Biography

About Ester Kopel-Rieger

Several documents remain from Ester Kopel-Rieger:

A copy of the original and a certified German translation of Ester Kopel's birth certificate, issued by the Jewish population register in Gorlice, the Republic of Poland, listing her father, Jerichem Rieger, as a merchant in Gorlice. Her mother was Perl Silbermann. Her parents were married in Brzostek on 12 August 1896. Beile Berliner was the midwife who helped deliver Ester Kopel. The witnesses to the signature of the birth certificate were Mendel Weiss and Maier Hersch Degen, both merchants in Gorlice.

An undated order from the head of the local police in The Hague to Ester Kopel-Rieger, 19 Christiaan Bruningstraat, to leave the city before 9 September 1940 and not to return until further orders.

The rejection of a request for transit through Germany dated 9 September 1940. Presumably Ester Kopel-Rieger wanted to return to Poland where she was born.

A prescription dated 13 February 1941 for lenses for spectacles from an optician in Almelo, where she had moved.

An alien's work permit dated 19 January 1942 to work as a domestic servant for M. van Raalte at 34 Langestraat in Amersfoort. She had requested this permit from the director-general at the state labour office in The Hague on 12 December 1941.

A handwritten postcard from Ester Kopel-Rieger (spelled Copel) to the chief police inspector in Almelo, reporting that after receiving the permit she moved from Almelo to 34 Langestraat in Amersfoort. The postcard is dated 4 February 1942.

A receipt proving that Ester Kopel-Rieger registered with the Amersfoort police on 5 February 1942. She was required to pay a fifty-cent fee for doing so.

In August 1942 Ester Kopel-Rieger was summoned for forced labour in Germany.

A statement in both Dutch and German from Dr. M. Kamerling dated 17 August 1942 indicating that Ester Kopel had such a serious heart ailment that she could travel only small distances.

A copy of a letter she sent registered and by express post on 18 August 1942 to the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Jewish emigration service) in Amsterdam, in which she enclosed Kamerling's medical certificate and returned the summons for forced labour.
Jewish Historical Museum, Documents collection, inv.nr 1047, 1663, 1665, 1666, 1668, 1672, 1673, 1675 and 1680

This person lived alone or no information about family members is known or traceable.