Dutch Jewry was today alarmed and astonished at a decision of Amsterdam municipal authorities to place a 13-year-old Jewish war orphan in the custody of a Catholic family.
The girl, one of a number of children forcibly detained by Catholic families after the war, was discovered in a Belgian convent where she had been hidden by the Catholic family at about the same time that a determined search was on for Anneke Beekman, another Jewish girl spirited away from Holland when the authorities ordered her turned over to the Jewish community.
The local Jewish publication termed the decision to give custody of Rebecca Melhado, the girl in this case, to a Catholic family a “slap in the face to Dutch Jewry.” The Beekman girl is still missing.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
