George Eli van Eijmeren |
02-05-2014 |
On 2 June 2014 we moved into an apartment with two balconies in Zeist. One balcony overlooks Walkart Park, and in the park there is a memorial bearing the names of all Jews deported from Zeist.
I was born in Rotterdam on 27 December 1939 and I have adopted the name of Israel Benjamin Keller, born on 23 December 1939 and died on 23 July 1943 in Sobibor. My mother, Wilhelmina Philippina Catharina Schnaar, paid for my birth with her life; she died a short time later from childbed fever.
On 26 September 2013 my wife and I celebrated our golden wedding anniversary. We had no children of our own, unfortunately, so the Van Eijmeren family tree stops with the name. On my mother’s side I still have a cousin whose maiden name is Adriana Schnaar. All aunts and uncles on the Van Eijmeren side are now dead.
Poor Israel Benjamin didn’t even reach the age of three. I am not religious, but at such moments I really wish I were, that there is a more just heaven, where he may live in peace with all those who loved him.
For you who are reading this, do your very best to be good to everybody around you, here on this earth, which belongs to all of us.
George Eli van Eijmeren
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