Abraham (Bram) Asscher was a son of Eliazer Asscher (1878-1935) and Stephanie Fischer (1895-unknown).^[1] His father was a diamond merchant and a brother of Abraham Asscher (1880-1950), one of the two presidents of the Jewish Council.^[2] Of three children, Bram was the middle child. He had an older brother, Isaäc Jacques Asscher (1916), and a younger one, Jacob (Jeannot, Jean) Asscher (1925).^[3]

In school year 1941-42, Bram was a classmate of Margot Frank in class 4B2 at the Jewish Lyceum, Amsterdam.^[4] In school year 1942-'43 he was in class 4B and in early September 1943 he was even enlisted for the fifth grade.^[5] But that was no to be.

After the death of Bram's father in 1935 at the age of 57 in Paris, his mother married Dirk Leendert Tollenaar, a Gentile, in March 1941.^[6] As a result, she had a Sperre — an exemption from deportation — as a mixed marriage. Her sons, however, as children of two Jewish parents, did not have this protection.

Eldest brother Jacques was an Engelandvaarder, someone who after the capitulation of the Dutch armed forces left the occupied territories of the Netherlands with the intention of reaching England in order to join the Allied Forces and to continue the struggle against the Axis powers.^[7] In April 1941, Jacques left by train for Brussels and travelled via Paris to Spain, then Portugal, from where he flew to New York. After being approved for military service, he embarked in Canada aboard SS Queen Elizabeth and arrived in Scotland in December 1942.^[8]

Together with his brother Jacob, Bram was transported to the Westerbork transit camp on 29 September 1943.^[9] Although he was not in the punishment barracks, he saw Margot and her family in the camp during this period and wrote to his mother about it.

Letters from Westerbork

Bram was in Westerbork in the 'free' camp section. He was allowed to write a letter or two every fourteen days and to receive parcels. On 25 August 1944, Bram wrote to his mother from Westerbork that Margot, Anne and their parents had been locked up in the punishment barracks in camp Westerbork: 'Mama, do you know that Margot is here? That friend of Trees. You remember her, don't you? She's in the S with her parents and sister. Very sad!' Bram also thanked his mother in the letter for the beautiful toothbrush and other items.^[10] This letter is one of the few personal sources which refer to the presence of the Frank family in Westerbork.

In his letters from Westerbork, Bram often writes about his fiancee Trees lek, who was held captive in Camp Vught together with her two sisters, and her parents, who were with him in Westerbork.^[11] According to unconfirmed reports, he married Trees.^[12] However, this is not registered on her personal card in the population register.^[13] That they already had something going on at school is suggested by an entry in Anne's diary, where she writes that one evening in the bathroom she and Margot were talking "about Bram and Trees."^[14]

Bergen Belsen

On 13 September 1944 Bram and his brother Jacob were deported as part of the 'diamond group' to the Sternlager of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.^[9]

On 6 April 1945, nine days before the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, 2,500 Jewish prisoners were ordered to prepare to leave the camp the following day. Among them were Bram and his brother. On 7 April, the prisoners set off on a journey of about ten kilometres to the railway station near the town of Celle. There they were ordered to board a train that would take them to Theresienstadt. On 13 April 1945, the train stopped near the towns of Farsleben and Zielitz, close to Magdeburg, and the Jewish prisoners were liberated by the American army.^[15] Bram and Jacob were housed and cared for in the village of Hillersleben.^[9]

Source personal data.^[1] Addresses: Beethovenstraat 122 II, Amsterdam (’36); Stadionkade 41 hs (’41);^[1] Ericalaan 197, Den Haag.^[16]