Renée Weber

Renée Weber was a daughter of merchant Herbert Friedrich Justus Weber (1905-unknown).^[1] Herbert had been born to German parents in Tuguegarao (on the island of Luzon, Philippines).^[2] He was an office clerk by profession and married Johanna Maria Goffree (1910-1944), stenographer, on 6 March 1929.^[3] Two months later, Renée was born. Her record card in the Amsterdam population register has the notation “Ned. art. 5”, indicating that she acquired Dutch citizenship on the grounds of having a Dutch mother.

Renée was enrolled by Preparatory School No. 51 on 27 February 1933.^[4] In the spring 1934 photo of Anne Frank's kindergarten class, she is the girl with dark hair in front of the chest of drawers on the right. Anne gave her number 5.^[5] In a photo from August 1934, she is in the back right.^[6] In the 1935 photo, Anne gave her number 8. She is the girl with the white bow in her hair, to the right of Ms. Baldal.^[7] Like Anne, she came in class 1B with Mr. Van Gelder. After that, they were no longer in the same class. In the class photo from 1936, she is the girl in the white overalls on the right next to the mouse cage. Anne is sitting to her right in this photo and gave her number 8.^[8] After the Sixth Montessori School, Renée went to the Municipal Lyceum for Girls.^[9]

In 1940, Renée's younger sister - Christina Johanna Emma - was born, but before her birth that same year, Herbert and Johanna's marriage was dissolved by divorce. Herbert remarried Christina Johanna Maria Starreveld on 5 February 1942. From this marriage another daughter - Inge - was born.^[2] Johanna gave birth to a daughter - Annemarie - in 1941. The father is unknown.^[10]

An obituary in the Haarlems Dagblad states that Renée's father fled abroad before the outbreak of World War II.^[11] But according to his archive card in the Amsterdam population register, he lived in Amsterdam during the war and emigrated to Germany in 1947.^[2] Because her mother had to provide an income, Renée had to largely take care of her younger sisters. The obituary also mentions that her mother got a new boyfriend. He turned out to be an NSB member, who insisted that Renée went to a German school.^[11] Renée's mother, on the other hand, is mentioned on a list of North Holland resistance women. She was not herself affiliated with a resistance group, but she may have mediated in finding refuge for Gerard Badrian's resistance group (part of Gerrit van der Veen's group), which had raided the House of Detention on the Weteringschans in Amsterdam and the Landsdrukkerij in The Hague.^[12]

Renée met Maxim (Max) Cohen (1923-2015) after the war. They married on 12 December 1951.^[1] Max Cohen lived with his parents, brother Eduard and sister Elly on Houtplein in Haarlem, where father Benjamin ran a jewellery business. During the war years, this business was "Aryanized" by the German occupiers and taken over by goldsmith H.J. Stuurman, who managed to keep the business open during the family's time in hiding. The family was dispersed in hiding. Father Benjamin was betrayed almost immediately, arrested and deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz.^[13] Mother Roos and sister Elly were arrested at their hiding place at the end of May 1944 and deported from Westerbork to Bergen-Belsen. Both died there from the effects of typhoid. While in hiding, Max forged identity cards. Max and Eduard both survived the war by using various hiding addresses.^[14]

After the war, the jewellery shop continued under the name Stuurman & Cohen. Together with Renée, Max managed the business. Renée was also active in club life and volunteered for the Women's International Zionist Organisation, an organisation that aims to give vulnerable groups in Israeli society a better life and equal opportunities.^[11]

Renée Weber passed away in 2020 at the age of 91.

Source personal data.^[15] Addresses: Zoomstraat 49-II, Amsterdam; Volkerakstraat 15-I (1940); Houtplein 15, Haarlem (1956).^[1]