Background
Janny was born in Amsterdam, the middle of three children.
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Janny Brandes-Brilleslijper
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Career
In 1939, Janny married Bob Brandes, and they had two children: Rob, born in 1939, and Lilo, born in 1941. After the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, Janny and Bob, along with Lientje, began to work in the Resistance. Janny kept Jewish people hidden in her home, and she never officially registered as a Jew.
However, the Nazis often wanted to arrest Janny and her family, who made some narrow escapes.
Finally, Janny and Lientje were arrested in the summer of 1944, and were transported to the Westerbork transit camp. In Westerbork, they were listed as "criminals" and had to work hard in the work barracks.
In those barracks, Janny and Lientje met Anne and Margot and befriended them. From Westerbork, Janny, Lientje, and the Franks were transported to Auschwitz.
Janny and Lientje were later transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne and Margot were also transported in October 1944.
Janny, who was made a nurse in the camp, took care of the ill prisoners. In March 1945, Anne and Margot died within a few days of each other. Janny and Lientje buried them in the mass graves at the camp.
Janny gave interviews about Anne and Margot"s final days in the documentary movie, The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank (1987), which was directed by Willy Lindwer.
Janny died on August 15, 2003 at the age of 86, 9 days before her 87th birthday.
