Meeting Margot Rosenthal in Bergen-Belsen
Margot Rosenthal knew Anne Frank from Westerbork and Auschwitz-Birkenau. When she arrived in Bergen-Belsen two months after Anne, she was able to tell Anne and Margot that their mother had been alive after they had left Auschwitz.
Margot Rosenthal arrived in Bergen-Belsen with a new group of women from Auschwitz in January 1945. She knew at the time that Edith Frank had survived the selection on 30 October 1944 and is said to have told Anne and Margot as much.[1] Shortly before Margot died, Margot Rosenthal is thought to have run into Anne once more.[2]
After the war, Nanette Blitz lay next to Margot Rosenthal in hospital and briefly described in a letter to Otto Frank the meeting between Margot Rosenthal and Anne and Margot Frank in Bergen-Belsen:
"Perhaps you can remember Margot Drach-Rosenthal from Westerbork, who spent a lot of time with Anne? She is lying here next to me and told me the following: she went with your wife and children to Birkenau where they stayed together until November. Then Margot and Anne were sent to Bergen-Belsen, where they arrived on 3 Nov. I met them there (a girl who is also here was above them). I was not in their hut but visited them often. Meanwhile, Margot (known as Monika) Rosenthal arrived in Bergen-Belsen in January and told them that she had spoken with your wife in Birkenau which cheered them up a lot, as they had had little hope regarding the selection." [3]
Margot Rosenthal did not know at the time that Edith Frank had finally succumbed to illness in Auschwitz-Birkenau on 6 January 1945.[4]
Footnotes
- ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Getuigenarchief, Blitz, Nanette: brief Nanette Blitz aan Otto Frank, 31 oktober 1945 (digitale kopie, origineel bij Anne Frank Fonds te Bazel); Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, cat.nr. 195, inv. nr. 11723rm, Hol, verklaring Margot Drach-Rosenthal, z.d.
- ^ Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, cat.nr. 195, inv. nr. 11723rm, Hol, verklaring Margot Drach-Rosenthal, z.d.
- ^ AFS, brief Nanette Blitz aan Otto Frank, 31 oktober 1945 (digitale kopie, origineel bij Anne Frank Fonds te Bazel).
- ^ AFS, Anne Frank Collectie, Otto Frank Archief, reg. code OFA_068: Aangifte van overlijden. Op haar archiefkaart staat: omg. Oświęcim. Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Edith Holländer. Oświęcim is de oorspronkelijke, Poolse naam voor Auschwitz. Het Nederlandsche Roode Kruis, Auschwitz, Deel V: De Deportatietransporten in 1944. Uitgave van het Hoofdbestuur van de Vereniging het Nederlandsche Rode Kruis, 's Gravenhage, december 1953, p. 23. Het Nederlandse Rode Kruis heeft na de oorlog, in het kader van zijn wettelijk taak om plaats en datum van overlijden van de vele vermisten vast te stellen, voor gedeporteerden naar Auschwitz meestal 'in of in de omgeving van Auschwitz' genomen.