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Hetty Ludel

Hetty Ludel was a classmate of Margot Frank at the Jekerschool.

Person

Vervaardiger onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam
  • Henriëtte Ludel
  • Amsterdam, Nederland April 25, 1926
  • Johannesburg, Zuid-Afrika Sept. 14, 2003

Hetty Ludel, Amsterdam, 1937

Vervaardiger onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam

Rechthebbende(n) onvindbaar

Henriëtte (Hetty) Ludel was a Dutch-Jewish girl, the daughter of Benjamin (Bernard) Ludel (1893-1973) and Jeannette (Netty) van Gelderen (1899-1967).[1] She had an older sister, Rachelle (1920). Her father, Benjamin, was a company manager and a diamond merchant.[2] He had trained as a diamond cutter from 1907 to 1911 and had subsequently joined the General Diamond Workers' Union of the Netherlands (Dutch: Algemene Nederlandse Diamantbewerkersbond; ANDB).[3]

Before Hetty was born, her parents travelled regularly between Amsterdam and New York.[4] Their eldest daughter, Rachelle, was born there in 1920, after which they married in Amsterdam in 1921. Benjamin and Jeannette were naturalised as citizens of the United States in 1925.[5] They returned to the Netherlands in February 1926, two months before Hetty’s birth.[2]

Hetty attended the Jeker School in Amsterdam, where she became classmates with Margot Frank. She was in the same group of friends as Margot, Barbara Ledermann, and Edith Jacobsohn.[6]

In the 1935-'36 school year, their class visited the Pyramid of Austerlitz. The photograph of Hetty figure skating with Margot was taken in the winter of 1937-'38. After the war, Hetty said that she and Margot enjoyed ice skating together, as well as tennis, swimming, and cycling. They also did homework together. She remembered Anne Frank primarily as a younger sister who could be catty.[7]

After Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, the Ludel family fled to the United States. They left the Netherlands in July 1940, fleeing via Lisbon to New York. They arrived there on 31 August 1940 and survived the war in Brooklyn.[8] ​Hetty said in an interview she had received a letter whilst in America from Margot in Holland. This would have been before Margot went into hiding. It was supposedly a sweet, childlike letter in which Margot, among other things, asked about her lipstick.[7] Correspondence between the occupied Netherlands and the United States was very difficult. It is possible that Hetty's dating in her interview is incorrect, and that this was a letter she had received from Margot back in Amsterdam. The current location of the letter is unknown. 

Hetty emigrated to South Africa in 1947, where she married Mark Zurel.[9]

Hetty and her family appear in Otto Frank's correspondence after the war.[10] There is, for example, a photograph of Hetty and Otto Frank, which Hetty gave to him in 1974 with the caption: 'To my sweetest Pim with all my love your Hetty.'[11] 'Pim' was Anne's pet name for her father Otto.

Anco Mali, a non-Jewish girl, was also in the Jeker School class. Although Anco claimed not to be as close to the rest of her group of friends as they were to each other, she considered Margot, Barbara, Hetty and Edith to be classmates.[6] In 1970, Anco wrote a letter to Otto Frank, inquiring whether he knew more about the fate of some of her (Jewish) classmates. She also mentioned Hetty in this letter.[12] Otto replied that he had good contact with Hetty, despite her emigration.[13]

Source personal data.[1] Addresses: Rijnstraat 108-II, Amsterdam (1934);[2] 4211 Bedford Av., Brooklyn, New York (1940).[8]

Footnotes

  1. a, b Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA) Dienst bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegansnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Henriëtte Ludel.
  2. a, b, c SAA, Dienst bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaarten Benjamin Ludel, Jeannette van Gelderen en Rachelle Ludel.
  3. ^ Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Archief Algemene Nederlandse Diamantbewerkersbond (ANDB), Sectie 9, No. 150: Leerlingkaart Benjamin Ludel.
  4. ^ 'New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1958', FamilySearch, New York City, Afbeeldingsgroepsnummer: 007658562, afbeelding 398 van 779, Immigratieregisters 14 juli 1922–15 juli 1922, 14 juli 1922; Afbeeldingsgroepsnummer: 007648816, afbeelding 410 van 736, Immigratieregisters 16 oktober 1924–18 oktober 1924, 17 oktober 1924; Afbeeldingsgroepsnummer: 004857577, afbeelding 37 van 918, Immigratieregisters 6 november 1925–9 november 1925, 6 november 1925; Afbeeldingsgroepsnummer: 004863593, afbeelding 498 van 890, Immigratieregisters 29 jabuari 1931–1 februari 1931, 1 februari 1931.
  5. ^ New York, United States National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Region, U.S. District and Circuit Court Naturalization Records, 1824-1991, Family Search, Afbeeldingsgroepsnummer: 007780818, afbeelding 180 van 1027: Naturalisatie van Jeannette Ludel.
  6. a, b Anco Mali, Margot Frank en de anderen, Amsterdam: Aspekt, 2005), p. 20. 
  7. a, b Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Getuigenarchief, Interview Shoa Foundation Hetty Zurel-Ludel, 23-05-2011. 
  8. a, b 'New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1958', FamilySearch, New York City, Afbeeldingsgroepsnummer: 004879728, afbeelding 720 van 767, Immigratieregisters 27 augustus 1940–31 augustus 1940, 31 augustus: Henrietta Ludel.
  9. ^ Tali Feinberg, 'SA family’s hidden link to Margot Frank' , South African Jewish Report (18-11-2021).
  10. ^ AFS, Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_51.4: Kaartenbak met adressenbestanden Otto en Fritzi Frank: Nederland.
  11. ^ AFS, Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), reg. code A_OFrank_III_160: Foto van Hetty Ludel-Zurel en Otto Frank, 18 maart 1974.
  12. ^ AFS, AFC, Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_85.26: Correspondentie van Anco de Knijff-Mali met Otto Frank, 1970-1976.
  13. ^ Mali, Margot Frank en de anderen, p. 44-47.

Digital files (1)

Margot Frank en haar vriendin Hetty Ludel, winter 1937-1938.

Copyright: Rechthebbende(n) onvindbaar

Photographer: Collectie kan worden ingezet voor publiek.

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