Setting up the final, 3rd, scene. Behind the scenes photo taken by Philippe Renette while Liège artist Nico Hyer is working with spray paint making the street art mural ‘Simon’ in the garden of the S2J School Center in Liège, Belgium, Oct 2024.
Behind the scenes photo taken by Philippe Renette while Liège artist Nico Hyer is working with spray paint making the street art mural ‘Simon’ in the garden of the S2J School Center in Liège, Belgium, Oct 2024.
Behind the scenes photo taken by Philippe Renette while Liège artist Nico Hyer is working with spray paint making the street art mural ‘Simon’ in the garden of the S2J School Center in Liège, Belgium, Oct 2024.
Still from the film Street Art Simon (1). Detail from the first scene of the street art mural created by the Liège artist HYER , depicting the story of Simon Gronowski in the Garden of Remembrance of the S2J School Center in Liège, Belgium.
This scene shows the moment that Simon jumps, solo, when pushed to freedom by his mother, Chana Kaplan, who is standing in the opening of the sliding door of the freight car of Transport XX — the 20th deportation train heading to Auschwitz on the night of the 19th April 1943 at Cuttecoven (Kuttekoven) in Belgium, some 50 km (30 miles) before the border with Germany .
Westerbork Girls – From left to right: Catharina Frank, Hannelore Cahn, Beatrice Lissauer, Ulla Gross, Lotte Heider-Lehmann and Ruth Pagener. (Source : Westerbork Memorial)
The documentary ‘Westerbork Girl’ (2007), directed by Steffie van den Oord, tells the story of Hannelore Cahn (later Eisinger-Cahn), a Jewish woman imprisoned in Camp Westerbork for more than two years during World War II. She performed as a dancer in the camp revue, attracting the attention of many, including camp commander Gemmeker and Jewish camp policeman Hans Eisinger, member of the Jewish Order Service—also known as “the Jewish SS”.
Westerbork Girl (VPRO 2007)
Hannelore had earlier met actor and resistance fighter Rob de Vries, with whom she was close. Rob smuggled her out of Westerbork by disguising himself as a train stoker and taking her to Amsterdam, where she briefly went into hiding. Hans Eisinger manages to track her down and one week after her escape Hannelore voluntarily accompanies him back to the camp…possibly due to loneliness, Rob’s existing relationship, or pressure from the Order Service to prevent others being deported to Auschwitz. Shortly thereafter, Hannelore and Hans get married in Westerbork.
Hannelore survived the war and avoided punishment after her return. The film reconstructs her story through interviews, archival footage, and music, presenting it as one of survival, love, and the difficult choices faced under Nazi persecution.
Hannelore sings and is still intensely sung about by Louis de Wijze, who witnessed her escape and remembered the revue songs from Westerbork: Ich hab es bei Nacht den Sternen erzählt, Ich liebe Dich.
Powerful documentary—this story, with close-ups of this Westerbork Girl, that resonate with me. Beautiful surprise while researching the use of the Westerborkfilm. Review by Michel van der Burg , editor Settela.Com
Citation info : Westerbork Girl • 20250916 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2025/09/16
Still : ESPACE Simon GRONOWSKI (Ed. 20190220) • Miracles Docs #7 • Miracles•Media
Today , I finalized the upgrade of the 2019 news video ESPACE Simon GRONOWSKI (Ed. 20190220). Final corrections with the help of Philippe Renette of the transcription of the soundtrack (French) and the English translation for captions were implemented in the video at YouTube. And the 20190220 posts were updated.
The video was ISAN registered as Miracles Doc #7 .
A new edit of that Miracles Doc #7 is being prepared as the preferred edition for use in the context of a new documentary on the street art mural created by Hyer in that Espace Simon Gronowski at the S2J School Center this year.
Notes
ESPACE Simon GRONOWSKI (Ed. 20190220) • Miracles Docs #7 | Michel van der Burg & Philippe Renette, S2J | Miracles•Media | 20190220 | ISAN 0000-0007-329C-0007-E-0000-0001-U
Citation info : ESPACE Simon GRONOWSKI (Ed. 20190220) • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • @1MEMO 20250904 • TakeNode 5ccc1691-6590-4038-884d-79ab21db372f
Summary — October 1948 Dutch cinema news on the departure of the first Jewish ship – the SS Negbah – in Amsterdam, bound for Haifa, Israel, with immigrants, including the circa 500 Jewish Children from Eastern Europe after their one year stay in the Children’s Village Ilaniah in Holland, where they were trained for their future task in Palestine.
500 Jewish Children – Series
Episode #1 — In the first episode the arrival of 500 Jewish Children in Holland by steam train from the Dutch National Cinema newsreel of Sep 22, 1947 was reported. Displaced children from Eastern Europe, many of whom lost their parents in the Nazi camps. Travelling from Romania to their destination in the Netherlands, the Children’s Village “ILANIAH”, where they would stay for one to two years, to be trained for a mission in Palestine. The children were then between six and fourteen years old (Note 1).
