Ines Spanier / Ines Jacoby (F / Germany, 1932), Holocaust survivor
Ines Spanier / Ines Jacoby (F / Germany, 1932), Holocaust survivor
Renate Spanier / Renee Goldman (F / Germany, 1932), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <MS St. Louis> <Westerbork>
Biography
Ines Jacoby and Renee Goldman (born Ines and Renate Spanier) are the twin daughters of Fritz (b. 1902) and Babette (b. 1905) Spanier. They were born on January 20, 1932 in Berlin, Germany where their father was a physician of internal medicine. In May 1939 the family sailed to Havana on board the MS St. Louis in the hope of coming to the United States. After the Cuban government denied permission for the ship to land and the passengers had to return to Europe, the Spaniers disembarked in the Netherlands. They first stayed in the Zee Brugee camp and then in the Hejplatt Quaratine Center. After the Germans invaded Holland in 1940, the Spaniers were sent to the Westerbork concentration camp where Fritz served as the head physician. They remained there until the Canadian army liberated them in April 1945. Fritz joined up with the Canadian army as a physician and became a major in its medical corps. He went with them to Germany, and the JDC later asked him to serve as a physician for displaced persons. The family settled in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp where Fritz continued to practice medicine. In 1949, Ines and Renate went on youth aliyah and flew to Israel. The parents, who were now divorced, remained in Germany. Babette settled in Cologne and Fritz in Dusseldorf. Renate left Israel to join her Father in Dusseldorf in 1952 and continued to the USA in 1954. Ines and her husband Jack also came to the United States in 1961.