Abraham Beem Born June 13, 1934 in Leeuwarden, Holland



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children of the holocaust

Abraham Beemphotograph

Born June 13, 1934 in Leeuwarden, Holland

Abraham, the son of Hartog and Rosette Beem, was a five year-old schoolboy when the Germans invaded Holland in May 1940. Abraham's father was a high school teacher in the small city of Leeuwarden, in northern Holland. The Jews of the Netherlands were well-integrated into the general population and they were active in all aspects of the country's social, cultural and economic life.

When the Germans invaded, they immediately embarked upon steps to separate the Jews from the rest of the population. Beginning in October 1940, they liquidated Jewish businesses and banned Jews from most professions. The rich became poor and the middle class was reduced to subsistence levels. At first, the Dutch population resisted the anti-Jewish measures enacted by the Germans. But the Germans reacted brutally, and were able to break up most organized resistance.

Many Jews were forced into restricted ghetto areas in July 1941, and after May 1942, all Jews had to wear the yellow star. Beginning in mid-July 1942, the Germans began rounding up Holland's Jewish citizens. They were first taken to transit camps, and from there to death camps in Poland, where they were murdered.

Abraham's parents decided that the family would go into hiding. They felt that the children would be safer posing as non-Jews in a rural village. Abraham and his older sister were sent to the village of Ermelo, and a Christian family, willing to risk death to save them, was found. Abraham was given a new name and identity. He was known as Jan de Witt, and he attended school along with the other village children.

The Nazis, realizing that many Jewish children had been sent into hiding, intensified their search. They found collaborators willing to turn them in for payment. Nine year-old Abraham was denounced as a Jew in February 1944. Abraham, along with his older sister Eva, was deported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, where both were murdered upon arrival.



Abraham was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

Ulrich Wolfgang Arnheimphotograph


Born November 2, 1927 in Berlin, Germany

Ulrich was the only child of Dr. Fritz A. and Milli (Rosenthal) Arnheim. Dr. Arnheim was a successful lawyer. The family lived in Berlin, a large, cosmopolitan, highly sophisticated city. Many of the Jews of Berlin were assimilated and were well integrated into the social and cultural fabric of the city.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany, Ulrich was a six year-old schoolboy. They slowly introduced harsh economic and social restrictions against the Jews. Jews were barred from most professions, and lost their citizenship. Ulrich's father lost his job, leaving the family with no regular income. The Germans began expelling Jews who had not been born in Germany. In November 1938, a country-wide night of massive riots and plundering was directed towards Germany's Jews. This was later known as Kristallnacht, because of all the glass windows that had been broken. Ulrich's parents decided to find a way to leave the country. They attempted to place Ulrich in a boarding school in England. Because his father had lost his job and could not guarantee his monthly maintenance, Ulrich was turned down. A Jewish woman living in England expressed interest in taking him in, but Ulrich's parents were unable to part from him. They tried to obtain visas so that the family could go to the United States.

Ulrich was a good-natured, sensitive, clever child. He studied English at school , and was well liked by his classmates.

The Arnheim family was hopelessly trapped in Germany after October 1941. Emigration from Germany was now forbidden by the Nazis, and harsher restrictions were being passed against the Jews. They were forbidden to use public transportation, and they could be evicted from their homes at any moment. Jews were forced to wear the yellow star. The Germans began deporting Jews to sealed, hunger- and disease-ridden ghettos in eastern Europe. After September 1942, they began deporting German Jews directly to death camps.

Ulrich and his parents were murdered in the Auschwitz death camp.



Ulrich was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Germans and their collaborators in the Holocaust.

Augusta Feldhornphotograph


Born May 29, 1934 in Vienna, Austria

Augusta, the only daughter of Margarete (Krigsman) and Julius Feldhorn, was born in Vienna, Austria. Her father, originally an accountant, had established his own men's hat factory, inventing most of the machinery himself. After the Germans annexed Austria in 1938, they immediately began to persecute its Jewish citizens. Augusta's family fled to Belgium, hoping to reestablish their lives. Augusta began school and made friends. Life seemed to be getting back to normal. This was not to last. The Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, just before Augusta's sixth birthday. The terrified family attempted to flee to France, but was turned back at the border.

In October 1940, all Jews in Belgium were ordered to register with the police. Augusta's parents decided to hide her in a convent in the countryside. A few months later her parents, wanting to be near her, hid Augusta with Christian friends who lived a few streets away from their home. In May 1942, Jews were forced to wear the yellow star, and Jewish adults were required to report for forced labor. Her parents went into hiding with false papers.

One morning, early in the summer of 1942, Augusta's mother left home to buy some milk. Their house was surrounded by police. Her father, uncle and aunt were forcibly seized and taken to the transit camp at Malines.

Escaping the raid, Augusta's mother immediately put her terrified eight year-old daughter on a train taking her back to the convent. She soon joined her there, posing as a nun. Twenty other Jewish children were hidden in the convent. Augusta turned inward, however, and did not make friends with them. When she was nine years old, Augusta's tonsils had to be removed. The nuns could not take her to the hospital for fear that she would be denounced as a Jew. They removed her tonsils and adenoids themselves, without anesthesia.

Augusta and her mother remained in the convent until liberation. In April 1945, while walking alone down a road, Augusta saw approaching soldiers. Eleven year-old Augusta fainted when she realized that the soldiers were American, and that she was free. She eventually learned that her father had been taken to the Birkenau concentration camp and murdered there.



