Dr Renate Neeman - Holocaust Survivor

Born in Hildesheim, Germany in 1926, Neeman followed her parents to the Netherlands after her father received notification the Gestapo was planning to send him to a concentration camp in 1938. Due to her father's poor health, they knew he would never survive in the camp and decided to flee. It was too dangerous to take Neeman at first so she stayed with her grandmother until her parents were able to send for her.
The Nazis occupied the Netherlands in May 1940 and the situation for the Jews became hostile like it was in Germany. In 1942, her parents were notified that they had to serve a 3-month sentence because they did not pay the escape tax to leave Germany in 1938. Their request to serve consecutive sentences so one parent would be able to take care of Neeman was granted.
After her father served his sentence, they decided to go back into hiding. The Dutch resistance placed her family member in separate locations so they were less likely to be detected. Neeman received false identity papers and "passed" by serving as an aide to a Christian family in Amerfoort. Her parents were hidden in a fraternity house at Amsterdam University. The family was reunited within weeks after WWII ended and immigrated to the USA in 1946 to join her older half-sister who had immigrated here in 1937. Neeman became an occupational therapist and moved to Buffalo, NY where she met her husband Dr. Moshe Neeman. Before moving to Cincinnati in 2014, she served as a speaker for the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo, NY.
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