This book uncovers the history of a group of Jewish workers and merchants in the Amsterdam diamond industry during the Holocaust. They and their families were exempt from deportation for a long time, but were eventually deported to Bergen-Belsen. In the end, almost all of the men perished, and the women barely survived slave-labour. Their children were left to die in the camp, but were miraculously saved by the intervention of a Jewish Polish woman, 'nurse Luba'. The main sources on which this book is based are video testimonies of the surviving members of this group, personal interviews, minutes of interviews taken down in shorthand shortly after the war, and personal documents such as letters, archival documents, and autobiographical books.

Autorentext

Bettine Siertsema is Assistant Professor of History at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

Klappentext

This book presents the history of a group of Jewish workers and merchants in the Amsterdam diamond industry during the Holocaust. They and their families were exempt from deportation for a long time, but deported to Bergen-Belsen nevertheless. In the end all the men but a handful perished in other camps, the women survived slave-labour in Beendorf, if only barely. Their 46 children were left to die in the camp, but were miraculously saved by the intervention of a Jewish Polish woman, 'nurse Luba'. The main sources on which the book is based are 22 video testimonies of surviving members of this group, 10 personal interviews, minutes of interviews taken down in shorthand shortly after the war, and personal documents like letters, archival documents, and autobiographical books.

Inhalt

1. Background and Overview of the History.- 2. Amsterdam, 1940-1943.- 3. Westerbork and Vught.- 4. Bergen Belsen.- 5. Sachsenhausen.- 6. Beendorf.- 7. The Children and Nurse Luba.- 8. Liberation.- 9. Picking up Life after the War.- 10. Reunion.- 11. The Complexities of Memory.