"One evening the pastor of our congregation, Rev. H. Vogel, came to the door of the house at Molukkenstraat 10 in Enschede. He wanted to speak to my father. That in itself was nothing special, because father was member of the church council and knew Rev. Vogel well. But they secluded themselves in a room where they spoke in whispers. The next day we were told as children that a Jewish girl would come to us and we were immediately told that she was our niece from The Hague and that her name was Toosje. She came to live with us because of the famine in the West of the Netherlands. A few days later, Toosje was brought to us by Rev. Vogel."

My father Jan Apperloo wrote this on October 22, 2001 in response to questions from Mrs. Braunstein of the Israeli national research institute Yad Vashem in her letter of September 11, 2001. Yad Vashem had received information from Thirza Drori that she had lived in hiding in the parental home of Jan.

Toosje survived the war, left for Israel in 1958, learned Hebrew, changed her first name to Tirzah and married Rama Drori in 1969. We have had contact with her again since 1995 and met her in the Netherlands. From that meeting onwards I had contact with her by email and I also met her in Israel in 2006. She wrote the story of her life in an email in 2011.

Dear Marcel,

Finally I will send you some of what I am writing down from earlier times. You are one of the only ones who asked for it.

When I have finished putting everything on paper, I must of course also translate it into Hebrew, and then let my daughters read it. If you want, you can read it to your father. Your father gave me a nice New Year's wish. Thank you very much for it.

With many greetings from here,

Tirzah:

"I was born in 1935. My parents were Rosetta Godfried and Maurits van Praagh. I was their second child, Eva was before me, she was born in 1932. My official name was Cato, but I was called Toosje. I was called after my father's deceased mother, who was called Cato, or Kaatje. Eva was named after my mother's mother. We lived at Spaarnestraat 25 in The Hague, Holland and my grandmother Eva Godfried - Kisch lived at Zwetstraat 42. we were on our back balconies, we could have seen each other, because the Spaarnestraat and Zwetstraat are two streets parallel to each other and our houses were not far from each other. My grandmother was a seamstress and she made a lot of Eefje's and my clothes. Also she made delicious truffles. Whenever I see truffles, I think of my grandmother. But those are about the only memories I have of my grandmother. She, like my mother and sister Eefje, was gassed in a concentration camp in 1943. father was a meat wholesaler. Mother did not work outside the home. We lived in a house on the first floor. I liked to play outside and could often run around in the street with Eefje's doll pram and then jump on it. I don't think Eefje always liked that. Father was good at frying out washed-up fat. That left some crackling, which I really liked. The fat was then used for gravy. For Shabath, rice with raisins was cooked on Friday. The pan was then wrapped in newspapers and a blanket and placed in the hall cupboard. That rice was eaten on Shabath.”

The Van Praagh family lived at Spaarnestraat 25 in The Hague during the war years. The family consisted of:

Father Maurits van Praagh, born on November 11, 1898 in 's Gravenzande as son of Jacob van Praagh and Kaatje Frankfort

Mother Rosetta van Praagh-Godfried, born on August 3, 1907 in Meppel as daughter of Eliezer Godfried and Eva Kisch

Daughter Eva van Praagh, born on February 9, 1932 in The Hague

Daughter Cato van Praagh, born on October 16, 1935 in The Hague

________________________

Source: 0354-01.1389 Haags Bevolkingsregister Gezinskaarten van de gemeente Den Haag 1913-1939

Rosetta's mother lived in the street behind Spaarnestraat at Zwetstraat 42, The Hague. She lived there alone. Her husband Eliezer Godfried had already died in 1928. Grandma Eva Godfried-Kisch, born on December 5, 1879 in Groningen as daughter of Lazarus Kisch and Rozetta Sanders.

________________________

Sources: Burgelijke Stand Groningen, geboorteregister 1879, aktenummer 1552

Anti-Jewish measures

Immediately after the occupation of the Netherlands in May 1940, anti-Jewish measures started. First, Jews were no longer allowed to be members of the Air Protection Service. After September 1940, Jews with a non-Dutch nationality – such as the many refugees from Germany and Austria, but also those from Russia and Poland – were no longer allowed to live in The Hague. Most left for another place of residence in the Netherlands. In November 1940 the Jewish civil servants were suspended and in March 1941 they were dismissed. Parks, cinemas, the library, dunes and parks were considered prohibited areas.

