Meijer de Groot (1897-1944) and his wife Sophia Swaab de Groot (1900-1944) owned a hardware and electrical appliance store on Rijnstraat in the city of Arnhem, The Netherlands. After being warned of a forthcoming round-up of Jews, the de Groot family left their home in Arnhem to go into hiding in November 1942. Louis (b. 1929) and his sister, Rachel (1927-1944), hid in several dozen places throughout the Netherlands. Rachel eventually joined her parents at their hiding place in Amsterdam, while Louis made it to the home of Dirk and Ann Onderweegs in Lemmer in January 1944. Rachel and her parents were denounced on April 8, 1944, arrested by a Dutch policeman who was a childhood friend of Meijer's, and sent first to Westerbork and then to Auschwitz where they perished. Louis stayed with the Onderweegs until August 1946 when he entered the Jewish Boys Orphanage in Amsterdam. He fought for Israel in 1948, briefly returned to Holland, and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he married and had two sons.
See related footage of the Vigevanos visit with the small white dog Tippy in RG-60.4840. See also RG-60.4836 for similar footage of Sonsbeek Park. For more artifacts related to the de Groot family, see USHMM collections with accession numbers 2003.155 and 2009.341
Mother Sophia de Groot's sister Esther, her husband Max van der Stam, and their son Freddy visited Arnhem probably in 1937. The entire family rides a carousel in a city park. 01:21:30 CU from behind of Max, the man with a hat, watching the carousel go around. In another round, the riders include one of Sophia's sisters, Mietje Vigevano and her small white dog Tippy, next to Freddy, cousin Henny, and Louis. 01:21:53 Crowds of people moving along sculpted flower gardens in Sonsbeek in summer 1940. Cut to a brief glimpse of a different park outing with Sophia walking the family's small black dog. Back to Sonsbeek gardens in bloom with the teahouse in the BG. 01:22:29 Newborn baby in a carriage, then CUs as it is held by mother. Flowers in the park again.
Riding the merry go round and walking along gardens in prewar Netherlands