Curtain falls

On 26 July 1943 all the children and staff at the nursery were transported to Polderweg, near the Muiderpoort railway station in Amsterdam. That day only two of the carers returned to Plantage Middenlaan. The others, including the director, were deported to Westerbork and thence further. Life became hectic for the two remaining child carers, Sieny Cohen-Kattenburg and Virrie Cohen. The round-ups increased so that the nursery was full to bursting. Virrie Cohen was now in charge. Almost every day children would be secretly removed by members of one of the four underground groups. On 29 September 1943, the eve of Rosh Ha-Shanah, the day on which Jews celebrate the New Year, the Nazis made a final clear-out of the nursery. The Jewish Council was dissolved, and all of its staff deported to Westerbork. Both Sieny Cohen-Kattenburg and Virrie Cohen survived the war by going into hiding.