Citizenship Certificate

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

June 29, 1945 (indexed as 1945)

Level

item

Extent

Citizenship Certificate : Paper : Printed : Ink : Beige, black, blue ; Ht: 27 cm x W: 20,5 cm

Scope & content

Page creased horizontally and vertically, three stamps on front, tears repaired variety of tape types, fingerprint B.L. Temporary Certificate of Citizenship from Dutch Embassy for David Kropveld, issued on 29 June 1945 and expiring 29 October 1945. Narrative: David Kropveld was born on 1918/1/3 in Amsterdam, Holland. He was the third child of Samuel Kropveld (1884/3/?) and Goedge Van Cleef (1894). His father had studied to be a doctor before he was enlisted in 1916. His mother was a nursery school teacher until her marriage. As a boy he participated in Boy Scouts, acrobatic and boxing training. He studied at a commercial college, and opened a silver, gold, and diamond business during the Great Depression. In 1936 he was chosen to represent Holland as a boxer in the Olympics, but he chose not to go. He trained as a naval officer, and was prepared to attend university when the Germans occupied Holland in May 1940. In July, David and his father joined the White Brigade resistance group in the south of France. As members, David and his father gave up their Jewish identities and were responsible for taking children to safe houses and participating in armed attacks on German convoys. During this time David used the alibis Charles Seegers and Dan Daladien. In October 1942, David was arrested while smuggling war-related information between occupied and Vichy France. He was tortured for ten days before escaping with the aid of two men from the resistance. He was reunited with his father in Brussels, but the two were arrested by Gestapo officers one week later. They were incarcerated for three months and deported to Auschwitz where they were considered political prisoners and were selected for the slave labor camp at Monowitz Camp. They remained there for 5 days prior to being transferred to Treblinka Camp. In Treblinka, David witnessed his father’s murder at the hands of a guard. During this time Goedge had been sent to Sobibor where she was gassed and cremated on 1943/5/7. In the fall of 1944, a guard recognized David as a boxer he admired and had him transferred back to Auschwitz and on to Monowitz in December 1944 to compete in boxing matches against other prisoners. The rest of David’s family was killed during the war. Of his siblings Gretha (1914) died of hunger in Malapane, Poland with her husband in September 1942, Hartog (1916) was injured as a sergeant in the army and executed after his capture on 1943/6/30, Rosette (June 1922) was gassed in Sobibor on 1943/7/23 while pregnant, and Israel (March 1924) was beaten to death during a protest on a transport bound for Buchenwald. In December 1944, David managed to escape the death march with a few other prisoners. He was rescued shortly after and brought to a hospital until his health improved, although he never fully recovered and spent most of his life physically handicapped. In the summer of 1945, David met his wife, Annie Cohen. They had two sons, Mike and Phillip Kropveld. In 1947, the couple immigrated to Cuba, and then, in 1950, to Montreal, Canada, where David began a successful career as a butcher. He died in Montreal on 2008/11/26 at the age of 91.

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Genre / form

textual record

In the picture

CertificateDocumentHandwrittenIdentity CardLetterheadPostage StampSealSignatureTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

CONSULAAT-GENERAAL DER NEDERLANDEN85, Rue de GrenellePARIS VIITél. : LITTRÉ 47.00CERTIFICAATUITSLUITEND GELDIG VOOR FRANKRIJK EN BELGIEDe Consul-Generaal der NederlandenCERTIFICATEXCLUSIVEMENT VALABLE POUR LA FRANCE ET LA BELGIQUELe Consul-Général des Pays-BasAMBASSADE DES PAYS-BASPARISDe Consul-Generaal der Nederlanden te Parijs bevestigt hierbij dat de hieronder aangegeven persoon, verklaard heeft dat zijn (haar) naam is:dat hij (zij) geboren is open dat hij (zij) de Nederlandsche nationaliteit bezit.In afwachting van het uiteindelijk resultaat van het onderzoek omtrent de juistheid van deze verklaring, neemt het Consulaat-Generaal der Nederlanden te Parijs bovengenoemde persoon onder zijn bescherming en verzoekt de civiele en militaire autoriteiten hem (haar) zoo hoodig hulp en bijstand te willen verleenen.Handteekening van bovengenoemdeLe Consul-Général des Pays-bas à Paris certifie par la présente que la personne désignée ci-dessous a déclaré s'appeler :et être de nationalité néerlandaise.En attendant l'examen définif de l'exactitude de cette déclaration, le Consulat-Général des Pays-Bas à Paris prend la personne sus-nommée sous sa protection et prie les autorités civiles & militaires de lui prêter aide et secours en casSignature de l'intéresséRead automatically; may contain mistakes.

Language

French

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗1990_83_8.jpg