'In Remembrance of Rootje Bas' by Esthella Leviet-Batavier
ObjectnummerM2016/020:009
Titel'In Remembrance of Rootje Bas' by Esthella Leviet-Batavier
Vervaardiger Esthella Leviet-Batavier
BeschrijvingTypewritten testimony, in Dutch, recorded at the bedside of a dying friend, Rootje Bas, by Esthella (Stella) Leviet-Batavier, 10 July 1945. It documents their experiences in the forced labour camp, including the transport and arrival to Beendorf, Germany.
It begins, "Somewhere in Sweden, in a small pretty town, in a large quarantine hospital, I am sitting at the death bed of a comrade. It is evening, the birds are warbling, and she slumbers for a while under the influence of a last morphine injection. Now here you lay, exhausted by TB. You don't want to fight anymore, but you are hoping for the end, which still does not come. For months you have fought against that end, you endured caning, humiliation, hunger and thirst".
She describes that they were two out of 108 Jewish women who were "cruelly parted from the children and were driven, under flogging, in rows to the station on St. Nicolas evening 1944. The day before we had witnessed the transporting of the men."
The account concludes with a tribute to dead friends and comrades. "Our only aim always was to survive - and here a person, liberated from hell, has to die anyway, now, due to the aftermath of that horror. So often we had looked death in the eyes, he was in the barracks every day - in the dark mines, but also in the packed cattle wagons."
"The clock points to two twenty and again death claims the life of a Dutch comrade."
Part of a collection of photographs, documents and memorabilia donated by Carla Moore (nee Caroline Elisabeth Kogel), relating to her mother, Esthella's Holocaust and post-Holocaust experience, including her recuperation after the war to Sweden together with other Dutch survivors.
Esthella Kogel (nee Batavier) was born 18 September 1922 in Amsterdam to Abraham Batavier and Sarah Batavier-Carwalho. Her brother, Frederik-Jack Batavier, was born in 1929. In July 1942, Esthella married Abraham Leviet (born 1920 in Leeuwarden). On 16 October 1942 he was arrested and deported to Westerbork via a jail in Amsterdam, and eventually deported to Sobibor where he was murdered on 30 April 1943.
Esthella's parents and brother were arrested on 11 February 1943 and sent to Vught. Her mother and brother were murdered in Sobibor on 11 June 1943 and her father was deported via Westerbork to Auschwitz where he was murdered on 26 March 1944. In February 1943, Esthella was forced to live in the Jewish Ghetto in Ingogostraat, Amsterdam, until September when she was taken to Westerbork (on 29 September 1943) and then Bergen-Belsen (on 1 February 1944). In December 1944, she was transported to a camp in Germany to work as a forced labourer.
Esthella was liberated in May 1945; the Red Cross took her and many others to Malmo, Sweden, to recuperate. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis, pleurisy and weighed 40 kilos. In November 1945 she was repatriated to Holland. In September 1947, Esthella married Max Kogel (born 25 January 1916 in Amsterdam). They had three children, Robert, Caroline and Jacqueline. The Kogel family immigrated to Australia in 1957.
It begins, "Somewhere in Sweden, in a small pretty town, in a large quarantine hospital, I am sitting at the death bed of a comrade. It is evening, the birds are warbling, and she slumbers for a while under the influence of a last morphine injection. Now here you lay, exhausted by TB. You don't want to fight anymore, but you are hoping for the end, which still does not come. For months you have fought against that end, you endured caning, humiliation, hunger and thirst".
She describes that they were two out of 108 Jewish women who were "cruelly parted from the children and were driven, under flogging, in rows to the station on St. Nicolas evening 1944. The day before we had witnessed the transporting of the men."
The account concludes with a tribute to dead friends and comrades. "Our only aim always was to survive - and here a person, liberated from hell, has to die anyway, now, due to the aftermath of that horror. So often we had looked death in the eyes, he was in the barracks every day - in the dark mines, but also in the packed cattle wagons."
"The clock points to two twenty and again death claims the life of a Dutch comrade."
Part of a collection of photographs, documents and memorabilia donated by Carla Moore (nee Caroline Elisabeth Kogel), relating to her mother, Esthella's Holocaust and post-Holocaust experience, including her recuperation after the war to Sweden together with other Dutch survivors.
Esthella Kogel (nee Batavier) was born 18 September 1922 in Amsterdam to Abraham Batavier and Sarah Batavier-Carwalho. Her brother, Frederik-Jack Batavier, was born in 1929. In July 1942, Esthella married Abraham Leviet (born 1920 in Leeuwarden). On 16 October 1942 he was arrested and deported to Westerbork via a jail in Amsterdam, and eventually deported to Sobibor where he was murdered on 30 April 1943.
Esthella's parents and brother were arrested on 11 February 1943 and sent to Vught. Her mother and brother were murdered in Sobibor on 11 June 1943 and her father was deported via Westerbork to Auschwitz where he was murdered on 26 March 1944. In February 1943, Esthella was forced to live in the Jewish Ghetto in Ingogostraat, Amsterdam, until September when she was taken to Westerbork (on 29 September 1943) and then Bergen-Belsen (on 1 February 1944). In December 1944, she was transported to a camp in Germany to work as a forced labourer.
Esthella was liberated in May 1945; the Red Cross took her and many others to Malmo, Sweden, to recuperate. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis, pleurisy and weighed 40 kilos. In November 1945 she was repatriated to Holland. In September 1947, Esthella married Max Kogel (born 25 January 1916 in Amsterdam). They had three children, Robert, Caroline and Jacqueline. The Kogel family immigrated to Australia in 1957.
Datum 1945-07-10
Onderwerppost World War II, Holocaust, concentration camp experiences, forced labour camps, personal accounts, tribute
Objectnaamletters
Materiaalpaper
Formaat
- width: 221.00 mm
height: 277.00 mm
Taal
- Dutch
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ms Carla Moore