Willem Drenth

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Jan Drenth
Moeder:	Lammigje Nijmeijer
Geboren:	2 MEI 1905	Wildervank
Overleden:	26 Aug 1964	Haren
Beroep:		bouwvakarbeider
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Drenth First Name: Willem Date of Birth: 02/05/1905 Date of death: 26/08/1964 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: FARMER Place during the war: Stadskanaal, Groningen, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Stadskanaal, Groningen, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/1498) The Drenth family---father, mother, and two daughters, Henny and Lammy---hid no fewer than 13 Jews for various periods of time in their small house in the town of Stadskanaal, Groningen, between August 1942 and the liberation of the area in April 1945. Some of the Jews were residents of the town, where 130 Jews were living in 1940. All the Jews who hid with the Drenths were linked by some family connection and the fact that they all stayed with the same family was no coincidence. In August 1942, a Jewish couple, Nathan and Hertha de Levie, and their two children, aged ten and 13, turned to the Drenths and asked to be hidden in their home. A few months later, in December, the de Levies’ nephew, Benjamin Kosses, joined them. In summer 1943, his sister, Rebecca Sara Kosses, was brought by members of the underground and stayed for four weeks. She returned to the Drenths in December 1944 and remained with them until the liberation. The Germans killed Benjamin and Rebecca’s parents. In January 1944, Harm Brouwer, a member of the underground, accompanied Nathan de Levie’s brother, Benjamin de Levie, and his wife, Sofia Esther to the Drenths’ home. They were warmly welcomed and were given the small bedroom while Willem and Hindertje slept in the kitchen. After ten days, there was a knock on the door. Two more people needed a place to hide: Sophia Esther, de Levie’s sister and her husband, Benjamin and Jeannette Dalsheim. They asked to be hidden for just a few days, but they actually stayed until the end of the war. Benjamin and Sofia Esther de Levie’s three children, aged six, nine and ten, had been hiding in Amsterdam and Arnhem. In 1944, their parents were told that the children needed to leave their hiding places and in May 1944 Willem Drenth escorted them to his home. Bringing three Jewish children from such a distance was very dangerous, but Willem did not wish to hear even a word of thanks. The Drenth house was not very big: there was one front room, a small bedroom, and a very large kitchen that was used as a living room. The entrance to the house was through a large extension attached to the kitchen. There was a door inside the extension which led to an inside threshing floor and the threshing floor led to a cellar where the five children played ball and engaged in other physical activity every day between five and six p.m., watched by one of the adults. The rest of the time they had to hide almost without moving in the living room. How did 17 people cram themselves into such a small house? Four girls, two daughters of the family and two of the girls in hiding, slept in the bedroom. The adults in hiding and the boys slept in the living room. Henny Drenth, the Drenth’s younger daughter, was still at school and brought the five children homework and schoolbooks whenever she could. The elder daughter, Lammy, worked as a secretary at a branch of the NSB for a few weeks and brought news to all the members of the household. The Drenth family was known officially to be a member of the NSB and therefore had to countenance a great many insults from the townspeople. In order to avoid being suspected by the Germans, they invited a group from the NSB into their home once a week. All the Jews hid in the cellar and had to keep completely silent. Sixteen-year-old Lammy and Benjamin Kosses fell in love. Lammy became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl. The rumor was spread that she got pregnant by a German soldier who was sent to the eastern front. On May 8, 1945, after the liberation, Lammy and Benjamin Kosses got married in the presence of all those in hiding and their baby daughter. The families in hiding put out money to buy food, which was sometimes purchased on the black market. The Drenths shouldered the entire burden of looking after the extended family. The stress resulting from the precariousness of the situation, added to the overcrowding, almost drove Willem and Hindertje to the breaking point. Luckily, because Willem Drenth worked as a farmer, they never ran out of food. On the day of the liberation, Dutch Field Security Forces (underground members) came to arrest Drenth as a German collaborator. They were astonished to find the 13 people he had saved as living proof that the opposite was true. On November 28, 1978, Yad Vashem recognized Willem Drenth and his wife, Hindertje Drenth-van der Sluis, as Righteous Among the Nations

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Hindertje van der Sluis	geb. 17 MEI 1904 overl. 16 Apr 1988
Huwelijk:	23 OKT 1926	Onstwedde
Kinderen:
	Lammigje Drenth	geb. 24 Apr 1927
	Fennigje Drenth	geb. 1932
	Jan Drenth	geb. 27 Jan 1946 overl. 2000