You will notice how difficult it sometimes is to still find the stories, but also how remarkable it is to sometimes suddenly run into remarkable coincidences. If there is such a thing. Through extensive factchecking and continued questioning we find unusual cross-connections that bring us new entry points to new information. Every time we thought to have been stuck, we were presented with new options, even though appafrently the information ultimately seems very scattered around the world. Much has not even really been found or investigated further yet, but we continue the journey whenever new information finds us. Are you the one that brings us news?
We experience this journey as valuable and find it very hard to let go of Ilse and her family. Diving into story and that of her family has become an important part of our days. As far as we are concerned, telling her story symbolises the many children who, like Ilse and her family, were erased. Let us continue telling the stories of all people.
Ilse and her family lived in Amsterdam-Zuid between April 1939 and April 1942. First at Grevelingenstraat 11-I and later at President Steijn Plantsoen 11 until they were rounded up and deported. Via Westerbork to extermination camp Sobibor (Poland). Ilse’s father Alfred had already been deported in October 1942 and killed in Auschwitz. Ilse most likely went to the Vondel School (Jeekerschool) and did secondary school at the Jewish Lyceum, where she met Anne Frank.
In late March 1939, the Wagner family (father Salomon Alfred, mother Johanna Wagner-Goldstein and Ilse (then 10 years old) moved to Amsterdam. Mother Golda Wagner-Levien, who was living with them in Hamburg, would arrive a few months later. Their first residential address became Grevelingenstraat 11-I in Amsterdam-Zuid. There they lived with Alfred’s family Richard Katz and Alice Katz-Wagner. So Ilse came to live near Anne Frank.
The sources we usea are (among others) Yad Vashem, The red cross, De Anne Frank Foundation, het city archives of Amsterdams and Hamburgs, Arolsen, USHMM (the United States Holocaust Museum.
If you want to know f.i. more by reading the documents, click here.
On Weesperstraat, the street many Jews lived on during World War II, you’ll also find the Holocaust Names Monument. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind. Here you will find 102,000 names of Holocaust victims who do not have a grave. Ilse’s name and that of her family, are also among them.
In earlier times, children shared a poetry notebook they shares with one another, which was often popularly called a ‘poetry album’. The booklet went around among friends who would put a verse in it for each other. They would often add all kinds of stickers or…. a photo of themselves. How wonderful it would be if we found a photo of Ilse in one of those poesie albums. In episode 1 of the podcast, we visit Jacqueline van Maarsen and she has a mystery suitcase with, if all goes well, we find her album.’ Ilse is in this,’ says Jacqueline.
Ilse lived, at the time she lived on Grevelingenstraat, near the synagogue on Lekstraat. We find out through the Amsterdam archives that she and her family must have been Orthodox Jews and so this was where the Jewish community met every Friday. Here they shared stories and suggestions and families could ask each other for help. We wonder what that must have been like for a girl like Ilse. Did she make friends here?
In episode 1, we get to visit Jacqueline van Maarsen. She was a friend of Anne Frank and of Ilse. She takes a thorough look at the class photo to see if she can still recognise Ilse, over 75 years later.
Just before Hannah passed away we were able to visit her in Israel and talk about her memories on Ilse (episode 5)
Here you find the link to learn more about her life and her friendship with Anne Frank
Historian and Anne Frank’s diary expert helps us gain new insights and manages to shed light on the friendly relationship between Ilse and Anne. This one goes deeper than we too thought.
More or less by chance, we meet this still sharp, finely-told neighbourhood and classmate of Ilse’s. He was only a few months apart in age from Ilse and went wherever Ilse must have gone. Even in the synagogue. The little boy who was everywhere, but did he know Ilse? In episode 2, we hear that, but also his special survivor story.
This 1938/1939 photo of the Vondelschool | Jeekerschool should show Ilse. Who recognises this photo and who might still recognise Ilse? Will you help?