Bio of Maud Peper Dahme

Maud was born in Amersfoort, Holland on January 24, 1936, the daughter of Hartog and Lilly Peper. Her sister Rita was born on February 23, 1938. Her father Harry was a restauranteur and her mother Lilly a homemaker. The Germans invaded Holland in 1940; the Jews were relatively unmolested until the beginning of 1941, until the Germans set up Jewish Council. In the fall of 1941, all Jewish children were forced to leave public schools and study under the supervision of the Jewish Council. This affected Maud’s studies and she was forced to leave her school.

In July of 1942, German officials in Holland ordered all Jewish families to report to the train station with a single suitcase of their belongings which upon arrival to the camps was confiscated. Several thousand Jews were arrested and shipped to Westerbork, a camp in Holland. The next day a thousand were sent to Auschwitz. By October of 1942, 13,000 Jews were seized for shipment. Maud’s family was warned by a family friend who had ties to the underground of the upcoming arrests and shipments to camps and gave them the address of a safe house. Maud age 6 and her sister age 4 were separated from their parents and went into hiding. Her parents were helped in their town by another family. Righteous Rescuers who hid Jews took great personal risks and acted very courageously, if caught the consequences were very serious and even possible death.

Three years of hiding in Oldebroek and two families later Maud was reunited with her parents; she did not want to go home with them because she did not know them. The post-war years were very painful for Maud and her parents; they learned that all of their relatives had perished.

Maud and her family came to United States in 1950 to rebuild their lives. Maud recalls how she was placed in fourth grade as a fourteen year old girl. She and her sister Rita devised a system of learning English by attending the movies every day and staying all day all for the cost of a quarter; thereby she was able to jump to the seventh grade the following school year. She graduated high school with her peers. College was out of reach because of lack of money.

Maud has become a champion for children of migrant workers and is a member of the Interstate Migrant Education Council of New Jersey. She has dedicated the last twenty four years by serving on her local school board and presently she is in the 25th year as a member of the New Jersey State Board of Education where she has served as Vice President and President. As a victim of the Holocaust she has set out to ensure that today’s children will have a quality public education, something that she was not able to get during the war years.
Maud is a very active member of New Jersey Commission of Holocaust Education and plays an active role ensuring that the Holocaust not be forgotten by teaching students to accept differences through her story of survival. Speaking about her Holocaust experience is a recent activity. She visits many schools to teach young people what happens when a nation is stripped of their civil rights. When the Commission sponsors summer teacher seminars on the Holocaust and genocide with visitations to camp sites, Maud accompanies the educators on their learning trips by sharing her experiences as a young child in hiding and relating the courageous behavior of her rescuers.

She married Hank Dahme in 1957 and they had four children and nine grandchildren. Hank passed away in 2001.

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

Reiss, Johanna- The Upstairs Room- Grade 5-10 Tells the story of a Dutch Jewish girl that hides for 2 ½ years with a farmer

Reiss, Johanna- The Journey Back- Grade 5-10- Same young girl is reunited with her family in Holland after the war

Von der Rol, Ruud and Irann Verhoeven- Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance- Grade 5-12 Collection of known and unknown photographs of Anne Frank and her family

Gille, Elisabeth-Shadows of a Childhood: A Novel of War and Friendship- Grade 7-12, Hidden in the French countryside tells the experiences of her two sisters that were hidden in a Convent.

Moskin, Marietta, I am Rosemarie Grade 7-12 Born in Holland she is sent to Westerbork transit camp then to Bergen Belsen

Vos, Ida Anna is Still Here Grade 5-10, 13 year old Anna is hidden in Nazi-occupied Holland

Adler, David- Hiding from the Nazis Grade 3-6 True story of Lore Baer who at the age of four was place with a Non-Jewish family in the Dutch countryside

Greenfield, Howard- The Hidden Children- Grade 4-10 Tells the story of many hidden children during World War II

Stein, Andre- Hidden Children: Forgotten Survivors of the Holocaust- Grade 10-12, Hidden children in Europe written for older children

INTERNET SITES

Anne Frank on Line
www.annefrank.com

We Remember Anne Frank
http://teacher.scholastic.com/frank/stories.htm