Object numberM2010/071:013
DescriptionB&W Photograph (copy), of a birthday party for Leo Vissel, younger brother of the donor Jozef Vissel. Jozef is standing second from the right. Also depicted, standing on the left, is Leni, the daughter of Leo's adopted parents. The children are wearing party hats and are surrounded by balloons.
Jozef Vissel was born in Gronigen, the Netherlands, in May 1935. After Germany occupied the Netherlands, the Germans called for labourers between the ages of 18-40 to work in Germany. Jozef’s father, Jakob Vissel, volunteered. Instead he was sent straight to Auschwitz and was murdered on 30 September 1942. Jozef’s mother Rika initially went into hiding with her two sons, and then deciding that it was too dangerous, separated herself from them. Jozef was taken by a member of the underground to the Pentinga family and his brother Leo, two years younger, was sent elsewhere. Rika was betrayed in Groningen; she was deported to and murdered in Auschwitz in January 1944.
Jozef’s name was changed to a more Dutch (less Jewish)-sounding name, Joop Jan Visser. He called his wartime parents, ‘Oom’ and ‘Tante’. Jozef was free to roam, and to go to school as a so-called refugee from bombed Rotterdam. Hendrik and Jantje Pentinga treated him like their own son and tried hard to be a father and mother to him, even though there were enormous dangers. After the war, Jozef stayed with some surviving members of his father’s family, then in a Jewish orphanage for a time. He married Thelma Granat in England and migrated with her to Australia in April 1960.
Jozef started his career in photography in Holland, where he was apprenticed as a commercial photographer. In Sydney he worked as a commercial photographer too. His architectural photographs are in numerous collections. He is known for his 1965 artistic portrayal of Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect of Sydney Opera House.
Ebbe and Grietje de Boer (2009) and Hendrik and Jantje Pentinga (2000) were honoured posthumously by Yad Vashem as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for the risks they took in saving the life of Jozef Vissel.
Jozef Vissel was born in Gronigen, the Netherlands, in May 1935. After Germany occupied the Netherlands, the Germans called for labourers between the ages of 18-40 to work in Germany. Jozef’s father, Jakob Vissel, volunteered. Instead he was sent straight to Auschwitz and was murdered on 30 September 1942. Jozef’s mother Rika initially went into hiding with her two sons, and then deciding that it was too dangerous, separated herself from them. Jozef was taken by a member of the underground to the Pentinga family and his brother Leo, two years younger, was sent elsewhere. Rika was betrayed in Groningen; she was deported to and murdered in Auschwitz in January 1944.
Jozef’s name was changed to a more Dutch (less Jewish)-sounding name, Joop Jan Visser. He called his wartime parents, ‘Oom’ and ‘Tante’. Jozef was free to roam, and to go to school as a so-called refugee from bombed Rotterdam. Hendrik and Jantje Pentinga treated him like their own son and tried hard to be a father and mother to him, even though there were enormous dangers. After the war, Jozef stayed with some surviving members of his father’s family, then in a Jewish orphanage for a time. He married Thelma Granat in England and migrated with her to Australia in April 1960.
Jozef started his career in photography in Holland, where he was apprenticed as a commercial photographer. In Sydney he worked as a commercial photographer too. His architectural photographs are in numerous collections. He is known for his 1965 artistic portrayal of Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect of Sydney Opera House.
Ebbe and Grietje de Boer (2009) and Hendrik and Jantje Pentinga (2000) were honoured posthumously by Yad Vashem as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for the risks they took in saving the life of Jozef Vissel.
Production placeHolland
Production date circa 1936
Object namephotographs
Materialphotographic emulsion, paper, paper
Dimensions
- length: 127.00 mm
width: 177.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Mr Jozef Vissel