Eva Beem

Eva Beem. A victim of the Holocaust. She was born May 21, 1932 in Leuwarden, Holland. Her parents were Hartog and Rosette Beem. Her father was a teacher but that ended too soon. Little Eva was only 8 years old when Germany invaded Holland in May 1941. Immediately after they invaded, Jews were separated from the other citizen in the city. Jews rebelled but didn't even make a dent in the German power. July 1941 they were forced to be sealed in ghettos. Then in May 1942 they were forced to ware the golden star, indicated that they were Jews. The situation only got worst from there, Jews were being sent to transit camps, then moved on to death camps. Instead of giving up hope, Rosette and Hartog decide that the children would be safer to stage as non-Jews. Eva and Abraham were sent to a small village of Ermelo were a Christian family that were willing to risk their lives were waiting for the little ones. The children's names were changed and they were given fake IDs. Eva's new name was now Linnie de Witt. The parents decided that they would hide. And they made it out of the Holocaust alive.  The children's lives went on, they were  enrolled in school and the Christians treated the kids as their own. Eva and Abraham were even able to send coded messages to their parents. Their lives remained like this for 2 years. The Nazi were getting smarter, realizing that there were hundreds of Jewish children hiding as non-Jews. Because of this they intensified their search. Someone gave the children up in trade for money. The Nazis found Eva and Abraham. They were announced publicly that they were Jews February 1944. They were immediately token to Aushwitz death camp. Upon arrival they were murdered March 6, 1944. Little Eva was only 11 years old.

I still can't believe that there were thousand of stories just like hers yet, no one seemed to care. They simple turned their nose up in fear of death, but when you turn away you have already died inside. It is hard to look into the eyes of a young girl and realize that they were forced to grow up much faster than you and yet they only had 11 years to live it. I wish that I could rewrite history and be able to stop it all. But then how would I? 

Love Story at the Airport 

I went to the airport to pick somebody up. This part of the airport was different from the normal huge airport. It was the kind were the people walked off the plane onto the runway and then to the building to be picked up. We got there at about 11, and later found out that the flight was delayed. Anyway, about a half an hour after we got there a couple showed up. She was young and so was he. Probably in their 20’s. She was gorgeous, with long, blonde, hair. He was tall, he had a scruffy short beard and short cropped brown hair. She was leaving to go, who knows where. But her flight was delayed, she already went past security. Her boyfriend knew this but he could not be by her side because he wasn’t getting on the plane too. There was a security guard  and a walkway that connected him to her. They saw each other from a short distance away. It was like there was a invisible wall that made them be at a distance from each other. But there wasn’t just a security guard. They talked, in a language I didn’t know, it was something you would have seen in the movies. The couple talked from several feet away. They were still there when we left. They kept talking. It showed me a glimpse of something that was not usually seen now days. The boyfriend could have just said goodbye and gone home, but he didn’t. He couldn’t touch her, but it was enough to see her and talk to her. He waited with the one he loved. And it was if he knew how precious those last few minuets were until she got on the plane and left.