Holocaust centres<\/a> in the Netherlands, Argentina, Australia and Yad Vashem, the official memorial institution of Israel that remembers the victims of the Holocaust and honours those who risked their lives to save others.<\/p>\nIn 2001, they met Frits\u2019 brother Jos in the Netherlands. He was just a child during the war, but he gave them a surname for Elli \u2013 albeit spelt incorrectly \u2013 and a few scraps of memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I saw it, there were three options,\u201d says Gloria. \u201cEither she had gone to Australia, Argentina or the terrible scenario I imagined was she\u2019d been caught after leaving Jo and Frits and gone to Auschwitz, where children were sent to the gas chambers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Germans kept really good records, so if that had happened, I thought I\u2019d find a record. When I couldn\u2019t, I thought that she must be alive somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Marcel]()
Marcel and Gloria spent more than a decade searching for Elli. Photo \/ Hagen Hopkins<\/p>\n
But after 15 years of searching with no progress, Gloria had all but given up.<\/p>\n
Then in 2010, Marcel took their 8-year-old grandson Caleb to see The Power of Good, a documentary about Sir Nicholas Winton, who rescued hundreds of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n
The next day, Caleb returned full of questions for Gloria, and she discussed his great-grandparents\u2019 bravery and how her search for Elli had been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018You have to keep trying, Nana. You have to try one more time\u2019,\u201d recalls Gloria.<\/p>\n
Inspired by Caleb\u2019s enthusiasm, she sent one more email to Yad Vashem.<\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
Again, the response apologetically explained there was no record of anyone with that name, but this time it suggested she place a note in the Dutch magazine Aarnspraak, which shares World War II resistance and Holocaust survivors\u2019 stories.<\/p>\n
Gloria wrote a few lines describing Elli, Jo and Frits, and the family connection.<\/p>\n
Six weeks later, Marcel opened an email with the subject line, \u201cI think I am the one you\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a miracle the way we found her,\u201d says Gloria, explaining that Elli\u2019s sister Leny, who lives in Los Angeles, had read the magazine while recovering from a broken leg and immediately alerted Elli in Brazil.<\/p>\n
The sisters had moved there with their mother after the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were totally overcome with disbelief,\u201d remembers Marcel.<\/p>\n
To ensure it was the right person, he suggested they video call each other and asked that Elli show a photo of her toddler self.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut before she even put the photo up, I knew it was her because she looked so much like the photo I had in my hand,\u201d says Marcel. \u201cWe both actually held up the exact same photo. That\u2019s when all the tears started to flow. I told her, \u2018You know you\u2019re the daughter my mum never had.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Elli]()
Elli arriving in NZ. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n
In March 2011, Elli and Leny flew to New Zealand to meet Marcel and his older brother Richard, who has since passed away. Middle brother Cees lived in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like they were siblings,\u201d says Gloria. \u201cThere was an immediate family connection, and she kept saying, \u2018You are my brothers.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Laughing, they share how Elli was delighted by Kiwi classics, like fish and chips, and learning how to drink through a Tim Tam straw. But most moving of all was taking Elli to Jo and Frits\u2019 graves in Paraparaumu.<\/p>\n
Deeply grateful for all they did for her, Elli began the process of having Jo and Frits formally recognised for their contributions during the war.<\/p>\n
![\"Marcel,]()
Marcel, a friend and Elli during her NZ trip. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n
In 2012, Jo and Frits were posthumously awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal at Parliament. They are the only New Zealanders to have received the honour.<\/p>\n
Now Jo and Frits\u2019 story has been brought to life in a new book, Saving Elli, written by internationally acclaimed author Doug Gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel it completes a scenario of events and categorises my mum and dad in a way they can be honoured,\u201d says Marcel.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people have said they were heroes. But it was because of the circumstances that they were compelled to do what they believed was the right thing to do. We can all take some lessons out of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a world where life\u2019s a bit crazy, we can all do something for someone to make a difference, and that\u2019s something I often share with people. When we see prejudice or injustice, we all have the choice to stand up and ultimately do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jo]()
Jo and Frits\u2019 story has been brought to life in a new book, Saving Elli, by Doug Gold. Photo \/ Hagen Hopkins<\/p>\n
Gloria praises the author, enthusing, \u201cDoug did an incredible job. He went to Austria and Amsterdam, and did so much research, plus he told us things we didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s filled in pieces of the jigsaw puzzle for us. He has honoured all those who risked their lives in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcel and Gloria are still in regular contact with Elli, now 84. Their hope is that their children and grandchildren, as well as Elli\u2019s descendants, will keep up the treasured connection that was almost lost to history.<\/p>\n
\u201cElli\u2019s granddaughter contacted me this morning,\u201d says Marcel. \u201cI said to her, as we\u2019re getting older, it\u2019s vital they keep the contact to ensure our intertwined history doesn\u2019t die with our generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saving Elli by Doug Gold (Allen & Unwin, $37.99). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Jo, the war years meant finding courage in impossible moments. She was working as a nanny and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1901,2108,20388,8414,32428,32426,5821,32255,32429,32430,4748,32425,78,32431,194,130,10136,32427,117,111,43,139,69,5429,17145,15120,12128,915,32432,131,165,13835,1530,4741],"class_list":["post-34648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-amsterdam","tag-book","tag-connection","tag-couple","tag-dutch","tag-elli","tag-everything","tag-familys","tag-frits","tag-hakkens","tag-hiding","tag-holocaust","tag-in","tag-jewish","tag-kiwi","tag-more","tag-named","tag-nazioccupied","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-own","tag-raising","tag-remembered","tag-risked","tag-saving","tag-szanowski","tag-than","tag-their","tag-toddler","tag-years","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}