Thread by @shannara77

(1/7) Elias Bloemkoper could have celebrated his 86th birthday. He was born 26-03-1935 as the son of Victor Ephraim, 18-08-1909 and Jetje, 07-05-1910. Elias had 3 siblings:
> Jacob, born 22-04-1934
> Roza Marianne, born 06-10-1936
> Abraham, 04-09-1938
They lived in Leiden.

(2/7) Victor was cantor and religious teacher. The first year of the war life was quite normal. The children played with the other children in the street, but in 1941 it started to change. The children had to leave their own school.

(3/7) More and more things became forbidden for Jews. Early 1942 Elias drew this drawing of children in the playground.
He wrote on it "Voor Jooden verbooden" or "forbidden for Jews".😢
In the spring of 1943 they were advised to go into hiding.

(4/7) They did not want that for fear that the family would then have to be split up. They had told their next-door neighbors that Jews had always been the persecuted people. They knew they could be deported to Poland but thought they would, as a family, only have to work hard.

(5/7) In the night of 5/6 March 1943 the first raid in Leiden by the Sicherheitspolizei (in short: Sipo) took place. The Bloemkoper family was also picked up.
During this arrest Jetje lost her identity card. From the train station in The Hague they were deported to #Westerbork.

(6/7) On 10-03-1945 the family was deported to #Sobibor. On 13-03-1943 they arrived and were all, but Victor, immediately killed.😢
Miraculously he was selected for labor. Victor even wrote 2 cards📷to his parents in law and to the Jewish council.
He had to write them in German.

(7/7) On 30-04-1943 he was shot with 69 other Dutch Jews.😢

A beautiful family no longer existed. Killed because of hatred.

Victor & Jetje, we will remember you and your beautiful children Elias, Jacob, Roza Marianne and Abraham😢💔🕯️✡️
Story in Dutch:
docplayer.nl/319269-Ter-her…