Registration

On February 3, 1941, the Dutch authorities, on orders from the German occupier, announced that Jews must register with their municipality as Jews or “mongrel Jews”. Their data will be supplemented in the population register. To easily find their cards in the card indexes, they are given a "tab" with an extra 'J' or 'B'. Every registered Jew receives proof of registration to take home. The municipalities forward the registrations to the national Population Register in The Hague.

In August 1941 the numbers were determined: 140,552 Jews, 14,549 Half-Jews and 5,719 Quarter-Jews. There are 160,820 registrations. This gives the Nazis a grip on the Jews in the Netherlands. The responsible SS man Friedrich Wimmer describes it this way: 'This ensures us of a quick approach to all possible changes, for example relocations'. This registration makes it possible to remove Jews from the Netherlands. (Jüdische Auswanderung).

Due to the registration obligation of persons of full or partial Jewish blood, a form is also completed for Cato (5 years old) and Eva (9 years old). The form is available free of charge at a number of addresses in The Hague, but to obtain the Proof of Registration, an amount of one guilder must be paid for fees. At that time, Praagh's family lived at Spaarnestraat 25 in The Hague.

After September 1941, Jews were only allowed to visit Jewish meeting centers. Signs appeared everywhere in The Hague with the text 'Forbidden for Jews'.

Tirza:

"Furthermore, there were all kinds of restrictions for the Jewish population. Everything of value had to be handed in. People were no longer allowed to be in public spaces or use public transport. Jewish employees were fired by their employers."

Jewish Council for Amsterdam, The Hague office

The Jewish Council for Amsterdam was founded in February 1941 by order of the occupying forces as a coercive organization in which Jews actually had no say. It was a body without legal form. As of October 1941, the Jewish Council for Amsterdam also acquired a national function. From October 1941 to the end of September 1943, the office of the Hague branch of the Jewish Council was located at Hartogstraat 1 on the corner of Noordeinde 9. They were responsible for updating the address lists that the Judenreferat had at its disposal, which turned out to contain many inaccuracies. . The secretariat on Hartogstraat sent messages from the Amsterdam department to Jewish residents of The Hague, but also calls for 'departure' to Westerbork. Train tickets for Westerbork were also for sale at Hartogstraat 1. Jews were forced to pay ƒ 2.90 for their own deportation ticket. Lists for the items that had to be taken to Westerbork and 'to the east' were also available at Hartogstraat and at the information offices.

The Star of David

On April 29, 1942, the Nazis announced a new humiliation for the Jewish Dutch. From May 3 they must wear a mark: a six-pointed yellow Star of David with the word ‘Jew ’ in the middle. People can be recognized as Jews on the street by the star. The German occupier wants to further isolate Jews from the non-Jewish Dutch. Not wearing the star is severely punished. You can be sent to a concentration camp for it. The Jewish Council is instructed to distribute the stars to the Jewish Dutch in three days. They are required to purchase four stars per person for four cents each. Children from 6 years old must already wear it. A total of 569,355 Jewish stars are distributed.

Tirza:

"When the war broke out in May 1940, I was 4 years old. In 1942 I only started to notice it when I walked on the street with father. He always had a bag with him, which he held in front of his J-star, so that it could not be seen. Every Jew from the age of 6 had to have that yellow star sewn visibly on his clothes when he went outside. So did I. I also had a star like that, but because I was quite small, my father, that I was 5 years old and therefore did not have to wear that star yet.

Once I was with my father at the Sierkan store on the corner to buy milk or butter. There was also a German soldier there. Perhaps he was reminded of his home by me and bought me a pastry. My father must have found that very frightening. One hand holding the bag on his chest, so as not to show the star, and with the other hand doing his shopping."

Jewish school

Jewish children may no longer be in a class with non-Jewish children from September 1942. They are only allowed to attend Jewish schools at Bezemstraat 1-3 of Duinstraat 10 in Scheveningen. From December 1, 1942, all primary school children are obliged to go to Bezemstraat. Every week the Jewish children saw their class shrink as more and more children went into hiding or were picked up at home.

