Hidden in Enschede
Conversation with Contemporary Witness Herbert Zwartz: Part of the program accompanying the exhibition “My Verses Are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Underwater Cabaret (in German)
Herbert Zwartz was born in Enschede in the Netherlands in 1928, just five kilometers from the German border. His ancestor, Izak Salomon Zwartz from Guntersblum settled in Oldenzaal in 1801. His son founded a weaving mill there in 1835, which remains in operation as a family business to this day. After the German invasion on 10 May 1940 and the subsequent occupation of the Netherlands, Herbert Zwartz had to move to a Jewish school on 1 August1941, and a short time later, along with all Jews in the Netherlands, was forced to wear a yellow star with the word “Jood” on it.
Past event
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
With the support of a resistance group led by Pastor Leendert Overduin in Enschede, the Zwartz family were able to go underground on 8 April 1943. Herbert and his father found refuge on Everhard van der Marckstraat – only two kilometers from where Curt Bloch was in hiding – and his mother and sister were given sanctuary in another house on G.J. van Heekstraat, a nearby street. All four of them were liberated on 1 April 1945.
Herbert Zwartz shares his memories with Aubrey Pomerance, Head of Archives at the Jewish Museum Berlin.
Exhibition “My Verses are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret: Features & Programs
- Exhibition Webpage
- “My Verses are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret: 9 Feb to 23 Jun 2024
- Accompanying Events
- Tour of the Exhibition “My Verses are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret: Dates by arrangement (from 9 Feb to 26 May 2024)
- Exhibition Opening: 8 Feb 2024
- Curator Tour for FRIENDS OF THE JMB: 8 Apr 2024, in German
- Joodse Vluchtelingen: The Fate of German-Jewish Émigrés in the Netherlands: 3 Mar 2024, in German
- Archival Objects of German Jews in the Netherlands: Show & tell for FRIENDS OF THE JMB, 7 Mar 2024, in German
- Het Onderwater Cabaret Live. An evening of music and poetry: 11 Apr 2024, in German
- Current page: Hidden in Enschede: Conversation with Contemporary Witness Herbert Zwartz: 16 Apr 2024, in German
- Publications
- JMB Journal 26: Het Onderwater Cabaret: Special edition on the occasion of the exhibition
- Digital Content
- OWC Online Feature: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of the Exhibition
- Life and Work of Curt Bloch: Essay with biographical insights, JMB Journal 26
- On the Piano of My Fantasy – Video with Marina Frenk, Richard Gonlag, and Mathias Schäfer, in German, Dutch and German Sign Language
- “It’s Complicated”: A text by Simone Bloch, daughter of Curt Bloch
- “Ik neurie mee ’t propellerlied…”: Essay on Het Onderwater-Cabaret: A Testament to Political Resistance in the Occupied Netherlands, 1943–45
- Clandestine Literature in the Netherlands 1940–1945: Essay, JMB Journal 26
- All Audio Pieces of the Exhibition with Transcriptions and Translations
- All issues of Het Onderwarter-Cabaret: All 95 issues to browse
- See also
- Survivors in Hiding (National Socialism)
- To the Web Project www.curt-bloch.com
Event Series: Eyewitness Talks (14)
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Eyewitness Talks
In this event series eyewitnesses tell of their fates during the nazi era (video recordings available, in German)
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Hidden in Enschede. Conversation with Contemporary Witness Herbert Zwartz
Part of the program accompanying the exhibition “My Verses Are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Underwater Cabaret, in German
Eyewitness Talk
Tue 16 Apr 2024, 7 pm -
Ruth Weiss – Paths Through Tough Grass
Eyewitness Talk – Experiences and Fates of Jews during the Nazi Era, in German, with English and German subtitles
Video Recording
20 Sep 2022 -
Harry Raymon: Different from the Start
Harry Raymon was born in 1926 in Kirchberg, a town in the Hunsrück upland of southwestern Germany, to a family of Jewish businesspeople. In 1936, his family fled the Nazis and emigrated to the United States, in German
Video Recording
28 Feb 2022 -
In Conversation with Eva Schloss
On 27 January 1945, 15-year-old Eva Geiringer and her mother Elfriede were among the around 7,000 people who witnessed the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps by the Soviet Army, in German, with English subtitles
Video Recording
27 Jan 2021 -
The Family Album
Peter Schaul recounts the life of his mother, Dora Schaul, whose estate is part of the interactive installation The Family Album, in German
Video Recording
9 Nov 2020 -
Zvi Aviram: Brushes with Death
Zvi Aviram was born in January 1927 in Berlin as Heinz Abrahamsohn. From age 14, he had to perform forced labor in the arms industry. During the so-called factory operation on 27 February 1943, his parents were arrested and deported and he himself went into illegality, in German
Video Recording
16 Sep 2019 -
Sally Perel: Hitlerjunge Salomon
Sally Perel was born in Peine in April 1925. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union he pretended to be a Volksdeutscher and called himself Josef Perjell, in German
Video Recording
12 Jun 2019 -
Peter Neuhof: A Youth in the Shadow of the Persecution
Peter Neuhof speaks about his memories and experiences in an interview with Aubrey Pomerance, head of the archive (in German). His parents were active members of the German Communist Party (KPD) and were arrested in 1943. Peter was able to remain in the parental home, in German
Video Recording
3 Dec 2018 -
Hanni Levy: Surviving in Berlin
Born in 1924, survived the Nazi era in hiding in Berlin with the help of friends, in German
Video Recording
25 Jun 2018 -
Anita Lasker Wallfisch
Born in Breslau in 1925, Anita Lasker Wallfisch studied cello in Berlin from 1938. In 1942, Anita’s parents were deported to Izbica and murdered, and in 1943 Anita and her sister Renate were deported to Ausschwitz, in German
Video Recording
28 May 2018 -
Margot Friedländer: Try to Make Your Life
Margot Friedländer was born in 1921 in Berlin and has had close ties with the museum for many years. She reads from her memoir, which takes its title from her mother’s last message to her: Try to Make Your Life. Followed by a brief discussion with Aubrey Pomerance, Head of the Archive, in German
Video Recording
9 Apr 2018 -
Walter Frankenstein: Not with Us
Born in 1924 in West Prussia, Walter Frankenstein lived in Berlin from 1936. When deportation threatened, he went into hiding with his wife and their five-week-old son. The family managed to survive with the help of friends, in German
Video Recording
31 Jan 2018 -
Kurt Roberg: A Visa Or Your Life
Born 1924 in Celle, emigration at the end of 1938 via the Netherlands, return to Berlin in March 1941 and re-emigration in May 1941 via Lisbon to the USA, in German
Video Recording
4 Dec 2017 -
Henry Wuga: A Nuremberger from Glasgow
Henry Wuga was born to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father in Nuremberg in 1924. In 1938, his parents were able to send him to Scotland with a children’s transport, in German
Video Recording
23 Oct 2017
