us-005578-irn513021-irn513937
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Small, rectangular, brown paper calendar for the year 1944, adhered to the bottom of a rectangular piece of brown cardboard with a curved top, covered with white paper on the front. The calendar has a page for each month from June to December, with perforated top edges. Each page is printed with the month and year, the days of the week, and the days of the month in rows in dark blue ink. The cardboard has a hole at the top center for a knotted loop of thread. At the top is a hand drawn colored pencil image depicting 2 men carrying a load of cheese in front of an ornate building decorated with suns. Several dates in the calendar are circled in faded ink. back, upper left, handwritten, ink : KG(?)
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 January-1944 February, 1944 February-1944 June
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 4
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 5
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 3
has or had some members with language: nld
has record set type: Item
history: Rachel (Chelly) de Groot was born on August 8, 1927, in Amersfoort, Netherlands, to Meijer and Sophia Swaab de Groot. Chelly had a brother, Levie (Louis), born on June 28, 1929. Chelly’s father Meijer was born on October 9, 1897, in Utrecht, to Rachel Bloemendaal de Groot. Meijer had five siblings. Chelly’s mother Sophia was born on June 10, 1900, in Utrecht, to Meijer (1877-1934) and Heintje van Leeuwen (1878-1935) Swaab. Sophia had six siblings. In 1932, the family moved to Arnhem. Meijer owned a hardware and electrical appliance store. The family was comfortable but not wealthy. They attended synagogue weekly and observed every holiday. Chelly and Louis were members of a local Jewish youth organization. Meijer and Sophia were involved with the Jewish Refugee Committee and assisted Jews fleeing from Germany. After the Kristallnacht pogrom occurred in Germany and Austria in November 1938, they took in an Austrian Jewish Kindertransport refugee, Eva Haller. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. Meijer found a taxi driver who was willing to take them to a port city in the west so they could go to England. They could not get out because the Dutch army had flooded the roads. The Netherlands surrendered on May 14. The German authorities gradually implemented anti-Semitic measures. Jews were no longer allowed to swim in public pools or go to the parks. They were only allowed to shop between 3 and 5 PM. In late 1940, Chelly’s paternal uncle Israel was arrested and jailed on suspicion of working with the resistance. He had a trial and was released in February 1941. Mass deportations began in July 1942. On November 16, 1942, Dutch police warned Chelly’s family that a raid was planned for that night. Chelly and Louis stayed the night with one of Meijer’s employees, Herman Lagenbach. Meijer and Sophia arranged to hide with a neighbor, but he refused to let them in the next day. They went to Hilversum, where Chelly’s paternal uncle Israel was in hiding. He had cont…
history: The calendar was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Louis de Groot, the brother of Rachel de Groot.
identifier: irn513937
is or was included in: us-005578-irn513021
record resource extent: overall: Height: 6.875 inches (17.463 cm) | Width: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Handmade calendar made by 16 year old Rachel “Chelly” de Groot for her 14 year old brother Louis while they were in hiding in separate places in the Netherlands in 1944. Chelly copied an image of the Alkmaar Cheese Market, depicting two men carrying cheese in front of the Alkmaar Weigh House. Louis received the calendar after Dirk Onderweegs, the resistance member Louis was staying with, visited his family in February 1944. The calendar displays June 1944 because Louis and the Onderweegs had to flee their home in June, after they were turned into the Gestapo for their resistance activity. Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940 and implemented anti-Jewish restrictions. In July 1942, the Germans began mass deportations. On November 16, 1942, Chelly, 15, Louis, 13, and their parents Meijer and Sophia left Arnhem and went into hiding. Meijer and Sophia hid in Amsterdam while Chelly and Louis moved around to different locations. In summer/fall 1943, Chelly went to Amsterdam to live with her parents. In December, Louis was sent to Lemmer to live with the Onderweegs family. In February 1944, Dirk Onderweegs visited and offered to take Chelly to a safer hiding place. On April 8, 1944, four days before Dirk was to return, Chelly and her parents were denounced and arrested. They were sent to Westerbork transit camp, then to Auschwitz. Chelly and Sophia were killed upon arrival in Auschwitz on May 22, 1944. Meijer was selected for a work detail and was killed on September 30, 1944. Louis remained in hiding with Onderweegs until liberation in mid-April 1945.
title: Handmade 1944 calendar made by a hidden Dutch Jewish girl for her brother