Sara de Leeuw. Collection

Sara de Leeuw was born on 4 October 1921 in Winterswijk, the Netherlands, as the daughter of Abraham de Leeuw (born on 27 August 1886 in Arnhem, the Netherlands) and Belia Philip (born on 11 July 1885 in Gorenlo, the Netherlands). Sara had three older brothers named Hartog Israel (born in 1914), Rudolf Maurits (born in 1917) and Arie (born in 1918), and two younger brothers named Sallie (born in 1924) and Karel (born in 1928). The family still lived in Winterswijk when Nazi-Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. On 10 April 1943, Sara de Leeuw was interned at camp Vught, near the Dutch-Belgian border. She wrote several letters and postcards to her friend Annie Boekelder in Lichtenvoorde (probably Anna Boekelder, born on 25 August 1923, who married Gerrit Koenders on 4 May 1943). The texts contain references to Sara’s deported parents, the forced labour performed by several of her brothers at Moerdijk, and everyday life issues such as Annie’s upcoming marriage. Sara was deported from Vught to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 15 November 1943 via Transport 80. Neither she, nor her parents and brothers survived the war.

The digital copies of documents and photos in this collection were donated to Kazerne Dossin by Wim Heus.

Wim Heus, 2015