Baaneind 12

Rudi Wertheimer was born on October 31, 1909 in Cologne. He is the eldest child of Jacob Wertheimer (1872-1935) and Laura Blotzheimer (1886-1949). He has a younger sister, Grete (1914). His father, Jacob Wertheimer, is director of the Cologne branch of Adler & Oppenheimer AG, a multinational leather company. There is also a branch of this company in Oisterwijk.

Due to the rising anti-Semitism, Rudi and Grete leave Germany in the early 1930s. Grete leaves for Israel. Rudi Wertheimer moves on June 12, 1930 from Neustadt (D) to Oisterwijk. He is then 20 years old. According to his identity card, Gemullehoekenweg D284 is his first address in Oisterwijk. He has lived there for almost 9 years. As of March 15, 1939, he will live at Heisteeg D362.

Laura Wertheimer-Blotzheimer, Rudi's mother, lives from 24 November 1938 to 10 September 1940 with her son Rudi in Oisterwijk. Her husband had already died in 1935. Then she probably moves to France.

Rudi comes to work in Oisterwijk at the Oisterwijkse Lederfabriek. In various documents he has different job titles, such as salesperson, salesperson or assistant to the attorney-at-law. The attorney-at-law is Mr. J.H. Pimentel, an active member of the Jewish community of Tilburg. Rudi is also a member of this Jewish community.

Rudi plans to settle permanently in the Netherlands. On December 29, 1936, Rudi Wertheimer was naturalized as a Dutch citizen by law. After having lived in Oisterwijk for 11 years, Rudi moves on June 12, 1941 to the address C20 in Heukelom, municipality of Berkel-Enschot, located on the corner of Baaneind with Laag Heukelomseweg next to the current building Baaneind 12, where he finds accommodation in villa Sunlight, the summer home of Mrs. Eschauzier-Bersin, nicknamed 'the Russian Madame'. According to Rinus van der Loo, local historian in Berkel-Enschot, he will live here under the guise of 'steward of the estate', belonging to villa Zonlicht. This is because he had an agricultural passport. He had to have that to get rid of those "krauts" later!

Villa Zonlicht is a simple summer house, which was converted into a stately thatched villa in the 1920s by order of the widow Eschauzier-Bersin. She lives there with her son Dries. The widow dies in 1941. Around that time Rudi Wertheimer finds a 'hiding address'. In 1952 the villa burned to the ground.

The mass deportations of Jews begin in the summer of 1942. From 15 July 1942, Jews are systematically deported via Camp Westerbork, ostensibly to work in a labor camp in Germany as Arbeitseinsatz or work expansion. In the beginning, people are written to with the order to report. On August 27, 1942, the mayor of Berkel-Enschot, Rouppe van der Voort, leaves to Sister Veronica Löb, a Jewish Trappist woman in Berkel-Enschot, and to the 'Jewish seller' of the Lederfabriek Oisterwijk who has lived in villa Zonlicht in Heukelom since June 1941. , Rudi Wertheimer, handing over a sealed envelope. It states that they will be arrested the next day. However, both do not attempt to escape and remain at home. The constable brings them to Den Bosch the next day. Wertheimer is optimistic and thinks things will run smoothly. However, it is completely different. After arriving in Westerbork, Rudi is transported almost immediately. On August 31, 1942, he and 559 other deportees leave Westerbork for Auschwitz. On the way, the train stops at Cosel station (1-9-1942). All men (± 200) between the ages of 15 and 50 must leave the train. So is Rudi. They are transported by trucks to the Niederkirch labor camp. Of these 200 men, only 6 survive the labor camps. The remaining approximately 360 deportees continue their transport to Auschwitz, where they arrive the same day and are led almost immediately to the gas chambers.

The Germans had introduced a form of self-government within the camps. At the end of 1942, Rudi becomes Judenälteste in Niederkirch, the highest position in the Jewish camp hierarchy. The Judenälteste was responsible for the order and discipline of the entire camp and for the punishment. The Judenälteste also had all kinds of privileges in the camp, such as more food. According to Van Rens, Rudi Wertheimer is also sometimes guilty of aggressive behaviour, but many prisoners judge him favorably.

At the beginning of 1943 this camp is closed and Rudi Wertheimer probably goes to Ludwigsdorf in Lower Silesia. Here is a labor camp near an IG Farben ammunition factory.

It is certain that he was transferred no later than 1 October 1944 to Blechhammer, a satellite camp of Auschwitz, where more than 4,000 people were employed at the height of the war. The Oberschlesische Hydrierwerke is located here, where gasoline is made from lignite. As an Auschwitz prisoner, he gets the number 178981 tattooed on his left forearm here.

With the advance of the Soviets, the prisoners had to be evacuated from the Germans in January 1945 to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, which is located in western Poland. This tour is on foot and is known as one of the many death marches. On January 21, 1945, a group of about 4,000 persons leaves Blechhammer for Gross-Rosen. Behind this group is a guard who kills people who cannot keep up and are left behind with a shot in the neck. Ultimately, more than 800 people died or were killed along the way. Rudi Wertheimer does not make it to Gross-Rosen. According to witness statements from fellow prisoners, Rudi died on the way on January 28, 1945. Rudi eventually turns 35 years old.

After the war, both his mother Laura Wertheimer-Blotzheimer and his sister Grete Wohl-Wertheimer make various attempts to find out what happened to their son and brother. They receive a statement from the Information Office of the Dutch Red Cross stating that their son and brother died on the route between Blechhammer and Gross-Rosen.

On the memorial stone made by Jaap Kaas in the Lederfabriek in Oisterwijk, Rudi Wertheimer is mentioned as one of the victims of the German terror. In 2008 Rudi Wertheimer's name was added to the list of war victims on the memorial stone in the Lady Chapel in the Oude Toren in Berkel-Enschot.

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