Betty Bausch-Polak

Betty Bausch-Polak (4 November 1919 – 8 November 2024) was a Dutch Jewish Holocaust survivor and resistance member. She gave lectures worldwide on the dangers of racial discrimination and prejudice. 

At a young age she saw the danger of Adolf Hitler and protested against it. In 1939 she married the Jewish economist . During World War II they tried in vain to reach England by ship. Later in the war De Leeuw was executed as a reprisal. Her parents, parents-in-law and sister died in various camps.

Since 2010, she has regularly given guest lectures at secondary schools in the Netherlands and Germany. For her selfless dedication at an advanced age, the German government awarded her the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on 12 November 2015. A month later, she met German President Joachim Gauck in Israel. During the commemoration at the  in Rhenen in 2015, she wore her German award as a sign of reconciliation. Her book Bewogen stilte was been translated into German, English and Hebrew. Although very old, she gave a series of lectures in the United States in January 2013. During a final diptych with former Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, she spoke at a meeting of “Christians for Israel” on 14 April 2015. On 23 May 2015, she gave a lecture during the major event "Opwekking" with 20,000 visitors. In the same year, she appeared with her sister Lies in the documentary Herinneren en Doorgeven.

Bausch-Polak died in Israel on 8 November 2024, at the age of 105.

References

Category:Holocaust survivors
Category:World War II people
Category:Dutch people
Category:1919 births
Category:2024 deaths
Category:People from Amsterdam
Category:Dutch centenarians
Category:Jewish centenarians
Category:Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:Dutch Jews