Barry Spanjaard papers

Barry Spanjaard (1929-1998) was born in New York in 1929 to Alfred (1903-1945) and Abigail (née Abigael Sophie Roozeboom, 1901-) Spanjaard, Dutch citizens who had immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. Alfred and Abigail married in New York City in 1927. The family moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1932 so Alfred could take over the family antique business after his father’s death. After the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, the family had some protection due to Barry's American citizenship. On 2 April 1943, Barry’s grandmother was deported, and on 6 April 1943 Barry’s family was deported to the Westerbork transit camp. They were briefly sent to the Amersfoort concentration camp before being sent back to Westerbork. On 31 January 1944 they were deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They were released for repatriation to the United States in January 1945 as part of a prisoner exchange for German soldiers. Alfred, who was already in poor health, died in Switzerland soon after. Abigail and Barry returned to the United States in February 1945 on board the MS Gripsholm. While in a military school in Virginia, Barry wrote a manuscript in secret chronicling his Holocaust experiences. The manuscript was found years later in 1978, and with the aid of his wife Bunnie Spanjaard, his memoir was published in 1981 as Don’t Fence Me In! An American Teenager in the Holocaust.