United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Leo Van Praagh was born on July 6, 1930 in Scheveningen (The Hague). He was the third child of Maurits Van Praagh (b. Sept.24, 1902) and Judith Polak Van Praagh (b. June 29, 1903). Leo had two older sisters Rosalie (b. March 20, 1925) and Bela (b. December 8, 1927) and a younger brother Benjamin Bob (b. Nov. 16, 1935). Leo contracted polio as a baby and he was operated on many times. In July 1942 Leo’s parents arranged a hiding place for him in Hilversum, with a nurse. His mother joined Leo after a short while. Unfortunately the nurse married a pastor who was a collaborator and denounced many Jews. Leo was placed on a farm with Pieter Linders, where he was treated very well. Rosa and Bela were hidden separately and Maurits was hiding on a farm. In June 1945 Judith came to pick Leo and miraculously all members of the family survived, but all cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents were deported and murdered. Leo immigrated to Israel in 1950, where he met and married Eva Sophia Frankenhuis (b. May 3, 1924- October 8, 2012) in 1952. They have two children, a son who was a physician and a daughter, a teacher.
folder 1
The collection includes photographs depicting the Van Praagh and Polak families a photocopy of the journal written by Therese (Tesi) Wertheim. The journal, written immediately post-war, describes Tesi's describers her wartime experiences between May 10, 1940 and April 3, 1945, including when the Germans invaded Enschede in the Netherlands, the arrest of her son, Martin, who was killed at Mauthausen in October 1941, anti-Jewish legislation, life in in the underground in Enschede, and the aerial attacks on the city.
Van Pragh, Polak, Elias, and Wertheim families collection