- Biography
- Albert (Bertje) David Hamburger is the son of David Abraham Hamburger (b. 1907) and Rosa Sophie Engers Hamburger (b. 1914). He was born on August 11, 1940, in Gorinchen, Holland where his father worked for the Phillips light bulb factory. From early 1943, Albert was hidden with his mother in Eindhoven while his father David Hamburger continued to work for Phillips. On December 24, 1943, Bertje's sister, Henriette Jettie, was born and soon after the two children were placed with Betty Bouten-Bergen in Amsterdam while Rosa Hamburger continued to hide in Eindhoven. At the end of May 1944, all Dutch Army officers were called up for a headcount by the Germans. When they arrived, the trains were already waiting to take them to a POW camp. David Abraham Hamburger was taken to Oflag XXIc in Schildberg, Germany - today Ostrzeszow in Poland. Several months after that, in the summer of 1944, an attorney in Amsterdam denounced Betty Bouten-Bergen and the additional Jews she was hiding in her home. The two children, 4 year old Bertje and Jettie who was six months old, were taken to the Westerbork transit camp. Betty was arrested as well and deported to Ravensbrueck concentration camp. From there she was transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where she was liberated in 1945. In Westerbork, the two children were cared for by Olga Kaplan, a Russian Jewish woman, whose husband Sergei also was employed by Phillips. On September 6, 1944, on the last transport from Westerbork, a group of so-called "Unbekannte Kinder" (Unknown Children) because their racial status was not established by the Germans, were deported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. On the transport list Henriette Jettie Hamburger, who died either on the train during the transport or shortly after the arrival of the children in Bergen Belsen, appeared as "unknown child" number 27 and her brother Alfred Hamburger appeared as "unknown child" number 29. On November 17, 1944 Albert and all other children from this transport were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp where they remained under the care of Olga Kaplan. While in Theresienstadt, Olga officially adopted Albert. In May 1945, they were liberated by the Russian army, and the "Unknown Children" were eventually transported back to Holland. Albert Hamburger and Olga Kaplan were repatriated to Eindhoven where Albert reunited with his own mother and grandparents who survived the war in hiding. Rosa Hamburger took her son from Olga and severed all contact with her. David Abraham Hamburger also returned from the POW camp. However, Albert's parents never spoke to him about his experiences, their experiences, his sister, or Olga Kaplan. A year after returning, David Hamburger was called up by the Dutch Army reserves and sent to the Dutch colony of the East Indies for military service, and returned again in 1948-1949. Albert's brother Jacob Edward was born in 1950. After many years, Alfred renewed contact with the family of Betty Bouten-Bergen and with Olga Kaplan. He and his wife Rachel, reside presently in Jerusalem.
