‘What I remember is that a man lifted me from my bed late in the evening, put me on his shoulders and walked away with me. At the front door, I saw my uncle. I was so pleased to see a familiar face, that my family had come to rescue me.’
Salo Muller

Less tightly guarded
The day care centre was less tightly guarded than the Schouwburg. Even the door was left unguarded from time to time. This made it possible to smuggle children from the building. Babies and toddlers were carried out by the child minders in bags, boxes, suitcases or even rubbish bins. Children were also smuggled out while going on group walks outside the centre.

Tram end empty classroom
When a tram rode through the street, the guards at the Hollandsche Schouwburg could not see the day care centre. This was when the child minders and child could simply walk out the front door. Next door to the day care centre was a school. The director of the school also helped out. Children were taken via the garden of the day care centre to an empty classroom. They escaped from the school as soon as the coast was clear. Once outside the day care centre, other resistance workers took the children to safety.

‘I don’t know how long I was in the day care centre. And I also don’t know how I was taken out. I do know that I was taken to Leeuwarden via a Friesian resistance worker.’
Foke Waterman

‘I was lifted over the fence of the school and handed to a man. He put me in a big gunny sack and carried me away. I still can’t stand the smell of sackcloth.’
Liesje de Hond

‘I remember making lots of little holes in a box and putting a baby in it. I took it to the Plantage Parklaan. That was the location of the offices of the Jewish Congregation, which we used as a stopover. That’s where resistance groups picked up the children.’
Virrie Cohen, child carer

‘I was flirting with the German guards, while at the same time carrying a baby in a big bag. Simply in a travel bag. That’s how I would walk out of the front door of the day care.’
Betty Oudkerk, child carer