Stella Stoppelman - Delden

Esther (Stella) Stoppelman-Delden^[1] was the daughter-in-law of Rien Stoppelman-van der Reis, the landlady of Jan and Miep Gies. Her husband Meier (Max) Stoppelman was a fellow camp inmate of Peter van Pels in Auschwitz.

Esther Delden was a shop assistant.^[2] Her marriage to Meier (Max) Stoppelman took place on 10 December 1941.^[3] In mid 1943, she and her sister Deborah went into hiding with the Adriani family on Hoefloo in Laren. As of late 1943, Max was also in hiding at the Adrianis.^[4] Following betrayal, they were arrested on 12 April 1944.^[5] Rien Stoppelman, Stella's mother-in-law, wrote on 1 May 1944 by way of the Red Cross to her her husband, Arond Stoppelman, who was staying in London, that "12 April the last thing I had could report nothing more."^[6]

Mrs Adriani was also arrested and they were all taken to the detention centre on Weteringschans in Amsterdam. Adriani was released, but on 18 April 1944, the people in hiding were transferred to Westerbork, where they were housed in barrack 67, the penal barrack.^[7] A few weeks later, her brother Abraham Delden and younger sister Rosalina Delden were also arrested. They arrived in Westerbork on 17 May 1944.^[8] On 19 May 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz in the so-called gypsy transport.^[9] This transport consisted of a total of eighteen carriages. Five carriages were for the (estimated 245) gypsies, including approximately 123 children. These carriages were marked with a “Z”. The other carriages were for Jewish deportees and had a Jewish star on them. The transport of 19 May 1944 was captured on film by camp prisoner Rudolf Breslauer, including the moment shortly before the door of one of the carriages was closed. In doing so, he also captured an image of Nazi persecution that has since become world-famous: the Sinti girl Settela Steinbach at one of the carriage doors.^[10] 

Abraham Deldden was murdered in Auschwitz almost immediately after his arrival on 24 May 1944, Rosalina on 30 September 1944.^[11] Eldest brother Aron and his wife Rebecca Visjager had already been deported to Auschwitz on 21 July 1942 and were murdered there on 30 September 1942.^[12] How and when Stella Stoppelman-Delden eventually ended up in Bergen-Belsen is not yet known, but she perished there on 5 December 1944, 24 years of age.^[13] Her sister Debora survived the camps in a severely weakened state. After the liberation of Auschwitz, Otto Frank stayed in Katowice for several weeks and wrote “Borah Delden” in his notebook on 11 March 1945.^[14] Debora Delden then made the same return journey to Marseille. The boat trip aboard the SS Monowai went via Istanbul, Crete, Sardinia and Corsica, and they finally arrived in Marseille. According to Max Stoppelman, Debora died on board during this journey,^[15] but a list of Jewish survivors compiled by the Central Registration Office for Jews states that she remained ill after arriving in Marseille on 27 May 1945.^[16] She died there three weeks later on 23 June 1945. She was buried in Marseille. Max Stoppelman ended up in a satellite camp of Flossenburg, but survived the war. In July 1945, he returned to Amsterdam.

Source personal data.^[17] Addresses: Waterlooplein 50-52, Amsterdam. See note 2. Rijnstraat 209 I;^[18] Kuinderstraat 25.^[19]