One and a half million Jewish children were murdered by the Germans and their collaborators in the Holocaust. Augusta was one of the few who survived.

Samuel Hillerphotograph


Born 1941 in Cracow, Poland

Samuel, the son of Cesia and David Hiller, was born just before the Germans forced the Jews of Cracow into a closed-off ghetto.

Before the war, Samuel's mother was a saleslady, and his father was a merchant. They lived in Cracow, a large industrial city where Jewish cultural and social life had flourished between the two world wars. By 1939, Cracow, the third largest city in Poland, had 60,000 Jewish citizens.

Cracow was occupied by the Germans on September 6, 1939. The Germans immediately began persecuting the Jews. Jewish property was confiscated and several synagogues were burned down. By March 1941, approximately 40,000 Jews had been expelled to neighboring towns and their remaining property was seized. At the same time, a closed-off ghetto was established. The worst problems included overcrowding, hunger, and poor sanitary conditions. The population was impoverished, and the Germans set up several factories in the ghetto to exploit the cheap manpower in the ghetto. Many Jews died in the streets from starvation, disease, and exposure.

At the end of May 1942, the Germans began deporting Jews from the ghetto to the death camps. At the end of March 1943, Samuel's mother received word that the ghetto was to be emptied and all its inhabitants murdered. Samuel's mother escaped from the ghetto, and arranged for a Christian woman to care for her two year-old son. Unable to bear not seeing her child, Samuel's mother left her hiding place to visit him. On one visit, she was recognized as a Jewess and was shot on the spot by the Gestapo. Samuel's father died in Auschwitz death camp in 1944.

After liberation in 1945, Samuel's aunt claimed the four year-old child, and raised him as her own.



One and a half 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered by the Germans and their collaborators in the Holocaust. Samuel was one of the few who survived.


Gabriele Siltenphotograph


Born May 30, 1933 in Berlin, Germany

Gabriele, the daughter of Fritz and Ilse (Teppich) Silten, was born in Berlin, Germany. Berlin, a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city, was home to a highly assimilated Jewish community. Gabriele's father was a pharmacist and the Siltens had a comfortable life.

After Hitler came into power in Germany in 1933, life for Germany's Jews became increasingly difficult. Hitler's Nazi party passed various antisemitic measures stripping German Jews of their citizenship, cutting them off from all social interaction with non-Jews, and harshly restricting Jewish economic life. Jews were barred from most professions and the majority became impoverished. In 1938, Gabriele and her family fled to Holland. Settling in Amsterdam, Gabriele made friends with a girl her own age living in the same building. They attended kindergarten together, and Gabriele quickly learned Dutch.

The Nazis invaded Holland in May 1940, just before Gabriele's seventh birthday. Gabriele was no longer allowed to play with her non-Jewish friends. She had to attend a private school for Jewish children and wear the yellow star.

Arrested in a massive raid on June 20, 1943, Gabriele and her family were sent to the Westerbork transit camp. In January 1944, Gabriele and her parents were transported in cattle cars to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia. Conditions were horrible. The ghetto was extremely overcrowded and infested with typhus-spreading vermin. Gabriele was fortunate to be able to stay with her mother and father. Nearly everyone worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week. There was little food, and Gabriele often went hungry. Ten year-old Gabriele was put to work as a message carrier in the old-age home.

Prisoners at Theresienstadt were generally transported to other camps in Poland, where they were murdered. Gabriele and her parents were still in Theresienstadt when it was liberated on May 8, 1945. They were weak and in poor health.

Only 100 of the many thousands of Jewish children who passed through Theresienstadt survived the Holocaust. Gabriele was fortunate to be among them.

One and a half million Jewish children were murdered by the Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

Eva Beemphotograph


Born May 21, 1932 in Leeuwarden, Holland

Eva, the daughter of Hartog and Rosette Beem, was an eight year-old schoolgirl when the Germans invaded Holland in May 1940. Eva's father was a high school teacher in the small city of Leeuwarden, in northern Holland. The Jews of the Netherlands were well-integrated into the general population and they were active in all aspects of the country's social, cultural and economic life.

When the Germans invaded, they immediately embarked upon steps to separate the Jews from the rest of the population. Beginning in October 1940, they liquidated Jewish businesses and banned Jews from most professions. The rich became poor and the middle class was reduced to subsistence levels. At first, the Dutch population resisted the anti-Jewish measures enacted by the Germans. But the Germans reacted brutally, and were able to break up most organized resistance.

Many Jews were forced into restricted ghetto areas in July 1941, and after May 1942, all Jews had to wear the yellow star. Beginning in mid-July 1942, the Germans began rounding up Holland's Jewish citizens. They were first taken to transit camps, and from there to death camps in Poland, where they were murdered.

Eva's parents decided that the family would go into hiding. They felt that the children would be safer posing as non-Jews in a rural village. Eva and her younger brother were sent to the village of Ermelo, and a Christian family, willing to risk death to save them, was found. Eva was given a new name and identity. She was known as Linni de Witt, and she attended school along with the other village children.

The Nazis, realizing that many Jewish children had been sent into hiding, intensified their search. They found collaborators willing to turn them in for payment. Eleven year-old Eva was denounced as a Jew in February 1944. Eva, along with her younger brother Abraham, was soon deported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, where both were murdered upon arrival.



Eva was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.
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