place:"Gliwice, Poland, Europe" found 1 record - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

Notes: Single-sided printed page with stamp and handwritten note on back, creased horizontally and vertically, repaired with tape. Polish Red Cross certificate for David Kropveld issued for identification. Narrative: David Kropveld was born on 1918/1/3 in Amsterdam, Holland. He was the third child of Samuel Kropveld (1884/3/?) and Goedge Van Cleef (1894). His father had studied to be a doctor before he was enlisted in 1916. His mother was a nursery school teacher until her marriage. As a boy he participated in Boy Scouts, acrobatic and boxing training. He studied at a commercial college, and opened a silver, gold, and diamond business during the Great Depression. In 1936 he was chosen to represent Holland as a boxer in the Olympics, but he chose not to go. He trained as a naval officer, and was prepared to attend university when the Germans occupied Holland in May 1940. In July, David and his father joined the White Brigade resistance group in the south of France. As members, David and his father gave up their Jewish identities and were responsible for taking children to safe houses and participating in armed attacks on German convoys. During this time David used the alibis Charles Seegers and Dan Daladien. In October 1942, David was arrested while smuggling war-related information between occupied and Vichy France. He was tortured for ten days before escaping with the aid of two men from the resistance. He was reunited with his father in Brussels, but the two were arrested by Gestapo officers one week later. They were incarcerated for three months and deported to Auschwitz where they were considered political prisoners and were selected for the slave labor camp at Monowitz Camp. They remained there for 5 days prior to being transferred to Treblinka Camp. In Treblinka, David witnessed his father’s murder at the hands of a guard. During this time Goedge had been sent to Sobibor where she was gassed and cremated on 1943/5/7. In the fall of 1944, a guard recognized David as a boxer he admired and had him transferred back to Auschwitz and on to Monowitz in December 1944 to compete in boxing matches against other prisoners. The rest of David’s family was killed during the war. Of his siblings Gretha (1914) died of hunger in Malapane, Poland with her husband in September 1942, Hartog (1916) was injured as a sergeant in the army and executed after his capture on 1943/6/30, Rosette (June 1922) was gassed in Sobibor on 1943/7/23 while pregnant, and Israel (March 1924) was beaten to death during a protest on a transport bound for Buchenwald. In December 1944, David managed to escape the death march with a few other prisoners. He was rescued shortly after and brought to a hospital until his health improved, although he never fully recovered and spent most of his life physically handicapped. In the summer of 1945, David met his wife, Annie Cohen. They had two sons, Mike and Phillip Kropveld. In 1947, the couple immigrated to Cuba, and then, in 1950, to Montreal, Canada, where David began a successful career as a butcher. He died in Montreal on 2008/11/26 at the age of 91.

Accession No.: 1990.83.2

Name Access: Kropveld, David

Places: Gliwice, Poland, Europe

Archival / Genealogical: Archival Descriptions

Repository: Montreal Holocaust Museum

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