Erased

Never could we have believed to reach this episode. We have found living relatives of Ilse. After the initial phone contact, we stay in contact with Helen Romain-Levien a few more times. And one evening, the phone rings. It’s Helen. She tells me that she rummaged some more in the attic, and in a box, she found a pile of paper. They are all brown and stained. It is very thin paper from the war, she...

In this episode we hear the story of Rozette, the woman who sat in the front row together with Jules Schelvis during the trial against John Demjanjuk, the camp guard of death camp Sobibór on the day the train arrived with Ilse. You may have thought he was a very sick man that had to lie down during the court sessions – until you hear this episode… We also talk to Helen, 81 years old and a living r...

In this episode, we hear the incredible stories from eyewitnesses of the persecution of Jews in Holland. We hear a testimony from the secretary of the Jewish Counsil in Amsterdam: nobody knew for certain what would happen at the end of the train transports. Jules Schelvis was on a train just after the one our Ilse was transported in. But Jules’ story is remarkable because he managed to survive Sob...

In this episode, we try to find out who's really responsible for the murder of Ilse Wagner and her family. Is it Reinhard Heydrich, the nazi whom Hitler called 'The man with the iron heart'?  We try to get into contact with the boy who lived in the same house as Ilse, in the last months before she was taken away. And finally, finally, we hear his story. What would he still know about Ilse? And we...

In this episode, we find the name of Ilse's father on a mysterious list, connected to a labour camp. Did he go there? And what happened at a time when all the Jewish families were being rounded up, but Ilse's father was being set free - for just one week?  We try to get into contact with the boy who lived in the same house as Ilse, in the last months before she was taken away. What would his story...

In this fourth episode, we visit Hannah Goslar, who turns out to be Ilse’s best friend. They met just a few days after ilse and her parents first came to the Netherlands. What makes the story even more remarkable is that Hannah, like Ilse, was brought up Jewish orthodox! She meets Ilse in synagogue and she is there on the day Ilse and Anne Frank fist meet. Hannah, who lives in Jerusalem, digs into...

With the few, but definitely tangible initial information about Ilse, we go to Hamburg. We go to the place where Ilse was born, where she grew up with her father Salomon Alfred Wagner, her mother Johanna Wagner-Goldstein and grandmother Golda Wagner. We are taken by Holger Artus along the homes and paths that were so familiar to the family. We describe what beautiful life was once like for her and...

We go back to Jacqueline van Maarsen. Ilse's classmate at the Jewish Lyceum. What can she still remember and what is in her suitcase? A photo perhaps? Moreover, the search continues in the Amsterdam region. For what does writer and historian Dienke Hondius know? Together with a classmate of Ilse, she wrote the book 'Absent' about the pupils of the Jewish Lyceum. Is Ilse's name to be found there, a...

We know that Ilse Wagner was a friend of Anne Frank. She is even mentioned several times in her famous diary ‘The Secret Annex’. Writer Janny van der Molen previously researched Ilse for her book ‘Do not Forget Me'. A children's book about Anne Frank's friends. But why was she unable to find Ilse's story? What happened to Anne Frank's friend? Podcastmakers Richard and Patty-Lou join Janny in a sea...

This trailer tells you how this 9-episode storytelling podcastseries takes you on a journey along the lines of Holocaust history in search for the story of Ilse Wagner, the lost friend of Anne Frank. This succesful Dutch production is finally available in the English language. Episode 1 is published May 2 2024 and then every 2nd week a new episode follows. A Dutch Audiodroom-production Check out d...