Transcripts For CSPAN3 Surviving The Holocaust In Amsterdam

Israels and to give you a Historical Context for her experiences, weve prepared a brief audiovisual introduction and some images. So we are looking at a map of europe, and louise was born in harlem, not the american one but the dutch one in the netherlands and she was born there in 1942. There we go. There are the netherlands. And the pointer is now pointing to the city of amsterdam, the capital of the netherlands. This is where louise and her family went into hiding until the very end of the war. This is my favorite one, though. There is a picture of louise when she was one year old, she was cute then, shes still cute now. This is louise with her favorite doll, her brothers little pull toy and one of the chairs that she had as a gift for her second birthday. That chair is now in the possession of the United States Holocaust Memorial museum and its been occasionally on exhibit thanks to louise. Louise spent her second birthday in hiding with her parents and they celebrated her birthday during their time in hiding thanks to some of their their friends and reserve officers from the outside. So this is louises Apartment Building and you can see the arrow pointing to the attic apartment where her family hid during the war years, and following louises birthday, that picture that we just saw, that Little Family of louises would spend an additional year in hiding almost until their liberation by Canadian Forces in may of 1945. Louise lawrenceisraels story is one of a mosaic of histories experienced by Holocaust Survivors and today she will share that story with us. Please join me in welcoming louise lawrenceisraels. [ applause ] thank you with being with us today. My pleasure. Maybe we can start by talking about what your family did, the kind of family experiences you had before the war started. At that point you werent born yet, but what did your family do, where did they live, how did they live before the german invasion of the netherlands. My parents got married just before the nazis invaded holland, so they got married in 1940, and i have a brother who was born in november 1940. My father was in business with his dad. They had a textile firm where they manufactured clothings, and they had a chain of stores where they sold the clothing. We are jewish. Our whole family is jewish. But they werent very religious, it is wasnt the most important thing in their daily life. In 1939 when poland invaded sorry, the nazis invaded poland the dutch army mobilized, so every capable man above the age of 18 had to go and serve. The dutch army was really in shambles. We hadnt participated in the First World War, so my dad was a reserve officer but he said uniforms were hard boiled wool that he couldnt even move his arms. Stretch. But in the meantime they trained for a possible invasion, but they never expected. The germans were our friends, we gave domicile to the german kaiser after the First World War and why would you invade a friendly country . Right. But they did, and probably because they wanted to have the city of rotterdam. It was easier to have the ships there than to invade the rest of the world. But when they came into holland on may 10th, 1940, my fathers Engineering Battalion was ready in the southern part of holland, and they were ready to blow up the bridges over the river and of course the german army was so prepared with their rubber boats and my father was taken prisoner of war. When he was taken prisoner of war did the fact that he was drafted, the fact that he served in the dutch army, this did not really save him from the threat of deportation. What happened to your dad when he was captured . He was with his whole group, they were a prisoner of war, and after holland capitulated because they only fought for four days, a couple of weeks after that they led all the dutch officers go back to holland. We became part of germany, of t dutch officers go back to holland. We became part of germany, o al dutch officers go back to holland. We became part of germany, of dutch officers go back to holland. We became part of germany, ot a dutch officers go back to holland. We became part of germany, of the third reich. So my parents settled in the town of harlem with my little brother. The threat against jews wasnt there yet so my father just lived there. Right. But very early on there came some antijewish legislation. The German Occupation put on essentially the laws that had been already enforced in the third reich so there was persecution shortly afterwards, is that correct . Right. Thats correct. So all the things that everybody will see when you go through the museum like jewish children were not allowed to be educated in a regular school. If you were sick, you could only go to a jewish hospital. You could only be treated by jewish doctors. You couldnt walk through parks. And in my case or my familys case our business was confiscated because it was a jewish business. Right. But very early on, if i remember your story correctly, your family had a very traumatic experience in harlem and that had to do with the president of the Jewish Community there and his family who were your neighbors. Right. Right. That was in 1942. And everybody got organized in that time. The occupying nazis were ready. They had their trains prepared to go to stuff jews in to to go to the death camps in poland. But also our resistance. And a lot of the those were, some of those soldiers that had been taken prisoner of war had joined the resistance. Thats how my father knew them, and they got very organized. Now, i have to backtrack because our neighbors across the street were very religious jews, it was a very large family, the father was president , like you said, of the Jewish Community in harlem, but they had seven children, all the ages of my parents, around 30. A couple of them were engaged but nobody was married yet. One set of grandparents and two unmarried aunts, everybody lived in that house. So in 1942 after the order came that everybody above the age of 6 this