Extended family visits with the de Groots in Arnhem
Creator(s)
- Mr. Louis de Groot
- Meijer de Groot (Camera Operator)
- (Subject)
Biographical History
Meijer de Groot (1897-1944) and his wife Sophia Swaab de Groot (1900-1944) owned a hardware and electrical appliance store on Rijnstraat in the city of Arnhem, The Netherlands. After being warned of a forthcoming round-up of Jews, the de Groot family left their home in Arnhem to go into hiding in November 1942. Louis (b. 1929) and his sister, Rachel (1927-1944), hid in several dozen places throughout the Netherlands. Rachel eventually joined her parents at their hiding place in Amsterdam, while Louis made it to the home of Dirk and Ann Onderweegs in Lemmer in January 1944. Rachel and her parents were denounced on April 8, 1944, arrested by a Dutch policeman who was a childhood friend of Meijer's, and sent first to Westerbork and then to Auschwitz where they perished. Louis stayed with the Onderweegs until August 1946 when he entered the Jewish Boys Orphanage in Amsterdam. He fought for Israel in 1948, briefly returned to Holland, and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he married and had two sons.
Scope and Content
Louis and Rachel on new bicycles in the alley adjacent to their house on Rijnstraat in Arnhem. They ride towards the camera waving. Cut to various family members in suits, along with Louis and Rachel, walking towards the camera on Rijnstraat, then in the alley, on the occasion of a visit by Meijer de Groot's brothers, Salomon, Izak, Mozes, and his sister, Julia van Leeuwen, and their children, Florence and Louis de Groot, Henny Cohen, and Elly van Leeuwen. The family was most likely brought together to bid farewell to cousin Louis de Groot who had prepared to illegally escape Holland for England in early May 1941. 01:04:01 LS, People's University near the back of the alley, with (from left) Mozes, Florence, Elly, and Saloman walking, Louis goofing off to their right, and Rachel, Julia, and Henny standing by the entry door to the family home. 01:04:15 CU, Salomon de Groot with glasses and cigarette enters the house, prompted by the cameraman. Louis follows into the house.
Note(s)
The alley adjacent to the de Groot family home led to the People's University Building, which functioned as a community center where various organizations would hold meetings or religious services. For more artifacts related to the de Groot family, see USHMM collections with accession numbers 2003.155 and 2009.341
People
- de Groot, Louis.
Subjects
- BICYCLES
- CITIES
- JEWS
- STREETS
- FAMILIES
- NETHERLANDS
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
Places
- Arnhem, Netherlands
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.