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The arrest of the Geiringer family

After being betrayed, Erich and Heinz Geiringer were arrested by the SD on 15 May 1944. Fritzi and Eva Geiringer were arrested the next day as well.

Event

May 15, 1944 - May 16, 1944

52.36309 N 4.89128 E

Kerkstraat 225 I en II

1017 GK Amsterdam

Nederland

When Erich and Fritz Geiringer decided to go into hiding in September 1942, they split up. Erich and their son Heinz went into hiding with the Katee-Walda family in The Hague and later moved with them to Soest. Fritzi and their daughter Eva stayed at various hiding addresses in Amsterdam. They managed to meet several times at Erich and Heinz's hiding address in Soest.[1]

On 18 December 1942, the Katee-Walda family received a blackmail letter threatening to betray the Jewish people in hiding at their address. Erich and Heinz then fled temporarily to a safe house in Arnhem. After about three months, they returned to Soest, but then disagreements arose with Mrs Walda about the compensation they had to pay. Moreover, Erich suspected her of having written the blackmail letter herself. This unsafe situation forced Erich and Heinz to look for another place.[2]

Through an acquaintance, Fritzi got in touch with resistance fighter Jannes de Haan, who found Erich and Heinz another hiding address in Amsterdam. On 13 May 1944, De Haan and Maria (Miep) Braams-Baerts picked up the pair at Muiderpoort station. But Braams-Baerts was working with Pieter Schaap, a detective with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Amsterdam.[3] At Schaap's request, she brought Erich and Heinz to Kerkstraat 225, which was used as a decoy address for people in hiding.[2] On the second floor of this house lived Branca Simons. She was a Jewish collaborator, who worked with Ans van Dijk in betraying Jewish people in hiding.[4]

Two days later on Monday 15 May 1944, Erich and Heinz were arrested by Schaap. Fritzi and Eva had visited them the day before and then walked back to their own hiding address at Jacob Obrechtstraat 79b. The next morning on 16 May 1944 they were also arrested and some time later De Haan as well.[5]

The Geiringer family was deported to the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung at Adama van Scheltemaplein 1 in Amsterdam and interrogated there. On 17 May 1944, they were deported first to the Westerbork transit camp and two days later on 19 May 1944, to Auschwitz.[6]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Eva Schloss, Herinneringen van een Joods meisje, 3e druk, Breda: De Geus, 2005.
  2. a, b Nationaal Archief (NL-HaNA), Den Haag, Centraal Archief Bijzondere Rechtspleging (CABR), inv. nr.: 75212.
  3. ^ Pieter Schaap was one of the most fanatical hunters for Jews in Amsterdam. See: Ad van Liemp & Jan H. Kompagnie (red.), Jodenjacht: de onthutsende rol van de Nederlandse politiek in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Amsterdam: Balans, 2011, p. 212-214.
  4. ^ Bianca Stigter, Atlas van een bezette stad: Amsterdam 1940-1945, Amsterdam: Atlas Contact, 2019, p. 180.
  5. ^ Sytze van der Zee, Vogelvrij. De jacht op de Joodse onderduiker, Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2010, p. 356-360.
  6. ^ Arolsen Archives - International Center on Nazi Perscution, Bad Arolsen, Index cards from the Jewish Council file in Amsterdam, Document ID: 130291063: Erich Geiringer.