07 Aug Amsterdam, Vondelhof
Address: Frederiksstraat 18a, Amsterdam
This facility was originally a youth hostel: it could sleep 150.
Not long after the arrival of the refugee children plans were made to open up Aliyah homes to educate those children who wanted to go to Palestine. It was not easy to find suitable homes on short notice, hence the Vondelhof was chosen as the first building, even though it was not really fit for Alijah training, mainly because of its location in the middle of the city. It was also clear from the beginning that in case of a mobilization the Vondelhof had to be evacuated.
The staff consisted of: Regina Maykels (head household), Jacob Bramson (Amsterdam 1915-Sobibor 1943) (administration, Hebrew), Grete Cohen (kitchen), Lea Levie (Hamburg 1886-Auschwitz 1943) (Laundry department), David Spitz (Hilversum 1918-unknown 1942) (garden), Mrs. Hanna Spitz-Kapp (gymnastics), Zadok Mossel (Amsterdam 1899-Ramat Gan 1970) (religion, Hebrew), Martinus van der Schaaf (garden teacher), Joop Slijper (study of Palestine) and Mrs. Margaretha Poliakoff-Levie (Groningen 1898-Hagenow 1945) (English).
It was opened in February of 1939, and closed around October 1939: the older children were transferred to the newly established Aliyah home in Loosdrecht, the younger children went to the Aliyah home in Mijnsheerenland.
Now the building houses a school and a daycare center.