Tirza:

"Jewish children had to leave public schools. I went to a Jewish kindergarten in Bezemstraat. Father took me there on the back of his bicycle. After the war he told me that he also sometimes took the little boy David Brodman with him. Later David Brodman would become Chief Rabbi of Savion."

In hiding

In September 1942, Cato was taken by Antonia van Steensel and her foster sister Shuubs to the widow Johanna van Steensel, who also lived in The Hague at Van Speijkstraat 109. Toosje was not the only person in hiding at this address. A non-Jewish young man was already in hiding there. Later, two more Jewish children, Eddy and Mirjam Baune, were lovingly adopted into the family.

Tirza:

"At the end of August I was over 6 years old and already ready, with my school bag and everything, to go to the big school for the first time. But father took me to an address on Hofwijckplein. We went up some stairs and there I was left behind to see a film with Charlie Chaplin. I had never seen a film before. Then I was taken by two young ladies, who later turned out to be my first sisters in hiding. We traveled by tram to the house of the widow Anna van Steensel in the van Speykstraat.

What was told to me much later is that, while we were on the tram, I made a very wise remark, saying in the midst of all the passengers: "If I were still Jewish, I would not have been in the tram should be allowed to travel". Tonnie and Sjubs didn't know how quickly we had to get out of that tram. I was probably informed in advance that I should no longer think about my Jewishness.

In addition to mother Anna, the Van Steensel family consisted of 2 sisters, Cor and Tonnie and Sjubs, who also lived there. They were all around 20 years old. There was also an old gentleman, I don't know if he was a relative. A young man was also in hiding, probably because he would be called up to work for the Germans. Soon two more Jewish children arrived, Mirjam and Eddie Baune from Hilversum. I can't remember at all how we all lived together in that two-storey house. It must have been very tight.

Tirza:

"Mother Anna was a very strict Catholic. Every day I went to church on the Elandstraat and on Sundays I also went along. A prayer before dinner, a rosary after dinner and of course our night prayer in the evening. Of two angels standing by my bed, two angels for all kinds of things to guard me. Nothing was to be left on the plate at the table. Sometimes I couldn't eat it all, so I was given permission to stand next to the table for a while so that the food would sink a bit, then I could put some back into my body. Mother Anna wanted to have us, the Jewish children, baptized so that we could go to school, but my father did not agree. So I didn't go to school at all.

My seventh birthday was celebrated. There was a midnight mass at Christmas and I was very sorry that I didn't go. Of course I was in church during the day."

Hospitalized

At the same time, probably out of fear of the raids, Eva, Cato's sister, and Rosetta van Praagh-Godfried, Cato's mother, also went into hiding. It is not known exactly how that happened and where exactly they went into hiding. It was later discovered that Eva had been placed in a home in Apeldoorn and that Rosetta had been 'admitted' to the Oud-Rosenburg psychiatric clinic in The Hague.

Tirza:

"Jewish males of age were called up from time to time to be ready to be transported to a so-called labor camp. Father did not feel like it, or he knew that it was no ordinary labor camp. he admitted himself to a hospital to be treated for hemorrhoids. After that, mother was also admitted to a hospital. I can still remember that we went to visit her, her reactions before being admitted were not so approving at all. next call for father, my father somehow managed to contact the underground."

Father of Toosje

Maurits van Praagh was born in 's-Gravenzande on 11.11.1898, married on March 19, 1930 to the also Jewish Rosetta Godfried, born in Meppel, on August 3, 1907. That same wedding day, the couple moved into a house in the Spaarnestraat in The Hague. , at number 25. Maurits, a meat wholesaler, had lived in this city for some time, from March 19, 1926 at Weteringkade 84. On February 9, 1932, Maurits and Rosetta's first child, Eva, was born. Three years later, on October 16, 1935, a second, and last, child, Cato, arrived.

During the war, the Nazis halved this family. Rosetta's life came to a standstill in the gas chambers of Sobibor on March 5, 1943. She was 35 years old. Daughter Eva ended up in Auschwitz on January 25, 1943. She died two months before her mother, barely ten years old.

