Biography

About Leentje Hamburger

Leentje Hamburger was a dentist. From 1913 onwards, she led a very solitary life with her housekeeper at Stationsstraat 43 in Alphen. A neighbour boy stopped by her house each day after school (at the modern grammar school) to drink tea with her. She took him into her confidence. Beyond that, she had no human contact at all and was quite reclusive. Later, she let the boy’s mother and brother pay her a visit. When the Jews in Alphen were taken away in September 1942, Leentje was unwell. She had broken her hip. In December, the Germans took her away in the night. When her neighbour boy came by the next day to have tea with her, the house was sealed. He heard from the Ortskommandant (the town’s commanding officer) that Leentje had been taken to the Elizabethsgasthuis in Leiden. That same evening, he went there to say goodbye to her.
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