Louis Polak survived World War II by going into hiding seventeen times

As a child, Louis Polak lived with his parents in Amsterdam when the Second World War broke out. He was only five years old. In three years’ time, he ended up at seventeen different hiding addresses, where he was taken in as if he was one of the own children of these different families.

Louis Polak: “In 1942, we were taken from our homes during a raid and transported to the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a meeting place for Jews who were to be deported to concentration camps. But because I supposedly had rubella, my parents managed to get out of there. Later, when we were at home, my father put a sign on the door saying that we had typhus. In spite of that, the Germans came in and took us to the Hollandsche Schouwburg again. I remember saying in the theatre: I don’t like it here anymore, when are we going home? Somehow we managed to escape again.”

“My father was arrested and put on transport to Sobibor extermination camp, where he was murdered in 1943. We only heard about that later, in 1945.”

Little Jopie
As things became too dangerous at home, each member of the family had to go into hiding separately. Louis was picked up in 1943 by Piet Bosboom, who took him to a hiding address in Zaandam. His mother ended up in Amersfoort, although his father stayed at home. Louis: “My parents had told me this was going to happen, but of course it was difficult for me, and I had to get used to being without my parents. My pseudonym became ‘Jopie’, with different surnames each time. But my father was arrested and put on transport to Sobibor extermination camp, where he was murdered in 1943. We only heard about that later, in 1945.”

Improvised bed
At the first address where I went into hiding at the Van Houten family, there were several Jewish people in hiding. The husband of the couple slept in the barn where he traded potatoes, in an improvised bed to be able to give his guests in hiding a proper bed. At one of the following hiding addresses, Louis ended up with the Selier family. The couple put into practice what the Bible says in Isaiah 16: ‘Hide the displaced, do not betray the refugees’. They gave shelter to more than seventeen Jews.

“Don’t you have a star?”
Louis: “I felt at home there; I went to church with them and before going to bed I said a prayer. But at one point, as a child, I spontaneously betrayed myself and others when I was playing outside. To my joy, I was given an ice cream, but immediately asked: can those ‘grandpa and grandma’ who are sitting upstairs also have an ice cream? They were people in hiding. Then I was taken to another address as quickly as possible, for my and their safety. At one of the other addresses it became clear once more that as a child I underestimated the danger. There, while playing in the street, I asked a child: don’t you need a star?

Stuck in the woods
Louis was then brought back to Makkum via Piet Bosboom. Before the transfer took place, the man who would take him there told Louis to wait until someone picked him up. Just to be sure, he tied him to a tree. But due to circumstances, he was not picked up, with the result that he was stuck there in the woods during the night. When Piet Bosboom heard about it, he went looking for him and found little Louis; fortunately it ended well.

Visit and message
“I went to school as usual at my hiding addresses. But if a raid was expected, I was quickly taken to another address. I saw my father once in the beginning and I was informed about my mother, who was in hiding, through a courier now and then. The last year and a half I was in hiding with the Veenstra family, who had made a small hiding place for me in the attic. Together with them I experienced the liberation. I have good memories of it.”

“After the war, the Selier family and Piet Bosboom received the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ award from Yad Vashem”

Righteous
After the war Louis always kept in touch with various people who went into hiding, including the Selier family. Louis: “Even with the second generation we – my wife Carry and I – still have a warm contact. We phone each other and see each other regularly. In 1973, we invited all the people in hiding from the Selier family to our home in Israel. They all came, whereupon someone sang as they entered: ‘Baruch haba’, which means: ‘Blessed the one who enters! Emotionally, Louis could not talk any further. He cannot hold back his tears for a moment. Then he continues his story, moved. “After the war, the Selier family and Piet Bosboom received the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ award from Yad Vashem, for which they came to Israel together with a travelling group of Christians for Israel.