Wieger Beks
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Klaas Beks | |
| Moeder: | Antje Bosma | |
| Geboren: | 14 Feb 1886 | Groningen |
| Overleden: | 22 Dec 1955 | Hilversum |
| Beroep: | voerman | |
| Aantekeningen: | Beks Wieger (1886 - 1955 ) Personal Information Last Name: Beks First Name: Wieger Date of Birth: 14/02/1886 Date of death: 22/12/1955 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Place during the war: Hilversum, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Hilversum, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding Supplying basic goods Providing forged documents File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/11079) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 17/06/2007 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor Ceremony held in Yad Vashem: Yes Rescued Persons Velleman, Levi, Louis Frenkel, Henny Rescue Story Ravenhall-Stickley, Elsie June (1901 - 1985) Beks, Wieger (14.2.1886 Groningen 22.12.1955 Hilversum) Beks-Reenders, Sijbrig (13.1.1886 27.9.1946 Hilversum) When, in the summer of 1942, the first orders were issued for Jews of the Netherlands to report for work in the East, Levi Velleman, born in 1919 in Haarlem, was in a hospital in Hilversum (prov. North-Holland) with tuberculosis. As not enough Jews did report, the Germans started to round up Jews. As Velleman was a well-known journalist and radio reporter in the Netherlands going by the less Jewish sounding name of Louis., he feared that he would be sought too. He thus turned to one of the physicians in the hospital who contacted the adjacent recuperation center asking if someone there could take him into hiding. June Ravenhall, who was living in the immediate vicinity of this center, came forward even though she had some initial hesitation to take in a person with a contagious disease. June had the lone responsibility for her three young teenage children after her husband Leslie had been arrested. Both originally from Britain, they had come to live in The Hague where Leslie had found a business opportunity importing motorbikes. Three days after the capitulation of the Netherlands in May 1940, Leslie was taken as a prisoner of war to a camp in Germany, where he remained until the liberation some five years later. June, left without income, was ordered to leave the coastal city of The Hague. She moved to Hilversum where she started to teach English. She had to report to the German authorities on a regular basis. June gave Louis Velleman the room of her oldest daughter, where he stayed all the time. Since sunshine was considered favorable for healing, Louis sat in the garden when the weather was nice and June thought that there was no immediate danger. However, when the Germans learned that many Jews were in hiding in the town of Hilversum, many house searches were carried out, among them in the Ravenhall home. The Ravenhall children were well instructed to keep the Jew hunters delayed for awhile, so that Louis could get into his hiding area. Once he escaped by jumping out of a window at the back of the house. When the policeman found some men’s clothing and confronted June with it, she feared immediate arrest. It turned out that the policeman had only come to warn her of a pending house search. The winter of 1944-1945 was especially difficult in the western parts of the Netherlands, as food supplies from the rural eastern parts of the country were forcefully stopped by the occupier. Moreover, there was no electricity or gas. Many Dutch had to survive on flower bulbs and many more died of starvation. The Ravenhall family could not support an extra mouth, and thus Louis was taken to Wieger and Sijbrig Beks, living close-by, who were able to feed him. Once a week, Louis ate at the Beks: I could eat in one day more than during the entire week with the Ravenhalls”. The Beks were heavily involved in a local resistance cell, among other things by delivering false identity papers to Jews in hiding in the area. They also had Henny Frenkel from Rotterdam in hiding from the summer of 1944. She came with false papers. Having trouble being cooped up without end, she once walked out into the city and into a bookstore, mentioning that she was living with the Beks. The owner of the store immediately warned the Beks, who kept the woman inside until the liberation in May 1945. Louis Velleman survived the war thanks to June and the Beks. He stayed in touch with all until his passing in 2000. On June 17, 2007, Yad Vashem recognized Elsie June Ravenhall-Stickley as well as Wieger Beks and Sijbrig Beks-Reenders as Righteous Among the Nations. Lit.: Louis Velleman: Eigenlijk heet ik Levi. Amsterdam. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Geertruida Laninga | geb. 13 Aug 1898 overl. 1 Sept 1984 |
Gezin 2
| Huwelijkspartner: | Sijbrig Reenders | geb. 13 Jan 1886 overl. 27 Sept 1946 |
| Huwelijk: | 7 Juni 1913 | Winsum |