Testimony of Simcha Van Frank, born in Haarlem, the Netherlands, 1920, regarding his experiences in aliya training in Biberach, in hiding in the Netherlands and with the Dutch underground

Testimony of Simcha Van Frank, born in Haarlem, the Netherlands, 1920, regarding his experiences in aliya training in Biberach, in hiding in the Netherlands and with the Dutch underground Poor, traditional family; membership in a Zionist youth movement; learns in a rabbinical seminary in Amsterdam until 1939. Draft to the Dutch Army and release from the army with all the Dutch Army soldiers, 15 May 1940; patient and positive attitude on the part of the army; joins Bachad aliya training in Biberach as a counselor; learns agricultural work while helping farmers in the area; deportation of some of the members of the aliya training groups to Westerbork and Sobibor; hidden by friends named Bakov, the former Dutch consul in Berlin, who supply him with a forged identity document with the name Dimrolbes; move with his fiancee's family to another hiding place in Haarlem due to overcrowding, 1942; joins the Dutch underground; return to his hiding place after each activity, 1943-1944; liberation, 05 May 1945. Re-establishment of the Jewish community center and synagogue in Haarlem; marriage; attempt to make aliya to Eretz Israel via France with help from the Jewish Brigade, 09 August 1945; starts a family; work in Apeldoorn in a school for children with learning disabilities; aliya to Eretz Israel and work as a national supervisor of schools for children with learning disabilities, until his retirement.