Gerrit van den Berg
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Hendrik van den Berg | |
| Moeder: | Janna van Beek | |
| Geboren: | 18 Jan 1915 | Ede |
| Religie: | Ger. Kerk | |
| Aantekeningen: | Berg van den Gerrit (1915 - ? ) Personal Information Last Name: Berg van den First Name: Gerrit Date of Birth: 18/01/1915 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: PROTESTANT Gender: Male Place during the war: Ede, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Ede, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding Arranging shelter File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/10075) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 10/08/2003 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands Rescued Persons Unterman, Leydesdorff, Jenny Reichman, Leydesdorff, Hanna Rescue Story Berg van den, Gerrit Berg van den-Welbedacht, Jacoba Gerrit and Jacoba van den Berg, both in their early twenties, were a young couple that had just married in December 1942. They lived in Ede, a town close to Arnhem (prov. Gelderland). They were believing Protestants, well known in their local parish. When, by the end of December, the van den Bergs were asked by friends in their resistance cell to hide two little girls, they agreed readily. Thus, six-year-old Jenny Leydersdorff (later, Unterman) and her four-year-old sister Hanna (later, Reichman) were brought to their home. Gerrit and Jacoba had first of all to clean them from lice and other signs of physical neglect from their previous hiding address. They told outsiders that the girls had been evacuated from the province of Zeeland, where their home had been claimed for the German war effort at their Atlantic Wall. The two sisters, now answering to the names Hanneke and Jenneke, were accepted with much love and care so that they soon felt at home. From time to time, the van den Bergs would take the girls for a walk in the town passing by the window of the home where their parents were hidden. Half a year after their arrival, in July 1943, a new police officer was posted in the town. He stopped frequently in front of the van den Bergs home with his bicycle, acting suspiciously. Soon afterwards, the van den Bergs were informed that their home was indeed under suspicion. Immediately, Gerrit took the girls to a temporary address, as it turned out just in time, since during his absence, the house was raided. Later Jacoba took the girls to Simon Leydersdorff, their uncle in Amsterdam. As he was married to a non-Jew, he was still exempted from deportation. Through his wifes connections with the local resistance, Jenny and Hanna were then taken to a childrens home in Breda (prov. North-Brabant), where they stayed safe until the liberation of that area in September 1944. Tragically, during the same raid in Ede in July 1943, the Leydersdorff parents were caught at their own hiding address. They were deported to Sobibór and murdered two weeks later. After the war, Jenny and Hanna were adopted by their uncle with whom they immigrated to the United States. They consequently lost all contact with the van den Bergs. Much later, during a conference of children hidden during the Holocaust in 1991, they told their story to a Dutch reporter, who published it in a local newspaper. The van den Bergs happened to read it, and contact was reestablished. On August 10, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Gerrit van den Berg and Jacoba van den Berg-Welbedacht, as Righteous Among the Nations. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Jacoba Welbedacht | geb. 5 OKT 1917 overl. 14 Jan 2012 |
| Huwelijk: | 23 Dec 1942 | Ede |