Ode to Henriëtte Pimentel | As long as you and your children remain in our memories, you are not forgotten

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Dear Ms. Pimentel, dear Henriëtte, dear readers,

A big celebration was held in Amsterdam today: the Canal Parade through the canals as part of Pride. As Eberhard van der Laan once said, “Pride Amsterdam symbolizes the open and tolerant city we want to be. We celebrate the freedom to be able to be yourself”.

2 Weeks earlier, on a beautiful summer day in July 2024, I visited Artis, together with a young woman from India and her 2 sons aged 8 and 6. The sun was shining brightly, we enjoyed the animals, the playground, the poffertjes and being together. Young children with their parents, caregivers, grandparents, tourists walked around, we saw the animals in a wider environment than years ago. Afterwards we bought a few fake snakes in the store and then our paths parted in the afternoon.

Unplanned I visited the Holocaust Museum on Plantage Middenlaan, fortunately there was room for me. A greater contrast to the beautiful day at Artis was hardly imaginable. The museum starts on the 2nd floor and shows the years leading up to World War II and the persecution of the Jews, very haunting images, which were heavy on me in light of contemporary politics. I arrived downstairs at the nursery, where you were director during World War II. You are a woman, who very much deserved an ode as part of Amsterdam 750 years.

I think you are a driven, heroic and forward-thinking woman who was way ahead of your time in the field of education. When you were only 10 years old, you told your teacher, “Just wait, when I start a school later, I'm going to do things completely different!” A few years later, you do indeed start the custodial school, the forerunner of the nursery school.

Born April 17, 1876, you were the 10th child in a family of 13 children of diamond merchant Nathan Pimentel and Rachel Oppenheimer. You trained as a custodial schoolkeeper in the late 19th century and in 1902 started a Fröbelschool in the basement of the Andrieszkade 5 in Amsterdam. Later the school moved to the Sarphatistraat 115 (now number 141). Between 1917 and 1922 you worked as a governess in Bussum. At that time you devoted yourself to women's interests and founded the Bussum branch of the Algemene Nederlandsche Vrouwen Organisatie and championed women's suffrage.

In 1926 you became the director of the daycare center at Plantage Middenlaan 31 in Amsterdam, which had been founded in 1906 by the Vereeniging Zuigelingen-Inrichting en Kinderhuis. Both Jewish and non-Jewish children could be brought to the crèche, and young women could attend a recognized two-year training program to become child caretakers. You also lived in the building. Peace, cleanliness and regularity were key concepts, in addition to playing with the children. During World War II, you became the linchpin in a heroic plan, saving the lives of some 500 to 800 Jewish children. In fact, the crèche was located opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg, where Jews from Amsterdam and the surrounding area had to report for deportation from July 1942. In October 1942, the crèche was requisitioned by the occupying forces and children up to 13 years of age were taken care of there until the time of deportation. You and other heroes devised a plan to systematically get as many children as possible out through the crèche. This was only possible if the parents gave permission and the child's name was removed from the records of the Jewish Council. Four resistance groups worked to take these children elsewhere. You went on transport to Westerbork on July 23, 1943, along with 70 children and 36 child care workers. On September 14, 1943, you were deported to Auschwitz, where you were murdered immediately after descent on September 17. The nursery was closed on September 29, 1943. 

You were an independent woman, educated in the field of child care from an early age and ran your own nursery with progressive ideas. When it came down to it, you did not take your own life to safety, several hiding addresses had been offered to you. However, you chose to save your children as long as possible by going into hiding and eventually joining the transport resulting in death.

With this letter I would like to pay tribute to you, 81 years after your death, and thank you for your life, your example and your commitment. You truly belong in the list of prominent Amsterdam women! As long as you and your children remain in our memories, you are not forgotten.

With heartfelt greetings,

Carin te Hoonte

PS / Recommendations:

Esther Shaya and Frank Hemminga: Henriette Pimentel, Director of the Crèche.

The courtyard garden of the National Holocaust Museum, which opened in 2024, has been named the Henriette Pimentel Garden. The museum's permanent presentation also tells the story of Henriette Pimentel and the crèche.