No, this is not going to be another travelogue.
I am going to tell you only about two specific happenings there.
We got an unexpected wedding invitation from Antwerp a few months ago, and although we had already done two overseas trips this summer (2018), we decided to accept the invitation. The invitation had come from a distant relative’s family, but one that Dorothy had always been very close to. But more about that later.
Since we were already going to Belgium for a few days, we decided to also grab a few days first in Holland. We did the usual sightseeing, boat ride etc., but what I would like to relate to you happened on the day we went to the Spanish/Portuguese Synagogue, the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Center, all within walking distance of each other.
We were walking back toward the tram when we saw on the map that we were going to pass Wertheimer Park, which included a Holocaust Memorial. We went in but I decided I had done enough walking for the time being and agreed with Dorothy that I would sit on a bench and watch the boats go by, while she would reconnoiter and see whether she could find the memorial.
I was totally relaxed and enjoying the scenery when I saw Dorothy coming back down the path with two men, one on the right and one on the left. In seconds, thousands of scenes flashed through my mind as to what was happening. It certainly looked like the police had a problem with Dorothy, although neither man was holding her and I could see that her hands were not handcuffed. Visions of Nazi Germany flashed through my mind, but no, this was Holland, a free country. Nevertheless, one cannot control the paths of one’s mind.
As they neared I was relieved to see that Dorothy was smiling, and the two men did not look like Secret Service anymore.
The two men introduced themselves as being part of an organization, “Stichting voor Boete Verzoening met Israel en Andere” in Dutch. A rough English translation is “Foundation for Penance and Reconciliation with Jews and Others.”
The two men had met Dorothy when she was standing and looking at the Holocaust Memorial in the park, consisting of broken panes of glass, and asked her whether she knew what she was looking at. When she answered in the affirmative they asked whether she knew what the Holocaust was, and when she answered that in the affirmative they finally asked her whether she was Jewish (Dorothy is blonde). And at that point Dorothy identified herself and invited the two men to come back with her to meet with her husband after they had told her about their interest in Judaism.
One of the men, by the name of Klaas Kwakman, seemed to be the more active one in the organization and he proceeded to tell me about their work. We talked for more than an hour about various subjects of mutual concern, he telling about specifics of their activities all over Europe and my telling him about my Holocaust experience and speaking engagements on that subject.
I will now tell you about their work, with the material taken from the book I received a few weeks later, and quoted with their permission.
Their book is called “A Nail in the Bridge: Forty Years of Work by the Dutch Task Force for the Restoration and Maintenance of Jewish Cemeteries.” The title should already give you a good idea of their activities. The task force had been founded in 1974 by Lien Leestemaker; the book’s author, Rev. Kees Sybrandi; and his wife, Pieternel.
On their first trip to Warsaw in 1975 to work on the Jewish cemetery they were made to understand by the Jewish community that they were not welcome. Nevertheless, they returned in 1976. But this time it was different. There was a serious shortage of sugar in the Jewish community since the Polish stores refused to sell to Jews until all Poles had been served. But by then there was nothing left for the Jews. The group from Holland, upon hearing that, went from store to store, waiting on line for an hour and a half, collecting the allowed ration of one kilo. And then they stood on line again for an hour and a half each time until they had collected 40 kilos. The “harvest” was delivered to the synagogue with apologies for the behavior of the Polish store owners. And now the Dutch group was welcomed by the Jewish community.
(To be continued next week)
By Norbert Strauss
Norbert Strauss is a Teaneck resident and Englewood Hospital volunteer. He frequently speaks to groups to relay his family’s escape from Nazi Germany in 1941.
