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Royal Liberation Dress

From the collection of the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam

h 52 cm x w 50 cm
1944

In 1944, a little Jewish girl named Elianne Muller wore this dress made of parachute material – dyed orange – during the Liberation celebration that took place in the village of Neerkant in the Dutch province of Brabant. It went beautifully with her reddish curls. The family Thijssen, who had been hiding the girl, made her this dress for this festive occasion.

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Festively dressed in the red, white and blue of the Dutch flag and orange the population of the region of Brabant welcomed British soldiers during the liberation of the city of Eindhoven in September 1944 (source: Joods Historisch Museum).
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Earlier in the war Elianne spent time in three other hiding places, separated from her parents. Though her father Hein and her mother Rebecca miraculously survived, they completely lost track of their daughter. In 1945 her father placed an appeal in various newspapers describing his daughter’s striking hair colour. The plea was successful: Elianne and her parents were reunited. It was an exception for an entire Jewish family to survive the war.