#Story
The Jewish Meijers Family
Trees were planted in this tree circle in memory of the six members of Geesteren’s only Jewish family, the Meijers family. All of them were murdered during the Second World War.
The Meijers family lived at Esweg number 3, which you can see when you walk along the Memorial Path. Father Bernard, mother Eva, and sons Manuel, Philip Levie, and Henri took active part in village life, from school celebrations and the Orange Festival to the local militia. The boys attended the public primary school in Geesteren, and all the family members were part of the synagogue in Borculo. During the war they briefly went into hiding in, yes you heard correctly, a chicken coop. But it soon became too dangerous, and above all, they wanted to stay together as a family. So they made the heartbreaking decision to return to their home on Esweg.
At the end of August 1942, Manuel married Sofia van Gelder from Enschede. The newlyweds moved in with the Meijers family on Esweg. In a raid in October 1942, they were all forcibly taken by the Germans. From there, they were transported via Camp Westerbork to Auschwitz. Far too young, all six were murdered there in quick succession.
Neighbour boys
Jan Nijland was the boy next door and the same age as Manuel. They were best friends and often got up to a bit of mischief together. For example, Manuel would sometimes take a chicken from his parents to the Jewish butcher in Borculo to be slaughtered according to kosher rules, a service that cost 10 cents. One day, Jan and Manuel came up with a plan.
Jan said: "Bring the chicken to me, I’ll slaughter it, and we’ll split the 10 cents between us." And so they did. This worked a few times, until one day the Jewish butcher asked Father Bernard: "Don’t you eat chicken anymore?" That was the end of the neighbourhood boys’ little secret.