De Groot family and friends gather for tea in Park Sonsbeek
Creator(s)
- Meijer de Groot (Camera Operator)
- Mr. Louis de Groot
Biographical History
Meijer de Groot (1897-1944) and his wife Sophia Swaab de Groot (1900-1944) owned a hardware and electrical appliance store on Rijnstraat in the city of Arnhem, The Netherlands. After being warned of a forthcoming round-up of Jews, the de Groot family left their home in Arnhem to go into hiding in November 1942. Louis (b. 1929) and his sister, Rachel (1927-1944), hid in several dozen places throughout the Netherlands. Rachel eventually joined her parents at their hiding place in Amsterdam, while Louis made it to the home of Dirk and Ann Onderweegs in Lemmer in January 1944. Rachel and her parents were denounced on April 8, 1944, arrested by a Dutch policeman who was a childhood friend of Meijer's, and sent first to Westerbork and then to Auschwitz where they perished. Louis stayed with the Onderweegs until August 1946 when he entered the Jewish Boys Orphanage in Amsterdam. He fought for Israel in 1948, briefly returned to Holland, and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he married and had two sons.
Scope and Content
Table and chairs set outside in summer, with the de Groot family and neighbors seated and drinking tea at Thee Schenkerij, a teagarden in Sonsbeek, probably in 1936. The neighbors owned a shoestore also on the Rijnstraat. An older man lights a cigar. Children, including Louis and Rachel, playing and crawling towards the camera. More shots of the adults lunching. Louis wearing a tea cozy as a funny hat marches towards the camera, simulating Napolean Bonaparte. MS, a mansion, and cows at the model farm in Sonsbeek. 01:09:20 Outside near the city street Jansbuiten Singel, mother Sophia posing for the camera, in 1937 or 1938. An outdoor scene with bicycle traffic, fountains, and Sophia walking towards the camera again and again, waving. Sophia took walks to recover from surgery.
Note(s)
See RG-60.4841 for more footage of Sophia de Groot and her mother in law walking outside near the city street Jansbuiten Singel. For more artifacts related to the de Groot family, see USHMM collections with accession numbers 2003.155 and 2009.341
People
- de Groot, Louis.
Subjects
- PALACES/CASTLES
- FAMILIES
- BICYCLES
- PARKS
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- NETHERLANDS
- EATING
- CITIES
- SUMMER
- PLAYING
- FARMERS/FARMING
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- JEWS
Places
- Arnhem, Netherlands
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film