Gerritje Smeenk

Geslacht:	Vrouw
Vader:	Hendrik Jan Smeenk
Moeder:	Grada Eelderink
Geboren:	12 MRT 1894	Angerlo
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Brouwer First Name: Gerritje Maiden Name: Smeenk Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: LUTHERAN PROTESTANT Gender: Female Profession: FARMER Place during the war: Zevenaar, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Zevenaar, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/12407) Louis and Henny Gans lived with their two sons, Henry, born in 1925, and Maurits, born in 1928, in the village of Zevenaar (prov. Gelderland), close to the German border. Louis was a cattle dealer, and as such knew quite a few farmers in the area. With the increasing anti-Jewish measures ever since the beginning of 1941, he thought to contact some of these farmers, asking them if his family could count on their help, when danger for them as Jews would come too close. In September 1942, orders came for Jewish men between the ages of 16 and 45, to report to the Westerbork transit camp as a first step for travel to “work in the East’. As the pick-up from home was to be at night, Johannes and Adriana Bosman, neighbors of the Gans family, arranged for both Henry and his father Louis to sleep at their home. In October, however, it turned out that all of the small Zevenaar Jewish community were targeted to be picked up, and the Bosmans told Henny and her younger son Maurits to come to their home as well, which they did. The raid on the Jews a few days later was particularly cruel, and when Henny saw through the window how friends of hers were being shoved into trucks, she had attacks of hysteria, only to be calmed down by Johannes pouring buckets of cold water over her. With time, however, hiding with the Bosmans as the immediate neighbors of the Gans family, became too dangerous. Louis, therefore, turned again to the farmers in a wider area, who had earlier offered to also help. The Gans family had to split up. Parents Louis and Henny were first taken in by one family who soon became too afraid of the repercussions of hiding Jews and asked the couple to leave. Not knowing where to turn, they again knocked on the door of the Bosmans, who took them in without hesitation. “You stay here from now on” was their reaction, when they saw them on their doorstep. The Ganses had to stay out of sight at all times, as they might be recognized by other neighbors. In addition, one of the neighboring homes was billeted by German soldiers, who came to the Bosman house frequently with endless questions and requests. One day a German officer barged into their home, requiring a bed to sleep in for some hours. He went straight to the bedroom that was allocated to the Ganses, who had already gone into their hideout under the bed. The German officer went to sleep in their bed, never noticing the Gans couple who stayed motionless under it. In spite of daily fears and difficulties, good relations were maintained between the Bosmans and the Ganses; Henny helped out wherever possible. Johannes and Adriana Bosman were both already in their late fifties, and their daughter, Hendrika, was born in 1928.. In order for the Ganses to keep busy, Hendrika went once a week to a local library to take out books ‘for her father’. Johannes went weekly to the hiding address of the two boys, in order to be able to report about their wellbeing. At the same time, Johannes would buy food at distant stores, so as to not to arouse suspicion in his own local grocery store about the larger quantities of food that was needed. Louis and Henny stayed in hiding with the Bosmans until the liberation of the village in April 1945. Sons Henry and Maurits had been taken into the home of Hendrik Jan and Grada Smeenk in the neighboring hamlet of Angerlo. The Smeenks were farmers, and their farm could only be reached by a long small access path, such that visitors could be spotted ahead of time. Living conditions there were very basic. The Smeenks were already in their seventies and shared the farm with their daughter Gerritje and her husband Jan Brouwer. Both families lived under the same roof with the cows, the pigs and a horse. The Gans boys were thus able to keep busy by helping out with the animals, without having to leave the house. The Gans boys saw the elder Smeenks as especially good people and they all became very close. As no one even in the extended Smeenk family knew about the presence of the Gans boys, they had to be out of sight during visits, especially during the holidays. At such times, they had to hide in the animals’ food storage area. During the last weeks of the war, with the battle close by Arnhem, the village of Zevenaar was bombed. Louis and Henny fled from the Bosmans to the Smeenks, where Henny stayed until the liberation. Louis was taken to yet another farm in the area where he was liberated. The entire Gans family survived – one of the very few families from the original Zevenaar Jewish community. They stayed in touch with their rescuers until their passing. Both sons eventually emigrated to the United States of America. On June 26, 2012, Yad Vashem recognized Cornelis Johannes Maria Bosman and Adriana Maria Bosman-Couwenberg, Jan Brouwer and Gerritje Smeenk-Brouwer as well as Hendrik Jan Smeenk and Grada Smeenk-Eelderink as Righteous Among the Nations

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Jan Brouwer	geb. 13 MRT 1889
Huwelijk:	22 MEI 1913	Angerlo