Fleeing from Hitler in The Hague
The exhibition 'Fleeing Hitler – The Oznowicz Family’s Journey to England' tells the story of amateur puppeteers Isidore Oznowicz and his wife Françoise Ghevaert, who fled Antwerp in May 1940 due to the German invasion. On view at the National Archives until July 20, 2025. Their son Frank Oz is known as a director and puppeteer, particularly of characters in Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Star Wars. This blog focuses more on the American puppeteer, film director, and actor.
England voyagers
In the Netherlands, 'Engelandvaarder' is the honorary title for all men and women who, during the Second World War (1939-1945), after the capitulation of the Dutch armed forces on May 15, 1940, and before the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), managed to escape from occupied territory with the intention of joining the Allied forces in England or other Allied territory to actively participate in the fight against the enemy (Germany, Italy, Japan).
More than 2100 Dutch people, the so-called 'Engelandvaarders', made a similar journey to support the fight against the Germans. The Dutch government in exile compiled extensive files on each of these refugees. Based on these files, the journey of Isidore and Françoise has been reconstructed, much to the delight of their son Frank Oz. He has, after all, been trying for years to find out what his parents experienced during the war. Frank Oz is known as a director and puppeteer, particularly of characters in Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Star Wars. For this exhibition, he has made a large number of his parents' marionettes available. One of them is the special Hitler puppet, which Isidore and Françoise buried in their backyard during the war for safety reasons.
Frank Oz
Richard Frank Oznowicz (Hereford, May 25, 1944) is an American puppeteer, actor, and film director. Oz's parents were also puppeteers. His Flemish mother, Frances Ghevaert (1910–1989), and his father, Isidore Oznowicz (1916–1998), who was of Jewish descent, fought in the Princess Irene Brigade during World War II and crossed over to England, where he was born. When he was six months old, the family moved to Belgium. He grew up there until they emigrated to the American state of Montana in 1951.
Oz became world famous when he worked for the American Sesame Street, and later for The Muppet Show, played various puppets. These included Bert, Grover, and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, and Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam the Eagle in The Muppet Show. Together with Jim Henson, he played the Swedish Chef from the latter series: Henson provided the voice and mouth movements, but the character's hands were those of Oz.
He also provided the puppetry and voices for various other programs where 'his' Sesame Street characters and other Muppets appeared. In 1980, he played a small supporting role in The Blues Brothers and got a taste for acting. He subsequently appeared in various films, but also continued to work for Jim Henson's Muppets. He worked with the Sesame Street puppets from the very beginning in 1969. Since the late 90s, he has focused increasingly on directing. By now, he has handed over virtually all of his Muppet characters to puppeteer Eric Jacobson.
Oz gained great fame by playing the puppet Yoda, the Jedi Master from the Star Warssaga. In Episodes II and III of the saga is Yoda became a CGI character. But even then, Frank Oz provides his voice. As a director, he made his debut with The Dark Crystal, a fantasy film in which many of Jim Henson's creations appeared.
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