Imagine how Ellen Sanders and her husband Ben de Swarte must have felt during their transport to #Sobibor of June 8, 1943? They were parents of a 3-month-old baby who was taken away by the neighbor just minutes before their arrest on May 26, 1943. Ellen and Ben were deported to Sobibor without their daughter on the so-called children’s transport. Tsiwja survived as Carla. At Carla’s request, we share the story of her murdered birth parents.
Ellen Sanders was born in Amsterdam, as the daughter of Herman Sanders and Sara Maijkels. She lived in her childhood with her twin sister Vera and her younger sister Henny (1923) in De Lairessestraat in Amsterdam. In 1931 the family moved to Groningen due to her father’s work. After her final exams, she returned to Amsterdam in 1938 to study at the “school for social work” in the Pieter de Hoochstraat.
Herman Sanders was born in Wildervank and after finishing his studies he worked at the Polak company in Groningen. Polak is the inventor of the lemonade syrup Ranja. In 1901 he became a representative for the company in Amsterdam and from 1916 he was a member of the board of directors. Herman married Sara Maijkels on June 26, 1917. They had three daughters.
At the end of 1931, shortly after his sixtieth birthday, David Polak retired from the daily management of the company. Herman Sanders was director after this until December 31, 1940, when he was forced to resign by the Germans.
Herman held many administrative positions during his professional life. In Groningen the family lived in the Midsummer villa on Verlengde Hereweg.
Herman, Sara and their youngest daughter Henny were murdered in Auschwitz on January 28, 1944. Vera Sanders survived the war.
While in Amsterdam in late 1938, Ellen met Benjamin (Ben) de Swarte at a discussion evening. Within six months, Ben and Ellen were engaged. Ben was the youngest in the family of Abraham and Mietje De Swarte-Klepman.
Benjamin Ruben de Swarte studied at the University of Amsterdam from 1931 to 1937. On June 14, 1935, he passed the doctoral exam in commercial sciences (economics) and on December 2, 1937, he passed the doctoral exam in law.
Ben started his own accounting firm from his parental home in 1938.
The family of Abraham de Swarte and Maria (Mirjam/Mietje) Klepman included, besides Benjamin, Rebecca (Bep, b. 1904, and Rachel (Chel, b. 1908). The family also included, the younger brother of Maria, Benjamin Klepman (b. 1905), following the death of Maria’s parents.
Things were going well for the De Swarte family. They moved from the city center to the “better” district of Amsterdam East and in the 1930s to the new district of Watergraafsmeer. Abraham had a business in just-worn women’s and men’s clothing and later he also traded in furniture, office furnishings and antiques.
Abraham de Swarte and Benjamin Klepman perished in Auschwitz in August 1942. Maria survived the war, as did both of her daughters.
Ben de Swarte lived at various addresses in Amsterdam with his parents beginning in 1938. Ellen moved in with them at one point. During the first months of their marriage Ben and Ellen moved twice, together with Ben’s parents. From the Zuider Amstellaan, via the Corellistraat to the Diezestraat. From September 1940 Ben and Ellen had their own house on Velazquezstraat in Amsterdam. From here Ben also tried to continue his accountancy work. However, this became increasingly complicated by the anti-Jewish measures.
Ben de Swarte married Ellen Sanders a month after the German invasion of the Netherlands. The Chatoena was performed on June 9, 1940, in the Jewish learning house Beth Hamidrash Ets Haim at Rapenburgstraat 109, Amsterdam. The large hall of the learning house also functioned as a synagogue.
A grand celebration was out of the question, but Ellen’s parents placed several announcements in some newspapers.
In 1942 Ben and Ellen were forced to move to Plantege Parklaan in Judenviertel I. On March 10, 1943 their daughter Tsiwja was born here. She was given the Hebrew name for deer, after the sculpture Ellen liked so much.
Only 71 years after her birth would Carla (Tsiwja) see photos of her parents, which she received from a friend of her mother’s in Israel.
From early May 1943, as part of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” the number of deported Jews had to go up. Many roundups took place and betrayals were also the order of the day. On May 26, 1943, Ellen and Ben were also betrayed and taken from their home.
Ben and Ellen had an agreement with their non-Jewish neighbor that they would deliver their daughter there in case of a razzia. This is how it happened: when the neighbor saw what was happening in the street, she immediately ran to their back door. Ellen handed her the baby and Ben and Ellen then hid in the basement with Ben. They were soon discovered by the Germans and arrested.
Tsiwja was taken by train to Noordhoek in Groningen to a school friend of her mother’s. She could not stay there and eventually ended up with foster parents in Haren. They called her Carla. It wasn’t until she was 12 that she learned anything about her Jewish roots.
From camp Westerbork Ben and Ellen tried to get on the Palestine list. If you were on this list you were exempt from transport.
From Westerbork they tried to hurry, the Palestine list had to be prepared before June 8. On that June 8, 1943, the next transport left.
On June 7, 1943, the Jewish Council in Amsterdam informed the Emigration Department in Westerbork that placement on the Palestine list was not possible without a certificate. Ben and Ellen were therefore not placed on the list.
On June 8, 1943, the fifteenth train left Westerbork for Sobibor. On board were 3017 people. This was the train of the infamous Kindertransport. Ben and Ellen de Swarte-Sanders were also added to the train from Vught. What must this have been like for them. Wagons full of children, but they have not seen their 3-month-old daughter since May 26, nor do they know if she is safe.
Their lives – the lives of all 3017 men, women and children aboard this fifteenth transport – ended in Sobibor, on June 11, 1943. They were all murdered upon arrival
Carla survived the war in foster care, with whom she continued to live after the war.
It wasn’t until 2014 that Carla first met 96-year-old Hanni, her mother’s friend who washed her at birth.
“A clear voice on the other end of the phone line: ‘Who? … What are you saying? ‘Carla? It doesn’t tell me anything.’ Then I say very gently ‘maybe the name Tsiwja says something to you?’ There is silence for a moment on the other end of the line. ‘Tsiwja?’ it sounds then. Another short silence. ‘Just a moment please, I have to sit with this first.’ The old woman breathes a deep, audible sigh and then says, ‘I’ve been waiting for this call all my life’.”
Hanni explained to Carla that she had spent years and years looking for her. Hanni told Carla stories about Ben and Ellen. Ellen who was enthusiastic and so warm and welcoming; and that she loved children and could write well. Hanni had always kept the pictures she had of my mother that she took at my birth.
Carla is a frequent guest speaker and in 2016 wrote a book about her time in foster care and her life after the war.