Marianne "Janny" (or "Jannie") Brandes-Brilleslijper (24 October 1916 – 15 August 2003) was a Dutch

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

and one of the last people to see

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

. She is the sister of singer

Lin Jaldati Lin Jaldati (born Rebekka Brilleslijper; 13 December 1912 – 31 August 1988) was a Dutch-born, East German-based Yiddish singer. She was a Holocaust survivor, and one of the last people to see Anne Frank. After the war she published an article, " ...

(born Rebekka Brilleslijper; 1912–1988). Both Brandes-Brilleslijper and Jaldati (nicknamed "Lientje") were in the

Westerbork Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, ...

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps with Anne and Anne's older sister

Margot Frank Margot Betti Frank (16 February 1926 – ) was the elder daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank and the elder sister of Anne Frank. Margot's deportation order from the Gestapo hastened the Frank family into hiding. According to the diary of her ...

Life

Brandes-Brilleslijper was born Marianne Brilleslijper in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

on 24 October 1916, the middle of three children of Fijtje (née Gerritse) and Joseph Brilleslijper. In 1939, she married Cornelis Teunis "Bob" Brandes (1912–1998), and they had two children: Robert and Liselotte Dolores. After the

Nazis invaded the Netherlands The German invasion of the Netherlands ( nl, Duitse aanval op Nederland), otherwise known as the Battle of the Netherlands ( nl, Slag om Nederland), was a military campaign part of Case Yellow (german: Fall Gelb), the Nazi German invasion of ...

, Janny and Bob, along with Lientje, began to work in the Resistance. Janny kept

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

people hidden in her home, and she never officially registered as a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

. The Nazis wanted to arrest Janny and her family because of her involvement in the resistance. While her husband and children escaped, Janny and Lientje were arrested, in the summer of 1944, and were transported to the

Westerbork transit camp Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, d ...

. In Westerbork, they were listed as "criminals" and had to work in the work barracks. In those barracks, Janny and Lientje met Anne and Margot and befriended them. From Westerbork, Janny, Lientje, and the Franks were transported to

. Janny and Lientje were later transported to the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

, where Anne and Margot were also transported in October 1944. Janny, who was made a nurse in the camp, took care of the ill prisoners. In March 1945, Anne and Margot died within a few days of each other. Janny and Lientje buried them in the mass graves at the camp. After the war, Brandes-Brilleslijper was reunited with her husband and children. Through the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

, she contacted

Otto Frank Otto Heinrich Frank (12 May 1889 – 19 August 1980) was a German businessman who later became a resident of the Netherlands and Switzerland. He was the father of Anne and Margot Frank and husband of Edith Frank, and was the sole member of ...

and informed him about the deaths of his daughters, Anne and Margot. She returned to Amsterdam, where she grew up. Brandes-Brilleslijper told her story about Anne and Margot's final days for the first time in the International Emmy Award winning documentary movie ''

The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank ''Laatste Zeven Maanden van Anne Frank'' (English title: ''The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank'') is a 1988 Dutch television documentary directed by Willy Lindwer about the last seven months in the life of diarist Anne Frank. Seven different wome ...

'' (1988), directed by Dutch filmmaker

Willy Lindwer Willy Lindwer (born Wolf Lindwer, 18 March 1946) is a Dutch documentary film producer, director, photographer and author. Biography Willy Lindwer was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy. ...

. Brandes-Brilleslijper died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in Amsterdam on 15 August, 2003 at the age of 86. She is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandes-Brilleslijper, Janny 1916 births 2003 deaths Dutch Jews Resistance members from Amsterdam Women in World War II Jewish concentration camp survivors Anne Frank

Life

See also

References