Elisabeth den Hartog was a daughter of Abraham den Hartog and Leentje den Hartog. She trained as a nurse in the Portugees Israëlitisch Ziekenhuis (Portuguese Jewish hospital) in Amsterdam. After living in Arnhem for a while, she moved to Rotterdam in 1929, where she worked at first as head nurse and later as director of the Israëlitisch Ziekenhuis (Jewish hospital) on the Schietbaanlaan.
Because of her position, Elisabeth received a Sperre from the Jewish Council. This Sperre entitled her to a temporary reprieve from the Arbeitseinsatz. When summons for the so-called work expansion in Germany were issued, Elisabeth admitted her father Abraham to her hospital as a patient. Her brother Simon came to work at the hospital as an orderly, and her brother-in-law Henri Frank became an assistant nurse. Elisabeth admitted as many sick as possible in the hope that they would not be deported. There were even patients in the hallways.
In November 1942 the SD raided the Israëlitisch Ziekenhuis on the suspicion that the Jewish resistance fighter Sara van Gigh was hiding there. Elisabeth was arrested at the orders of the Sicherheitspolizei and transferred to the head office of the police on the Haagseveer. On 11 May 1943 Elisabeth was deported to Camp Westerbork from the Rotterdam police station. On 3 March 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz.
J. de Moei, In het net gevangen. Een joods gezin in de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Ridderkerk, Rotterdam, Westebork, Polen (Rotterdam 2003) 12, 45, 51, 56, 58 and 70-71
Biography