Erna Houtkooper-Barend (* 1940) grew up in Amsterdam as the child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. When her father was doing forced labor in the Westerbork camp, her mother was pregnant with Erna’s brother. The midwife wrote a letter to the Westerbork camp management asking if the father could take leave. His wife had had an accident and they feared for the life of the mother and the unborn baby. The request for leave was granted as an exception. Immediately after the birth of Erna’s brother, her father decided to go into hiding with the family. Erna, her mother and brothers found a hiding place in Ermelo, while her father stayed in various places in the Netherlands. Erna’s immediate family survived the time of fear and persecution. Her grandparents and other relatives, 36 people in total, were murdered in the Nazi camps. The war shaped Erna Barend’s entire childhood – but it was not talked about at home.