Changing display case: Exceptional new acquisitions
2 August until 24 October 2010
Jewish physician’s personal archive discovered
Starting on 2
August 2010, the Jewish Historical Museum will present selected
acquisitions from the past year in its temporary exhibition case
and at its Resource Centre. This temporary summer display will
highlight a few of the most exceptional, moving, and impressive
gifts and purchases, including the recently discovered personal
archive of the Jewish medical doctor Andries
Bloch. The acquisitions will remain on display until Sunday 24
October 2010.
The JHM temporary exhibition case will hold a selection of
paintings, prints, and documents, such as The Little
Savoyard (1859) by Maurits Léon (1838-1865). This painting,
which JHM was able to acquire thanks to the financial support of
the BankGiro Loterij, is one of the very few known works by this
artist. Léon was the first nineteenth-century Dutch painter to
specialize in scenes of Jewish religious ceremonies. The JHM will
also exhibit the bronze head of Max Elion by Jobs Wertheim
(1898-1977) and a portrait of Sientje Bloch-Elte as a young woman
by the painter Willem van den Berg (1886-1970).
The portrait of Sientje Bloch (1901-1945) is part of a very special
group of acquisitions. Recently, in a home in Sarphatistraat in
Amsterdam, the personal archive of the Jewish physician Andries
Bloch (1895-1945) was found. This archive, which was recently
donated to the Jewish Historical Museum, includes a collection of
touching letters written by Geziena (Sientje) Elte in the summer of
1922 to her future husband Andries (Dré) Bloch. On 23 March 1923,
Dré and Sientje were married in Scheveningen. Two of the surviving
documents relate to this event: the wedding invitation and a
special newspaper printed for the occasion. The couple had two
children, Klaartje Elisabeth (Liesje) (1926) and Meijer Hans (Hans)
(1932), whose drawings, Sinterklaas poems, class notes, and letters
were included in the find.
The present
occupants have lived alongside this historical treasure trove for
almost 35 years. During their work, they found a hollow behind the
fireplace in their living room, which contained a large number of
documents and objects that had once belonged to Andries Bloch.
Apparently, Bloch had hurriedly hidden his personal belongings
behind the fireplace before his departure for Westerbork in 1943.
They would remain there for more than 60 years. Now, at the start
of the twenty-first century, they have resurfaced to tell the
moving story of the life and work of one Jewish doctor and his
family. Andries Bloch, his wife, and his children did not survive
the war.
The discovery of this archive makes it possible to reconstruct the
lives of these four random victims of the Shoah. More than 65 years
after their death, they again have human faces and stories of their
own.
Please note: the Resource Centre will be open on working
days from 13.00 until 17.00.
