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Hello Silberberg

Hello Silberberg was close friends with Anne Frank, just before she went into hiding with her family.

Person

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  • Helmut Silberberg
  • Born on: June 8, 1926
  • Born in: Gelsenkirchen, Duitsland
  • Died on: June 26, 2015
  • Died in: Sag Harbor, New York, USA

Paspoortfoto van Helmut Silberberg, 1942

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Helmut (Hello) Silberberg was born on 8 June 1926 and was the son of Leo Silberberg and Selma Silberberg-Levie. In his youth, he lived in Gelsenkirchen, where his father ran a clothing shop with a brother on Bochumer Straße 12. He grew up in a liberal Jewish family and attended the Jewish Volksschule on Ringstraße 44.[1]

In the 1930s, he often visited his grandparents Joël Levie and Sarah Levie-Salm in Amsterdam during summer holidays. His grandfather preferred the name Hello to Helmut. Those around him in Amsterdam adopted this name.[2] When he was twelve, just after Kristallnacht, in November 1938, he fled Nazi persecution by train to Amsterdam. There he moved in with his grandparents on Zuider Amstellaan. His parents did not manage to get to the Netherlands as well and they decided to flee to Belgium. There they rented a room in Brussels.[3]

Because of his many holidays in Amsterdam, Hello felt he already had a good mastery of the Dutch language. Nevertheless, his grandfather first sent him to a preparatory school to learn Dutch.[4] This was the Diezeschool on Dintelstraat 11 in Amsterdam. Benjamin Reens taught a 'Overgangscursus' (transition course) there to children of immigrants, mainly German refugees.[5] After the segregation of education, he went to a private school for furniture making where Jewish students were still welcome. This was the Meubelmakersvakschool at Laurierstraat 107.[6] With his grandparents, he attended the synagogue on Lekstraat and he was a member of the Zionist youth club Maccabi Hatzair. Margot Frank was also a member of this club, but Hello doesn't remember ever meeting her there.[7]

Hello and Anne met in 1942 through Wilma de Jonge. She was a distant cousin of Hello, whom Anne befriended. When Hello and Anne exactly met is unclear. Hello remembered giving Anne flowers for her birthday on 12 June.[8] In her diary, Anne describes her birthday presents, mentioning the carnations she got from Hello.[9] When she began rewriting her diary in 1944, with the intention to publish it, she edited her first encounter with Hello. Anne then wrote that he approached her on 23 June 1942 at the bicycle shed on Merwedeplein, after which they became friends.[10] Hello could also remember this meeting at the bicycle shed, but he did not remember when they saw each other there.[8]

Hello and Anne met several times and he was also invited to the Frank family home to meet Anne's parents. In her diary, Anne writes that while everyone thinks they are in love with each other, this is completely untrue. However, she also writes that she very much enjoys spending time with Hello.[11] On 5 July 1942, they saw each other in the morning, but when Hello rang her doorbell again in the afternoon, the door was not opened. Anne describes this incident in her diary on 8 July 1942. She was not allowed to open the door when Hello rang the bell. Just before, the call-up for Margot to report for transport to Germany had been delivered to the door, and the family was preparing to go into hiding as soon as possible.[12]

During a raid in the summer of 1942, Hello was arrested but managed to escape from the truck. His grandparents felt it was no longer safe for him to stay with them in Amsterdam. Therefore, Hello fled with the help of an acquaintance to his parents in Belgium. He acquired a fake identity card with the name of Edmond Mertens.[13] On 16 August 1942, he and his parents went into hiding near Brussels. When the city was liberated on 3 September 1944, Hello had been in hiding for about twenty-five months. He later learned that on that same day Anne and the other people in hiding from the Secret Annex had been put on a transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz.[14]

On 19 December 1947, Hello emigrated from Antwerp to the United States. He arrived in New York on 3 January 1948, where he went to live with his uncle Max Silverberg and took on the name Edmond (Ed) Silverberg.[15] In 1951, he married Marlyse Gutkind and together they had two children.[16]

Source personal data.[17] Addresses: Zuider Amstellaan 191 (registered 15 February 1939);[18] 137, 41 169th St., Jamaica, Long Island, New York.

Footnotes

  1. ^ See: Websiote Gelzenzentrum: Helmut Silberberg (geraadpleegd 23 april 2024).
  2. ^ Helmut Silberberg is one of Anne's friends portrayed in: Janny van der Molen, Vergeet mij niet. Anne Franks vrienden en vriendinnen, Amsterdam: Ploegsma, 2022, p. 134-151.
  3. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Getuigenarchief Silberberg, Helmut, transcriptie interview Edmond Silberberg door Teresien da Silva, 1 september 2012, p. 12-13 en 33.
  4. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief Silberberg, Helmut, transcriptie interview Edmond Silberberg door Teresien da Silva, 1 september 2012, p. 9.
  5. ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Archief van de Afdeling Onderwijs 1828-1960, documentatie, toegang 5191, inv. nr. 10903: adreslijsten openbare scholen en onderwijsinrichtingen, 1937, p. 64.
  6. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief Silberberg, Helmut, transcriptie interview Edmond Silberberg door Teresien da Silva, 1 september 2012, p. 14-15; SAA, Archief van de Afdeling Onderwijs 1828-1960, documentatie, toegang 5191, inv. nr. 10904: adreslijsten openbare scholen en onderwijsinrichtingen, 1939, p. 116.
  7. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief Silberberg, Helmut, transcriptie interview Edmond Silberberg door Teresien da Silva, 1 september 2012, p. 16.
  8. a, b Ibidem, p. 18-22.
  9. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 14 June 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  10. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version B, 24 June 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  11. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 15 June 1942 and 30 June 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  12. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A and B, 8 July 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019; AFS, Getuigenarchief Silberberg, Helmut, transcriptie interview Edmond Silberberg door Teresien da Silva, 1 september 2012, p. 18-22.
  13. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Silberberg: Kopie identiteitskaart.
  14. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief Silberberg, Helmut, transcriptie interview Edmond Silberberg door Teresien da Silva, 1 september 2012, p.32-33.
  15. ^ "New York, United States records, Aug 4, 2018," images, FamilySearch, image 542 and 543 of 688; United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service, New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957: Helmuth Silberberg, 147, Doc ID: 007254651 (geraadpleegd 23 april 2024).
  16. ^ "New York, New York City Marriage Licenses Index, 1950-1995," database, FamilySearch, Edmond Silverberg and Marlyse M Gutkind, 1951, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States; from Reclaim the Records, The NYC Marriage Index, citing New York City Clerk's Office. (geraadpleegd 23 april 2024). 
  17. ^ "Find a Grave Index," database, FamilySearch, Hello; Burial; citing record ID 109472805, website Find a Grave (geraadpleegd 23 april 2024).
  18. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, inv. nr. 303, Woningkaarten: Woningkaart Rooseveltlaan 191.