Hans Neter

Albert Hans Neter was a son and only child of Adolf Neter (1885-1943) and Clara Sarah Heijermans (1899-1943).^[1] His father was a geography teacher^[2] and had been appointed a teacher at the HBS in Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies in 1916. Four years later, he became a teacher of mathematics, physics and political geography at the European Normal School in Yogyakarta.^[3] In 1931, he returned to the Netherlands with his wife and son Hans. Hans's mother was a dentist.^[4]

Hans was a student at the Amsterdam Lyceum,^[5] but because Jewish students and teachers were banned from attending regular schools from 1 September 1941, he had to transfer to the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam.^[6] He entered class 4B2, which also included Margot Frank.^[7] His father worked as a geography teacher at the same Jewish Lyceum.^[8] The family therefore received a Sperre, a temporary exemption from deportation.^[9] His card in the Jewish Council's card catalogue shows that Hans worked at the Central Administration V. M. Kade.^[10]

In his opening address to the teachers' meeting on 7 April 1943, Rector W.S.H. Elte mentioned that Adolf Neter had been deported.^[11] Hans and his parents had been arrested on the night of 26-27 January 1943. They were immediately sent through camp Vught to Westerbork and from there to Auschwitz on 2 February 1943.^[12] He managed to throw a postcard from the train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, addressed to C.P. Gunning, the rector of the Amsterdam Lyceum, with a message written in pencil that read: “We keep our spirits up”.^[13] His parents Adolf and Clara were murdered immediately upon arrival on 5 February 1943. Hans died two months later on 30 April 1943, 18 years old.^[14]

Source personal data.^[1] Address: Euterpestraat 137hs, Amsterdam (1938).^[1]