, knowing that if caught, she would be vulnerable to being deported by the Nazis or worse. The Ten Boom family, without hesitation, did what they saw as their duty as Christians and helped the woman They not only took this woman in but also opened their home to many others who were also in need.
In February 1944, the Nazis started suspecting that the Ten Booms were hiding Jews in their home and raided their home on the 28th of February. The ten Boom family and other people at the house, about 30 in all, were arrested for their resistance activities and taken to Scheveningen prison. The six Jews they were hiding had not been discovered, and all survived with the help of other Resistance workers. Casper ten Boom became ill and died ten days later at the prison.
Afterwards, Betsie and Corrie were moved to Vught near ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a concentration camp for political prisoners. Writing in The Hiding Place, Corrie recalls: “Together we climbed onto the train, together found seats in a crowded compartment, together wept tears of gratitude. The four months in Scheveningen had been our first separation in 53 years; it seemed to me that I could bear whatever happened with Betsie beside me.”
What is remarkable about Betsie is her positivity and determination that even in such a horrible, hate-filled place, she could see potential, she accepted the ordeal. She was the encourager for Corrie, who didn’t always see things the way her sister did. This is reflected in her statement to Corrie after they were given the rules by the guards in the camp: “Corrie, if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes. I saw a grey uniform and a visored hat; Betsie saw a wounded human being. And I wondered, not for the first time, what sort of a person she was, this sister of mine, what kind of road she followed while I trudged beside her.”
In June 1944, Betsie ten Boom and her sister Corrie were transferred to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. Her strong faith in God kept her from depression throughout her life, especially within the camps. Corrie told of how Betsie reached out to help others and helped Corrie see the best in everything, no matter what the circumstances.
One day, Betsie and Corrie were out levelling rough ground inside the camp wall. As Betsie wasn’t strong—she couldn’t put as much on her shovel, and when the guards saw her efforts, they made fun of her and beat her with a whip. This enraged Corrie, who rushed at the guard before Betsie stopped her, pleading for her to keep calm and keep working. When looking at the mark the whip left, Betsie said, “Don’t look at it, Corrie. Look at Jesus only.”
The harsh treatment, working long days outdoors, 4 am starts and lack of nutritious food led to Betsie becoming weaker as winter began. No longer able to do any duties, Betsie was brought to the camp hospital. One morning, Corrie had sneaked around to the hospital window after roll call to see her, only to find she had passed away. Betsie died on December 16, 1944.
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It started with the yellow stars. That singled them out as being different, but how could they be? They looked the same. They spoke the same language—drank the same tea and water. Sometimes they ate a slightly different prepared food, but they were not unique in this.
Then they were told they had to go to different schools, Schools only for Jews. In September 1941, they were no longer allowed in their regular schools, or to sit next to their classmates and best friends.
And suddenly they were gone.
First to a camp called Westerbork. Later on, the train journeyed east.
Suddenly they were gone.
Suddenly they were gone, murdered.
The photograph above is a class photo of the Jewish school in Jan van Eijckstraat, Amsterdam. I don’t know how many or if any survived. The likelihood is that very few survived. Gone forever, but not in the hearts of those who loved them.
A mistake many people would make is that a charity as large as the Red Cross would not fall victim to manipulation. Although they have the best intentions, any charity can only go by the information given to them. They may believe they are eyewitnesses to something, but to suit “certain” narratives—façades can cover the truth.
On June 23, 1944, the Nazis invited the International Red Cross to inspect Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. The camp was described as a Utopian experiment by the Germans to produce a self-sustaining community of like-minded citizens who would live and work together for the common good. Craftsmen of all types exercised their talents in specially constructed workshops; fruit and vegetables were grown in abundance in large garden areas close to the moat; there was a post office, bank, library, hospital, and countless opportunities for the residents of the camp to participate in sporting and cultural activities. In short, the Nazis portrayed Theresienstadt as being a veritable paradise camp.
To ensure the Red Cross reported positively on Theresienstadt, the Nazis attempted to mask the true conditions, thereby presenting it as a model ghetto. The Nazis removed 7,503 Jews from Theresienstadt between 16 and 18 May 1944 to reduce the overcrowding of the ghetto, holding them in a special camp at Auschwitz in case the Red Cross requested to visit them there. Buildings along the inspection route were spruced up, a football match was staged, and cultural activities were promoted to add to the deception.
As the Red Cross arrived and toured the ghetto, they followed a specific route, which had been pre-planned to portray the camp in the best light possible. They met the prisoners who had been warned about how to act and what to say. The Red Cross was duped, and their report did not reveal the ghetto’s true purpose or conditions.
The commission that visited on June 23, 1944, included Maurice Rossel, a representative of the ICRC; E. Juel-Henningsen, the head physician at the Danish Ministry of Health; and Franz Hvass, the top civil servant at the Danish Foreign Ministry. Swiss historians Sébastien Farré and Yan Schubert view the choice of the young and inexperienced Rossel as indicative of the ICRC’s indifference to Jewish suffering.
The Nazis intensified deportations from the ghetto shortly before the visit, and the ghetto itself was beautified—by adding a garden, painting houses and renovating barracks. The Nazis had staged social and cultural events for the visiting dignitaries. Once the visit was over, the Germans resumed deportations from Theresienstadt, which ended in October 1944.
Rossel was completely duped. A sad fact is the subsequent report he produced was so favourable that the local SS decided to make a film about the camp. The intention was a resultant propaganda film that would be distributed worldwide, particularly to international humanitarian institutions and neutral countries. This was to assure them that the negative reports from the Western powers about their camps—were all exaggerated and untrue.
Jewish spectators watching a football match at Theresienstadt
Not only was it enough to have a false depiction of Theresienstadt, but the Nazis also coerced German-Jewish Actor/Director Kurt Gerron into directing. Gerron escaped Germany after the Nazis took power and ended up in the Netherlands. When the filming finished, Gerron and members of the jazz pianist Martin Roman Ghetto Swingers—were deported on the final train transport to Auschwitz. Gerron and his wife were gassed immediately upon arrival, as well as the film’s performing entourage, with the exception of Martin Roman and guitarist Coco Schumann.
As a result of preparations for the Red Cross visit, the summer of 1944 was, as one survivor later wrote, “The best time we had in Terezín. Nobody thought of new transports.”
The gimmick was so successful that SS commander Hans Günther tried and decided to expand on it by having Kurt Gerron make a short documentary about the camp to assure audiences that the inmates kept there were not abused. In return, the Nazis promised that he would live. Shooting the film started on September 1, 1944, and took 11 days. Kurt Gerron was murdered upon arrival at Auschwitz on October 28, 1944.
This should be a lesson for today and the future that seeing should not always be believing.
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.
History of Sorts
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