Holocaust Survivor from the Netherlands Shares His Family’s Story

For the High School’s fourth annual Holocaust Remembrance Assembly, Holocaust survivor Alfred “Al” Münzer spoke to a packed forum on Friday, January 23. He shared the story of what happened to his family during the Holocaust, one of millions of stories that tell of both heroism and evil. “We all make choices in our lives,” said Al at the start of his presentation. “I hope by the end of this talk, you will learn something about the choices you make.”

Throughout his presentation, Al showed photos of his parents, his siblings, and the Dutch–Indonesian family who sheltered him. He also showed some of the documents he found after World War II that indicate what happened to his loved ones during the Holocaust.

A Family Forced into Hiding

Al was born in November 1941 in Nazi-occupied The Hague, Netherlands. When he was just nine months old, his parents went into hiding and left Al in the care of the Madna family. Annie Madna lived across the street and was friends with his parents. Al’s two older sisters, Eefje and Leah (ages five and three), were placed with another neighbor. 

While Al stayed in relative safety with Annie’s ex-husband, Tolé Madna, under the care of his Indonesian nanny, Mima Saimah, Al’s parents were arrested by the Nazis. They were sent to a series of camps, first in the Netherlands and then to Auschwitz. Although they both survived the war, Al’s father died shortly after liberation by US troops at the Ebensee concentration camp in Germany. 

In 1944, the woman who was keeping Al’s sisters was denounced by her husband for hiding two Jewish girls. She was imprisoned and sent to two concentration camps, but she ultimately survived. Eefje and Leah were deported to Auschwitz and killed.

“What Else Was I to Do?”

When asked why, at great personal risk, he chose to hide a Jewish child, Tolé Madna—whom Al knew as “Papa Madna”—replied, “What else was I to do?” It was an act of compassion that came naturally to him, not a conscious choice.

“I hope you will follow the example of Papa Madna, and not the man who denounced my sisters,” said Al in his concluding remarks. “The Holocaust didn’t start with weapons. It started with hate.” That hate led to the death of Al’s father, uncle, and sisters—and to millions of other Jews and victims of Nazi persecution.

Reminding the attendees that we have more in common than we sometimes realize, Al said, “Remember that we are all members of one human family.”

In addition to the presentation by Al Munzer, the GDS community marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day by contributing to a shared remembrance slide deck featuring stories of family members or loved ones who survived the Holocaust, sought refuge, or were lost during this period. The Middle School was scheduled to hold its Holocaust Remembrance Assembly on Friday, January 30.

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