Theo Coster

Maurice (Theo) Coster was a son of Coenraad Coster (1895-1960) and Bertha Seyffers (1898-1988). His father was from Amsterdam and his mother from Brussels.^[1] He had an older sister, named Freddy.^[2] Their father was a printer and owned printing shop Drukkerij Coster.^[3] 

In 1935, Maurice began attending Preparatory School No. 51, the preschool of the Sixth Montessori School.^[4] In the sixth grade of the Sixth Montessori School, he was a classmate of Anne Frank.^[5] In 1941, he was enrolled at the HBS secondary school at Jozef Israëlskade 45 in Amsterdam, where he was to start in the first year after the summer holidays.^[6] Because Jewish students and teachers were forbidden to attend regular schools as of 1 September 1941, he had to transfer to the Jewish Lyceum. In school year 1941-1942 he, Anne, and his cousin Rob Cohen were in class 1L2 of the Jewish Lyceum.^[7] In her diary Anne writes about Maurice as one of her many admirers.^[8] French teacher Martin Premsela noted in a memo dated 22 January 1942 that Maurice's academic performance was declining. “[He] pays little attention, is playful and very inaccurate. Take a firm approach at home and in class.”^[9]

Maurice was in the Scouts. When anti-Jewish measures led to more and more restrictions, a Scout group for Jewish children was set up, but at a certain point that was no longer possible either.^[10]

In the autumn of 1942, Maurice went into hiding. During the war he was in various hiding places in Vaassen on the eastern edge of the Veluwe in the province of Gelderland, as were his parents.^[11]  Apart from brief spells at other hideouts, Maurice remained with the childless couple Barend and Suzanne van Beek until the liberation. As a teenager in hiding he chose the name Theo. He would use this name for the rest of his life.^[12] His sister Freddy had been sent to a hiding place in Belgium.^[13] After the war, she returned to the Netherlands.^[14]

In 1955 Theo emigrated to Israel. He married Ora Rosenblatt and had two sons, Boaz and Gideon. Together with his wife he founded the company Theora, specialized in designing and producing toys and games, including Guess Who?, Magimizer, Zingo! and Go Pop.^[15]

In 2008, Theo made a film, called Classmates of Anne Frank, in which he and five of his former classmates who had survived the Holocaust - Lenie Duijzend, Albert Gomes de Mesquita, Jacqueline van Maarsen, Nanette Blitz and Hannah Goslar - shared their personal stories and memories of Anne.^[16] A year later, the film was followed by a book.^[17] In 2009, Theo was a guest in a special broadcast of the television program De Rëunie (The Reunion), in which fifteen former classmates of Anne Frank got together again.^[18]

On 10 September 1969, Yad Vashemrecognized Barend Hendrik van Beek and his wife, Suzanne Helena van Beek-van der Paauw, as Righteous Among the Nations.^[19]

 Source personal data.^[20] Address: Zuider Amstellaan 154, Amsterdam.^[21]