Project 'Long shadow of Sobibor' Interview 12 Martin (Martijn) Haas Project 'Late gevolgen van Sobibor'

Martin (Martijn) Haas was born in Breda, where he spent his childhood together with his two sisters, Liesje (Elisabeth) and Roosje, and his brother Isaac. He is from a well-to-do family. The youngest children, Roosje and Martijn, went into hiding with two Catholic families and survived the war. The other members of the family were killed: mother, Liesje, and Isaac in Sobibor, father in Auschwitz. After the war Martin was adopted by a cousin of his father and his wife, the Oudkerk family in Amsterdam. The three of them emigrated to Nahariya in Israël in 1950; Martin graduated as an engineer here. Later he moved to America with his wife, also a survivor. There he studied biophysics and pursued a scientific career; together they have three children. After his divorce he married with An. Martin feels it is his mission as a sole survivor to defend, acknowledge, and remember his perished relatives.