In the “Hecht” subcamp in Holzen, the French inmate Camille Delétang drew a portrait of his fellow prisoner Jean-Louis Netter. 

The 16-year-old Jean-Louis and his father had been deported to Holzen by way of Buchenwald in September 1944. Because he was Jewish, he was subjected to constant harassment by his Kapo. The Polish camp senior Zenon Różański protected him from further aggressions. Armand Roux, the French inmate doctor, arranged for the young inmate to be transferred to the infirmary to serve as an aide. His father worked there as an interpreter. This not only saved him from the violent Kapo; it also protected from having to perform gruelling forced labour in the construction of an underground armaments factory.

Jean-Louis Netter and his father were liberated in Bergen-Belsen on 15 April. Not long thereafter, the Swedish Red Cross rescued his sister. His mother did not survive the deportation.

(Anett Dremel)

Reference: Jens-Christian Wagner, Wiederentdeckt: Zeugnisse aus dem Konzentrationslager Holzen, Göttingen 2013.