is just for holland had to wear a star. We got orders to move to amsterdam and the resistance blew up Registration Offices to make it harder for nazis to find where jews lived. As a punishment for blowing up the Registration Office in the town of harlem where we lived they took the ten most prominent jewish men, marched them on to the times square and shot them in front of the population and with them was our neighbor across the street as president and the two rabbis and two canters. So what happened then with that family . None of them were able to work anymore because they were jews and one of the daughters was my moms age, her name was selma, and she really became good friends with my mom and she helped my mom take care of my brother and myself. I was by that time almost 6 months old. A couple of days after selmas dad was shot selma was in our house and saw from my bedroom window right 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 her door and rounded up everybody in that house. The truck drove away and except for one brother who later escaped she never saw the rest of her family again. Right. So that was so scary, that was such a shock that that same night we moved to amsterdam, but we had no place to really live yet, so we moved into temporarily with one of my fathers military friends that was also in the resistance and my father went out to look for a hiding place. Right. And so did he continue he couldnt continue his business in amsterdam. What was he doing there . In harlem so the business was confiscated early. In harlem. In 1940. That was in amsterdam. Then in harlem temporary he found a job as a pants presser in a small jewish dry cleaning place, a little basement. So i tell you to compare, so my father was a spoiled man, he had a doctorate in economics, he was being sent to the United States to do an internship here for two years. He came back, he got a Corner Office from his father and he kind of ran the business. Really spoiled man. Then he became a pants presser. So i couldnt ask him questions for many, many years because my parents didnt want to talk about the war. So just before he passed away, about 17 years ago, i said, how did that make you feel . Because i heard from my friend selma that he had been doing that. He said actually i went to work singing and he had to walk five miles because his bicycle was confiscated and jews were not allowed to use public transportation. I came back singing. He said i was happy because everything is relative. And you have to feed your family. So i made some money every week. Not much but just enough to buy bread and milk so it made him happy. All this time he was making elaborate arrangements to bring you and your brother and your mother and his parents is it my fathers parents. Yes. Into hiding. Can you talk about that . Right. He made the elaborate plans after we moved to amsterdam. Its kind of a silly thing that i was always wondering growing up why didnt he do it before, but they didnt know how long this would last. Right. It was always maybe it will be over tomorrow but then of course it wasnt over tomorrow and he found this hiding place that saved us. It was a fourstory walkup. It was a storm attic with nothing much in it except a table and chairs and a cupboard and some other dusty boxes, but it was across the street from the main park in amsterdam. And he figured he would have to go out at night, make contact with the resistance, try to get some food for us, and that way he wouldnt have neighbors across the street that could see the vang man coming out of a house in the dark. He had also asked some of the people that he worked with, he had a textile firm so they worked with bolts and bolts of fabric and he had asked some of the people if they could take as many bolts out as possible. He figured that would be something that he could barter with. So 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 that fabric when we got into the attic to make makeshift rooms. Walls, actually, so that everybody had a little bit of privacy. And he paid a lot of rent, right, for the apartment . He paid rent for ten years. So that he didnt have to go out when the rent was due, maybe it would be too dangerous, he didnt know how long it would last. Right. And so when you went into hiding, what time was that . And so what time frame was that and how many people went into hiding with you . Okay. So initially it was my father and my mother, my brother and myself, our friend selma who stayed with us because her parents were already rounded up and she had no idea where they were, but it was no good, she knew that. And then my fathers parents temporarily. Right. And i always say that you can move in into hiding with a moving truck, so they really thought about the bare necessities. We took mattresses for the adults, a crib for me since i was only 6 months old. There was no kitchen there so my mom took a camping stove, some oil lamps. Everything burned on oil and some pots and pans and utensils. We only had a small toilet there that was already there and a small sink with cold running water. That was it. Right. And you were very young at this time. What did your parents tell you about do you remember some of the things that happened when you were in hiding there . Right. Well, 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 think you take everything for granted. My parents did everything they could to shield us, to save us and to shield us. That was the most important thing for them. So 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 very short time, so somebody from the resistance picked them up and found another hiding place for them, but they had no idea where anybody was, but they didnt 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 had said on a nice sunny day and we had only a tiny little dormer window. If she had said it is a Beautiful Day and we live across the street from the park, i wish i could take you children out so you could play, we would have missed it. But by not talking about it, every day was normal for