Esther Boas-Barendse (* 1942) was born in Amsterdam as the child of Jewish parents. When her mother and father were ordered to report for transport to Westerbork in 1943, Esther was hidden with the Assman family. After being betrayed by an NSB member, Esther was arrested and taken to the nursery opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg – the collection point for Jewish people from Amsterdam. However, the resistance managed to smuggle the one-year-old Esther out of the nursery again. Through various relatives of the Assman family, she went into hiding in Groningen and Leeuwarden. At this point, Esther’s parents were already in the Westerbork camp. Because they believed that Westerbork, as a labor camp, would be safe, the little Esther was brought there at their request. The Boas family lived in Westerbork for a year, with the mother working in the camp’s children’s home. But in 1944 Esther, her parents, and a grandmother were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. After being liberated by the Russians, they returned to Amsterdam, where they had to rebuild their lives from scratch. As a guest speaker, Esther regularly talks to school classes about her life.
