Introduction
Anna Beate Oestreicher, the first child of Felix Oestreicher and
Gerda Oestreicher-Laqueur, was born in Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary,
Czech Republic). Her twin sisters Maria and Henriette (Helli) were born
less than eighteen months later, in February 1936. Her childhood was a
happy one with many visits from Gerda’s and Felix’s families from
Amsterdam.
When the threat to the Jews from Nazi Germany became too great,
grandmother Clara, Felix and Gerda and their three daughters Beate,
Maria and Helli fled to the Netherlands in the hope of eventually
leaving Europe. However, the Germans occupation of the Netherlands on
May 10, 1940 made this impossible. On November 1,1943, the Germans
ordered the Dutch police to arrest the family and take them to the
Westerbork transit camp. Helli, who was ill was left behind in a local
hospital. Six months later the others were transported from Westerbork
to the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in Germany.
In April 1945, as the war was coming to end, a train was loaded with
prisoners departed from Bergen Belsen and wandered through the
devastated German countryside on its way to an unknown destination. It
was liberated by Russian soldiers in the village of Tröbitz in the
spring of 1945. For Beate and Maria it was like a fairy tale to sleep
between clean sheets once again, to pick wild flowers and to no longer
be hungry. The fairy tale did not last long. Felix and Gerda became
sick and died. The two girls were taken back to the Netherlands by
survivors and arrived at the end of June 1945 at the home of their
maternal grandparents in Amsterdam. Shortly thereafter, having not seen
each other for almost two years, the three sisters were reunited at the
farm of Mr and Mrs Herman Braakhekke in Gorssel. They had provided
Helli with a loving and secure home during the occupation.
The three girls were then taken in by the ter Laag family in Bergen in
North Holland. There in September 1945, Beate, now almost eleven,
attended school after having been to school for a month in 1941. She
was able to read, write and do arithmetic and quickly made up for lost
time.
In July 1947 Felix Oestreicher’s sister Lisbeth and her husband Otto
Birman, who had been married in the Westerbork transit camp in 1945,
decided to give the three girls a permanent home with them in
Amersfoort. After graduating from the gymnasium, Beate went to study
biochemistry in Utrecht and received her master’s degree in 1960.
Thereafter she was granted a research position at the Rockefeller
Institute in New York, after which she undertook research into the B-50
protein (now known as the Gap-43 protein) with Dr Perlman in Israel.
She received her doctorate in 1967 in Amsterdam under Professor Slater
with a dissertation on
The Mechanism of the Inhibition of Succinate
Oxidation by Uncouplers.
Beate then took up a research post at the Netherlands Institute for
Neuroscience in Amsterdam. When her post was cut during
re-organisation, she continued her research at the Rudolf Magnus
Institute in Utrecht. Just before her death, she published her
extensive study ‘B-50, The Growth-Associated Protein-43: Modulation of
Cell Morphology and Communication in the Nervous System’. Among her
colleagues Beate was known, among other things, for the antibodies she
produced in the laboratorium, which were much better than commercially
available varieties.
Throughout her adult life, Beate was not only dedicated to science but
was also a committed member of the peace movement. In the 1970s she
participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations and the protests against
cruise missiles. She went on protest marches and lobbied officials, but
was mostly active in developing strategies. She never ceased to look
for new ways to convince people of the need for peace. She conceived
the idea for Radio Irene: a plan for the creation of a network to
facilitate the distribution of information and peace proposals in
countries entangled in civil conflicts. The aims of the Beate
Oestreicher Friedenswerke Foundation, which she set up, were based on
the ideas of behind Radio Irene.
Beate was concerned not only for society at large, but also for her
family. She was intensly engaged with her sisters and their children.
She was an extremely attentive and generous aunt to her nieces and
nephews, not only pampering them with presents, but also listening to
their ideas and taking a serious interest in their opportunities and
perspectives.
When her life had stabilized she met her great love and companion,
Gerard Holzmann, a scientist and fellow peace activist. They lived
together for many years until it became clear that Gerard could no
longer continue his scientific research in the Netherlands. He left for
an interesting position in the United States. They corresponded, saw
each other frequently and spent holidays together.
In the early 1980s, Beate was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She lived
with the disease for years and never complained. She went about her
life and work fearlessly. At the end of 1996 it became clear that the
disease could no longer be controlled. It was then that she established
the Beate Oestreicher Friedenswerke Foundation (BOF), which she endowed
with substantial funds to support activists and organisations that
attempt to disseminate reliable information about war zones and promote
activities that will bring about reconciliation and peace.
Beate died in September 1997 just after the publication of her major
article (almost a second dissertation) on the B-50 protein.
The memories of the horrors of the concentration camps in the Second
World War and the sexism within the scientific community did not
restrain her from constantly striving to attain her goals with dogged
determination. She had a fragile appearance. As delicate as she was,
she had immense perseverance and the conviction to formulate and
implement her ideas.
Biography Beate Oestreicher 1934-1997
| 1934 |
born in Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary, Czech republic) |
| 1938 |
flees to the Netherlands with her parents, grandmother and
two sisters |
| 1943-1945 |
interned with parents, grandmother and Maria in Westerbork
transit camp and Bergen Belsen concentration camp |
| 1945 |
liberated in Tröbitz, death of parents |
| 1945 |
returns with Maria to the Netherlands and is reunited with
her sister Henriette (Helli) |
| 1945-1947 |
she and her sisters live with the Ter Laag family in Bergen |
| 1947 |
she and her sisters move in with Lisbeth and Otto
Birman-Oestreicher in Amersfoort |
| 1948 |
gymnasium in Amersfoort |
| 1954 |
graduates from gymnasium, studies chemistry in Utrecht |
| 1960 |
master’s degree in biochemistry at Utrecht, works in New York
and Tel Aviv, Israel |
| 1967 |
receives her doctorate under Professor Slater in Amsterdam |
| 1968 |
researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in
Amsterdam |
| 1985 |
researcher at the Rudolf Magnus Institute in Utrecht |
| 1997 |
major publication on the B-50 protein |
| 1997 |
dies in September from cancer of the bladder |