Elly Vleeschhouwer-Blocq, 101, and Marie Verbraeken-Blommaart, 105, both former prisoners of Kamp Vught during World War II, died this week, de Volkskrant reports. Vleeschhouwer-Blocq survived eight concentration camps, while Verbraeken-Blommaart was jailed for her role in the Zeeland resistance.

Vleeschhouwer-Blocq was among the first prisoners held at Kamp Vught, one of three German concentration camps in the Netherlands during World War II. She was detained there from early 1943 to June 1944.

She was born in Amsterdam as the youngest of seven children in a Jewish family. She described her childhood as marked by frequent illness, saying she was “often sick, weak, or nauseous.”

In 1942, during World War II, she married Wim, who was also Jewish. She initially refused to wear the yellow star, saying, “I just did not want to be set apart.” Vleeschhouwer-Blocq credited her husband with helping save her life. She said he remained close during their imprisonment, despite men and women being separated, giving her a sense of hope.

Later, when they arrived in Auschwitz in June 1944, she remembered hearing Wim call out to her over the noise of the train platform, “Hello Elly.” She said the moment gave her “a tremendous boost” because she knew he was still alive.

She also said Wim played a decisive role in securing her placement in the Philips work commando at Kamp Vught, where Jewish women were assigned to produce radio tubes. She said she was not selected for the work detail and, on Nov. 15, 1943, was already on a platform awaiting deportation to Poland when she was unexpectedly pulled from the transport list. She later learned that Wim had intervened with an SS administrative official after discovering she was scheduled for deportation. He said he would quit the commando if Elly was sent to Poland.

She said that all Jews were eventually deported from Kamp Vught, including her husband and the Philips commando. In Auschwitz, she said she was not selected for the gas chambers at that time due to agreements made in Berlin involving the company that affected the status of Philips commando prisoners.

Marie Verbraeken-Blommaart, who died at 105, was the eldest child in a Catholic family of eight. During the German occupation, she joined the resistance on her mother’s advice and helped distribute food coupons to Jewish people in hiding in Zeeland. She was later betrayed and arrested. She was detained in Kamp Vught in 1943 for her role as a courier.