Rita Peper (F / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor

Rita Peper (F / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor

Maud Peper / Maud Dahme (F / Netherlands, 1936), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Hidden Children> -- <United States>

USHMM

Maud Peper (now Dahme) was the oldest daughter of Hartog Jacob Henry Peper and Lilli Eschwege Peper. She was born on January 24, 1936 in Amersfoort, Netherlands where her father and grandfather ran a restaurant at the train station. Maud's sister Rita was born on February 23, 1938. The family resided in Amersfoort until 1942. Because Hartog Peper was active in the Dutch Red Cross, the family was unable to flee Holland. When the Germans took over and banned all Jewish children from attending public school, Maud transferred to the Jewish community kindergarten where her mother taught.

In July 1942, the Germans went to the Orthodox synagogue to which the Peper family belonged and recorded the names of all of the members. They then sent letters to each family ordering them to appear at a railroad station at a certain time with only one suitcase. The Pepers decided not to comply and instead contacted Christian friends who found hiding places for the girls. Hartog brought his daughters to the home of Jan and Nel Kanis (members of the Dutch underground). Mr. Kanis awoke Maud and Rita during the night and then took them through the woods to the next town to catch a train to Oldebroek to bring them to the house where they would spend the next several years. They had to travel at night, on foot, through the woods and under the cover of darkness so that they would not be recognized. The girls lived with Mr. and Mrs. Hendrik and Jacobje Flier Spronk from August 1942 until 1944 pretending to be their nieces whose own house had been destroyed during the bombing.

One day, however, when the couple had guests visiting, Maud proudly declared that she wore a yellow star and knew how to write her name. This was very dangerous because she had just given away her identity. After that, her caretakers explained to her that her name and religion had been changed. Maud became "Margje" and Rita became "Rika". One Sunday, the Spronks took the girls with them to visit Mrs. Spronk's sister, and they discovered that she was hiding one of the teachers from the Jewish kindergarten Maud had attended. After this discovery, the girls were taken to this house every Sunday and were taught how to read. While they were in hiding Mr. Spronk passed away and one day the Gestapo came looking for Mrs. Spronk. Because of her connections with the underground, Mrs. Spronk was prepared for them to come and had already arranged for Maud and her sister to be taken to a family in a nearby fishing village, where they would spend the remainder of the war. The girls then went into hiding with the Westerink family in Elburg until April 1945.

Lilli and Hartog Peper were hidden by Mr. and Mrs. Lippinghof in Amersfoort. While the Pepers were living in the attic, two German soldiers commandeered one of the rooms below them in the Lippinghof's home. Although the sisters did not know their parent's whereabouts, Maud was able to send her parents one letter, which she dictated to someone and then traced over in pen. She wrote about her wishes to be free and mentioned her reading lessons with the kindergarten teacher (who was eventually discovered and deported).

After liberation, the sisters returned to Oldebroek until June 1945, while awaiting the return of their parents. When the family was reunited, the girls had a difficult time because they did not remember their parents. The rest of the family, grandparents, as well aunts, uncles, and cousins all perished at Sobibor. Eventually, the family decided to leave The Netherlands. In April 1950 the family sailed for New York on the Holland America Line from Rotterdam. They arrived in Hoboken on April 24th, 1950.

Holocaust Memorial

Maud was born in Amersfoort, Holland on January 24, 1936, the daughter of Hartog and Lilly Peper. Her sister Rita was born on February 23, 1938. Her father Harry was a restauranteur and her mother Lilly a homemaker. The Germans invaded Holland in 1940; the Jews were relatively unmolested until the beginning of 1941, until the Germans set up Jewish Council. In the fall of 1941, all Jewish children were forced to leave public schools and study under the supervision of the Jewish Council. This affected Maud’s studies and she was forced to leave her school.

In July of 1942, German officials in Holland ordered all Jewish families to report to the train station with a single suitcase of their belongings which upon arrival to the camps was confiscated. Several thousand Jews were arrested and shipped to Westerbork, a camp in Holland. The next day a thousand were sent to Auschwitz. By October of 1942, 13,000 Jews were seized for shipment. Maud’s family was warned by a family friend who had ties to the underground of the upcoming arrests and shipments to camps and gave them the address of a safe house. Maud age 6 and her sister age 4 were separated from their parents and went into hiding. Her parents were helped in their town by another family. Righteous Rescuers who hid Jews took great personal risks and acted very courageously, if caught the consequences were very serious and even possible death.

Three years of hiding in Oldebroek and two families later Maud was reunited with her parents; she did not want to go home with them because she did not know them. The post-war years were very painful for Maud and her parents; they learned that all of their relatives had perished.

Maud and her family came to United States in 1950 to rebuild their lives. Maud recalls how she was placed in fourth grade as a fourteen year old girl. She and her sister Rita devised a system of learning English by attending the movies every day and staying all day all for the cost of a quarter; thereby she was able to jump to the seventh grade the following school year. She graduated high school with her peers. College was out of reach because of lack of money.

Maud has become a champion for children of migrant workers and is a member of the Interstate Migrant Education Council of New Jersey. She has dedicated the last twenty four years by serving on her local school board and presently she is in the 25th year as a member of the New Jersey State Board of Education where she has served as Vice President and President. As a victim of the Holocaust she has set out to ensure that today’s children will have a quality public education, something that she was not able to get during the war years. Maud is a very active member of New Jersey Commission of Holocaust Education and plays an active role ensuring that the Holocaust not be forgotten by teaching students to accept differences through her story of survival. Speaking about her Holocaust experience is a recent activity. She visits many schools to teach young people what happens when a nation is stripped of their civil rights. When the Commission sponsors summer teacher seminars on the Holocaust and genocide with visitations to camp sites, Maud accompanies the educators on their learning trips by sharing her experiences as a young child in hiding and relating the courageous behavior of her rescuers.

She married Hank Dahme in 1957 and they had four children and nine grandchildren. Hank passed away in 2001.