THE CHILDREN’S CARERS

Dirk Deutekom

Dirk Deutekom was born in Amsterdam on 1 December 1895. He learned the trade of a joiner and later worked as a typesetter. He was married and had a daughter. The family lived in Amsterdam. On 10 May 1940 German armed forces invaded the Netherlands. Dirk joined a small resistance cell, whose members knew each other from a Catholic youth club.

On 18 July 1941, security men from the police arrested him in his home and deported him, via the Amersfoort interim camp, to Buchenwald Concentration Camp as a political prisoner. He arrived there on 2 April 1942. His prisoner’s number was 2912. From there he and Anton Hölzel were transferred to Neuengamme Concentration Camp on 6 June 1944. He worked as a prisoner-orderly in the sickbay. In November 1944 he was detailed to care for the 20 children on whom Dr. Kurt Heißmeyer was carrying out medical experiments.