Anneke Bloomfield was born in April 1935, in The Hague, The Netherlands. Her father worked for Shell Oil Company and her mother was a retired schoolteacher. Anneke had three brothers and a sister. The family lived in a Jewish neighborhood until Anneke’s father decided that they should move to a townhouse, as tensions towards Jews started to increase. They also started attending a new church and a Christian school, leading those around them to believe they were Christian.
Immediately after Anneke’s fifth birthday, the war began. For the first few years, things didn’t seem very different for Anneke, until it was decided that her family should split up for safety. Anneke was sent south towards Belgium to hide. When it became riskier to hide children, Anneke was returned home. Her family then decided to send her away again, this time to a farm up north. There she stayed with a family that took good care of her. However, the food was very different from what she was used to, so Anneke became very ill and was once again returned home.
The third time Anneke was sent away, she went north again on a bus full of other children. Unfortunately, the bus was mistaken for a German bus and was fired at. Anneke escaped the bus and ran to a nearby house to wait until it was safe again. By the time she returned to the bus, there were only seven children left and they continued on their journey. By the time Anneke arrived at the place she would be staying, she had lice and was very hungry. In the mornings she would go to the soup kitchen to get food. There was no way for Anneke to contact anyone she knew, so she continued to live in fear and hunger.
Finally, in the spring of 1945, Anneke was instructed to go to a truck that would take her home. She was surprised and relieved to find her younger brother there. Once Anneke arrived home, she looked for all of her toys but couldn’t find them. Her parents told her that while she was away, her baby sister had been born and they had also found her a warm, safe place to stay, but the family taking care of her new sister had demanded all of the toys. Anneke was never told why she was being sent away because the risk of telling children was too great, in case they were captured and gave away information.
After the war, Anneke’s oldest brother wanted to get away from everything connected to the war, so he moved to Alberta, Canada. The day that Anneke turned 20, she went to look for her brother. She found him and decided to stay in Canada. Her father urged her to return home, but Anneke wanted to stay in North America. She got married and moved to Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and her son. Nineteen years later, Anneke moved to North Hollywood, California and then eventually retired in Portland, Oregon.