Petrus van Diepen

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Dirk van Diepen
Moeder:	Maartje Neefjes
Geboren:	26 Apr 1908	De Weere
Overleden:	29 Nov 1987	De Weere
Religie:		Rooms Katholiek
Beroep:		veehouder
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Diepen van First Name: Petrus Date of Birth: 26/04/1908 Date of death: 29/11/1987 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: DAIRY FARMER Place during the war: De Weere, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: De Weere, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/11684) Max Cardozo, born in 1937, lived with his parents, Maurits and Anna (née Gompers), in Amsterdam. With them was Ido Fortuin, born in 1929, who was being raised as a second child in the Cardozo family. Maurits was a textile merchant, who traveled around the villages surrounding the city selling his merchandise. One of his clients was Adrianus (Arie) Broers. With the ever increasing anti-Jewish measures, Arie told Cardozo that he could count on his help if ever his family would be in danger. In the summer of 1942, with the start of the deportations of the Dutch Jews to the camps in the East, Cardozo indeed turned to Broers who stood by his promise. Arie and Anna Broers took the family under their wings throughout the war. Firstly, Arie managed to get false identity papers for Maurits and Anna Cardozo. From there he started searching for hiding addresses for all the Cardozos. The first hiding address located for all four, was with Petrus (Piet) and Agatha van Diepen in the village de Weere (prov. North Holland). They were allocated a small room in the attic with mattresses on the floor. As no one was to know that they were there, they could not go outside the room between five in the morning until seven in the evening. Maurits invented all kinds of games to keep the two boys occupied during those hours. As there was no lock on the door, Maurits would stand in front of the door preventing entry to visitors of the van Diepens. After over a month, however, the Cardozos had to leave after Max, then five years old, went outside against explicit orders to relieve himself and was noticed by a neighbor. Van Diepen was subsequently warned and the family was now split up as it was nearly impossible to find a hiding place for four persons. Anna Cardozo went to Joannes (Jan), and Maria Broers, where she was able to stay until the liberation in May 1945. Joannes and Maria lived across the street from Arie, who was Joannes' uncle, with their two children. Anna stayed indoors at all times during more than two years. No one knew of her presence there. Maurits roamed around between a number of addresses, sleeping from time to time at the home of Franciscus and Marie Feld. Max stayed in the village, and was taken by Arie Broers to the van Schoutens, a family with three children. However, during the weekly washing session, their own children saw that Max was different; the parents feared that one of their children would inadvertently talk about this with others, and Max had to leave. Arie Broers came again, and took him to Cornelis and Cornelia Koopman in the nearby village of Spanbroek. The Koopmans, who had four teenage children, lived on a large farm just outside the village. Max became the instant little brother, going by the name of Dikkie and calling the Koopmans 'Aunt Cor' and 'Uncle Kees' -- he was taken care of by all. Max went along with the older boys to work in the fields. After some time a Jewish family, Jacques Veerman, his wife and mother, joined him in hiding with the Koopmans. Jacques saw it as his duty to teach Max, now about seven years old, to read and write, but the boy much preferred to go out to work in the fields. Tensions arose and in March 1944, Max was to leave. After a very difficult next address, he was allowed to return to the Koopmans, where he now agreed to take daily lessons. In the fall of 1944, a number of Allied planes were shot down over the village, and the Koopmans hid a number of the downed pilots. As a result, there were frequent house searches by German forces, and so the Koopmans prepared hiding spaces for the Veermans family and for Max. They were not detected. In the following winter of 1944-1945, the infamous Hungerwinter, when food supply to the western parts of the Netherlands was cut off by the Germans, many came to the village to look for something to eat. In spite of this increased risk of discovery, the Veermanses and Max were allowed to stay on with the Koopmans. Once, Max thought he recognized his grandmother among those who came in search of food, and he ran outdoors. The Koopmans' son, Piet, happened to notice this scene and immediately took Max indoors. Max could no longer stay after this incident, as he was endangering one and all, and was moved to Reijer and Trijntje Keijzer in the nearby village of Midwoud. The Keijzers lived with their three children also on a large farm. Again Max could go out to the fields with their son Dirk and daughter Grietje who considered him their little brother. During the last months of the war, when the Germans understood that all was lost, they further oppressed the village. The Keijzers farm was billeted and the family was forced to live in the cowshed. Although keeping Max out of sight all this time was an extremely difficult task, they succeeded, and Max stayed until the liberation of the area in May 1945. Meanwhile, Ido Fortuin had been taken by Arie to Theodorus and Geertruida (Truus) Koning in the nearby village of Opdam, again through his contacts. The Konings were a young couple without children at the time Ido arrived. Their first child was born during the war. Ido was presented as a refugee from the harbor city of IJmuiden, and went by the name of Cor Bakker. As he had red hair and a fairly light complexion, he was not immediately conspicuous as a Jew. Ido was thus allowed to accompany Theo into the fields of their farm, but he could not go to school as he had no Aryan identity papers. However, after nearly a year with the Konings, he told a neighbor who was a member of the collaborating movement who he really was; he thus had to be moved that same evening. Indeed, a house search followed the next day. At the end of the war Max was picked up by his father. His mother and Ido also survived. On October 25, 2009, Yad Vashem recognized Adrianus Broers and Anna Catharina Broers-de Boer, Joannes Broers and Maria Olga Broers-Commandeur, Petrus van Diepen and Agatha van Diepen, Cornelis Koopman and Cornelia Maria Koopman-de Boer, Cornelia Maria, as well as Reijer Keijzer and Trijntje Keijzer-de Wit as Righteous Among the Nations. On March 22, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Theodorus Koning and Geertruida Catharina Koning-Leek as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Agatha Afra Feld	geb. 7 Nov 1912 overl. 8 Aug 1997
Huwelijk:	1 MEI 1941	Hoogwoud