Rudie Cortissos

Born:
20 January 1939, Amsterdam
Interview:
19 November 2009

"Christian and Jewish traditions for a lifetime"

Spoken language: Dutch

Salomon Cortissos was not yet three years old when he was taken to the first of a series of hiding adresses. At the end of 1941 his parents took him to a brother of his father, who was in a mixed marriage. A little later he came into the Poort family; his "father-in-hiding" acting as substitute manager for his grandfather's business.

For safety reasons he was now named Rudie: Rudie Poort. His blond hair and blue eyes came in handy. Still later he was taken in by the family of the sister of the servant-girl who had worked for his parents before the war. He visited a Christian elementary school and from time to time saw his grandparents from his father's side, who were in hiding in the neighbourhood. By the end of 1944 Rudie had moved to his final hiding address, with Greta Knuyt in Parnassusweg. His father had been there as well, for one and a half year, hiding in between a floor and a ceiling, but Rudie found out about this only in January or February 1945. Both Rudie and his father survived the war; his mother was rounded up and murdered in Sobibor. After the war Rudie, his father, and Greta Knuyt moved to Minervalaan. In 1949 his father remarried a Czechoslovak woman whom he had met on a business trip, and Rudie's former "hiding-mother" disappeared abruptly from his life. He never had warm contacts with his stepmother. Rudie Cortissos married in 1961 and has two children as well as four grandchildren.

Rudie Cortissos was interviewed twice: once before, and once after the
trial. The interviews were put one after another during editing.

In this interview is talked about:

  • Jewish life

    Which Jewish customs and traditions are referred to by the interviewees? Did they observe Jewish holidays before the Second World War? What role does their Jewishness play now? This section deals with Jewish life in the Netherlands and Poland.

    Rudie Cortissos was not raised Jewish. During his years in hiding he lived a Christian's life. His father remarried in 1949 with a protestant woman from Chekho-Slovakia. Although Rudie received some Jewish lessons, one can hardly speak of a Jewish life. There would be a Christmas tree at home and Khanuka was not observed. By the end of the 'fifties Cortissos, together with his future wife, who was observant Jewish, went to Israel in order to work in a kibbutz. They didn't like it there and they returned to the Netherlands, where they lived an intensely Jewish life. Rudie had several positions in boards within the Jewish community. He feels it is very important that Thora and tradition-based Jewry continues to exist.

  • In hiding

    Part of the interviewees survived the war in hiding. Members of this group were in hiding with a non-Jewish foster family in the Netherlands as a baby or infant. A number of those surviving Sobibor found a hiding place in Poland after the revolt.

    Rudie Cortissos spent his early childhood without his parents in hiding. He arrived at his first hiding address by the end of 1941, aged nearly three. He remembers how he would eat cheese, something very rare at the time, wash in a tub, and visit his grandparents, who were in hiding close by. Rudie was a blond boy with blue eyes and could be in the street without problems. He went to a Christian elementary school, for example. At Rudie's fourth, and last hiding address also his father was in hiding. His father would leave his hiding place every now and then, among other things in order to go by bike with Rudie to a farmer in Ouderkerk, probably in search for food. One time, when hungry Rudie saw some German soldiers eating, his father told him - being blond and with no star - to ask them for a sandwich. Rudie got it.

  • Life after the war

    How did it feel when many did not return after the war? Interviewees recollect how they resumed their lives, shaped by such huge losses.

    Rudie Cortissos is from an ancient Portuguese family. He has hardly known his half-German mother. His Portuguese father survived the war, like Rudie did, in hiding. After the war Rudie, his father, and his "mother-in-hiding", Greta Knuyt lived together for a few years, making a sort of family. In 1949 his father remarried with a Chekho-Slovakian woman whom he got to know on a business trip. Greta Knuyt disappeared out of his life abruptly, contacts with his stepmother never became close. His father died in 1959.

  • Rebuilding lives

    So many people, so many different lives. Each of the interviewees have their own way of coping with the enormous loss that bears the name of Sobibor.

    By the end of the 'fifties Rudie got engaged with Jewish and Zionist Elly. Together they went to Israel to work in a kibbutz, but they didn't really like it there. They returned, Rudie found a job in the pharmaceutic industry, and they married in June 1961. Now they have a son, a daughter, and four grandchildren

    Without his being deeply aware of it Rudie Cortissos' life has been marked by the consecutive disappearances of his mother, foster mother, and stepmother. He compensated the loss of a warm family life by founding a family himself with his partner Elly.

  • Consequences of Sobibor

    Interviewees lost loved ones and relatives in Sobibor. Here they talk freely about the role these losses still play in their lives.

    Rudie Cortissos was interviewed twice for this project. Once before the trial began and once a few months after it started. He has hardly known his mother, who was murdered in Sobibor. He has felt the loss of a mother and the absence of maternal love his whole life.

    Rudie Cortissos went deeper into the great loss of his mother and his lifelong quest for security during the second interview. He talked about his mother's letters, which are still in his possession: a few days before she was killed in Sobibor, in May 1943, she sent hand-written letters from Westerbork and on her way to Sobibor.

  • Demjanjuk trial

    Next of kin to people killed in Sobibor, and survivors of the revolt played a major role as co-plaintiffs during the Demjanjuk trial.

    Rudie Cortissos considered the Munich trial against John Demjanjuk as a means of giving his mother justice as yet. During his complaint he went expressly into the loss of a real mother. In the interview he told about his longing for a family life.

  • 2,000 testimonials

    The Jewish Historical Museum made two thousand interviews from the archive of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute accessible to the public.

    Rudie Cortissos was interviewed for Shoah Visual Foundation. This interview, with a duration of 1hrs47min, can be watched in the "Hollandsche Schouwburg" and in the so-called "mediatheek" of the Jewish Historical Museum; reference number 4642. Please click here for more information.