Johannes Willem de Haan
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Abraham de Haan | |
| Moeder: | Elise Johanna den Herder | |
| Geboren: | 28 Nov 1920 | Bussum |
| Religie: | Ned. Hervormd | |
| Aantekeningen: | Last Name: Haan de First Name: Johannes Willem Alias: JAN Rescuer's fate: survived imprisoned Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: STUDENT Place during the war: Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Haaren, Camp, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Supplying basic goods Providing forged documents Hiding Other File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/2152) Johannes (Jan) Willem de Haan, a student in Utrecht and a bachelor, became involved in helping Jews and other fugitives in the very early stages of the war. He was a member of Dienst Wim, an underground group that spied on the enemy and helped Jews, and he supplied those in his care with food, money, ration cards, and identity papers, and accompanied them to hiding places. His parents, Abraham and Elise de Haan, opened their home to people as a temporary refuge. In 1942, Jan brought 15-year-old Jack Simon Cohen by train from The Hague to a hiding place in Nijmegen, Gelderland. When he was betrayed at this address, Jan escorted the teenager to Amersfoort, Utrecht. During the war, Jan also helped Jack's sister, Ellen Vera Cohen, who wrote in her testimony to Yad Vashem that Jan provided her and her family with food coupons. Another Jewish girl, Henrica Mia Vissel, who went into hiding at the age of 14 under an assumed name on a farm in Mirns, met Jan on several occasions when he brought food coupons, money, and identity passes for her and her parents, her two brothers, and other hidden people. After double agent van der Waals infiltrated Dienst Wim, the Grüne Polizei arrested Jan and about 50 other Resistance workers. Jan was tried and convicted of assisting Jews and of espionage. After his arrest on August 3, 1943, Jan was taken from the Oranjehotel prison in Scheveningen to the SD prison in Haaren, where he avoided being transferred to a concentration camp in the east by bribing high-ranking German officials. Jan and his whole group of activists were taken to the Luttringhausen prison near Düsseldorf, where they remained until the American army liberated them in April 1945. On October 22, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Johannes Willem de Haan and his parents, Abraham de Haan and Elise Johanna de Haan-den Herder, as Righteous Among the Nations. |
|