The Path to Glory: Sister Judith Mendes da Costa O.P. Part I

Sixty years ago, in May 1944, Sister Judith (1895-1944) was  arrested for the second time by the Gestapo in Holland, Amsterdam, and brought to Auschwitz, where she died on 15 May, gassed or murdered, it is not known. She was one of six people who were liberated from their first transport to Auschwitz on August 7, 1942. The reason of this liberation was their belonging to the Portuguese-Jewish community of Amsterdam. It was a rumor that the Jews were to be repatriated to Portugal, from where they had fled to the Netherlands in the 16th century.

This is a short story of the life of Sister Judith Mendes da Costa O.P. She was accompanying Edith Stein, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, to Auschwitz in 1942. At the last moment, she was liberated and returned to her Dominican community, to the Dominican Sisters of Sainte Catherine of Siena in Voorschoten and in the convent/sanatorium Berg en Bosch in Bilthoven to write her memoirs which she called “My Best Time”. It recounts her temporary life in a concentration camp. Then she was arrested again in a year and a half and murdered.

On Thursday 25 August 2022, a stumbling stone was placed on the grounds of Berg en Bosch for Sister Judith Mendes da Costa. It was at the end of a symposium directed by Father Paul Hamans, Dutch historian of the Catholic Church and author of the book “Edith Stein and Companions on the Way to Auschwitz”.

The Life Journey of Sister Judith

Judith Henriëtte Mendes da Costa was born in Amsterdam on 25 August 1895 to Portuguese Jewish parents. The family had seven children, of whom Judith was the youngest. Judith was twelve years old when her father died in 1907. The family had to leave their mansion at Herengracht 105 and moved to a smaller home in Amsterdam. There were several Catholic staff members in the Da Costa family home. Judith’s mother once said, ” They are honest, polite and do their duty with enthusiasm”.

When Judith was fourteen years old, Jesus Christ came into her life. One evening she went to the cinema with her mother and sisters. There was a film about the life of Jesus. Later she describes something of what she experienced that evening, ” I couldn’t speak, it was all too much for me. It was as if my soul had received a shock”.  Judith started visiting Catholic churches. She was impressed by the beauty of the liturgical celebrations.

Judith Mendes da Costa, front row, third from the left, with a group on a retreat in Uden in 1925 under the leadership of a Capuchinpriest.

An advertisement showed her the way to conferences for non-Catholics in the Holy Dominicus parish of the Dominicans in the Spuistraat in Amsterdam. Here she was introduced to Catholic doctrine and practice. She placed herself under the spiritual guidance of Father Matthias Frehe O.P. (1890-1967), who later also became the confessor of Dr. Lisamaria Meirowsky. (The two women met also during their first arrest in 1942, but Dr. Meirowsky, who was a sister of third-order of Saint Dominic, was gassed in Auschwitz, August 1942).

Catholic Judith drew strength from prayer and from the conviction that she bore her suffering for the salvation of her Jewish people. In Catholic circles she made new friends and acquaintances. She became a member of a mission sewing circle. Here liturgical vestments and supplies were made for use in the mission. She was committed to the then newly established “Prayer Covenant for Israel”.

Judith was 28 years old when she received the holy sacrament of baptism on Wednesday 10 October 1923 at 16:00 in the St. Dominic Church in Amsterdam. On 14 October she received Holy Communion for the first time in the Rosary Church in the same city. In the winter of the same year she received Holy Confirmation from Mgr. Augustinus J. Callier, Bishop of Haarlem (1903-1928).

In this situation, the vocation to religious life matured in her. On September 1, 1928, she entered the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Voorschoten. On April 29, 1929, she received the monastic habit. She made her minor or temporary profession on April 30, 1930 and her perpetual profession on April 30, 1933. Sister Judith became a happy Dominican with an ever-radiant look.

 

 

 

A fellow sister testifies,

A loving encounter with God, that was undoubtedly the fourteen years of professional life for Sister Judith, whether she was typing the sick reports of the patients of ‘Berg en Bosch’ behind her typewriter, or she was united with Him in prayer. The happiness resulting from that encounter she found equally when peace and comfort were given to her after Holy Communion, as in the aridity anddesolation with which God tests His own. It lay hidden from her in the daily struggle between the hypersensitivity of her sensitive mind and the disappointments and humiliations, the fierce blows of life, in which she had so amply shared her … The great impulse to accept suffering, struggle and sacrifice was the thought that all this could benefit the salvation of her people.

