Grietje de Vries
| Geslacht: | Vrouw | |
| Vader: | Harm de Vries | |
| Moeder: | Geesje Moes | |
| Geboren: | 9 Jan 1907 | Emmen |
| Overleden: | 28 Feb 2006 | |
| Aantekeningen: | Beens Grietje (1907 - 2006 ) Personal Information Last Name: Beens First Name: Grietje Maiden Name: Vries de Date of Birth: 19/01/1907 Date of death: 28/02/2006 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: CALVINIST Gender: Female Profession: HOUSEWIFE Place during the war: Gasselternijeveen, Drenthe, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Gasselternijeveen, Drenthe, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/11385) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 31/08/2008 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor Rescued Persons Lange de, Jacob, Abraham Rescue Story Beens, Gezinus Beens-de Vries, Grietje The Jewish de Lange family of Amsterdam, parents Henri (b. 20.1.1897) and Johanna nee Blok (b. 23.5.1902) decided to look for hiding addresses for their two children before heeding to the order to report for work in the East. Jacob Abraham (Jack), born in 1930, was taken by underground couriers to addresses that turned out to be good only for short periods. Finally, in September 1943, he was taken to the home of Gezinus and Grietje Beens in the village of Gasselternijveen (prov. Drenthe), close to the German border. Gezinus was a butcher by profession, and simultaneously functioned as the sexton of the local Calvinist church. They had three children -- the oldest, a daughter, was twelve years old. When he and Grietje were asked to take a Jewish boy into their home, they intoned Isaiah 16:3c -- Hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive. On May 13, 1943, Gezinus cousin Piet brought Jack to their home. He soon felt right at home as one of their own children. Jack had to stay around the house and could not go to school as he had no Aryan identity papers. He was supposedly a child from the western part of the country, where there was a lack of food. One of the very few who knew about the presence of the boy with the Beens, was a local policeman, who informed the Beens before any upcoming house searches. Jack, as well as a man who was with the Beens avoiding force labor in Germany, knew to hide under the pulpit in the church that was adjacent to the Beens home. Or alternatively, Gezinus would take Jack elsewhere for some days. Once, when there was not enough time to get out, Jack ran out back of the house in his pajamas into the fields, where he stayed all night. One winter, Jack was allowed to join the Beens children skating on the local canals, all well covered against the cold. However, as an extra precaution, Jack had to put a bandage on his nose to disguise his appearance. Towards the end of the war Gezinus was ordered by the German authorities to dig trenches, which he refused to do. As a result he himself had to go into hiding as well. This did not prevent Grietje from keeping Jack. He stayed on until the liberation of the area in April 1945. Jacks brother had survived in hiding in Stadskanaal. His parents, however, were caught, his mother at the van Veldhoven* family, and deported to Auschwitz, but they both survived. Separation from the Beens family was difficult for Jack, who stayed in close touch with them and with their children after the parents deaths. On August 31, 2008, Yad Vashem recognized Gezinus Beens and Grietje Beens-de Vries as Righteous Among the Nations. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Gezinus Beens | geb. 7 MEI 1904 overl. 18 Feb 1987 |
| Huwelijk: | 19 Dec 1927 | Onstwedde |