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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from an article by Larry Loftis. “The Watchmaker’s Daughter ~The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrietenboom~” This is available for pre-order now. An upcoming book details the heroic efforts of a Dutch family to save Jews during the Holocaust.
In a Jewish nursery school in Amsterdam, the Nazis planned to kill 100 babies. My parents were probably on their way to a concentration camp. Fed up with the scenario, Cory desperately needed a way to help.
The crèche, as it was called the Nursery, was located opposite the Horansche Schöburg, a former theater used by the Germans as a deportation center for sending Jews to Westerbork. The Hollandsche Schouwburg and the Creche were closely related, the former housing Jewish adults and the latter housing babies and small children.
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But hiding an infant under the Nazi’s nose was easier said than done. The relentlessly organized Germans kept detailed lists containing the names of all children who entered and left the center.
Cover of “The Watchmaker’s Daughter” by Larry Loftis.
But the building operator had a plan. Walter Suskind, his 35-year-old Jewish manager at Hollandsche Schouwburg, started by recruiting theater associate Felix Halverstad, who kept books for both venues. Next he Suskind brought along his girlfriend Henriette Henriques Pimentel, a 66-year-old Jew and nursery director.
Escape is enacted in two stages. First, Felix changed the nursery book to remove the names of the babies that were taken out. If the Germans had reviewed the records, there must have been no trace that these children had been in the nursery. Second, Walter coordinated with Henriette about the infant’s transportation. However, the plan was clever. Horanche across the street because he was guarded by German guards from Schöburg in the nursery.
I needed distraction and a courier to carry my baby. Cory told Hans and others at Bezier about the problem, and everyone wanted to help.
“We will save them,” said one of the boys. When Collie asked how he steals, he said,
The young man’s boldness and bravery impressed Cory, but Cory knew that none of his sons would be able to leave home safely.
Coincidentally, a few days later a group of young German soldiers turned up in Bezier asking for help. Corrie had no idea how they heard about his 10 Boom and its work.
“I don’t want to work for Adolf Hitler anymore,” one of them confided. “We don’t kill Jews. Will you help us?”
The approach of the soldiers in broad daylight heightened the danger, but Collie accepted the danger and let them in. Like her Jewish and Dutch divers, these Germans needed a way to disappear.
I needed distraction and a courier to carry my baby. Cory told Hans and others at Bezier about the problem, and everyone wanted to help. “We will save them,” said one of the boys. When Collie asked how he steals, he said,
She told them she could help.
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The soldiers readily agreed. If they were to blend in, they would need plain clothes anyway. I made it
Still, the rescue was complicated. Walter, Felix, and Henriette planned to team up with Betty, a 17-year-old nurse, and her gozmit her Ordkerk to smuggle children into backpacks, boxes, shopping bags, or laundry baskets. From there, they need to be escorted to a nearby hideout that can accommodate several hours.Henriette enlists the help of Johan van Hulst, the principal of her Reformed Teacher Training College next door, who takes the children to his home. agreed to hide in the building of He then planned to work with underground organizations to transport the children by train or tram to Limburg or Friesland, where they would be transferred to receiving families.
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A collie “soldier” appears to have provided the escort.
All 100 babies were saved.
Adapted from “The Watchmaker’s Daughter” By Larry Loftis, published by William Morrow. Copyright © 2023 by Larry Loftis. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers.
