Walter Süskind

Walter Süskind was born on 19.10. 1906 in Lüdenscheid as a child of Hermann (Heymann) Süskind (1883-1931) and Frieda Süskind, (née Keßler from Giessen). They lived first at Schillerstr. 7 a and later at Grabenstr.According to the journalist Elma Verhey, his mother was Jewish Orthodox, while his father was somewhat more liberal. Besides Walter, the Süskind couple had three sons. Walter was the eldest.1908 was born to them their son Karl and 1911 in Königsborn son Alfred.The family was poor, neverthelessgenommensie additionally an orphan boy in their family.

In 1913, the family moved to Gießen in the Neuenweg 29.He attended there the elementary and commercial school. Here he also met his future wife Johanna "Hanni" Natt.1925 he went to Osterode in the Harz Mountains for training with the merchant Nathan Rosenthal and in 1928 moved to Neustadt/Hardt to start his first job.
. In 1929, Walter Süßkind and Johanna Natt moved to Cologne, where Walter trained sales representatives to sell margarine. Both of the couple's mothers were widowed by then and moved with them to Cologne. Auguste Natt, Johanna's mother, had her apartment in Cologne-Klettenberg, Luxembuerger Str. 330. Walter Süßkind lived in Cologne until 1938 where he worked as a sales manager for the Bolak margarine factory, for the Prussia and Poland sales areas, from 1929. At this time he was 23 years old. Since he had two Dutch grandparents, he had both German and Dutch citizenship.

In 1938, the entire family traveled, or rather fled, to the Netherlands. There, on March 28, Walter and Hanna's daughter Yvonne was born.
Walter now worked for Unilever.
When German troops occupied the Netherlands in 1940, the Jewish Council of Amsterdam elected Walter Süskind as a negotiator with the Germans. He was charged with organizing the deportation of Amsterdam's Jews* for "labor deployment in the East," i.e., to the Auschwitz extermination camp, beginning in 1942. Since Walter Süskind was very obliging towards the Germans, he was despised by most Jewish Dutch and considered a traitor. What they did not know, however, was that he was the linchpin of a resistance organization. As part of this activity, Süskind tried to help other Jews by falsifying papers, "miscounting" the quota, and obtaining yellow armbands for Jews, which at least delayed their deportation as supposed members of the Jewish Council. He tried to save infants by carrying them away in backpacks, laundry baskets, and shopping bags, and hiding them through an underground organization. For the roll call, he gave parents straw dolls that were secretly made. About 1000 infants are said to have been saved in this way. He gained the trust of the Germans because he got along well with SS Hauptsturmführer Ferdinand aus der Fünten, which was mainly due to his open and confident manner and his good command of the German language.

At the end of 1943 Walter Süskind was deported with his wife and daughter. Since there were almost no Jews left in Amsterdam, membership in the Judenrat no longer offered any security from the Nazis. They were deported from the transit camp Westerbork to the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau (October 1944). Here his wife and daughter were probably sent directly to the gas chambers and thus to certain death. His place of death is not known.It is suspected that Süßkind may have died in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen or on one of the death marches. In the Netherlands, Walter Süskind has achieved a high degree of fame and popularity due to these rescue operations. In contrast to Germany he is mentioned there in many history books and honored with monuments. An Amsterdam youth center and one in Boston (USA) have been named in his honor, and an Amsterdam bridge also bears his name. The text on the plaque placed there reads,
For all those who helped protect Jewish children from deportation during the German occupation, 1940-1945. Due to the fact that the place and circumstances of his death are unknown, Walter Süskind has no burial place.