Sister Judith entered the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Voorschoten.
Nazi persecution of Jews. On 20 January 1942, a conference was held in a villa in Berlin, at Wannsee no. 56-58. Representatives of the relevant ministries met to make decisions about what they called the “Final Solution”of the Jewish problem”. The Jews in Western Europe were to be murdered (in occupied by Germany Poland and Russia this already has been carried out). This involved approximately eleven million people. It was thought that this would be completed by 1951.

Nazi persecution of Jews

On 26 June 1942, the Jewish Council in Amsterdam was informed that the deportation of Jews would begin. The systematic removal of Jews from the Netherlands began on 15 July 1942. By 31 July 1942, 12,000 Jews had already been deported. On 29 June 1942, the evening papers reported that Commissioner General Fritz Schmidt had said about the Jews, “They will return just as poor to where they came from”.  It was understood from this that “all” Jews would have to leave the Netherlands.

Following Schmidt’s speech, the Inter-Church Consultation meeting in The Hague on 10 July decided to immediately draw up a protest telegram and send it to Reich Commissioner Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart and the commander of the Wehrmacht. The latter sent his copy to Seyss-Inquart with the recommendation to also deport the signatories. On behalf of eight Dutch religious communities, the telegram was already sent on 11 July. This was before the first transport of Jews had left the Netherlands on 15 July. Professor Dr. Lou de Jong says about this protest telegram, “This is the highest number of people who have ever signed a document addressed to the occupier”.  The signatories represented seven million Dutch Christians.

In the same meeting, the Inter-Church Consultation decided that the text of the telegram would be read out in all churches on 26 July. In the telegram, the religious communities protested against the deportation of Jews. (Not about Jews who belonged to their religious community). A pastoral letter containing the telegram was read out in all Catholic churches on 26 July 1942. The next day, on Monday 27 July, the occupier decided to arrest the Jews who had become Catholic. This happened on 2 August 1942, the Sunday after the letter was read out.

Sister Judith was picked up on Sunday 2 August 1942 in the convent/sanatorium Berg en Bosch in Bilthoven during the Holy Mass at 9:30 in the large chapel. She says in her autobiography,

It was before the Consecration when I suddenly had an inspiration to pray very fervently. I had experienced this before and I immediately responded to that inspiration. Less than two minutes later the bell of our guest quarters rang and I thought: ‘surely a visit for one of the Sisters’. Some time later our Prioress came to get me from the Chapel and as I followed her, I thought — suspecting nothing — ‘surely a visit for me!’ In the church porch, the Prioress said to me: ‘Don’t be frightened, there are two detectives who are coming to get you, because you are Jewish.They are in the large consulting room and you must act completely normal’, said the Prioress. I then took a deep breath (!), then went inside full of courage. Then the interrogation began: ‘Are you Jewish?’ To which the Prioress replied: ‘She is Catholic’. ‘You have four Jewish grandparents?’ ‘Yes’, I said. ‘Then we must arrest you’. ‘Is that going to be okay?’ the Prioress asked firmly. ‘Here are the proofs for the arrest’ and they showed the papers. ‘She can certainly change her clothes first?’ asked Priorin. It was granted and I was given a list of what I was allowed to take with me. I had fifteen minutes. They asked if I had any belongings, to which Priorin replied that we have a cell with a table, a bed and a chair and a cupboard with some clothes. ‘We must seal that cell and cupboard’, they said. We went and I ran upstairs, not to put on other clothes, because I was on a Sunday (!) but to remove everything from my cupboard that could be dangerous. That went quickly under my neighbor’s bed. A large suitcase was packed with all kinds of necessities, such as: two woolen blankets, food for two days, a plate, cup, knife, fork and spoon.

Sister Judith received the blessing of the rector and he said while he firmly shook her hand, ” Stay strong, listen! I will think of you every day during Holy Mass. ” Judith asked him, “Would you please pray to the Holy Spirit, so that I know what to answer?”.  The rector promised.

A large group of fellow sisters sawSister Judith off. A detective carried her suitcase. The prioress accompanied her to the car. When getting in she said, “Be strong and trust in God, He will not leave you”. Sister Judith shook her hand again. She thanked the prioress for everything she had done for her and said, “Our Lord is going with me and everything will turn out fine. Don’t worry about me. Are you asking the Sisters to pray for me?” Then the car drove off in the direction of Bilthoven.

Sister Judith was aware of what this meant. Her eldest sister, who had also been on her way to church, did not dare to take the step, collapsed into a nervous crisis and was admitted to the psychiatric hospital; here she was picked up by the occupiers and later gassed. Another sister and a brother were deported to Germany; they never came back. Judith cried for them. She was repeatedly offered the opportunity to go into hiding. She did not want to endanger her order and the sanatorium, but also said, ” If I have to go, I will sacrifice my life for the salvation of Israel”.

Read Part II tomorrow