A personal questWritten and published in 2013, republished on this website on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. It took many decades for the quest to mature. In 2010 an event triggered it. The quest suddenly popped up. I was sixty-two years of age. It has since come to dominate my life, it has turned […]
Arnold de Leeuw
The fatal exchange
T’was some sixty years ago, or thereabouts. I am eight, ten years, twelve perhaps. In the nightstand in my parents’ bedroom I find a mysterious document. It is a stack of carbon copies of typed sheets. ‘General Police, Gelderland Province. Political Branch’ is printed in the left upper corner.
Bridegroom Money
SEARCHING FOR THE CHUPPAH OF MY GRANDPARENTS Cattle-dealer Herman Weijl is a respected man. In the Oldenzaal kehillah, the Jewish community, he is one of the parnassim, members of the governing board. 1 It is 19 November 1914 and Herman’s only daughter is getting married. Herman is 59 years old, for 21 years he has […]