EN

Walter Holländer interned in Camp Zeeburg

After Walter Holländer was released from Sachsenhausen concentration camp for health reasons and on condition that he would leave Germany, he obtained permission to travel to the Netherlands. There he obtained only a provisional residence permit.

Event

Dec. 27, 1938

52.366307 N 4.954941 E

Zeeburgerdijk 613-641 (voorheen: 321)

Amsterdam

Nederland

While waiting to leave the Netherlands, he was placed in the Zeeburg internment camp in Amsterdam. There he was registered as a resident in the Amsterdam Population Register on 27 December 1938.[1] Internment camps such as Zeeburg were intended to prevent refugees from integrating in the Dutch economy and to encourage emigration. Internees had to pay for their own stay, although they were prohibited from earning their own money. Walter's stay was paid for by the Comité Joodsche Vluchtelingen (Committee for Jewish Refugees)

Walter described the situation as follows: "In this refugee camp, we were locked up, under the supervision of the police, and it was not possible or permitted to do anything that could earn you an income."[2] He was allowed to leave Zeeburg for brief periods, but only with written permission and then only to visit Huize Oosteinde, a German-Jewish cultural centre that had opened in January 1937 and where refugees would come to read, study, or join in sports activities. It is quite possible that Walter Holländer, who had to wait a whole year for his visa to the United States, took an English course at Huize Oosteinde.[2]

With help from his brother Julius, who arranged a surety, Walter embarked on a ship to America on 17 December 1939.[3]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart W. Holländer.
  2. a, b Melissa Müller, Anne Frank: de biografie, 5e geheel herz. druk, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2013, p. 112.
  3. ^ NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust- en Genocidestudies, Comité voor Joodsche Vluchtelingen, inv. nr. 389: Otto Frank aan Comité voor Joodsche Vluchtelingen, 27 december 1938.