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Klaartje Musikant

Klara Musikant was with Anne in kindergarten and grade 6A at Sixth Montessori School.

Person

Vervaardiger: Johannes Machielis Bakels. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam
  • Klara Musikant
  • Born on: July 19, 1930
  • Born in: Amsterdam, Nederland
  • Died on: Oct. 24, 2010
  • Died in: Hobart, Tasmanië, Australië

Klassenfoto van Klaartje Musikant op de Voorbereidende school No. 51, Amsterdam, 1935

Vervaardiger: Johannes Machielis Bakels. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam

Rechthebbende(n) onbekend

Klara (Klaartje) was a daughter of Bernard Isaäc Musikant and Suzanna Eijl. Her father was a bookkeeper and her mother had trained as a dressmaker.[1]

In 1934, Klaartje started at Preparatory School No. 51, the kindergarten of the 6th Montessori School in Amsterdam.[2] She was in the same class with Anne Frank. On a photo of the kindergarten class of 1935, Klaartje is the girl in the front left in the checkered dress.[3] In an interview she said that she had few memories of the Montessori school, and no memory whatsoever of Anne Frank. She did stay in touch with Rela Salomon, who is sitting across from her in the photo.[4] Like Anne, she went to Sixth Montessori School in 1935, but there they were in different groups. It was not until their final school year of 1940-1941, that did they classmates again in Mrs. Kuperus's class.[5]

Klaartje came from a left-wing family. Her uncle Joseph Eijl was one of the organizers of the February strike of 1941. He was arrested on 26 February 1941, for distributing pamphlets calling for a strike.[6] He was executed shortly thereafter, and is therefore part of Jan Campert's poem Het Lied der Achttien Dooden (The Song of the Eighteen Dead).[7]

Klaartje's mother Suzanna Musikant-Eijl was active in the Communist Party and in the International Red Aid, international social-service organization that offered support to German Communist refugees. During the German occupation she distributed illegal pamphlets and for this she was arrested in February 1942. Through Detention Centre on the Amstelveenseweg, the Oranjehotel in Scheveningen[8] and concentration camp Ravensbruck, she  ended up in Auschwitz in November 1942. There she was murdered immediately.[9]

Klaartje had several hiding addresses. First in Zeist, then in Amsterdam and back to Zeist again. In the spring of 1943, she found refuge with a family in Utrecht, where she would stay until the end of the war. She suspected that her father was paying people to her in for a short time, claiming she was a visiting relative or friend. Klaartje's father Bernard Musikant was himself in hiding in Amsterdam and thus survived the war.[4]

After the war Bernard remarried Volkera Hendrika Wever.[10] In 1949 he moved to Indonesia, followed by Klara and her stepmother in 1950.[11] There she met her future husband, Pieter Hendrik Steenbergen,[12] with whom she eventually moved to the Australian island of Tasmania.[11]

Klara Musikant passed away in 2010, 80 years old.

Source personal data.[12] Addresses: Henriëtte Ronnerplein 12-I (Amsterdam); Nieuwe Herengracht 153 bov. (1945); Nieuwe Herengracht 139-III (1948); Bogor (Indonesia, 1950); Hobart (Australia).[12]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Bernard Isaäc Musikant; Archiefkaart Suzanna Eijl.
  2. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), reg. code A_Montessori_I_001: Administratie leerlingen K.O. "de Blauwe Zeedistel", volgnummer 371.
  3. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_AFrank_III_055.067: Leerlingen uit de klas van Anne Frank op de Zesde Montessorischool, Amsterdam, 1935.
  4. a, b Menno Metselaar, ‘Er kwamen elke dag minder leerlingen’: interview met Klara Musikant (1930-2010), Geheugen van Plan Zuid, 13 september 2010.
  5. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_Montessori_I_027: Ouderfonds Klasse A 1940-'41.
  6. ^ Jurryt van de Vooren, Voetballer Joop Eijl was een van de organisatoren van de Februaristaking, Sportgeschiedenis.nl, 25 februari 2023.
  7. ^ Stichting Geuzenpenning: Het lied der achttien dooden. Joseph Eijl is ithe last one on the list.
  8. ^ Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel: Suzanna Musikant-Eijl.
  9. ^ Joods Monument: Suzanna Musikant-Eijl.
  10. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Volkera Hendrika Wever.
  11. a, b Nicole (Hadassah) Larney, as told to Menachem Posner, My Long Trek Back to My Jewish Roots. From Amsterdam to Tokyo and Australia, The Jewish Woman. 
  12. a, b, c SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Klara Musikant; Geni: Klara Musikant.

 

Digital files (1)

Klassenfoto van Anne op de Voorbereidende school No. 51, Amsterdam, 1935

Copyright: Rechthebbende(n) onbekend

Photographer: De collectie kan worden ingezet voor het publiek