Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Miriam Troostwyk - May 28, 1998 and June 3, 1999

Yeah.

That was if--when we heard then that they--that court and it--that this was false. We didn't know it was false, nobody knew it. But we were searching already for it, getting hiding. And uh, because I was mitching them, I always said, "I'm afraid, afraid and I want to go with my uh, girlfriend." And there was no school lessons anymore, there was nothing. It was--they were all gone already, to camps. And uh, I have to coordinate it. Um, so there was a--that couple coming from Den Dolder, in the evening. And we were having coffee and they were telling how beautiful everything was and they were always so friendly and laughing. And we didn't know--and I didn't know them. And I thought they are so familiar, what do they want from us? I don't like them. So in the evening when they left, everybody said, "Well, nice people." I said, "Well, it's no nice people. I don't like them. They are too nice." "Oh Miriam, why don't you like them?" I said, "They are false" "Why are they false?" "They are too nice." "Why are they too nice? They want that we get out." "They take all your money and then they give us over to the Germans, because he works for the Germans. I don't trust him and I don't trust her too. They are too nice. They are looking for money."

Hm.

And I think that wife is--on the birthday party in the film, when we all were together with the Jewish stars, on that uh, picture, because I couldn't figure out who that is and I think that was she. She was a tall woman. And uh, then the--they--oh, yeah, before that happened, uh, the other family was hiding and we knew they went to Velp. And we had the address from David Santcroos in hiding, they gave it. So how they got contact, I cannot tell you, I don't remember. But David had a hiding place for us. And we knew that short before we heard that that was false. He said, "In case of emergency, you can call these people and you can go there."

Do you think this was connected with the Underground?

I don't think so. I think it was people that David knew, a young couple...

Uh-huh.

with no children, I think, no. So the teacher came, when they got caught and that must have been the 6th of March, because the 7th of March we went in hiding.

1943.

Yes. We took off our stars. We went with the train and we are sitting in the train and who stepped out of the train, I didn't see him step out, Hans Rettinger. He was in his Hitler Jugend.

Your neighbor.

My neighbor. It was a boy from maybe fifteen or sixteen years and he was in a Hitler Jugend uh, costume. And nobody saw him, but I was looking outside the coupe and we had our stars off and he walked by. I will never forget that scene. And he looked in the coup...in the train, but he didn't see us. He looked like I look and I don't see you, but I look at this here, something like that. And the train, it closed and the train went. And I said, "Hans Rettinger just came out of the train and I'm very afraid. I think he saw us." And the man picked us up, that was the man, a young man uh, from the couple. He picked us up, because we didn't know where to go. And we were there--my mother and my sister and my brother-in-law and me, we were there for fourteen days. And then they came in the morning and they said, "You have to leave. We are afraid and you have to leave as soon as possible."