From one hiding place to the next
At the hospital: They took me to the Jewish hospital at ”Kaisergracht”. There, too, I
was under close guard by the Nazis. Yet, after a few days I was feeling better. In
order to keep and protect me there, in spite of my feeling better, they moved me to the
isolation ward, although there wasn’t anything contagious about me. However, the
Nazis were afraid of the risk of infection, thus I was safe for the time being. For about
three months I could stay there like being in hiding. In this hospital I also became a Bar
Mitzvah. On May 26, 1943 I turned thirteen years of age. There was an elderly Jewish
man, who always studied with me and taught me everything for my Bar Mitzvah. They
even made the attempt to celebrate this event, as far as could be expected under the
circumstances; I received little presents, books, and yet a few other things.
When I was living at the isolation ward, my daily routine went about like follows:
During daytime I left the hospital, did some shopping for the nurses and ran various
errands. At night I went back to the isolation ward, where I used to sleep. There was
yet another boy, whose name was Kurt Loewenstein. His sister worked for Walter
Suskind, who had a position of responsibility on the Jewish Council (Joodse Rat).
He also must have had something to do with the ”Joodsche Schouwburg”.
Suskind had a little daughter, and for her Kurt Loewenberg’s - or Loewenstein’s -
sister worked as a nanny; maybe some type of protection for Kurt. There must have
been a connection between that Suskind and the fact that I almost felt free in that
hospital, and that I wasn’t deported from there. Most certainly it was him, who
deleted my name from the list of deportees.