Beyond Anne Frank: Hidden Children and Postwar Families in Holland

8. “There Was Never a Kind Word”: Life in Jewish Orphanages

If an orphan did not end up living with a family, the only other option for him or her was to stay in an orphanage. Several Jewish orphanages existed in the Netherlands after the war, and they seem to have been of greatly varying quality. These orphanages provoked strong feelings in those who lived there, everything from love to hatred, and sometimes both. While this chapter illuminates the various twists and turns of postwar life for certain Jewish orphans, it also points to the uneven and in some cases heinous conditions of some Jewish orphanages. However, even in the better-run orphanages, the one gift that the Jewish community could and should have bequeathed to its postwar children but did not is ironically one of the most highly valued Jewish traditions—that of education. With few exceptions, those who ended up in orphanages received little education beyond high school and were not trained in vocational skills. Thus, they entered adulthood and the labor force greatly unprepared . They had only their own common sense and strengths on 8 “There Was Never a Kind Word” LIFE IN JEWISH ORPHANAGES 273 which to rely, and most remain bitter about the shortsightedness of the Jewish community in an area that had long-term implications for their well-being. The previous chapter on orphans who lived in a family for most of their postwar years included several cases in which children initially spent some time after the war in an orphanage but ultimately left for a family, either kin, near-kin, or a new adoptive family. The time spent in an orphanage ranged from a few months to five years. Already discussed were two cases of orphans who were removed from their postwar family settings and sent to an orphanage. In both cases, this change worked out well for the children. We will begin with those who had short-term stays in an orphanage, and then turn to the other orphans, all males, who spent most of their postwar years as minors in an orphanage. The oldest one spent only a few years in an orphanage, but the younger ones spent up to eleven years in one. In most cases either they were not wanted by surviving relatives, or the surviving relatives were not mentally fit to care for them. Their experiences in different Jewish boys’ homes are mixed—two males were able to attain a higher education and became professionals, owing to luck and circumstances, but others were not as fortunate. This chapter focuses somewhat more on the former two— Louis G. and Josef—in great part because of the detail provided in their narratives. temporary stays Five orphans, mostly female, spent some time in an orphanage, but not all their postwar years, as minors. For them, the orphanage was either the first stop on the way to somewhere else or the last stop after having lived with a family where things did not work out. In all these cases, former hidden children remember their time in the orphanage with great fondness and nostalgia. Some of this attitude reflects the different approaches of the various orphanages, since some were more rigid and cold than others. However, it is likely that some of this nostalgia also reflects how much better the orphanage was for those children who had been in difficult family situations. There may be a little overromanticization at 274 l i f e i n j e w i s h o r p h a n a g e s play in some of these fond memories, but if so, it only serves to emphasize how much worse these children’s family settings must have been. After the war, 8-year-old Chava was not allowed to continue living with her foster mother, a single woman, so she was sent to an orphanage in Hilversum, where she lived for four years. She loved the children’s home: I know other children did not love it, but I loved it . . . there was no tension. It was Orthodox, but not depressing, and we had a lot of freedom to do or not to do [whatever we wanted]. We could amuse ourselves. We were allowed to meet children from school, non-Jewish children, and we went to a non-Jewish school. We could visit friends at their houses but not eat there. Chava was happy to return to the children’s home after...