Dirk Antonie Alberts

Geslacht: Man
Vader: Johannes Hendrikus Alberts
Moeder: Cornelia Hendrika van Swieten
Geboren: 7 Apr 1892 Leersum
Overleden: 5 Nov 1973
Aantekeningen: Alberts Dirk (1892 - 1973 )
Personal Information
Last Name: Alberts
First Name: Dirk
Antonie
Date of Birth: 1892
Date of death: 05/11/1973
Rescuer's fate: survived
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Male
Profession: BUSINESSMAN
Rescue
Place during the war: Langbroek, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rescue Place: Langbroek, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Hiding
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/7205)
Commemoration
Date of Recognition: 24/06/1996
Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor
Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands
Rescued Persons
Schorstein, Harel, Hedwig, Edna
Alberts, Dirk Antonie & Marrigje (van Cooten)
Dirk and Marrigje Alberts lived in Langbroek, Utrecht, with their five teenage children. Their 19-year-old daughter was engaged to Henk Bakhuizen, who was active in the Resistance. Near the end of 1942, Henk asked Dirk, who managed a grain and fertilizer business, if he and his family were willing to hide a Jewish girl desperate for a place of refuge. After consulting with his minister and being fully briefed on the risks he and his family would be taking, Dirk agreed, and 12-year-old Hedwig Schorstein (later Edna Harel) was welcomed into his home. Hedwig was born in Austria and had fled to Holland with her mother after the Anschluss in 1938. Since that time, she had lived with several families before going into hiding in 1942. She arrived at the Albertses’ home after her previous address became unsafe. Hedwig was introduced to the Alberts children as Lenie Jansen, a distant relation from the city. Since one of the Albertses’ sons, Albert, and a daughter were active in the underground, the family had already prepared a special hiding place under the floor of one of the rooms in case it should ever become necessary. Hedwig was brought to this hideout as seldom as possible in order not to alert her foster siblings. She only hid there on a few extraordinary occasions, and they all passed without trouble. Otherwise, Hedwig was treated as a natural addition to the family unit in all respects. Lenie was told by Dirk that all his children prayed before going to bed and that she should do the same in order not to arouse suspicion. Hedwig’s hosts were aware of the unbearable conditions the little girl was growing up in and so they did everything possible to alleviate her pain and anxiety. Marrigje arranged for Hedwig to visit her mother in her hideout in the nearby town of Scherpenzeel on several occasions, despite the risks involved in such a trip. (Hedwig’s mother was later deported to a death camp.) At the end of 1944, the situation became especially dangerous and Dirk escorted Hedwig by bicycle to his sister in Amerongen for a few weeks. When the danger passed he fetched her and she returned with him to Langbroek. Hedwig remained with the Alberts family until the liberation in May 1945. During the war, the Albertses also sheltered Freek Postmus, an Austrian Resistance worker whom they had befriended before the war, for brief periods of time.
On June 24, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Dirk Antonie Alberts and his wife, Marrigje Alberts van Cooten, as Righteous Among the Nations

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner: Marrigje van Cooten geb. 16 OKT 1891 overl. 7 Juli 1950
Huwelijk: 6 MEI 1920 Langbroek