23 September 1938 | A Dutch Jewish girl, Carla Alice Schaap, was born in Amsterdam.
Carla was the daughter of an Amsterdam notary. When her parents were forced to move to the Amsterdam ghetto in early 1943, Carla was placed in hiding. Her father obtained false identity papers for her under the name “Carla van IJsselstein.”
She was hidden in Laren together with three Jewish sisters: Esther (17), Lena (12), and Julia Zilverberg (10). They were taken care of by Josephina Simonis, who ran a small children’s home.
On 15 November 1943, members of the Rotterdam police’s “Group X” raided the house and arrested Josephina and the four children, who were taken to a detention center in Rotterdam and, on 10 December 1943, transferred to the Westerbork transit camp.
On 8 February 1944, Carla and the Zilverberg sisters were placed on a transport to Auschwitz. To relieve pressure on the Westerbork hospital, this transport included 400–500 sick and vulnerable Jews.
The train arrived at the ramp between Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp on 10 February 1944. Upon selection, 142 men and 73 women were registered in the camp. Carla, the three Zilverberg sisters, and 796 other people from the transport were immediately murdered in gas chambers.
Josephina Simonis was deported to Ravensbrück, where she perished in the winter of 1945, one day after her 60th birthday.
The portrait of Carla comes from
joodsmonument.nl/ (source Ronald van Gelder)