Wedding portrait of Emanuel Louis Kats and Henderina Eliasar.
Overview
- Caption
- Wedding portrait of Emanuel Louis Kats and Henderina Eliasar.
- Date
-
1941 December 03
- Locale
- Amsterdam, [North Holland] The Netherlands
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Rozette Kats
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Rozette Kats
Keywords & Subjects
- Photo Designation
-
INVASION & OCCUPATION -- The Netherlands -- JEWS -- Religious Life
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Rozette Kats is the daughter of Emanuel Louis Kats (b. 4/5/15) and Henderina Eliasar (3/26/21). She was born on May 27, 1942 in Amsterdam where her father and mother did tailoring. Emanuel had been previously married to Mania Krell, and Rozette has an older half-brother from this marriage, Naftalei Solomon (b. 5/3/39). Emanuel and Henderina went into hiding with their newborn daughter almost immediately after Rozette's birth. They had several different hiding places throughout the country including in the home of Henderina's older brother, Erwin Eliasar (b. 2/23/14) and his non-Jewish wife, in Vaals. However, after a feared betrayal, Rozette and her parents returned to Amsterdam in February 1943 and hid in the apartment of an unmarried nurse who was also in the resistance. The Kats family washed and hung up the baby's diapers indoors. However, despite this precaution, someone noticed that a family was hiding in the apartment and denounced them. The nurse contacted others in the resistance for help. They in turn made contact with the Van der Wegs who, following the death of their own two children to disease, had agreed to hide a child. Emanuel and Henderina brought Rozette to the Van der Weg home, which was in the same neighborhood as the nurse's . They also visited her a few times before the Van der Wegs requested that they stay away because of the danger for all of them. Rozette was given the false name of Rita Van der Weg, and the Van der Wegs claimed she was the child of a sister who had lost her home during the bombing of Rotterdam. In the meantime they legitimized her staying with them by having her registered under her false name into their family booklet. Mr. Van der Weg worked as a buyer for a Dutch engineering firm that constructed engines for ships and trucks. The Germans seized control of the factory shortly after the occupation, but Mr. Van der Weg managed to engage in sabotage activities in the factory. A few weeks after Rozette went to live with the Van der Wegs, her parents were rounded up and sent to Westerbork. There, Henderina gave birth to a younger son, Robert on August 20, 1943. A few months later, on November 16, 1943, the family was shipped to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Henderina and Robert were gassed upon arrival on November 19. Emanuel was sent to perform slave labor, but he subsequently also perished on March 31, 1944. After the war, Rozette's only surviving relative, Erwin Isaac Eliasar, wanted her to live with him. A custody battle ensued between him and the Van der Wegs. Though he won custody, Rozette had to remain with the Van der Wegs. Erwin Isaac became her legal guardian, and she visited him every year for two weeks. During the ensuing years, she asked her uncle questions about her mother and other family members, but his pain and lost were too heavy to respond. Only in 1984, when Rozette herself was a mother of two children, did he give her a copy of her parent's wedding portrait. Rozette remained in the Van der Weg home until she turned nineteen. Though they had become her foster parents, the Van der Wegs never adopted Rozette. When Rozette asked her foster father in 1995 why they never formally adopted her he answered, "How could we also have taken your name away from you?"
- Record last modified:
- 2008-07-18 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1134086
