Cohensius - the Diamond family torn apart in Bergen-Belsen in December 1944 - Swedish connection - Timeline - Kinderheim.

Beendorf salt mine - factory and concentration camp.

On May 19, 1944, hundreds of diamond workers and their families were deported to concentration camps in Bergen-Belsen and to Vught in the south of Holland. Diamond families from Amsterdam in the Bergen-Belsen camp had several privileges. They lived together in Star Camp. However, the situation changed drastically one day. On December 4, 1944, the men in the families were sent away in the cattle wagons to Sachsenchausen concentration camp. On the next day, December 5, the children (under 16 years old) in barracks 17 were abruptly torn from their mothers. Mothers were sent to Beendorf concentration camp while the children were sat on a truck and driven to the to the Woman camp, where they were abandoned close to Barrack 211. Among the children was Gerrit Cohenisius, 13 years old. Most of the children torn from their families were much Younger than Gerrit.

Only 4 men out of 175 survived the hard labor in Sachsenchausen. Women who were sent to Beendorf concentration camp had more light work and numerous survived the war.
At the very end of the war, women were sat on a deportation train, a spoke train that after several days of travel reached in the beginning of May 1945 city of Padborg at the German-Danish border. They were then sent on May 4 1945 the Malmö in Sweden, Nya Borgarskolan emergency hospital, and from there on June 14 to the camp at Robertshöjd, close to Gothenburg. On July 30, 1945, numerous Dutch women, among them from "Diamond families" left Sweden for Holland.

Nya Borgarskolan, the school in Malmö that was an Emergency Hospital (Beredskapssjukhus) during the Summer of 1945.

On May 19, 1944, hundreds of diamond workers and their families were deported to concentration camps in Bergen-Belsen and to Vught in the south pf Holland. On the pink registration cards initially issued by Judenrat in Amsterdam one can see the date of deportation written cross over the card with a red pencil, 19-5-44, May 19, 1944. Above are two registration cards of Cohensius family, mother, and son.  On the card of Cohensius Sientje, the mother of Gerrit, there is an annotation at the bottom left of the card that she, on December 5, 1945, was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. The day of the deportation is correct, however, she ended up in the Beedorf concentration camp. The same info is on the Cohensius Gerrit card but he never left the Bergen-Belsen camp and was driven with the rest of the children to another part of the camp called the Women's camp.

On May 19, 1944, hundreds of diamond workers and their families were deported to concentration camps in Bergen-Belsen and to Vught in the south of Holland. On the pink registration cards initially issued by Judenrat in Amsterdam one can see the date of deportation written cross over the card with a red pencil, 19-5-44, May 19, 1944. Above the registration card of Cohensius Joseph, Gerrit Cohensius was his son and Sientje was his wife, see their cards above. There is an annotation at the bottom left of the card that he, on December 4, 1945, was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. The day of the deportation is correct, however, he ended up in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Swedish registration cards of women in Robertshöjd II among them Cohensius mother

On December 5, 1944, according to a German list 57 children (under 16 years old) from barracks 17 who in two days became parentless were sat on a truck and driven across over Bergen-Belsen camp to the Women's camp. There, at night they were abandoned close to the Barrack 211. Among the children was Gerrit Cohensius, 13 years old. Most of the children torn from their families were much younger than Gerrit, many of them born 1942-1943. The youngest one, a boy Philip was just 13 months and born in the Westerbork transit camp.


On December 5, 1944, according to the German list above 57 children (1 - 16 years old) from barracks 17 were sat on a truck and driven across over Bergen-Belsen camp from Star Camp to the Women camp. There, at night they were abandoned close to the Barrack 211. 


Kinderheim at Bergen-Belsen was run by two former Auschwitz prisoners, Luba Tryszynska and Hermina Krantzova. There are several books and articles about how The Angel of Bergen Belsen, Luba, sheltered and saved the Dutch "Diamond children" at Bergen-Belsen. Often omitted are, however, additional Polish Hungarian, Slovakian, and other Jewish children who were also brought to the Kinderheim.  It is known that on January 5, 1945, 21 boys were brought to Kinderheim from the Buchenwald concentration camp and Ravensbrück. Many of the non-diamond children were deported at the beginning of December 1944 from Piotrkow Trybunalski in Poland. The picture is from the movie taken by the British at the liberation of the camp on April 15, 1945, showing Luba carrying one of the youngest children. The rest of the children are a mixture of Dutch, Polish, and Slovakian children.


Swedish registration cards of women in Robertshöjd II among them Cohensius mother. Most of the "Diamond women left Robertshöjd on July 21 and 28, 1945, and returned to Holland.

Dutch women in the Robertshöjd II camp reading the mail from Holland. Who survived? Where are our children, our families?


Kinderheim at Bergen-Belsen was run by two former Auschwitz prisoners, Luba Tryszynska and Hermina Krantzova. There are several books and articles about how The Angel of Bergen Belsen, Luba, sheltered and saved the Dutch "Diamond children" at Bergen-Belsen. Often omitted were, however, an additional 50-80 Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian, and other Jewish children who were also brought to the Kinderheim. It is known that on January 5,1945, 21 boys were brought to Kinderheim from the Buchenwald concentration camp and later also girls with mothers from Ravensbrück. Many of the "none-diamond children" were deported at the beginning of December 1944 from Piotrkow Trybunalski in Poland to Buchenwald and Ravensbrück concentration camps.

52 children who after WWII ended, are mentioned by several historians as Kinderheim survivors but the number is not explained. Not all Dutch children were "repatriated" from Bergen-Belsen directly to Holland. Numerous women and children came to Sweden by means of the UNRRA White Boat Mission that started in late June 1945.

In late April 1945 the transport of deported women (among them Dutch women originating from former Diamond families in Bergen-Belsen), from the Helmstedt-Beendorf satellite camp reached Hamburg-Wandsbek. Thereafter the women gathered at the Wandsbek camp were, like in other camps, at the end of WWII loaded on the trains. Trains, mainly consisting of cattle wagons were often so-called spoke trains. As the area of the land that was controlled by Germans was limited and several tracks were bombed the train was moving according to the physical possibilities

It is likely that such a train was one of the spoke trains that was finally redirected from Hamburg to Padborg in Denmark and arrived there on 1 or 2 May 1945. From Padborg after the Danish Red Cross first helped the inmates, it continued to Sweden and they arrived in Malmö on May 4, 1945.