Introduction
Life Before the War
Uncertain Future
First Impressions of Bergen-Belsen
Daily Life in the Camp
Tough Losses
Reunited with Anne Frank
The Liberation of Bergen-Belsen
Returning to Holland
A New Life in England
Starting over
Epilogue
Pictures
Further Reading
Nanette Blitz Konig was born on the 6th of April, 1929 in
Amsterdam, Holland, daughter of Martijn Willem Blitz and Helene
Victoria Davids. She had an older brother, Bernard Martijn born in
1927 and a younger brother, Willem, born in 1932 with a “blue baby”
heart defect and died in 1936. She and her family were Jewish and
her father worked for the Amsterdamsche Bank. Holland was occupied
in May 1940 by the Nazis who began to persecute the Jews. In the
beginning of 1941, Jewish students were obliged to go to Jewish
schools and it was then that Nanette became a classmate of Anne
Frank and remained so until the Franks went into hiding in 1942
The Blitz Family was arrested and taken to the transition camp of
Westerbork. February 15, 1944 they were deported to Bergen-Belsen
concentration camp. At the end of November, 1944 Nanette´s father
died. In the beginning of December Nanette´s brother and mother
were deported from Bergen-Belsen and she remained alone. Her
brother died in the concentration camp of Oranienburg and her
mother was deported to Beendorf to a factory in a salt mine as a
slave laborer and died in April, 1945 in a train that was on the
way to Sweden.
In January 1945 Nanette was transferred to a different part of
Bergen-Belsen known as the small women’s camp. From there she saw
Anne Frank in the large women’s camp through the barbed wired
fence. These two camps become one section and it was then that
Nanette got together with Anne and her sister Margot. Nanette
survived Bergen-Belsen and was rescued by a British Major, Leonard
Berney. After the war she spent three years in hospital with
tuberculosis. During this period Anne´s father come to visit and
asked about his daughters. Later Otto Frank gave Nanette the diary
written by his daughter Anne “Het Achterhuis” (The Secret Annex).
After Nanette recovered she went to live in England with her Aunts,
where she mets her husband, John Konig of Hungarian origin. In 1953
they married and moved to Brazil. Nanette gives lectures about the
Holocaust and her life. In 2018 she published a book “Holocaust
Memoirs of a Bergen-Belsen Survivor & Classmate of Anne Frank”, in
which she gives a detailed account of her experiences during World
War II.
I can wholeheartedly recommend Nanette's book as an accompaniment
to the diary for use in the Holocaust curriculum. Nanette's
experiences at Bergen-Belsen mirror what Anne will also have
experienced in a way that is both central to Holocaust Education
and the life of Anne Frank. — Ronald Leopold, Executive
Director of the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
Her book can serve as a valuable, enlightening and educational
sequel to the diary of Anne Frank who did not have the chance to
continue writing after her arrest and deportation. It is also a
powerful warning to all of us in a carelessly history-forgotten
time. — Melissa Müller, author of Anne Frank. The
Biography
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