Esther Boas / Esther Barendse-Boas (F / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
Esther Boas / Esther Barendse-Boas (F / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Hidden Children, Netherlands> <Westerbork> <Theresienstadt> / <Liberation of Theresienstadt>
Biography
Esther Barendse-Boas (1942) was smuggled out of the nursery as a baby
During the first years of the Second World War, Salomon (Sal) Pinchas Boas (1913-1990) and Seraphina Boas-Prins (1913-2006) lived in Amsterdam South, on the Van Tuyll van Serooskerkenweg. In the summer of 1942 their daughter Esther was born. At the beginning of 1943, the family was forced to move to East Amsterdam. On May 26, a major raid took place in the center of Amsterdam. Sal Boas had learned that there would also be a raid on June 20. Alarmed by that message, they decided to take Esther into hiding with the Assman family, acquaintances of the Van Tuyll van Serooskerkenweg. On 20 June 1943, the Boas couple were arrested and taken to Westerbork.
After being betrayed by an NSB (National Socialist Movement) member, the almost one-year-old Esther was arrested and placed in the Crèche, opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg. She was smuggled out of the crèche by childcare worker Virrie Cohen (1916-2008) and housed in Groningen through various family members of Assman, and later in Leeuwarden.
At that time, her parents were still in camp Westerbork and were told that if they could find out the whereabouts of their child, the entire family could be sent to Camp Berneveld. Sal and Seraphina Boas faced a major dilemma: either leave their child with strangers, risking betrayal, or take the family to Barneveld and rely on the protection this list provided. They decided on the latter. Esther was brought to Barneveld by her people in hiding on August 28. Her parents followed almost three weeks later. On September 29, 1943, the Barnevelders had to go to Westerbork. Barely a year later, the Boas family was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp on September 4, 1944, which all three survived.