Episode #2 — The second episode of this short series on these 500 Jewish Children, documented their stay and education in this Children’s Village Ilaniah in Apeldoorn (Netherlands), from their arrival Sep 1947 untill the closing of Ilaniah , October 6, 1948, the day the children started their journey to Israel (Note 2).
Episode #3 — Here the third , and final, episode , with the Dutch National Cinema Newsreel of October 1948, documenting the departure of the children of Ilaniah on the first Jewish ship – the SS Negbah (Hebrew for southbound) – in Amsterdam for their journey to Haifa, Israel. This was one of the first ships to transport legal immigrants to Israel.
The SS Negbah – at the quay in Amsterdam, Oktober 1948 (frame video 20250820). Miracles•Media • 20250820_2
In October 1948, in the port of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the ship Negbah is ceremonially handed over to the Israeli Shipping Company of Haifa. The Israeli national anthem is sung, the flag is raised, and the chairman of the Dutch Zionist League, Professor S. Kleerekoper, delivers a speech. A Torah scroll is carried on board on behalf of the board of the Netherlands – Israelite Main Synagogue and received by the captain.
The Ilaniah children embark on the Negbah in Amsterdam, 6 Oktober 1948. Source : Dutch National Archive (Photo by Ben Merk | Anefo) | Miracles•Media • 20250819_9
The SS NEGBAH starts its first voyage October 6, 1948 with about 600 passengers from Amsterdam to Haifa, including over 400 of the mainly Romanian Jewish children, after their one year stay in the Children’s Village Ilaniah in Holland, where they had been trained for their future task in Palestine.
The Ilaniah children embark on the Negbah (frame video 20250820). Miracles•Media • 20250820_1
Notes
1. 500 Jewish Children • Arrival in Holland • 20250811 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | TakeNode 5c6e966b-5b45-47ef-ba01-17650007ae20 | URL https://settela.com/2025/08/11/
Now it has been purchased by the Israeli shipping company, and symbolically transferred in Amsterdam.
Professor Kleerekoper outlines the importance of this Jewish ship for immigration in Israel. And ends his speech with the assurance that he
‘wants to wish a safe journey. Not only the crew, also the passengers, but also the entire Jewish people, a safe journey in its path, through a difficult economy, in a threatened world , and a great struggle for independence of its own culture.
The board of the Netherlands – Israelite Main Synagogue donates a Torah, which will remain on board as long as the Negbah will transport Jewish emigrants.
The ship’s name is also a slogan: ‘Na Negev’ – To the Negev – a desert area in southern Palestine that Israel claims.
More than a million immigrants can settle here , once this area has been made fertile.
The NEGBAH takes about 600 emigrants on its first voyage, including a number of stateless people, and almost 500 mainly Romanian children, who were temporarily housed in Apeldoorn.
May the passengers find a happy home in their new fatherland. Shalom.
4. NL – Transcript (dutch , original)
Dit schip werd hier jaren geleden gebouwd. Het voer onder verschillende vlaggen.
Nu werd het aangekocht door de Israëlische scheepvaartmaatschappij en in Amsterdam symbolisch overgedragen.
Professor Kleerekoper schetst het belang van dit Joodse schip voor de immigratie in Israël. En eindigt zijn rede met de verzekering dat hij : ‘een behouden vaart wil wensen…niet alleen de bemanning, ook de passagiers, maar ook het gehele joodse volk, een behouden vaart in zijn weg de moeilijke economie in een bedreigde wereld en een grote strijd om zelfstandigheid van de eigen cultuur.’
Het bestuur van de Nederlands-Israelitische Hoofd Synagoge schenkt een wetsrol, die zo lang aan boord zal blijven als de Negbah joodse emigranten zal vervoeren.
De naam van het schip is tevens een leuze, ‘Na Negev’ – Naar de Negev – een woestijnstreek in het zuiden van Palestina, waarop Israël aanspraak maakt.
Meer dan 1 miljoen immigranten zal dit gebied kunnen opnemen, wanneer het eenmaal vruchtbaar zal zijn gemaakt.
De Negbah neemt op zijn eerste reis ongeveer 600 landverhuizers mee, onder wie een aantal statenlozen en bijna 500 in hoofdzaak Roemeense kinderen, die voorlopig in Apeldoorn waren ondergebracht.
Mogen de opvarenden in hun nieuwe vaderland een gelukkig tehuis vinden. Shalom.
Film source: Dutch cinema news Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (Producer | Oct 1948) courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).
Citation info : 500 Jewish Children • SS Negbah to Israel • 20250820 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | TakeNode 2b1da26e-a39c-4d9d-960a-c1ef669d1509 | URL https://settela.com/2025/08/20/
