Louise Charlotte Warendorf was born 7 September 1904 in the parental home at Tolsingel in Utrecht as daughter of the paper manufacturer Louis Warendorf and Charlotte Elias. According her daughter Wera, she was a soft and artful woman and she had attended a conservatory course as concert pianist.
At the age of 18 she married 19 September 1922 in Utrecht the medical doctor Willem Gerard de Haas, born in Amersfoort (1891-??), a son of Roeland de Haas and Agnita Antonia Schimmel. However, the marriage lasted only four years. They divorced 14 October 1926.
After the divorce, Louise started as a pupil nurse in the Wilhelmina Gasthuis in Amsterdam. In 1928 she got acquainted with Gerhardus Bohlander (1894-1971). Gerhardus was born in Amsterdam as son of Gerhardus Anthonius Bohlander and Johanna Henrika Olsen. At that time he was married to Maria Wilhelmina Kemner, with whom he had three children. Bohlander fell in love with Louise and decided to divorce his spouse, which was pronounced on 13 August 1928. What Gerhardus and Louise also brought together was that they were both communist and a great admirer of the Soviet-Union and its leaders. Those years both were members of the C.P.H. (Communist Party Holland), the predecessor of the C.P.N.
On 6 February 1929, Louise and Gerhardus went to live together in the Jan Pieter Heijestraat in Amsterdam. They had two children: Wera Bohlander (1929-2007) and Pjotr Bohlander (1931-1933). It is not known whether Bohlander married Louise. If they were, that marriage certainly did not have taken place in Amsterdam.
Their admiration for the Soviet-Union was so great that Gerhardus and Louise decided to live in that country. In 1932 they left for Russia with the little Wera. After having lived for some time in Moscow, the family moved to Charkov. There Gerhardus became a transport leader.
After some time, daughter Wera got poliomyelitis and because no adequate treatment was possible in Russia, Louise and her daughter returned to Amsterdam. Wera was nursed for a long time in the Wilhelmina Gasthuis. The nursing and treatment however could not prevent Wera from much suffering of this illness throughout her life. In 1935 Louise and Wera returned to Charkov.
The relationship between Gerhardus and Louise was no longer good and the couple decided to live separately from each other. Wera stayed with her mother, who had found a job in the local hospital of Charkov.
At the outbreak of the war between Germany and the Soviet-Union – 22 June 1941 – the family still lived in Charkov. Because they had begun to hate the Communist regime in the meantime, they welcomed the German troops as liberators. This war brought Gerhardus and Louise back together and they decided to live together again. After the occupation, all non-Russians had to report. The choice was given to them: or working as an interpreter for the Feldgendarmerie or compulsory employment in German. The latter was not an option for the Jewish Louise.
A year later, on 21 September 1942 Gerhardus and Louise were arrested as the Germans had found out that Louise was a full-Jewish woman. Gerhardus was accused of accommodating Jews. Wera, 12 years of age already – ( as half-Jewish) - was not arrested. She was left alone in the parental home. Fortunately, her neighbours helped her as much as possible but she also roamed on her crutches about the city.
It was Wera not allowed to visit her mother, who was imprisoned in the Polizeigefängnis in cell 47. However, she was allowed to bring clean clothes every week and take back the dirty good which was often under the blood.
One day, Wera walked again through the street where Louise was imprisoned. Suddenly, she saw her mother who looked awful. Her shoes were broken and tied together. She was succoured by two men, because she could hardly walk. Wera shouted as hard as she could her mother who looked up and saw her too. Wera stated …..”I will never forget how intensely sadly she looked at me and shouted: be tough,“toekele”. That’s what she called me.”. That day, she asked the German guard post where her mother stayed. The answer she was told….. ”there is no point in waiting for her”
Finally, Wera too was arrested by the Germans an put on the train. Also her father was on the train but she saw him only shortly. Through Halle, were she has been deloused and registered Wera arrived in Erfurt, where she had to work in a shoe factory. After some time she still was arrested and deported to concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. In that camp, she got number 88686 tattoed on her arm, deloused and shaved bald. How it is possible that the Wera, walking on crutches, has been able to survive the period - she has spent two years in that camp - is special. She could only achieve this with the help of people who were well disposed towards her and who helped her with danger for her own life.
After the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russian Army, she was made available as interpreter as she spoke the Russian and German language fluently. Back in Moscow she heard that her father was still alive.
Bohlander was deported to a number of German concentration camps (Gross Rosen, Reichenau, Nordhausen, Dora and Ravensbrück) but survived the hard ship. After his return in Holland, on 19 June 1945 he contacted his first wife, to whom he got married again after some time.
Back in Amsterdam, Wera went living in that family. However, her stepmother did not accept her and Wera decided, when she was old enough, to leave that home.
Wera married 20 November 1953 the widower Bertus van Colle (1924-1986). She moved in with him at the address Ambonstraat 9 ground floor. Bertus was a taxi driver and Wera worked as telephone operator with the Municipal Medical and Health Service (G.G.D.) at Nieuwe Achtergracht 100.
She passed away in Amsterdam 3 Maart 2007.
Published by the editors of the Jewish Monument 12 June 2018.
Author: Tom Verwaijen.