United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Pieterdina Sietsema (née Dyksterhuis or Dijksterhuis, 1878-1962) was born on 26 February 1878 in Noordwolde, Netherlands (near Groningen). Her father was Menko Dyksterhuis and she had two sisters and three brothers. She grew up in a Christian family on a large farm. She married Niklaas Hendrik Sietsema (1873-1929), a veteran of the Boer War, around 1906. The couple emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States and settled in Nyssa, Oregon where they had two daughters: Katherine (1911-1992, later Katherine Kamps) and Henrietta (1913-1983). The family moved to Amsterdam, Idaho around 1913 to operate a farm, and their son Gerrit (1915-1991) was born there in 1915. Her husband had asthma and died in February 1929. Facing financial hardships, Pieterdina and her children returned to the Netherlands in November 1929, and settled in Groningen. Katherine and Henrietta studied nursing, and Gerrit studied horticulture. In April 1938 Gerrit moved back to the United States and settled in Ripon, CA where he worked as a gardener. He was drafted and served with the United States Army in North Africa and Italy. After the war, he settled in Alameda, CA and worked at the Naval Air Station. He married Hilda Zomer in 1951. Hilda was a nurse and survived the war in the Netherlands. Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, and by 14 February 1942 Pieterdina, Katherine, and Henrietta were all imprisoned in Internment Camp V Liebenau. The camp housed civilians from foreign nations. They were released in March 1944 as part of a prisoner exchange, and returned to the United States aboard the MS Gripsholm. They eventually joined Gerrit in California. Katherine married John Kamps in 1961.
Copyright Holder: Ms. Anna Margaret Binder
folder 1
The collection is arranged as a single folder
The collection consists of two letters regarding the imprisonment of Pieterdina Sietsema and her daughters Katherine and Henrietta, all three American citizens, in Liebenau internment camp from 1942-1944. The first is a personal letter sent from Liebenau from Katherine to her brother Gerrit in California on 8 July 1943. The second letter was sent to Pieterdina from the United States Department of State regarding promissory notes issued to cover repatriation costs for her and her daughters to return to the United States aboard the MS Gripsolm on 7 March 1944.
Sietsema family papers