Summary of Roxane van Iperen's The Sisters of Auschwitz

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 The Battle of the Nieuwmarkt was the beginning of a loving relationship between Joseph and Fietje. They married in 1912 and had a daughter, Rebekka, in 1912. They moved into a small shop on Nieuwe Kerkstraat in 1921, and five years later, they had a son, Jacob.

#2 The Brilleslijper family lived in the Jewish Quarter in Amsterdam, and they were very close with their neighbors. But as the 1920s progressed, life got harder for the family. They were forced to move several times, and in 1925, Opa Jaap died. With the help of his brother Ruben, Joseph took over the wholesale business and moved his family into a house filled with other family members on Marnixstraat.

#3 The sisters were very different. Lien was a dreamer, while Janny was down-to-earth and had a strong will like her mother. Lien had a great talent for music, and she secretly took classes with the choreographer Lili Green.

#4 Janny, the younger sister, doesn’t last more than six months at the sewing studio. She is impatient and rebellious, just as she was at school. She calls herself spiritual but not religious. She grows up in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, but never goes to the synagogue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669384632

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Insights on Roxane van Iperen's The Sisters of Auschwitz

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Battle of the Nieuwmarkt was the beginning of a loving relationship between Joseph and Fietje. They married in 1912 and had a daughter, Rebekka, in 1912. They moved into a small shop on Nieuwe Kerkstraat in 1921, and five years later, they had a son, Jacob.

#2

The Brilleslijper family lived in the Jewish Quarter in Amsterdam, and they were very close with their neighbors. But as the 1920s progressed, life got harder for the family. They were forced to move several times, and in 1925, Opa Jaap died. With the help of his brother Ruben, Joseph took over the wholesale business and moved his family into a house filled with other family members on Marnixstraat.

#3

The sisters were very different. Lien was a dreamer, while Janny was down-to-earth and had a strong will like her mother. Lien had a great talent for music, and she secretly took classes with the choreographer Lili Green.

#4

Janny, the younger sister, doesn’t last more than six months at the sewing studio. She is impatient and rebellious, just as she was at school. She calls herself spiritual but not religious. She grows up in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, but never goes to the synagogue.

#5

In 1938, Lien began dating a German musicologist named Eberhard Rebling. They became friends with other students visiting the house, and would discuss the ominous political climate in neighboring countries.

#6

In 1939, Bob and Janny got married. They were over the moon, but they needed to put food on the table. Bob quit his studies and entered the civil service, while Janny stayed at home to look after little Robbie. The family quickly expanded: in winter 1939, their first man in hiding moved in.

#7

When the Dutch began to resist the German invasion, Janny and Bob were determined to do so. They knew the stories of refugees from the east, and they were aware of the hostility in their country in the run-up to this moment. They were not naive about the possible consequences.

#8

The first one they lose is Anita, a cheerful young woman who lives with them on Bankastraat. She had fled Germany because of increasingly