Robert Frederick Teitel was born on August 11, 1941 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, more than a year after Nazi Germany occupied the country. His father, Abraham Manjoe Teitel, was an engineer and a master chess player. Abraham, his parents, and his older siblings immigrated to the Netherlands from what is today Poland by way of Vienna during World War I. Robert’s mother, Claire Donsbach, worked as a secretary before she opened her own photography studio. She immigrated to the Netherlands from Düsseldorf, Germany, before the Nazis came to power.
In the early 1930s, Robert’s father, Manjoe, was an active Zionist. After the Gestapo arrested hundreds of workers in Wuppertal, Germany in 1935, Manjoe joined the Central Wuppertal Committee (Centraal Wuppertal Comité/Wuppertal Komitee) as a student member. He traveled to Wuppertal to show support for those arrested and observed one of the trials of workers accused of treason. As a result of his attendance, he was questioned by the Gestapo in January 1936, but released without incident. In the 1930s, Manjoe’s parents (Robert’s grandparents) and sister (Robert’s aunt) immigrated to British-controlled Palestine.
Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. Nazi German authorities imposed restrictions on Dutch Jews. When the German authorities began deporting Jews from the Netherlands in the summer of 1942, Manjoe was arrested at work. Claire was aware of the impending arrest, but she was unable to warn Manjoe in time. Manjoe was sent to Amersfoort Prison. Postwar records indicate he was sent from Amersfoort to Westerbork. He was subsequently deported to Mauthausen concentration camp, where he was registered as prisoner number 13686. He died the following day. He was just 29 years old. Unaware of his fate, family friends petitioned the local government for Manjoe’s release by fasely claiming that he was not Jewish.
After Manjoe’s arrest, Robert was hidden from the Nazis with a woman named Mrs. Susanna Wolf in Amsterdam. Robert has no recollection of his time with Mrs. Wolf or the other foster families with whom he lived during the war. Robert’s mother, Claire, remained in the Netherlands. It is assumed that she went into hiding. Robert’s uncle, Jozep Teitel, was deported to Auschwitz in January 1943. He was killed upon arrival.
When the war ended in 1945, Robert was briefly reunited with his mother, who had survived. She passed away from Tuberculosis in August of the following year. During the time his mother was sick, Robert was sent north to the city of Sloten to stay with the Coster family. He lived with them for a number of years. Mr. Antonius Coster had been a schoolmate of his father’s at Delft Technical University. Robert spent time with their children and enjoyed ice skating on a canal nearby. He remembers running around in the large meadows and seeing a big farm.
In 1947, Robert’s paternal grandfather, Markus Teitel, visited Robert at the Coster’s home. He “kidnapped” him in an attempt to bring him to British-controlled Palestine, an act that would become national and international news. The two of them traveled as far as Switzerland before they were apprehended. Markus was sent back to Mandatory Palestine. Mrs. Coster came to get Robert, taking him back to the Netherlands. Approximately one year later, he was placed in an orphanage. Robert spent four years in orphanages run by the Dutch Reform Church. Since he was Jewish, Robert was exempt from attending church services on Sunday mornings, much to the resentment of the other children. As an escape mechanism from life in the orphanage, Robert immersed himself in Dutch newspapers, reading them cover to cover.
Meanwhile, Robert’s paternal grandparents had immigrated to the United States. Once they were settled there, they petitioned the government to allow Robert to immigrate to the US outside of the strict quota system. A bill, submitted by Representative Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., was introduced in Congress authorizing the admission of Robert to the United States in February 1951. He arrived in New York City in October 1951.
After reuniting with his grandparents, Robert was enrolled in school. He learned English by reading The New York Times, with the help of a Dutch-English dictionary. After graduating from high school at age 16, Robert went on to become an instructor of applied mathematics. He ultimately pursued a career in computer science and became an adjunct professor. Using family stories from his grandparents and archival documents, Robert has documented the experiences of his parents, family members, and as much of his own childhood as possible. He is a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.