Hans Aussen collection

Hans J. Aussen was born on April 9, 1926 in Amsterdam, Holland. His father, Asser Maurits Louis, who was born in 1891, worked as a representative of several a bicycle parts’ manufacturers. His mother, Rosette Aussen Moscoviter took care of Hans and his older brother, Benjamin Salomon (Benno), who was born in November 1922. The family was not particularly observant, but both boys had their Bar Mitzvah. The family attended the Jacob Obrecht synagogue in Amsterdam. Benno and Hans attended public Dutch schools but in 1941 they were transferred to a Jewish School. In the summer of 1942 Hans Aussen acquired false identification papers for a name of Johan Smit. In July 1942 the Aussen family received an order to report for deportation to work. Rosette Aussen did not trust that they would be indeed taken to work and the family decided not to obey the orders. They decided to seek a hiding place for the whole family. Within two hours they packed their belongings and walked with their suitcases to Jan van Galenstraat 179 in Amsterdam. The act of walking in itself was daring. The Aussen family stayed with Mrs. Mulder, a Dutch schoolteacher, who hid them in her attic. There was no toilet in the attic and Mrs. Mulder had to remove the waste without being noticed. The Aussens paid for their food. In November 1943, Mrs. Mulder died and the family had to look for another hiding place. Mr. Poss and Mrs. Scheres and their two children, who lived on Banstraat 19 in Amsterdam and were active in the Dutch resistance movement, took them in. The Aussen family stayed with them, on and off, until the liberation on May 5, 1945.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum collection, gift of Hans J. Aussen

The collection was donated the the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Hans Aussen in 2001.