Eyewitness in Westerbork

Spiritual Life, Fall 1998 by van Kempen, P O

Maastricht, 1942

Three days after the Gestapo arrested Sr. Benedicta a Cruce and Rosa Stein, the Carmelite Sisters in Echt received a telegramit was Wednesday, August 5, 1942-from the concentration camp Westerbork. They were to send a messenger with warm clothes, blankets, and travel necessities for the sisters Stein. The Ursuline Sisters in Venlo received a similar telegram that day for Ruth Kantorowicz, a friend of Sr. Benedicta. The prioress, Mother Antonia, quickly found her messengers: Messrs. Pierre Cuypers and Piet van Kempen of Echt. They were the last ones to have a conversation in Westerbork with Sr. Benedicta, several days before her death in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Both gentlemen were witnesses for Edith Stein's beatification process in Cologne in 1963.

After their return from Camp Westerbork they gave the following account of their meeting with Sr. Benedicta and Rosa Stein: With the luggage that the Carmelites had prepared, we left early in the morning on August 6, on the first train going from Echt to Drenthe. Camp Westerbork was located near Hooghalen. We had never heard of Hooghalen nor of a camp Westerbork before. After we changed trains several times, we arrived at the Hooghalen station at about five o'clock in the afternoon. There we met two gentlemen from Venlo whom we had seen several times while changing trains. They, too, had to go to the "Jew camp" in Westerbork. They had been sent as messengers by the Ursulines of Venlo in order to take luggage to a certain Dr. Ruth Kantorowicz-just like us.

At the station we were told that the camp was about five kilometers outside of Hooghalen. The only connection with the camp was a pair of trucks taking loads of dirt there. One of the drivers took our luggage along. About ten meters before the high barbed wire fence surrounding the entire camp, the truck stopped. We reported to the Dutch police sitting in a wooden pavilion outside the camp. They read the telegram the prioress had given us to take along, several times. We offered them cigars and cigarettes, discussed the situation, and got into a friendly conversation. At first the policemen objected. We did not know whether we were dealing with Nazis or whether they were doing their job here under duress. After our discussion, one of the policemen left. I assumed he wanted to telephone the camp commander from the small pavilion. A little Jewish boy was called who worked as a sort of orderly. The little chap was sent to the camp with the telegram. We got the impression that the Dutch police were afraid of the SS people. They were amazedor pretended to be-when they learned from us that we wanted to visit nuns in the camp. "Surely there are no nuns in the camp," they said. Only after they had inquired and been assured that it was true did they believe us. We remained in suspense. Things were quiet in the camp. On the high barbed wire fence, machine guns were placed on scaffolding. Together with the policemen, we waited with a small group of people outside the small wooden building. The little Jewish boy had disappeared into one of the camp barracks. The luggage stood near us on the ground. A letter from Mother Antonia for Sr. Benedicta was in our pocket. We were to give this letter to Sr. Benedicta secretly.

We smoked another cigarette. Then the little Jewish boy returned with two Sisters. I did not know Sr. Benedicta or Rosa Stein. Both sisters wore the yellow Jewish star. The black veil had been turned back over the cap. The two sisters came through the camp gate to the wooden pavilion of the Dutch police. We introduced ourselves and shook hands. It was an encounter that was sad and joyful at the same time. We told of the telegram and the luggage we had brought. "Did Mother send a habit also?" was one of the first questions put by Sr. Benedicta. Both were grateful for the greetings and prayer of their fellow-Sisters from the Carmel in Echt. With the knowledge of the police we could give Sr. Benedicta the letter from the Mother Superior. She tucked the letter right into her habit. Sr. Benedicta listened to the news from the monastery very attentively, and also to the reaction that their brutal deportation from the monastery had evoked from the inhabitants of Echt. We could speak freely with her, and the conversation was quite normal and unconstrained. Rosa Stein was very quiet. She did not say much. Of course we were interested-just like Mother Antonia-to learn what had happened to her since her arrest that Sunday afternoon in Echt. Sr. Benedicta told us the following:

After the rushed departure from the monastery that Sunday afternoon, the two officers-their names have remained unknown-took Sr. Benedicta and Rosa to a police van that stood waiting near the monastery. Several persons were already seated in it. From Echt the trip took them to the local headquarters in Roermond. That same evening two police vans left Roermond, destination unknown. Thirteen persons sat in one van, and fourteen in the other. Since the driver lost his way somewhere.. the prisoners did not arrive in Amersfoort until 3 a.m. The guarding by the German soldiers had been friendly until now. In the camp of Amersfoort, treatment by the guards became brutal and hardhearted. The prisoners were hit in the back with rifle butts and driven to the dormitories. The non-Catholic Jews got something to eat, and after a "night rest" of several hours on bunk beds, the transport of the Jews continued very early the next morning by freight train to Hooghalen. From the train station [they traveled] on foot to Camp Westerbork. In the camp, Sr. Benedicta met several acquaintances and even relatives. With the help of the Judischer Rat (Jewish council) it was possible to telephone. "The Judischer Rat was very good to us, especially to the Catholic Jews," said Sr. Benedicta.