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The Netherlands
Describes the fear her family felt while in hiding
Describes the fear her family felt while in hiding
Carla Heijmans Lessing
Describes the fear her family felt while in hiding [1990 interview]

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Full transcript:
Some people had, in their hiding place, had another hiding place
where they thought they would be safer. We had nothing. Absolutely
nothing to run to or to hide in. Nothing. So we were exposed and
everything. Uh, this didn't happen, you know, but there were many
instances that the Germans would come in the barber shop and would
ask for a shave and the man who hid us would have to shave the
German soldiers and we would be upstairs and we would never know if
they wanted to go to the bathroom or not, you know, because the
bathroom was upstairs. So, I can't really tell you exactly how
frightened we were. I can't also can't tell you what we did because
it's like one day was like the other, and also it's you didn't really
want to think because you would hear things. We would get some bits
of information and they were all, like, you know, this man was
caught and this man was caught or this family was caught. We would
hear that and we didn't really want to believe it because we hoped
it wasn't true, and we would maybe be next.
Born Rotterdam, the Netherlands
1929

After invading the Netherlands in 1940, the Germans imposed anti-Jewish measures. With the aid of a Catholic priest who helped Jews find hiding places, Carla, her mother, and her brother went into hiding in August 1942 to avoid deportation to work camps. They had to leave the hiding place after three months and with the priest's help found shelter in Delft with a Catholic family which had seven children. They remained in hiding there for 30 months, until liberation in May 1945.
 
 
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