On the evening of January 16, 2014 I arrived in Tilburg. This small city in the southern province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands is home to a little over 206,000 people, more than 60% of whom are Roman Catholic. The next largest “religious” group are the atheists who make up about 20% of the population.Continue reading “Why Bobby?”
Category Archives: Connections
What’s in a Name?
I’m getting ready to go to The Netherlands to do research. Two days ago I suddenly thought of a place I hadn’t considered visiting yet. My mother and her family went into hiding for a short time during the war. My mother had told me that they were hiding in the attic of Bobby andContinue reading “What’s in a Name?”
Stolperstein and The Day of Judiasm
The Day of Judaism (January 17) is a day dedicated to Christian-Jewish reflection. The Roman Catholic Church in Italy started this day in 1990. I am not entirely sure of the history, but I believe it is intended to be a way for Christians to better understand the Jewish roots of their faith. In 1997Continue reading “Stolperstein and The Day of Judiasm”
Why I Haven’t Written in Awhile
Sometimes family comes first. Actually, family always comes first. The last few weeks I have been focused on family. There is one member of our family, with significant health issues, and we have all been mobilized to help. This particular family member, who I will leave unnamed, has an addiction that is severe and lifeContinue reading “Why I Haven’t Written in Awhile”
Journey of the Ring
I caught this short story on NPR yesterday. Warms the heart! I think I know a bit of how Mr. Cox feels as I have had the same surprise and appreciation each time I encounter someone across the miles who puts a piece of my family’s WWII story together.
Connecting to Anne Frank
I was playing around on a genealogy website and I came across an interesting discovery: Anne Frank is my second great uncle’s uncle’s wife’s sister’s husband’s nephew’s wife’s first cousin once removed’s wife’s great-niece. Now, I wasn’t sure I believed this so I took out paper and pen and drew out the family connection. HereContinue reading “Connecting to Anne Frank”
Bobby and Bertram – part 2
In May I wrote about my Great Uncle Bobby and how he had tried to escape Nazi-occupied Netherlands with his friend Bertram Polak. As far as I can tell, Bobby and Bertram probably met through their work, as they were both involved in the leather industry. However, thanks to modern technology, I have figured outContinue reading “Bobby and Bertram – part 2”
Oberländer Overseas
Yesterday was quite exciting for me. I decided to look into the fate of the 7 Jews (of which my grandfather was one) who were named in the documents that Eichmann‘s office and Speer‘s office were discussing. This is what I came up with: Broder was sent to Westerbork in February 1944 and then Theresienstadt laterContinue reading “Oberländer Overseas”
A picture tells a thousand words (especially when I don’t have time to write)
Just a quick post today. Here are a couple of pictures of our meeting last week. You can see how excited we all were to share the pictures and documents we had from the 1940’s. Top: Arnoud-Jan showing me some documents he found in the Red Cross archives. Bottom: I’m showing the pictures I pulledContinue reading “A picture tells a thousand words (especially when I don’t have time to write)”
Bobby & Bertram
In the last post I told you I would be having an exciting meeting this week. Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, Fred (nephew of Bertram), my mother and my Aunt Nicky (nieces of Bobby) and various other friends and spouses. Fred and his wife, Carol, were gracious hosts. We sat onContinue reading “Bobby & Bertram”
K Heidi Fishman (Popje and Me) 