Saakje Jelsma

Geslacht:	Vrouw
Vader:	Jan Jelsma
Moeder:	Rins Gaastra
Geboren:	3 Feb 1898	Jutrijp
Overleden:	9 Dec 1977
Aantekeningen:	Bockma Sara (1898 - 1977 ) Personal Information Last Name: Bockma First Name: Sara Maiden Name: Jelsma Date of Birth: 03/02/1898 Date of death: 09/12/1977 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: CALVINIST Gender: Female Organization/ Religious order: NV-Groep Place during the war: Heerlen, Limburg, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Heerlen, Limburg, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/374) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 14/05/1967 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Tree Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands Ceremony held in Yad Vashem: Yes Rescued Persons Leeuw de, Elisabeth, Clara, Liesje Lucas, First name unknown Braun, Leo Brommet, Sara, Selien Lucas, First name unknown Rescue Story Bockma, Harmen & Sara (Jelsma) Knook, Rins (Bockma) Harmen and Sara Bockma, originally from Friesland, were members of the Dutch Calvinist Church. During the war, they lived with their eight children in an old farmhouse outside Heerlen, Limburg, which was a predominantly Catholic region. Through the Reverend Gerardus Pontier*, Harmen came into contact with Jaap Musch*, head of the NV. Jaap moved into the Bockmas’ home and it also became his group’s headquarters. Jaap and his colleagues fetched Jewish children from Amsterdam and brought them to the Bockmas, who in turn found hideouts for them. One of Harmen’s most valuable assistants was his eldest daughter, Rins (later Rins Knook-Bockma), who was only 18 years old when the war broke out. When Saakje Bockma could no longer manage on her own, Rins resigned from her job to help out in her parents’ household, which had become so large that people had to eat in shifts. She also worked, like her sister Martje Antje, and sometimes with her, as a courier for her father, distributing ration cards and weapons and fetching Jews from Amsterdam. The first Jewish “guest” of the Bockmas was Leo Braun, a boy of 15, whose sister Marianne and parents were hidden nearby. From 1943 on, three-year-old Eva Smit lived with the Bockmas. In the summer of 1944, the Jewish infant Elisabeth Clara (Liesje) de Leeuw, whose parents had been caught in their hiding place with the Hellenbrand* family, was brought to the Bockmas. Both children stayed there until the end of the war. During the war, the Bockmas also sheltered adults. Sara (Selien) Brommet jumped out of a train to the east and was taken in by the Bockmas, where she remained until the end of the war. The Lucas brothers also hid in the Bockmas’ home for the duration of the war. Their sister, Sara Moll-Lucas, and her husband, Siegfried, also found temporary refuge with the Bockmas. Throughout the war the Bockma children were not allowed to bring home friends because the presence of so many people in the house was cause for suspicion. Since the Bockmas belonged to a different religious group from their neighbors, they were rumored to be Nazi collaborators. Harmen never denied this accusation because it was an excellent cover for his involvement with the underground, but it was especially difficult for his children. He was so dedicated to his rescue activities that at one point he cut off the top of his pinkie so that he could go on sick leave from his job and put more hours into his underground activities. The Bockmas acted purely out of humanitarian and religious conviction. The Bockmas’ eldest son, Jan, disappeared in 1943. While people whispered that he had gone to Germany to work for the enemy, he had actually escaped to England to be trained as an intelligence officer and pilot whose mission was to be sent behind enemy lines. Jan flew into occupied territory six times: on the seventh he was shot down above Friesland, in 1944. His body was found in a ditch shortly after the liberation. On May 14, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Harmen Bockma and his wife, Sara Bockma-Jelsma, as Righteous Among the Nations. On March 8, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Rins Knook-Bockma as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Harmann Bockma	geb. 19 Apr 1901 overl. 29 Aug 1981
Huwelijk:	2 Apr 1921	Wymbritseradeel
Kinderen:
	Jan Bockma	geb. 31 Aug 1921 overl. 7 Juli 1944
	Wietske Bockma	geb. 1938 overl. 24 Jan 1940