SUSTAINED BY CONFIDENCE IN GOD

Arrested and Imprisonment

One morning in May 1944 as I was about to start my ministry, I was arrested-not because I was a Witness but because I was a Jew. I was taken to a prison in Amsterdam, where I stayed for ten days. Then I was transported by train, along with other Jews, to the transit camp of Westerbork in the northeastern part of the Netherlands.  From there, Jews were transported to Germany.

In Westerbork I met up with my brother-in-law and his son, who had also been picked up. I was the only Witness among the Jews, and I constantly prayed to Jehovah for him to sustain me.  Two days later my brother-in-law, his son, and I sat in a cattle train that was about to depart for either Auschwitz or Sobibor, death camps in Poland.  Suddenly, my name was called out, and I was taken to a different train-a regular passenger train.

Aboard were former colleagues from the diamond trade. About a hundred diamond workers were transported to Bergen-Belsen in the northern part of Germany. Later, I learned that my trade had saved my life, for the Jews who went to Auschwitz and Sobibor usually went straight to the gas chamber. that is what happened to my husband, two of my children, and other relatives. At the time, though, I did not know what had happened to them. 

In Bergen-Belsen we diamond cutters were accommodated in a special barrack.  To spare our hands for our delicate work, we were not required to do other work. I was the only Witness in our group, and I boldly told fellow Jews about my new-found faith. However, they viewed me as an apostate, much as the apostle Paul was viewed in the first century. 

I had no Bible, and I craved spiritual food. A Jewish doctor in the camp had one, and he gave it to me in exchange for a few pieces of bread and some butter. I spent seven months with that 'diamond group' in Bergen-Belsen. We were treated relative well, which led to ill-feelings toward us on the part of other Jewish prisoners. Finally, though, it turned out that no diamonds were found for us to work on. So on December 5, 1944, about 70 of us Jewish women were transported to a women's labor camp on Beendorf.

Next time: SUSTAINED BY CONFIDENCE IN GOD - Refusal to Make Weapons

From the AWAKE! magazine, 2001