Rachel Frankfoorder and Auguste van Pels in Raguhn
Rachel Frankfoorder, like Auguste van Pels, was transported to the Raguhn women's camp on 7 February 1945, and she was there when Auguste died in April 1945.
Rachel Frankfoorder, like Auguste van Pels, was transported to Raguhn women's camp on 7 February 1945. There, the women had to perform forced labour. Because of the approaching US troops, the women from Raguhn had to be transported again on 9 April 1945, this time to Theresienstadt.[1]
Rachel Frankfoorder gave a statement to the Dutch Red Cross on 28 September 1945: "During the journey from Ranguhn to Theresienstadt, Mrs Gusti van Pels-Roettgen, about 42 years old, was thrown under the train by the Germans and killed."[2] However, no other witnesses confirm Rachel Frankfoorder's testimony, and Annelore Daniel and Bertha Kaas-Hekster explicitly contradict that Auguste van Pels was thrown under a moving train by German soldiers.[3]
On 16 April 1945, the survivors of the transport arrived in Theresienstadt. There they were liberated by the Soviet army on 8 May 1945.
Footnotes
- ^ Het Nederlands Rode Kruis, (NRK), Den Haag, dossier nr. 103586, Verklaring februari 1961 m.b.t. Auguste van Pels-Röttgen.
- ^ NRK 2050, inv.nr. 1237, verklaring Rachel van Amerongen-Frankfoorder.
- ^ Bas von Benda-Beckmann, Na het Achterhuis. Anne Frank en de andere onderduikers in de kampen, Amsterdam: Querido, 2020, p. 282-283.