Ruurd Frieswijk

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Arend Frieswijk
Moeder:	Antje Stel
Geboren:	28 Apr 1899	Smallingerland
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Frieswijk First Name: Ruurd Date of Birth: 28/04/1899 Date of death: 29/09/1970 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: PROTESTANT Gender: Male Place during the war: Drachten, Friesland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Drachten, Friesland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/11284) Karel Levison, born on October 25 1922, was living with his parents and sister in Amsterdam when Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. When in the summer of 1942 the Levison family did not heed orders to report for “work in the East”, German soldiers accompanied by Dutch police held a round-up (razzia) in their street, and arrested them. Karel fled over the rooftop of the building, but was injured and needed hospitalization. In the hospital he met another patient, IJtje Frieswijk, to whom he told about his predicament. She immediately told her husband, Ruurd, and the two decided to hide Karel in their home. Upon his release from the hospital, Ruurd came to pick him up by bicycle and both drove the entire distance to Drachten in the northern province of Friesland. The Frieswijks had four grown children, all living at home. Son Auke was active with local underground cells. When the German authorities started to suspect his activities, he went into hiding in his parents’ home as well. Both he and Karel organized a secret space in the attic where they stayed most of the time. A neighbor, a tobacco dealer who knew about the two, offered them some work suggesting that they roll tobacco leaves into cigars, which they started doing. That way they not only kept themselves occupied, but made some extra money for the family. One day, the Frieswijks were warned by neighbors of an impending house search. The two men immediately disappeared in their secret hideout and IJtje made sure that there were no signs of their presence in the home. Indeed, German soldiers did enter the home -- IJtje kept talking to them on end, in order to divert their attention. The strategy worked and the soldiers left without having detected the two. Karel stayed with the Frieswijks until the liberation of the area in April 1945, a period of nearly three years. He was never outside during all that entire time. After the war Karel learned that his parents as well as his sister had perished. The Frieswijks offered him a home for as long as he wanted to stay, an invitation he gladly accepted for the next four years. In 1952, he married and started a new life, trying to forget completely the war years. IJtje was also very traumatized by the continuous fear for both Karel and her son, and never was able to overcome her trauma. Only recently was contact renewed between Karel and the Frieswijk children. On March 16, 2008, Yad Vashem recognized Ruurd Frieswijk and IJtje Frieswijk-Kramer as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Ytje Kramer	geb. 20 Nov 1903 overl. 27 MRT 1952
Huwelijk:	1923	Smallingerland