Dutch Holocaust survivor, author Meijer dies

[July 11, 2012]  AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Dutch Jewish author Berthe Meijer, whose life intersected tangentially with that of Anne Frank, has died. She was 74.

Her husband, Gary Goldschneider, said Wednesday that Meijer died of cancer on July 10.

Meijer grew up on the same Amsterdam street where Frank attended a Montessori school. They were imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen at the same time, though Meijer was years younger.

In 2010, Meijer published a memoir titled "Life After Anne Frank," describing her post-war fortunes as perhaps resembling what might have happened to Frank, had she lived.

Meijer had some success as a writer, but her emotional scars never healed.

Meijer endured skepticism over a claim that Frank entertained her and other Dutch-speaking children with fairy stories while in the camp. The story was not disproved.

[Associated Press; By TOBY STERLING]

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