Leo Ensel |
29-11-2018 |
In the summer of 2004 I typed my own name into Google and discovered that a little Jewish boy with the same name as me was murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau when he was eight years old!
After the initial shock I decided to start investigating the fate of this little boy and his family. (The little boy and I are not related, and I am not Jewish. It was a discovery by chance - or by fate ...?) This was the beginning of a very long journey, which over the years took me to Amsterdam, Westerbork, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Szopienice (Silesia) and Säffle (Sweden).
For me, it was like discovering a foreign planet. I found the relatives of my little namesake, photos and letters from Westerbork written by his family. I wrote a chronology including all the facts I discovered in various sources, which has now more than 200 pages - and it's still not finished ...
One day I will write a book about the research done by Leo Ensel (Oldenburg) on Leo Ensel (Amsterdam)!
It is my gift for him for his 85th birthday – although he will stay eight years old forever!
Find more information about Leo Ensel and his family at joodsmonument.nl
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