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Bertel Hess

Bertel Hess was a cousin of Hermann van Pels.

Person

Fotograaf onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting
  • Bertel Freund - Hess
  • Osnabrück, Duitsland Feb. 14, 1904
  • Santa Barbara, CA, USA April 19, 2000

Foto Bertel Hess op Persoonsbewijs

Fotograaf onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting

Publiek domein.

Bertel Hess was a cousin of Hermann van Pels. Her mother was Ida Vorsänger, a sister of Hermann's mother Lina. Her father was Jonas Hess.[1] In 1933 she left her home town Osnabrück and moved to Leeuwarden, where her sisters Minni and Martha lived.[2] Minni Hess (1890-1942) was married to Joël Rozenberg (1879-1942), a large cattle and meat trader from Leeuwarden, and Martha (1893-1942) was married to Jacob Rozenberg (1884-1942), Joel's brother and business partner. But Bertel soon left Leeuwarden for Amsterdam, where she settled on 20 July 1933, as a linen mistress in the Joodse Invalide (Jewish nursing home) in Amsterdam.[3] She stayed there for almost ten years.

As a child she played a lot with her cousin Clara van Pels, who was of a similar age. Later, in Amsterdam, she had mainly contact with her cousin Henny, who visited her weekly.[4] Because of her work in the nursing home, Bertel was initially spared arrest and incarceration. But when a German soldier checked her papers during an inspection in the hospital, he threatened her, "We'll get you too! " A day later, her cousin Henny was arrested, with whom Bertel had celebrated Shabbat almost every Friday along with her uncle Aäon van Pels.[2]

Bertel's brother Manfred had emigrated to Hengelo with his wife Else. There was a group there that arranged hiding places for Jews. Manfred sent someone to Bertel to get her to him in Hengelo in order to go into hiding together. But when Bertel heard that there would be six of them going in hiding, she decided not to - the danger of discovery seemed too great to her. Her fear of being discovered in a group with several people in hiding saved her life. Her brother and the other five hiders in Hengelo were eventually betrayed because someone noticed that they were grocery shopping for too many people.[2] Manfred Hess was murdered in Sobibor on 28 May 1943; his wife in Auschwitz on 5 November 1942.[5]

Things did not end well with her sisters Minni and Martha either. Joël and Minni Rozenberg and their youngest daughter Erna were transported to Westerbork on 12  November 1942. On 20 November, they were deported to Auschwitz extermination camp. A few days after arrival, they were murdered there.[6] Jacob and Martha Rozenberg and their daughter Ida met with the same fate.[7] Two daughters of Joël and Minni, Marie (1914-2000) and Edith (1917-2014) survived the war,[8] as did Marie, daughter of Jacob and Martha.[9]

Bertel also survived the war, having been helped to a hiding place. Friend and colleague Lena Schrijver (1911-1943) took her to an appartment on Sarphatistraat. From there she was helped to Heemstede,[10] where she was hidden by the Wildschut family and thus held it out until liberation.[2]

On 23 September 1946, she received a certificate of good conduct from the municipal authorities of Amsterdam, with a view to going abroad.[11] Shortly afterwards, she left for the United States.[12]

Source personal data.[13] Addresses: Osnabrück; Leeuwarden; Nieuwe Achtergracht 98, Amsterdam (1933);[3] Nieuwe Achtergracht 3-II, Amsterdam; Weesperplein 1, Amsterdam (1939); Jacob Obrechtstraat 92, Amsterdam (1945); Newark, USA (1947).[12]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Peter Junk & Martina Sellmeyer, Stationen auf dem Weg nach Auschwitz. Entrechtung, Vertreibung, Vernichtung. Juden in Osnabrück 1900 – 1945, Bramsche: Rasch Verlag, 1988, p. 281.
  2. a, b, c, d Martina Sellmeyer, 'Eine Osnabrückerin wollte nicht mit Anne Frank „untertauchen“ – und überlebte', Osnabrücker Rundschau, 3 februari 2023.
  3. a, b Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Archief van het Bevolkingsregister (toegang 5000), inv. nr. 2554: Gestichten, register nr. 14, blad 236, volgnr. 198.
  4. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Getuigenarchief Freund – Hess: Interview 1997-03 22 Bertel Freund – Hess met correcties, p. 15.
  5. ^ Joods Monument: Manfred Hess; Else Hess-Meijer.
  6. ^ Joods Monument: Minni Rozenberg-Hess.
  7. ^ Joods Monument: Martha Rozenberg-Hess.
  8. ^ Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden: Nu te zien, de expositie: Erna ontvlucht de oorlog in tekeningen. In 2024 besteedde het Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden aandacht aan een bijzondere collectie tekeningen, die eind jaren dertig en begin jaren veertig zijn gemaakt door Erna Rozenberg. Joodse Erna tekende in de oorlog een hele fantasiewereld, Omrop Fryslân, 20 april 2024.
  9. ^ Joods Monument: Kind dat de oorlog overleefde.
  10. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief Freund – Hess: Interview 1997, p. 22.
  11. ^ AFS, Anne Frank Collectie, reg. code B_I_Getuigen_010: Verklaring van goed gedrag no. 15340, 23 september 1946.
  12. a, b SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Bertel Hess.
  13. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Bertel Hess; AFS, Getuigenarchief, Freund – Hess: Correspondentie 1 Hess, Bertel.

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