84: Notice

84: Notice

(A school Photo of Margot Frank at the Jewish Lyceum in December 1941.)

July 5, 1942 (84 years ago today) was a Sunday in Amsterdam in German-Occupied the Netherlands.

It was 86 and sunny.

Anne Frank was lounging on the balcony reading a book.

Edith Frank was in the Kitchen.

Margot Frank was inside.

Otto Frank was visiting Friends at the Jewish Old People’s Home.

At 3 pm the doorbell rang and Edith opened the door to a Dutch Policeman who hands her a letter.

It is from the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam (Dutch: Centraal bureau voor Joodse emigratie in Amsterdam and German: Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Amsterdam) which is run by the Nazis to deport the Dutch Jews to the Death Camps in German-Occupied Poland.

The Germans wanted to remove the young (those 16-25) first so there would be less resistance when they deported the Elderly, the Children, the Disabled and Babies to their deaths.

It is addressed to16 year old Margot.

It is a Notice by the Germans for her to report to a certain location on a certain day to be sent to Nazi Germany and do Forced Labor.

In reality, the 16-18 year old Dutch Jews (like Margot) who receive this Notice aren’t sent to a Forced Labor Camp but to a Death Camp (either Auschwitz, Sobibor or Treblinka) where they will be gassed to death and their bodies burned within 1 hour after arriving (but Margot and the other Jews didn't know that at the time.)

Margot tells 13 year old Anne that the Notice is for their Father (to try and calm her a little.)

Edith rushes to a Family Friend (Hermann Van Pels) to tell him the news.

Otto returns home at 5 pm.

He immediately telephones Johannes Kleiman and asks him to come to his house.

Miep and Jan Gies are also notified.

Otto then tells Margot and Anne that he had been planning for such a day like today and that they are going into Hiding the next day.

On July 13, 1942 the Franks were joined by Hermann, Auguste and Peter Van Pels in their Hiding Place.

In November 1942 they were joined by Fritz Pfeffer in their Hiding Place.

On August 4, 1944 Anne Frank’s Hiding Place was raided by the German Uniformed Police (Grüne Polizei) led by SS-Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst.

The Franks, Van Pelses, and Pfeffer were taken to RSHA headquarters, where they were interrogated and held overnight.

On August 5, 1944, they were transferred to the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention), an overcrowded Prison in Amsterdam.

Two days later they were transported to the Westerbork Transit Camp in the northern part of German-Occupied the Netherlands, through which more than 100,000 Jews, mostly Dutch and German, had passed.

Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered Criminals and sent to the Punishment Barracks for Hard labor.

On August 7, 1944, Miep Gies attempted to facilitate the release of the Prisoners by confronting Silberbauer and offering him money to intervene, but he refused.

On September 3, 1944 Margot and everyone else from the Hiding Place was deported by Cattle Car on the last train to leave Westerbork for the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland where they arrived 3 days later.

Of the 1,019 Passengers, 549—including all Children younger than 15—were sent directly to the Gas Chambers and murdered.

The Men were separated from the Women. It was the last time Margot saw her Father.

Margot was forced to haul rocks and dig rolls of sod by day; by night, they were crammed into overcrowded barracks. Being outside all day she regularly saw People walking to their deaths in the Gas Chambers.

In October 1944 their Group was selected to leave Auschwitz and go to the Leibau Labor Camp, but Anne had contacted Scabies and so went to the Camp’s Hospital instead. Margot and their Mother volunteered to stay in Auschwitz to care for Anne.

On October 28, 1944, after recovering from Scabies, Anne, Margot and Mrs. Van Pels left Auschwitz and went to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany.

Around March 1945, Anne died from Typhus at 15 years old a few days after her Sister, Margot who was 19 years old.

They were both buried in an unknown Mass Grave.

Of the 140,000 Dutch Jews in the Netherlands at the beginning of the German Occupation in May 1940 101,800 of them were murdered during the War.

38,200 Dutch Jews survived the Holocaust (in Hiding or from a German Death Camp or Concentration Camp.)

Of the 20,000 Jews who fled Nazi Germany and Austria (like the Frank Family) before the German Occupation of the Netherlands 16,000 of them were murdered during the War.

The Netherlands had one of the highest percentage (75%) of its Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

A reason for this high percentage in the Netherlands was due to:

The vast majority of Dutch Jews (80,000) lived in two neighborhoods in Amsterdam.

The meticulously kept Dutch Civil Registry (used before the German Occupation and kept going during the German Occupation) which stated every Dutch Citizen’s Name, Address and Religion.

The nearly impossible to forge Dutch Identity Card (used before the German Occupation and kept going during the German Occupation.)