Pijnacker 24 July 1978
With Henk and Carrie De Wit at their home
Written by Janny (Marianne Betsy van Praagh/ Miriam Bezek) (1917-2015)
With related stories at the end of the document by Marianne (Jonnie) Van Praagh-van Der Eijk (1923 -2019)
and list of names of the people in this story.
"Memories of a Greengrocer"
That is how Henk wanted me to write the interview. Uncle Sallie came to Henk– living at Verwersdijk 124, Delft. He came to the vegetable store to take potatoes and vegetables. The Jews were not allowed at that time to shop at non-Jewish stores, but Henk gave him the vegetables. Once Uncle Sallie asked him if he could hide Jettie and Jacki (the children of Selma's eldest sister). Henk was living at the time as a single man and he could find them a place in a monastery, but their parents couldn’t part with their children who were quite little at the time, 2 and 4 years old. Afterward, Henk offered Uncle Sallie a place in his house when it was necessary for Uncle Sallie. [Sallie was not hiding because he was married to Nel who was not Jewish]. Later, Uncle Sallie asked if he had a place for Uncle Manie and Aunt Dien and their two sons Nico and Antoon. But they had no money to pay for their board. So, Henk and his girlfriend Carrie decided to take Uncle Manie with his family anyway. And later Uncle Aäron van Praagh and his wife Jet and daughter Mimi, Mau Van Praagh, Jacques de Zwarte, Selma's boyfriend, and later Janny and her brother Max. Henk supplied the vegetables; the meat was arranged through Uncle Sallie who got it from the shipping-agent Buitelaar who lived near the Vliet. He transported the cows, etc. and so he made it possible for Sallie to sell meat (black market we called that) to the butchers. So, he earned the money he needed for the family who was in hiding. The additional supply came through Uncle Sallie and some canned goods from a friend, Jan. Aron, and his friend both were fans of the football team V.U.C. Also, sometimes there was money through Jan, and food ration coupons brought by Uncle Sallie. Van der Broek, who was a supervisor at the gas company at Delft, made sure that they did not shut off the gas and electricity to Henk. And that is how we lived in hiding above the greengrocer store for about two years, as was also described in the diary of Ann Frank. Tante (Aunt) Nel, the wife of Uncle Sallie, had a brother who worked in a barbershop on the Kneuterdijk in Den Haag (called v.d. Poel, an exclusive expensive barbershop), and once he casually mentioned to a customer that he was cutting the hair of a family in hiding. Sitting in the barbershop was another customer who was in the German Security Service (SD). That night, the brother was arrested and beaten so he was forced to tell what he knew of the matter. That is how the SD arrived at Uncle Sallie and Tante Nel the very same night. The SD knocked on the door, dragged them out of their beds, and took them to the prison on the van Alkemadelaan. In this prison, were also the members of the underground. That is how the place received the name "the Oranje Hotel". Living in the home of Uncle Sallie and Tante Nel was a teacher, Mrs Bruinsteen who taught in Delft, and she managed to warn Henk and Carrie on that early Monday morning. Carrie said that now Henk had to go into hiding and she would remain at the shop at Verwersdijk in Delft. Jan helped find an address where Henk could hide. Uncle Aäron with Tante Jet and their daughter Mimi went to friends, and neighbors from some time back. Janny and Max went to a girlfriend of Janny from high school, Annie Ottenhof. There they were able to stay only a few nights because Annie's boyfriend was also hiding there after he had refused to work for the Germans. After that Janny and Max spent some time at Tante Annie and Uncle Jaap until they found us another place to hide. The others also had left Delft, except Uncle Wolf and Uncle Manie, Tante Dien, and their two sons Antoon and Nico, who remained there, and the Germans took them. This was on September 17th, 1943. On Friday, the Germans (SD) came and forced Carrie to say where Henk and the others were. At that time Carrie was not yet married to Henk, and the whole time she just said she didn't know anything. They took everyone to prison. They put Carrie in a cell with Tante Nel. On the 19th of January 1944, they moved Tante Nel to Vught, a concentration camp in the south of the Netherlands (near ‘s Hertogenbosch). Carrie spent six weeks in prison, and she kept telling them that the people who lived with Henk were people who had come from Scheveningen because they were building bunkers there as a line of defense against a British invasion. Carrie was interrogated many times, but she told the same story over and over again. After Carrie was released from prison, she contacted Henk through Jan. Another traitor, a collaborator with the Germans who had known the van Praagh family in Rijswijk, followed her and wanted some of the money "that she must have earned from those Jews". He tried to tempt her, and he told her that he had friends in the SD, but Carrie was not fooled, and she said: "Tell your friends that they can come and see me". Henk also moved from one address to another and finally went into hiding in Bezuidenhout, where Gideon Loeb, a collaborator with the Germans, had been killed. All through the neighborhood, house-to-house searches were being conducted. Henk hid in a closet in the house of a prostitute where he had taken refuge. Again, Henk had to change his hiding place, but he had nowhere to go and so he went into hiding with Carrie, where they had been before. And eventually, others arrived too, who did not want to work for the Germans. At the end of '44, no one was receiving ration coupons for potatoes and in that winter, the hunger began. And everyone had to go out on the hunger trek. Henk obtained a bike belonging to the supervisor of the gas company who stole the bike from his boss. Treks in winter, icy paths, a lot of them fell. They wanted to go to the south of the Netherlands, south of the major rivers. The south of the Netherlands was liberated by then. From the Delft underground they received an address with a code word (No. 66). They came to Heukelom and Henk identified himself as "No. 66". The man from the underground was so anti-German it was suspicious to Henk. The man said he would kill all the Germans, and at that time it was already impossible to express oneself that way. They continued to the Waal River, to try and cross the river at Brakel. Without a special warrant, it was impossible to cross the rivers. Near the ferry, Henk happened to bump into a former colleague, a potato dealer, and he said: “Act as though you are working for me so you can get across. Load a sack of potatoes on your neck and that's how you will get across.” Carrie could not come with them, so they returned, Carrie disguised herself as a man, and that's how they were able to take her along. From there they continued to de Biesbosch – to cross the Maas River into the liberated territory. They could not cross because there was shooting, and shells were flying all around them. So, they had to return, going back the same way. They offered to farmers to help them in exchange for lodging. They were given work peeling brown beans with a farmer in Zuilichem. A farmer offered Carrie accommodations and she agreed on condition that the three others would also be given a place. And so there they stayed in that area until the end of the war. Meanwhile, Toon was taken to dig ditches for the Germans. Then Henk went to the secretary of the place and said to him: “If you do not release this boy, you will see what happens. I'll throw you into the river”, and so Toon was released. After the war, Henk and Carrie returned to Delft on a bicycle without tires. After the war, there were harsh reactions by some of the Dutch who said: “You must have earned plenty of money from those Jews”.