us. Not for them, but for us. But they had to keep us busy. Right. Do you want me to talk about that . Yeah. Did your parents do things with you . What did they do with you to keep you busy, to keep you engaged . Right. So my brother had been allowed to take in take with him one toy that was his favorite toy this little pull horse and my father took in a lot of scrap paper and colored pencils. So i saw crawling around when we just went into hiding, i saw my father and my mother, selma and my brother sit around a table. Mom and selma were always sewing, but they were talking to my brother and it looked like they were having a lot of fun, so i as soon as i was an early talker and early walker, so as soon as i could talk, i said can i sit with you . So i was talking so much that my father finally said you can sit with us, but you have to listen, you cant talk anymore. Sit there and listen. Okay. At least i can sit there. So what they were doing with my brother, they were doing colors and they were doing games with colors. Then they were teaching him numbers, very simple arithmetic all in play form and then letters and words. So so it was a form of home schooling. I loved it. I wanted to participate. Its funny because if you say a bird is brown, okay, then what is a bird . My mom could draw very well so she would draw a bird but she wouldnt say birds are flying outside and sitting in trees because that would kind of make us wonder what are outside and what are trees, but we would know what a bird was, we would know what a flower was and it was always color so it was playing. But they hope schooled us really from Early Morning to when we went to bed because thats how they kept us busy. So when we were finally liberated, i was almost 3 and i could read. And its not because im smart, you are all much smarter than i am, but its just its repetition. We did not have electronics, we did not have television, we didnt have any other toys. Or a radio, right . No radio. Nothing. This was it. Right. So how did you just so its clear for our audience how did you survive that time . Sometimes your father went out . Right. He also had contacts . Food was very scarce and we were very often hungry. Even for the dutch population. For all the dutch people. Youre absolutely right. Because the occupying nazis and the collaborators took all the good stuff. The nazis sent it to germany for their families and their collaborators feasted on it and everything was rationed for everybody. Of course we didnt have ration cards as soon as we went into hiding but the resistance was unbelievable. And without that i wouldnt be sitting here today. 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. That settles your stomach and takes your hunger pangs away to start with. But we as children got something every day. Just before we went to bed so we didnt have to go to bed hungry. Sometimes it wasnt more than sharing half a cracker. My parents always had some emergency food, but it was always for the children first. And they went hungry for many days. Can you tell us about a happy occasion that happened there, your birthday . Right. So my father always had this worried look, so did my mom and so did selma. We didnt know that. We thought that was perfectly normal, whatever they looked like, but then my father went out again to make contact with somebody from the resistance and it was very important besides food and medicine to bring home news. We had no newspapers, there was no way to get any news and news would give you hope. So he came home and he looked differently and my brother picked up on that and said, what happened, papa . You went outside and you look different. I guess my father looked happier, my brother saw it, i didnt. But he said i have good news, the allied army has landed in normandy, and maybe it will be over soon. You were born in july. Right. So that was so this was june. So my father wanted to make it a special day and they picked my birthday, my second birthday to do that. Now, if you plan if you forget your best friends birthday this morning you can still plan a nice party at night, right . Its easy. You have everything. You have your cell phone, your internet, you have corner bakery. Not when you are in hiding. So it took a lot of planning and help from the people in the resistance that helped us. And they made a cake . My father made a cake and he baked it on top of a camping stove because we didnt have an oven. My mom cut up an old blouse and made a beautiful birthday dress for me. Selma out of old rags made a doll. My first 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. It was his toy, but he was going to give it to me for my birthday. For one day. Except when he gave it to me he said its just for the day, i want it back tonight. It didnt matter, i was very happy. And your chair. Somebody from the resistance knew about the plans because he had given my father ingredients for the cake, he said shes getting her first doll and he gave this tiny little wicker dolls chair that was already an antique, it was 150 years old. When i got it, i was so happy i sat in it. I was so little that i sat in the chair and i held the doll in my arms. And thats the picture that we saw. Thats correct. At the beginning. And that picture, if i can add something, thats a tribute to my parents because what you saw in the picture is a perfectly happy 2yearold. Not any different than any of your siblings or cousins that turned 2 years old. Because my parents wanted us to be happy children. Since we didnt know the difference between the outside and the inside, we actually were happy children. Its a beautiful thing that your parents did for you in this very scary situation for them. Right. Potentially deadly situation. Right. And many people when they think of hidden children they think of anne frank who was not very far from you, about five blocks from where you were hiding. Right. But in a very different context. For one thing happily you are alive and with us today. Right. But secondly you werent hiding in a secret annex. You