Open Book!
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Names Not Numbers
Maud Dahme
Maud Dahme
Maud was born in January 1936 in Amersfoort, Holland, and lived with her parents and younger sister, Rita, who was three years younger. Her father and grandfather owned a restaurant and newsstand at train stations, and her father trained to be a chef. Maud's mother, originally from Germany, stayed home to care for Maud and Rita.
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On May 10, 1940, the Nazis invaded Holland. Slowly, the rights of Jewish people were taken away. By the summer of 1941, Maud, who had just started kindergarten, was no longer allowed to attend public school because she was Jewish. Some Jewish teachers, who had been fired, rented a room to continue educating the children.
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In the spring of 1942, all Jews aged six and older were required to wear a yellow star, marking them as Jewish. That same year, the German command sent a letter to the local rabbi, ordering all Jewish families to report to the train station with one suitcase.
Sensing danger, Maud's parents, with the help of a Christian friend connected to the resistance, arranged for Maud and her sister Rita to go into hiding.
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Maud’s mother packed their suitcases and told them they were going on vacation to a farm. The two girls walked to the house of a man named Jan Kanis, had dinner, and went to bed. In the early hours of the morning, Mr. Kanis woke them and led them through the woods to a train station, where they traveled toa Christian family’s farm in Oldebroek, Netherlands.
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There, an elderly couple without children took Maud and Rita in, giving them new names—Maud became Margie Spronk. They were told they were supposed to be the couple's nieces and were forbidden to reveal where they came from.
During their time on the farm, Maud and Rita helped in the fields. One day, Maud discovered that the couple was hiding a boy beneath a trap door. She was instructed to bring him food every day.
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One day, after bringing the boy food, Maud encountered German soldiers and feared she would be shot. The boy was soon relocated for safety. In January 1944, the husband of the couple died, forcing Maud and her sister to move to a fishing village called Elburg, where they stayed with the Westerink family until April 1945.
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The winter of 1944 was brutal, and food was scarce. Maud and her sister survived by eating tulip bulbs and, at times, grilled bugs. In April 1945, they listened to Radio Oranje, a Dutch program from the BBC, which gave them hope as the war neared its end. On April 19, 1945, they learned that the neighboring village had been liberated.
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When the Germans briefly returned and started shooting, Maud witnessed Dutch resistance fighters in blue coveralls and tanks rolling in. They were finally free. A soldier threw a chocolate bar to Maud, but she didn’t even know what it was.
After liberation, Maud and Rita returned to Oldebroek and were reunited with their parents, but the trauma of separation had been so deep that they didn’t recognize them at first.
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The family eventually returned to Amersfoort, only to discover that their extended family had perished at the Sobibor concentration camp. Maud's father took a job with the Dutch government, and later, a department store offered him the opportunity to open a coffee shop.
In 1946, Maud experienced a nervous breakdown, a result of the years of fear and upheaval.
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In 1950, the family decided to immigrate to the United States, traveling by boat and arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey. They rented a room in a shared house, with a communal kitchen and bathroom. Maud, who didn’t speak English, was placed in the 4th grade, despite being in the 6th grade back in Holland.
As she grew older, Maud found work with Pan American World Airways and eventually fell in love with a German immigrant who was not Jewish.
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Her experiences during the war fueled a passion for education, leading her to hold various local and state education positions. Maud became a prominent advocate for Holocaust education and served on the Advisory Council on Holocaust Education. She was featured in a PBS documentary and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., sharing her story to ensure future generations never forget.
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The End
Maud Dahme interview at Golda Och Academy - 2023-2024
Golda Och Academy