= = = end = = =
Additional stories by Jonnie at her home in Den Haag, 2012.
Jonnie is the 3rd daughter of Sallie & Nel
Marianne (Jonnie) Van Praagh-van Der Eijk (1923 -2019)
A.
When Sallie and Nel were taken away in the night, the four children of them had to stay in one room and could not do anything because there was a man from the Germans who had to take care of them. The address in Vlaardingen where the brother of Nel came for cutting the hair was betrayed by the brother of Nel. So those people were taken away the same night. Nel in the beginning did not tell the address in Delft, fortunately, the brother of Nel did not know that address. For two days she did not tell me the address but finally, she had. Telling the Germans also said that Sallie did not know it either and he could not go to Delft because he was not allowed to travel – by Jonnie
… They (SD) seized my father Sallie and he sat for six weeks at the ‘Oranje Hotel’ and then was released, and no one knows why. My mother Nel was always telling the Moffen (Germans) that my father did not know anything and was not involved in it.
Hiding in our house for different periods of time were Mau, Leo van Praagh, Selma, and others.
Here is one story that I remember:
Leo was in hiding with us and Selma got a false ID card of Zus.
Selma came back to Rijswijk on September 17, 1944, from the south of the Netherlands. At that time, all the south of the Netherlands, the area below the major rivers, was already liberated and Selma wanted to celebrate the liberation of Holland in our home at Rijswijk with the family.
But the Allies did not succeed at the battle of Arnhem and so the northern part was not liberated, and the war continued on until May 1945.
And so, Selma had to go into hiding again. She stayed for a while with Uncle Sallie and Aunt Nel, but the risk of staying with family was too great, and since she was a nurse, she got a job in a maternity home in Rijswijk where she also could live. The family gave her Zus' identity card.
One day, again, there was a search at the home of Uncle Sallie and Aunt Nel. At that time Leo van Praagh was living with them. Sallie opened the door to the Moffen and held them off with a lot of talks and so Leo had a chance to escape into the garden as Jonnie opened the back window for him. The children began to walk around among themselves, so the Moffen did not notice that one identity card missing.
- Willie (1925-1977) emigrated to South Africa in 1952 and died in 1977 (she is the youngest daughter of Sallie & Nel, sister of Toon (Anthonie van Praagh (1918-?), Annie (1921-?) and Jonnie (Marianne van der Eijk-van Praagh (1923 -2019)
People in this story:
Sallie Anthonie van Praagh (1884-1961)
Nel- Petronella Cornelia van Praagh-Blom (1890-1958)
Toon-Anthonie van Praagh (1918-2003)
Annie- Anne van Praagh (1921-1981)
Jonnie- Marianne van Praagh-van der Eijk (1923 -2019)
Willy van Praagh (1925-1977)
Wolf van Praagh (1876-1943)
Max van Praagh (1920-1944)
Janny-Marianne Betsy (Janny) van Praagh (1917-2015) [Miriam Bezek]
Jaap- Jacob van Praagh (1887-1963)
Annie- Johanna van Praagh-Labordus (1892–1986)
Manie- Emanuel Anthonie Van Praagh (1882-1943)
Dien- Dientje van Praagh-Kwetsie (1887-1943)
Nico van Praagh (1930-1943)
Antoon van Praagh (1928-1943)
Aäron van Praagh (1890-1943)
Jet- Judith van Praagh-Polak (1888-1943)
Tonnie Aron van Praagh (1917-1944)
Mimi van Praagh (1923-1981)
Mietje Frankenhuis-van Praagh (1907-1942)
Jettie- Jetje Frankenhuis (1936-1942)
Jacki- Isaac Sally Frankenhuis (1939-1942)
Zus- Marianne Bouthoorn-van Praagh (1911-1942)
Mau- Maurits van Praagh (1898 – 1993)
Maurits van Praagh (1902-1994)
Leo van Praagh (Den Haag 1930–Herzlia 2022)
