Louise van IJssel was the youngest of the three children of Salomon van IJssel and Anna Wolf, born 1 November 1920 in Den Haag. She had a brother Daniel and a sister Rosa, who were killed during the Shoah, juist like her father. Her mother died however already on 5 March 1934, when Louise was 14 years old.
Louise’s father was a poulterer in Den Haag. There he moved with his family a number of times: they lived at Korte Houtstraat, at Stille Veerkade, at Grote Marktstraat, till they came living at Oranjeplein 47 on 2 March 1927. When her mother passed away there in 1934, her father had to find accommodation for his children elsewhere.
On 22 May 1935, Louise came in the Israelitic Orphanage at Pletterijstraat 66 in Den Haag. where she probably was enabled to follow a vocational training in childcare and for which she obtained a diploma. Only on 2 March 1939 did Louise return home at Oranjeplein 47.
Seven months later, Louise van IJssel left Den Haag for Amsterdam, where she was registered at the address Weesperplein 1, the “Joodsche Invalide” on 16 October 1939. There was also the J.V.V.V.V. the Jewish Association for Nursing and Care where Louise was educated as a nurse. At the time of the mandatory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands, Louise was registered as student nurse at the Joodsche Invalide, reason why she got a “Sperre because of function” from the Jewish Council and for the time being (“bis auf weiteres”) she was exempted from deportation.
On 23 March 1942, Louise left for Rotterdam, where she came working in the Jewish Hospital Megon Hatsedek, located at Schietbaanlaan 42. She worked there for seven months and 8 October 1942 she returned to Weesperplein 1 in Amsterdam. As a result, she did not have to witness the eviction of the Jewish Hospital of Rotterdam on 26 February 1943. Then 200 sick, elderly and children and 61 male nursing staff were deported via Loods 24 to Westerbork and from there on 2 March to Sobibor, where they were immediately killed after arriving there on 5 March 1943.
Yet Louise van IJssel did not escape such a terrible experience; after she worked again as a nurse in the Joodsche Invalide on 8 October 1942, then four months later, on 1 March 1943, the Joodsche Invalide was “emptied” by the Germans. Then 256 people, nurses and staff werd deported to Westerbork and from there to Sobibor, where the large part of the deportees were killed in the gas chambers on 13 March 1943. Only a few people managed to escape, including possibly Louise van IJssel.
On 16 March 1943, Louise was registered at the address Nieuwe Kerkstraat 135 in Amsterdam and through the Jewish Council she was still able to work as a nurse in the N.I.Z. the Dutch Israelitic Hospital at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 104-110. Therefore, she got a so-called “Ausnahme- Bescheinigung N.I.Z.”, an ultimate exemption from deportation, after more than 5500 Jews were arrested in Amsterdam on 20 and 21 June 1942 during large-scale raids. Amsterdam then was almost “Judenfrei”. Prisoners were carried off to Westerbork and all exemptions for deportation were cancelled.
On 13 August 1943, the three Jewish Hospitals in Amsterdam, ( the N.I.Z.- Dutch Israelitic Hospital, the P.I.Z.- Portuguese Israelitic Hospital and the C.I.Z.- Central Israelitic Hospital) were evacuated by the German occupier, with most patients and staff being deported via Westerbork to Auschwitz.
Louise van IJssel, and a colleague male-nurse Robert Charles van Messel, whom she already knew from her training as a student-nurse at the J.V.V.V.V in the Joodsche Invalide, were tracked down and arrested on 16 August 1943 by two policemen from the special department of the Municipal Police Amsterdam, “serving for Bureau Joodsche Zaken” (Jewish Affairs Bureau), at Noorder-Amstellaan 244.
Louise van IJssel and her colleague male-nurse Robert van Messel thus became the victim of the “Jew hunt”, commissioned by the Jewish Affairs Bureau. The police report 227 of that day, drawn up at 20:55 p.m. in the Amsterdam police department 15, showed that they were not arrested during a raid, but they would be picked up by car the next morning at 09:00 a.m., to be taken to Noorder-Amstellaan 244, where the notorious Colonne Henneick had moved to since the end of June 1943.
It is possible that Louise and her colleague were still in detention in Amsterdam, because Louise van IJssel and Van Messel did not end up in Westerbork until on 26 August 1943, where Louise was locked-up in the penal barrack 67, but that is not known for her colleague Van Messel. Both were deported to Auschwitz on 31 August. Her colleague lost his life eventually in Auschwitz on 31 March 1944, but Louise van IJssel was immediately killed on arrival there on 3 September 1943 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Salomon van IJssel and of Louise van IJssel; City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Louise van IJssel and police report 227 re. the arrest of Louise van IJssel and Robert van Messel; website Open Archieven, birth certificate 1 dated 2 January 1882 from Uden and the death certificate 912 dated 6 March 1934 from Den Haag, both for Anna Wolf; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Louise van IJssel; website S.A.Rudelsheimsticting; Wikipedia website Joods Weeshuis Pletterijstraat 66 Den Haag, website Joods Erfgoed Rotterdam (Schietbaanlaan); Book Kopgeld, page 12 by Ad van Liempt and the book ”Jodenjacht”(Jew hunt)pages 8-18 by Ad van Liempt and Jan H. Kompagnie re Bureau Joodsche Zaken (Bureau Jewish Affairs) and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.