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Children play near the de Groot home and go swimming; extended family goes to Sonsbeek Park in prewar Arnhem

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 2009.341.2 | RG Number: RG-60.4841 | Film ID: 2878

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    Children play near the de Groot home and go swimming; extended family goes to Sonsbeek Park in prewar Arnhem

    Overview

    Description
    Louis sweeps a sidewalk alley adjacent to his house with a push broom. Rachel and friend Nel de Booys, the daughter of the camera shop owner who kept these films for safekeeping during the war, carry one another in the alley as Louis sweeps (slowed down). They smack at each other playfully. They then carry Louis in front of the de Groot store on Rijnstraat. An older man and trusted employee of the de Groot family store, Herman Langenbach, carries Louis on his shoulders, flanked by the rest of the children. Louis and Rachel spent their first night in hiding at the home of Mr. Langenbach. Another shot of children walking towards the camera in the alley, including children of the caretakers of People's University near the end of the alley. Then, a young child is helped to walk by Rachel and another girl.

    01:14:17 At the boulders in Sonsbeek, mother Sophia de Groot walks along the precarious path, recovering from surgery, probably in 1937 or 1938.

    01:14:32 Rachel and Louis swimming in an indoor pool, Sportfondsenbad, on Boekhorststraat, one Sunday morning. They walk out of the building, two other boys of similar age stand next to the doorway entrance. Rachel and Louis sit down for tea with an older woman, Jet Salomon, the proprietor of a strict kosher store on Nieuwstad in Arnhem, who loved to spoil the children with sweets in her garden.

    01:15:14 Louis's paternal grandmother, Rachel de Groot-Bloemendaal, in a black coat walks down the alley sidewalk in Spring 1938, and pushes the doorbell. She walks into the de Groot house. Sophia and her mother in law walk outside along the bank of a large pond with a fountain in it near the city street Jansbuiten Singel, probably in 1937 or 1938 when Sophia needed to take walks after recovering from surgery. They continue on to Park Sonsbeek with David Bloemendaal (the elder Rachel's brother) and his wife, walking along the boulder path, and then posing for the camera. The elders relax on benches along the path and enjoy a beer at the park teagarden, Thee Schenkerij.
    Duration
    00:03:19
    Date
    Event:  1937-1938
    Locale
    Arnhem, Netherlands
    Credit
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Louis de Groot
    Contributor
    Camera Operator: Meijer de Groot
    Subject: Herman Langenbach
    Subject:
    Biography
    Meijer de Groot (1897-1944) and his wife Sophia Swaab de Groot (1900-1944) owned a hardware and electrical appliance store on Rijnstraat in the city of Arnhem, The Netherlands. After being warned of a forthcoming round-up of Jews, the de Groot family left their home in Arnhem to go into hiding in November 1942. Louis (b. 1929) and his sister, Rachel (1927-1944), hid in several dozen places throughout the Netherlands. Rachel eventually joined her parents at their hiding place in Amsterdam, while Louis made it to the home of Dirk and Ann Onderweegs in Lemmer in January 1944. Rachel and her parents were denounced on April 8, 1944, arrested by a Dutch policeman who was a childhood friend of Meijer's, and sent first to Westerbork and then to Auschwitz where they perished. Louis stayed with the Onderweegs until August 1946 when he entered the Jewish Boys Orphanage in Amsterdam. He fought for Israel in 1948, briefly returned to Holland, and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he married and had two sons.
    Herman Langenbach was the first employee hired by the de Groots when they opened their business in Arnhem in 1932. A close bond between non-Jewish Herman and the family developed. Louis de Groot fondly remembers being picked up from kindergarten by Herman with the store's delivery bicycle. Rachel and Louis spent their first night in hiding in Herman's house while Meijer and Sophia stayed elsewhere. He brought the children to the railroad station to leave town in search of hiding places. Herman also promised to care for the de Groot family dog until they returned. After the war, Herman offered to share his home in Arnhem with Louis, the only immediate de Groot survivor.

    Physical Details

    Language
    Silent
    Genre/Form
    Amateur.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Good
    Time Code
    01:12:57:00 to 01:16:16:00
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 2878 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w and color - reversal
      Master 2878 Video: Digital Betacam - color - NTSC - small
      Master 2878 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w and color - reversal
      Master 2878 Video: Digital Betacam - color - NTSC - small
      Master 2878 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w and color - reversal
      Master 2878 Video: Digital Betacam - color - NTSC - small
      Master 2878 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w and color - reversal
      Master 2878 Video: Digital Betacam - color - NTSC - small
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 2878 Video: Betacam SP - color - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2878 Video: Betacam SP - color - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2878 Video: Betacam SP - color - NTSC - small
      Preservation 2878 Video: Betacam SP - color - NTSC - small
    • User
    • User 2878 Video: DVD - color
      User 2878 Video: DVD - color
      User 2878 Video: DVD - color
      User 2878 Video: DVD - color

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Mr. Louis de Groot
    Conditions on Use
    The Museum does not own the copyright for this material and does not have authority to authorize third party use. For permission, please contact the rights holder, Mr. David de Groot (son of Louis de Groot).

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    de Groot, Louis.

    Administrative Notes

    Film Provenance
    Louis de Groot donated one reel of 8mm color and black and white film shot by his father Meijer de Groot to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in May 2009. During the war, the family films were stored in the De Booys photo studio safe in Arnhem, the Netherlands, which was blasted for valuables by German troops in 1944. As a result, only fragments of the home movies were salvaged from the ruins; the pieces were spliced together randomly and retrieved by Louis after the war. He also donated to the Museum family photographs, letters from his sister Rachel, documents from the Red Cross about the fate of the de Groot family, and Rachel's homework notebook.
    Note
    The alley adjacent to the de Groot family home led to the People's University Building, which functioned as a community center where various organizations would hold meetings or religious services.

    See RG-60.4839 for more footage of Sophia de Groot walking outside near the city street Jansbuiten Singel.

    For more artifacts related to the de Groot family, see USHMM collections with accession numbers 2003.155 and 2009.341
    Film Source
    Mr. Louis de Groot
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 5231
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:59:16
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1004339

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