A German Connection in Amsterdam
In the years before the war, Anne Frank and Sanne Ledermann shared a quiet friendship with a German girl named Eva Goldberg. Because all three girls were German, their families were naturally drawn together in Amsterdam.
A preserved photograph, taken by Helene Goldberg in July 1936, captures this early friendship, showing Anne, Sanne, and Eva together. This simple image is a poignant piece of history, documenting a time of innocence before their lives were brutally separated.
Anne and Sanne’s bond with Eva is also evidenced by their contribution to her poetry album. During the Goldberg family’s last visit to Amsterdam, on January 29, 1939, both Anne and Sanne wrote a small, German-language verse in the album.
Shortly after this final visit, the Goldberg family managed to escape the growing threat in Europe. They moved to England and then boarded a ship to the United States, arriving on November 1, 1939, a stark contrast to the fate of the Frank and Ledermann families.
Eva, who later married a Czechoslovakian Holocaust survivor, Bernard Judd, and worked for the Department of Motor Vehicles, never forgot her friends. In July 1991, she visited the Anne Frank House and donated a print of the precious 1936 photograph, ensuring that this early connection would be preserved. Eva Judd died in 1997, but the photo and her memory remain a quiet testament to the friendships that were tragically broken by the Holocaust.
