Herbert Wilp

Herbert Wilp was born in Immendorf, near Koblenz. He had an older brother, Hermann. His mother, Frieda Meyer, was a Jewish woman from Neuwied, and a large part of her family consisted of fairground workers.^[1] Frieda married Adolf Wilp, whom she described as ‘half-Jewish’. They travelled with a merry-go-round to annual fairs and funfairs, and Herbert was born whilst they were stationed in Immendorf with their ride and caravan. During the 1930s, they faced harassment when applying for permits, and accusations of extramarital affairs were levelled against Frieda.^[2]

After her husband was summoned by the Gestapo, she fled to the Netherlands and registered with a relief organisation in Enschede on 1 October 1937. Her husband also went there, with one of the children. The other child remained with Frieda’s parents in Neuwied. In Enschede, Adolf Wilp was arrested for crossing the border without a permit, and the Dutch authorities deported him to Germany. Enquiries made in Gronau by acquaintances from Enschede revealed that he was being held there.^[2] The Refugee Committee made further enquiries in Germany and concluded that there was no evidence of Frieda being persecuted.^[3]

Herbert entered the Netherlands by train at Enschede on 21 December 1938.^[4] He stayed successively at the reception centre on Zeeburgerdijk in Amsterdam, the orphanage in Gouda and a house on Akerdijk in Badhoevedorp. There, during the period 1940–41, he lived for some time – exact details are missing – with the family of Austrian origin Hofer-Eisler.^[5] Herbert appears in a photograph with his brother Hermann and Anne Frank. Although the location is not certain, it is highly likely that the photograph was taken in Badhoevedorp.^[6]

On an unknown date in 1941, he moved to Apeldoorn.^[7] At the address where he was registered there lived a family, several members of whom worked at the Apeldoornsche Bos nursing home. The lady of the house had served on the municipal council for the SDAP and had campaigned for aid to Jewish refugees.^[8]

Herbert’s card in the Jewish Council’s card index contains only his name, his temporary address in Apeldoorn and the word ‘ARISCH’ ('Aryan').^[9] A detailed description of how Herbert and his brother’s ancestry was viewed under German legislation can be found on a website about murdered children and young people from Koblenz.^[1] On 23 January 1942, Herbert returned from Apeldoorn to Amsterdam. Several family members had been living in that city since late 1938, but there are no sources indicating that he stayed there. After spending more than six months with a tailor’s family in the Oosterpark neighbourhood, Herbert moved to Singel 129 on 3 August 1942.^[10] Both the Aliens’ Registration Office and the population register listed that address as a ‘Hitler Youth House’.^[11]The resident with whom Herbert was registered died in April 1943 in Camp Vught. The extent to which there was actual Hitler Youth activity associated with the address remains unclear to this day.

Records from the municipal archives in Neuwied show that Herbert and his brother returned to their parents in their former home town of Neuwied at some unspecified point. From there, the four of them were deported to Auschwitz, arriving on 3 March 1943. Herbert’s ‘Aryan’ status, as recorded by the Jewish Council, apparently no longer applied. The date of his death is unclear; the officially recorded date of 31 December 1945 is clearly incorrect.