Marianne Brandes-Brilleslijper (24 October 1916 – 15 August 2003), known as Janny, 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 Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

and one of the last people to see

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)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 li ...

alive. She is the sister of singer Lin Jaldati (born Rebekka Brilleslijper; 1912–1988). Both Brandes-Brilleslijper and Jaldati (nicknamed "Lientje") were in the Westerbork,

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, 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 consisted of Auschw ...

and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps with Anne and her older sister

Margot Margot ( , ) is a feminine given name, a French language, French diminutive of Marguerite (given name), Marguerite that has long been used as an independent name. Variant spellings in use include Margo (given name), Margo and Margaux (name), Margaux ...

Life

Brandes-Brilleslijper was born Marianne Brilleslijper in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

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

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

people hidden in her home and never officially registered as a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

. 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 transported to the

Westerbork transit camp Camp 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, during World War II. It was located in the municipality ...

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

. Janny and Lientje were later sent to the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

, 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 February or March 1945, Margot and Anne died within a day 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 organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

she contacted

Otto Frank Otto Heinrich Frank (12 May 1889 – 19 August 1980) was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 (subsequently known in English as ''The Diary of a Young Girl'') and adv ...

and informed him of the deaths of his daughters. 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'' (1988), directed by Dutch filmmaker

Willy Lindwer Wolf "Willy" Lindwer (born 18 March 1946) is a Dutch documentary film producer, director, photographer and author. He is best known for his films on the Holocaust, Israel and the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity. Childhood and education W ...

. Brandes-Brilleslijper died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

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