Leon's son Barney, Rotterdam, Netherlands, c. 1942
Leon Greenman’s son, Barney Greenman (b. 1940), two years old. Studio Photo, with soft toy, Rotterdam, Netherlands, c. 1942 Robert's family De Vos family lived in the same building as the Greenman family in Rotterdam, Netherlands before World War II. Robert's grandparents Plona Cornelia Vermaat (Rotterdam, 1894-1972) and Bastiaan de Vos (Rotterdam, 1893-1962), lived above the Greenman family in Rotterdam and was the only family with the girl Geertruida (Truus), born in 1919, Robert's mother. Geertruida married Wilhelmus van Alphen in 1947, Robert van Alphen was born in 1957. The two families lived in good neighbourliness, Robert's grandfather secretly owned a radio and Leon was a BBC news listener. After the Greenman family was deported to the Westerbork camp in 1943, the De Vos family occasionally sent them food and packages that did not always reach their destination. After the war Leon returned to London, but kept in touch and visited the de De Vos family in Netherlands. Robert's grandmother suggested that Leon go to AVRO, a Dutch broadcasting company, to sing on Dutch radio. And so Leon did. In the seventies Robert visited Leon once with his parents when they were on holiday in London. When Leon's book came out and Robert read 'An Englishman in Auschwitz', he contacted Leon and offered him to make a film about his life. Filming began in 2002 and lasted about one month also with the help of Robert's wife Tina de Fretes. The result is an extraordinary film about the life of Leon Greenman. Leon Greenman was born in London in 1910, and at the age of five he moved with his family to Rotterdam. He married Else in London, but returned to the Netherlands to take care of Else's grandmother. Leon and Else's son, Barney (born in 1940) was taken in 1942, along with hundreds of other Jews, to the Westbrook camp, from where they were transferred to Auschwitz. Greenman's wife and son perished in the gas chambers. Greenman, who survived six extermination camps and a 90-kilometer "death march", swore during his captivity that if he survived, he would spend the rest of his life telling the world what happened to him and many millions of prisoners. It was American soldiers who freed Greenman from captivity in the Buchenwald camp in April 1945, and after the release he kept his word, and wrote a book that unfolds his memories, called "An Englishman in Auschwitz".
Photo: Robert van Alphen
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, courtesy of Robert van Alphen