Rootje de Winter

Who is Rootje de Winter?

Anne met this woman, her husband, and daughter in Westerbork and they were in the same cattle car to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then in the same Block there (Block 29). Her story and her clear memories of Anne are worthwhile reads (see the "Journey into the Night" chapter of Footsteps of Anne Frank — she is called Mrs. de Wiek there). She was in the sick barracks with Anne's mother, Edith, and told Otto of his wife's death. Rootje's husband was apparently immediately sent to the gas chambers upon arrival at Auschwitz. She and her daughter (Judy) survived.