Betty Bausch-Polak

Polak was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Amsterdam, on 4 November 1919. From a young age, she recognized the dangers posed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and actively protested against them.^[4] She aspired to migrate to the Palestine Mandate and therefore undertook agricultural training. In 1939, she married Philip de Leeuw, a Jewish economist who was serving as a section commander of a border battalion in Dinxperlo at the time.^[5]

At an early age, she recognized the threat posed by Adolf Hitler and actively opposed it.^[6] In 1939, she wed the Jewish economist, Philip de Leeuw.^[7] During World War II, they made unsuccessful attempts to escape to England by ship. Subsequently, De Leeuw was executed in retaliation. Her parents, in-laws, and sister perished in different concentration camps.^[8][9][10]