Memorial Ben Ali Libi

A memorial has been placed on the facade of the parking garage in honor of Ben Ali Libi.

His real name was Michel Velleman and from the 1920s he performed as the humorous magician "Professor Ben Ali Libi". He was born on January 5, 1895 in the Ruiterstraat in Groningen. After many moves he ends up in Amsterdam. In 1916 he married Anna Speijer and the Jewish couple had two children. He is in demand as a magician and performs frequently throughout the country. In 1940 he moved to Merwedeplein 59 in Amsterdam, near Otto Frank, his wife and two children, who live at number 37. It's a neighborhood for people who made it.

On June 20, 1943, Michel and his wife Anna are arrested in their home during a major raid. They are deported to Westerbork and almost immediately taken to Sobibor, where they are gassed on 2 July 1943.

Willem Wilmink wrote a poem about Michel Velleman.

"BEN ALI LIBI

On a list of artists, killed in the war,
there's a name I've never heard of,
so I looked at it with wonder:
Ben Ali Libya. Magician.

With a smile and an excuse and a magic box
and an alibi he chose carefully,
he scrambled for a living:
Ben Ali Libi, the magician.

Then the Widow's friends found Rost
that the Netherlands needed to be redeemed
of the global Jewish-Bolshevik danger.
They meant that magician, of course.

Who so often hid a dove or a flower,
could not hide himself, when there was a loud knock.
A van was already waiting
for Ben Ali Libi, the magician.

In the concentration camp he might have
show off his best tricks
with a smile and an excuse, a misleading gesture,
Ben Ali Libi, the magician.

And whenever I see a screamer
with an alternative to democracy,
I think: your paradise, how much space is there
for Ben Ali Libi, the magician.

For Ben Ali Libi, the little schlemiel,
may he rest in peace, God rest his soul."

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Source

• Text: Bert Deelman
• Photos: Bert Deelman (1), Joods Monument (2)