Jews
The Nazis sought to dominate Europe and create “Lebensraum” (living space) for their followers by eliminating so-called inferior races. This included Jews, Roma, homosexuals, the disabled, Poles, and Slavs. With the rise of the Nazis in Germany, between 35,000 and 50,000 Jews fled to the Netherlands. After the German occupation of the Netherlands, they immediately began implementing measures against Jews, such as the dismissal of Jewish civil servants in 1940 and the introduction of identity cards marked with a large “J” for Jews in 1941. From May 3, 1942, all Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David. Many Jews went into hiding, aided by Dutch families, despite the danger. Unfortunately, many of those in hiding were betrayed and arrested.
In May 1940, the Jewish population in the Netherlands numbered approximately 140,000, of whom around 101,800 were murdered or died from disease and exhaustion. In villages like Aalst-Waalre and Valkenswaard, where there had originally been few Jewish residents, the number of Jewish refugees increased. Villages were often safer due to their agricultural nature and close-knit communities.
A tragic incident occurred on July 6, 1943, when Leendert de Wit, who was sheltering Jews, was arrested while attempting to pick up a four-year-old Jewish girl, Florence Rosette Citroen, in Eindhoven. An arrest team was then sent to de Wit’s home on Julianalaan in Aalst. Nine Jewish people in hiding and the de Wit couple were brutally forced into trucks and taken away. Both the Jews and Mr. de Wit were soon taken to Camp Vught. From there, the Jews were transported to various concentration camps.
The people in hiding were the de Jongh family, Mrs. Slager and her two children from Eindhoven, and the de Zwarte family from Amsterdam. Samuel de Jongh (1879), Regina de Jongh-Biedermann (1881), Rosa Bloemhoff-de Jongh (1876), Simon de Zwarte (1900), Sara de Zwarte-Gans (1900), and Emile de Zwarte (1929) were all killed on July 16, 1943, in Sobibor.
Lidia Amalia Slager-Jacobs and her children, Jack Norbert (1933) and Leonora Greta (1936), were also transported to Camp Vught. Mrs. Slager died on May 5, 1945, in Czernowitz. The children ended up in Auschwitz, where they were eventually liberated by the Allied forces. Gesina de Zwarte (1925), the daughter of the de Zwarte family, was hiding elsewhere in Waalre at the time of the arrest and also survived the war. Leendert de Wit was released from Camp Vught on April 17, 1944, after falling ill and likely through the intervention of Philips.
On the night of November 8-9, 1943, tragedy struck again in Aalst. That night, members of the **Sicherheitspolizei** managed to arrest several more Jews. This time, four Jewish individuals from Eindhoven were found hiding in a locker room at a private tennis court. They were Nathan Andriesse (1909), his wife Clara Andriesse-Haagens (1916), Julius Kleerekoper (1915), and his brother Abraham Samuel Kleerekoper (1926). The four were taken to Camp Vught and subsequently deported to Westerbork on November 15. Ultimately, all of them were killed on January 31, 1944, in Auschwitz.
Fortunately, not all the Jews who went into hiding in the municipality were captured. For example, a Jewish baby girl named Liesje was taken in by the Van Nimwegen family on Burgemeester van Dommelenlaan. During the war, Liesje grew up with the family, who treated her as their own daughter. After the war, it was discovered that Liesje’s mother and sister had perished in a concentration camp, leading to the decision to keep Liesje with the Van Nimwegen family. In 1949, Liesje was officially adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Van Nimwegen.
On the Wijlaars family farm in Waalre, Mr. David Monnickendam went into hiding. David was a composer and pianist. Starting in 1929, he was the manager of Cinema Parisien in Eindhoven. Things became very tense for David and the Wijlaars family in December 1943 when a German bomber crashed not far from the farm. The Germans tasked with recovering the wreckage were housed on the farm, while David remained hidden there. Fortunately, he was not discovered and survived the war. Sadly, David’s son, Jaques Albert, died in a concentration camp on April 2, 1945.
After the liberation, Jews could finally appear in public again without fear. Soon, the Nazi collaborators who had hunted Jews were tracked down and imprisoned. The possessions of the captured were largely distributed among Jewish survivors, who often found nothing left of the homes and places they had been forced to leave during the war.
Pictures:
- A star like the one Jews were required to wear on their clothing.
- Abraham Samuel Kleerekoper.
- Julius Kleerekoper.
- Liesje riding on the back of Mrs. Van Nimwegen’s bicycle in Aalst.