Survivor Testimonies: Chaja Verveer

Join Holocaust Museum Houston as survivor Chaja Verveer shares her testimony. Chaja was born in Maarsbergen, Holland in 1941, after Germany had occupied the country. When she was just one year old, Chaja and her family went into hiding, splitting up because they were too many to stay in one place. Chaja ended up in Leiden with the van den Bergs, a Dutch family active in the Resistance.

In February 1944, the van den Bergs were betrayed and Chaja was sent to Westerbork, a transit camp in northeastern Holland. Trains departed regularly from Westerbork or the killing centers in German-occupied Poland. On September 13, 1944, the last train left Westerbork. On it were 51 children, including Chaja. After three grueling days and nights on the train, the children arrived in Bergen-Belsen. The children were subsequently sent to Theresienstadt, a ghetto and transit camp in Czechoslovakia. Chaja was liberated in May 1945.

This event is free with Museum admission.

Read Houston’s Holocaust Survivors for more stories from local survivors.