Overview
- Description
- The collection documents the prewar, wartime, and postwar experiences of Clara Vromen, originally of Enschede, Netherlands, along with her mother Minnie van Dam, her grandparents Clara and Isidor van Dam, and her brother Jaap Vromen. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, a personal narrative, and clippings.
Biographical materials include identification documents, paperwork regarding Westerbork, and a list of gold and silver items owned by Isidor. There are also false identification cards for Minnie and Isidor under the names of Mininie Helene Lebeboer and Frederik Borger respectively. Other material includes Clara Vromen’s autograph book, personal narratives by Minnie in Dutch and English, and a collection of postwar clippings regarding hidden children in the Netherlands.
Correspondence includes wartime and postwar letters exchanged by Minnie, her sisters Hettie and Edith, her children, and her parents Isidor and Clara.
Photographs primarily consist of postwar family photographs, but also include prewar depictions of Minnie’s wedding and the family house in Enschede, and postwar depictions of Riek and Gerard Hoefs and their children, whom Clara Vromen hid with during the war. Also included are annotated photograph collages of the family in the Netherlands during the war. - Date
-
inclusive:
1927-2005
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Clara R. Vromen
- Collection Creator
- Clara R. Vromen
- Biography
-
Clara Renee Keren Vromen (also known as Clary) was born on September 27, 1931 in Enschede, Netherlands, to Abraham Vromen and Minnie van Dam. Minnie was born in Enschede on June 6, 1907 to Isidoor van Dam (1876-1952) and Clara Samson (1880-1964). She had two sisters: Hettie Wilhelmina van Dam (later Hettie van der Meulen, 1902-1975) and Edith Rebecca van Dam (1918-1988). Minnie and Abraham married on December 13, 1927 in Enschede.
Clara had one brother, Jaap Herman Vromen (also known as Jacob, b. July 21, 1930). Clara’s father was a businessman and head of Hachsara, a Zionist youth movement. The family immigrated to Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv. Minnie and Abraham divorced in 1934, and Minnie and the children returned to the Netherlands and settled in The Hague. Minnie studied to become a hospital assistant.
In May 1940 Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands. Minnie worked as a social worker, and received papers that protected her from deportation. By 1943 Minnie had gone into hiding under the false identity of Nellie Boorsman. She later used the false identity of Mininie Helene Lebeboer. Minnie hid her children first with two different families in Deurne, Netherlands. Jaap was later hidden with Annie (Anneke) and Johan Le Febre until liberation. Clara was hidden with a Catholic family, Riek and Gerard Hoefs and their children, in Utrecht, Netherlands. Clara remained in the house until liberation under the false identity of a cousin from Zeelandic Flanders.
Clara and her family were all reunited after the war. They moved back to their home in Enschede, but found that their apartment was occupied by strangers. The family then moved to Amsterdam. Clara moved to London in 1950 to study nursing, and immigrated to Israel in 1952. Both of Minnie’s parents were briefly imprisoned in Westerbork, but survived the Holocaust.
Riek and Gerard Hoefs were named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1977.
Physical Details
- Extent
-
1 box
1 oversize folder
- System of Arrangement
- The collection is arranged as a single series.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Righteous Gentiles Jews--Netherlands--Enschede. Hidden children (Holocaust)--Netherlands. Holocaust survivors. False certification.
- Geographic Name
- Enschede (Netherlands) Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Corporate Name
- Westerbork (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Clara Renee Keren Vromen.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-09-22 09:39:57
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn524112
Additional Resources
Download & Licensing
- In Copyright - Use Permitted
- Terms of Use
- This record is not digitized and cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Not Available for Research: Out for Digitization
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD
Contact Us
Also in Minnie Vromen family collection
The collection consists of a Star of David badge, clippings, correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the experiences of Minnie Vromen and her children, Clara and Jaap, while living in hiding in the Netherlands during the Holocaust.
Date: 1940
Unused yellow Star of David badge printed with Jood
Object
Uncut Star of David badge issued to the Vromen family in the Netherlands. Minnie Vromen, age 34, and her 2 children, Jaap, age 13, and Clary, age 12, were living in Enschede when Germany occupied the country in May 1940. Minnie's work as a social worker helped them escape deportation to Westerbork internment camp in November 1942. She decided to go into hiding and in February 1943 sent the children to Duerne where they were hidden in separate homes with non-Jewish Dutch families. They had to change hiding places several times during the war. After liberation in spring 1945, Minnie did not know where Clary was living. She placed her name on a register of missing people at a local synagogue. A few days later, Gerards Hoefs contacted her and told her that he and his wife, Riek, were Clary's foster parents. Clary was reunited with her family. She had renounced Judaism while in hiding and when they relocated to Amsterdam, Minnie enrolled her in Jewish schools. Both Minnie and Clary later emigrated to Israel.