Father Maurits and daughter Cato, also called Toosje, survived the war. Maurits had an identity card in the name of Piconius Verbrugge from Dordrecht in his pocket and thus managed to avoid the hands of the occupying forces. Toosje said that he had his first hiding place in his hometown of The Hague, furthermore in Slagharen and De Steeg, “and perhaps at a few other addresses”. It is certain that he is hiding in De Steeg. A street in De Steeg is noted in pencil on the forged identity card, 'Hullekenb. w.” at number 12. This is the Hullekensberscheweg. This makes it clear that Maurits used the identity card there.

 After the war, he received three letters at the same time from the Dutch Red Cross on August 2, 1947, also included in that Yad Vashem file. It stated that his sister Jansje Lörsch-van Praag (The Hague, May 1, 1897), his brother-in-law Levie Isaac Lörsch (The Hague, May 27, 1903) and his nephew Daniel Jacob (The Hague, January 1, 1932) were also in Sobibor “by gas were suffocated and then cremated,” all three on May 28, 1943.

Of Maurits' other five brothers and sisters, three had already died around the beginning of the 20th century. Now that Jansje was also dead, only he and his sister Eva (The Hague, 29.10.1895) remained.

Rosetta van Praagh-Godfried, Toosje's mother, was in hiding in the Oud-Rosenburg clinic until she was deported via the Zuidwalkliniek to Westerbork on February 18, 1943 on the orders of the Security Police against the advice of the clinic. She arrived in Westerbork on February 19, 1943 and was housed in barrack 68. She was then deported from Westerbork to Sobibor on March 2, 1943. Three days later she was murdered in Sobibor on March 5, 1943, probably in the gas chamber.

Sister of Toosje

Eva, Toosje's big sister, was 8 years old when the war broke out. It is not known whether she, just like Toosje went into hiding in The Hague. It is known that she was admitted to the Apeldoorsche Bosch clinic on September 11, 1941. 

The Apeldoornsche Bosch was founded in 1909 by the 'Vereeniging Centraal Israëlietisch Krankzinnigengesticht' in the Netherlands (CIK). In modern, spacious pavilions, the mentally ill are treated according to the latest insights. Under normal circumstances, the Apeldoornsche Bosch can accommodate 750 mentally ill people. The number of patients rose to nearly 1,300 in December 1942.

This increase is the result of the transfer of Jewish psychiatric patients from non-Jewish institutions to Het Apeldoornsche Bosch. In addition, the setting is used as a hiding place. In Apeldoorn people thought they were safe and far from the event of war, as a result of which the institution is popularly referred to as the ‘Jew heaven’. It could not be imagined that psychiatric patients would be sent east to become ‘employed’.

Eva went into hiding in the Apeldoorsche Bosch clinic in Apeldoorn with the idea that she would be safe there. But then on April 1, 1942, the non-Jewish staff was fired. When Jews are no longer allowed to travel from June 1942, there are almost no visitors to Het Bosch anymore. Dark clouds gathered and on January 19, 1943, SS commander Ferdinand aus der Fünten ordered the evacuation of the entire complex. In the night of January 21 to 22, 1943, the German occupiers evacuate Het Apeldoornsche Bosch. Nearly 1,300 people, patients and staff, are transported to Auschwitz. Nobody returns.

10-year-old Eva van Praagh was one of them. She was murdered on January 25, 1943 in Auschwitz. The letter from the Red Cross states that she was killed by suffocation.

________________________

Bron: Het Apeldoornsche Boschtransport van 22 januari 1943 | Historiek online geschiedenismagazine

Historian Loe de Jong:

"The special train from Apeldoorn arrived in Auschwitz / Birkenau on Sunday 24 January. The sixteen nurses and thirty-six nurses were taken to the quarantine barracks of the immense concentration camp. Of the total of eight hundred and sixty-nine patients, some had died en route, and of the other patients, some ran away on the long platform; they were shot down."

Grandmother of Toosje

It is not known whether Toosje's grandmother, Eva Godfried-Kisch, has gone into hiding. Like her daughter Rosetta, she was deported to Westerbork on February 18, 1943. She arrived there on February 19, 1943 and was housed in barrack 64. She was then deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on February 23, 1943. Three days later she was murdered in the gas chamber of the Auschwitz extermination camp on February 26, 1943.

