Jansje (Jans) Hoogers-Elbertsen
Jans Hoogers-Elbertsen was born on 11 April 1919 in Wekerom.1WTA Emmen, interview Sis. Elbertsen; WTA Emmen, data on Jansje Hoogers-Elbertsen of 12-02-1958; WTA Emmen, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 30-08-1993; PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002.
She first came into contact with members of the religious community through her sister in 1940. She was baptised in that same year. Jans began working as a courier for the religious organisation and she hid religious literature. On 14 May 1942, while preaching for the first time, Jans was arrested by the Gestapo in Arnhem and was imprisoned there for three months. After having been interrogated in vain, she was then transported to various houses of detention. She was imprisoned in Cleves, Germany, for two weeks, then in Düsseldorf, Berlin and Hannover. Finally, she was deported to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück, where she arrived on 2 October 1942 and received registration number 14.164.2WTA Emmen, Häftlingsausweis (prisoner identification card) no. 38, Elbertsen, Jansje, FKL Ravensbrück; MGR/SBG, Ra 34/631. Additionally, her name is recorded on the official list Tote und Überlebende (The Dead and Survivors), of prisoners from the Netherlands (MGR/SBG, Ra 41/962). Just like Toos Berkers, she was assigned to block 12. Living conditions at Ravensbrück were characterised by daily torment, such as having to wear badly fitting, worn-out shoes. That made life difficult to bear. Jans was assigned to garden detail at Ravensbrück, where she also had to work in a greenhouse.
She was at Ravensbrück when SS Reichsführer3Highest rank in the SS, held by Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler paid a visit. While inspecting the concentration camp on 19 March 1943 Himmler remarked that the women who were part of the group of Bible Students, were ‘fremde Vögel’ (odd characters).4PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002. Her being classed as an obscure being was something that this attentive woman would never forget.
At Ravensbrück she became friends with Tinie Mulder, a Bible Student who had been part of the religious community for a longer time period. Jans regularly asked her opinion about issues concerning religious matters.
Eventually Jans Hoogers-Elbertsen’s name came up on the list for transport to the labour camp at St. Lambrecht. Only absolutely necessary items were allowed to be taken along on this transport, such as clothing, cutlery and a blanket. Jans suffered from the cold. The group of female prisoners left Ravensbrück on 4 May 1943 and arrived in Styria on 8 May 1943. For most of her time at the St. Lambrecht concentration camp, she worked as a chambermaid. Now and again, particularly at the beginning of her stay, she was also put to work in the market garden.
As a ‘chambermaid’5PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002. she enjoyed the confidence of Lore Kröll, the head housekeeper. She entrusted her with the keys to all the rooms under her care. Lore Kröll ‘appreciated’ the efficiency of her ‘servant’6PA, interview Kröll, Lore, 18-11-2002. so much, that she would have wished to always have such a reliable employee: ‘Jans, you will always be my chambermaid.’7PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002. The head housekeeper made good use of Jans’ efficiency, particularly her skill at ironing. Lore Kröll expressed her appreciation regularly by the gifts she gave. She gave Jans things like clothing and shoes. Jans had a good relationship with the head housekeeper and really liked her. Kröll gave her various tasks to do, such as taking damaged household appliances to the workshop for repairs. In this way they were introduced to the Spanish camp prisoners. Juan Anguera Canals, the mechanic, fell in love with Jans through these encounters. He made a sewing box and a copper thimble for her. After liberation she took these objects home with her as a ‘wedding gift from the monastery’.8PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002. She used them up until her death.
Jans even managed to keep camp commandant Schöller at bay, as he was partial to being in her proximity.
Besides cleaning the guest rooms at the SS estate, Jans also had to clean several offices. She also had the key to the office of kommissarischen Verwalters9Administrator. Erhart at her disposal. She learned that Erhart’s son, who served with the German Wehrmacht, had been killed in action in Arnhem, the place where she had been arrested.
During her imprisonment at St. Lambrecht, Jans contracted a carbuncle (a group of boils) on her thigh. Because she had constantly been in trouble with the female SS guard, she refrained from reporting this. Instead of which, she turned to camp commandant Schöller, who personally treated her with ointment and sticking plasters. She made a good recovery. Shortly after this, Jans suffered a festering infection of the nail bed that resulted in an infection of her whole arm, due to the amateurish treatment method of the female SS guard. The head housekeeper, Lore Kröll, managed to get the Verwalter to permit treatment by the local doctor for Jans. This doctor provided professional medical treatment and his medical instructions were for Jans to be allowed to spare herself for a while. This took the shape of joining Sjaan Pronk in the tending of a flock of sheep. Jans also needed to have a molar extracted. The Polish doctor-prisoner extracted the tooth without anaesthetics or pain killers. Despite all the difficulties which determined everyday life in St. Lambrecht, imprisonment in this place was, as she emphasises, ‘a different way of life, where we had much more freedom’,10PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002. in comparison with the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück.
In this camp she also had to be on the alert, but even so, the situation was much easier to bear than in the main camp. Especially the better food situation and the more humane manner of housing made for a considerable difference between the two concentration camps. Her good relationship with Sjaan Pronk, with whom she frequently discussed the Bible, gave Jans the encouragement and motivation she needed to bear up under these circumstances. This motherly woman gave her something to hold on to and was a walking encyclopaedia for Jans. She could rely on her opinions.
In spite of the difficult situation, Jans could appreciate the beauty of the surroundings, just as Gerdina Huisman-Rabouw did. She was very impressed by the landscape. She too internalised her incarceration in the concentration camps as a time in which she grew in faith. She therefore resolved to view the torments and deprivation of that period as a conscious decision to defend her religious convictions and to accept all the consequences thereof. Being released from imprisonment in the concentration camp was seen by her as an act of salvation by Jehovah.
She travelled back to the Netherlands with her sisters in the faith. In Italy she bade the rest of the Dutch group farewell, so she could remain with her friend, Sjaan Pronk. Her friend had been taken ill and Jans stayed with her until she recovered, taking care of her and eventually continuing the homeward journey back to Holland together. On 4 August 1945 Jans arrived in Maastricht11WTA Emmen, letter of 27-02-1945 to Stichting 1940-1945, Amsterdam (Foundation 1940-1945). and two days later she reached her home in Gelderland by getting a lift on a motorbike. Jans was a domestic servant and she eventually found work again. She immediately took up her religious activity, preaching and going into the pioneer service. That is where she got to know her husband-to-be, Jakobus Hoogers. Thus, her dream came true: finding a marriage partner with the same faith as herself.
Jans kept in touch with her friend, Sjaan Pronk. She often visited Sjaan. The traumatic experience in the concentration camps resulted in a build-up of a strong potential for aggression in Jans, for which she found an outlet by often spontaneously screaming loudly. She spoke with Sjaan Pronk about this need. Sjaan helped by giving her ‘permission’ to scream in order to reduce her aggression.
Years later, after being freed from the concentration camp, Jans had a nervous breakdown, from which she recovered fairly well.
She likened her life to a train into which the entire human race is packed and headed for an abyss. ‘It all comes down to what each one of us does personally. The question is, whether or not you remain on this train.’12PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002. In this expressive way, she gave her view on autonomy. Each individual must choose his own path in life and bear his own responsibility for his actions and behaviour.
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