Telegram 2

Accession Number: NEKHC:2009.96

Object: Telegram

Physical Description: Telegram sent via the Dutch Red Cross. Black and red text printed on paper, with hand writing in black ink.

Further Information

This telegram forms part of the Steven Frank Collection. It came into Steven's possession as the second of two sent telegrams sent to Steven after his aunt on his mother's side had died, he did not previously know they existed. This second telegram was like the first written to Steven’s aunt, his mother's younger sister. It was sent in April 1943 , and states:

Trixie and children in Barneveld. Ruth and her family left Goor, and disappeared. Hope we meet again, otherwise goodbye and God bless you FiFi and Mick.

It was again written by FiFi in the third person so as to disguise her whereabouts, and told her younger sister in America that Steven, his mother and his brothers were in Barneveld Concentration Camp. They were held as part of a group called 'the Barneveld group'. Ruth was Steven's cousin and the telegram states that Ruth and her family, who were her parents FiFi and Mick, had left Goor and disappeared. In fact Ruth was hidden, and FiFi and Mick departed for Amsterdam into hiding, and were very soon discovered. Ruth remained hidden on a farm in Friesland, and survived. After Steven was liberated with his two brothers and his mother from Theresienstadt in 1945, Steven's mother took Ruth on as a fourth child.

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