Janny Brandes-Brilleslijper

Marianne "Janny" (or "Jannie") Brandes-Brilleslijper (24 October 1916 – 15 August 2003) was a Dutch Holocaust survivor and one of the last people to see Anne Frank. She was the sister of singer Lin Jaldati (born Rebekka Brilleslijper; 1912–1988).[1][2][3] Both Brandes-Brilleslijper and Jaldati (nicknamed "Lientje") were in the Westerbork, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with Anne and Anne's older sister Margot.

Janny Brandes-Brilleslijper
Born	Marianne Brilleslijper 24 October 1916 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died	15 August 2003 (aged 86) Amsterdam, Netherlands
Burial place	Zorgvlied, Amsterdam, Netherlands 52°20′8″N 4°54′1″E
Known for	Holocaust survivor
Spouse(s)	Bob Brandes ​ ​ (m. 1939; died 1998)​
Children	2
Relatives	Lin Jaldati (sister)

Life

Brandes-Brilleslijper was born Marianne Brilleslijper in Amsterdam on 24 October 1916,[1][4][5] the middle of three children of Fijtje (née Gerritse) and Joseph Brilleslijper.[2][4] In 1939, she married Cornelis Teunis "Bob" Brandes (1912–1998),[4][5] and they had two children: Robert and Liselotte Dolores.[4] After the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, Janny and Bob, along with Lientje, began to work in the Resistance. Janny kept Jewish people hidden in her home, and she never officially registered as a Jew. However, the Nazis often wanted to arrest Janny and her family, who made some narrow escapes.

Janny and Lientje were arrested in the summer of 1944, and were transported to the Westerbork transit camp. In Westerbork, they were listed as "criminals" and had to work in the work barracks. In those barracks, Janny and Lientje met Anne and Margot and befriended them.

From Westerbork, Janny, Lientje, and the Franks were transported to Auschwitz. Janny and Lientje were later transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne and Margot were also transported in October 1944. Janny, who was made a nurse in the camp, took care of the ill prisoners.[6] In March 1945, Anne and Margot died within a few days of each other. Janny and Lientje buried them in the mass graves at the camp.

After the war, Brandes-Brilleslijper was reunited with her husband and children. Through the Red Cross, she contacted Otto Frank and informed him about the deaths of his daughters, Anne and Margot.[7]

Brandes-Brilleslijper told her story about Anne and Margot's final days for the first time in the International Emmy Award winning documentary movie The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank (1988), directed by Dutch filmmaker Willy Lindwer.

Brandes-Brilleslijper died of heart failure in Amsterdam on August 15, 2003 at the age of 86.[5][8]

See also

• People associated with Anne Frank

References

1. "ZZ-TV - dossier of persons - Brandes-Brilleslijper, Janny". www.zeitzeugen-tv.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
2. "lin jaldati - joodsamsterdam". joodsamsterdam (in Dutch). Retrieved 2016-05-14.
3. "rebekka-brilleslijper.pdf" (PDF).
4. "Marianne (Jannie) Brandes-Brilleslijper". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
5. "Jannie Brandes-Brilleslijper". The Independent. 2003-08-20. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
6. Interview in The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer
7. "Anne Frank Diary Reference: People". annefrankdiaryreference.org.
8. admin. "Camp nurse, last person to see Anne Frank alive, dies | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California". www.jweekly.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.