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Machseh Lajesoumim: A Jewish Orphanage in the City of Leiden, 1890-1943
Author(s): Jaap Focke (Author)
- Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
- Publication Date: September 21, 2021
- Language: English
- Print length: 384 pages
- ISBN-10: 9463726950
- ISBN-13: 9789463726955
Book Description
The building still stands there, proudly but sadly, to this day: the relatively happy period lasted less than fourteen years. On Wednesday evening, 17th March 1943, the Leiden police, under German instructions, closed down the orphanage and delivered 50 children and nine staff to the Leiden railway station, from where they were brought to Transit Camp Westerbork in the north-east of the country. Two boys were released from Westerbork thanks to tireless efforts of a neighbour in Leiden; one young woman survived Auschwitz, and one young girl escaped to Palestine via Bergen-Belsen. The remaining 55 were deported to Sobibor – and not one of them survived.
Some 168 children lived in the new building at one time or another between August 1929 and March 1943. This book reconstructs life in the orphanage based on the many stories and photographs which they left us. It is dedicated to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, but also to those who survived. Without them, this book could not have been written.
Editorial Reviews
Review
- Hannah L. van den Ende, Studia Rosenthalia, volume 48.2 (2022)
“This book fits in with the work done lately by remembrance organizations such as the Jewish Monument, Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre, and Project Oorlogslevens(‘war lives’) to give victims a name, a face, and a history. It also aligns with the current notion in Holocaust research to return Jewish people their agency by describing and analyzing their choices and actions or survival strategy to escape the Nazi persecution (Finkel 2017).”
- Peter Tammes, Can. J. of Netherlandic Studies/Rev. can. d’études néerlandaises, volume 42.1 (2022)
"Jaap Focke has produced in this superb book a depiction of the Holocaust in the Netherlands that is both moving and informative."
- B. J. O'Brien, 5-Star Amazon UK Review
"By focusing on the experiences of the individual orphans and their carers the author has given the story about the Jewish orphanage in Leiden an essential depth. A remarkable and admirable book."
- Prof. Dr. Hans Blom
“A study that should be used in Holocaust education; through this one example, the encounter with the enormity of the Holocaust can be better understood.”
- Prof. Dr. Dan Michman, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
“De indrukwekkende studie van Leidenaar Jaap Focke is de weerslag van uitvoering bronnen- en archiefonderzoek en gesprekken met betrokkenen en nabestaanden. Het is in toegankelijk Engels geschreven, veronderstelt weinig voorkennis van de lezer en heeft zo onmiskenbaar de ambitie een internationaal (jong) publiek te bereiken.”
-Ton van Brussel, Oud Leiden Nieuws (10/1)
"Het boek Machseh Lajesoumim. A Jewish Orphanage in the City of Leiden, 1890-1943 is in de boekhandel te koop, maar ook gratis te downloaden via de website van Amsterdam University Press. De weergave van de persoonlijke documenten komt echter vooral tot zijn recht in de gedrukte uitgave. En het zijn die documenten samen met de opgetekende verhalen en de leeftijden van de slachtoffers die het boek van Focke bij vlagen een vergelijkbare intimiteit geeft als het verhaal van Anna Frank. Het boek van Jaap Focke is dan ook zonder meer een indrukwekkend eerbetoon aan de kinderen en hun begeleiders die nu bijna tachtig jaar geleden zijn vermoord."
- Roeland van Wely, Sleutelstad, December 2021
About the Author
