Today, Martine Letterie donated an object of great significance to her family's history to the archives of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial: When Martinus Letterie was deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp, he had a suitcase with him. After his death, the suitcase was returned to the family.

When Martinus Letterie was arrested in June 1941 in the Netherlands for his involvement in the communist resistance against the German occupiers, his wife Sjoerdje sent him a suitcase to prison. This suitcase accompanied Martinus through several prisons in Schoorl and Amersfoort to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. Martinus died on January 25, 1942, in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp in Hamburg.

After Martinus' death, the suitcase was sent back to the Netherlands, where the family had to pick it up in The Hague. It still contained all the things Martinus had with him, including the photo of his three children that had been made especially for him. His son Frank was 10 years old at the time.

The suitcase remained with Frank, who then used it himself. His mother sent him the suitcase when he was doing civilian service in a psychiatric clinic as a conscientious objector. Later, he kept his drawings in the suitcase.

After Frank's death, his daughter Martine handed over this suitcase, which has great significance for the family. Along with the suitcase, Martine Letterie also handed over a portrait drawing of her grandfather, showing him at the age when he was arrested. Frank had made this in 1951, when he first had to spend three months in prison as a conscientious objector.

The suitcase shows signs of use—among other things, there are remnants of a handwritten list of items that Martinus' wife packed in the suitcase when it was sent to her husband after his arrest. Newspaper pages were used in the post-war period to pad the suitcase. This makes the suitcase all the more exciting, as it tells a whole story.

The suitcase has great significance in terms of family history, and we are very grateful that Martine Letterie decided to donate it to the concentration camp memorial. She has been committed to preserving memory for many years – she has written several children's books about the Nazi era and has been chair of the Amicale Internationale KZ Neuengamme since 2019.

• Video with Martine Letterie and her father about the suitcase on the website "Objects carry memories"
• Video about the suitcase on Tiktok: My father's suitcase