The Ilse Last-Mathis collection documents the experience of a family of Dutch Jews under Nazi occupation and after the war ended. The collection includes material related to post-war reparation requests, as well as artifacts and a children’s booklet contrasting the behavior of Dutch citizens who co-operated with the Nazi occupation with those Dutch who resisted.

Ilse Mathis was born in Breslau, Germany on September 21, 1910. She was married to Jakob Last who was born in Mannheim, Germany in 1901. Their daughter Marianne was born on September 2, 1934 in Amsterdam. The family was living in Amsterdam when the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands began. During that period, Jakob Last was arrested by Nazi occupation forces; he died in Sobibor on May 21, 1943. Ilse Last-Mathis and her daughter Marianne were sheltered by Dutch friends and survived the Holocaust. Mrs. Last first cousin and the cousin’s husband lived in Reno, Nevada, where Mrs. Last and Marianne Last emigrated. No information on the experiences of the Lasts once in the United States is available.

1.0 Folder(s)

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