Correspondence

Identifier
RA024-04
Language of Description
English
Dates
1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 2019
Level of Description
Series
Languages
  • Dutch
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

Extent of descriptive unit: 3 postcards, 1 envelope, 5 letters, 3 emails, and 1 photocopy of a hand drawn map and key identifying individuals in a photo of Sorensen’s Jewish Montessori Lyceum in Amsterdam.

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Louise Stein Sorensen was born in Rotterdam on February 12, 1929 to Isidor Stein and Marianne (Jeanne) van Dam. Her sister, Eleonore, was born in 1923. Sorensen’s immediate family moved from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in 1936.Sorensen’s father ran a fur coat factory; the business was appropriated in 1941. In June 1942, Sorensen’s family home and all its contents were confiscated by the Nazis. After their home was expropriated, the family was moved to Amsterdam and placed in what would become the Jewish ghetto. They were temporarily protected by an exemption list, which was cancelled in January 1943. After their exemption was cancelled the family went into hiding, with help from a non-Jewish relative in Hilversum who was able to help them attain forged identity cards and their first hiding addresses. At her first address, Sorensen used the false name Loes van Boven. She was separated from her parents and sister and moved from home to home around the Netherlands. Sorensen had help from members of the resistance.Sorensen and her parents were reunited in the fall of 1943 and hidden by a farmworker and his wife in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. They stayed inside in an attic every day until mid-April 1945 when Canadian soldiers liberated the area. While Sorensen’s parents and sister survived, they later found out through the Red Cross that nearly all of their extended family had been murdered in Sobibor, Auschwitz and in Minsk and Transylvania.Louise Stein Sorensen graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a degree in Social Psychology in 1956. She married Eigil (Ike) Kaergaard Sorensen in her home town in January 1959. Shortly thereafter, she moved to British Columbia with her husband, a Danish immigrant who already resided there. They had two sons and three grandsons. Sorensen has been an outreach speaker for the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre since 1985 and was a VHEC board member for ten years. Additionally, she was a member of the Gesher Project, a group of survivors and children of survivors who met regularly to create painting, writing and discussion about the Holocaust. Sorensen is a founding member of the VHEC’s child survivor group and a member of the board of the World Federation of Child Survivors of the Holocaust.

Archival History

Records were in the custody of Sorensen prior to their acquisition by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre in 2019.

Acquisition

Records were donated by Sorensen in 2019.

Scope and Content

Series consists of records generated by the correspondence between Sorensen and family members, as well as emails between Sorensen and individuals from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. Records include handwritten and typed letters, postcards, and emails. The letters and postcards were primarily typewritten on a typewriter, with two postcards being handwritten. The series includes an envelope addressed to Loesje Stein.

Accruals

Further accruals are note expected.

System of Arrangement

Items have been arranged chronologically by the archivist according to the date of creation of the item.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

The items in this series demonstrate signs of aging, handling, and storage. This is evident through the visible effects of airborne, transferred and intrinsic pollutants.

Finding Aids

  • Item level description available.

Archivist Note

Series arranged in July 2019 by Ally Bebbling.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.