Ode to Nora DiamantA woman out of thousands, a diamond
Nora Diamant, year and photographer unknown
An Amsterdam Spaniard and Resistance Woman
On April 13, 1912, Rachel Querido and Philip Diamant, a civil servant at the Municipal Housing Service, have a second daughter. They give the girl the name: Nora. Together with her older sister Sonja (born in 1907), 'Noortje' grew up on the Transvaalkade in Oost.
The family in which the girls grow up is “red” and progressive. At a young age, Nora is a member of the Workers' Youth Central (ALC). At 24, she obtains her nursing diploma at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis in Amsterdam Oud-West. Many staff at the hospital are also politically engaged. Politics are often discussed among the nurses. Nora likes to get involved in the discussions. These are troubled times and Noor is concerned about the rise of Mussolini in Italy, Franco in Spain and Hitler in Germany. A friend of her parents, physician Ben Sajet, takes her to a meeting for medical volunteers for Spain. As a nurse, Nora hopes to do something for the people fighting fascism in Spain. She signs up. On April 22, 1937, Noor leaves The Hague Holland Spoor station for Paris on the 4:20 p.m. train. Also on the train are the Amsterdam nurses Jo Bovenkerk and Jenny Schadelee. With them, Nora travels via Paris to Spain.
Nora first ends up in a makeshift hospital in Onteniente. The hospital sees mostly local patients. Rather, Nora would have been closer to the front to care for wounded international fighters. But it is what it is, and she does what she can. In her daily interactions with local people, she quickly learns to speak Spanish. And that gets noticed. After six months, Noor is transferred to Albacete where she is employed as a translator. She learns to type and writes for the Dutch Daily News. In Albacete, Noor becomes a member of the Spanish Communist Party.
After a while, Nora finally manages to get near the front. In Tarragona, she works in a mobile emergency hospital. She moves from one village to another. The conditions are tough. There is a lack of everything. Not enough clean water, not enough soap, not enough medical supplies. Doctors and nurses sometimes have to work through days without breaks. But Noor pays no attention to fatigue: “It's no different, calmer times will come again,” she says soberly. Here at the front, she feels right at home. She can now really contribute to the battle. The fact that she speaks Spanish well helps a lot. Where she works, she doesn't meet many Dutch people. She is working on a project to train Spanish women, who often cannot read or write, to become nurses.
Group photo with Nora, Albacete 1937, photographer unknown, IISG Collection
In December 1938 Nora - again together with Jenny Schadelee - returns home. In Amsterdam, she goes to work at the Lloyd Hotel, which after Kristalnacht is a shelter for German Jewish refugees. Nora also returns to work at the Wilhelmina Hospital, where she completes her training as a midwife. But then the Germans invade our country. After the capitulation, Jewish civilians are fired everywhere. Nora, too, could no longer do her job as a nurse.
Nora joined the resistance. She steals bicycles from nurses she knows are wrong. She is a courier and transports all kinds of things in her large panniers. She marries fellow Spaniard and communist Ies (Isaac) Simon van Bergen. Ies was wounded in Spain; he lost his left arm. Like Nora, Ies is in the resistance but on Aug. 28, 1941, he is arrested. Nora is pregnant and her son Eddy is born on Nov. 15 of that year. Ies, who was to be murdered in Poland, never saw his son.
Nora, too, is in danger. She has to go into hiding. And - to her great sorrow - she cannot do so together with her little Eddy. Mother and son do not see each other again until after the war. For they survive the war, just like Nora's mother and father.
After the war, Nora goes to work for the Dutch Women's Movement. With her new love - Evert Sip - she marries in 1951. He is also a member of the CPN. The Intelligence Service followed the couple for a long time because of their leftist ideas and struggles in Spain. In 1958, Noor and Evert cancelled their membership in the party but continued to read the communist newspaper De Waarheid throughout their lives. The last years of her life Nora lived with Evert on Amsteldijk. Nora's health was weak. On May 1, 1987, she dies, aged 75.
Used sources
Period
1912– 1987
About
Ode by De Zaak Muurbloem, Clara Kroes to Nora Diamant.
Nora Diamant was Jewish, Amsterdam, she had a big heart and a good compass as to what was right and wrong. As a nurse she worked in the Spanish Civil War against fascism and in Holland she was in the resistance against Nazi Germany until she had to go into hiding. After the war she was active in the women's movement. in short, a woman out of thousands. A diamond.
Nora Diamant
Nora “Noortje” Diamant (Amsterdam April 13, 1912 - there May 1, 1987) was a Dutch communist.