Poem 'Quiet' at The Hidden Village

The poem Stil is by Ida Vos-Gudema (1931-2006), a Jewish-Dutch writer. In 1976 she published the collection ‘Vijfendertig Tranen’. She says about it: “Thirty-five children were in my class. Thirty-five Jewish children. Only four of them were allowed to grow up. I am one of those four.” During the war she went into hiding. After the war Ida Vos became a nursery school teacher. In the seventies she was admitted for a while because of traumatic experiences during the war. It was only then that she started writing poems, stories and children’s books. The title of the poem fits Het Verscholen Dorp or het Pas Opkamp. Walter Bartfeld lived there as a boy of about twelve years old. He says that in the camp they had to speak very softly. That was not easy for children. Ze’ev Bar or Walter Bartfeld made the choice for this poem, which was placed by the Stichting Muurgedichten Nunspeet. The Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund covered part of the production and installation costs.
The poem was unveiled during the annual commemoration meeting of the Het Verscholen Dorp Foundation on 4 May 2014. The unveiling was done by Ernie Bles-Bartfeld, the sister of Ze’ev Bar (then 85 years old) and Sammy Botter (then 15 years old), a great-grandson of Arend Samuel Meijers, who did not survive the discovery of the camp.