Memories of mother’s World War
II experiences as political prisoner in the German concentration camps of
Vught, Ravensbrϋck and Dachau.
Renny van Ommen-de Vries, 1901-1993, was arrested in April 1944 for her
part in a resistance group led by Henk Dienske. Dienske died in the Nazi
concentration camp Beendorf/Neuengamme, just before the war’s end, from abuse
and starvation. Mother survived Dachau and she and her closest friend worked
for an American war press contingent in Grϋnwald for a short period after
their liberation. They were then repatriated with the war press plane to
Holland. In this horror their Faith sustained and comforted them. This is the
legacy that we gratefully received from our parents and grandparents.
The below stories will become part of a complete account of the entire
13 months that my mother was imprisoned in a manuscript that I am working on at
this time. It is a biography from mother’s childhood growing up above a
mastmakers shop in de Lemmer, on the Zuiderzee and it will include the account
of her cousin, another Renny de Vries, whose father was also a mastmaker but
served the Nazi cause, and I therefore chose the title as “The Mastmakers
Daughters”. I hope to have it available in story form sometime in 2012.
v Concentration
Camp Ravensbrϋck Link to website on the conditions and history of this
camp where mother was sent from Vught in September 1944.
v The AGFA Kommando : a web site
maintained by my twin brother Jan van Ommen with detailed information about the
150 Dutch women in the Dachau satellite camp
|
v |
v Christmas 1944 in Dachau,
a moving account of a reluctant celebration and a daring escape v Kerstmis 1944 in Dachau, een ontroerend verhaal van een schoorvoetend begin en een ontsnapping |
|
|
v
|
v AGFA revolt 1945.
Most likely the only strike ever known of prisoners against their NAZI slave
drivers v Staking AGFA 1945. Waarschijnlijk de enigste geslaagde staking van vrouwelijke gevangen in Dachau |
|
|
v
|
v “The Bible in Concentration Camp”.
An address to the Waalkerk church June ’45 by mother. |
|
|
v |
v Father's Diary A
daily longhand diary for the 13 months of mother's imprisonment. A better
known diary was written just a few miles away in the same period by Anne
Frank. Coincidentally my father received one of the very first published
diaries of "Dagboek van Anne Frank" from Otto Frank with his
dedication. Otto Frank was a client at the bank where our father worked. |
|
|
|
|
|
Gruenwald April/May 1945 Photos. First Picture: Nel Niemandsverdriet.
Harry Cowe. I met Harry in the nineties in Seattle. He was 27 in 1945, he worked
as an A.P. photographer and for Seattle Times. Next my mother. On the right is
Nathan (Nate) Asch. His father was Sholem Asch, Polish Jew, who wrote "The
Nazarene". The second photo shows Charley Greene who was 29 at that
time, I found him back in St.Paul,
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Lindner home in Grϋnwald before end of the
war.
A recent, 2005, picture of the same Lindner home.
These above pictures were given to Jan van Ommen by Hubert Lindner who
met in Hamburg the week of July 4th., 2005. Charley Greene, in a January 2005
telephone conversation with Jack van Ommen, remembered the owner's name as Max
Lindner. And Jan was able to track the next Lindner generation, who are again
living in their family home. Max Lindner passed away in 1955. Hubert(us)
Lindner is from 1935 and still remembers the war press contingent taking over
their home. He was mayor of Grϋnwald for several years. .jpg)
1947 Reunion of the surviving women of Ravensbrueck and Dachau. Held at
the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. Far right with white purse is Renny van Ommen. Nel
Niemandsverdriet is in the upper right corner with the wide white collar. Pom
Koppert is in the center in front of the table, arms folded. I received this
picture yesterday, April 20 '05, from her son Sjoerd Koppert,of
Montecito, who came to see me on the boat in the Santa Barbara marina.
13-Jul-2005