On April 23, 1943, the German occupier determined that no Jews were allowed to live in The Hague. Toosje went into hiding with widow Johanna van Steensel on the Speijkstraat in The Hague, but in early 1943 Toosje, Eddy and Mirjam were betrayed.  They were picked up and Eddy and Mirjam were sent directly to Westerbork. After spending a day in prison, Toosje ended up in the nursery opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam, where Walter Süskind was the administrator. At that time, De Schouwburg acted as a meeting point for all Amsterdam Jews. 

Smuggled out of daycare

After spending about a month in the daycare center, Toosje was smuggled out of the daycare center by the NV Group, part of the student resistance, and taken to an address where 15 to 20 Jewish children were still being hidden. From there she was taken to the De Haan family in Brunssum together with Marcus Roodveldt, one of the children from this group. Marcus was one and a half years old and seriously ill when he arrived in Brunssum. Mr and Mrs De Haan did everything they could to make the baby healthy again. He stayed with them until a number of years after the war.

Enschede, Overijssel

When it became clear that De Haan's neighbors became suspicious of Toosje, she was taken to Enschede, to the Apperloo family, in the summer of 1943. The Apperloo family consisted of father Marten, mother Frederika and six children and lived at Molukkenstraat 10 in Enschede, in the eastern part of the Netherlands, right near the German border. Father Marten was 48 years old at that time and worked as a coconut weaver in the Van Heek textile factory. He was active in the resistance and heard from reverend Vogel that a hiding place was needed for a group of children, including Toosje. The pastor brought Toosje a few days later. The Apperloo children played a lot with her. The children were told that Toosje was a niece from The Hague. From that time on she belonged to the family. She went to school at the Visserijstraat and played in the street with neighborhood children.

Co Slot-Apperloo

“God has wonderfully preserved her from treason.” Thus sighed a daughter, Mrs. Co Slot-Apperloo, when telling this story. "A German-minded family lived two houses next to us, one of whose sons was an ardent NSB member and member of the SS legion," Mrs. Slot-Apperloo continues. "That son kept asking us who that girl was and was suspicious of the story about the 'niece'. Nevertheless, he did not betray her."

Jan Apperloo:

"It must have been 1943 when the Apperloo family was directly confronted with the persecution of the Jews. One evening the house bell rings at Molukkenstraat 10. At the door stands Rev. H. Vogel, Geref. minister in Enschede. He is hurriedly entered. and a whispered conversation takes place in the "front room". The purpose of his visit and the mysterious fuss becomes clear a few days later: He brings a shy Jewish girl, about 7 or 8 years old, with jet black hair and the Jewish characteristic bent nose. Her name is Toosje van Praagh and she comes that evening from Limburg, [where she had been hiding in an abandoned coal mine for several weeks with some family members]. And from that moment on she is the niece Toosje Apperloo from The Hague, who is staying with uncle Marten and aunt Riek. It is a miracle that she can be picked up, healthy and sound, by her father, who appears to be the only one of the family still alive, quite soon after the war. In the immediate vicinity, namely on the Molukkenstraat 16, lived the S. family, who were all members of the N.S.B. A member of that family is even a member of the Dutch S.S. (Sicherheits-Schutz), complete in the hated black uniform with schwastika emblems and stomping boots.

One day Louis, Harry and Toosje were playing with their "flying Dutchman" on the sidewalk in front of the house. Jan is standing in the hallway next to the house watching the children playing, when he sees the SS man S. coming out of the front door of Molukkenstraat 16. When he reaches the playing children, he stops and Jan hears the following conversation:

  S. to Toosje: "Who are you then?"

  Toosje: "I'm Toosje from The Hague."

  S. "Yes, that's true. But a Jew?"

  Harry: "That's our niece from The Hague."

  S. (scornfully): "A niece!!?!! With pitch black hair and a crooked nose!!!??! Yes-yes!!"

  Jan: "Yes, Toosje is our niece from The Hague. The hunger there is much worse than here and

  That's why she can stay with us for so long"

S. looks at Jan in silence for a while, then turns around and continues his way, stamping with his iron-shod boots. When he is out of sight, we run into the house and tell him what happened. We all go to bed that night with fear and great worry. And the next few days the fear continues to gnaw at us, but to our surprise nothing happens. Toosje simply visits school (with the Bible), continues to play in the street and goes to church on Sundays. We will probably never find out why S. did not betray us. Disbelief radiated from his face. We saw him walking around in his black uniform many times."

