Tussenstation Meppel : Fritz Blasbalg op de vlucht voor Hitler

Recounts the life of Jakob David Fritz Blasbalg (1874-1942), born in Glogów, Poland, one of seven children. The family moved to Berlin sometime between 1880-90. Fritz was married in 1906 to Elsa Lissauer (1906-1937). The book centers around the correspondence between him and his two daughters during 1937-1941. The girls fled in 1933 from Berlin - Jenny (b. 1910) to the USA and Gerda (b. 1913) to Palestine. Several siblings of Elsa and Fritz escaped Germany and settled in Haifa. Blasbalg, a merchant, obtained a visa for England; he left Germany in 1939 for Vlissingen, Holland, where he was to have taken a boat to England, but the war broke out and his visa was cancelled. The Comité voor Joodsche Vluchtelingen (CVJ) provided housing and sent him to Rotterdam. He survived the bombardment on 10 May 1940 when 1,000 people were killed and 85,000 made homeless. In September 1940 refugees had to leave the coastal area of Holland. Blasbalg then moved to Meppel, and was placed with a Jewish family. He never was able to use the Cuban visa his family obtained for him in 1941. He was deported to Westerbork in October 1942 and, after two weeks, to Auschwitz where he died three days after arrival. Notes that out of 240 Jews in Meppel, 18 survived. Met literatuuropgave. 373 pagina's : illustraties ; 25 cm