Route of Commemorative Plaques
16. Borneoplein 18
This was the home of IRENE OSSEDRIJVER
Murdered in Sobibor on 09/07/1943
Irene Ossedrijver was bornin Sittard on 20 May 1906. Her father, Julius Ossedrijver, died when she was just four years old. A few years later, her mother, Bertha Kleeblatt, also died. Irene was just 8 years old; her sister Elvire was 12.
Commemorative plaque Irene Ossedrijver and Arnold van Rooijen, photo by Monique Zwart
We do not know whether Irene spent her childhood years with family members, in a foster home or in an orphanage. At the age of 16, she worked as a maid in Breda but just six months later, in May 1923, she left to work as a nanny at the Jewish Orphanage and Temporary Refuge in Leiden. Irene’s name then appears in the city archive of Amsterdam: in 1925, she was registered as a student nurse in the “Port. Isr. Zieken en Oude Vrouwenhuis”, the Portuguese-Israeli Hospital on Henri Polaklaan 6-10. n 1926, she left to work at the P.W. Jansen hospital in Almen, near Gorssel. She moved from Almen to Nijmegen in 1931 and lived there for a few years; this period was only interrupted by a brief stay in Rotterdam. At some point in or around 1936, she went to Soest and then left for Celsiusstraat 77 in Amersfoort in May 1938. In 1940, she move to Borneoplein 18. While in Amersfoort, we know of a few advertisements in which Irene offered her services as a nurse.
This was the home of ARNOLD VAN ROOIJEN
Murdered in Sobibor on 07/05/1943
Arnold van Rooijen was born in Amsterdam on 30 September 1912. He was unmarried and was the youngest son of Wolf van Rooijen and Grietje Mendels. Arnold had a sister, Rebecca, and a brother, Abraham. Arnold was an artist. On 13 June 1940, Arnold moved from Amsterdam to Amersfoort and was registered as living at Muurhuizen 3. The Amersfoort Guild of Artists (Amersfoorts Kunstenaars Gilde or A.K.G.) was based there too. Later, he lived in the guest house of Lucie Wolsak on Borneoplein 18 just like Irene Ossedrijver.
On 21 April 1943, he was transported to Camp Westerbork and, on 4 May 1943, he was deported on transport number 62, to Sobibor where he was murdered on 7 May 1943.
Van Rooijen’s entire family died in 1943, with the exception of his eldest son Abraham. He emigrated to Australia and created a new life for himself there.
Arnold van Rooijen
