Alida Nathans Wijnberg

Alida was the oldest of eight children. Her parents, religious Jews, owned a textile business in the small town of Vries. As a teenager, Alida helped her family sell textiles to the local farmers, carrying the goods in a suitcase attached to the handlebars of her bicycle. She married Samuel Wijnberg, and the couple had three sons and a daughter.

1933-39: The Wijnbergs owned and lived in a kosher hotel in the town of Zwolle. It was the only kosher hotel in the region, so many Jewish businessmen and cattle dealers stayed there. In addition to raising her family and working at the hotel, Alida served as president of the local Hadassah Zionist group. On the Sabbath she would go walking for hours with her husband and her daughter, Selma.

1940-42: Alida's husband died in 1941. She and her children continued to run the hotel until the Germans confiscated the property in 1942. The Wijnbergs were relocated to a shack with no bathroom, shower or hot water. Alida kept herself occupied by knitting. Alida's son Maurits and his wife went into hiding in early 1942, but came out when they heard that family members might be deported. Selma then decided to go into hiding. Alida prepared to go into hiding as well, but she was caught by the Gestapo and deported in October 1942.

On October 12, 1942, Alida arrived in Auschwitz, where she perished.