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Haim Roet papers

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 2010.137.1

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    Haim Roet papers
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    Overview

    Description
    The Haim Roet papers consist of pre-war, wartime, and postwar photographs of Haim Roet; his family, wearing Star of David badges; his rescuers, Anton and Adelaide Deesker; and his brother Josef’s rescuers, Reinier and Margaret Veerman. Additional photographs depict Prims family weddings (Josef and Mathilda Prims, Maurits and Betty Prims), a 90th birthday celebration, a Jewish school in Amsterdam, and rescuers Max Leons and Arnold Douwes. The papers include a May 1945 postcard from Josef Roet in Dedemsvaart to his parents updating them on his and Haim’s situations as well as a July 1945 postcard from Aaltje Norden, who was also hidden at the Deeskers with Haim, sending greetings from Emmen.
    Date
    inclusive:  circa 1930-1981
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Haim Roet
    Collection Creator
    Haim Roet
    Biography
    Haim Roet (1932-2023) was born Hendrik (Henk) on July 10, 1932 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Shlomo Pinchas Roet (b. 1892, Amsterdam) and Johanna (Yohanna) Roet (née Prims, b. 1898, Alkmaar). He had three brothers, Josef (Yosef, b. 1926), Abraham (Avraham, b. 1928), and Aaron (Aron, b. 1930) and two sisters, Rozinna (Rosientje, b. 1922) and Adela (Adele, b. 1924). His parents came from modern middle class orthodox Jewish families, and they lived in Amsterdam in Minervalaan. Following the German occupation of the Netherlands, Haim had to wear a yellow star badge and was barred from playgrounds, parks, public transportation, and public school. In 1941 Haim’s grandfather was widowed and the family moved in with him in the center of Amsterdam. In 1942, SS and Dutch Police confined Haim’s family in the Jewish Theatre with more than a thousand Jews waiting for transfer to Westerbork and then deportation to concentration camps. The Roet family was released after a week and moved to a newly established ghetto. Haim shared an apartment with his parents and brothers, and his sisters lived in a second apartment with their grandfather Abraham. In September 1943, the SS arrested Abraham, Rozinna, and Adela. When the SS came for the rest of the family the following day, Johanna resisted arrest by yelling at them in German until they left.

    Johanna and Shlomo contacted the Resistance who found hiding places for the family. Haim’s parents were hidden in a small attic with Avraham. Haim was assigned the name Hendrik Drees and hidden in several places in Nieuwlande with the help of Johannes Post, Arnold Douwes, and Max Leons before being moved to the home of Anton and Adelaide (Alida) Deesker. The Deeskers owned a small bakery and had three children, including a son who coincidentally was also named Hendrik. Haim posed as their nephew. The Deeskers also hid another Jewish man and his mother, Robert and Aaltje Norden. Haim attended the local school until the principal, who suspected he was Jewish, told him not to return. Haim’s brother Josef was hidden by the Jo and Bep Scholten and then Reinier and Margaret Veerman.

    Following liberation in May 1945, Shlomo and Johanna were reunited with their three sons, thanks in part to Red Cross notices tacked to trees. Haim learned that his grandfather and uncle Isaac were killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz in 1944, his sister Rozinna died of typhus in Auschwitz, and his sister Adela survived Auschwitz but succumbed to poor health shortly after liberation. His aunt Hendrika, his adopted brother, Yossi, and most of his other uncles, aunts, and their families perished in the Holocaust. Haim and his parents settled in Israel in 1949, and Haim changed his name from Hendrik. He married his wife Naomi and had three children and many grandchildren. In an effort to make the Holocaust more personal, Haim initiated the “Unto every Person There Is A Name” memorial project where the names of Nazi victims are read in public around the world. Yad Vashem recognized the Veermans as Righteous Among the Nations in 1981 and the Deeskers in 1983.

    Physical Details

    Language
    Dutch Hebrew
    Extent
    6 folders
    System of Arrangement
    The Haim Roet papers are 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

    Personal Name
    Roet, Haim, 1932-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Haim Roet donated his to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010.
    Record last modified:
    2023-07-05 13:30:18
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn39504