The van Hessen family was a liberal and highly artistic Jewish family. They were very close, and took a keen interest in literature and music. David van Hessen was a sculptor, photographer and painter, but since he preferred life as a first-rate amateur to one as a second-rate professional artist, he worked for an American timber company. With this job he could be a good breadwinner, he said. Even so, the arts played an important role in the family. With her beautiful voice and piano-playing, (Adelheid) Hilde Weil sang the most sentimental love-songs, accompanied by her husband David on the guitar or violin. Birthdays and holidays were always celebrated exuberantly with music, poems and speeches by and for the whole family. The house was always full of relatives, friends and neighbours.
In 1938, as the situation worsened for Jews in Germany, Hilde’s mother, Nannette Weil-Wertheimer, moved in with the family. Two months before the nazi invasion of the Netherlands, the eldest child left for the United States to work in his father’s company there. This child survived the war. The youngest child was placed in a hiding-place and also survived the war.
More information about this family can be found in the work of Edith Velmans-van Hessen Het verhaal van Edith: de oorlogsjaren van een Haags meisje (Podium 1997).
In addition, a Jokos file (number 13916) on this family is at the Amsterdam Municipal Archive. Access is subject to authorization from the Stichting Joods Maatschappelijk Werk.The Jokos file reveals that a claim was lodged for compensation for valuables surrendered to the Lippmann-Rosenthal looting bank (L-claim, number 5163/13155).