Elisabeth Rose Wijler-Kolthoff

This person is commemorated on a memorial in Apeldoorn. More information on this memorial can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.

In the summer of 1942 the Wijler family went into hiding. Jacob Wijler and Elisabeth Kolthoff hid in Epe, their daughters in Apeldoorn. In February 1943 both parents heard that their daughters were betrayed and deported. Jacob Wijler and Elisabeth Kolthoff committed suicide shortly afterwards. In Apeldoorn there is a memorial stone for the family.

See for more information the following website.

De familie Wijler bestond uit Jacob Samuel Wijler (1884), zijn vrouw Elisabeth Rose Wijler-Kolthoff (1887) en twee dochters Martha Rose (1919) en Rose Helene (1922). Alleen Rose Helene is in Apeldoorn geboren. Sinds 1920 woonde het gezin in Apeldoorn. Jacob was in dat jaar benoemd als docent Frans aan de Koninklijke HBS, later ook aan het gymnasium. De oudste dochter Martha Rose voltooide in Apeld…

It is still an extremely sensitive topic: suicide during the Second World War. Historians have not known what to do with it for a long time. What is the place of suicide in war history?

Remarkably little has been written on this subject and there seems to be no list of names or memorial books at all. The Digital Monument (www.joodsmonument.nl) offers a place where relatives, sometimes for the firs…