Michiel Cohen de Lara (* 1943) was born in Amsterdam as the son of Rabbi Meijer Cohen de Lara and Clara Cohen de Lara-Mendelson. His mother worked as a teacher at a Jewish primary school. When Michiel was born, the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands was already in full swing. Many people had been arrested and deported via Westerbork to extermination camps. The net was tightening around the remaining Jewish population of Amsterdam. Two weeks after his birth, his parents therefore entrusted the newborn Michiel to two women from the resistance; he eventually ended up at a hiding address with the Donk family. Shortly thereafter, his father and mother were arrested. Clara Cohen de Lara-Mendelson was murdered in Auschwitz; Meijer Cohen de Lara was murdered at the railway station of the town of Ústí nad Orlicí. After the war, a court ruling determined that the child would not be handed over to surviving members of his family, but would remain with his foster parents – on the condition that he maintain contact with his relatives and receive Jewish education. Growing up between two worlds was confusing for Michiel; for a long time he struggled with his identity. For the Kamp Westerbork memorial site, he regularly speaks to students as a contemporary witness.