Barend Birkhoff
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Hendrik Birkhoff | |
| Moeder: | Franciena Wassink | |
| Geboren: | 26 Jan 1902 | Baarn |
| Overleden: | 19 Dec 1981 | |
| Beroep: | typograaf | |
| Aantekeningen: | Birkhoff Barend (1902 - 1981 ) Personal Information Last Name: Birkhoff First Name: Barend Date of Birth: 1902 Date of death: 19/12/1981 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Place during the war: Baarn, Utrecht, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Baarn, Utrecht, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/9772) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 20/09/2011 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands Rescued Persons Lieuwma, Waas, Lien, Sarah Rescue Story Birkhoff, Barend Birkhoff-Hund, Wilhelmina Sara Waas (later, Lien Lieuwma), was born in 1933 in Amsterdam as the eldest of three children in the Waas family. After the occupation of the Netherlands in May 1940, the family stayed at home, from where her father Aaron was taken to a labor camp in the country set up for men who had earlier been stripped of their jobs. When the deportations started in the summer of 1942, mother Mina (née Hes) contacted a relative who was married to the non-Jewish Hendrik Nijhof* and then to a student resistance group (UKC*) in order to try to find hiding addresses for her children. Nine-year-old Sara was taken to what turned out to be only temporary addresses. At the last one, she was arrested during an SD raid and taken to the Jewish Orphanage in Utrecht that was used as an assembly point for deportation. As soon as Hendrik Nijhof found out about this, he tried to free her finally succeeding on the third attempt. After a further temporary hiding place, from where Sara had to flee when there was a warning about an upcoming raid, Nijhof took her to Barend and Wilhelmina Birkhoff in Baarn (prov. Utrecht), at the beginning of 1943. The Birkhoffs were a family of seven: parents in their later thirties, four girls in the ages of five to twelve and a boy of two. Sara, by then ten years old, was presented to the outside world as an orphan whose mother had died in the bombardment of Rotterdam and whose father was a skipper who was never home. She now went by the name of Lientje de Vries. The Birkhoffs shared all with the extra child, who came without any food ration card of her own or identity card. Sara/Lientje soon felt at home with the other girls, some close to her own age. She was, of course, unable to go to school. Being around the house all day long, she helped with the care of the little Birkhoff boy. Once, when she was allowed to play outside, a passing German soldier asked her whether she was a Jewish girl. Faking not to understand the question, and keeping her cool, he finally moved on. But after this incident, Sara/Lientje had to stay indoors. During the infamous Hungerwinter of 1944-1945, when food supply to the central and western parts of the Netherlands, as well as gas and electricity, were blocked by the German authorities, the Birkhoffs were no longer able to feed all eight. Barend and Wilhelmina decided to keep Lientje close to them, and instead sent three of their own daughters to the eastern part of the country, to farmers who were strangers, where there was food supply. Once during this period, when Sara/Lientje was accompanying Wilhelmina in search of fire wood, a German patrol came in their direction. She ordered the girl to lie down flat on the ground with her head down. When they were stopped by the patrol and Wilhelmina was asked why the girl was lying down on the ground, she calmly answered: she is afraid of fly-overs and reacts instinctively - no further questions asked. Sara/Lientje stayed with the Birkhoffs for the rest of the war until the liberation of the town in May 1945. As it turned out that her parents had not survived, Sara went to live with her aunt, Theodora Nijhoff (Hes). Hendrik, who was very active in resistance activities, had been arrested in 1943 and taken to Dachau, where he perished. On September 20, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Barend Birkhoff and Wilhelmina Birkhoff-Hund as Righteous Among the Nations. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Wilhelmina Hund | geb. 25 Dec 1906 overl. 7 OKT 2000 |
| Huwelijk: | 27 Aug 1930 | Bussum |