Decades ago Deworah Maarsen defied all odds and was the youngest child to survive Ravensbruck concentration camp. From the valley of death her family emerged and rebuilt. Today, she’s pouring her energy into brightening the lives of children who live in the shadow of a deadly illness.
In Amsterdam’s small Orthodox community Deworah Maarsen is a familiar figure. Her husband Rabbi Eddie Maarsen was the secretary to former Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam Rav Meir Just for 40 years and he continues to assist the community’s present chief rabbi in a similar capacity. Deworah (the Dutch pronunciation for Devorah) has also served the community for many years by doing volunteer work for the kehillah’s Social Services Department.
This wife grandmother and “schnorrer extraordinaire” has the youthful vigor of someone half her age. But as Mrs. Maarsen revealed during a recent visit to Jerusalem the secret to her seemingly boundless energy won’t be found in a bottle of vitamins. Instead what keeps her going is a promise she made in a hospital room many years ago — a tear-filled vow between herself and HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
Those Poor Children
A refined woman whose upbeat personality is perfectly complemented by the understated elegance characteristic of ladies born on the European continent few would guess that one of Deworah earliest memories involves a little rag — her only toy — that she clung to during her time in Ravensbruck.
But though the war years are as much a part of a Dutch Jew’s mental landscape as tulips and canals are a part of the Amsterdam scenery there was Jewish life in the Netherlands before the deportations and Deworah’s family was part of that happier story.
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