Lotty's bench Apollolaan

Amsterdam, 11 February 1943
During a raid, Lotty, then 22, is taken from her house and taken to the Hollandsche Schouwburg, her parents and sister Carla, who is 7 years younger, are brought in a little later. The same evening they are deported to Camp Vught.

Vught, June 5, 1943
The family is told that all captive Jewish children must leave the camp. Because Carla is only 15, she also has to be transported with her mother. Although her father did not have to leave, he decided to come along to support his wife and daughter. Lotty stays behind, her parents thought it was more sensible, so that there was still someone there when they returned from the war.

Vught, 7 June 1943
On 6 and 7 the infamous children's transports left. On June 6, all children up to and including three years old, followed on June 7 by the older children, including Carla and her parents. Via Camp Westerbork, the largest part is further deported to Sobibor, where they were gassed immediately after arrival on 11 June 1943.

Vught, June 1944
Lotty spent almost a year in Kamp Vught when she was finally deported to Auschwitz. She is not taken directly to the gas chamber, but is put to work in a factory near the camp. When in January 1945 the Soviet army begins to get closer, the women are taken away by means of a death march. It is a grueling hike, with hardly any food, drink or clothing. Later they are taken in open freight cars to various camps. A large proportion of women die from hypothermia and/or exhaustion.

May 4, 1945
The women arrive in Beendorf, where they are handed over to the Allies in exchange for German prisoners of war. Via Denmark they end up in Sweden where they can recover.

August 26, 1945
After three months, Lotty started her return trip to the Netherlands. First by train to Groningen, where the few things she had left are stolen. After a quarantine in a barracks, she arranges a lift to Rotterdam, from where she travels home to Amsterdam. On August 26, she and her friend Beppie are dropped off at Dam Square. Lotty had heard that they could get something in a building in Cornelis Schuytstraat. Maybe something to eat? Unfortunately: the only thing thrown at them is an old horse blanket. They stroll through the city together until they arrive at Apollolaan. 'Come on', Lotty says to Beppie, 'We're going chic' and they are forced to spend their first night 'home' on a bench in the stately avenue.

September 2017
On the Apollolaan, in exactly the same place where Lotty spent her first night at home, a bench is unveiled to honor the 96-year-old Lotty. It bears a metal plate with the inscription: "The Amsterdam Lotty Huffenner-Veffer survived Auschwitz, returned after the liberation and was forced to spend the first night on a bench on the Apollolaan". Lotty passed away nine months after the bench was unveiled.

Source used: the book Lotty's bench by Gerben Post