Elly (Glogau) Graumann (abt. 1905 - 1946)

Biography

Elly was born about 1905. After her first husband committed suicide, she and her son Michael moved to Amsterdam. There, she remarried to Dr. Heinz Graumann. After the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, she, Heinz, and Michael, along with another family, paid men to help them escape to Switzerland. However, while hiding in Deurne, Netherlands, the hired men's original plans fell through, so they decided to murder the families to cover up the crime of hiding Jews from the Nazis. They told the families that they had to take them one by one to get them to the next transport. Elly's son Michael went first; in the woods, they beat Michael to death and buried him there. Before they could murder anyone else, the hired men found out that a local farmer was willing to take in the families for the duration of the war. Elly, Heinz, and the other family moved into the farmer's chicken coop, where they survived the war. After the war ended in 1945, she and Heinz moved back to Amsterdam. However, Elly, deeply depressed and heartbroken over the suffering during the war and the murder of her only son, took her own life in 1946.

Sources

• "Erwin Michael Joseph." 'Stitching Oorlogs Slachtoffers,' Stitching Oorlogsslachtoffers, http://www.oorlogsslachtoffers.nl/deurne/erwin-michael-joseph/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2020.
• Snijders, Piet. "A Treacherous Murder." 'Brabant Remembers,' Foundation Crossroads Brabant, 2019, http://www.brabantremembers.com/persecution/een-verraderlijke-moord/?lang=en. Accessed 8 Jan. 2020.