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Louis Heyligers

Louis Heyligers was in kindergarten of the Sixth Montessori School together with Anne Frank.

Person

Vervaardiger: Johannes Machielis Bakels. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam
  • Louis Aron Heyligers
  • Amsterdam, Nederland Jan. 17, 1930
  • Palm Beach, FL, USA July 25, 2004

Klassenfoto van Louis Heyligers op de Voorbereidende school No. 51, Amsterdam, 1935

Vervaardiger: Johannes Machielis Bakels. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam

Rechthebbende(n) onvindbaar

Louis Aron Heyligers (Heijligers) was the only child of Mauritius Heyligers (1892-1947), born in Antwerp,[1] and Rika Rachel (Jenny) van Straten (1907-unknown), from Amsterdam.[2] They were married in Amsterdam on 18 June 1929. Eight months later, their son Louis was born on 17 January 1930.

Louis' mother came from a family of antique merchants and regularly travelled back and forth between the Netherlands and the United States in her youth. After her parents' divorce in 1915 too,[3] she regularly travelled to the United States with both of them.[4] She was naturalised as a US citizen in 1926.[5] Her father remarried Hungarian Regina Klein and in 1917 their son, Aron Emil van Straten, was born in New York.[6]

Louis also had US citizenship through his mother, but grew up in Amsterdam for the first few years of his life. Louis' mother's father and stepmother lived with them.[7] His family attended an orthodox synagogue.[8]

He was enrolled in Preparatory School No. 51 on 27 May 1935.[9] There he joined Anne Frank's class. In the 1935 photo of the kindergarten class, Louis sits on the left, behind two flower pots.[10] A year later, he was deregistered on 18 July 1936, due to his family's move to America. There, the family lived with Louis' uncle in The Bronx, New York.[11]

According to his archive card at the Amsterdam population register, Louis' father was a merchant by profession.[1] Louis recalled that he had been a real estate agent before this, but when the family moved to the United States, he could not find any work. Together with his brother-in-law, he then worked as an antiques merchant,[8] until the family returned to the Netherlands on 16 November 1937.[1] Louis recalled that they stayed in a house in Scheveningen during the summers. During the winter months, they lived in Amsterdam. At the beginning of the war, his parents made an attempt to emigrate to the United States again, but this was unsuccessful.[8]

On 18 September 1942, the family was deported to Westerbork transit camp. His maternal grandmother was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 4 December 1942, where she was murdered immediately upon arrival. Louis stayed in Westerbork for six months and became Bar Mitzvah there. He recalled that this event was celebrated with a simple ceremony in the camp.[8] In December 1942, illustrator Leo Kok[12] made a portrait drawing of Louis.[13]

Louis recalled during an interview in 1997 that he was deported with his parents to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in early 1943 and, after a few weeks from there, transported to Liebenau.[8] But according to their index cards from the Jewish Council in Amsterdam, he and his mother were part of a transport of 33 that left Westerbork on 9 March 1943 directly to Steyerberg camp near Liebenau.[14] According to their prisoner cards, they arrived at the camp 75 kilometres west of Bergen-Belsen on 11 March 1943.[15]

As he and his mother were US citizens, they were treated as prisoners of war (POW). After two months, they were transported on 13 May 1943 to Vittel, a POW camp below Nancy in northern France.[15] Louis recalled being separated from his mother and being tutored by American Catholic nuns, who were also POWs in the camp.[16]

On 9 March 1944, his father was transported to Vittel, where he was reunited with his family.[17] They were liberated from the camp on 12 September 1944.[18] Via Clermont-Ferrand, Louis and his parents went to Marseille, from where they sailed on the ship USAT Thomas H Barry to Boston, in the United States, in December 1944.[19] According to Louis, they were sponsored for the crossing by his uncle. They went to live with his mother's relatives in Brooklyn, New York, where Louis found work as a diamond cutter. He married in 1952 and had two sons.[8]

Source personal data.[20] Addresses: Sarphatistraat 183hs, Amsterdam;[21] Quinten Massijsstraat 12hs (1932); Noorder Amstellaan 144 (1935);[7] 1445 apt. 6 Nelson Ave., The Bronx, New York (1936);[11] Euterpestraat 104-I (1937);[22] Roerstraat 16-I (1938); Zuider Amstellaan 211-III (1939); Rijnstraat 151-I (1940).[1]

Footnotes

  1. a, b, c, d Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Mauritius Heijligers; New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949, FamilySearch, Overlijden Mauritius Heyligers, 12 september 1947.
  2. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Rika Rachel van Straten.
  3. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Rachel Korper.
  4. ^ "New York City, New York, United States documenten," FamilySearch, afbeelding 259 van 985; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 007678672: Passenger Arrival List, 18 September 1916.
  5. ^ "New York City, New York, United States documenten," FamilySearch, afbeelding 689 van 1204; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004862297: Passenger and Crew List, 25 August 1928.
  6. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart Aron Emil van Straten.
  7. a, b SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Woningkaarten (toegangsnummer 5445), inv. nr. 289: Woningkaart Quinten Massijsstraat 12hs.
  8. a, b, c, d, e, f USC Shoah Foundation, Visual History Archive, Testimony of Louis Heyligers, 27 October 1997; YouTube: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.
  9. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), reg. code A_Montessori_I_001: Administratie leerlingen K.O. "de Blauwe Zeedistel", volgnummer 414.
  10. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_AFrank_III_055.067: Leerlingen uit de klas van Anne Frank op de Zesde Montessorischool, Amsterdam, 1935.
  11. a, b "New York City, New York, United States documenten," FamilySearch, afbeelding 435 van 695; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004875527: Passenger and Crew List, 29 August 1936.
  12. ^ Wikipedia: Leo Kok.
  13. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Heyligers: e-mail correspondence with the grandson of Louis Heyligers.
  14. ^ Arolsen Archives - International Center on Nazi Persecution, Bad Arolsen, Joodsche Raad Cartotheek, DocID: 130304143 (Rika R. Heijligers van Straten; DocID: 130304140 (Louis A. Heijligers).
  15. a, b Arolsen Archives - International Center on Nazi Persecution, Bad Arolsen, Prisoners' Cards Liebenau, DocID: 1201549 (Louis Aron Heyligers).
  16. ^ Louis himself places this memory in Liebenau, but it was likely in Vittel, where a group of nuns were prisoners of war, see: Page Dougherty Delano, ‘American Women in the Vittel Internment Camp. Religions, Morality, and Culture’, in: Historical Reflections, Volume 45, Issue 3, Winter 2019: 100–123.
  17. ^ Arolsen Archives - International Center on Nazi Persecution, Bad Arolsen, Joodsche Raad Cartotheek, DocID: 130304141 (Maritius Heijligers).
  18. ^ There is film footage of the liberation of Vittel, see: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Footage Farm: March of Time - outtakes - Colmar offensive; Maginot Line; Liberation of Vittel Internment Camp.
  19. ^ National Archives, Record Group 85: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Passenger lists of vessels arriving at Boston, Massachusetts in December 1944, 10 December 1944, Image 103: Heyligers.
  20. ^ Louis Aron Heyligers, "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007."
  21. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Woningkaarten (toegangsnummer 5445), inv. nr. 313: Woningkaart Sarphatistraat 183hs.
  22. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Woningkaarten (toegangsnummer 5445), inv. nr. 98: Woningkaart Gerrit van der Veenstraat 104-I.

Digital files (1)

Klassenfoto van Anne op de Voorbereidende school No. 51, Amsterdam, 1935

Copyright: Rechthebbende(n) onbekend

Photographer: De collectie kan worden ingezet voor het publiek

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