The liberation of Enschede took place on April 1, 1945. On Easter Monday, British soldiers marched in Enschede from the south. The west was more difficult to reach because of the Twente Canal, but the English conquered the Lonneker Bridge. On April 2, also the airport captured. 

After the war ended, the Apperloo family was informed that the mother, grandmother and sister of Toosje had been deported and murdered. Only her father Maurits van Praagh survived the war and picked up Toosje from Enschede.

Tirza:

"After the war I was in all kinds of places for a short time and from 1947 - 1956 in a children's house in Hilversum in the Rudelsheim Foundation. That was a home for Jewish feeble-minded children before the war. The site had (and still is) the largest bunker in the Netherlands. The Germans had built it for a.o. Seyss Inquart. We played on it and also knew it inside, after the NSB members went out. They were locked up for a while. The name was Blaskowitz bunker. The bunker still exists and is located here.

After the war it became a home for Jewish orphans, until it was sold to the Air Force, then van Helsdinge became barracks. And we moved to a villa on the Hoflaan. It wasn't that bad there. We never talked about the past, I believe had more than the average children, just went to school and I had piano lessons, cardboard, plywood and woodworking lessons, for example, which always came in handy everywhere later. I also did a lot of sports, at school and among us the children of all ages. And we had plenty of showers and bathrooms, which I can't remember from previous addresses. And I could also call myself happy, had another father, who came to visit me faithfully every 2 weeks.

 Then I lived with my father again until 1958. Then learned at the Huis te Lande secondary horticultural school in Rijswijk and worked for a year as a laboratory technician at Academic Hospital in Leiden.

My father stayed in The Hague, remarried briefly and later again, but often visited Israel.

Toosje emigrated to Israel by ship at the age of 23 in 1958, she learned Hebrew in a kibbutz and started a new life there. She worked with plants and became a successful head of a laboratory in Bet Dagan. In 1969 she married Rami Drori and had two daughters: Tamar and Nuri and three grandchildren Ofri, Dolev and Mor. She lived in Kfar Harif, a village not far from Tel Aviv. 

Her persistence, her work ethic, her purpose and her love for nature, plants and flowers will always be remembered. She passed it on in the generations of her family.

In 2001 Jan Apperloo received a call from the editors of broadcaster K.R.O. Toosje had searched for the families, Van Steensel, De Haan and Apperloo in collaboration with the team of the TV program Spoorloos of the K.R.O. and in 2004 Yad Vashem's request came to honor Marten Frederika Apperloo with the title ‘ Righteous among the Peoples ’. In 2005 the presentation of this award took place in the synagogue of Leiden.

During a holiday in Israël Marcel Apperloo (grandson of Marten Apperloo) and Toosje met in Jerusalem. They walked throught the streets of the Holy City and visited also the museum of Yad Vashem and the garden of Righteousness. A very impressive moment!

On June 20, 2024 three memorial stones (Stolpersteine) were layed at the sidewalk in front of the Spaarnestraat 25 and Zwetstraat 42 as a remembrance of three Dutch Jewish citizens of the residential city of The Netherlands, The Hague: Rosetta van Praagh-Godfried, Eva van Praagh and Eva Godfried-Kisch.

Kaddish is said at the ceremony and after the laying of the stones for Jewish victims. The Kaddish Prayer (Hebrew: קדיש) or Kaddish (Dutch-Yiddish) is one of the oldest and most important prayers in the Jewish liturgy and it is written in Aramaic, at that time the language spoken by the Babylonian Jews. Only the last sentence is in Hebrew.

Kaddish is said on several occasions. There are different forms of Kaddish, but one prayer is best known as 'prayer for a dead person', in Hebrew “ kaddish-jatom ” (the prayer of the orphan) or “ kaddish avelim ” (the prayer of the mourners).  There is no direct reference to death in the text, no mention of the deceased, but God's name is sanctified and praised in many terms and asked for the rapid coming of the Messiah. In the word kaddish the words of the same tribe sound kaddosch, holy, kiddush, blessing. 

Kaddisj

"May his great name be exalted and sanctified in the world he created according to his will.

May his kingdom be recognized in your life and in your days and in the life of all the house of Israel,

soon and soon.

