Monument Palestinapioniers

From 1936, Huize Voorburg was owned by the Jewish firm Kahn and Co and served as a country house for the Kahn and Blum partners. Family members who had fled from Germany also lived there. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the families left the mansion and from then on it stood empty.

In March 1941, the house was put into use as a "Hakhshara Home", a place where Jewish youths ("Palestine pioneers") were prepared for their stay in Palestine. It housed 34 boys and girls aged seventeen and eighteen, as well as ten staff members. The residents were trained in agriculture and animal husbandry.

On 3 October 1942, the SS surrounded the house and the residents present were deported to Camp Westerbork. A large number of them ended up on an exchange list, which meant they did not continue on the transport. They were given a so-called Palestine certificate to be exchanged for German citizens interned by the British in Palestine.

In September 1943, five leaders of the group from Elden were transported to concentration camps. Only two of them survived this. In January 1944, 30 'Palestine pioneers' from the exchange list were deported to Bergen-Belsen. Travelling via Vienna, seven of them were then transported to Palestine in a large group. The others stayed in various camps, and twelve of them were killed. The survivors were finally liberated by Russian troops on 23 April 1945.

A memorial stone has been erected in memory of the murdered 'Palestine pioneers'. The Hebrew text on the plaque reads:

'May their souls be bundled in the bundle of eternal life'.