Thread by @RudiGeerts

@AuschwitzMuseum 1/n Henriëtte Pimentel rescued hundreds of Jewish children from the Nazis
Henriëtte Pimentel was a Jewish teacher and resistance woman. As director of the Jewish crèche opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg, she helped hundreds of Jewish children find a hiding place during the

@AuschwitzMuseum 2/n Second World War.
Henriëtte had been the director of the Jewish crèche since 1926. Her modern ideas about childcare were given ample scope there. Frank Hemminga immersed himself in this part of Henriëtte's life: "The mothers took their children to daycare. There the

@AuschwitzMuseum 39/n headmistresses checked the children for lice: if you had more than 20, you had to go home. The children were well fed and They took a bath. There was always a doctor who supervised. There was playing, crafting and singing all day long. For the poor Jews from the neighborhood

@AuschwitzMuseum 4/n who took their children to the nursery, this meant a lot. from the day their children returned clean and well-fed; weary, but satisfied."
The war came and life at the crèche changed completely. Frank: "Jews were arrested and taken to the Hollandsche Schouwburg pending

@AuschwitzMuseum 5/n deportation. Because there were so many of them, the theater quickly overflowed. Then it was decided to take the children to the crèche across the street. were taken away, the children had to go with them was intended."
More than 600 children rescued
Henriëtte Pimentel saw

@AuschwitzMuseum 6/n her chance; she and the resistance devised a plan to get the children out of the nursery and thus save them from persecution. A well-oiled machine of resistance work emerged from the crèche. Employees took the children out of the crèche unseen and handed them over to the

@AuschwitzMuseum 7/n resistance, which found hiding places for them. More than 600 children have been saved in this way.
But with many more children this has not been possible. In the end, most did not escape deportation. Thousands of children and employees of the Jewish crèche did not survive

@AuschwitzMuseum 8/n the war, including director Henriëtte Pimentel. In 1943 the crèche was vacated by the Germans. Director Pimentel was arrested and taken to Westerbork. Not much later she was deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered immediately upon arrival.
Child with the children

@AuschwitzMuseum 9/9 She was involved in the nursery until her death. Even from Westerbork she wrote letters full of ideas for after the war. Esther Shaya: During my research I was surprised how modern Henriëtte Pimentel's ideas were. She was a child with the children."

@AuschwitzMuseum I still owe you all this: Henriette Pimentel, and the "Creche" or nursery.