Now says: Amen

May his great name be blessed now and forever. Blessed, praised, celebrated, and exalted high and higher

Glorified, honored and hailed the name of the Holy One, blessed be he high above every blessing, every song,

praise and comfort said in the world.

Now says: Amen

May much peace come from heaven and live!

About us and all over Israel.

Now says: Amen

He who makes peace in his high spheres,

will also make peace for us and for all the people of Israel and for all people

Now says: Amen"

1940 Toosje lived with her parents and sister at 25 Spaarnestraat in The Hague

1941 Eva, Toosje's sister, went into hiding in the Jewish psychiatric institution Apeldoornsche Bos, September 11, 1941

1942 Grandma Eva Godfried-Kisch lived a street further at Zwetstraat 42

1942 Raids in The Hague

1942 Toosje's mother, Rosetta van Praagh is admitted to the Oud-Rosenburg clinic as a so-called patient

1942 Toosje is part of the Steensma family, September

1943 Eva is deported from Apeldoorn to Auschwitz with the residents, patients and staff of the Apeldoornsche Bos, January 22, 1943

1943 Sister Eva van Praagh is murdered on January 25, 1943 in Auschwitz

1943 On February 18, Rosetta van Praagh is deported to Westerbork by order of the Sicherheitspolizei against the advice of the clinic

1943 On February 19, 1943, Rosetta van Praagh arrives in Westerbork, barrack 68

1943 On February 19, 1943 Eva Godfried-Kisch is registered in Westerbork, barrack 64

1943 On February 23, 1943, Eva Godfried-Kisch is deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz

1943 On February 26, 1943, Eva Godfried-Kisch was murdered in Auschwitz

1943 On March 2, 1943, Rosetta van Praagh is deported from Westerbork to Sobibor

1943 On March 5, Rosetta of Prague-Godfried is murdered in Sobibor, probably in the gas chamber.

1943 The hiding address of Toosje with the Steensma family is betrayed.  Eddie and Mirjam (two Jewish children who stayed at the same hiding place) are transported to Westerbork camp.  Toosje ends up in prison.

1943 After one day in prison, Toosje ended up in the creche opposite the Hollandse Schouwburg in Amsterdam

1943 After about a month she is smuggled away by the NV group, together with Marcus Roodveldt (1.5 years old)

1943 Toosje and Marcus go into hiding with the de Haan family in Brunssum.

1943 In the summer of this year, Toosje is transferred to the Apperloo family at 10 Molukkenstraat, Enschede

1945 After the war, Toosje is picked up by her father, who survived everything. 

1958 Toosje emigrates to Israel

1969 Toosje married Rami Drori

2001 Letter from Nannie Braunstein-Beekman from Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, September 11

2005 Marten and Frederika are honored as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in the Synagogue of Leiden, May 31, 2005

2006 Marcel Apperloo meets Toosje in Jerusalem. They visit the Yad Vashem museum together.

2022, Toosje (Tirzah) passes away in Kfar Harif, Israel on March 20, 2022.

2024  Three Stolpersteine are laid. Two for the house at Spaarnestraat 25 for Rosetta van Praagh- Godfried (37 yrs) and her daughter Eva van Praagh (10 yrs) and one for the house at Zwetstraat 42 for Eva Godfried-Kisch, the grandmother of Toosje. June 20, 2024

• Nationaal Namen monument
• Apeldoornse Bos
• Herdenkingsmonument Parnassia
• Sobibor
• Westerbork
• Stolpersteine Spaarnestraat 25, Den Haag
• Stolpersteine Zwetstraat 42, Den Haag
• Joods Kindermonument Den Haag
• Joods Monument Den Haag

• Yad Vashem, Collection of Names, Eva van Praagh
• Yad Vashem, Collection of Names, Rosetta van Praagh-Godfried
• Yad Vashem, Collection of Names, Eva Godfried-Kisch
• Stichting Joods Erfgoed Den Haag
• Anne Frank Huis
• Herdenkingsmonument Parnassia groep
• Personel correspondence between Marcel Apperloo and Tirza Drori - Van Praagh
• Herinneringscentrum Apeldoornse Bos
• Museum and Memorial Extermination Camp Sobibor
• Stichting Joods monument Den Haag