David Kropveld
https://www.cjhn.ca/en/permalink/cjhn75139
- Collection
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Physical Description
- Photograph : Paper : b&w
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
2 images
- Collection
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Physical Description
- Photograph : Paper : b&w
- Other Title Information
- Documentary Artifact
- Date
- [Prior to 1940]
- Physical Condition
- Good
- Notes
- B&W portrait with white border. Portrait of David Kropveld as a boy, wearing a suit and tie. Narrative: Portrait of the donor, David Kropveld. David Kropveld was born on January 3, 1918 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. David took up boxing as a young man and participated in competitions. In July 1940, David and his father joined the White Brigade resistance group in the south of France, passing as non-Jews. In October 1942, David was arrested while smuggling war-related information between occupied and Vichy France. He was tortured for ten days before being released. 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 concentration camp. Father and son wore the badges of political prisoners and were selected for the slave labour camp of Monowitz, where they stayed for about five days prior to being transferred to Treblinka. In Treblinka, David witnessed his father’s murder at the hands of a guard. In the fall of 1944, a guard recognized David as a boxer he had admired and had him transferred back to Auschwitz and Monowitz in December 1944 to compete boxing matches against other prisoners. In December 1944, David managed to escape the death march with a few iother prisoners. He was rescued shortly after and brought to a hospital until his health improved. No members of his family survived the war. In the summer of 1945, David met his wife. In 1947, the couple emigrated to Cuba, and in 1950, to Montreal where David began a successful career as a butcher.
- Accession No.
- 2011X.23.01
- Name Access
- Kropveld, David
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
