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Barend Konijn

Barend Konijn was a fellow prisoner of Otto Frank in Auschwitz.

Person

  • Barend Konijn
  • Born on: April 14, 1899
  • Born in: Amsterdam, Nederland
  • Died on: May 14, 1964
  • Died in: Amsterdam, Nederland

Barend[1] Konijn was a fellow prisoner of Otto Frank in Auschwitz I, and a travelling companion during the repatriation via Odessa and Marseille.

Konijn was married to a non-Jewish woman and was therefore protected against deportation as having a 'mixed marriage'. On 25 June 1944, he was arrested in Heemstede because, according to him, he had refused to work at Schiphol.[2]

Whether it is related to the above is not known, but on 7 July 1944 a Landwachter brought him to the police station on Leidseplein in Amsterdam. He needed medical attention.[3]While he was under guard in the Wester Gasthuis (the name of the Wilhelmina Gasthuis at that time), he was freed in the morning of 18 July 1944. Three men in white coats entered the room and chloroformed the guard. They also took his pistol and cartridges..[4]

On 25 July 1944, Konijn was arrested again in Andreas Schelfhoutstraat, this time by SD officer Pieter Schaap.[5]

On 3 September 1944, Barend Konijn was on the transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz. As a mixed marriage man, he was given the registration number 195348. Mixed married couples had a better status than 'normal' Jewish prisoners. They were identifiable through a different numbering system and they were not selected for the gas chamber. In late October 1944, he was transferred to a sickbay barrack, where he stayed until the liberation of the camp on 27 January 1945.[2] On 15 and 23 March 1945, with the help of the Polish Red Cross, he sent two postcards home.[6] He went on the same repatriation trip as Otto Frank. On the way, it was his birthday, so Otto gave him white bread and butter.[7]

Konijn was a partner in the canning and dried fruit trade De Winter & Konijn, with branches in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.[8]

He acted as a reference during Otto Frank's naturalisation procedure.[9]

Source personal data.[10] Address: Parnassusweg 13-II, Amsterdam.[10]

Footnotes

  1. ^ According to his daughter Joséphine, he was also addressed as Bernard. In anonymous eulogy in her possession, the deceased is also addressed as “Bernard”. Property of Joséphine Konijn: eulogy read by a former fellow prisoner, probably S. van Thijn (23 November 1894), undated (May 1964).
  2. a, b Privébezit Joséphine Konijn: Afschrift verklaring B. Konijn aan NRK, ingekomen 8 juni 1945.
  3. ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), archief Gemeentepolitie Amsterdam (toegang 5225), inv. nr. 6181: Rapport Leidseplein, 7 juli 1944, mut. 20.15 en 23.00 uur.
  4. ^ SAA, Gemeentepolitie Amsterdam, inv. nr. 6181: Rapport Leidseplein, 18 juli 1944, mut. 10.20 uur.
  5. ^ SAA, Gemeentepolitie Amsterdam, inv. nr. 2050: Rapport Hoofddorpplein, 25 juli 1944, mut. 11.00 uur. Pieter Schaap was een van de fanatiekste Jodenjagers in Amsterdam. Zie: Ad van Liemp & Jan H. Kompagnie (red.), Jodenjacht: de onthutsende rol van de Nederlandse politiek in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Amsterdam: Balans, 2011, p. 212-214.
  6. ^ Privébezit Joséphine Konijn: Briefkaarten van B. Konijn, 15 en 23 maart 1945.
  7. ^ Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, Otto Frank Archief, reg. code OFA_040: Notitieboekje januari-3 juli 1945, 14 april 1945.
  8. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Gezinskaarten (toegangsnummer 5422): Gezinskaart B.Konijn; Naamlijst voor de interlocale telefoondienst 1950, uitgegeven door het Hoofdbestuur der PTT, 1950.
  9. ^ Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie 1915 - 1955 (toegang 2.09.22), inv. nr 13402: Brief Otto Frank aan Mr. Th.H. de Meester, 9 februari 1946.
  10. a, b SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Gezinskaarten Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer. 30238): Archiefkaart B. Konijn.