the story of Ruth Lipschits-de-Leeuwe WW2 & holocaust survivor

I was born in Haifa, Palestine, in November 1936. Palestine then was a British Mandate. In 1933 my parents got married and immediately emigrated to Palestine. They both were Jewish and very idealistic and part of a Zionistic movement. My father has been a busdriver and musician in the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1939 my parents decided to travel – by boat – to the Netherlands to show me to the family. I was 2 ½ years old and I don’t have any memories of Palestine. We have been 8 weeks on a boat. In February 1940 my brother Ruben has been born in Rotterdam; we were living near to our family. The next very dramatic happening in my life was the German bombardment of the city of Rotterdam. For the whole of the Netherlands the real beginning of the Second World War. This I can remember very well. I was completely hysterical. We had to leave Rotterdam and found a short shelter with friends in the center of the country. I remember almost permanently sitting under the table, refusing to eat, being terribly frightened. Then the organization of the Resistance found us a house in Bennekom near the rest of our family in a village were a lot of Jews were accepted to live temporarily. One of my last nice memories before hiding was the visit of my grandmother, arriving in a coach with horses, celebrating our half a year birthday. (I have been born on the birthday of my grandmother). That was the last time I ever saw her and I deeply loved her. After the war my parents found out that she was gassed in concentration camp Auschwitz (15 oktober 1942, 61 years old). About two months later my mother told me that my brother and I were going to stay with a very nice aunt for a while – no, and I didn’t know her. No, we could not take any toys with us.