Hyman and Elisabeth think the Antwerp area is becoming too dangerous for Jews. They leave their house at Van Steenlandstraat 47 and go into hiding in Schaarbeek where they find a hiding place at Emiel Verhaerenlaan 34. This will probably be possible through a resistance helpline. Rebecca Lelie, a sister of Elisabeth, lives with her nineteen-year-old daughter Henriette (Jettie) nearby at Van Havrelei 17 in Deurne. A third Lelie sister, Sientje, also lives nearby, in the Karel De Preterlei in Borgerhout. The three of them meet in the spring of 1944 for a small family reunion at the Schaerbeek hiding place. Despite all the caution, things go wrong there. Rebecca with her daughter Jettie and Sientje with her deaf son Hans are just visiting when the ‘Sicherheitspolizei’ (Security Police) invade. They probably weren't snitched, but it was a fateful coincidence. The people in hiding receive food vouchers from the resistance and the Nazis track down that aid circuit. This also brings Dam-Lelie's family into their sights. The entire family is arrested and Anna van Dam Antwerp, 1925, dies in 2013 and is taken to the Dossin barracks. From Mechelen they were deported to Auschwitz on May 19, 1944 with transport XXV. This applies to all eight members of the family who are in Schaerbeek on that day: Hyman van Dam, Elisabeth Lelie, Anna and Branca van Dam, Rebecca Lelie, Jettie Swaalep, Sientje Lelie and Hans Bakker. Only Anna van Dam and her cousin Jettie Swaalep survive the extermination camp after nine months of terrible camp life. They explain how that small miracle can happen in the 2009 documentary ‘Anna's stille strijd’ by directors Tom Linszen and Willy Lindwer. This film can be viewed on YouTube, among others.
Source: Struikelstenen in Deurne | Stadskroniek by Cultuur Stad Antwerpen - Issuu