Freddy Coster
Freddy Coster was a classmate of Margot Frank at the Jekerschool.
Person
Freddy Coster was a daughter of Coenraad Coster (1895-1960) and Bertha Seyffers (1898-1988) and elder sister of Maurice (Theo) Coster. Their father was from Amsterdam and their mother from Brussels.[1] Their father was a printer and owned printing shop Drukkerij Coster.[2] Maurice Coster was a classmate of Anne Frank at the Sixth Montessori School and later at the Jewish Lyceum.[3] Freddy was in Margot Frank's class at the Jekerschool. A poem by Margot in her friendship book[4] and a school photograph are proof of this.[5]
In July 1942, 17-year-old Freddy went into hiding in her neighbour's attic room. Her uncle Léon then arranged for her to go into hiding in a Belgian convent. Wearing five dresses on top of each other and a headscarf over her dark hair, she travelled via The Hague to the convent in Oudergem (Brussels). Freddy received training there as a childcare worker. She wrote many letters to her fiancé Raph (Raphaël Leefsma).[6] What she did not know at the time was that Raph was no longer alive. He and his family had been arrested deported to Sobibor extermination camp.[7]
On her birthday, 22 June 1944, she received a gift from Uncle Léon. At the time, she was staying at a convalescent home in Sosoye (Wallonia). To thank him, she sent him a postcard, signed “Freddy”. When the Germans arrested Léon and his family by the end of June 1944, they also found the postcard and went looking for “Freddy”. But because they thought “Freddy” was a boy, they left empty-handed when it became clear that no boys were staying with the nuns.[8]
While Freddy was in hiding in Belgium, her parents and brother Maurice were in hiding in Vaassen on the eastern edge of the Veluwe in Gelderland.[9] When Vaassen was liberated, the Costers moved into a house called “Terra Nova” in Vaassen. Freddy Coster was brought from Belgium to Vaassen by military transport, where she was reunited with her parents and brother. In the summer of 1945, the Coster family left Vaassen.[10] On 12 June 1946, Freddy married Salomon (later Sidney) Eduard Brandeis.[11]
Berthe Rosette Brandeis, Freddy's daughter, published a book about her mother's life story in 2023.[6]
Source personal data.[11] Addresses: Zuider Amstellaan 154-II, Amsterdam; St. Willibrordusstraat 52-I (June 1946); Rooseveltlaan 262-II (June 1952); Amstelveen (August 1982).[11]
Footnotes
- ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaarten Coenraad Coster en Bertha Seijffers; Geni: Bertha Seyffers.
- ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Coenraad Coster; Wikipedia: Theo Coster.
- ^ Wikipedia: Theo Coster.
- ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), reg. nr. A_MFrank_I_116: Poëziealbum van Freddy Brandeis-Coster (versje van Margot Frank, 23 januari 1938).
- ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code B_Getuigen_III_097: Ingelijste kopie van een schoolfoto van alle klassen van de Jekerschool te Amsterdam, 1935; Joods Museum, reg. code F011453: Klassenfoto van zes klassen van de Jekerschool in Amsterdam, 1935.
- a, b Berthe Rosette Brandeis, Freddy: brieven uit de onderduik, Amstelveen: Tienstuks, cop. 2023.
- ^ Joods Monument: Raphaël Leefsma.
- ^ Berthe Rosette Brandeis, Freddy: brieven uit de onderduik; Freddy, dankzij deze jongensnaam werd zij gered, De Vrijdagavond, 2 augustus 2023.
- ^ Theo Coster, Klasgenoten van Anne Frank, Amsterdam: Carrera, 2009, p. 37-48.
- ^ Stichting Broken Wings: Tentoonstelling 'Joodse onderduikfamilies in Vaassen'.
- a, b, c SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Freddy Coster.