Willem Theodorus Cornelius Maria Bruijnzeels

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Hendrik Cornelis Bruijnzeels
Moeder:	Maria Cornelia Smeijers
Geboren:	19 Feb 1888	Tilburg
Religie:		Rooms Katholiek
Beroep:		koetsier
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Bruijnzeels First Name: Willem Date of Birth: 01/01/1888 Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: CATHOLIC Gender: Male Place during the war: Dordrecht, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Dordrecht, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/10644) Willem and Marie Hofstee, both in their early thirties and devout Roman Catholics, lived in Dordrecht (prov. South-Holland). They were married in 1939 and had no children. Willem had become an ambulance driver, after the family laundry business was bombed by the Germans with their invasion in May 1940. In September 1942, an eight-month-old baby, Amalia (Milly) Steinberg (later, Horowitz), was supposedly abandoned on their doorstep, rolled in a blanket. Her father, Sulem, living in The Hague, had been deported in the summer of 1942. Thereupon, his wife Liebe (née Baumfeld) decided to look for a hiding place for her two children. A place was located in Dordrecht for her five-year-old son Harry with the Bruijnzeels family, the parents of Maria Hofstee, who had six grown children. However, as German soldiers were stationed in the immediate vicinity of the Bruijnzeels’ home, it was soon considered safer to transfer him elsewhere. While Liebe Steinberg temporarily stayed in a hospital with her baby, a nurse contacted Maria Hofstee and arranged with her to take the baby as a foundling. The Hofstees subsequently went to the police to report the foundling and withstood interrogation, steadfastly stating that they did not know her origins. An acquaintance of Willem with the local medical services declared the baby healthy and ”purely Aryan”, “probably the illegitimate child of a German soldier”. As both Hofstees had full-time jobs, Maria’s parents, Willem and Gerarda Bruijnzeels, living nearby, became the primary caregivers of the baby during the day. Milly was now to answer to the name Marjoleintje and was considered part of the extended family. The Hofstees obtained a false birth certificate for Milly and had her baptized in April 1943 as Maria Josepha, so as to hide the fact that she was a Jewish girl. Fearing betrayal by neighbors, the rescuers moved several times, taking Milly with them. Milly stayed with the Hofstees and Bruijnzeels until the liberation of the city in May 1945. With the help of the Dutch Red Cross, Liebe Steinberg, who had survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, located her with the Hofstees. Parting with her rescuers was traumatic for Milly, yet she returned to her mother and brother. Contact with her rescuers was severed. Milly did locate her rescuers later on in life, and invited them to her wedding in 1961. On August 21, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Willem Hofstee and Maria Hofstee-Bruijnzeels as well as her parents Willem Th. C. M. and Gerarda J.M. Bruijnzeels, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Gerarda Jannigje Maria Smeijers	geb. 25 Dec 1892
Huwelijk:	2 Apr 1913	Tilburg
Kinderen:
	Maria Cornelia Hendrika Bruijnzeels	geb. 8 Aug 1913
	Gerardus Johannes Henricus Bruijnzeels	geb. 22 Nov 1914